April 22, 2023 • 41 mins
Jake Bequette III is a former American football defensive end and United States Army infantry officer who served in Iraq.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
You're listening to The Buck Sexton Show podcast, make sure
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Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, everybody, welcome to the Buck Sexton Show. On this episode,
our friend Jake Beckett. He is a former NFL player,
former Army ranger, also was a Senate candidate in Arkansas
and now is the host of the Jake Peckett Beckett Podcast,
which I think you should all check out. Jake, thanks
for making the time man. Good to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hey, great to be on with you.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
So you know, I.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Saw your governor, Governor Sanders Huckerbet Sanders not long ago,
and we talked a little bit about what's going on
in your state, because you would think that given that
Arkansas is pretty darn red, that it'd be able to
join in some of what we're seeing.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Obviously out of Florida.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm a little biased about the Florida thing these days,
but you know, Texas is doing some good things a
lot of states, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Of what's happening in Florida, you should be proud of that.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I am now I'm a new Floridian, so I'm excited
about it. How are you guys doing in Arkansas, like
like bring people into whether you know, we've got this
red state blue state phenomenon playing out in a way
that we've never seen before. Right, people are fleeing going
to red. Blue is getting blue, or red is getting redder.
How's Arkansas looking. You get a lot of folks showing
(01:31):
up from Los Angeles who are like, hey, let's just
do the lib thing here.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean, I truly believe that we are in the
midst of a massive self sorting that's going to happen
within this country. I think COVID only accelerated a trend
that was happening for a couple of decades prior to
twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, but I think it's only
going to continue and possibly accelerate as things further unravel
(02:02):
in blue states and blue cities, you know, even within
red states. And you know, I'm glad you brought up
red states because and look, I'm I'm from Arkansas, born
and raised, I live in Arkansas, ran for state White
office here in Arkansas, and unfortunately, you know, we are, uh,
you know, a state that is you know, like many
other red states, particularly in the South. You know, we're
(02:25):
led by these just establishment rhino squishy hacks, and you know,
that's probably the most charitable way to describe most of them.
You know, these are people who you know, a lot
of the Republicans in these in these deep red Southern states,
you know, they were they were a long time Democrats
who just kind of like saw which way the wind
(02:46):
was blowing and changed their party affiliation. Or they're just
people who are you know, they they saw what was
happening in twenty ten, the tea party wave, you know,
and they came in and so we had this big changeover.
And you know, unlike these battleground states that have competitive
primaries cycle in and cycle out, like Pennsylvania, like Arizona,
(03:07):
like Florida. Florida's probably the best example, you know, where
there's constant turnover and there's there's competitive primaries and the
cream rises to the top. You know, we don't have
that in these deep red states. You know, we have
these incumbents, you know, who have been in office for four, five, six,
seven terms in the state legislature, in the House, and
the US Senate, and they're you know, it's almost impossible
(03:29):
to win a primary, you know, on the gup side
these days. Trust me, I can tell you all about that.
So without this what without the this purple kind of
competitive primary situation, you know, the the the political establishment
just has the opportunity to ossify, to stabilize, and there's
without the outside competitive influences, you know that we just
(03:50):
kind of drift along. And so unfortunately with the influences
of the media, these these giant corporations, big tech, you know,
the culture, you know, the deterioration of of the church,
you know, all these factors. You know, these these squishy,
spineless rhinos, they're not able to combat that.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So this is this crazy?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Can we just for a second, so I don't I've
actually I've actually never been to Arkansas, Jake. So maybe
we're gonna have to your Razorbacks. You know, my co
host loves the big football games. Maybe we'll have to
come down and check out the I'm just impressed with
myself that I remember that they're called the Razorbacks, right,
that's the name of it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, you got it.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So because I'll see, for example, I have spent time
out in Utah, great state. A lot of stuff about
Utah that I totally love. The governor's like a communist.
I mean, for a very red state, you get the
governor of Utah is really bad on a whole.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Range of issues.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
This is something that I feel like as we're seeing
the sorting happening with people leaving blue going to red,
red getting redder, and also the role of state governance
post COVID, everyone realizes your state really does matter. I
think there for a while we started to think, oh,
it's the federal government, right, you're a state local. It's
kind of your state government matters a whole heck of
a lot. How is it that some of the red
(05:04):
est states give us some of the worst leadership? I mean,
is it just that they have no fear of the
Democrat side, so they get soft, lazy, and they start
to dissemble.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
They know they'll never lose a primary, and that really
is the problem. You don't have any open seats. I mean,
Arkansas has had the same congressional delegation, the same four
members of the House, the same two US Senators for
ten years now. I mean, it's amazing, like it's been
It's been a whole decade and we've had zero turnover
in our six member congressional delegation. But you are right,
(05:37):
like like I think, by and large, you know the problems.
I mean, this is a pretty deeper discussion. We can
have a you know, a podcast series on this, but
you know, I think what's happening at the federal level
that's going to be really tough to fix. To put
it lightly, but where we actually have the opportunity to
exercise power, you know, where are where the base the
(05:58):
citizenry still actually believes what we believe and will grant
Republicans the actual ability to exercise our influence are in
these red counties in red states. And that's why important
for you know, states like Florida. You know, now it's
you know it it was a purple state. You know,
now due to you know, Governor Desants' influence, it's become
a red state. You know in some of the other states.
(06:20):
You know, it's it's getting better. You know. Governor de
Santis has really led the way. You know, it's it's
you know, I I could go on forever about how
important it's been to have him done in Florida, leading
the way and setting the example because for so many years,
I mean for people on the right, we don't even
know what winning looks like. We have no idea what excellence,
(06:44):
what greatness, what victory even looks like. And so we
didn't really have a barometer. So we had Asa Hutchinson
here in Arkansas, who was the governor for eight years.
He was terrible, you know, obviously the governor out in Utah.
You know k Ivy, the governor of Alabama, she's terrible.
Tate Reeves Mississippi. I mean, they're all they're all bad.
But we didn't even know it until Ron DeSantis came
(07:07):
in there and took a fifty to fifty red state
and made it a sixty to forty red state simply
because of the force of his policies and his leadership. Okay,
like he showed that, hey, we can have good things. Okay,
like we can we can take on these wok corporations
like Disney. You know, we can remove Soros DA's when
(07:28):
they get out of line. We can take over higher education,
you know, we can actually move the needle and show
the rest of the country. And so, like just as
any in business, in sports and whatever, competition is a
good thing. And so Governor DeSantis has moved every other
red state governor to the right on the issues, simply
because they've been humiliated by you know, the national news
(07:50):
and people in these red states like Arkansas looking like, hey,
like Asa Hutchinson, why aren't you doing what ron de
Santis is doing in Florida? And so obviously, like you know,
people's discussed with Asa Hutchinson. You know, he was the
guy who went on Tucker Carlson and was saying that,
you know, Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley would have
agreed with, you know, transgender mutilation surgeries for children. Asa
(08:14):
Hudchson actually vetoed a bill in Arkansas that would have
made that illegal, and so and so we were fed
up with him, and we moved on to someone who's
definitely better than him, and Governor Sarah Sanders, and she's
implementing some good policies. But it really it started with
Governor Ron Decantis in Florida. He has shown the way
and I can't emphasize enough how important that has been
(08:35):
to show the people on the right in this country
that winning is possible.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I think technically we have to say he is presidential
candidate Asa Hutchins, just to be clear. Just to be clear,
I think if he breaks one percent of the national vote.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
You know, Jake, I'll next time down.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I sincerely hope that he stays in the race through
the Arkansas Super Tuesday primary in twenty twenty four. I'm
genuinely curious to see what he will get in his
own home state. There's no way he lasts that long.
He'll probably drop out after I forgetting, you know, a
fraction of one percent, but I mean in Arkansas, he
wouldn't even get five percent of the vote in his
(09:17):
own home state. That's how reviled he is.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I want to come back and talk to you a
bit about, first of all, your story as it pertains
to your service in the Army Rangers, and then talk
a bit about Ukraine and some of what we've been
hearing recently.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
About us role there maybe a little.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
More substantial than is officially talked about. I mean, I
always assume that the role is I've thought that all along,
but you know, secret squirrel stuff. We all know what
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All right, Jake, first off, tell everybody what ears, What
years were you in I just wanted to talk a
(11:06):
little bit about your military service where we talk about
the national security side of things.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
When did you first get into the army?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So I joined the Army in the summer of twenty seventeen.
