May 29, 2023 • 31 mins
Enduring two combat deployments and eight years of active service in the Marine Corps, Staff Sergeant Jones suffered a life-changing injury while deployed in Afghanistan as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD/Bomb) technician. The 2010 IED-related incident resulted in the loss of both of his legs above the knee and severe damage to his right forearm and both wrists. Since his recovery, Jones has dedicated his work towards improving the lives of all veterans and their families. Joey joins Tudor to talk about his life, his experiences, his friends, and his new book - "Unbroken Bounds of Battle." Please take time this Memorial Day to remember all of those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. The Tudor Dixon Podcast is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network. For more information visit TudorDixonPodcast.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this is Buck Sexton and you're listening to the
Tutor Dixon Podcast, part of the Clay Travers and Buck
Sexton podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. I'm Tutor Dixon, and
I'm so glad you are joining me today for this
very special conversation on Memorial Day with Staff Sergeant Joey Jones.
He is a Fox News contributor and the author of
the upcoming book Unbroken Bonds of Battle. Joey, thank you
so much for coming on today.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, thanks for having me, thanks for asking me to
be on on the special day. And yeah, you know,
just like the book, I like to brag on my
buddies and my heroes and enjoyedever minute of my service
and like to talk about it. So well.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'm glad I saw that you said you were a
little bit leery about writing a book at first, because
you felt like there were already a lot of books
out there about service and war and that you felt like,
do I want to add to that? But yours is
a little bit different, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, people have told me
for years or well for the years that i've been
especially in media, they said, you know, you should write
a book or we'd love to read your story sometime.
And although I'm flattered by it, I feel like the
war stories are out there, you know, they're on a
white book with a gold emblem usually it's tried it
and from a Navy seal, and that those war stories
are bombastic and they're true, but they're big and larger life,
(01:17):
and they're movie worthy. And for me, I just felt like,
you know, my combat experience was had gravity to it,
and obviously it had some combat involved in it, but
I was writing another story in my life and my
recovery and the people that was so fortunate to be
around before and after my injury, and that was the
story I wanted to tell, but I had to learn
(01:38):
how to tell it. And so over the years I've
kind of organized those thoughts and really what happened. And
I don't know if you are asking this question, but
the way this book came to be my buddy Pete
Hegseth did this book called Modern Warriors where he detailed
different what he calls modern warriors, and the idea of
that book inspired me to like tell my story through
(01:59):
the lens of a handful or more service members, warriors,
heroes who were instrumental in my life and had an
impact on my life in my recovery, And from it
came this book, which is just even so much more
than that.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You talk about your recovery, and I think that for
those of us who watch you all the time, I
have to remind myself that you went through this because
you are so positive and you seem like such a
light coming out there speaking on behalf of service members
but also people who've passed, and it seems like I
think that someone who hasn't served, like in my position,
(02:35):
I can look at you and go, he must not
have been affected by this because he's just so positive.
But it's really a journey that some of us will
never understand. So if you could just walk us through,
because I'm sure there have been moments that haven't been
just like Okay, I'm going to get through this. I'm
sure there have been tough moments and we don't really
see that side of you because you're just so positive
(02:57):
and joyful.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Well, first of all, thank you for the cop and
I'm glad that that's what you see. I don't put
effort into it in the sense that it's fake, but
I definitely care about showing people that you can get
through something and be happy on the other side. You know,
adversity trauma. We don't want trauma for our kids, but
trauma is what builds you strong, That's what makes you
(03:18):
a better version of yourself. You know, the least prepared
person in the world as someone who's never had a
hard ship to go through because they don't have the
tools to work with it on a day to day basis.
So I'm very fortunate not only to have survived being
blown up, but to have gone through something traumatic and
been able to reason through it and to get stronger
on the other side. Where they're tough days. Of course,
they're still tough days. They're physically tough days, and they're
(03:41):
emotionally tough days and mentally tough days. But I don't
think I wouldn't have those days even without the injury.
We all have them. You Know. One thing I always
say when I speak to a crowd is you have
this reverence for me because I lost my legs in
combat and I'm not upset about it, and I appreciate that.
But if I'm standing in front of a crowd, at
a convention or a gala. Chances are they put on
(04:03):
nice clothes, they have a date, they've made a good dinner,
they're giving money if it's a gala, they're learning about
their industry, if it's something like a convention. I'm speaking.
They have this reverence for me, But what they don't
understand is I don't know what it's like to file
for bankruptcy or lose a business, or you know, go
through a rough divorce, or lose a child or both
my parents, or you know, have cancer, or I'm not
(04:26):
dealing with an illness that might yet take my life.
But all of those things are present in that audience,
in that moment, and the resilience that you have to
have to be a human being is inspirational, not just
a service member or not just someone who was combat injured.
So for me, all I'm trying to do when I
point that out is one point out to people how
strong and inspirational they are, and to point out that
(04:50):
we all have a battle. Whatever that battle is, we
all have it and none of us is going to
let it define us. You know, hopefully, if we're healthy
mentally and emotionally, it's going to be what controls our emotions.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I think that's a scary thing for some people to
think because they haven't been through that. And we are
in a world right now where it's oftentimes pushed that
you won't have any struggles. We're going to accept everything
is going to be easy. We're going to try to
make things easy.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
It's funny because just this morning I was at an
event where a bunch of businesses we're talking, and one
of the girls in the crowd, a young woman, said
she was a student, and she said to the businesses,
how are you going to change to understand my generation?
We need flex time, We need people to consider what
(05:39):
benefits we need. We're just a different generation. We need
you to come around us rather than us conform to
what you are as a business. And I think, gosh,
when you're that age, you've never Many people are fortunate
enough to have never experienced some type of tragedy, and
I think that not having these discussions, I mean, it
(06:02):
was amazing. The whole crowd erupted in applause. They said, yes,
we've got to make sure that the students lead that
the workforce and that we listen to them going forward.
But that's not really reality. So how do you talk
to people about the fact that inevitably, inevitably, you are
going to have something tough happen to you. And this
(06:22):
generation doesn't necessarily seem like they're prepared for that.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
It certainly feels that way sometimes. I think ultimately history
proves tough times happen. You know, two thousand and eight
happened to my generation, and what may come of you know,
not to get too political at one time, and what
may come of all the spending from COVID may happen
to their generation. I don't know. We're still undecided. We
don't have a we don't have a good pulse on that.
(06:47):
So tough times will happen. It might be economic, it
might be in your life. But you're going to go
through something that you don't want to have to go through.
The best thing you can do is be prepared for it.
