November 16, 2025 • 39 mins
Clay and Buck highlight President Donald Trump's live remarks from Arlington National Cemetery, where he honored the U.S. military and announced the symbolic renaming of the Department of Defense back to the “Department of War,” emphasizing a renewed focus on military strength and victory.
Military recruitment trends are also discussed, with Clay noting a surge in enlistment under the Trump administration, attributing it to a shift away from “woke” policies and toward a warrior ethos. The hosts reflect on the importance of morale, historical military hardships like Valley Forge and the Battle of the Bulge, and the enduring legacy of American service members. They recommend war novels like Killer Angels and Gates of Fire to deepen appreciation for military history.
David “Rut” Rutherford, Former Navy SEAL and host of The David Rutherford Show on the C&B Podcast Network, talks about the uptick in enlistment under President Trump and Secretary of War Hegseth.
Dakota Meyer, Medal of Honor recipient and Founder of The BLUF on Substack, tells the incredible story of how he earned the medal in Afghanistan, his honest opinion on the pullout from the country — and his work to prevent “weak men” from playing women’s sports by joining XX-XY Athletics as ‘Ultimate Girl Dad’ brand ambassador.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Team forty seven podcast is sponsored by Good Ranchers
Making the American Farm Strong Again.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Team forty seven with Clay and Buck starts.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Now President Trump at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day,
and we have a couple of cuts from what he
had to say there, and if we could play those now,
that would be fantastic.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Everything we have, everything our country has achieved, has been
purchased by the muscle, spine, and steel of the United
States Military. We owed all to the fierce and noble
men and women of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force,
Space Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marines. Is
(00:52):
a guy, our service members. Our own words are the
greatest possible tribute to their immortal valor.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Trump also Buck talked about the decision to switch back
to the Department of War, and here is what he
had to say about the necessity for that.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
From now on, we're going to be celebrating Victory Day,
the World War One, the World War II, and frankly
for everything else. Under the Trump administration, we're restoring the
pride and the winning spirit of the United States Military.
That's why we have officially renamed the Department of Defense
back to the original name, Department of War. And remember,
(01:38):
we won World War One, we won World War Two,
we won everything in between, We won everything that came before,
and then we brilliantly decided to change the name of
this great thing that we all created together, and we
became politically correct. We don't like being politically correct, so
(01:59):
we're not going to be politically correct anymore from now on.
When we fight a war, we only fight for one reason,
to win.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
We fight to win. Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So that's President Trump Arlington National Cemetery, I will say,
and I don't think this has gotten enough attention, and
certainly it should because it's a very positive story here
as we celebrate Veterans Day.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Buck.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
The overall enlistment numbers for our military has skyrocketed since
Pete hag Seth has gotten in there, since President Trump
has taken over, and since they've gone back to the
idea of warriors, and we want the people in the
military to be in shape, and we want them to
be badasses, and we want them to be a lethal
(02:45):
fighting force. It turns out that that's actually a much
better pitch to young men and young women than Hey,
we want to be diverse, and inclusive, and we want
to make sure that you can have your trans surgeries
while you're also in military. Young people want to be better, sharper,
tougher versions of themselves, and that's certainly coming through, I
(03:09):
think in the renewed vigor of our enlistment numbers.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Yeah, Spree de corps is a critical aspect of having
an effective military, of military cohesion. You have to have
belief in what it is that you are doing, because
otherwise it almost seems like an inherently irrational thing to
sign up for a job where you're saying I might
(03:36):
die doing this job. You have to believe and you
have to love something to be willing to do that.
And as we're talking about, of course Veterans Day, that
is what all of our veterans are willing to do.
That is why they sign up. And yet on the
bureaucrat political side of things, they have started to chip
away at that, they have started to make it seem
(04:00):
like there are there's a social justice experiment that is
the primary goal of our military, or the military is
a jobs program, but not really for fighting or for combat.
It's for some other purpose. Right, I'll never forget this
isn't about the military. But the the idiot former CIA
director Brennan, who's in all kinds of trouble with Trump
(04:22):
and and the DOJ and everything else, he said something like,
CIA doesn't steal secrets. Do you remember this? He actually
said that he was a CIA director. He's like, a
CIA doesn't steal secrets. And for a lot of us
who sat there and said, no, that is that is
the fundamental.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
That's like saying the part of the entire of the
entire right.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
That is like saying the fire department does not put
out fires. Like this is the most straightforward thing that
you can possibly have. And and so I think what
they're doing with the military, what they're doing and how
they're trying to get a a vision of the future
(05:02):
going here makes a lot of sense. And everybody that
I know who has been in a combat role or
in direct support to a combat role, that I've talked
to about this, and I know this is personal, it's anecdotal,
they like the direction of this Pentagon now, they like
what's going on.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I'll also point this out and we've got Rutherford Dakota
Meyer onto and i'd encourage you to go subscribe to
the podcast and make sure that you're not missing any
of the Clay and Buck podcast network, including Badass David Rutherford.
One of the things since I've started doing the show,
I've gotten to meet Buck a lot more Seals, a
lot more Special Forces guys. I'm astounded by how humble
(05:41):
they all are and meaning they don't carry themselves as
if at any point in time they could kill you.
They clearly could, but you wouldn't know that these guys
are the badasses of badass dumb just by walking into
a bar. They're not the guy that are getting the
most attention for looking like tough guys at the bar,
(06:04):
and they clearly are. It reminds me Buck. I remember
seeing a guy back when I was younger, when the
Nashville Predators were in town. Why of the hockey guys
are not that big, you know, but they fight for
a living. And I remember one time seeing a Predator,
Nashville Predator player NHL player bump into a guy at
the bar, and the guy at the bar didn't realize
(06:26):
that he was like bumping into an enforcer because he's
like five eight five nine, and it didn't go well
for the guy at the bar. You know of all
the people that you could bump into. A guy who
fights on ice skates for a living, you definitely don't
know who you're bumping into at the bar. A lot
of times you bump into a seal you're in trouble,
and you don't even see it coming, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
There's the quote also on the Department of War issue
attributed to Napoleon that in war, morale is to the
physical as three to one, meaning the morale of your force. Yeah,
is essential. Morale is not just again, because this goes
to your willingness to put yourself in jeopardy of possibly dying. Yes,
(07:12):
which is the essence. Unfortunately it's a human reality. The
essence of warfare is you are willing to put yourself
in situations where you can die, and morale and belief
and a sense of greater purpose has to be there
for that, and also your willingness to withstand misery even
(07:33):
when death isn't necessarily at its forefront.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I mean, you go back and you read American history,
which I love to do.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I'll be honest.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
We were kind of jokingly talked about how you and
I don't want to camp outside. You go read which
I've been doing recently. The great book that's out I
think from Rick Atkinson as the author. He's working through
a trilogy of the Revolutionary War. I was reading recently
about the Valley Forge experience. You go back and you
read about what Civil warship soldiers did in camp, what
(08:04):
they put up with. You go back and read about
what happened during the during the Battle of the Bulge
and all of the chaos surrounding the winter that happened
in World War Two, what people went through even when
they weren't necessarily directly facing death, and many of the
times they were.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
But I'm talking.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
About just being constantly cold, being constantly miserable. I don't
think the average American even comprehends it. And don't even
get me started on the decision that people made back
in the day when they were in Ireland and they
were in England, and they were all over Europe and
they said, hey, you know what, I'm going to get
(08:46):
on this boat for the next six weeks, which might
or might not ever make it to land again. And
you're the disease and the and the what people put
themselves through in this country. I don't think we it
and think about it enough, and I think to your point,
the morale associated with what that requires, the spirit, the
(09:06):
belief in something greater, is transformative when you study American
history in that way.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Yes, but the ability of our military to have been
as successful as it has been is tied directly to
the belief that the people who have taken up arms
overwhelming the men who have taken up arms for this
country feel in the American experiment and this country right.