You know, I played four years of professional football for
the New England Patriots. You know, won a Super Bowl
with those guys single handedly. You know, it wouldn't Brady,
wouldn't Belichick. It was all me.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
After I got done solidifying that dynasty, I went to
law school. You know, my my my intention wasn't to
practice law. You know, I was really hurt after I
left the NFL, so I went to law school to
get healthy. And when I was in d C in
law school, I just I really, you know, my ultimate
plan was was a serve in the military. And I
didn't want to be a jag and I was getting
(11:49):
close to the age limit, so you know, I just
I decided it was the best thing to do. To
to drop out of law school and join the army.
And that's what I did. I went through basic training
Officer Canada school, you know, went through the Infantry officers course,
I went through ranger school.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I have questions. I have questions.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Hold on, Yeah, Like, was there a point which you
were you were in your let's say your first or
second week of basic training or something, and you're a
little bit did you ever have a thought You're like, maybe,
I don't know about this decision. I'm just wondering. That's
a big move to drop out of law school right
to serve. I mean, I think it's very honorable decision.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
But did you did you know every day you were
going through it that this is what was for you?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You know, I did. I mean, I'm not gonna I'm
not gonna say it wasn't challenging, you know, but I
really I fully committed to making that decision. But yeah,
I mean there were some moments, you know, you're you know,
I went from having a really great apartment in downtown
Boston playing for the Patriots, you know, part of a
Super Bowl championship team, you know, to go into a
great apartment in Washington d C. You know, go into Georgetown,
(12:58):
a great law school, to you know, being in a
in a sleeping bay of you know, sixty five eighteen
to twenty four year old Basic trainees. You know, just
kind of looking around at mid nine, you know, man, like,
you know.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Your social options definitely decreased. Your service to the country
increased dramatically. Congratulations, But your social options from being a
NFL player in Boston to being in Basic training, you know,
not as many cheerleads.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
But yeah, no, exactly, you know, but I was. I
was fully committed to making that sacrifice. And you know,
at the end of the day, I realized that it
wasn't gonna be it was gonna be a temporary, you know,
temporarily difficult situation to go through Basic and go through
o CS and Ranger school. But you know, I never
lost sight of that goal, which was to get my
(13:45):
ranger tab and you know lead a rifle platoon, which
I was very blessed to have the ability to do.
And you know.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I was a heart What's the hardest part of Ranger
school for you? For what? What did you find the
most challenging part of it?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It was the starvation. I mean, like truly, Like there's
I lost about forty pounds in Ranger School. I went
in weighed about two hundred and forty pounds, got out
weighing two hundred. I can show you some photos another time.
I mean I was like a stick figure coming out
of there. My mom cried once you saw me at
Ranger School graduation. I was so thin. But you know,
coming from a football background, you know, I like to eat,
(14:19):
so that was that was a huge challenge. But sleep
deprivation and food deprivation is a huge part of the school.
You know, you get pushed to your mental, physical, emotional,
spiritual limits, you know, but that's that's how you forage
great leaders, you know, over that sixty two day course,
and you know, I was able to finish it in
the in the shortest amount of time, thank goodness, and
(14:40):
and get out of there, and it gets my platoon.
So yeah, I would say that the sleep depth, you know,
forty five minutes of sleep per night for like ten
straight nights, is not not ideal when it comes to
you know, rest, recuperation and being in a prime mental state.
But you know that's just part of the deal. Where
do you end up deploying Iraq. So my my brigade
(15:00):
combat team with one hundred and first Airborne we were
stationed in uh northern Iraq, the Kurdistan region.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Oh, I aw, what where You're like in Suli or something.
I know, I know that area of the world pretty well.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
We were. We were between Mosul and Ourbiel.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Oh Moses that place back in the day, my time
in mosil Man. That was a spicy location, let me
tell you. But that was uh what what when were
you there? If you don't mind.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
About a deck about it?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean and I was in the region, I will
say about a decade, about a decade before you I
mean basically.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Before before twenty fifteen, because obviously that was the capital
of the Califade. You know when when Isis had their
had their brief run.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah no, no, yeah, Well I was there again in
the vicinity and that too specific. I was there in
the vicinity, uh you know, doing my uh analyst uh
you know, dressed as like a guy on a camping trip.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Thing.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Right after or pretty close to what happened was like
they kicked all the bad guys, I mean not all
of them, but they they cleared out Flujah Ramadi and
that had been This is like oh six so seven
period that you know, those had been and bar province
was just the worst, right, the heaviest fighting. The Marines
had to go in their house to house do all
that stuff. But a lot of them, the suicide bomber
(16:20):
rat lines and the bad stuff switched up north to
Mosul coming in.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
So that was yep.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
So I remember I remember going spending some time with
some of the SF teams out there and trying to
see what could be done to Stuck because these guys
were going into marketplaces with you know, suicide vest are
actually car bombs all the time, just you know, blow
up thirty fifty eighty people. Whatever it was. It was
really really awful stuff. But so when you were there,
it's fascinating actually because when I was there it was horrible,
(16:46):
and then when you were there it was horrible. It
was like the main spots. So what were you doing?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
So it was a really interesting mission set. You know,
it was a combination of patrols. You know, we were
doing some diplomatic stuff, you know, meeting with the you
know provincial governor you know this Nnila province, so the
provincial governor of the Iraqi. Yeah, the their version of
a core level commander was stationed with us, you know,
so we were coordinating air strikes. You know, we we
(17:13):
had some guys going out on target. So, I mean,
it was a it was a really interesting kind of
all encompassing mission set. It was great for a for
a young lieutenant to get out there and kind of
see everything that was going down. And this was this
was a couple of years after you know, we had
cleaned out Isis, you know, but there were obviously still
I mean, as you know, Mosl and Rbil Kurdistan. It's
(17:35):
kind of a confluence of a lot of different ethnicities.
You know, it was an old trading route historically, so
there was a there's a you know, a lot of
a Sunni Shia conflict happening in that part of the
you know, that part of the Middle East, and you know,
obviously in in the late twenty tens, that was when
Iran first really started to uh flex on that area.
(17:57):
You know, the Isis was was Sunni and so once
Isis got cleaned out, the Shia you know, came in
and decided they were in charge. Obviously, these Shia backed
or these Ran backed Chia militia groups, the s mgs,
you know, we're all over the place. It was a
really fascinating and and pretty intense mission set out there.
But you know, like I said, it was a it
was a good experience. It was a good deployment. I
(18:19):
deployed with some great people, uh, and not just army.
You know, we had some you know, we had some
some Marsat guys, marine raiders, we had some Air Force
j tax with us. You know, we had some some
guys from your with with you with your training who
were with us. So it was a it was a
really outstanding deployment.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So what I wanted to ask you, I wanted to
get that background. It's so interesting too, by the way,
I mean, I everyone that I talked to who deployed
your rocker Afghanistan before you, it was it's always roughly
my contemporaries, you know, either a few years before a
few years after being in that part of the world.
But you know, now, of course we have people that
were dealing with like you, dealing with the isis uh
(19:02):
situation uh up in up in a rock specifically obviously
Afghanistan kind of continued much much longer. If if I
got to ask you something. I'd be curious if someone
told you that you could go and advise the Kurds.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Just theoretically, if this kind of thing were happening.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I don't know, But if I told you that you
could go and advise the Kurds on the ground, I'm
sorry the Ukrainians. You already advised the Kurds, the Ukrainians
on the ground to help them against the Russians. And
I really mean this honestly, like, would you want any
part of that fight? Would you say, you know what,
(19:42):
I want to go and possibly, you know, take the
risks of we all know what can happen over there.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
How would you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I would advise the Ukrainians to make peace as quickly
as possible on the best possible terms they could get,
because I think that's that is the best possible outcome
for them right now. And that's that's not the narrative
that you get from the mainstream media. You know, obviously
they you know a lot of these people, these warhawks
and meocons and you know, unfortunately lives now. You know,
(20:11):
they're they're willing to fight to the last drop of
blood of someone else. You know, like namely the Ukrainian people,
you know, and the allies who are who are helping
them in that fight. But you know, I just think that,
you know, I'm I'm not willing to go over there
or send someone that I love to go fight for
the territorial sovereignty of the frontiers of Eastern Europe, especially
(20:35):
when there's ethnic conflict there that you know, most people,
you know don't even have the beginnings of an understanding
of and you know, especially when here in the United
States we don't have territorial sovereignty over our own country.