And the best way to be prepared for it is
not to be averse to try or tough times, you know,
to learn how to get through it. I was born
in the nineteen sixty six single wide. My dad laid
brick and block and my mom cleaned houses. And no,
(07:08):
I'm not running for office. That's not why I'm telling
you that, but I love talking about it because that's
who I was for eighteen years of my life before
I found the Marine Corps, and certainly before I found
a camera and words to put in front of it.
That is the foundation of who I am. That is
the type of people I come from. In the background
I have. Adversity is innate when you're poor, it's a
(07:31):
part of it, but it's also opportunity. You can't go
anywhere but up, and you can't help but to appreciate
the simplest things in life, because it's about all you
have sometimes. And you know what, we were super happy.
We were happy, we were full of love and clothes.
We had drama like every other family. You know. I
didn't grow up in the trailer park. I grew up
in a park trailer and so if I hadn't have
(07:52):
started there, I don't think my personality. I don't think
I would have made near as much out of what
I was given. And so for my son, for example,
he's a part of this latter gen z. I guess
he's going to be fourteen, and I think all the time,
like man, am I making life hard? Enough for him.
He's a lot like me and stuff. He's a whole
(08:13):
lot smarter and a whole lot more talented. And I worry, like,
you know, if he doesn't have the struggle I had,
can he be you know, a better version of me?
Which is what you want from your son. And then
I really think about, well, not all trauma is the same,
but all trauma can be of equal value. And so
his mom and I were not together when he was conceived.
We've never been together. We have raised him, co parented
(08:36):
in a really healthy way, but there have been some struggles,
and there have been days where I wanted to be
there for him and I couldn't. We've had to FaceTime
or miss each other. And you know what, that's not easy.
That's a little bit traumatic, and I wish that weren't
the case. But him going through it and us talking
about it and him understanding it, that's trauma. But it's
building him to be a stronger man when he becomes
a man. So my hope is that this generation, as
(09:00):
they mature, and it's not age but experience that brings
that wisdom, they understand the value of going through tough
times or tough tough situations rather than working so hard
to avoid them.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon Podcast. We're talking about Memorial Day and
people that are lost in battle, and you know, I mean,
you experience that you lived through losing friends, and I haven't.
I obviously have. I'm not a service member, I haven't served.
(09:35):
I haven't lived through that. When you think of this day,
what do you tell people who? I mean, I think
a lot of times people walk into this weekend thinking, oh,
it's a three day weekend and not really fully feeling
the gravity of what we're talking about here. So how
do you bring that to people, not in a scary way,
but in a way to say these people were there
(09:57):
for you in ways you will maybe never understand.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I do it every other day, and at three hundred
and sixty five days a year. Every time. Back to
this kind of original comment, you asked me about telling
my story or a book. Anytime I talk about me,
I talk about my buddy Daniel Greer. The bomb I
stepped on that took my legs, took his life, and
I cannot tell the events of that day without singing
(10:23):
his praises and making sure people remember his legacy, and
it is different for me, and I'm glad it's different
for me and not this way for everyone. Memorial Day.
For me, a lot of people like to say, hey,
Memorial Day has names, you know, there are names that
are attached more to day. Well, for me, Memorial Day
has memories. You know, I've witnessed what made someone who
(10:44):
you celebrate on Memorial Day. I've seen people die in
combat and I've experienced some of their last solemn moments
before they went off on an operation that took their life.
And so Memorial Day is a full breath for me,
and it's twofold one grateful that if somebody has to
know that that I'm the one that gets to that,
(11:05):
I'm the one that I guess to use the term
bears that cross in a way, and everybody has to
then on the other side, I am honored that I
get to share that with people. And Memorial Day is
not about making people feel bad. I mean, if you
know anything about the military, our funerals are not about
making you feel bad. It's the time to celebrate and
tell jokes and tell stories and remember who we were
(11:28):
in the full breath of our life. Not the one
moment that we expired. And so Memorial Day for me
is that too. You know, like I have multiple text groups.
One of them is a set of Marine Bomb texts
that I served with, and within that text group, Momorld
Day can be really heavy, but some of those same
guys will be in another text group, and mom World
Day is jovial and it's fun and we're telling stories
(11:49):
about these guys. And so for me, what I explain
to people is just make it mean something. You know,
take that opportunity. If there was somebody you worked with
whose son passed away, if there's somebody in your face,
if there's somebody in your church, your community, make it
mean something. Add a name to it, and then add
a memory to it. And if that memory is after
the fact because you've reached out to a family member
(12:10):
or you learned that person's story, make it personal because
it is personal.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
What is it like to go from to go from combat,
to go from that brotherhood and then come back. You
obviously had a lot of healing to do, but now
you're like everybody knows you, You're in our family rooms
every day. What is it like to make that transition
and have this big platform, because I think people like me,
(12:36):
like I said, who haven't served, and I don't have
anybody in my immediate family who've served. I mean, we
look up to you, we look at you, and we
go look at what this man has been able to do.
And it's important for us to see that, to know
that we are able to raise people up and honor them.
But also, like, what is it like from your perspective
(12:57):
to suddenly have this huge platform be out there on
Fox every day and be able to tell these stories.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's a multi fasty question, and I appreciate you asking it.
So first of all, to be on Fox every day
is very surreal. I live on a forty acre cal
farm in rural Gordon County, Georgia. That's where I laid
my head when it's where I want it to be,
when it's where I chose today to go to sleep.
And I live among people who majoritily knew me before
(13:25):
I was on television or lost my legs. And it
got to the point where it was like, Hey, if
I'm going to walk into a restaurant, people are going
to know me. I'd rather be people that knew me
before TV. And so that's kind of where I what
I have decided. So I get to work in New
York and work in this big city and work in
this big way. But it's only to the extent that
I get to represent the couple of communities that made
(13:46):
me who I am. And one of them is the military,
the other one are rural Southern Americans. And so that's
where my heart is, and that's where my experiences lay,
that's where my days off are. And so for me,
it's just responsibility, honor and responsibility. I have a responsibility
to reflect those two communities and how I carry myself
and how I speak about things, and I have the
(14:09):
honor of representing them in that way. You know, when
you go on television to discuss topics that people are
really passionate about, it's not your job to tell them
what to think. All you can do is show them
that someone they identify with, someone with a similar background
and with similar you know, experiences, has had a chance
(14:29):
to provide a perspective one They feel heard. They feel
like somebody is speaking for them to somebody's actually speaking
to them. All too often, analysts and commentators almost talk
over our head and speak to one another, and that
I couldn't do it if I wanted to. I'm not
that sophisticated, I guess, but that's also my not my goal.
