Echoes of Honor; Remembering the legacy of Tim Artibee

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
War is a paradox and is the power to bring nations
together to inspire heroism andsacrifice and to forge bonds of
camaraderie that will span alifetime.
But it also has the power totear families to shatter
communities and to leave scarsthat will never fully yield.
And for those who have served,the transition and back to

(00:25):
civilian life can be one of thegreatest challenges they will
ever face.
This is the typical life ofmilitary veterans a world that
is both familiar and foreign tomost of us.
It is a world that is shaped byunique experiences, values and
traditions of the military.
And by the sacrifices andstruggles of those who have
served.
But it's also a world that isconstantly changing as new

(00:47):
generations of veterans can newchallenges, and new
opportunities.
Thank you for joining us atsoup sandwich.
Dig your fox hole, heat up yourMRE, and spend some time with
us.
This podcast is designed solelyfor entertainment and
occasionally informationalpurposes only and is to be
regarded strictly as satire.

(01:07):
Comprising of veterans, itdelves into their thoughts and
experiences in combat, as wellas their perspectives on various
aspects of daily life that maybe unsettling for certain
listeners.
This podcast is not suitablefor individuals under the age of
eighteen.
The views articulated in thispodcast may not necessarily
align with those of the nationalVFW.
VFW Department of Michigan, orVFW Post thirty thirty three.

(01:31):
Additionally, we kindly requestthat listeners refrain from
pursuing legal action againstthe theaters or contributors of
this podcast.
In other words, please don'tsue us.

Brent Holbrook (01:44):
Welcome back everybody to another episode of
soup sandwich.
Today is a unique episode forthose of you who have been
joining.
You may have heard a familiarvoice in Tim Arderby.
Our post commander here at VFWpost thirty thirty three.
But today's today's gonna be arough one.

(02:09):
Unfortunately, about two weeksago, we had a tragedy in our
family, and Tim has sadly passedaway.
So today, to start out thepodcast, we're gonna do a sound
of freedom salute.
I'm a count of three gentlemen.
One, two, three.

Charlie Cline (02:32):
Sound of freedom.

The sound of freedom.
Timmy.

And rightfully so , Timmy's got his seat of honor
at the table along with his openbeard now, so he is smiling
down on us at least.
You know?

Absolutely.
He's here with us in spirit?
So as we progress through, whatdo we wanna talk about today?

Let's do the introductions.
You sit around the table.

Oh, yeah.
Well, I'll start.
My name is Brent Holbrook.
Probably recognize my voice.
I am the founder of the soupsandwich podcast and all around.
Pretty cool guy.
I'm the Court of Master ofClose thirty thirty three, and

(03:22):
they call me two parts.
You'll probably understand whyand a little why.
It'll come out.

We're just

Tre Porter (03:30):
Nobody recognizes your voice, Brett.

Okay.

You know what?

Tre Porter (03:34):
They all they all recognize my voice, Trey Porter,
best looking member of postthirty thirty

three.

Tre Porter (03:42):
Next to Roy Thomas is he's pretty steady handsets
as

a guy.

Tre Porter (03:48):
Yeah.
Yeah.
He practically yeah.
He pretty much is.
But I'll give it to him.
Ryder's Group Vice President,Post Member for quite a few
years now, couple years, three,four years now.
And we miss Timmy.
Absolutely luck.

Roy Thomas (04:13):
Hello everybody.
I'm Roy Thomas.
Lifetime member of the post.
I don't have any other roles asI've, you know, just got back
to the area and getting activewith the post again and such but
I'm sure that will come in time.
But, yeah, no.
Pleasure to be here.
You know, it's bummer to lookacross the table and see an

(04:36):
empty seat, you know, due to ourdeparted Comrad, but, you know,
we'll we'll do our best honorhim and do him proud and I know
he's he's smiling down, laughingand smoking the ilmen with us.

Joe Gates (04:52):
Joseph Gates, plus thirty three member, Briar
Street member, Adigent, and ourown tech nerd.

Never changes with you.
Does it?
Nope.
I'm very rich.
I'm consistent.
And once again, I'm easy tokeep I'm trying to climb.
Life member of of our post andpresident of our riders group.

So Definitely a tech nerd.
We were talking the other dayand he got really excited about
spreadsheets.

Joe Gates (05:19):
I don't think excited about it.

You totally were .
Don't fucking lie.

I believe I smell on the space right now.
You can tell he's getting

Roy Thomas (05:26):
that job.
Excel format.
Some guys want more.
Some guys look at spreadsheets.

Joe Gates (05:36):
And the whiteface taken care of just fine.
So

Yeah.
So as Brent alluded to earlier,We did lose Tim a couple of
weeks ago.
It was a motorcycle accident.
Our group was out riding onSunday.
And by Monday afternoon, we hadlost them.
So a couple weeks ago, we werebusy with funeral stuff along

(06:08):
with the family.
Obviously, the VFW helped.
Played a large role in what Timwanted for his funeral stuff.
And we know he was he wasprobably pissed because of we
couldn't host it in our post.
Our maximum capacity is like ahundred and seventy three.
Yeah.
Clare, which is just north usabout twenty minutes.
They have two fifty or twoseventy capacity.

(06:30):
They're all

Tre Porter (06:32):
And we we were way aware of it.

And they stopped counting yet.
Over four twenty.
Yeah.
Wow.
So they're thinking probablyfour hundred and forty to four
fifty showed up for a funeral.
And for the Ryers Group, thanksto City of Clare Police
Department, Isabelle CountySheriff's Department, and
Saginaw, Chipo Indian tried.
The travel police gave us anescort from our VFW post all the

(07:00):
way right to the clear VFW post.

Roy Thomas (07:02):
I don't know.
That escort was top notch.
Yeah.
We Yeah.

And I I blasted it on our our Ryers Group
Facebook page thanking them forstepping up and helping us out.
I mean, it was awesome.
We had about about sixty bikes.
We had some great videos.
Actually, we made

Roy Thomas (07:19):
a tick tock.
I think we made a lot

of small balls, and we

Roy Thomas (07:21):
have, like, fifty seven.
And there's, like, ten orfifteen in Claire already.

Right.
Call in.
It was it was an awesomeawesome tribute, an awesome ride
, and, you know, it's awesomethat all those different
departments stepped up to helpus out.
And show the respect for theguy, you know.
And and there was it wasn'twasn't just me.
There was a lot of people thatthat were reaching out Justin,

(07:47):
Gary Stoney out of our group.
He was getting hold of the guyout the tribal, and then Cathy
Ball, myself, and a couple ofpeople had reached out to the
sheriff's department.
And then Trey, right, you youworked with clear.
Yeah.
So, I mean, it was an all handson event for the rioters group

(08:07):
on getting getting all thosedifferent departments involved
in an it it made our, obviously,our ride safe, but it was it
was cool because they knew wewere gonna be just rolling.
Mhmm.
And then they were proud to assoon as we got up there, I went
up and and saw the officers thatcleared and then the travel guy
that went all the way up Well,thank those guys and they said,

(08:30):
absolutely, we would do it againin the heartbeat.
Hope you don't have to.
No.
I mean, they No.
They'll do it again in theheartbeat for us.

Roy Thomas (08:37):
What I really appreciate it on that ride was,
you know, the fact that peoplejust pulled over stop.
Okay.
Yeah.
You know, there were a few thatkept driving, you know,
oblivious to what was going on,but I'd say ninety five percent
of the vehicles Like, theypulled over, they stopped.
There were some of them thatgot out to watch.
Like, it was

it

Roy Thomas (08:55):
was fantastic.
Yeah.