You know, let's just let's just be very blunt. I mean,
we we don't have a southern border. You know, I
talk to people who are with border patrol. There's actually
(20:55):
kind of a developing story that's you know, people who
are plugged in or following. Actually our northern border is
actually becoming more and more of an issue. You know,
these these you know, the.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
The numbers are a lot smaller, but the percentage increase
is substantial.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Absolutely, And you know it makes sense because there's not
as much media attention on our northern border now, and
so you know, in the in the age of globalization
and transportation, people can get there I.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Mean, I think that if you can get to Mexico,
your chance. Now, I've spent a fair amount of time
at the border and a bunch of different locations right
along the border patrol, spending time with those guys and gals.
You know, I would I would bet that. I mean,
if you were telling me, never mind getting getting myself
into the country illegally, if I chose to do that
(21:41):
across the southern border, I'd give ten to one odds
that I'm able to get into the country.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Now that's not including the idea of like surrendering, right,
I mean, because that's what a lot.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Of the family units and others have done.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
But if you're just saying streakshot into America, I think
ten to one I can because I know the cartel games,
I know what they do. So if you just replicate that,
you'll be able to get in pretty easily. Put them
at the northern border, you know, I feel like that's
wide open. That's got to be super easy to get across.
We have almost no protection up there whatsoever. So if
people figure out, well, if you can, you know, if
(22:13):
you can fly to camp mean, especially for the people
that aren't coming via foot and train, you know, from
Central America, specifically in Northern Triangle countries. People forget they're
coming from Pailand, They're coming from West Africa, they're coming
from China, from Pakistan, all over the world, right, the
illegal traffic across the border, so that means planes. So
(22:35):
at some point it is interesting to think about. You know,
I guess it depends on who you know, who's allowed
into Canada, but it would be easier to come across.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You asked me a question, I mean, what's what's a
fight that I believe in? Securing America's borders is a
fight that I believe in. I mean, I made the
point on social media a couple of months ago. It's
it's always struck me as strange that, you know, you
have these these these warhawks and neocons and everyone, you know,
beating the war drums, you know, supporting literally every possible
(23:03):
foreign intervention, you know, I mean, like they'll back any
proposed military action if it's done by NATO or the
United States or the UN. But you never hear them
mention like destroying the Mexican drug cartels or you know,
utilizing America's armed forces to supplement border patrol on the
southern or northern border. And like, look, I'm not someone
(23:26):
who trusts the Pentagon, the DD or our military establishment
to do the right thing at all times. But it's
just curious to me they've never never even floated that.
You never hear Lindsey Graham, you know, talking about like,
you know, spinning up America's military to destroy the cartels.
He may have jumped on that bandwagon after people pointed
that out, but I just think that's strange. That's a
fight that I believe in. I mean, you want to
(23:47):
solve America's recruiting crisis, and when it comes to military personnel,
you know, like actually have a you know, a dedicated campaign.
I mean like like Trump kind of dipped his toe
in on possibly using the military. I mean one of
the one of our sister brigades with one hundred and
first Airborne was you know, quote deployed to Arizona on
the southern border. They didn't really do anything, they didn't
(24:07):
have the authority to really interdict, you know, the illegals
coming across the border. But I mean I would love
I mean, like some of our best military you know leaders,
I believe Douglas MacArthur. When he was a young lieutenant
or captain, he was involved in the you know, the
Poncho Villa cross border raids. And I mean like like,
using the military to secure our southern border has long
(24:31):
been well within the traditions of American foreign policy. So
I mean, that's a fight that I believe in.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Let's come back to that in a second.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
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whatever else you like, and make sure you use promo
code buck. Okay, so you were you were up there
in northern Iraq. You saw the situation with ISIS, which
was a there was a little more conventional actually military
fight than what I had seen, which was a clearly
a counterinsurgency. You know. It was much more find the
bad guys, kicking the doors and arrest them if possible.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Often it wasn't possible cartels, fight the cartels.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
With the military, and obviously the intelligence force intelligence community
would be a big part of this too, so it
would be kind of like dealing with al Qaeda, you know,
looking for individuals and networks and things like that, not
you know, brigade versus brigade combat maneuvers.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
What do you think of that idea? Do we send
the military after the cartels in Mexico?
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Well, I think it's a it's an all the above strategy.
I mean, you leverage intelligence, you leverage your power, and
obviously you leverage you know, conventional and special ground forces.
You know. But I'm just I'm tired of people who,
you know, you mentioned things like this and they just
kind of scoff like it's not possible. I mean, you know,
look at what Nai Bucal is doing in El Salvador.
(26:51):
I mean, this is a guy who I mean, I'm
as high on this guy as a world leader as
I am on anyone. I mean, he's he's one of
these guys who's just who's showing He's showing the world
what's possible with genuine leadership. I mean El Salvador, you know,
had the the world's highest murder rate not too long ago,
and you know, it would it's laughable, it would have
(27:11):
been laughable to assume that, you know, someone could come
in there and neutralize these gangs that have been terrorizing
and ruining the country for generations. But he came in
and did that and it wasn't easy. And yeah, I
mean he was a mixture of you know, hard and
soft power. But it is possible, and you know, we
just you know, I use bucal At as an example,
(27:32):
you know, I use Governor Ron DeSantis as an example.
I mean, just people on the right in America, we
don't even know what excellence looks like. We don't even
we don't have any conception about what is or is
not great. And you know, we have these beacons. We
have people who are showing us Hey, if we just
have people, if we have leaders on our side who
have the will, who have the force of will to
(27:53):
actually do this, who were going to pin their ears
back and just get it done, I mean like, yeah,
well you know, like you kind of you know, it's
it's as Coach Belichick would say, it's it's part.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Of the process.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
You know, it's it's it's something that you know, you
you know, you adjust and things go wrong, you fix them,
and things you know, you you get it done over time,
But it starts with just having that iron will that
you're not gonna let anyone tell you that it can't
be done. You have an in state in mind, and
you know you're not gonna know just one more thing
about like about you know, this, this this idea of
(28:24):
leadership I'm sick of. You know, for so many years
people on the right were captive to people like Frank
Luntz and you know, people who like they think that
leaders are supposed to follow public opinion. You know, you know,
one of the greatest things about Governor DeSantis is he's
very clear that he doesn't govern by following public opinion.
He has the Steve Jobs model of leadership in mind.
(28:47):
And you know Steve Jobs of famous I think he
borrowed this saying from Henry Ford. You know I'm paraphrasing,
but essentially he said, you know, people don't know what
they want. You have to show them what they want
and then they'll follow you. You know, like like no
one could have envisioned the iPhone. They wouldn't have responded
to a Frank Lunz poll and said I want an iPhone. No,
Steve Jobs showed them the iPhone, and then of course
(29:08):
now everyone has an iPhone. Same thing with the vehicle,
and the same thing with leaders like Naive Buclet and
Ronda Santis. That's what leadership is. It's not following, you know,
Frank Lunz's polls. It's actually, you know, like having the
will to solve a problem and showing the people that
it's possible. So that's I mean, I want to see
more people like that rise in American politics or else.
(29:28):
You know, we're in We're in deep trouble.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's fascinating that Bucule and El Salvador used prison labor
prisoners MS thirteen prisoners to destroy I'm sure you saw
this the graves of MS thirteen gang members because they
were being used as gathering sites in the cemeteries. So
they just if your gravestone said anything about MS thirteen,
(29:51):
they just turned into rubble. Not allowed to have public
displays of anything having to do with Mara. Salvatrucia, he's
he's hardcore about it, man. He treats it like he
says this. I've heard him in an interview saying that
he views the threat of MS thirteen the way that
he thinks people in Germany should treat Nazi as, which
is that it is a threat to the live, safety
(30:14):
of lives and safety of the people, and also a
threat to the very integrity of the state itself. And
for a small country in Central America to take that
approach and obviously have some results early on, I think
is really interesting. I've got a couple of NFL questions
for you when we come back in a second. Here,
So hold on for a minute. Everybody, you will see
if you're watching this, if you're not watching, if you're
(30:34):
only subscribing on the podcast, which most of you listen
to the podcast, but there's also YouTube. Go to YouTube
dot com slash box Sex and we've got video there.
You can see that my friend Jake here has a
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(31:55):
so all you mentioned Bill Belichick. I know a million
people have asked you, but I haven't.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
What's you like?
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Well, he's a genius. He's one of the greatest leaders
I've ever been around in the civilian world or the military.
I did my last potdcast actually on the Patriots Dynasty
and and what we used to call the Patriot Way.