So that I think is something that the left undermines.
(09:38):
I think the Democrats in many of their policies lost
focus on and that is being restored now. But to
your point, I remember one thing that I still say
this people and they don't believe. Isn't a two out
of three casualties in the Civil War from disease?
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Right?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Two out of three deaths in Civil War from disease.
So another part of this is we often think of
the sacrifice, because you mentioned willingness to go through nonsense.
We think of the sacrifices of people who are charging
the machine gun nests, yes, or or you know, running
across no man's land in the First World War, or
you know storm storming the hill at Gettysburg, right, whatever
(10:15):
it may be. But then there's also the contracting typhus
in camp because you're not with your family and you're
part of a military military effort, and that's a very
real You know, there are sacrifices, including the sacrifice of
one life that come along, that can come along with
military service that aren't in that clash of combat that
(10:37):
we think of.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, no doubt. And to your point, especially because so
many people who were Civil War soldiers had never been
living necessarily in close proximity. This was actually one of
the benefits that some Northern troops had was they were
in city environments and so they had had viruses and
and and all of that run through their their families already.
(11:01):
But a lot of people were living in rural places
at the time, so you were rarely other than church
maybe some rudimentary schooling, you were rarely surrounded by people.
And so yeah, in the winter camp, you can imagine
how the viruses just ran roughshod through the entire camps
and how many people died completely as a result, and
(11:23):
some people froze to death. I mean again, I just
think what veterans went through. We don't spend enough time
contemplating throughout all of human history and the sacrifices that
they've all made, even if they weren't necessarily under fire
every day in the midst of the Battle of Gettysburg.
(11:45):
Just living in those camps during the winter would have
been brutal on a level that most of us can't
even comprehend this day. Go read about Valley Forge. I mean,
just read about it from the comfort of your warm,
warmly comfortable living conditions, and just think about how brutal
it would have been.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
What's the best? Do you have a favorite historical you know,
historical war novel?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, yeah, Killer Angels by Michael Scherer I think is
really good. You know, he goes into I'm sure some
of you have read it, but it's about the Battle
of Gettysburg, and he goes into the minds of each
of the characters. And then his son Jeff later wrote
books that built around that. But that's probably my favorite
(12:33):
historical work of fiction. What about you back in the day,
anything that you loved?
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Oh yeah, Gates of Fire Stephen Pressfield about Thermopylae, Spartans
and the I.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Don't know anything. I'm writing that down because I've never
even heard of that book.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Oh my gosh, it is so good. It is one
of my favorite just novel fun reads of all times. Yeah,
Gates of Fire, Stephen Pressfield. If you like the movie
three hundred, you will love this book.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I'm going to go in and order it during the
break because I'm sold. I recognized when I got to
go to Italy a couple of years ago that I
had a absence of knowledge about Greek and Roman history
that I wish I didn't, and I've been trying to
read more about that era and familiarize myself with it better.
(13:22):
And so that's one of my in addition to American history,
which I think I have a pretty good grasp of,
that's one of the areas of history that I think
I can get better at. So I have been focused
on it.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
You're listening to Team forty seven with Clay and Buck.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
We're very pleased to be joined by our friend David Rutherford.
He's a former Navy seal served a combat tour in Afghanistan.
He's also the host of the Dave Rutherford Show on
the Clay Buck podcast Network, which is growing growing every month.
It is a fantastic program. Recommend you all go check
(14:00):
it out. Dave, we call you Rut, So for anyone's confused,
mister Rutt, tell us, first off, your thoughts on this
Veterans Day, speaking for yourself and your fellow veterans out there,
what's your top level view? How's it going, Buck.
Speaker 6 (14:16):
Clay, Thanks for having me on again. I think for
veterans right now, there's a rebirth, there's a revival taking place.
And what Pete is doing. I mean, every time I
see Joe Kent post something, I want to go get
my kid on and you know, sign back up. And
I just think right now there's a revitalization and the
(14:39):
numbers are showing that people are wanting to go in,
they're wanting to serve. They believe that the President is
fired up to, you know, make the American military the
mightiest force in the world again. And I think it's
it's a real positive moment for everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
When you see those enlistment numbers. And Pete Hegseth came
out at the Patriot Awards and he was talking about
them on Thursday night, and I know that on this
Veteran's Day, they're shining a bright light on it. Isn't
that the best actual indication of how the Secretary of
War as we now have it renamed, but the Secretary
(15:18):
of Defense for the last thirty or forty years, isn't
that the ultimate judgment on him and on the trajectory
of the military. Do people want to join or not?
Speaker 6 (15:30):
Yeah, I mean absolutely it is. I mean how you
went to that, I mean I love that. There was
this incredible gala, right you saw the Marine Corps balls,
you saw Vice President Events speak at Evans speak at one.
You know, the E five mafia represented at the highest levels. Yeah,
people are stoked and the numbers reflect that. You know,
(15:52):
I think it's it's you know, the other the other
great challenge is because we're not in a very substantial
kinetic environment right now, that it's difficult to tell, you know,
whether it'll last, because that's the real testament. Do people
stay in over when there's high levels of combat? But
(16:13):
right now, I think young people, young American twenty four
year old men are revitalized with this idea that I
can go and serve in the military that my uncle,
that my father, that my grandfather, that my great grandfather
served in and I'm going to get that genuine sense
(16:34):
of real patriotism and service.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Dave, take us back, if you would, to your decision
to join up. Just what it was like going through,
what was going through your head, what your feelings were
about at the motivations, your sense of what it would
mean to be in the Navy, and of course to
join the teams become a Navy seal. Like, just take
us back to that moment, because I think for a
lot of people who today maybe are con ittering once again.
(17:00):
You know, we have younger audience members who are listening
who might be thinking about it. We have college age
people listening who might be considering it. What was your
mindset like when you first decided I'm gonna throw my
hat in the ring.
Speaker 6 (17:12):
That's a great question, Bock. You know, for me, I
was I was struggling to try and figure out what
I wanted to do with my life. I you know,
my athletic career hadn't worked out the way I had
hoped at college level, and I was just in this
position where it's like, what is the meaning of my
life going to represent? And you know, my great great
uncle was in Rose Theodore Roosevelt's cabinet, you know, I
(17:37):
had you know, it's been several generations since anybody had served.
But you know, I that legacy and link I think
was a driving force as well as just my you know,
I was a gen x er. I was influenced by
Rambo and Commando and all the incredible movies that you know,
showed American military might and power at highest levels popped
(18:01):
on Navy seals, and that consumed me. I was like,
this is this is the thing that's going to put
me on my way, help me figure out what I'm
made of, if I'm if I can represent something bigger
than myself and and something that will give me purpose
and meaning to figure out the longer term idea of
(18:22):
what I might ultimately become. So yeah, it was a
powerful influence over me to go try and become a
part of you know, not only the d O D,
but the Navy and the seal teams and down all
the way to the guys that were next to me
that I served with.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
We're talking to David Rutherford. Encourage you to go subscribe
to his podcast. It's a part of the Clay and
Buck podcast network. It's Veterans Day. You are a Navy
seal and I don't know if we've ever asked you
this question, but when you were going through the process
of becoming a Navy seal, what was the toughest thing
to you about the Navy seal process itself? It was
(19:03):
there a moment where you thought, I cannot push myself
any further. And we've got a lot of people out there,
a lot of young guys that listen to us and
maybe aspire to be a Navy seal one day. What
would you say they should know? What would you say
they should do?
Speaker 6 (19:20):
I think the biggest thing is to recognize that there's
you have so much more in your reservoir of willpower
than you can even imagine. You know, in these programs,
whether it's buds or it's selection or the Q course
or Mars Socks or whatever amazing selection process from all
the different soft units, like you have to realize you
(19:44):
have what it takes. It's just a question of believing
in yourself. And then for me, the biggest thing is
I didn't want to let the guys down next to me.