Yeah.
The turnout, the honor, therespect that was shown, was
awesome.
I, you know, being on the honorguard, I had the honor of being
part of his twenty one gunsalute, that was humbling.

Yeah.
But but I can't and I can't sayenough, you know, from Scott
Taylor.
He's the post commander up inHarrison.
He's now the new districtcommander for district eleven.
Him reaching out all the timeconstantly helping anything I

(09:36):
can do, then he's like, hey,I've got this.
Let's do you know what I mean?
He was he was running andgunning and same for John
Watington and Bill Scott out ofthe Claire Post.
Those guys did a phenomenal jobnot only offering up their post
, but helping I mean, for threeor four days ahead of time,
they're helping set up andhelping, you know, everything

(09:58):
that needed to be done.
Right.
And then the auxilaries ourauxiliary, our auxiliary
absolutely killed it Yeah.
With making sure that the foodwas taken care of and all those
little things that that willeasily get overlooked by us
Absolutely.
Those women just absolutelyfucking killed it.
Yeah.

Roy Thomas (10:17):
I love the auxiliary noise aspect, man.
They just a small point inbehind the, you know, the scenes
and just taking care ofbusiness.
Yeah.

Yeah.
Yeah.
And our our our auxiliary I I Ijust can't can't say enough,
you know, good stuff they did.
Absolutely.
Anything that we needed orthought of or forgot to think
about, they thought about.
I mean, that was incredible.
So and it was it was huge tosee them come together.

(10:47):
Like, we should be.
Right?
We're all one we're all oneteam.
We're all one family man, andit was it was impressive.
So I want to I

wanna speak on his his legacy.
I mean, You know, we hadmentioned, what'd you say, they
stopped counting at four hundredand twenty?
Yeah.
It was

Tre Porter (11:05):
like four twenty.
Yeah.

So it was definitely more than standing
room only.
There were there wasn't roominside the building anymore.

Tre Porter (11:12):
Yeah.

There's people standing there.

There was probably fifty hundred people
standing outside.
Saw that just go Yeah.
Show.

Joe Gates (11:19):
Plus the ones we had on the live feed.

On the oil and

Joe Gates (11:21):
gas state.

Yep.
Yeah.
That's one, I guess, one thingI forgot that.
All we actually was And techtech over here had a had a great
suggestion because ourdepartment commander and most of
the people in department, theywere gone to Washington see it,
actually, on that Saturday, theylaid a wreath at the the tomb
of the unknown.
Mhmm.
So the Department of Commanderand the senior and junior We're

(11:44):
doing that.
So Joe put up that live feedcamera and then ran it just like
we're doing right now, I justran it on our our Facebook.
Post an auxiliary page so that,you know, in in between or, you
know, if they started and thenthey were three hours later, you
know, and there was time theycould at least bounce on and see

(12:06):
.
And I don't even know how manyviewers around that.
That was quite a few, I think.

Joe Gates (12:09):
Yeah.
I wasn't paying into somebody,how many viewers was up there.
I was making sure we're stillrunning, like, every fan.
Yeah.

Because obviously, not everybody could
make it for whatever reason, andthat's that's totally fine.

Joe Gates (12:18):
And I had to run a hotspot from work.
So I was like, if it drops, Iwanna make sure I bring it back
up.
Right.

But but to speak on the amount of people that
were there, speaks volumes as towhat he did.
So and I know, you know, whenhe introduced himself on some
previous episodes, he's probablymentioned this.
But let's just go through itreal quick.
He was our post commander.
He was our district commander.
He was the director for thestate riders group.

(12:45):
The whole state.
The whole state.
Yep.
And and locally, he was alsoour our bar manager.
So he he wore four hats minimumat any given time.
And so that, you know, he wasshaking hands at department
level.
He was shaking hands all overthe state.

(13:06):
It was hell of a guy.
So his his legacy is gonnaspeak for itself.

Tre Porter (13:13):
Yeah.
He was he was next.
Like,

Yeah.
Absolutely.
One hundred percent.

Roy Thomas (13:21):
I mean, he was he was such an advocate for
veterans.
You know, on top of, you know,aside from, you know, being a a
post commander or, you know,whatever, you know, a hat and
bill you know, that he wastasked to, you know, he was
ultimate, you know, veterans.
Take care of veterans.
You know, whatever services,whatever you need.

(13:44):
If you just needed to come intothat post and sit down and
drink a beer, I mean he'd comein and sit right next to the bar
with you, you know, from one onone to you know, group efforts,
but, you know, the veterancommunity lost a huge, huge
advocate you know, in in in theman that he was as far as like

(14:06):
Trey said, I mean, as far asbeing the one.
I mean, he was he was climbing.
You know, the ladder of, youknow, the ranks of of, you know,
our our military organizations.

Well, he was because he was actually he was
actually running for JudgeAdvocate at the apartment.

And was it I'm here.

Roy Thomas (14:24):
He was he was going.
Right on.
Yeah.
I I give it, you know, in a ina matter of no time, you know,
obviously, you know He wouldhave

he would have been in that position probably
two to three years, and youwould have seen him as as the
department.

Well, they said there.
Was it

Roy Thomas (14:38):
was anyone who went right on the national?
You know, while I'm in climbingthose top brands?
I mean, good.
He was just that hungry andmotivated guyanese partially
didn't care for veterans thatmuch that, you

know Right.

And they did say that as as funeral.
And I can't remember if it waseither Matt David, our
Department Chief of Staff, or ifit

was It

was it was been him?

It was I think it was the I think it was John
Griffith, the

Tre Porter (15:01):
Oh, yeah.

It passed past deferment commander.
Yeah.
So it was one of those, but I Icouldn't remember who, but one
of them had said within the nextfive five years.
He would he would be had beenour department commander.

Tre Porter (15:14):
Right.

Roy Thomas (15:14):
The next thing, I mean, you know, especially when
you get up to those levels, Imean, they're hungry.
You know, I was I was on, youknow, I was department inspector
for the State of Michigan fromMLPH, military or or, you know,
for several years.
Know, I was a I was a postcommander for, you know, a
chapter up there in in Chassel,Michigan.

(15:34):
But, you know, you get up tothat national, you know, or non
national, but you get thatdepartment level and it's it's
thinner as far as, you know,personnel.
You don't have, you know, awhole post or whatever.
It's you know, it just getsthinner and

and They would say the cream pieces to the top.
Exactly.
So it's the higher you go.

Roy Thomas (16:00):
More of the elite personnel at

Tre Porter (16:01):
the higher levels in the

Roy Thomas (16:03):
Right.
And he was

well on

Roy Thomas (16:04):
his way to the top.

That's why he should have all downhill.
I'm used to

Tre Porter (16:10):
It might it might flood.

No.
But you're right though.

Roy Thomas (16:13):
I mean

I mean, as as you start climbing the ranks, it
gets fewer and fewer and fewerand fewer.
Right?
So and it takes a specialperson to be able

Roy Thomas (16:20):
to In his in his passion, he's he was, you know,
in the drive that he had.
I mean, they wouldn't have justgrabbed a hold of him.
You know, arm is wide open and,you know, took him right to the
top.
Yeah.

And I'm I don't I don't even think it was gonna
be I think there was one guyrunning against him.
But and this guy, I believe,has ran over the last couple of
years and didn't win.
I I sure Tim Tim had thosevotes that he needed.

(16:55):
So because he didn't he didn'teven really have the campaign.
You know what I mean?
I mean, because he wouldn'tknow that he visited Pulse and
he did the things.
You know, he didn't have thisbig board out in front of all
the

Roy Thomas (17:08):
He did he did the little stuff.
You know?
He was Mhmm.
He he was the guy that hewasn't the flashy, you know,
looking me, looking me, lookingme.
I mean, he was he did the workbehind the scenes.
He did the work in front of thescenes.
I mean, he just did whateverneeded to be done.