And you know, Coach Belichick had a very simple set
of rules for the team. You know, do your job,
(32:23):
work hard, be intentive, put the team first. You know,
those those were the four rules you know that you
had to abide by when you know, when you when
you step into the Patriots facility, you know, when you
became a new England Patriot. And you know he was
he was able to push us very hard. I mean,
there were so many stories of other veterans coming in
from different teams, either by trades or free agency or whatever,
(32:44):
and after a week or so, you know, they would
just quit the team. I mean, like big name guys
like you know, Reggie Wayne, Robert Gallery, Kellen Winslow. I mean,
like you know, brand name players. And I'm not denegrating
these guys, but you know they would come in and
after seven, seven or ten days of Patriots training camp,
they would go to Bill and just say, hey, coach,
you know this isn't for me. I'm going to retire,
(33:06):
and like that's you know, other other players who came
in could not believe how hard he worked, how hard
Bill coached the players. You know, but we were all
on the same page, you know, we all marched the
beat of the same drum. You know, Tom Brady was
a huge, huge reason for that. You know, I like
to tell the story of my first ever Patriots team meeting.
You know, I'm a brand new rookie coming in there
(33:27):
in May. It was like our first first spring mini
camp team meeting that the team had just lost the
Super Bowl to the Giants the year before that. I
got there and you know, he was just kind of
the first team meeting, kind of a nothing meeting. Bill's
just kind of laying out his expectations for Mini camp
and Tom Brady comes in and he's sitting front row center.
You know, he didn't have to do that, but he
sat front row center every single day. And in this
(33:50):
first ever team meeting, I'm sitting there, Brady's just he's
got his notepad, He's sitting up and he's just scribbling
notes furiously. He's trying to soak in every bit of
knowledge that Bill was sharing with us. And he had
probably heard the same meeting ten or fifteen times, the
same spiel, but he was trying to glean that extra
bit of knowledge. But I think what he was really
doing he was setting the example for all the new guys.
(34:13):
He was he was setting the tone for everyone else
who was sitting right behind him in that team meeting room,
you know, in the in the rows above him, and
you could see Tom Brady just just so attentive in
taking notes and engage intellectually and mentally engaged. And you
know that was that was the kind of leadership we
had from the coaching staff, from the Marquee players, guys
(34:33):
like like Tom and Gronk and Vince will Fork and
Matthew Slater and so many others. You know, it was
just an absolute machine. And that I tell stories like
that to really explain what is the Patriot Way because
it's not just for football, you know, it's for any
Any leader can learn from the Patriot Way. You know,
whether you're in politics, or in business or in media,
(34:54):
whatever it is. You know, if you if you follow
those rules and you and you hold people accountable, do
your job, be attentive, work hard, put the team first,
you're going to have success.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
What was your favorite part of being an NFL? What
were you a linebacker? By the way, is that right?
Speaker 1 (35:09):
I was a de defensive end, tight end, special teams player,
I was. I was a utility guy. Okay, I kind
of did everything.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
What was your favorite part of playing in the NFL,
And what was the part that wasn't so great?
Speaker 1 (35:25):
I mean, the best part was being around people who
were the greatest at what they do. And you know,
I I was I was very you know, humbled to
be drafted by them in the third round and just
I didn't take it for granted to be around some
of the great the greatest coach of all time, the
greatest quarterback of all time, some of the greatest players
in the league. You know, I think Gronk was the
best tight end of all time. You know, I was
(35:46):
in the same tight end meeting room as him for
two years.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
He seems like a fun guy, by the way, Is
he a fun guy? Is that? Is that real?
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Gronk is exactly who you imagined him to be. I'll
tell you a Gronk story. So Gronk, you know, every
member of the Patriots players and coaches and staff, we
had these key fobs that gave us twenty four to
seven access to the facility, you know, at any time,
and like during the offseason especially, guys come up there
at night or early morning to get a workout in,
getting the hot tub, col tub, whatever. And you know, Gronk,
(36:14):
you know, during the off season, he would, you know,
he'd go out in Boston or Providence or whatever, you know,
have a great time, stay out till two or three
in the morning, and he would have his buddies drop
him off at the Patriots facility at like three thirty
in the morning. So he would fob in and go
straight to the training room and he would find one
of the training tables and just like pass out, just
(36:36):
stretch out and go to sleep. And so when the
trainers would come in in the morning, they would see
Gronk like still in his like you know, like night
life clothes, just like sleeping there. They would roll up
his sleeve at stick an IV in his arm and
just kind of revive him and he would get up
after a couple hours and just go be like the
dominant force that he was. It was about that time
(36:58):
that it was about that time that I realized that,
you know, some people are more talented than others. That
he had a pretty high ceiling like I was, you know,
I was getting plenty of sleep, do it everything right,
and like still, this guy was the greatest tight end
that I had ever seen, you know, but he was.
He was a great player, a great teammate. You know,
despite like having a good time on the weekends, he
(37:18):
worked his butt off when he was you know, when
it was time to do that, and he was just
a joy to be around. I mean, just a hell
of a great guy.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Was there anything, though?
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I mean just physical punishment to your body or like,
what was the what was the thing?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
If you had to point to one thing.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
I mean, you're playing in the NFL, right, I feel
like when people get to that level of success and
something that's as heralded as that, there's a maybe for
a lot of folks, a public perception of like it
just must all be amazing. Nothing is all amazing, right,
I mean we all know that. So what was either
the challenge or the thing you wish you could change,
you know, something that you were just like, ah, that
part of it's maybe it was a surprise, Maybe it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Yeah, don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy. I mean
it was I mean I told you those stories of
some of the greatest NFL players of all time to
strip quitting because of how tough it was. And yeah,
there's a lot of physical punishment that goes into playing
at that level, and you know, Bill's old scho Well,
he came from the Bill Parcells school of coaching, and
I mean that was like full contact practices as much
(38:16):
as possible, you know, all kinds of hitting. We probably
did more hitting in New England than we did, you know,
in my college days at the University of Arkansas. So
you know, it was a it was a huge you know,
it was very very tough on your body, you know,
very tough mentally to to to survive and thrive and
that and that tough of an environment. But you know
(38:37):
it was a great preparation for what I was, you know,
gonna do in the military and Rader school, and you know,
at the end of the day, you know, guy had
a plan. I would have loved to have played for
a bit longer in the league, but you know, I
wouldn't change it, Like going back, I would not change
a single thing.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Institutionally, dating a Patriots cheerleader frowned upon or encouraged for players.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
So, uh, they're actually I'm pretty sure it was actually
it was against their rules.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
For from other another situation, I keep going, I would
so obviously everybody, Yeah, I mean there is you know,
there is kind of a double standard there it's from
from what I remember, it is true that.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
I mean, there were no restrictions on us. I mean,
we coul date whoever wanted, but for the Patriots cheerleaders,
they would get fired if they, you know, we were
caught with one of the players. I'm pretty sure Gronk's
longtime girlfriend is a former Patriots cheerleader, and like that's
that's what happened, is you know, they got outed in
their relationship and she got canned or maybe maybe like
(39:39):
they went public after she was done or something. But yeah, there,
I'm pretty sure it's against it's against their the cheerleader rules,
you know, and that's you know, hey that I think
that's kind.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Of ridiculous, the cheerleader code of ethics.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I mean, come on, yeah, I mean I think that's
that's kind of absurd. Like, I mean American, Like there's
an old Sports Illustrated cover of when when Miami won
one of their national championships, you know, the you there's
this famous you know photo of you know, one of
the players on the field left of the game, you know,
kissing the cheerleader. I mean, like people love that, Like
what's wrong with that? I Mean, I really don't see
(40:14):
you know, any problem. Maybe it's just me. I don't know,
maybe there's some other rationale that I'm not seeing. But
I thought that was kind of a dumb policy. And
you know, I'm glad that Grant guy as a girl.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Yeah, I think I think all the men of America
are hitting your saying and some of the ladies. I'm
sure tour seg it's that's absurd. But anyway, not an
important topic, but I was curious. Anyway, Jake, you're doing
great work.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Where should people go to listen to your podcast?
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Yeah, we're on all platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, the
Jake Beckett Show podcast like subscribe, leave a good review.
You know, it's been great. We're seven or eight episodes
in right now, and it's been a great project thus far.