That was the biggest motivator. Like, I'm gonna be honest,
I thought about, you know, quitting all the time.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
I mean the.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Pain of just going through it being wet, being sandy,
being miserable, having people scream at you, the whole thing.
But what it does for me is it just motivated
me to be better for the guys next to me,
and then they became the ultimate motivation. So, you know,
I think when you're thinking about what it is first
and foremost the number one thing. And I just had
(20:21):
a call with a young man the other day who's
in college and you know, really thinking about it, and
the thing I say to most is, do the deep
guy understand what you're committing to understand? You know. Bongino
Stan put a great text out or tweet out today
where he said, you know, the ultimate thing is service,
(20:43):
serving the men and women that are next to you
in the line of fire, and and that is the
thing that is the driving force ultimately. I you know,
I know guys that have eight hundred combat missions. I
know a couple of guys that five hundred, four hundred.
You know, multiple silver stars, five Bronze stars with valors.
These are the ultimate heroes and you ask them why
(21:05):
did you serve? Why did you fight as hard as
you did? And the ultimate thing always comes down because
of the man that was next to me, and so
you know that's the driving force. If you want to
participate with the with the very highest caliber of committed
human beings to you and your success, then these programs
are right for you.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Dave, I wanted you to also weigh in on how
are we doing? You know, there was this whole period
during the gat era where a lot of people who
served and a lot of people who saw combat were
being brought back in and going through the transition back
into civilian life. That is less of a focus now
in the general public discussion that it was, because you
(21:49):
point out we're not really an active combat zones the
way we were before. How are we doing and taking
care of our veterans though, because whether it's we have
tunnel to towers for example, a great sponsor here on
the program, you know, there are some veterans who have
long term needs who still need that assistance from whether
it's psychological or physical wounds. You know, is the VA
(22:09):
getting the attention it needs under this administration? You know,
I'm wondering how we're doing on that front.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
I still believe there is in a measurable amount of
work to be done. Yeah, I see the director of
the VA going on all the shows and he's saying
the right things, and but there are still you know, thousands,
tens of thousands of people in the soft community alone
that took the braunt of those g rot operational tempo,
(22:39):
you know, and it's not just the combat deployment since
the endless training cycles right then, also have a really
profound effect. And that's why for me, I really kind
of linked myself to doctor Chris Free and the framework
of operator syndrome. You know, I started a little nonprofit
(22:59):
to really try I'd figure out how to address the
seventeen different medical and behavioral health challenges that long term
exposure to high training tempos and high deployment cycles has
an impact on people. You know, you can't send a guy,
you know, doing fourteen fifteen deployments and not expected to
(23:20):
be some long term damage. And that's why, you know,
there was actually just a new study from a Stanford
doctor that did a case study with two hundred special
operations guys that and he used the operator syndrome framework,
and that study validated the original paper and book written
(23:42):
by doctor Chris Free that this is a reality, right
that long term exposure causes metabolic destabilization. It causes behavioral
health challenges in different ways. Yes, TTSD, but also survivors guilt,
extensive existential challenges, intimacy issues. Right then you have neurogenic
issues from blast wave exposure, you know, endokrim dysfunction, and
(24:06):
then the orthopedic injuries, the perpetual living and pain, and
so you know, I think there's still a lot of
work to be done. There's a lot of work to
be done at the administrative level to at least bring
in this Stanford doc and doctor Free. I would love
(24:27):
to see them be able to testify on Capitol Hill
and tell the people that are in charge of the
funding to harve out a little bit of funding to
do research on operator synteme. I mean, we've seen the
most most substantial thing I think we've seen on the
has been on the state level. You saw former Governor
(24:47):
Perry work with the lawyer Hubbard was his name, and
they got fifty million dollars in funding to do research
on I've a gain in five m O d MT,
which is the VETS program initiative that really helps guys
one get sober, come off prescription drugs, and then the
other to re establish neuroelasticity and establish new brain patterning
(25:11):
that can help facilitate putting some of those demons to rest.
So there's a lot of work to be done, a
lot of guys still struggling. And what I would really
love is that for the next kinetic war that could
take place, which right now could be anywhere, I hope
that we have a better plan in place to take
care of them as opposed to what the GAT guys,
(25:35):
the Vietnam guys, the Korean and then also World War
two guys did not receive.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
David Rutherford, thank you for your service, our friend. We
appreciate you, appreciate what you did for the country, and
also would recommend all of you listening go check out
the David Rutherford Show on the Clay and Buck podcast Network.
RUT always appreciate you man, Thank you for giving us
your time today.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
God bless you guys. Thank you Buck for your service
to Buddy. Take care much.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Thank you, Ma, man you too.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
The Team forty seven podcast is sponsored by Good Ranchers.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Making the American Farm Strong Again.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
You're listening to Team forty seven with Clay and Buck.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
We are joined now by Dakota Meyer Medal of Honor recipient.
And we're gonna get into a bunch of different stories,
but we appreciate you making the time and appreciate all
your service. I thought we would just start. I know
you've got the Medal of Honor. I haven't heard you
tell a story about how that Medal of Honor came
(26:36):
to be. I believe it was in Afghanistan about a
little bit less than twenty years ago. Can you share
with us the story of what happened that led to
you becoming a Medal of Honor recipient?
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Yeah, I know, thank you so much for having me.
It's an honored No. I was in Afghanistan. I was
part of an embedded training team in two thousand and nine.
And basically we have his four US Nadi Afghans on
a base and our job was to mentor to train
to and to kind of, you know, teach them our
tactics and things like that. And uh and so we
(27:11):
we gone in. We're gonna run this mission into a
place called the Ganggol Valley. There's gonna be a big mission,
a bunch of teams coming together. I was on a
team with Lieutenant Johnson, Gunny Kennefick and Doc Layton and
then so we've gone in this this we go down
this valley, we meet up, we get our mission brief,
and then the next morning we we go and start,
(27:31):
you know, to perform this patrol. And I was left
with the vehicles and I was replaced with a guy
named Gunny Starn Johnson. And so, as you know, they
they entered the village. It's it's the typical story of
that we'd been set up and so, uh, they've been
set up and gunfights started and my team ended up
(27:53):
getting cut off by the enemy and separated from the
rest of the group. And so after hearing the you
know over the radio how dire the situation was, myself
and a driver knew we had to do something. So
we took the gun truck that we were in and
we made multiple trips in the valley trying to get
the team out, and then you know, after five or
(28:13):
six hours, we ended up we lost contact with them,
and then finally located them and they'd all been killed.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
And then please continue on so that at that point,
what did you what did you do?
Speaker 5 (28:27):
Dakota Push recovered the bodies and brought them back out,
you know, fought our way back out and then uh yeah,
I stayed there for another few months and then came
home after that.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
That's an extraordinary story. I'm wondering, Dakota. There's a few
things we wanted to talk to you about today, including
how we're caring for and how we're keeping the sacred
promise to our veterans after their service. Veterans like yourself
and the millions of others who serve, particularly in the
in the g Watt era of Irock and Afghanistan who
have come out. But were you what was your thought
(29:03):
when the Biden administration had the pullout from Afghanistan, a
place where you saw considerable combat and the folding of
the Afghan Army because you were effectively involved in training
Afghan units right at one point. Were you surprised at
how it all ended in Afghanistan or was that along
(29:23):
with what your expectations were?
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Yeah, I mean, we should have pulled out of Afghanistan.