Mhmm.
Yep.

Roy Thomas (17:23):
You know, and he he never took it, you know,
personal.
It wasn't ever well.
You know, puffed his chest andshoulders, like,

oh, I'm the commander.
Or, you

Roy Thomas (17:31):
know, whatever.
He was just, like, he was juststill, you know, one of the guys
.
Right.

Tre Porter (17:36):
Yeah.
Humbled guy.

Yeah.
That's And to be a trueadvocate like you had said, he
was he was a hell of an advocatefor absolutely.
And to be a true advocate, youhave to be, you know, humble.

Well, and that's one of my things, you know, when
I first started coming aroundthe Pauliston after being there
a few years, you know, he waslike, you know, time for you to
start stepping up for stuff, andI'll kinda show you the way.
I'll show you the ins and outs.
And he did that he was such abig advocate, not just our post,
but VFW in general.
We always put the VFW firstAbsolutely.

(18:09):
Even before our post.

Tre Porter (18:11):
You know

what I mean?
Because it's all about thebigger mission.
He taught me that.
I mean, he was the guy thattaught me how to do things in
the VFWA.
Right?
And, of course, it was had ahard time getting it out.
Especially after going afterTerry and Sensio.
Not there.
When you see that guy's bestfriend, I mean, they were

(18:33):
driving all the time.
And, I mean, they were doingstuff constant, you know, and
then I had to go after Carrie.
I was like, motherfucker.
This is not gonna be good.
Then I, like, kinda broke for asecond.
I was like, better make theshort and sweet and I just kind
of, you know Right.
You know, I was like, man.
But, yeah, he was he wasdefinitely around here.

(18:53):
Here's here's my best friend.
And we were together for yearsthree, four times a week for
lunch and Mhmm.
Riding all the time, I got himin the riding in the wintertime.
It's the first time he saw medoing these, like, you're a
crazy motherfucker.
Well, you gotta use full shave.
Fuck that ain't doing it.
Well, guess what?
Very next very next winter.
I guess it was right, but butyep.

(19:14):
I'm on a fucking island.
I said, you write snowmobilesand stuff.
What do you do?
Yep.
Yeah.
What's the difference?
And layer up.

Tre Porter (19:21):
Yep.
Yeah.

You know?

And, you know, and like he said, you know, he
was molding you to being aleader.
He called you out, you know,and and Did the same thing to me
?
That's why I'm the post quartermaster.
Tim is the only reason why I amthe quarter master right now.

Tre Porter (19:36):
Yeah.
I remember when I said, youknow, well, once I became the
the vice president of RyderGroup and I said, you know, I I
just feel like it's time for meto start stepping up and doing
more for the post, and thenTim's, like, clap his hands

(19:57):
pointed at me.
It's like, you're fucking right?
Yeah.
It's time for you to startdoing more for the post.

So Mhmm.
Well, I've been should have thesame discussion.
Tim had it with me too.
That's why I said it to you.
You were asking me and, youknow, think about doing this or
doing this.
And the first thing says howmany hours a week can you give?
Yeah.
Because it depends on how manyhours a week that you can
honestly give.
Depends on what positions areout there.
You gotta wanna run fourbecause if you've only got, like

(20:23):
, two to four hours, these arenot good for you.
Right?
And if you've got, you know,four to eight hours, then these
ones are better suited.
You've got eight plus, thenthese are the ones, you know,
because it's there's a lot ofmeetings, there's a lot of
coordination, there's a lot ofnighttime phone calls.
There's a lot of shit you'regonna you have to be at, not
just meter for meaning orwhatever, but you have to be to

(20:45):
functions.
Right?
You know, I had a conversationwith you on the Broward Group
stuff, Madison.
Here's a little one at a timeslow, but some are done busy
because there's a lot of thingswe gotta be at.
Yep.
That just

Right.
So that's

a good time to me .
It's gonna be a good time, man.
It's gonna be a great time.
Yep.
So, man, he did.
He he instilled a lot of greatqualities.
We saw a great leader Mhmm.
In in Tim.
And and we've shed a lot oftears over the last few weeks.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(21:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Roy Thomas (21:19):
I think I think a great leadership, you know,
trade through him.
Which, you know, I admire, youknow, as as coming up to the
ranks like Marine Corps being aleader.
You know, I I still hear from,you know, some of my I still
hear from some of my juniorrings and stuff, you know,
through these days, you know,how much they like they
appreciated me, but you know, Ithink the thing with Tim is he

(21:40):
was the he was the type ofleader that, you know, led by
example on and would get down,you know, get down get down the
dirt with you.
You know, he wasn't the guy to,you know, hey, I'm, you know,
I'm the commander or I'm thesquad leader, like, you get over
there and do this and and justsit there and totally order
people around like, you know,that guy, he wasn't willing to,

(22:02):
you know, have you do somethingthat he wasn't willing to do
himself.
Exactly.
And, you know, to me, I mean, Iappreciate that type of
leadership and, you know, I'llfollow something like that, you
know, right into battle.
One hundred times over.

Right.
And that's that's what he saidto me.
You know, when I took over hisquarter master was you know,
I'll do it if I have to.
But he was like, I would loveto have somebody learn this job.
You know?
And, you know, if he didn'tknow a true leader as they do,

(22:35):
if he didn't know, he wouldconnect you with somebody who
did.
Alright.
So who is his next phone call?
Barry.
He'd Department ofQuartermaster Agenant.
You know, he's that guy,

Tre Porter (22:48):
he

knows everything .
Yeah.
You know?

So kind of his job.

He's been around a long time.
And but, you know, one of theone of the things that I'll miss
, and this was mentioned at hisfuneral too, but, you know,
walking into the post, gotta domy shit, you know, open the door
and

What's that poker ?

You know?
That was a hooker.

Sand at the end of the bar.

Yep.
So That's what I'll miss.

Roy Thomas (23:16):
I would you know, every now and then, whenever I'm
making out and about, you know,downtown or whatever, you know,
and he'd be out down there,like, you know, the guy was
three sixty.
I mean, he was aware, you know,of what was going on.
It's like as soon as, you know,I would walk in, like, there he
is.
Just standing there.
Towering about the crowd, youknow, and then he just locks

(23:36):
eyes and he gets, you know, thatshit eating grand, and he wants
time to learn.
He's like, like, doing a bear.
You know, nice thing, you know,we're we're bullshitting, but,
you know, he's gosh.
Like, I was just full of life.
Very opinionated, full of life.

Yeah.
Nothing

Roy Thomas (23:55):
wrong.
Absolutely and I.

No.
Definitely gonna miss thosetimes, man.

Tre Porter (23:59):
Yep.
But, you know, like, Tim wouldwant.
We gotta You

gotta move on and move forward.
Push forward.
Yeah.

Tre Porter (24:08):
Move forward.
Not move on.

Move forward.
Yeah.

Roy Thomas (24:11):
Damn.
I mean, he he wouldn't wannasit in here and dwell in, you
know.
He'd wanna sit in here, youknow.
Continuing to, you know, forgeahead and, you

know, You don't say your bike just got stolen?
Nope.
Why are you sure?

Tre Porter (24:29):
That's the sound of freedom out there.
The other sound of freedom.

Seventy degrees period in Michigan today.
So it's been bike's been flyingeverywhere.

Roy Thomas (24:36):
Listen then the bike's drive by is,

like, Blue campus , San Diego.

Roy Thomas (24:40):
So airplanes flying.