So give us a give us a listen there, and
you can find me on social media on Twitter at
(40:59):
Jake Beckett ninety one. So yeah, that's that's where you
can find me.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Jake, thank you for your service and thank you for
your time.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Man.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
I appreciate you being with us.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
Buck
You're listening to The Buck Sexton Show podcast, make sure
you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, everybody, welcome to the Buck Sexton Show. On this episode,
our friend Jake Beckett. He is a former NFL player,
former Army ranger, also was a Senate candidate in Arkansas
and now is the host of the Jake Peckett Beckett Podcast,
which I think you should all check out. Jake, thanks
for making the time man. Good to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hey, great to be on with you.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
So you know, I.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Saw your governor, Governor Sanders Huckerbet Sanders not long ago,
and we talked a little bit about what's going on
in your state, because you would think that given that
Arkansas is pretty darn red, that it'd be able to
join in some of what we're seeing.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Obviously out of Florida.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm a little biased about the Florida thing these days,
but you know, Texas is doing some good things a
lot of states, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Of what's happening in Florida, you should be proud of that.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I am now I'm a new Floridian, so I'm excited
about it. How are you guys doing in Arkansas, like
like bring people into whether you know, we've got this
red state blue state phenomenon playing out in a way
that we've never seen before. Right, people are fleeing going
to red. Blue is getting blue, or red is getting redder.
How's Arkansas looking. You get a lot of folks showing
(01:31):
up from Los Angeles who are like, hey, let's just
do the lib thing here.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean, I truly believe that we are in the
midst of a massive self sorting that's going to happen
within this country. I think COVID only accelerated a trend
that was happening for a couple of decades prior to
twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, but I think it's only
going to continue and possibly accelerate as things further unravel
(02:02):
in blue states and blue cities, you know, even within
red states. And you know, I'm glad you brought up
red states because and look, I'm I'm from Arkansas, born
and raised, I live in Arkansas, ran for state White
office here in Arkansas, and unfortunately, you know, we are, uh,
you know, a state that is you know, like many
other red states, particularly in the South. You know, we're
(02:25):
led by these just establishment rhino squishy hacks, and you know,
that's probably the most charitable way to describe most of them.
You know, these are people who you know, a lot
of the Republicans in these in these deep red Southern states,
you know, they were they were a long time Democrats
who just kind of like saw which way the wind
(02:46):
was blowing and changed their party affiliation. Or they're just
people who are you know, they they saw what was
happening in twenty ten, the tea party wave, you know,
and they came in and so we had this big changeover.
And you know, unlike these battleground states that have competitive
primaries cycle in and cycle out, like Pennsylvania, like Arizona,
(03:07):
like Florida. Florida's probably the best example, you know, where
there's constant turnover and there's there's competitive primaries and the
cream rises to the top. You know, we don't have
that in these deep red states. You know, we have
these incumbents, you know, who have been in office for four, five, six,
seven terms in the state legislature, in the House, and
the US Senate, and they're you know, it's almost impossible
(03:29):
to win a primary, you know, on the gup side
these days. Trust me, I can tell you all about that.
So without this what without the this purple kind of
competitive primary situation, you know, the the the political establishment
just has the opportunity to ossify, to stabilize, and there's
without the outside competitive influences, you know that we just
(03:50):
kind of drift along. And so unfortunately with the influences
of the media, these these giant corporations, big tech, you know,
the culture, you know, the deterioration of of the church,
you know, all these factors. You know, these these squishy,
spineless rhinos, they're not able to combat that.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So this is this crazy?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Can we just for a second, so I don't I've
actually I've actually never been to Arkansas, Jake. So maybe
we're gonna have to your Razorbacks. You know, my co
host loves the big football games. Maybe we'll have to
come down and check out the I'm just impressed with
myself that I remember that they're called the Razorbacks, right,
that's the name of it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, you got it.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So because I'll see, for example, I have spent time
out in Utah, great state. A lot of stuff about
Utah that I totally love. The governor's like a communist.
I mean, for a very red state, you get the
governor of Utah is really bad on a whole.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Range of issues.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
This is something that I feel like as we're seeing
the sorting happening with people leaving blue going to red,
red getting redder, and also the role of state governance
post COVID, everyone realizes your state really does matter. I
think there for a while we started to think, oh,
it's the federal government, right, you're a state local. It's
kind of your state government matters a whole heck of
a lot. How is it that some of the red
(05:04):
est states give us some of the worst leadership? I mean,
is it just that they have no fear of the
Democrat side, so they get soft, lazy, and they start
to dissemble.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
They know they'll never lose a primary, and that really
is the problem. You don't have any open seats. I mean,
Arkansas has had the same congressional delegation, the same four
members of the House, the same two US Senators for
ten years now. I mean, it's amazing, like it's been
It's been a whole decade and we've had zero turnover
in our six member congressional delegation. But you are right,
(05:37):
like like I think, by and large, you know the problems.
I mean, this is a pretty deeper discussion. We can
have a you know, a podcast series on this, but
you know, I think what's happening at the federal level
that's going to be really tough to fix. To put
it lightly, but where we actually have the opportunity to
exercise power, you know, where are where the base the
(05:58):
citizenry still actually believes what we believe and will grant
Republicans the actual ability to exercise our influence are in
these red counties in red states. And that's why important
for you know, states like Florida. You know, now it's
you know it it was a purple state. You know,
now due to you know, Governor Desants' influence, it's become
a red state. You know in some of the other states.
(06:20):
You know, it's it's getting better. You know. Governor de
Santis has really led the way. You know, it's it's
you know, I I could go on forever about how
important it's been to have him done in Florida, leading
the way and setting the example because for so many years,
I mean for people on the right, we don't even
know what winning looks like. We have no idea what excellence,
(06:44):
what greatness, what victory even looks like. And so we
didn't really have a barometer. So we had Asa Hutchinson
here in Arkansas, who was the governor for eight years.
He was terrible, you know, obviously the governor out in Utah.
You know k Ivy, the governor of Alabama, she's terrible.
Tate Reeves Mississippi. I mean, they're all they're all bad.
But we didn't even know it until Ron DeSantis came
(07:07):
in there and took a fifty to fifty red state
and made it a sixty to forty red state simply
because of the force of his policies and his leadership. Okay,
like he showed that, hey, we can have good things. Okay,
like we can we can take on these wok corporations
like Disney. You know, we can remove Soros DA's when
(07:28):
they get out of line. We can take over higher education,
you know, we can actually move the needle and show
the rest of the country. And so, like just as
any in business, in sports and whatever, competition is a
good thing. And so Governor DeSantis has moved every other
red state governor to the right on the issues, simply
because they've been humiliated by you know, the national news
(07:50):
and people in these red states like Arkansas looking like, hey,
like Asa Hutchinson, why aren't you doing what ron de
Santis is doing in Florida? And so obviously, like you know,
people's discussed with Asa Hutchinson. You know, he was the
guy who went on Tucker Carlson and was saying that,
you know, Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley would have
agreed with, you know, transgender mutilation surgeries for children. Asa
(08:14):
Hudchson actually vetoed a bill in Arkansas that would have
made that illegal, and so and so we were fed
up with him, and we moved on to someone who's
definitely better than him, and Governor Sarah Sanders, and she's
implementing some good policies. But it really it started with
Governor Ron Decantis in Florida. He has shown the way
and I can't emphasize enough how important that has been
(08:35):
to show the people on the right in this country
that winning is possible.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I think technically we have to say he is presidential
candidate Asa Hutchins, just to be clear. Just to be clear,
I think if he breaks one percent of the national vote.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
You know, Jake, I'll next time down.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I sincerely hope that he stays in the race through
the Arkansas Super Tuesday primary in twenty twenty four. I'm
genuinely curious to see what he will get in his
own home state. There's no way he lasts that long.
He'll probably drop out after I forgetting, you know, a
fraction of one percent, but I mean in Arkansas, he
wouldn't even get five percent of the vote in his
(09:17):
own home state. That's how reviled he is.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I want to come back and talk to you a
bit about, first of all, your story as it pertains
to your service in the Army Rangers, and then talk
a bit about Ukraine and some of what we've been
hearing recently.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
About us role there maybe a little.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
More substantial than is officially talked about. I mean, I
always assume that the role is I've thought that all along,
but you know, secret squirrel stuff. We all know what
goes on. But we'll come back here in just a second.
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All right, Jake, first off, tell everybody what ears, What
years were you in I just wanted to talk a
(11:06):
little bit about your military service where we talk about
the national security side of things.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
When did you first get into the army?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So I joined the Army in the summer of twenty seventeen.