(14:49):
My goal is to talk to my mom or my
uncle Jeff and to make sure they understand why this
important thing can have an effect in their life. And
that's where it starts and stops, and and I get
positiveeedback on that. So I guess I figured out a
way to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So what is your message in the book? I mean,
what should people expect when they get the book? It's
coming out? When is it coming out?
Speaker 1 (15:10):
June twenty seventh, so it's on pre order right now.
That's as much as I know. I don't know how
this whole process works. There are people that get paid
to know that part. But I am just so excited
about it and what to expect. You learn that relationships
are to keep to life and you don't get through
anything on your own. This book profiles or interviews ten
(15:33):
people that are really important in my life, some of
them for the last twenty years and some of them
for the last couple of years. Some of them don't recognize.
Nate Boyer or Wesley Hunt are people I've known and
gotten to know, and they're in the book because specific
experiences with them were so impactful to me that it
colored how I see things or how I respond to
things just by knowing them and sharing an experience with them.
(15:55):
Others like Keith Stancel Danny Ridgeway have been my best
friend for ten twenty thirty years now, Keith, since high school.
We've been through it all together. We've survived a best
friend committing suicide, survived joining the military, survived getting blown up,
survived bearing friends, and in all of that, they have
(16:15):
gone through their own trials and tribulations, most of it
connected to military service, but were there for me during mine.
And so I'm telling my story through the lens of
these relationships that were vitally important that we're also service members.
Along the way, a couple of others in there. A
guy named Lacy Cano that's Air Force, I don't know
(16:36):
what's called cargo plane pilot, refueler pilot, big plane pilot.
And he's from West Virginia. He grew up like me,
real poor out in what we call a holler. And
for him to learn what self confidence is and self
assurance to be a lieutenant commander and to be teaching
twenty year olds how to fly a multimillion dollar plane
and to have that moment of realization that sometimes you
(16:57):
don't know how important you can be in someone's life
until you're in the middle of it. And you don't
know that you're prepared for something until you have to
do it. And just so many lessons like that that
go back to how we relate to the people in
our lives, how we treat them, and what we learn
from them.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
You've done some work in government, You've helped to direct
policy change veterment for veterans and worked with the Department
of Defense. What was that like? How I mean, that's
something that we hear. I think from the outside perspective.
We hear that in campaigns a lot. We hear people
saying we're going to stand up for our veterans. Right now,
(17:31):
I think there is a bit of concern over whether
or not our veterans are being taken care of when
all this money is going being directed into different places.
So we have not only the concern of whether our
veterans are being taken care of, but also whether or
not people are going to join the military in the future.
And enrollment is down, we see some weird things going
(17:52):
on there, and I think there's overall uneasiness. What was
it like to be working on the side of policy
helping to do that, and what were some of the
impactful changes that you think you had.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Well, first of all, I'm old. It's been ten years
since I was up there in Congress or more, I
guess two thousand and eleven and twelve is when I
worked for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
So government moves slow. So let's face it, that's not
that long.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Fair. But this identity crisis that our Department of Defense
is going through right now, which kind of mirrors but
maybe even a more severe way, the identity crisis of
our society that worries me because I don't have experience
with that. That wasn't yet taking hold when I was
working with Department of Defense in BA. But back to
my time on Capitol Hill working with the VA. You know,
(18:42):
back then, way back then, the House Veterans Affairs Committee
was still a committee, a little bit immune to the
most awful partisan politics. Tim Waltz was a representative the governor.
Tim Wats was a representative, a Democratic representative on the
House Burns Affairs Committee, and back then he was a
pretty reasonable, middle of the road guy when it came
(19:03):
to the stuff we were working on, and if you
know him in the headlines now he's a pretty partisan governor.
And so you know, back then we were able to
get things done because everyone kind of agreed on the
idea that the VA could be better and there was
a way to get it done. For me, I worked
on the House Biters Affairs Committee as I was going
through the back end of my recovery and transition from
active duty to VA. So I was on like the
(19:25):
user end and the and the system's creation end, so
I could see the problems and report those right back
to the people who have oversight over that entity, the VA.
And what I learned was kind of twofold Number one.
Congress says in big broad terms what the VA should do,
but the bureaucrafts aside how it's done, and then Congress
(19:47):
eats up its time arguing over if it's getting done right.
And so that is a big kind of inefficiency, but
it's the separation of power, so it's kind of how
we've designed it. And the other thing I learned that
there is no problem throwing money at fixes. When it
comes to the VA, the VA has as much money
as it could ever spend. It's the attempt at oversight
(20:09):
that turns into partisan politics that slows that money down.
I can give examples that are a little bit kind
of later and nerdy, but what I'll try to say
is if the VA writes a piece of legislation that
says you must provide prosthetic devices that you know, within
six months to every combat mptee, how they implement that
becomes convoluted, and that's due to policy and red tape,
(20:32):
and one party gets in charge and the other party
wants to hold them accountable because they think they spend
money wrongly. So then they add another form you have
to fill out. Now there's twelve forms to make this happen,
and it takes seven months to get the forums done
and you're supposed to do it in six so you're
never meeting the standard. And those are the problems. And
you know, I could get on a tangent about what
I think should happen, but really we have the intent
(20:54):
and we have the money. What we don't have is
the efficiency, and that's the So when people said we
should take care of our veterans better. There's so many
programs and so many initiatives, and so many pieces of
legislation and opportunities. So all of that is there. It's
just getting leaders in there who can see through the
fog and make things happen efficiently and quickly. That's what
(21:17):
we need to focus on to take care of our veterans.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Do you see a type of
leadership that is helpful, that is doing things better or different?
Did you ever feel.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That you know, I've been asked this question, and if
you've made me come up with a name and be
hard to do. And I won't name some of them
because their active duty. There are some generals that were
Klonels when I was in the Marine Corps who still
to this day understand the lessons they learned and how
important it is to be simple about it and not
try to make a career out of making a positive change.
(21:57):
At some point, it seems the best of them fall
victim to what is inside the beltwegh and so I
don't know. I think the problem that we're transitioning into now.
We used to say that the marines that get out
that do really well and get out early, get out
early because they were successful and they want a new challenge.
The ones that kind of aren't that well and they
(22:17):
stay in forever, they stay in forever because they're used
to it, and they don't they're scared to have to
be challenged in some other way. I'm starting to believe
that the folks in charge of our military kind of
abide by that same rule. So I don't know if
it's we need talent retention or an overhaul of how
we promote, but I will tell you this, if you
have a general or a bureaucrat who's as focused on
(22:38):
their own personal success as the success of their responsibilities,
that is not the way forward. And that's the concern
I have.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I think that goes with any anybody. I mean, that's
been my complaint, even having run for office and kind
of seeing the dynamics from a different perspective. Is like,
if you have someone who is trying to personally be
someone rather than someone who is trying to serve and
do something, then you should have a red flag go up.