I mean, you know, we should have pulled Afghanistan a
long time ago, you know. I mean, the only thing
I'll say about the plo out of Afghanistan is thank
God that somebody did it. Outside of that, you know,
I definitely we all can have some opinions on how
it went down and things like that, but I mean, look,
I mean, how how much longer it looked At the
(29:46):
end of the day. What I am so thankful for
is that not another service member is dying in that
country right now. You know, we've got to change up
the way that we fight wars. I mean, We've got
like that's that's the real problem to this whole thing.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
You know, I don't know. I don't know what would
have been a great way to pull out of Afghanistan.
But I'm just thankful that we did.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
But I'm all. I was also particularly curose to code
about your assessment.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
No.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I was in country with the CIA in god No.
Two thousand and nine or twenty ten, sorry twenty ten, uh,
and I was looking at all the assessments that the
four star was getting, and it looked bleak in twenty
ten to your point about pulling out sooner, when the
Afghans that we had trained a mentor for so long
(30:33):
just didn't fight, I mean, they just there was no
fight against the Taliban. Was that along with your expectations
or was that a surprise?
Speaker 5 (30:40):
I mean, I mean absolutely, But this is like this
is more My frustration part is with you know, everybody
advocating for Look. I brought my interpreter over, and I
think that anybody we made a promise to we should
one hundred percent, you know, fulfill that promise. But here's
here's where my stance is on this thing. Look, bring
any of the women and children over. But if you
(31:01):
are military age male, you don't get to come to
the United States because you don't get to live off
the freedom on the backs of our service members. You
need to fight for your own. Coming here is not
going to be what's going to fix your country. We
need people that are going to fight for what's right.
We stood over there and our people were dying for
twenty some years to try to help them build up
(31:22):
their country, to help build up an infrastructure, and you know,
what are we going to do? Right? I mean, what
are we going to do? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (31:30):
I wanted to ask you one more thing, Dakota before
we transition actually into something else. The fight for gender
rights that I know that you are, or rather just
for gender which Clay and I definitely want to talk
to you about because that's something we talk about a
lot here on the show. But as it is Veterans Day.
How are we doing in your mind of honoring, supporting,
(31:50):
and keeping the promise of the American people to our
veterans given the wars that we've been fighting in the
operational tempo that many of the scene.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Yeah, I mean I think that first off, I don't
know that there's a country on the face of the
planet that loves their veterans or takes care of their
veterans better than the United States of America. You know, Look,
the Vietnam generation made sure that our generation would never
deal with that that again, right, They fought so hard
to make sure that that that wasn't going to happen
over again. You know, I think I think obviously there's
(32:25):
more to do. I think that we can always do more,
we could do better. But I'll tell you what I
don't I don't think is I don't think it's not
from the lack of trying or effort. I just think
that that we've got to evolve the way that we're
doing things right. I think that we've got to evolve
as services. You know, we've got to make things current
as to what the needs of today's veterans are and
(32:47):
not what they were ten years ago, you know what
I mean, Like, I think that's kind of where we're
at right now. I do think that there's tons of
things out there, but I think we could always do better,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Da Cooda, I know again, thanks for your service. I
know you're doing work with our friend Jennifer c. Jennifer Say,
who has a great company xxx y, and you're motivated
because you have a couple of daughters. I know the
Olympic Committee right now is saying, hey, we're going to
adjust gender policy. Would you have ever believe growing up
(33:20):
that we'd be in a position where you would have
to say, hey, men can't compete in women's sports, and
that that would be considered in any way a controversial
opinion to have.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
No, it's crazy. I mean it's absolutely insane. I think
I think what made me really realize how insane it
had gotten was whenever President Trump got you know, he
got sworn in, and his first executive order was that
there's only two genders. I mean it's crazy. Yeah, it is, right,
I mean, like it's it's crazy because we all know it,
and even the people who are trying to pretend that
(33:54):
it's not we all know it. We all know it,
and no, it's absolutely insane. But I'll tell you, and
obviously you were in Afghanistan. You know, name a country
that's thriving or that's doing good that doesn't respect its women.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Yeah, I mean, I've said Dakota's. It's actually interesting in
that way. You can look at Women's World Cup soccer
matches and you can almost pick the winner just by
determining which country has more rights for women. And I
wish that our soccer team had been more aggressive in
making that case because I mean, it's not going to
(34:31):
shock you, but if you can't wear shorts, you're probably
going to have difficulty being one of the best women's
soccer players of all time. I would just toss out there,
and sadly that's the case in a bunch of countries.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
It's tough to play soccer and a burker for sure,
Yeah for sure.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
Yeah I've never tried, but yeah, it definitely looks tough.
Speaker 6 (34:50):
You know.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
But but I just think, you know, but I do
want to like put the blame where the blame goes, right,
So the blame is absolutely men, right, we have weak men.
Every problem we have in this country is because of
weak men, period hard stop. Every problem we have is
because of weak men. And until we start policing our own,
(35:11):
until we stop and we start fighting this idea of
toxic masculinity. Masculinity is desperately needed right now. Not toxic,
but masculinity is for sure. And look, there's no bigger
feminists on the face of the planet than a father
of daughters, Like I want my daughters to be able
to have any experience they want to be as equal.
They have equal rights to any other human being on
(35:34):
the face of the planet. But what I don't want
them to be is I don't want them to be
equally valued as men. They should be held up at
a higher value because they are sacred. They are sacred.
Women are sacred. That's the reason they carry kids, the
reason they reproduce, right like, they are sacred and very,
very valuable, and we must protect that.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
These individuals who are making this argument that I don't
know how many of these you've seen, for example, Dakota,
but you even had esteemed scientists Clay what was his name,
Neil the Grass Tyson, Neil the Grass Tyson, thank you,
who went on Bill Maher show. And when Bill Maher
looked at him and said, we all know that men
(36:20):
have a biological, a physical advantage in size, strength, speed
over women. Right, this scientist, this man of science, said well,
I do not know that. What what is that? How
does that happen in society?
Speaker 5 (36:33):
Well, I mean you have to think about this. Everything
has been weaponized, right, Like, it's not about facts. Everything
has become when when you take and this is this
is where it starts to come in. You know, have
you heard this concept where people think, well, everything's gray. No,
it's not, because you know what happens in the gray
There is nothing everything is. Everything is subjective, it's not objective.
(36:57):
There's no right and wrong, there's no accountability, there's no
win or loss. I mean, and that's what's happened. Is
is is you know how you change the truth one
word at a time, one word at a time. And
that's what they're doing. And in this gray area is
where depression, where anxiety lives. And you know how you
get gray. Let's go back to art class. You take
black and white and you mix it together until there's
(37:18):
no definitive color between the two, and you get gray.
Everything in the world is black and white. Everything that's
the only way you get better. It's the only way
that there is there is empowerment is when there is
right and wrong, good and evil like, and that is
the way. That's the only way to get through things
like that's the only way to become better people. That's
(37:39):
the only way for a civilization to still thrive, for
societies to exist is if there are those lines so
that the parameters that people can live in. Right, And
so you know, these people that don't want to do this,
and that's what they're doing is now they have gone
at and they're going at everything. I mean, it's going
at at everything that we have. The is no, I mean,
(38:00):
they started in sports, right, And you know what the
worst part of it is, the worst part of it
is this is that how many women name name the
women that have called came to men's sports and that
are that are that are trying to take titles for men?
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yeah, it doesn't exist, of course, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
Yeah, because it's weak men who can't compete against men,
that are going over to women and getting in their
sports and competing against women. We is absolutely insane and
the sheer fact. And so when you go back to
the original question you ask me, I mean It's kind
of like our doctors, right, Like when the people who
are writing who are who are you know, selling the prescriptions,
(38:40):
are writing the the protocols for the doctors, well, guess
what you're guess what you're gonna have. You're not gonna
have doctors who are free thinking and who are making
medical treatments better and who are going out and trying
to make people better. They're going to have people who
are just managing managing the you know, the protocols. You
(39:02):
don't have doctors. You have people managing the protocols scientists,
like everything is agenda, it's all subjective, and so yeah,
I mean, look, this guy is standing back because he
doesn't want to take a stance because at any point
in time that he takes a stance or makes a
statement of something of what something is or what something isn't,
then he has to be prepared to defend it. And
we don't have people who are willing to stand up
(39:24):
and defend things like that.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Well said, thank you for your service, Dakota, thank you
for continuing to speak out for truth, honesty, and frankly,
basic human sanity. Good luck with those girls, and I
hope you have a good Veterans Day, sir
Speaker 5 (39:40):
Thank you so much, have a good day.