So I actually had talked about this.
We were celebrating Tim up atour post over the course right
after, you know, three, fourdays.
Doesn't pass it.
Right?
You know, the day passed, youknow, everybody is up to post
and through the next three, fourdays.
We everybody was up to post atnight.
Remembering, Tim, and one ofthe things that that I was gonna

(25:06):
do at our last podcast was Iwas gonna get to the store and
we have our AJ Sky lounge andsoup sandwich.
Podcast banner that I had madefor here at the shop.
And I have his I stuck hismemorial sticker up there
already.
But the point was was to get aSharpie and have everybody that

(25:28):
comes up here and joins thispodcast sign that sign.
And I looked at Roy and I said,you know the worst thing is?
I should've just left and goneto get in, so I didn't leave the
office that day, stayed herelike I did today, So I never got
it.
And then this is the nextepisode since that one, and
we've already had Tim's passing.

(25:49):
So that'll be a signature thatI'll never have on that banner.

Tre Porter (25:55):
You got his memorial

So here it is, boys.
One at a time.

Tre Porter (26:01):
I was gonna say,

one at a time to have it today.
You know what I'm saying?
At a time.
I wasn't even letting thathappen again.
We've talked about,

Roy Thomas (26:09):
you know, pulling his autograph off, you know,
some of the the other documentsjust needed up there, but it it
will never be the original.

Tre Porter (26:17):
Right.
Right.

And I don't want it unless it's the I'd rather
just have this memorial stickerup than that.
Right.
That's that's him.

Roy Thomas (26:23):
Completely understandable.

So hit that lake right there that we can see.
Anywhere you want white oilSharpie.
Alright.
Cyber big.

Tre Porter (26:36):
Hey.
Am I deciding what name?

I'm sorry.
I don't care what you put onthe input US Army.
You can put years of service.

Roy Thomas (26:42):
I mean, I don't

know what you want.

You can draw a deck if you'd like.

Roy Thomas (26:44):
I wouldn't put army on there.
I'd be a little ashamed of that.
Yeah.

Do whatever you wanna do, man.
Just sign your John.
Sign your John Hancock.

Yeah.
Fucking John Hancock.

Roy Thomas (26:57):
No.
Everybody knows it's Kirby handtalk.

Kirby hand talk.
You bet you go next.
We're gonna we're gonna go oneat a time.
I don't even put mine on theretoo.
And I know this is, you know,not how our normal podcast go,
but this is something that Ididn't have done.

(27:21):
And I'm gonna kick myself inthe

Roy Thomas (27:25):
beginning to a new normal.

Well, like we've said, there's a reason why this
podcast called soup sandwich.

Tre Porter (27:30):
Yeah.
There

is no

Tre Porter (27:33):
trip order or anything like that.
It's

literally even though we wanna talk

Tre Porter (27:37):
about.
Yeah.

Joe Gates (27:39):
Make it more authentic way.

There's no agenda .

Joe Gates (27:44):
There's no meetings at work

that have again.
There's no stuff.
Screw that.
You say, you know, that's a bigsign.
Right?
Like, you can it's all kinds ofspaces you want to lay away in
the next future.
Might have to go grab a

Roy Thomas (28:00):
two parts.

Might have to go grab a black one.
Get down the grass.
Parrotruppers are flying in.
All right, Roy.
Your neck Road boys up next.

Tre Porter (28:15):
You are gonna sign that.

Right?
Yeah.
Okay.
I said, I'm signed.
I'll sign it last.

Everybody has to sign it.
That's the new rule.

Really can go well.
No exceptions.
That that Sherby's gonna hangright out the top of that sign.
That way, he doesn't go nowhere.
So when Shannon boys tonight,whoever shows up can walk up and
sign her up.
So, you know, it it it'shumbling when You know, we get

(28:50):
and I'm sure this happens.
Doesn't matter if it's AmericanLegion's and vets or any any
type of organization, buttumbling when the day to day
squabbles stuff at our post oranybody else's, you know,
between the auxiliary and theand the pulse side And then when
there's a tragedy like this,how everybody bands back
together, and it it builds yourpulse.

(29:10):
Yeah.
Tragedy, unfortunately, buildsyou stronger and brings people
back together to where thelittle ship that we squabbled
about

Tre Porter (29:19):
Yeah.

Who is the health cares

like You know, it puts it in this perspective.
Yeah.

I mean, we're we're arguing and fighting over
stupid shit Mhmm.
For what?
It's just not we're notaccomplishing anything.
We're just acting like littlekids.
Something like this happens andit actually makes you realize,
like, it's supposed to be adults.
Right.

Tre Porter (29:39):
That's who would do.

Who would do?
That we were supposed to

Tre Porter (29:41):
be a dog life.

Joe Gates (29:42):
It's naturally appreciated good.
Mhmm.
Without it, I think it was goodall the time.
He really wouldn't care.

Tre Porter (29:52):
Charlie is signing the thing now.

Roy Thomas (30:01):
You guys all put in your southbound area.

I gotta add to mine.
You guys are all putting yourdates of service and I didn't
put I didn't put my dates either.

Do what you wanna do.
They said you can put on therewhatever you want.

Roy Thomas (30:14):
I'll do it.
Nothing.

There was no.
Ain't no rhyme and reason?
No.
Nothing.
I don't make

Roy Thomas (30:20):
it uniform.
That's what you're doing.
Yeah.

You just don't need your signature if you
wanted to play it.
Branch?
You wanna do whatever you wannado?

Tre Porter (30:27):
I mean, you were in ninety eight.
Goddamn.
You're a young man.
Very young.
Very young.

Roy Thomas (30:33):
Ninety eight?

Tre Porter (30:35):
I mean, I went in a ninety seven.
There's an end of ninety seven,but And now Brad's putting that
putting his dates in.

Joe Gates (30:44):
I'm really really beginning of a thank you.
I'm probably the youngest hostmember.

Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, there you go.
Thirty five.
I'm younger than you.

Oh, really?

I was

Tre Porter (30:55):
I was just sitting here thinking.
As we're sitting here, and nowTim is not here.

Yeah.
It makes you oldest five monththirty.

Tre Porter (31:04):
I'm the fucking oldest one here right now.

Because we didn't .
We always called Tim.
Yeah.
He was, like, eighty five.
Yeah.

Tre Porter (31:10):
He said,

Joe Gates (31:10):
hey, he

Tre Porter (31:10):
said, hey.
We've got the oldest one.
And now Now it's me.
Yeah.
Okay.
Jim Jim is, like, six monthsolder than I am.
So hopefully he areas, I'll beguessing there.

Roy Thomas (31:25):
Well, for now, the passing of the torch has
belonged to you.

Yep.

Yeah.
Well, here's the only problem,though.
You've already got the salt andpepper started in your hair.

Tre Porter (31:33):
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
I'm growing my hair now.

It's called the silver fox, and I think the
women like that.
Makes us look distinctly I haveI have had my beard going
pretty up.

Joe Gates (31:45):
So my wife was telling me if she can't wait

till I start getting

Joe Gates (31:48):
the the wipes in my hair like that.

So when's your appointment to the hair salon?

Tre Porter (31:54):
I understand.

Joe Gates (31:56):
That's all authentic that way.

Dude, same that'd be awesome.

Joe Gates (31:59):
Can figurine when it comes

Tre Porter (32:00):
to Yo.

Roy Thomas (32:01):
Can you grow

a beard?

Joe Gates (32:02):
No.
Do you ever seen a Team America?
My wife hates this thing now.

Team America, though.

Joe Gates (32:07):
It's a it's a old I think it's it's old now.
Probably, like, two thousandfive or so.
Are you the lawyer in that?
Uh-huh.
And they have a part and a tourof the the actors in there
suddenly overseas.
They, like, glue

Roy Thomas (32:19):
Yeah.