You know, I played four years of professional football for
the New England Patriots. You know, won a Super Bowl
with those guys single handedly. You know, it wouldn't Brady,
wouldn't Belichick. It was all me.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
After I got done solidifying that dynasty, I went to
law school. You know, my my my intention wasn't to
practice law. You know, I was really hurt after I
left the NFL, so I went to law school to
get healthy. And when I was in d C in
law school, I just I really, you know, my ultimate
plan was was a serve in the military. And I
didn't want to be a jag and I was getting
(11:49):
close to the age limit, so you know, I just
I decided it was the best thing to do. To
to drop out of law school and join the army.
And that's what I did. I went through basic training
Officer Canada school, you know, went through the Infantry officers course,
I went through ranger school.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I have questions. I have questions.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Hold on, Yeah, Like, was there a point which you
were you were in your let's say your first or
second week of basic training or something, and you're a
little bit did you ever have a thought You're like, maybe,
I don't know about this decision. I'm just wondering. That's
a big move to drop out of law school right
to serve. I mean, I think it's very honorable decision.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
But did you did you know every day you were
going through it that this is what was for you?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You know, I did. I mean, I'm not gonna I'm
not gonna say it wasn't challenging, you know, but I
really I fully committed to making that decision. But yeah,
I mean there were some moments, you know, you're you know,
I went from having a really great apartment in downtown
Boston playing for the Patriots, you know, part of a
Super Bowl championship team, you know, to go into a
great apartment in Washington d C. You know, go into Georgetown,
(12:58):
a great law school, to you know, being in a
in a sleeping bay of you know, sixty five eighteen
to twenty four year old Basic trainees. You know, just
kind of looking around at mid nine, you know, man, like,
you know.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Your social options definitely decreased. Your service to the country
increased dramatically. Congratulations, But your social options from being a
NFL player in Boston to being in Basic training, you know,
not as many cheerleads.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
But yeah, no, exactly, you know, but I was. I
was fully committed to making that sacrifice. And you know,
at the end of the day, I realized that it
wasn't gonna be it was gonna be a temporary, you know,
temporarily difficult situation to go through Basic and go through
o CS and Ranger school. But you know, I never
lost sight of that goal, which was to get my
(13:45):
ranger tab and you know lead a rifle platoon, which
I was very blessed to have the ability to do.
And you know.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I was a heart What's the hardest part of Ranger
school for you? For what? What did you find the
most challenging part of it?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It was the starvation. I mean, like truly, Like there's
I lost about forty pounds in Ranger School. I went
in weighed about two hundred and forty pounds, got out
weighing two hundred. I can show you some photos another time.
I mean I was like a stick figure coming out
of there. My mom cried once you saw me at
Ranger School graduation. I was so thin. But you know,
coming from a football background, you know, I like to eat,
(14:19):
so that was that was a huge challenge. But sleep
deprivation and food deprivation is a huge part of the school.
You know, you get pushed to your mental, physical, emotional,
spiritual limits, you know, but that's that's how you forage
great leaders, you know, over that sixty two day course,
and you know, I was able to finish it in
the in the shortest amount of time, thank goodness, and
(14:40):
and get out of there, and it gets my platoon.
So yeah, I would say that the sleep depth, you know,
forty five minutes of sleep per night for like ten
straight nights, is not not ideal when it comes to
you know, rest, recuperation and being in a prime mental state.
But you know that's just part of the deal. Where
do you end up deploying Iraq. So my my brigade
(15:00):
combat team with one hundred and first Airborne we were
stationed in uh northern Iraq, the Kurdistan region.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Oh, I aw, what where You're like in Suli or something.
I know, I know that area of the world pretty well.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
We were. We were between Mosul and Ourbiel.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Oh Moses that place back in the day, my time
in mosil Man. That was a spicy location, let me
tell you. But that was uh what what when were
you there? If you don't mind.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
About a deck about it?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean and I was in the region, I will
say about a decade, about a decade before you I
mean basically.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Before before twenty fifteen, because obviously that was the capital
of the Califade. You know when when Isis had their
had their brief run.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah no, no, yeah, Well I was there again in
the vicinity and that too specific. I was there in
the vicinity, uh you know, doing my uh analyst uh
you know, dressed as like a guy on a camping trip.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Thing.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Right after or pretty close to what happened was like
they kicked all the bad guys, I mean not all
of them, but they they cleared out Flujah Ramadi and
that had been This is like oh six so seven
period that you know, those had been and bar province
was just the worst, right, the heaviest fighting. The Marines
had to go in their house to house do all
that stuff. But a lot of them, the suicide bomber
(16:20):
rat lines and the bad stuff switched up north to
Mosul coming in.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
So that was yep.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
So I remember I remember going spending some time with
some of the SF teams out there and trying to
see what could be done to Stuck because these guys
were going into marketplaces with you know, suicide vest are
actually car bombs all the time, just you know, blow
up thirty fifty eighty people. Whatever it was. It was
really really awful stuff. But so when you were there,
it's fascinating actually because when I was there it was horrible,
(16:46):
and then when you were there it was horrible. It
was like the main spots. So what were you doing?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
So it was a really interesting mission set. You know,
it was a combination of patrols. You know, we were
doing some diplomatic stuff, you know, meeting with the you
know provincial governor you know this Nnila province, so the
provincial governor of the Iraqi. Yeah, the their version of
a core level commander was stationed with us, you know,
so we were coordinating air strikes. You know, we we
(17:13):
had some guys going out on target. So, I mean,
it was a it was a really interesting kind of
all encompassing mission set. It was great for a for
a young lieutenant to get out there and kind of
see everything that was going down. And this was this
was a couple of years after you know, we had
cleaned out Isis, you know, but there were obviously still
I mean, as you know, Mosl and Rbil Kurdistan. It's
(17:35):
kind of a confluence of a lot of different ethnicities.
You know, it was an old trading route historically, so
there was a there's a you know, a lot of
a Sunni Shia conflict happening in that part of the
you know, that part of the Middle East, and you know,
obviously in in the late twenty tens, that was when
Iran first really started to uh flex on that area.
(17:57):
You know, the Isis was was Sunni and so once
Isis got cleaned out, the Shia you know, came in
and decided they were in charge. Obviously, these Shia backed
or these Ran backed Chia militia groups, the s mgs,
you know, we're all over the place. It was a
really fascinating and and pretty intense mission set out there.
But you know, like I said, it was a it
was a good experience. It was a good deployment. I
(18:19):
deployed with some great people, uh, and not just army.
You know, we had some you know, we had some
some Marsat guys, marine raiders, we had some Air Force
j tax with us. You know, we had some some
guys from your with with you with your training who
were with us. So it was a it was a
really outstanding deployment.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So what I wanted to ask you, I wanted to
get that background. It's so interesting too, by the way,
I mean, I everyone that I talked to who deployed
your rocker Afghanistan before you, it was it's always roughly
my contemporaries, you know, either a few years before a
few years after being in that part of the world.
But you know, now, of course we have people that
were dealing with like you, dealing with the isis uh
(19:02):
situation uh up in up in a rock specifically obviously
Afghanistan kind of continued much much longer. If if I
got to ask you something. I'd be curious if someone
told you that you could go and advise the Kurds.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Just theoretically, if this kind of thing were happening.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I don't know, But if I told you that you
could go and advise the Kurds on the ground, I'm
sorry the Ukrainians. You already advised the Kurds, the Ukrainians
on the ground to help them against the Russians. And
I really mean this honestly, like, would you want any
part of that fight? Would you say, you know what,
(19:42):
I want to go and possibly, you know, take the
risks of we all know what can happen over there.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
How would you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I would advise the Ukrainians to make peace as quickly
as possible on the best possible terms they could get,
because I think that's that is the best possible outcome
for them right now. And that's that's not the narrative
that you get from the mainstream media. You know, obviously
they you know a lot of these people, these warhawks
and meocons and you know, unfortunately lives now. You know,
(20:11):
they're they're willing to fight to the last drop of
blood of someone else. You know, like namely the Ukrainian people,
you know, and the allies who are who are helping
them in that fight. But you know, I just think that,
you know, I'm I'm not willing to go over there
or send someone that I love to go fight for
the territorial sovereignty of the frontiers of Eastern Europe, especially
(20:35):
when there's ethnic conflict there that you know, most people,
you know don't even have the beginnings of an understanding
of and you know, especially when here in the United
States we don't have territorial sovereignty over our own country.