The Team forty seven podcast is sponsored by Good Ranchers
Making the American Farm Strong Again.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Team forty seven with Clay and Buck starts.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Now President Trump at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day,
and we have a couple of cuts from what he
had to say there, and if we could play those now,
that would be fantastic.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Everything we have, everything our country has achieved, has been
purchased by the muscle, spine, and steel of the United
States Military. We owed all to the fierce and noble
men and women of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force,
Space Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marines. Is
(00:52):
a guy, our service members. Our own words are the
greatest possible tribute to their immortal valor.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Trump also Buck talked about the decision to switch back
to the Department of War, and here is what he
had to say about the necessity for that.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
From now on, we're going to be celebrating Victory Day,
the World War One, the World War II, and frankly
for everything else. Under the Trump administration, we're restoring the
pride and the winning spirit of the United States Military.
That's why we have officially renamed the Department of Defense
back to the original name, Department of War. And remember,
(01:38):
we won World War One, we won World War Two,
we won everything in between, We won everything that came before,
and then we brilliantly decided to change the name of
this great thing that we all created together, and we
became politically correct. We don't like being politically correct, so
(01:59):
we're not going to be politically correct anymore from now on.
When we fight a war, we only fight for one reason,
to win.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
We fight to win. Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So that's President Trump Arlington National Cemetery, I will say,
and I don't think this has gotten enough attention, and
certainly it should because it's a very positive story here
as we celebrate Veterans Day.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Buck.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
The overall enlistment numbers for our military has skyrocketed since
Pete hag Seth has gotten in there, since President Trump
has taken over, and since they've gone back to the
idea of warriors, and we want the people in the
military to be in shape, and we want them to
be badasses, and we want them to be a lethal
(02:45):
fighting force. It turns out that that's actually a much
better pitch to young men and young women than Hey,
we want to be diverse, and inclusive, and we want
to make sure that you can have your trans surgeries
while you're also in military. Young people want to be better, sharper,
tougher versions of themselves, and that's certainly coming through, I
(03:09):
think in the renewed vigor of our enlistment numbers.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Yeah, Spree de corps is a critical aspect of having
an effective military, of military cohesion. You have to have
belief in what it is that you are doing, because
otherwise it almost seems like an inherently irrational thing to
sign up for a job where you're saying I might
(03:36):
die doing this job. You have to believe and you
have to love something to be willing to do that.
And as we're talking about, of course Veterans Day, that
is what all of our veterans are willing to do.
That is why they sign up. And yet on the
bureaucrat political side of things, they have started to chip
away at that, they have started to make it seem
(04:00):
like there are there's a social justice experiment that is
the primary goal of our military, or the military is
a jobs program, but not really for fighting or for combat.
It's for some other purpose. Right, I'll never forget this
isn't about the military. But the the idiot former CIA
director Brennan, who's in all kinds of trouble with Trump
(04:22):
and and the DOJ and everything else, he said something like,
CIA doesn't steal secrets. Do you remember this? He actually
said that he was a CIA director. He's like, a
CIA doesn't steal secrets. And for a lot of us
who sat there and said, no, that is that is
the fundamental.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
That's like saying the part of the entire of the
entire right.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
That is like saying the fire department does not put
out fires. Like this is the most straightforward thing that
you can possibly have. And and so I think what
they're doing with the military, what they're doing and how
they're trying to get a a vision of the future
(05:02):
going here makes a lot of sense. And everybody that
I know who has been in a combat role or
in direct support to a combat role, that I've talked
to about this, and I know this is personal, it's anecdotal,
they like the direction of this Pentagon now, they like
what's going on.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I'll also point this out and we've got Rutherford Dakota
Meyer onto and i'd encourage you to go subscribe to
the podcast and make sure that you're not missing any
of the Clay and Buck podcast network, including Badass David Rutherford.
One of the things since I've started doing the show,
I've gotten to meet Buck a lot more Seals, a
lot more Special Forces guys. I'm astounded by how humble
(05:41):
they all are and meaning they don't carry themselves as
if at any point in time they could kill you.
They clearly could, but you wouldn't know that these guys
are the badasses of badass dumb just by walking into
a bar. They're not the guy that are getting the
most attention for looking like tough guys at the bar,
(06:04):
and they clearly are. It reminds me Buck. I remember
seeing a guy back when I was younger, when the
Nashville Predators were in town. Why of the hockey guys
are not that big, you know, but they fight for
a living. And I remember one time seeing a Predator,
Nashville Predator player NHL player bump into a guy at
the bar, and the guy at the bar didn't realize
(06:26):
that he was like bumping into an enforcer because he's
like five eight five nine, and it didn't go well
for the guy at the bar. You know of all
the people that you could bump into. A guy who
fights on ice skates for a living, you definitely don't
know who you're bumping into at the bar. A lot
of times you bump into a seal you're in trouble,
and you don't even see it coming, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
There's the quote also on the Department of War issue
attributed to Napoleon that in war, morale is to the
physical as three to one, meaning the morale of your force. Yeah,
is essential. Morale is not just again, because this goes
to your willingness to put yourself in jeopardy of possibly dying. Yes,
(07:12):
which is the essence. Unfortunately it's a human reality. The
essence of warfare is you are willing to put yourself
in situations where you can die, and morale and belief
and a sense of greater purpose has to be there
for that, and also your willingness to withstand misery even
(07:33):
when death isn't necessarily at its forefront.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I mean, you go back and you read American history,
which I love to do.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I'll be honest.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
We were kind of jokingly talked about how you and
I don't want to camp outside. You go read which
I've been doing recently. The great book that's out I
think from Rick Atkinson as the author. He's working through
a trilogy of the Revolutionary War. I was reading recently
about the Valley Forge experience. You go back and you
read about what Civil warship soldiers did in camp, what
(08:04):
they put up with. You go back and read about
what happened during the during the Battle of the Bulge
and all of the chaos surrounding the winter that happened
in World War Two, what people went through even when
they weren't necessarily directly facing death, and many of the
times they were.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
But I'm talking.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
About just being constantly cold, being constantly miserable. I don't
think the average American even comprehends it. And don't even
get me started on the decision that people made back
in the day when they were in Ireland and they
were in England, and they were all over Europe and
they said, hey, you know what, I'm going to get
(08:46):
on this boat for the next six weeks, which might
or might not ever make it to land again. And
you're the disease and the and the what people put
themselves through in this country. I don't think we it
and think about it enough, and I think to your point,
the morale associated with what that requires, the spirit, the
(09:06):
belief in something greater, is transformative when you study American
history in that way.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Yes, but the ability of our military to have been
as successful as it has been is tied directly to
the belief that the people who have taken up arms
overwhelming the men who have taken up arms for this
country feel in the American experiment and this country right.
So that I think is something that the left undermines.
(09:38):
I think the Democrats in many of their policies lost
focus on and that is being restored now. But to
your point, I remember one thing that I still say
this people and they don't believe. Isn't a two out
of three casualties in the Civil War from disease?
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Right?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Two out of three deaths in Civil War from disease.
So another part of this is we often think of
the sacrifice, because you mentioned willingness to go through nonsense.