This area that

Tre Porter (32:20):
was I did see that.

That's how my hands in.

Tre Porter (32:22):
I'll splash it that, man.

Joe Gates (32:24):
Oh, yeah.

Tre Porter (32:26):
You gotta just let it go, man.
Let it grow.

Let it let it go .

Joe Gates (32:29):
Probably four or five months ago.
And then I told her, I was like, no.
It's gotta go.
It's it's sort of an issue.

It's because you're not putting condition and
stuff on it.

So you'll forever look like you're still
starting puberty.

Tre Porter (32:41):
Yeah.

Yeah.
We gotta get a beard on you,buddy.

Tre Porter (32:46):
You gotta get a beard on you?

Yeah.
Is

Joe Gates (32:47):
there a trucker on there?
What's that?
Get some miracle girl in there.

Roy Thomas (32:51):
A bunch of cheese

and butter.

Tre Porter (32:52):
My fucking beard is not the greatest, you know.

Get your skin rolling.
You'll just have to smear itall over your chin.

Tre Porter (32:58):
I just got I just got it fucking I just let it go.
Just let it go.

Joe Gates (33:02):
It it gets to a point where, like, it just it feels
so damn if you know

what, honey.
Because you're not puttingconditioner in it.

Are you sure it's not crabs?

Joe Gates (33:09):
Definitely not crabs.

It could

Tre Porter (33:11):
be it could be crab.
Let let's talk about who yourwife is.

The hammer bro.

Tre Porter (33:19):
That's it.
That was just a joke, Tammy.
That was just a joke, Tammy.

I'm a there's a few there's a few people listed
it, and I know she's commentedabout the therapy side.

She's probably So you might have just married
yourself at That was trade tab.
That was totally trade.

Tre Porter (33:39):
It was totally a joke.
To holy jail.

And then when we were talking now

Joe Gates (33:43):
Well, he's always an nice oldest one.

Tre Porter (33:46):
He's about to kill me.

Roy Thomas (33:47):
So Wow.
It was nice knowing you train.
Damn.
Me fucking Charlie.
Stay one now.

Stay over on this side.
She can't get over here.

Tre Porter (33:54):
No problem.
So you're safe on this side.

You go to that side.
She's got go for

Joe Gates (33:59):
the I got to go

for the front door.
Yeah.
She's not big at all.

Joe Gates (34:02):
I tried getting to her.
She didn't take it.

Tre Porter (34:04):
Oh, good.

Oh, she says she hates you, Trey.
Trey.
That's my ass.

Tre Porter (34:09):
So she

she's probably sitting in her auxiliary meeting
right now.
That's what the ladies and themen on the auxiliary are doing.
So she probably got near bythen.
Yeah.
And I would assume RebeccaTaylor's probably doing the same
.

Yeah.
They're probably laughinghysterically.
You never know the othermeetings, like, fuck is wrong
with you, Earl's ass.

Well, you know,

Tre Porter (34:29):
this is this is what we need.
You know?

Absolutely.
This

Tre Porter (34:32):
is what we need.
A little bit of joke and thenYou know, when all that shit
went down, Charlie was stillcracking jokes, and I
appreciated that.
So if that ever happens to me,crack all the jokes that you
want.

Roy Thomas (34:48):
Absolutely.
Don't Yeah.

Tre Porter (34:50):
Yeah.
Well, the

the day of this accident, right, we were all
riding and then the day passed.
Wasn't really cracking a lot ofjokes.
No.
I mean, I could see what peopleare hurting, man.
You try to bring a little bitof humor in it.
Yeah.
You could put a smile ratherthan a frown.
Something brands that's

Tre Porter (35:07):
I I did.
I That's how

I that's how I deal with tragedy because I try
to make light.
Right.
Yeah.
But I take a joke, you know,just even if it's a joke about
myself.

Tre Porter (35:17):
Yeah.

I get somebody just to laugh for a second that
day.
Mhmm.
Listen then.

Tre Porter (35:21):
So I had my twin brother passed away back in two
thousand seventeen.
From cancer.
And we we do on his the day ofhis his departure's death, we do
a toast in the family everyyear.
And my my famous line is alwaystake my drink and I'll say, we

(35:44):
miss you buddy, better you thanme.
Oh, shit.
I watched

Roy Thomas (35:52):
I watched that documentary, that little short
film you guys made about allthat.

Tre Porter (35:58):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, and I feel like hewould appreciate something like
that, you know, when I say,better you than me.
Yeah.

Roy Thomas (36:10):
But I think that I mean, that's all

of my speed.
You know?
Well, I know I know Tim alwaysappreciated him where I would
have some crazy off colored jokeor some shit, you know.
And he was just like, you'rejust you're not right, man.
Something's wrong with

Tre Porter (36:23):
you, but he's laughing now.

And he was like, I don't understand how you sleep
at night.

Roy Thomas (36:29):
How does he humor is the best medicine?

Yeah.
Typically And

and we talked about this in the last episode.
Believe it was the last one oreither the one before that.
But either way, we were talkingabout how, you know, the the
dark humor we have is a copingmechanism because you know, in
in the words of Charlie, I Ithink quote end by saying, you
know, it's it's it's a copingmechanism to where so we don't

(36:53):
feel it.
Right?
That over time will allowourselves to feel it, and it
just kinda eases us into, youknow, Yes.
So

Tre Porter (37:03):
Well, I don't, you know, I don't know about your
guys' experience.
But, you know, I lost a lot ofpeople over there that I knew
not particularly in my unit, but, you know, in the group that we
were in at the fab I was at.
You know, we lost quite a fewpeople and people I knew and it

(37:25):
was tough, you know Mhmm.
Just like this, you know.
But you've gotta move forwardYeah.

Roy Thomas (37:35):
There's no time when you're in a combat zone to sit
inside.
Yeah.
You you gotta keep moving.
You know?

Yeah.
No.

Roy Thomas (37:40):
No.
Not not not to sound cold andand, you know, like, dishearted,
but, you know, you gotta yougotta tuck that, you know, down
in a pocket and and deal withanother time.
Like, when you're over there inthose situations, you

gotta keep moving .
You have a,

Roy Thomas (37:54):
you know, a bigger task, you know, ahead, you know,
mission accomplishment first.
And

Well, when we would go to those services, you
know, they'd be half hour long.
Right?
You know, traveling to get onand say something.
Right?
Rentals, the boots, the tagshanging.

Tre Porter (38:08):
Mhmm.

Roy Thomas (38:08):
Right?

You you you could get you the whole thing was
half hour.
It's about all you had and thentook your back on patrol one
hour later.
Yeah.
You're right back to work.
Turn the back on ever.
You never really got a shot atthat totally been able to grieve
with it so that it was, like,Denson, you know, knew so much
about basketball or or baseballfrom sitting in a vehicle with
guys bullshitting all the time.

(38:30):
So you really get to knowpeople well.
Absolutely.
You know, and and this is why,you know, Tim's tragedy or hurt
so deep is because over thecourse or some of us might be
five years, some might be twoyears, some might be twenty
years that knew him.
Here at the VFW just becamesuch good friends with him.
And then the way he is a or wasa leader in everything that he

(38:53):
did, everybody respected him somuch.
So it it hurt.
Oh, yeah.
Because Yeah.
It wasn't, you know, and andwhen it's a sudden death.
You know, it's not like we sawhim whether away from a heart
attack.
Right.
And kind of never recover orcan't.
It was just yeah.
I mean, literally almost twentyfour hours.