You know, let's just let's just be very blunt. I mean,
we we don't have a southern border. You know, I
talk to people who are with border patrol. There's actually
(20:55):
kind of a developing story that's you know, people who
are plugged in or following. Actually our northern border is
actually becoming more and more of an issue. You know,
these these you know, the.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
The numbers are a lot smaller, but the percentage increase
is substantial.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Absolutely, And you know it makes sense because there's not
as much media attention on our northern border now, and
so you know, in the in the age of globalization
and transportation, people can get there I.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Mean, I think that if you can get to Mexico,
your chance. Now, I've spent a fair amount of time
at the border and a bunch of different locations right
along the border patrol, spending time with those guys and gals.
You know, I would I would bet that. I mean,
if you were telling me, never mind getting getting myself
into the country illegally, if I chose to do that
(21:41):
across the southern border, I'd give ten to one odds
that I'm able to get into the country.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Now that's not including the idea of like surrendering, right,
I mean, because that's what a lot.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Of the family units and others have done.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
But if you're just saying streakshot into America, I think
ten to one I can because I know the cartel games,
I know what they do. So if you just replicate that,
you'll be able to get in pretty easily. Put them
at the northern border, you know, I feel like that's
wide open. That's got to be super easy to get across.
We have almost no protection up there whatsoever. So if
people figure out, well, if you can, you know, if
(22:13):
you can fly to camp mean, especially for the people
that aren't coming via foot and train, you know, from
Central America, specifically in Northern Triangle countries. People forget they're
coming from Pailand, They're coming from West Africa, they're coming
from China, from Pakistan, all over the world, right, the
illegal traffic across the border, so that means planes. So
(22:35):
at some point it is interesting to think about. You know,
I guess it depends on who you know, who's allowed
into Canada, but it would be easier to come across.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You asked me a question, I mean, what's what's a
fight that I believe in? Securing America's borders is a
fight that I believe in. I mean, I made the
point on social media a couple of months ago. It's
it's always struck me as strange that, you know, you
have these these these warhawks and neocons and everyone, you know,
beating the war drums, you know, supporting literally every possible
(23:03):
foreign intervention, you know, I mean, like they'll back any
proposed military action if it's done by NATO or the
United States or the UN. But you never hear them
mention like destroying the Mexican drug cartels or you know,
utilizing America's armed forces to supplement border patrol on the
southern or northern border. And like, look, I'm not someone
(23:26):
who trusts the Pentagon, the DD or our military establishment
to do the right thing at all times. But it's
just curious to me they've never never even floated that.
You never hear Lindsey Graham, you know, talking about like,
you know, spinning up America's military to destroy the cartels.
He may have jumped on that bandwagon after people pointed
that out, but I just think that's strange. That's a
fight that I believe in. I mean, you want to
(23:47):
solve America's recruiting crisis, and when it comes to military personnel,
you know, like actually have a you know, a dedicated campaign.
I mean like like Trump kind of dipped his toe
in on possibly using the military. I mean one of
the one of our sister brigades with one hundred and
first Airborne was you know, quote deployed to Arizona on
the southern border. They didn't really do anything, they didn't
(24:07):
have the authority to really interdict, you know, the illegals
coming across the border. But I mean I would love
I mean, like some of our best military you know leaders,
I believe Douglas MacArthur. When he was a young lieutenant
or captain, he was involved in the you know, the
Poncho Villa cross border raids. And I mean like like,
using the military to secure our southern border has long
(24:31):
been well within the traditions of American foreign policy. So
I mean, that's a fight that I believe in.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Let's come back to that in a second.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
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whatever else you like, and make sure you use promo
code buck. Okay, so you were you were up there
in northern Iraq. You saw the situation with ISIS, which
was a there was a little more conventional actually military
fight than what I had seen, which was a clearly
a counterinsurgency. You know. It was much more find the
bad guys, kicking the doors and arrest them if possible.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Often it wasn't possible cartels, fight the cartels.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
With the military, and obviously the intelligence force intelligence community
would be a big part of this too, so it
would be kind of like dealing with al Qaeda, you know,
looking for individuals and networks and things like that, not
you know, brigade versus brigade combat maneuvers.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
What do you think of that idea? Do we send
the military after the cartels in Mexico?
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Well, I think it's a it's an all the above strategy.
I mean, you leverage intelligence, you leverage your power, and
obviously you leverage you know, conventional and special ground forces.
You know. But I'm just I'm tired of people who,
you know, you mentioned things like this and they just
kind of scoff like it's not possible. I mean, you know,
look at what Nai Bucal is doing in El Salvador.
(26:51):
I mean, this is a guy who I mean, I'm
as high on this guy as a world leader as
I am on anyone. I mean, he's he's one of
these guys who's just who's showing He's showing the world
what's possible with genuine leadership. I mean El Salvador, you know,
had the the world's highest murder rate not too long ago,
and you know, it would it's laughable, it would have
(27:11):
been laughable to assume that, you know, someone could come
in there and neutralize these gangs that have been terrorizing
and ruining the country for generations. But he came in
and did that and it wasn't easy. And yeah, I
mean he was a mixture of you know, hard and
soft power. But it is possible, and you know, we
just you know, I use bucal At as an example,
(27:32):
you know, I use Governor Ron DeSantis as an example.
I mean, just people on the right in America, we
don't even know what excellence looks like. We don't even
we don't have any conception about what is or is
not great. And you know, we have these beacons. We
have people who are showing us Hey, if we just
have people, if we have leaders on our side who
have the will, who have the force of will to
(27:53):
actually do this, who were going to pin their ears
back and just get it done, I mean like, yeah,
well you know, like you kind of you know, it's
it's as Coach Belichick would say, it's it's part.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Of the process.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
You know, it's it's it's something that you know, you
you know, you adjust and things go wrong, you fix them,
and things you know, you you get it done over time,
But it starts with just having that iron will that
you're not gonna let anyone tell you that it can't
be done. You have an in state in mind, and
you know you're not gonna know just one more thing
about like about you know, this, this this idea of
(28:24):
leadership I'm sick of. You know, for so many years
people on the right were captive to people like Frank
Luntz and you know, people who like they think that
leaders are supposed to follow public opinion. You know, you know,
one of the greatest things about Governor DeSantis is he's
very clear that he doesn't govern by following public opinion.
He has the Steve Jobs model of leadership in mind.
(28:47):
And you know Steve Jobs of famous I think he
borrowed this saying from Henry Ford. You know I'm paraphrasing,
but essentially he said, you know, people don't know what
they want. You have to show them what they want
and then they'll follow you. You know, like like no
one could have envisioned the iPhone. They wouldn't have responded
to a Frank Lunz poll and said I want an iPhone. No,
Steve Jobs showed them the iPhone, and then of course
(29:08):
now everyone has an iPhone. Same thing with the vehicle,
and the same thing with leaders like Naive Buclet and
Ronda Santis. That's what leadership is. It's not following, you know,
Frank Lunz's polls. It's actually, you know, like having the
will to solve a problem and showing the people that
it's possible. So that's I mean, I want to see
more people like that rise in American politics or else.
(29:28):
You know, we're in We're in deep trouble.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's fascinating that Bucule and El Salvador used prison labor
prisoners MS thirteen prisoners to destroy I'm sure you saw
this the graves of MS thirteen gang members because they
were being used as gathering sites in the cemeteries. So
they just if your gravestone said anything about MS thirteen,
(29:51):
they just turned into rubble. Not allowed to have public
displays of anything having to do with Mara. Salvatrucia, he's
he's hardcore about it, man. He treats it like he
says this. I've heard him in an interview saying that
he views the threat of MS thirteen the way that
he thinks people in Germany should treat Nazi as, which
is that it is a threat to the live, safety
(30:14):
of lives and safety of the people, and also a
threat to the very integrity of the state itself. And
for a small country in Central America to take that
approach and obviously have some results early on, I think
is really interesting. I've got a couple of NFL questions
for you when we come back in a second. Here,
So hold on for a minute. Everybody, you will see
if you're watching this, if you're not watching, if you're
(30:34):
only subscribing on the podcast, which most of you listen
to the podcast, but there's also YouTube. Go to YouTube
dot com slash box Sex and we've got video there.
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(31:55):
so all you mentioned Bill Belichick. I know a million
people have asked you, but I haven't.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
What's you like?
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Well, he's a genius. He's one of the greatest leaders
I've ever been around in the civilian world or the military.
I did my last potdcast actually on the Patriots Dynasty
and and what we used to call the Patriot Way.