But it's sometimes it's hard to tell. I mean, especially
(23:08):
when someone's running for office. You don't always know that
the goal is very self motivated, but it's definitely a
message no matter what industry you're in. That can be
really very toxic if you have somebody that is all
about self, because everything is kind of a team absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know, you look at some of the presidents in
generals of the past, will say Jackson or Andrew Jackson
or MacArthur. I mean their faults were they wanted to
win too much. They pushed too hard to win, you know,
they pushed too hard to achieve too much. You have
to believe they were driven by a lot of personal ambition,
(23:46):
but their ambition was a positive thing in a lot
of ways. They were pushing too hard to strengthen what
they were responsible for. I can work with that. Those people,
if they existed today, might still need to be held
in check. If it were up to MacArthur, would probably
own China and not be fighting against it right now.
But with that being said, at least the end result
(24:08):
of their efforts had a positive outcome in some way.
What we have now are a little bit more astute.
Perhaps leaders who see a weakness in our society and
say that it's almost like they drill into that weakness.
It's like you drill into a sore tooth to get
the emotions stirred up. And I don't understand how they
(24:30):
see that as a positive. You know, the Marine Corps
is going through a big change right now, and the
big discrepancy or the big dispute over this change is
the commandant of the Marine Corps realized that the only
way to make Congress happy in the short term was
to make a big change that said the right things
and then showed them how they wouldn't have to pay
(24:50):
for it so they wouldn't have to be on the
hook for it, And in doing so, it made other
parts of the Marine Corps weak. And so you know,
by building his and I don't know this is his motive,
we're kind of building his name as the man who
changed the Marine Corps, he's also exposing us in other ways.
Is there a better way to do it? The Congress
not give him an opportunity to do it better. So
(25:11):
much about the decisions are does this make me look bad?
Will this stop me from getting re elected? And it
really should be does this accomplish the mission?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Well, you mentioned something about not really understanding this generation
of what's happening in the military. What's going on. I
don't know if you're referring to some of the things
that we're seeing, but I think from an outsider's perspective,
we see this advertising, this drag person at advertising come
(25:40):
and join the military, and everything inside of me says,
I don't think that that's how you get people there.
I mean, that seems like that's not the right message.
And we keep seeing these things that are happening. I mean,
they're happening in businesses. It seems very strange for this
to be the military. This to be happening in the military,
but there's a lot of equity and diversity and inclusion
(26:05):
and all of this happening in a place where you
think that, wow, the focus really has to be the mission.
And I imagine that you have to be really focused
out there on the battlefield to make sure that you
are not only safe, but you're keeping everyone around you safe.
How does that? I mean, when you see that stuff, now,
(26:26):
does that surprise you?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Is it? Does?
Speaker 2 (26:29):
It seem almost silly to think that that's the important
thing when you're on on the battlefield.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
At face value, it would be surprising A drag queen
as a spokesperson for the Navy. Sounds like a joke
that we used to tell. But really those are symptoms.
Those aren't the problem, and really they're not even the
expression of the problem. Or maybe that's all they are.
And let me explain. We are all connected through these
(26:55):
devices to millions of people. That has never been the
case before. As a society, we have never felt less
relevant as human being. And that's a problem. If you
came home from Vietnam, and I look at it from
a male's perspective, but you can put the script. If
you came home from Vietnam and you married the high
school homecoming queen from your senior year, and you took
(27:18):
over your dad's hardware store and you bought that house
on Main Street. Man, you are a celebrity in your world.
You accomplished, over surpassed every goal you could have set
for yourself, and you have made it. You accumulated the
wealth and notoriety that you could only dream of in
that amazing town that built you. That wouldn't even scratch
(27:41):
the surface of self relevance that this generation feels, because
none of those things matter on TikTok or Instagram or
Twitter or to a million people because they haven't heard
of Dalton, Georgia or Georgetown, Texas. And so the problem
there in lies when you're asked to join the military,
to give up all those selfish desires to be relevant,
(28:03):
to be important. You're asked to only stand out through
your actions and merit, not through your individuality. What you're
asked to do is to conform, to look exactly like
the person to your left and right, skin color, notwithstanding haircut, clothes, demeanor, expression,
how you literally the micromannerisms of how you carry your
(28:24):
body should be uniform. You are nothing more and nothing
less than a cog in this machine that will defend
our country. You can't do that unless you're raised with
a certain amount of security and who you are that
this generation doesn't have. They are in a constant drought
and struggle and thirst for acknowledgment and relevance because they
(28:45):
are comparing themselves to millions of people at a time,
so under that lens. It does not surprise me at
all that regulations are being changed that you can dye
your hair however you want to paint your fingernails, however
you want to be a drag queen if you want to.
So for me, it's not the identity politics of it.
It is the personal identity crisis that our entire culture
(29:07):
is going through. That is also going to affect men
and women joining the military. You can't ask people to
become a number in a crowd unless they have a
good understanding of who they are already, and we're not
getting eighteen year olds to have that anymore. That's the problem.
Of course, it's going to affect infect our military, it's
going to infect our young leaders, it's going to infect
(29:29):
a generation that's going to infect our government, our media,
and that's where we are. I don't know what the
solution is other than good parenting and understanding a problem,
but that to me is the root cause I.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Don't think i've ever heard it said that well honestly,
I mean, that was powerful, and I think it's powerful
as a parent. I'm also my oldest is about to
turn fourteen, and so I'm in that same situation right now,
and that alone is an identity crisis. So you're at
an age where everything is hard. But that was very
mean to me as a mom to say, yeah, this
(30:02):
is something that I need to instill in them. That
their identity is not found in social media, their identity
is not found in a phone. That their identity is
found in their faith and in themselves. And so I
think you might have hit on the solution. How do
we get there is a different thing. But I am
so grateful that you are sharing Memorial Day with us
(30:24):
and I appreciate you coming on. Staff Sergeant Joey Jones,
make sure you check out his book, Unbroken Bonds of Battle.
Where when they want to order it? Where do they
get it?
Speaker 1 (30:33):
The best way to pre order is Foxnewsbooks dot com
and then come June it'll be available in most bookstores
and pretty much ever where your shot for a book.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Thank you so much, you are amazing. I appreciate you
coming on today. Yes, ma'am, thank you, and thank you
all for joining us on the Tutor Dixon Podcast. As always,
for this episode and others, go to Tutor dixonpodcast dot com.