Yeah.
At

the time of the accident, he had passed.
So, you know, we got up to thehospital that night.
We came back from the rightchange because we were all wet,
rolled up there.
We only never got to see himagain till we went back Monday
morning.
But we left the hospital, like,nine o'clock at night.
Came back.
He was back in the emergencyroom and stuff.
He went to bed and I was hereat, you know, five thirty in the

(39:35):
morning.
And I morning for work.
Travis and Sensio calls.
He's like, we gotta get upthere.
I'm like, what?
And he goes, pick me up at thepost seven.
I said, okay.
I got some my former coming in.
Let me get him in and out, andthen I'll be catch you right
there.
Grab him.
We got up there and I startedmaking phone calls.
Once I talked to a son, I said,hey.
And I tell you what, he therewas probably a dozen maybe

(39:58):
family members there.
And kind of coming and goingand also people.
But we had thirty, maybe more,thirty five out of the riders
group.
Came up there.
And then Scott from Harrison?
Yeah.
Scott Taylor brought down Aaronand the other his name is Bill.
Came came down, just show theirsupport.

(40:22):
I obviously, Scott and Tim weregood friends.

Tre Porter (40:26):
Mhmm.
We

Joe Gates (40:27):
have detailed that waiting room.

Yeah.
We actually had to take overjust another half of a waiting
room, like, down the hallwayalmost because we just had so
many people there.
And it was like, holy cow.
But, you know, the way thateverybody banded together, and
cried together, and supportedeach other, you know, that's
exactly what he wanted.
Yeah.

(40:49):
You know, what

Tre Porter (40:49):
I could tell you to bring up Travis and Ossensio's
name, like, This is a guy that'snever been in combat, never
seen anything like this, and hewas the first one on the scene.
When this happened.
And he's the one that prettymuch saved him at that point.

(41:09):
Mhmm.
And I could be prouder of thatkid.
Couldn't be prouder of.

Yeah.
Now what was that?

Roy Thomas (41:17):
Like, you know, I had to talk with Travis the
other night, you know, at thedeputy hall, and you know, when
I when I when I finally foundout about it, you know, the
first person I messaged withCharlie and I was like, you know
, is is this is this for real?
You know, kinda just like ashock, but, you know, then I
heard back from Charlie and thenyou know, as as as I got to

(41:40):
pull some, you know, chitchatand and learn a little more, I
had to talk with Travis It was afew nights ago.
Just one on one, you know, atWfW Hall.
Somehow we got on the talk of,you know, just, you know, seeing
and dealing with death andstuff like that.

(42:00):
And You know, I I looked at himand and I just told him, like,
hey, man.
You know, like, you

know, if you ever

Roy Thomas (42:09):
need anything, you ever need chat, you know, like,
think we're here, like, you knowyou know, what what you saw and
, you know, what you did was tovote.
Yeah.
You know, very heroic, but atthe same time, you know,
traumatic.
Not traumatic.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Tre Porter (42:24):
Yeah.

You know, like,

Roy Thomas (42:26):
Right.
Yeah.

Tre Porter (42:26):
You know

Roy Thomas (42:27):
what I mean, unfortunately, you know, for for
some of us that, you know, havehave have been to, you know,
foreign countries.
I mean Mhmm.
You know, we've seen that stuffa ton and it's almost like, you
know, we're cold and hard to it.
You know, but but for, you know, a civilian, essentially.
And like, not in a drug drug ora bit civilian, you know, to
have to do this, that's neverhad training, you know, to to be

(42:52):
put in in in the thick of that,like,

Tre Porter (42:54):
he was

Roy Thomas (42:55):
pretty tough, you know.
So, you

Tre Porter (42:57):
know, when when he rolled up, there were there were
people there that saw it, andwe're we're standing around.
And Tim was face down in aditch full of water.
And they were, like, don'ttouch him.
He was, like, are you out ofyour mind?

It's gonna drown.

Tre Porter (43:16):
The fucking drown in this water.
You gotta get them out of there.
I mean, I I know that, you know, you gotta stabilize him and
everything like that.
But first things first, Yeah.
Getting at like, what's

the most pressing pressing issue?

Tre Porter (43:30):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, you know, I was just reallyI'm really proud of Travis.
Like, I I think so much of him.
I thought a lot of him beforethis, but now I think so much of
him, like, and what he did.
So, you know, I I've

Roy Thomas (43:56):
known Travis for a long time, and I went to school
with him, I graduated with him.
I mean, I you know, even middleschool, you know, way back when
, you know, over on the westside when, you know, they lived
over there, like, used to wanderover his house and do
mischievous stuff.
I

You know, I Matt, do you have

Roy Thomas (44:17):
He was always, you know, just a cool cat, but I
I've known him for a long, longtime and, you know, to to see
him grow through the years andhe's raised, you know, some some
absolute great children, youknow, something for him to be
very, very proud of.
And, I mean, that guy is youknow, just a just a top notch

(44:37):
man, you know, a top notchperson.
And I have nothing but do youhave more respect for him?
You know, I feel formed duringthese times, you know, and I
hope that he's doing good, youknow, mentally.

Tre Porter (44:50):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's my concern too.
And he will.
He'll be fine.

Roy Thomas (44:55):
Yeah.
He's strong.

Tre Porter (44:56):
Yeah.
He's a strong dude.
And he'll be fine.

First, just, like , first time is never easy?

Tre Porter (45:02):
No.
It's nothing.

You know?
And and and he did such aphenomenal job because he knew I
need to get him rolled over.
And then we do first aid in CPRtraining in dryer's group.
So every couple of years, wehave Red Cross come in.
We pay them.
We go through the first aid CPI.
Right?

(45:24):
Just to make sure everybodykind of is on board.
At least they have an idea Wehave all the kids and stuff on
the bikes, and we do all thethings.
But for him to know what to doYep.
And be able to apply it.
And we've all went through abasic kind of corwin's course in

Roy Thomas (45:40):
the imagery, self aid first.
Yeah.

I mean, there's all these kind of different
Right?
But until you actually have topractice it or use it Right.
You know, it's holy shit.
Do I do it right?
Do I by what I'm doing?
But what he did, gotta breathein again.

Roy Thomas (45:53):
Right.
I mean, you get in thoseintense situations.
You know, like, I remember

some people lock up and freeze.

Roy Thomas (45:58):
Right.
You know, I've seen it, youknow, like in combat, you know,
IEDs and all the, you know, thestuff that we took and stuff.
I mean, you've seen guys justfreeze up and they're like, hey,
you know, move out of there.
You know, you're trying to youknow, put a pressure dressing
out of buddy.
And, I mean, you're gettingcovered and soaked and blood.
And some guys are you know,they just they lose it.
You know, they stand back.

(46:18):
They're like, Yep.
No, man.
Yeah.
So, I mean, for him to step up,you know, stay cool, calm, and
collected.
You know, remember those things, like, Those are those are
great traits, you know.
I

Tre Porter (46:36):
Yeah.
That's why I said I was justreally proud of driving and what
he did.

I mean, I really couldn't agree more.

Tre Porter (46:44):
Yep.
And I told his father as much.
Mhmm.
But Travis is for listening.
You've got some people aroundyou that already put their arms
around you, so if you need it.

But yourself.
Yep.
So

Roy Thomas (47:04):
I love that relationship, you know, between
him and Terry.
Like

Tre Porter (47:08):
Yeah.
It's

I love seeing

Roy Thomas (47:10):
those I love seeing those guys in the close together
.

Really best friends.
Yeah.
She's awesome.

Roy Thomas (47:14):
I love that everywhere.
You know, they they go to them.

On the move slides.

Roy Thomas (47:18):
I mean, they go to the Here's everybody together.
Booling.

I mean, I love that relationship.
Nope.
They're actually booling withthem.

Tre Porter (47:27):
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow?
Tomorrow.