We think of the sacrifices of people who are charging
the machine gun nests, yes, or or you know, running
across no man's land in the First World War, or
you know storm storming the hill at Gettysburg, right, whatever
(10:15):
it may be. But then there's also the contracting typhus
in camp because you're not with your family and you're
part of a military military effort, and that's a very
real You know, there are sacrifices, including the sacrifice of
one life that come along, that can come along with
military service that aren't in that clash of combat that
(10:37):
we think of.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, no doubt. And to your point, especially because so
many people who were Civil War soldiers had never been
living necessarily in close proximity. This was actually one of
the benefits that some Northern troops had was they were
in city environments and so they had had viruses and
and and all of that run through their their families already.
(11:01):
But a lot of people were living in rural places
at the time, so you were rarely other than church
maybe some rudimentary schooling, you were rarely surrounded by people.
And so yeah, in the winter camp, you can imagine
how the viruses just ran roughshod through the entire camps
and how many people died completely as a result, and
(11:23):
some people froze to death. I mean again, I just
think what veterans went through. We don't spend enough time
contemplating throughout all of human history and the sacrifices that
they've all made, even if they weren't necessarily under fire
every day in the midst of the Battle of Gettysburg.
(11:45):
Just living in those camps during the winter would have
been brutal on a level that most of us can't
even comprehend this day. Go read about Valley Forge. I mean,
just read about it from the comfort of your warm,
warmly comfortable living conditions, and just think about how brutal
it would have been.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
What's the best? Do you have a favorite historical you know,
historical war novel?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, yeah, Killer Angels by Michael Scherer I think is
really good. You know, he goes into I'm sure some
of you have read it, but it's about the Battle
of Gettysburg, and he goes into the minds of each
of the characters. And then his son Jeff later wrote
books that built around that. But that's probably my favorite
(12:33):
historical work of fiction. What about you back in the day,
anything that you loved?
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Oh yeah, Gates of Fire Stephen Pressfield about Thermopylae, Spartans
and the I.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Don't know anything. I'm writing that down because I've never
even heard of that book.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Oh my gosh, it is so good. It is one
of my favorite just novel fun reads of all times. Yeah,
Gates of Fire, Stephen Pressfield. If you like the movie
three hundred, you will love this book.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I'm going to go in and order it during the
break because I'm sold. I recognized when I got to
go to Italy a couple of years ago that I
had a absence of knowledge about Greek and Roman history
that I wish I didn't, and I've been trying to
read more about that era and familiarize myself with it better.
(13:22):
And so that's one of my in addition to American history,
which I think I have a pretty good grasp of,
that's one of the areas of history that I think
I can get better at. So I have been focused
on it.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
You're listening to Team forty seven with Clay and Buck.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
We're very pleased to be joined by our friend David Rutherford.
He's a former Navy seal served a combat tour in Afghanistan.
He's also the host of the Dave Rutherford Show on
the Clay Buck podcast Network, which is growing growing every month.
It is a fantastic program. Recommend you all go check
(14:00):
it out. Dave, we call you Rut, So for anyone's confused,
mister Rutt, tell us, first off, your thoughts on this
Veterans Day, speaking for yourself and your fellow veterans out there,
what's your top level view? How's it going, Buck.
Speaker 6 (14:16):
Clay, Thanks for having me on again. I think for
veterans right now, there's a rebirth, there's a revival taking place.
And what Pete is doing. I mean, every time I
see Joe Kent post something, I want to go get
my kid on and you know, sign back up. And
I just think right now there's a revitalization and the
(14:39):
numbers are showing that people are wanting to go in,
they're wanting to serve. They believe that the President is
fired up to, you know, make the American military the
mightiest force in the world again. And I think it's
it's a real positive moment for everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
When you see those enlistment numbers. And Pete Hegseth came
out at the Patriot Awards and he was talking about
them on Thursday night, and I know that on this
Veteran's Day, they're shining a bright light on it. Isn't
that the best actual indication of how the Secretary of
War as we now have it renamed, but the Secretary
(15:18):
of Defense for the last thirty or forty years, isn't
that the ultimate judgment on him and on the trajectory
of the military. Do people want to join or not?
Speaker 6 (15:30):
Yeah, I mean absolutely it is. I mean how you
went to that, I mean I love that. There was
this incredible gala, right you saw the Marine Corps balls,
you saw Vice President Events speak at Evans speak at one.
You know, the E five mafia represented at the highest levels. Yeah,
people are stoked and the numbers reflect that. You know,
(15:52):
I think it's it's you know, the other the other
great challenge is because we're not in a very substantial
kinetic environment right now, that it's difficult to tell, you know,
whether it'll last, because that's the real testament. Do people
stay in over when there's high levels of combat? But
(16:13):
right now, I think young people, young American twenty four
year old men are revitalized with this idea that I
can go and serve in the military that my uncle,
that my father, that my grandfather, that my great grandfather
served in and I'm going to get that genuine sense
(16:34):
of real patriotism and service.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Dave, take us back, if you would, to your decision
to join up. Just what it was like going through,
what was going through your head, what your feelings were
about at the motivations, your sense of what it would
mean to be in the Navy, and of course to
join the teams become a Navy seal. Like, just take
us back to that moment, because I think for a
lot of people who today maybe are con ittering once again.
(17:00):
You know, we have younger audience members who are listening
who might be thinking about it. We have college age
people listening who might be considering it. What was your
mindset like when you first decided I'm gonna throw my
hat in the ring.
Speaker 6 (17:12):
That's a great question, Bock. You know, for me, I
was I was struggling to try and figure out what
I wanted to do with my life. I you know,
my athletic career hadn't worked out the way I had
hoped at college level, and I was just in this
position where it's like, what is the meaning of my
life going to represent? And you know, my great great
uncle was in Rose Theodore Roosevelt's cabinet, you know, I
(17:37):
had you know, it's been several generations since anybody had served.
But you know, I that legacy and link I think
was a driving force as well as just my you know,
I was a gen x er. I was influenced by
Rambo and Commando and all the incredible movies that you know,
showed American military might and power at highest levels popped
(18:01):
on Navy seals, and that consumed me. I was like,
this is this is the thing that's going to put
me on my way, help me figure out what I'm
made of, if I'm if I can represent something bigger
than myself and and something that will give me purpose
and meaning to figure out the longer term idea of
(18:22):
what I might ultimately become. So yeah, it was a
powerful influence over me to go try and become a
part of you know, not only the d O D,
but the Navy and the seal teams and down all
the way to the guys that were next to me
that I served with.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
We're talking to David Rutherford. Encourage you to go subscribe
to his podcast. It's a part of the Clay and
Buck podcast network. It's Veterans Day. You are a Navy
seal and I don't know if we've ever asked you
this question, but when you were going through the process
of becoming a Navy seal, what was the toughest thing
to you about the Navy seal process itself? It was
(19:03):
there a moment where you thought, I cannot push myself
any further. And we've got a lot of people out there,
a lot of young guys that listen to us and
maybe aspire to be a Navy seal one day. What
would you say they should know? What would you say
they should do?
Speaker 6 (19:20):
I think the biggest thing is to recognize that there's
you have so much more in your reservoir of willpower
than you can even imagine. You know, in these programs,
whether it's buds or it's selection or the Q course
or Mars Socks or whatever amazing selection process from all
the different soft units, like you have to realize you
(19:44):
have what it takes. It's just a question of believing
in yourself. And then for me, the biggest thing is
I didn't want to let the guys down next to me.
That was the biggest motivator. Like, I'm gonna be honest,
I thought about, you know, quitting all the time.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
I mean the.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Pain of just going through it being wet, being sandy,
being miserable, having people scream at you, the whole thing.