You can subscribe right there, or you can go to
iHeartRadio app or Apple Podcasts anywhere you get your podcasts.
So thank you so much. We'll see you next time
(31:03):
on the Tutor Dixon Podcast, and everybody have a wonderful
Memorial Day.
Hey, this is Buck Sexton and you're listening to the
Tutor Dixon Podcast, part of the Clay Travers and Buck
Sexton podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. I'm Tutor Dixon, and
I'm so glad you are joining me today for this
very special conversation on Memorial Day with Staff Sergeant Joey Jones.
He is a Fox News contributor and the author of
the upcoming book Unbroken Bonds of Battle. Joey, thank you
so much for coming on today.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, thanks for having me, thanks for asking me to
be on on the special day. And yeah, you know,
just like the book, I like to brag on my
buddies and my heroes and enjoyedever minute of my service
and like to talk about it. So well.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'm glad I saw that you said you were a
little bit leery about writing a book at first, because
you felt like there were already a lot of books
out there about service and war and that you felt like,
do I want to add to that? But yours is
a little bit different, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, people have told me
for years or well for the years that i've been
especially in media, they said, you know, you should write
a book or we'd love to read your story sometime.
And although I'm flattered by it, I feel like the
war stories are out there, you know, they're on a
white book with a gold emblem usually it's tried it
and from a Navy seal, and that those war stories
are bombastic and they're true, but they're big and larger life,
(01:17):
and they're movie worthy. And for me, I just felt like,
you know, my combat experience was had gravity to it,
and obviously it had some combat involved in it, but
I was writing another story in my life and my
recovery and the people that was so fortunate to be
around before and after my injury, and that was the
story I wanted to tell, but I had to learn
(01:38):
how to tell it. And so over the years I've
kind of organized those thoughts and really what happened. And
I don't know if you are asking this question, but
the way this book came to be my buddy Pete
Hegseth did this book called Modern Warriors where he detailed
different what he calls modern warriors, and the idea of
that book inspired me to like tell my story through
(01:59):
the lens of a handful or more service members, warriors,
heroes who were instrumental in my life and had an
impact on my life in my recovery, And from it
came this book, which is just even so much more
than that.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You talk about your recovery, and I think that for
those of us who watch you all the time, I
have to remind myself that you went through this because
you are so positive and you seem like such a
light coming out there speaking on behalf of service members
but also people who've passed, and it seems like I
think that someone who hasn't served, like in my position,
(02:35):
I can look at you and go, he must not
have been affected by this because he's just so positive.
But it's really a journey that some of us will
never understand. So if you could just walk us through,
because I'm sure there have been moments that haven't been
just like Okay, I'm going to get through this. I'm
sure there have been tough moments and we don't really
see that side of you because you're just so positive
(02:57):
and joyful.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Well, first of all, thank you for the cop and
I'm glad that that's what you see. I don't put
effort into it in the sense that it's fake, but
I definitely care about showing people that you can get
through something and be happy on the other side. You know,
adversity trauma. We don't want trauma for our kids, but
trauma is what builds you strong, That's what makes you
(03:18):
a better version of yourself. You know, the least prepared
person in the world as someone who's never had a
hard ship to go through because they don't have the
tools to work with it on a day to day basis.
So I'm very fortunate not only to have survived being
blown up, but to have gone through something traumatic and
been able to reason through it and to get stronger
on the other side. Where they're tough days. Of course,
they're still tough days. They're physically tough days, and they're
(03:41):
emotionally tough days and mentally tough days. But I don't
think I wouldn't have those days even without the injury.
We all have them. You Know. One thing I always
say when I speak to a crowd is you have
this reverence for me because I lost my legs in
combat and I'm not upset about it, and I appreciate that.
But if I'm standing in front of a crowd, at
a convention or a gala. Chances are they put on
(04:03):
nice clothes, they have a date, they've made a good dinner,
they're giving money if it's a gala, they're learning about
their industry, if it's something like a convention. I'm speaking.
They have this reverence for me, But what they don't
understand is I don't know what it's like to file
for bankruptcy or lose a business, or you know, go
through a rough divorce, or lose a child or both
my parents, or you know, have cancer, or I'm not
(04:26):
dealing with an illness that might yet take my life.
But all of those things are present in that audience,
in that moment, and the resilience that you have to
have to be a human being is inspirational, not just
a service member or not just someone who was combat injured.
So for me, all I'm trying to do when I
point that out is one point out to people how
strong and inspirational they are, and to point out that
(04:50):
we all have a battle. Whatever that battle is, we
all have it and none of us is going to
let it define us. You know, hopefully, if we're healthy
mentally and emotionally, it's going to be what controls our emotions.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I think that's a scary thing for some people to
think because they haven't been through that. And we are
in a world right now where it's oftentimes pushed that
you won't have any struggles. We're going to accept everything
is going to be easy. We're going to try to
make things easy.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
It's funny because just this morning I was at an
event where a bunch of businesses we're talking, and one
of the girls in the crowd, a young woman, said
she was a student, and she said to the businesses,
how are you going to change to understand my generation?
We need flex time, We need people to consider what
(05:39):
benefits we need. We're just a different generation. We need
you to come around us rather than us conform to
what you are as a business. And I think, gosh,
when you're that age, you've never Many people are fortunate
enough to have never experienced some type of tragedy, and
I think that not having these discussions, I mean, it
(06:02):
was amazing. The whole crowd erupted in applause. They said, yes,
we've got to make sure that the students lead that
the workforce and that we listen to them going forward.
But that's not really reality. So how do you talk
to people about the fact that inevitably, inevitably, you are
going to have something tough happen to you. And this
(06:22):
generation doesn't necessarily seem like they're prepared for that.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
It certainly feels that way sometimes. I think ultimately history
proves tough times happen. You know, two thousand and eight
happened to my generation, and what may come of you know,
not to get too political at one time, and what
may come of all the spending from COVID may happen
to their generation. I don't know. We're still undecided. We
don't have a we don't have a good pulse on that.
(06:47):
So tough times will happen. It might be economic, it
might be in your life. But you're going to go
through something that you don't want to have to go through.
The best thing you can do is be prepared for it.
And the best way to be prepared for it is
not to be averse to try or tough times, you know,
to learn how to get through it. I was born
in the nineteen sixty six single wide. My dad laid
brick and block and my mom cleaned houses. And no,
(07:08):
I'm not running for office. That's not why I'm telling
you that, but I love talking about it because that's
who I was for eighteen years of my life before
I found the Marine Corps, and certainly before I found
a camera and words to put in front of it.