Yeah.
Tomorrow's Thursday night.
Yep.
Yeah.
My bowling night.
With the boys.
So and then Friday night dartswith the boys.
But, anyway, always busy.

Tre Porter (47:43):
That's a good thing, but that's a good thing.

You know, that that's helped with my grieving
process was helping withcoordinating stuff for the
funeral thing.
You know, a lot of peoplereached out to me and I just
said, okay, this is a guy that'sdoing the service get hold of
the dentist.
Okay.
This is, you know, where do theflowers go?
Okay.
Get a hold of the guys andClaire.

(48:06):
Right?
Here's Bill Scott's number, youknow.
Okay.
This is, you know, I'm justpointing people to where they
need to go.
So I wasn't involved in inevery aspect because I didn't
get the telephone game thinggoing on.
So they his whole service wasby far outstanding and there was
just a lot of people thateverything went into that had
made it what it was and theynever they never get enough

(48:29):
accolades, especially in thetime of tragedy.
You know, they lost my pleasureto do my pleasure to do it.
I I appreciate that.
It was your pleasure, but youdid an outstanding job.
Yeah.
And you just made it you justmade it that much better.
I just don't ever get to hearthat enough.
So all those guys, Dennis, dida great job officiating.

Tre Porter (48:49):
So Yes.
He did.

The writers group Chaplin, Terry Coombs, to our
post district and departmentchaplain.
Correct.
To that as well.
Yeah.

Tre Porter (48:58):
Yeah.
Dennis, when he showed up atthe hospital.
I didn't realize that he wasthe real deal.
He showed up with his with hiscollar on, his shirt on, with
his vest with his vest.
Oh, man.

Joe Gates (49:17):
I didn't send him a message afterwards.
Thinking for how how stronghe'll keep his voice?
Yeah.
You can hear when he wastalking.

Yeah.
Okay.
But he did such an outstandingjob with the family.
You know, he asked me, you know, can I do a prayer with you
right now since I've gotten here?
So he did one with the family,then he came home, he did one
with us.
You know, with the friends andsecondary family.
Right?
And then he stayed right toright to the second when when

(49:49):
Tim passed away and did anotherprayer with a family there in
his room.
Yep.
So and I I know he was therefor the family the entire time
and he was just an outstandingoutstanding man.

Tre Porter (49:59):
I told preacher Like , I just could not believe that
that he was able to go on thereand do the things that he did.
With the family and all of usand just I was really just
floored by his Oh.

(50:22):
Just stay strong and keep hisbearing.
Yeah.
Yep.
But I I guess that's what he

does, what they do.

Tre Porter (50:29):
Yeah.
That's what he does.
I told him I gotta stop cussingaround you.

He probably said you better now.
Yeah.
That is what he said.

Tre Porter (50:39):
I said, I had no idea.
I know we you know, we his nameis Preacher, and we call him
Preacher, but I didn't know thathe really was.

He's a refugee.

Tre Porter (50:50):
Yeah.
Mhmm.
And I was like,

that's that's why the very first thing he said he
goes, who's when he joined thatwriter's group?
And started kind of coming backaround, I think, to the post
because we have a rioters group,you know, so that's why the
rioters group is so important inVFW.
But First thing, he says, oh,who's the chaplain?
Because I'd like to how do Ibecome the chaplain?
Right?
Well, you have to be appointedblah blah blah.

(51:13):
So it is this year.
You know, but he's like, well,I'm an ordained minister.
I'd love to be able to do, youknow, all the blastocyt and all
the stuff

before it

didn't come from.
So I think so I think.
Don't call me on it.
I think, like, originally, itwas from around here.
Right?
Mid Michigan area.
Then he went into the service,and then he became a cop.
Police officer out inWashington State was there

(51:44):
forever retired and he was inMissouri for a while.
I think as another officer inthe retired again, and then
moved back this way.
Okay.
So There it or maybe

Tre Porter (51:55):
was Was Adam from out there wherever he lives

Nice.

Tre Porter (52:00):
Sheppard to to our VFW post.

I think because we have a Lions Group.

Tre Porter (52:04):
Oh, okay.

Yeah.
Yeah.

Roy Thomas (52:06):
You think I mean, retirement just to bring him
back home, you know?

Tre Porter (52:09):
He retired twice.
Yep.
Yeah.

He was like He was one.
He was family.
Right?
Yeah.
More family here.
So rather than you know, he'snow retired and doesn't need
doesn't need to live out thereanymore, you know, because he
doesn't really have a job Right.
Being retired.
So I think, yeah, familieskinda love routing back to this
area, I believe.

Tre Porter (52:25):
I'm just glad he's with us.
That's kind of my point.

Yeah.
I'm

Tre Porter (52:29):
glad that he's

with us.
He brings a lot of calm and alot of wisdom.

Tre Porter (52:35):
Yes, he does.
Yes, he does.

To us, you know.

Joe Gates (52:38):
Like you said on her birthday, he's like,

it's a good year.

Joe Gates (52:40):
I'm sixty nine.

That still has a humor.
Else is great.
But yeah.

Tre Porter (52:46):
Yeah.
He's he's definitely a welcomepart of this organization.
So Hand's off to you, preacher.
Hand's off to you and whatyou've done.
So Absolutely.

So what else designed your mind?

Tre Porter (53:02):
I'm wondering when Brent is gonna buy motorcycle
and become a part of the ridersgroup.
And

For the record, you don't have to have a
motorcycle.
And

Tre Porter (53:12):
Roy Thomas,

his crew.

Tre Porter (53:14):
Brent and Roy.
What are what are we gonnaYou're gonna do this.
If I buy

a motorcycle, it's probably gonna be a trich.
Just gonna say it.

Tre Porter (53:22):
There you go.
I don't blame you.
I don't blame

you.
Fair.

Joe Gates (53:25):
I'm not qualified.
I can't teach you for that one.

Tre Porter (53:28):
I don't think you need to get taught first.

In all seriousness, it's almost like a
What's what's the process ofgetting your motorcycle
endorsement?
Because, like, I remember in

Joe Gates (53:37):
the class.

Well, I remember getting a a a chauffeur's
license you literally looked ata pamphlet and then, like, ten
questions.
Poof, you're a chauffeur.

Tre Porter (53:49):
Like,

Joe Gates (53:50):
honestly, the the you know, I've been a bit
distracted for five years for it.
Honestly, when you get to thetest for it, it's it's a common
joke.
We always tell people at theend of it to to pass that now
you're qualified to ride aroundin a parking lot.
But they've they've I guess,they've we we had a a conference

(54:11):
last year, and a bunch wasasking, like, what's preventing
us from making this stuff alittle more, not a difficult,
but realistic.
And I guess the state keepspushing back.
Like, no.
All we need to isn't to changeit.

Tre Porter (54:24):
Mhmm.

So I've never ridden a bike, obviously.
So when that time comes, andlike I said, I'd I'd end up
buying trig.
The the last time I saw anykind of of those classes happen,
they had just these cheapmotorcycles that they would use.
I I don't I don't know even howto drive, you know, on one of

(54:47):
these cars right from

Joe Gates (54:48):
a very basic level.

Okay.
Alright.

Joe Gates (54:50):
Long as you shouldn't balance a bicycle, you'd be
fine.

Tre Porter (54:53):
Yeah.
You know how to ride a bicycle.
Right?
Yeah.
Okay.

Can you tell he's the opposite me of athletic
specimen?

Tre Porter (55:01):
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
He is.

Joe Gates (55:04):
How close to I'm stronger.
Yes.
He's got no boss.

He has one.

Joe Gates (55:09):
He has always got one .
Yeah.

Tre Porter (55:10):
Okay.
He does have one.