But what it does for me is it just motivated
me to be better for the guys next to me,
and then they became the ultimate motivation. So, you know,
I think when you're thinking about what it is first
and foremost the number one thing. And I just had
(20:21):
a call with a young man the other day who's
in college and you know, really thinking about it, and
the thing I say to most is, do the deep
guy understand what you're committing to understand? You know. Bongino
Stan put a great text out or tweet out today
where he said, you know, the ultimate thing is service,
(20:43):
serving the men and women that are next to you
in the line of fire, and and that is the
thing that is the driving force ultimately. I you know,
I know guys that have eight hundred combat missions. I
know a couple of guys that five hundred, four hundred.
You know, multiple silver stars, five Bronze stars with valors.
These are the ultimate heroes and you ask them why
(21:05):
did you serve? Why did you fight as hard as
you did? And the ultimate thing always comes down because
of the man that was next to me, and so
you know that's the driving force. If you want to
participate with the with the very highest caliber of committed
human beings to you and your success, then these programs
are right for you.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Dave, I wanted you to also weigh in on how
are we doing? You know, there was this whole period
during the gat era where a lot of people who
served and a lot of people who saw combat were
being brought back in and going through the transition back
into civilian life. That is less of a focus now
in the general public discussion that it was, because you
(21:49):
point out we're not really an active combat zones the
way we were before. How are we doing and taking
care of our veterans though, because whether it's we have
tunnel to towers for example, a great sponsor here on
the program, you know, there are some veterans who have
long term needs who still need that assistance from whether
it's psychological or physical wounds. You know, is the VA
(22:09):
getting the attention it needs under this administration? You know,
I'm wondering how we're doing on that front.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
I still believe there is in a measurable amount of
work to be done. Yeah, I see the director of
the VA going on all the shows and he's saying
the right things, and but there are still you know, thousands,
tens of thousands of people in the soft community alone
that took the braunt of those g rot operational tempo,
(22:39):
you know, and it's not just the combat deployment since
the endless training cycles right then, also have a really
profound effect. And that's why for me, I really kind
of linked myself to doctor Chris Free and the framework
of operator syndrome. You know, I started a little nonprofit
(22:59):
to really try I'd figure out how to address the
seventeen different medical and behavioral health challenges that long term
exposure to high training tempos and high deployment cycles has
an impact on people. You know, you can't send a guy,
you know, doing fourteen fifteen deployments and not expected to
(23:20):
be some long term damage. And that's why, you know,
there was actually just a new study from a Stanford
doctor that did a case study with two hundred special
operations guys that and he used the operator syndrome framework,
and that study validated the original paper and book written
(23:42):
by doctor Chris Free that this is a reality, right
that long term exposure causes metabolic destabilization. It causes behavioral
health challenges in different ways. Yes, TTSD, but also survivors guilt,
extensive existential challenges, intimacy issues. Right then you have neurogenic
issues from blast wave exposure, you know, endokrim dysfunction, and
(24:06):
then the orthopedic injuries, the perpetual living and pain, and
so you know, I think there's still a lot of
work to be done. There's a lot of work to
be done at the administrative level to at least bring
in this Stanford doc and doctor Free. I would love
(24:27):
to see them be able to testify on Capitol Hill
and tell the people that are in charge of the
funding to harve out a little bit of funding to
do research on operator synteme. I mean, we've seen the
most most substantial thing I think we've seen on the
has been on the state level. You saw former Governor
(24:47):
Perry work with the lawyer Hubbard was his name, and
they got fifty million dollars in funding to do research
on I've a gain in five m O d MT,
which is the VETS program initiative that really helps guys
one get sober, come off prescription drugs, and then the
other to re establish neuroelasticity and establish new brain patterning
(25:11):
that can help facilitate putting some of those demons to rest.
So there's a lot of work to be done, a
lot of guys still struggling. And what I would really
love is that for the next kinetic war that could
take place, which right now could be anywhere, I hope
that we have a better plan in place to take
care of them as opposed to what the GAT guys,
(25:35):
the Vietnam guys, the Korean and then also World War
two guys did not receive.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
David Rutherford, thank you for your service, our friend. We
appreciate you, appreciate what you did for the country, and
also would recommend all of you listening go check out
the David Rutherford Show on the Clay and Buck podcast Network.
RUT always appreciate you man, Thank you for giving us
your time today.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
God bless you guys. Thank you Buck for your service
to Buddy. Take care much.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Thank you, Ma, man you too.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
The Team forty seven podcast is sponsored by Good Ranchers.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Making the American Farm Strong Again.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
You're listening to Team forty seven with Clay and Buck.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
We are joined now by Dakota Meyer Medal of Honor recipient.
And we're gonna get into a bunch of different stories,
but we appreciate you making the time and appreciate all
your service. I thought we would just start. I know
you've got the Medal of Honor. I haven't heard you
tell a story about how that Medal of Honor came
(26:36):
to be. I believe it was in Afghanistan about a
little bit less than twenty years ago. Can you share
with us the story of what happened that led to
you becoming a Medal of Honor recipient?
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Yeah, I know, thank you so much for having me.
It's an honored No. I was in Afghanistan. I was
part of an embedded training team in two thousand and nine.
And basically we have his four US Nadi Afghans on
a base and our job was to mentor to train
to and to kind of, you know, teach them our
tactics and things like that. And uh and so we
(27:11):
we gone in. We're gonna run this mission into a
place called the Ganggol Valley. There's gonna be a big mission,
a bunch of teams coming together. I was on a
team with Lieutenant Johnson, Gunny Kennefick and Doc Layton and
then so we've gone in this this we go down
this valley, we meet up, we get our mission brief,
and then the next morning we we go and start,
(27:31):
you know, to perform this patrol. And I was left
with the vehicles and I was replaced with a guy
named Gunny Starn Johnson. And so, as you know, they
they entered the village. It's it's the typical story of
that we'd been set up and so, uh, they've been
set up and gunfights started and my team ended up
(27:53):
getting cut off by the enemy and separated from the
rest of the group. And so after hearing the you
know over the radio how dire the situation was, myself
and a driver knew we had to do something. So
we took the gun truck that we were in and
we made multiple trips in the valley trying to get
the team out, and then you know, after five or
(28:13):
six hours, we ended up we lost contact with them,
and then finally located them and they'd all been killed.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
And then please continue on so that at that point,
what did you what did you do?
Speaker 5 (28:27):
Dakota Push recovered the bodies and brought them back out,
you know, fought our way back out and then uh yeah,
I stayed there for another few months and then came
home after that.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
That's an extraordinary story. I'm wondering, Dakota. There's a few
things we wanted to talk to you about today, including
how we're caring for and how we're keeping the sacred
promise to our veterans after their service. Veterans like yourself
and the millions of others who serve, particularly in the
in the g Watt era of Irock and Afghanistan who
have come out. But were you what was your thought
(29:03):
when the Biden administration had the pullout from Afghanistan, a
place where you saw considerable combat and the folding of
the Afghan Army because you were effectively involved in training
Afghan units right at one point. Were you surprised at
how it all ended in Afghanistan or was that along
(29:23):
with what your expectations were?
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Yeah, I mean, we should have pulled out of Afghanistan.
I mean, you know, we should have pulled Afghanistan a
long time ago, you know. I mean, the only thing
I'll say about the plo out of Afghanistan is thank
God that somebody did it. Outside of that, you know,
I definitely we all can have some opinions on how
it went down and things like that, but I mean, look,
I mean, how how much longer it looked At the
(29:46):
end of the day. What I am so thankful for
is that not another service member is dying in that
country right now. You know, we've got to change up
the way that we fight wars. I mean, We've got
like that's that's the real problem to this whole thing.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
You know, I don't know. I don't know what would
have been a great way to pull out of Afghanistan.
But I'm just thankful that we did.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
But I'm all. I was also particularly curose to code
about your assessment.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
No.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I was in country with the CIA in god No.