That is the foundation of who I am. That is
the type of people I come from. In the background
I have. Adversity is innate when you're poor, it's a
(07:31):
part of it, but it's also opportunity. You can't go
anywhere but up, and you can't help but to appreciate
the simplest things in life, because it's about all you
have sometimes. And you know what, we were super happy.
We were happy, we were full of love and clothes.
We had drama like every other family. You know. I
didn't grow up in the trailer park. I grew up
in a park trailer and so if I hadn't have
(07:52):
started there, I don't think my personality. I don't think
I would have made near as much out of what
I was given. And so for my son, for example,
he's a part of this latter gen z. I guess
he's going to be fourteen, and I think all the time,
like man, am I making life hard? Enough for him.
He's a lot like me and stuff. He's a whole
(08:13):
lot smarter and a whole lot more talented. And I worry, like,
you know, if he doesn't have the struggle I had,
can he be you know, a better version of me?
Which is what you want from your son. And then
I really think about, well, not all trauma is the same,
but all trauma can be of equal value. And so
his mom and I were not together when he was conceived.
We've never been together. We have raised him, co parented
(08:36):
in a really healthy way, but there have been some struggles,
and there have been days where I wanted to be
there for him and I couldn't. We've had to FaceTime
or miss each other. And you know what, that's not easy.
That's a little bit traumatic, and I wish that weren't
the case. But him going through it and us talking
about it and him understanding it, that's trauma. But it's
building him to be a stronger man when he becomes
a man. So my hope is that this generation, as
(09:00):
they mature, and it's not age but experience that brings
that wisdom, they understand the value of going through tough
times or tough tough situations rather than working so hard
to avoid them.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon Podcast. We're talking about Memorial Day and
people that are lost in battle, and you know, I mean,
you experience that you lived through losing friends, and I haven't.
I obviously have. I'm not a service member, I haven't served.
(09:35):
I haven't lived through that. When you think of this day,
what do you tell people who? I mean, I think
a lot of times people walk into this weekend thinking, oh,
it's a three day weekend and not really fully feeling
the gravity of what we're talking about here. So how
do you bring that to people, not in a scary way,
but in a way to say these people were there
(09:57):
for you in ways you will maybe never understand.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I do it every other day, and at three hundred
and sixty five days a year. Every time. Back to
this kind of original comment, you asked me about telling
my story or a book. Anytime I talk about me,
I talk about my buddy Daniel Greer. The bomb I
stepped on that took my legs, took his life, and
I cannot tell the events of that day without singing
(10:23):
his praises and making sure people remember his legacy, and
it is different for me, and I'm glad it's different
for me and not this way for everyone. Memorial Day.
For me, a lot of people like to say, hey,
Memorial Day has names, you know, there are names that
are attached more to day. Well, for me, Memorial Day
has memories. You know, I've witnessed what made someone who
(10:44):
you celebrate on Memorial Day. I've seen people die in
combat and I've experienced some of their last solemn moments
before they went off on an operation that took their life.
And so Memorial Day is a full breath for me,
and it's twofold one grateful that if somebody has to
know that that I'm the one that gets to that,
(11:05):
I'm the one that I guess to use the term
bears that cross in a way, and everybody has to
then on the other side, I am honored that I
get to share that with people. And Memorial Day is
not about making people feel bad. I mean, if you
know anything about the military, our funerals are not about
making you feel bad. It's the time to celebrate and
tell jokes and tell stories and remember who we were
(11:28):
in the full breath of our life. Not the one
moment that we expired. And so Memorial Day for me
is that too. You know, like I have multiple text groups.
One of them is a set of Marine Bomb texts
that I served with, and within that text group, Momorld
Day can be really heavy, but some of those same
guys will be in another text group, and mom World
Day is jovial and it's fun and we're telling stories
(11:49):
about these guys. And so for me, what I explain
to people is just make it mean something. You know,
take that opportunity. If there was somebody you worked with
whose son passed away, if there's somebody in your face,
if there's somebody in your church, your community, make it
mean something. Add a name to it, and then add
a memory to it. And if that memory is after
the fact because you've reached out to a family member
(12:10):
or you learned that person's story, make it personal because
it is personal.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
What is it like to go from to go from combat,
to go from that brotherhood and then come back. You
obviously had a lot of healing to do, but now
you're like everybody knows you, You're in our family rooms
every day. What is it like to make that transition
and have this big platform, because I think people like me,
(12:36):
like I said, who haven't served, and I don't have
anybody in my immediate family who've served. I mean, we
look up to you, we look at you, and we
go look at what this man has been able to do.
And it's important for us to see that, to know
that we are able to raise people up and honor them.
But also, like, what is it like from your perspective
(12:57):
to suddenly have this huge platform be out there on
Fox every day and be able to tell these stories.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's a multi fasty question, and I appreciate you asking it.
So first of all, to be on Fox every day
is very surreal. I live on a forty acre cal
farm in rural Gordon County, Georgia. That's where I laid
my head when it's where I want it to be,
when it's where I chose today to go to sleep.
And I live among people who majoritily knew me before
(13:25):
I was on television or lost my legs. And it
got to the point where it was like, Hey, if
I'm going to walk into a restaurant, people are going
to know me. I'd rather be people that knew me
before TV. And so that's kind of where I what
I have decided. So I get to work in New
York and work in this big city and work in
this big way. But it's only to the extent that
I get to represent the couple of communities that made
(13:46):
me who I am. And one of them is the military,
the other one are rural Southern Americans. And so that's
where my heart is, and that's where my experiences lay,
that's where my days off are. And so for me,
it's just responsibility, honor and responsibility. I have a responsibility
to reflect those two communities and how I carry myself
and how I speak about things, and I have the
(14:09):
honor of representing them in that way. You know, when
you go on television to discuss topics that people are
really passionate about, it's not your job to tell them
what to think. All you can do is show them
that someone they identify with, someone with a similar background
and with similar you know, experiences, has had a chance
(14:29):
to provide a perspective one They feel heard. They feel
like somebody is speaking for them to somebody's actually speaking
to them. All too often, analysts and commentators almost talk
over our head and speak to one another, and that
I couldn't do it if I wanted to. I'm not
that sophisticated, I guess, but that's also my not my goal.
(14:49):
My goal is to talk to my mom or my
uncle Jeff and to make sure they understand why this
important thing can have an effect in their life. And
that's where it starts and stops, and and I get
positiveeedback on that. So I guess I figured out a
way to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So what is your message in the book? I mean,
what should people expect when they get the book? It's
coming out? When is it coming out?