And you know, Coach Belichick had a very simple set
of rules for the team. You know, do your job,
(32:23):
work hard, be intentive, put the team first. You know,
those those were the four rules you know that you
had to abide by when you know, when you when
you step into the Patriots facility, you know, when you
became a new England Patriot. And you know he was
he was able to push us very hard. I mean,
there were so many stories of other veterans coming in
from different teams, either by trades or free agency or whatever,
(32:44):
and after a week or so, you know, they would
just quit the team. I mean, like big name guys
like you know, Reggie Wayne, Robert Gallery, Kellen Winslow. I mean,
like you know, brand name players. And I'm not denegrating
these guys, but you know they would come in and
after seven, seven or ten days of Patriots training camp,
they would go to Bill and just say, hey, coach,
you know this isn't for me. I'm going to retire,
(33:06):
and like that's you know, other other players who came
in could not believe how hard he worked, how hard
Bill coached the players. You know, but we were all
on the same page, you know, we all marched the
beat of the same drum. You know, Tom Brady was
a huge, huge reason for that. You know, I like
to tell the story of my first ever Patriots team meeting.
You know, I'm a brand new rookie coming in there
(33:27):
in May. It was like our first first spring mini
camp team meeting that the team had just lost the
Super Bowl to the Giants the year before that. I
got there and you know, he was just kind of
the first team meeting, kind of a nothing meeting. Bill's
just kind of laying out his expectations for Mini camp
and Tom Brady comes in and he's sitting front row center.
You know, he didn't have to do that, but he
sat front row center every single day. And in this
(33:50):
first ever team meeting, I'm sitting there, Brady's just he's
got his notepad, He's sitting up and he's just scribbling
notes furiously. He's trying to soak in every bit of
knowledge that Bill was sharing with us. And he had
probably heard the same meeting ten or fifteen times, the
same spiel, but he was trying to glean that extra
bit of knowledge. But I think what he was really
doing he was setting the example for all the new guys.
(34:13):
He was he was setting the tone for everyone else
who was sitting right behind him in that team meeting room,
you know, in the in the rows above him, and
you could see Tom Brady just just so attentive in
taking notes and engage intellectually and mentally engaged. And you
know that was that was the kind of leadership we
had from the coaching staff, from the Marquee players, guys
(34:33):
like like Tom and Gronk and Vince will Fork and
Matthew Slater and so many others. You know, it was
just an absolute machine. And that I tell stories like
that to really explain what is the Patriot Way because
it's not just for football, you know, it's for any
Any leader can learn from the Patriot Way. You know,
whether you're in politics, or in business or in media,
(34:54):
whatever it is. You know, if you if you follow
those rules and you and you hold people accountable, do
your job, be attentive, work hard, put the team first,
you're going to have success.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
What was your favorite part of being an NFL? What
were you a linebacker? By the way, is that right?
Speaker 1 (35:09):
I was a de defensive end, tight end, special teams player,
I was. I was a utility guy. Okay, I kind
of did everything.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
What was your favorite part of playing in the NFL,
And what was the part that wasn't so great?
Speaker 1 (35:25):
I mean, the best part was being around people who
were the greatest at what they do. And you know,
I I was I was very you know, humbled to
be drafted by them in the third round and just
I didn't take it for granted to be around some
of the great the greatest coach of all time, the
greatest quarterback of all time, some of the greatest players
in the league. You know, I think Gronk was the
best tight end of all time. You know, I was
(35:46):
in the same tight end meeting room as him for
two years.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
He seems like a fun guy, by the way, Is
he a fun guy? Is that? Is that real?
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Gronk is exactly who you imagined him to be. I'll
tell you a Gronk story. So Gronk, you know, every
member of the Patriots players and coaches and staff, we
had these key fobs that gave us twenty four to
seven access to the facility, you know, at any time,
and like during the offseason especially, guys come up there
at night or early morning to get a workout in,
getting the hot tub, col tub, whatever. And you know, Gronk,
(36:14):
you know, during the off season, he would, you know,
he'd go out in Boston or Providence or whatever, you know,
have a great time, stay out till two or three
in the morning, and he would have his buddies drop
him off at the Patriots facility at like three thirty
in the morning. So he would fob in and go
straight to the training room and he would find one
of the training tables and just like pass out, just
(36:36):
stretch out and go to sleep. And so when the
trainers would come in in the morning, they would see
Gronk like still in his like you know, like night
life clothes, just like sleeping there. They would roll up
his sleeve at stick an IV in his arm and
just kind of revive him and he would get up
after a couple hours and just go be like the
dominant force that he was. It was about that time
(36:58):
that it was about that time that I realized that,
you know, some people are more talented than others. That
he had a pretty high ceiling like I was, you know,
I was getting plenty of sleep, do it everything right,
and like still, this guy was the greatest tight end
that I had ever seen, you know, but he was.
He was a great player, a great teammate. You know,
despite like having a good time on the weekends, he
(37:18):
worked his butt off when he was you know, when
it was time to do that, and he was just
a joy to be around. I mean, just a hell
of a great guy.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Was there anything, though?
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I mean just physical punishment to your body or like,
what was the what was the thing?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
If you had to point to one thing.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
I mean, you're playing in the NFL, right, I feel
like when people get to that level of success and
something that's as heralded as that, there's a maybe for
a lot of folks, a public perception of like it
just must all be amazing. Nothing is all amazing, right,
I mean we all know that. So what was either
the challenge or the thing you wish you could change,
you know, something that you were just like, ah, that
part of it's maybe it was a surprise, Maybe it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Yeah, don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy. I mean
it was I mean I told you those stories of
some of the greatest NFL players of all time to
strip quitting because of how tough it was. And yeah,
there's a lot of physical punishment that goes into playing
at that level, and you know, Bill's old scho Well,
he came from the Bill Parcells school of coaching, and
I mean that was like full contact practices as much
(38:16):
as possible, you know, all kinds of hitting. We probably
did more hitting in New England than we did, you know,
in my college days at the University of Arkansas. So
you know, it was a it was a huge you know,
it was very very tough on your body, you know,
very tough mentally to to to survive and thrive and
that and that tough of an environment. But you know
(38:37):
it was a great preparation for what I was, you know,
gonna do in the military and Rader school, and you know,
at the end of the day, you know, guy had
a plan. I would have loved to have played for
a bit longer in the league, but you know, I
wouldn't change it, Like going back, I would not change
a single thing.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Institutionally, dating a Patriots cheerleader frowned upon or encouraged for players.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
So, uh, they're actually I'm pretty sure it was actually
it was against their rules.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
For from other another situation, I keep going, I would
so obviously everybody, Yeah, I mean there is you know,
there is kind of a double standard there it's from
from what I remember, it is true that.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
I mean, there were no restrictions on us. I mean,
we coul date whoever wanted, but for the Patriots cheerleaders,
they would get fired if they, you know, we were
caught with one of the players. I'm pretty sure Gronk's
longtime girlfriend is a former Patriots cheerleader, and like that's
that's what happened, is you know, they got outed in
their relationship and she got canned or maybe maybe like
(39:39):
they went public after she was done or something. But yeah, there,
I'm pretty sure it's against it's against their the cheerleader rules,
you know, and that's you know, hey that I think
that's kind.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Of ridiculous, the cheerleader code of ethics.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I mean, come on, yeah, I mean I think that's
that's kind of absurd. Like, I mean American, Like there's
an old Sports Illustrated cover of when when Miami won
one of their national championships, you know, the you there's
this famous you know photo of you know, one of
the players on the field left of the game, you know,
kissing the cheerleader. I mean, like people love that, Like
what's wrong with that? I Mean, I really don't see
(40:14):
you know, any problem. Maybe it's just me. I don't know,
maybe there's some other rationale that I'm not seeing. But
I thought that was kind of a dumb policy. And
you know, I'm glad that Grant guy as a girl.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Yeah, I think I think all the men of America
are hitting your saying and some of the ladies. I'm
sure tour seg it's that's absurd. But anyway, not an
important topic, but I was curious. Anyway, Jake, you're doing
great work.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Where should people go to listen to your podcast?
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Yeah, we're on all platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, the
Jake Beckett Show podcast like subscribe, leave a good review.
You know, it's been great. We're seven or eight episodes
in right now, and it's been a great project thus far.
So give us a give us a listen there, and
you can find me on social media on Twitter at
(40:59):
Jake Beckett ninety one. So yeah, that's that's where you
can find me.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Jake, thank you for your service and thank you for
your time.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Man.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
I appreciate you being with us.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
Buck
Host
Buck Sexton
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