Two thousand and nine or twenty ten, sorry twenty ten, uh,
and I was looking at all the assessments that the
four star was getting, and it looked bleak in twenty
ten to your point about pulling out sooner, when the
Afghans that we had trained a mentor for so long
(30:33):
just didn't fight, I mean, they just there was no
fight against the Taliban. Was that along with your expectations
or was that a surprise?
Speaker 5 (30:40):
I mean, I mean absolutely, But this is like this
is more My frustration part is with you know, everybody
advocating for Look. I brought my interpreter over, and I
think that anybody we made a promise to we should
one hundred percent, you know, fulfill that promise. But here's
here's where my stance is on this thing. Look, bring
any of the women and children over. But if you
(31:01):
are military age male, you don't get to come to
the United States because you don't get to live off
the freedom on the backs of our service members. You
need to fight for your own. Coming here is not
going to be what's going to fix your country. We
need people that are going to fight for what's right.
We stood over there and our people were dying for
twenty some years to try to help them build up
(31:22):
their country, to help build up an infrastructure, and you know,
what are we going to do? Right? I mean, what
are we going to do? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (31:30):
I wanted to ask you one more thing, Dakota before
we transition actually into something else. The fight for gender
rights that I know that you are, or rather just
for gender which Clay and I definitely want to talk
to you about because that's something we talk about a
lot here on the show. But as it is Veterans Day.
How are we doing in your mind of honoring, supporting,
(31:50):
and keeping the promise of the American people to our
veterans given the wars that we've been fighting in the
operational tempo that many of the scene.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Yeah, I mean I think that first off, I don't
know that there's a country on the face of the
planet that loves their veterans or takes care of their
veterans better than the United States of America. You know, Look,
the Vietnam generation made sure that our generation would never
deal with that that again, right, They fought so hard
to make sure that that that wasn't going to happen
over again. You know, I think I think obviously there's
(32:25):
more to do. I think that we can always do more,
we could do better. But I'll tell you what I
don't I don't think is I don't think it's not
from the lack of trying or effort. I just think
that that we've got to evolve the way that we're
doing things right. I think that we've got to evolve
as services. You know, we've got to make things current
as to what the needs of today's veterans are and
(32:47):
not what they were ten years ago, you know what
I mean, Like, I think that's kind of where we're
at right now. I do think that there's tons of
things out there, but I think we could always do better,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Da Cooda, I know again, thanks for your service. I
know you're doing work with our friend Jennifer c. Jennifer Say,
who has a great company xxx y, and you're motivated
because you have a couple of daughters. I know the
Olympic Committee right now is saying, hey, we're going to
adjust gender policy. Would you have ever believe growing up
(33:20):
that we'd be in a position where you would have
to say, hey, men can't compete in women's sports, and
that that would be considered in any way a controversial
opinion to have.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
No, it's crazy. I mean it's absolutely insane. I think
I think what made me really realize how insane it
had gotten was whenever President Trump got you know, he
got sworn in, and his first executive order was that
there's only two genders. I mean it's crazy. Yeah, it is, right,
I mean, like it's it's crazy because we all know it,
and even the people who are trying to pretend that
(33:54):
it's not we all know it. We all know it,
and no, it's absolutely insane. But I'll tell you, and
obviously you were in Afghanistan. You know, name a country
that's thriving or that's doing good that doesn't respect its women.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Yeah, I mean, I've said Dakota's. It's actually interesting in
that way. You can look at Women's World Cup soccer
matches and you can almost pick the winner just by
determining which country has more rights for women. And I
wish that our soccer team had been more aggressive in
making that case because I mean, it's not going to
(34:31):
shock you, but if you can't wear shorts, you're probably
going to have difficulty being one of the best women's
soccer players of all time. I would just toss out there,
and sadly that's the case in a bunch of countries.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
It's tough to play soccer and a burker for sure,
Yeah for sure.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
Yeah I've never tried, but yeah, it definitely looks tough.
Speaker 6 (34:50):
You know.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
But but I just think, you know, but I do
want to like put the blame where the blame goes, right,
So the blame is absolutely men, right, we have weak men.
Every problem we have in this country is because of
weak men, period hard stop. Every problem we have is
because of weak men. And until we start policing our own,
(35:11):
until we stop and we start fighting this idea of
toxic masculinity. Masculinity is desperately needed right now. Not toxic,
but masculinity is for sure. And look, there's no bigger
feminists on the face of the planet than a father
of daughters, Like I want my daughters to be able
to have any experience they want to be as equal.
They have equal rights to any other human being on
(35:34):
the face of the planet. But what I don't want
them to be is I don't want them to be
equally valued as men. They should be held up at
a higher value because they are sacred. They are sacred.
Women are sacred. That's the reason they carry kids, the
reason they reproduce, right like, they are sacred and very,
very valuable, and we must protect that.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
These individuals who are making this argument that I don't
know how many of these you've seen, for example, Dakota,
but you even had esteemed scientists Clay what was his name,
Neil the Grass Tyson, Neil the Grass Tyson, thank you,
who went on Bill Maher show. And when Bill Maher
looked at him and said, we all know that men
(36:20):
have a biological, a physical advantage in size, strength, speed
over women. Right, this scientist, this man of science, said well,
I do not know that. What what is that? How
does that happen in society?
Speaker 5 (36:33):
Well, I mean you have to think about this. Everything
has been weaponized, right, Like, it's not about facts. Everything
has become when when you take and this is this
is where it starts to come in. You know, have
you heard this concept where people think, well, everything's gray. No,
it's not, because you know what happens in the gray
There is nothing everything is. Everything is subjective, it's not objective.
(36:57):
There's no right and wrong, there's no accountability, there's no
win or loss. I mean, and that's what's happened. Is
is is you know how you change the truth one
word at a time, one word at a time. And
that's what they're doing. And in this gray area is
where depression, where anxiety lives. And you know how you
get gray. Let's go back to art class. You take
black and white and you mix it together until there's
(37:18):
no definitive color between the two, and you get gray.
Everything in the world is black and white. Everything that's
the only way you get better. It's the only way
that there is there is empowerment is when there is
right and wrong, good and evil like, and that is
the way. That's the only way to get through things
like that's the only way to become better people. That's
(37:39):
the only way for a civilization to still thrive, for
societies to exist is if there are those lines so
that the parameters that people can live in. Right, And
so you know, these people that don't want to do this,
and that's what they're doing is now they have gone
at and they're going at everything. I mean, it's going
at at everything that we have. The is no, I mean,
(38:00):
they started in sports, right, And you know what the
worst part of it is, the worst part of it
is this is that how many women name name the
women that have called came to men's sports and that
are that are that are trying to take titles for men?
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yeah, it doesn't exist, of course, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
Yeah, because it's weak men who can't compete against men,
that are going over to women and getting in their
sports and competing against women. We is absolutely insane and
the sheer fact. And so when you go back to
the original question you ask me, I mean It's kind
of like our doctors, right, Like when the people who
are writing who are who are you know, selling the prescriptions,
(38:40):
are writing the the protocols for the doctors, well, guess
what you're guess what you're gonna have. You're not gonna
have doctors who are free thinking and who are making
medical treatments better and who are going out and trying
to make people better. They're going to have people who
are just managing managing the you know, the protocols. You
(39:02):
don't have doctors. You have people managing the protocols scientists,
like everything is agenda, it's all subjective, and so yeah,
I mean, look, this guy is standing back because he
doesn't want to take a stance because at any point
in time that he takes a stance or makes a
statement of something of what something is or what something isn't,
then he has to be prepared to defend it. And
we don't have people who are willing to stand up
(39:24):
and defend things like that.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Well said, thank you for your service, Dakota, thank you
for continuing to speak out for truth, honesty, and frankly,
basic human sanity. Good luck with those girls, and I
hope you have a good Veterans Day, sir
Speaker 5 (39:40):
Thank you so much, have a good day.
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