Speaker 1 (15:10):
June twenty seventh, so it's on pre order right now.
That's as much as I know. I don't know how
this whole process works. There are people that get paid
to know that part. But I am just so excited
about it and what to expect. You learn that relationships
are to keep to life and you don't get through
anything on your own. This book profiles or interviews ten
(15:33):
people that are really important in my life, some of
them for the last twenty years and some of them
for the last couple of years. Some of them don't recognize.
Nate Boyer or Wesley Hunt are people I've known and
gotten to know, and they're in the book because specific
experiences with them were so impactful to me that it
colored how I see things or how I respond to
things just by knowing them and sharing an experience with them.
(15:55):
Others like Keith Stancel Danny Ridgeway have been my best
friend for ten twenty thirty years now, Keith, since high school.
We've been through it all together. We've survived a best
friend committing suicide, survived joining the military, survived getting blown up,
survived bearing friends, and in all of that, they have
(16:15):
gone through their own trials and tribulations, most of it
connected to military service, but were there for me during mine.
And so I'm telling my story through the lens of
these relationships that were vitally important that we're also service members.
Along the way, a couple of others in there. A
guy named Lacy Cano that's Air Force, I don't know
(16:36):
what's called cargo plane pilot, refueler pilot, big plane pilot.
And he's from West Virginia. He grew up like me,
real poor out in what we call a holler. And
for him to learn what self confidence is and self
assurance to be a lieutenant commander and to be teaching
twenty year olds how to fly a multimillion dollar plane
and to have that moment of realization that sometimes you
(16:57):
don't know how important you can be in someone's life
until you're in the middle of it. And you don't
know that you're prepared for something until you have to
do it. And just so many lessons like that that
go back to how we relate to the people in
our lives, how we treat them, and what we learn
from them.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
You've done some work in government, You've helped to direct
policy change veterment for veterans and worked with the Department
of Defense. What was that like? How I mean, that's
something that we hear. I think from the outside perspective.
We hear that in campaigns a lot. We hear people
saying we're going to stand up for our veterans. Right now,
(17:31):
I think there is a bit of concern over whether
or not our veterans are being taken care of when
all this money is going being directed into different places.
So we have not only the concern of whether our
veterans are being taken care of, but also whether or
not people are going to join the military in the future.
And enrollment is down, we see some weird things going
(17:52):
on there, and I think there's overall uneasiness. What was
it like to be working on the side of policy
helping to do that, and what were some of the
impactful changes that you think you had.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Well, first of all, I'm old. It's been ten years
since I was up there in Congress or more, I
guess two thousand and eleven and twelve is when I
worked for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
So government moves slow. So let's face it, that's not
that long.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Fair. But this identity crisis that our Department of Defense
is going through right now, which kind of mirrors but
maybe even a more severe way, the identity crisis of
our society that worries me because I don't have experience
with that. That wasn't yet taking hold when I was
working with Department of Defense in BA. But back to
my time on Capitol Hill working with the VA. You know,
(18:42):
back then, way back then, the House Veterans Affairs Committee
was still a committee, a little bit immune to the
most awful partisan politics. Tim Waltz was a representative the governor.
Tim Wats was a representative, a Democratic representative on the
House Burns Affairs Committee, and back then he was a
pretty reasonable, middle of the road guy when it came
(19:03):
to the stuff we were working on, and if you
know him in the headlines now he's a pretty partisan governor.
And so you know, back then we were able to
get things done because everyone kind of agreed on the
idea that the VA could be better and there was
a way to get it done. For me, I worked
on the House Biters Affairs Committee as I was going
through the back end of my recovery and transition from
active duty to VA. So I was on like the
(19:25):
user end and the and the system's creation end, so
I could see the problems and report those right back
to the people who have oversight over that entity, the VA.
And what I learned was kind of twofold Number one.
Congress says in big broad terms what the VA should do,
but the bureaucrafts aside how it's done, and then Congress
(19:47):
eats up its time arguing over if it's getting done right.
And so that is a big kind of inefficiency, but
it's the separation of power, so it's kind of how
we've designed it. And the other thing I learned that
there is no problem throwing money at fixes. When it
comes to the VA, the VA has as much money
as it could ever spend. It's the attempt at oversight
(20:09):
that turns into partisan politics that slows that money down.
I can give examples that are a little bit kind
of later and nerdy, but what I'll try to say
is if the VA writes a piece of legislation that
says you must provide prosthetic devices that you know, within
six months to every combat mptee, how they implement that
becomes convoluted, and that's due to policy and red tape,
(20:32):
and one party gets in charge and the other party
wants to hold them accountable because they think they spend
money wrongly. So then they add another form you have
to fill out. Now there's twelve forms to make this happen,
and it takes seven months to get the forums done
and you're supposed to do it in six so you're
never meeting the standard. And those are the problems. And
you know, I could get on a tangent about what
I think should happen, but really we have the intent
(20:54):
and we have the money. What we don't have is
the efficiency, and that's the So when people said we
should take care of our veterans better. There's so many
programs and so many initiatives, and so many pieces of
legislation and opportunities. So all of that is there. It's
just getting leaders in there who can see through the
fog and make things happen efficiently and quickly. That's what
(21:17):
we need to focus on to take care of our veterans.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Do you see a type of
leadership that is helpful, that is doing things better or different?
Did you ever feel.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That you know, I've been asked this question, and if
you've made me come up with a name and be
hard to do. And I won't name some of them
because their active duty. There are some generals that were
Klonels when I was in the Marine Corps who still
to this day understand the lessons they learned and how
important it is to be simple about it and not
try to make a career out of making a positive change.
(21:57):
At some point, it seems the best of them fall
victim to what is inside the beltwegh and so I
don't know. I think the problem that we're transitioning into now.
We used to say that the marines that get out
that do really well and get out early, get out
early because they were successful and they want a new challenge.
The ones that kind of aren't that well and they
(22:17):
stay in forever, they stay in forever because they're used
to it, and they don't they're scared to have to
be challenged in some other way. I'm starting to believe
that the folks in charge of our military kind of
abide by that same rule. So I don't know if
it's we need talent retention or an overhaul of how
we promote, but I will tell you this, if you
have a general or a bureaucrat who's as focused on
(22:38):
their own personal success as the success of their responsibilities,
that is not the way forward. And that's the concern
I have.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I think that goes with any anybody. I mean, that's
been my complaint, even having run for office and kind
of seeing the dynamics from a different perspective. Is like,
if you have someone who is trying to personally be
someone rather than someone who is trying to serve and
do something, then you should have a red flag go up.
But it's sometimes it's hard to tell. I mean, especially
(23:08):
when someone's running for office. You don't always know that
the goal is very self motivated, but it's definitely a
message no matter what industry you're in. That can be
really very toxic if you have somebody that is all
about self, because everything is kind of a team absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know, you look at some of the presidents in
generals of the past, will say Jackson or Andrew Jackson
or MacArthur. I mean their faults were they wanted to
win too much. They pushed too hard to win, you know,
they pushed too hard to achieve too much. You have
to believe they were driven by a lot of personal ambition,
(23:46):
but their ambition was a positive thing in a lot
of ways. They were pushing too hard to strengthen what
they were responsible for. I can work with that. Those people,
if they existed today, might still need to be held
in check. If it were up to MacArthur, would probably
own China and not be fighting against it right now.
But with that being said, at least the end result
(24:08):
of their efforts had a positive outcome in some way.
What we have now are a little bit more astute.
Perhaps leaders who see a weakness in our society and
say that it's almost like they drill into that weakness.
It's like you drill into a sore tooth to get
the emotions stirred up. And I don't understand how they
(24:30):
see that as a positive. You know, the Marine Corps
is going through a big change right now, and the
big discrepancy or the big dispute over this change is
the commandant of the Marine Corps realized that the only
way to make Congress happy in the short term was
to make a big change that said the right things
and then showed them how they wouldn't have to pay
(24:50):
for it so they wouldn't have to be on the
hook for it, And in doing so, it made other
parts of the Marine Corps weak. And so you know,
by building his and I don't know this is his motive,
we're kind of building his name as the man who
changed the Marine Corps, he's also exposing us in other ways.
Is there a better way to do it? The Congress
not give him an opportunity to do it better. So
(25:11):
much about the decisions are does this make me look bad?
Will this stop me from getting re elected? And it
really should be does this accomplish the mission?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Well, you mentioned something about not really understanding this generation
of what's happening in the military. What's going on. I
don't know if you're referring to some of the things
that we're seeing, but I think from an outsider's perspective,
we see this advertising, this drag person at advertising come
(25:40):
and join the military, and everything inside of me says,
I don't think that that's how you get people there.
I mean, that seems like that's not the right message.
And we keep seeing these things that are happening. I mean,
they're happening in businesses. It seems very strange for this
to be the military. This to be happening in the military,
but there's a lot of equity and diversity and inclusion
(26:05):
and all of this happening in a place where you
think that, wow, the focus really has to be the mission.
And I imagine that you have to be really focused
out there on the battlefield to make sure that you
are not only safe, but you're keeping everyone around you safe.
How does that? I mean, when you see that stuff, now,
(26:26):
does that surprise you?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Is it? Does?
Speaker 2 (26:29):
It seem almost silly to think that that's the important
thing when you're on on the battlefield.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
At face value, it would be surprising A drag queen
as a spokesperson for the Navy. Sounds like a joke
that we used to tell. But really those are symptoms.
Those aren't the problem, and really they're not even the
expression of the problem. Or maybe that's all they are.
And let me explain. We are all connected through these
(26:55):
devices to millions of people. That has never been the
case before. As a society, we have never felt less
relevant as human being. And that's a problem. If you
came home from Vietnam, and I look at it from
a male's perspective, but you can put the script. If
you came home from Vietnam and you married the high
school homecoming queen from your senior year, and you took
(27:18):
over your dad's hardware store and you bought that house
on Main Street. Man, you are a celebrity in your world.
You accomplished, over surpassed every goal you could have set
for yourself, and you have made it. You accumulated the
wealth and notoriety that you could only dream of in
that amazing town that built you. That wouldn't even scratch
(27:41):
the surface of self relevance that this generation feels, because
none of those things matter on TikTok or Instagram or
Twitter or to a million people because they haven't heard
of Dalton, Georgia or Georgetown, Texas. And so the problem
there in lies when you're asked to join the military,
to give up all those selfish desires to be relevant,
(28:03):
to be important. You're asked to only stand out through
your actions and merit, not through your individuality. What you're
asked to do is to conform, to look exactly like
the person to your left and right, skin color, notwithstanding haircut, clothes, demeanor, expression,
how you literally the micromannerisms of how you carry your
(28:24):
body should be uniform. You are nothing more and nothing
less than a cog in this machine that will defend
our country. You can't do that unless you're raised with
a certain amount of security and who you are that
this generation doesn't have. They are in a constant drought
and struggle and thirst for acknowledgment and relevance because they
(28:45):
are comparing themselves to millions of people at a time,
so under that lens. It does not surprise me at
all that regulations are being changed that you can dye
your hair however you want to paint your fingernails, however
you want to be a drag queen if you want to.
So for me, it's not the identity politics of it.
It is the personal identity crisis that our entire culture
(29:07):
is going through. That is also going to affect men
and women joining the military. You can't ask people to
become a number in a crowd unless they have a
good understanding of who they are already, and we're not
getting eighteen year olds to have that anymore. That's the problem.
Of course, it's going to affect infect our military, it's
going to infect our young leaders, it's going to infect
(29:29):
a generation that's going to infect our government, our media,
and that's where we are. I don't know what the
solution is other than good parenting and understanding a problem,
but that to me is the root cause I.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Don't think i've ever heard it said that well honestly,
I mean, that was powerful, and I think it's powerful
as a parent. I'm also my oldest is about to
turn fourteen, and so I'm in that same situation right now,
and that alone is an identity crisis. So you're at
an age where everything is hard. But that was very
mean to me as a mom to say, yeah, this
(30:02):
is something that I need to instill in them. That
their identity is not found in social media, their identity
is not found in a phone. That their identity is
found in their faith and in themselves. And so I
think you might have hit on the solution. How do
we get there is a different thing. But I am
so grateful that you are sharing Memorial Day with us
(30:24):
and I appreciate you coming on. Staff Sergeant Joey Jones,
make sure you check out his book, Unbroken Bonds of Battle.
Where when they want to order it? Where do they
get it?
Speaker 1 (30:33):
The best way to pre order is Foxnewsbooks dot com
and then come June it'll be available in most bookstores
and pretty much ever where your shot for a book.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Thank you so much, you are amazing. I appreciate you
coming on today. Yes, ma'am, thank you, and thank you
all for joining us on the Tutor Dixon Podcast. As always,
for this episode and others, go to Tutor dixonpodcast dot com.
You can subscribe right there, or you can go to
iHeartRadio app or Apple Podcasts anywhere you get your podcasts.
So thank you so much. We'll see you next time
(31:03):
on the Tutor Dixon Podcast, and everybody have a wonderful
Memorial Day.
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