He's half a man that

Tre Porter (55:13):
used to be.
You know what?
You don't wanna You know what,I think, Brent?
I think you should fuck thatdude up.
I'm talking shit to you.
You should go ahead and just

Joe Gates (55:23):
I'll meet him up.
And when we didn't octagon atthe post, I I decided,

Tre Porter (55:28):
oh, that's a great idea.

Joe Gates (55:29):
And then we can do, like, fifty fifty raffles.
There we go.

Roy Thomas (55:34):
Yep.
Like a ball in a ring typesituation.

It's a pewdiepie poodle sticks.
Oh, yeah.
Too.

Roy Thomas (55:43):
Hey.
I wanna touch on a on a prettyhonorable.
Head to rollings.
Thing, you know, that happenedsince, you know, this tragedy,
and I I would like to touch onthe Rider's group buying back a
motorcycle.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.

I wouldn't even cover that, did we?
Yeah.

Roy Thomas (56:03):
I mean, that is that is I mean, that is just simply
amazing.

You wanna you wanna tell that story real quick
.
So he he just he just turned itin, didn't he?

Yeah.
Well

Roy Thomas (56:13):
well, that last meeting that we had, the last
pod gas.
Like, he like, Charlie ran themaround all day, and he just got
that new motorcycle.

Yep.
Yeah.
So just recap.
Tim had is what he called theold girl.
It's a here at Softail.
It's all painted up.
Got helicopters.
No.

It's p

Tre Porter (56:32):
o w n I a c.

Roy Thomas (56:33):
That is right on the front.

Love that bike.
Yeah.
And So yeah.
That's right.
I did.
I ran him around town.
Got it treated in.
So after after Tim's passing,we went out for rides the next
day as a group just around townand Travis Exensio burned off
his back.
Tired.
Yes.
Doing burnouts and parking lotsand stuff, you know, because

(56:56):
we're riding around.
So he called me and I pickedhim up to go get a new tire put
on.
Well, partly early at the tire,but they didn't have time, so
we had to go down to the HondaShop.
Well, here's Tim's old girlsitting on the floor.
And standing there and I go,you know, goddamn.
It's just surreal.
Right?
Seeing those bikes sit there.
So I sent a picture out to ourgroup.

(57:17):
Chat that we have.
We said, yeah.
Here's the bike, you know.
So we we're riding aroundwhatever.
That about an hour later tray,pea bone,

Tre Porter (57:31):
big pop up.
We're going back to that.

God.
You can finish from here.
You're the guy that went in.

Tre Porter (57:37):
So I went into I got the message from from Charlie
and said, hey, his bike's stillover here.
And I went into the VFW.
Charlie was there, and he washaving a meeting.
And and then I went into I wentover to Harley just to take a
look at the bike and everything.

(57:57):
And I talked to gal there Shesaid, yeah.
We got two people coming in tolook at.
I said, do not fucking sellthis bike.
And she was like, What do youwant me to do?
I've got two people coming tolook at it now.
I said, you know what?
What do I need to put down onit to to fucking just hold it

(58:20):
for a week till we can figureout what we're gonna do.
And she was, like, five hundreddollars.
I was, like, well, fine bet.
Here's here's credit card, putthe five hundred down and hold
it at least for a week.
Because after a week, if wedecided as a group like, hey,
we're not gonna do it, then I'llget my five hundred dollars.

Roy Thomas (58:43):
And buy you some time.

Tre Porter (58:44):
Yeah.
Buy you some time.
Yep.
So once we all got together, wewere down at the green spot and
we were, like,

two hours later Yeah.

Tre Porter (58:53):
Two not even.
I think it may be an hour later.
That we were together anyways.
Two hours later, we're back inthat fucking Harley dealership.
Yeah.
But and we were talking aboutit.
And there was Well, eight of us?
Yeah.
Like, maybe eight ten of us,something like that.
And we were talking about hisbike.
It's down there.

(59:14):
In a in Will William House.
Like, I'll put it on a fuckingcredit card right now.
I'll put it all on the creditcards.
Right?
Calm calm down, Phil.
I get I get your passion, butlet's talk about this.
So we all decided to fuckingjust throw in on it.
Yep.
Everybody got somebody got fivehundred, somebody got five

(59:36):
hundred, somebody got a thousand, you know.
And so we all went down and andand and about the

old girl.
About the old girl.
And I tell you what, I I putappreciation post out to whole
shot highly on our Facebook withus out front after we just
purchased it.
And how accommodating that theywere Yeah.
They obviously helped us out onthe price when they brought it
closer down to what he actuallytraded in for plus odds of them,

(01:00:05):
so they did to it to get it outof showroom.
And then, of course, you gottapay taxes and all the all the
bullshit.
But yeah.
They ended up.
Rolling out with it that day.

Tre Porter (01:00:15):
Yep.
Rolled out with it that day.

Charlie Cline (01:00:16):
And then

Joe Gates (01:00:17):
we're gonna put a dealer play on so we can write
it up to the the referralservice that we'll need you to.

Yep.
But we ended up trailing it upand having it at his at the
memorial service.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which was awesome.

Because nobody wanted to ride it.
I don't think nope.
Nobody's written it.
I mean, Shane

Shane rode it on the trailer off the trailer
couple times.
Right.
And I didn't.
Right?
I mean, I straddled it.

Uh-huh.

I just wheeled it around when I backed it in.
Right.
Put it on her cover here at theshop.

I just love the fact that as a matter of fact, I got
some more paperwork out intruck to that.

Yeah.
I'll put it in my desk with theother stuff.

Brent Holbrook (01:00:51):
So I think we should talk about what we're
gonna do with that.

But No.
I I appreciate you saying that.
I tell you what I I couldn't bemore proud of this group as a
whole, and you have no idea thathow many great comments than
they got from people that said,I can't believe that you guys
would output your own money upto get the old girl back.
Yeah.
Like, I mean, they were blownaway that we would do that

(01:01:15):
Absolutely.
For a guy now.
So that just tells you one.
We would probably do that foralmost any member.
You know, if they had their,you know, something they had
just traded in or, you know Yeah.
Whatever.
But two, the kind of guy thatTim was.
Yep.
I mean, that was the That washis that was his baby.
He loved that thing, andthere's no better way to honor

(01:01:37):
it than that we keep it in thefamily.
Absolutely.
Right?
And that bike is not just ownedby one person that's owned by a
conglomerate at this point.
I think thirteen or fourteenpeople have paid in.

Roy Thomas (01:01:46):
Yeah.
But also before him, it was amember of the post.

Get a gas little bike.

So, I mean, you know , they're deep buttered.
Yeah.
There's there's there's somehistory behind

it.

Yeah.
Yeah.
Mhmm.

Yeah.
That's what I had.
Where two parts was going, itactually belongs at the post.
So right now with the conceptideas, We're gonna build a
display case, but it's gonna belike a high tie buyer.
So it'll have plexiglass side,so you'll be able to see the
bike, it'll be lit inside of it,it'll be on casters so it can

(01:02:16):
get moved around.
But the bike will be on displaybecause it's a veteran's bike.
Now just a post commander, aformer member, whatever, a post,
but it's military themed bike.
Right.
And how, you know, we we don'twe don't have the space to have
a jet or a tank or somethingsitting in front of the pulse of
knowing somebody comes in andthey see this bar built out of
this bike, you know what I mean?

(01:02:38):
Or a high top table built outof this it gets gonna be it'll
be the the show piece of thepost because it's got some
history to it.
Right?
So it's not just It'll be acool display piece.
And then when we want to get itout for our bike night that we
haul store, we want to take itout the Memorial Day, parade
ride here in town like theRiders Group does.
If there's a member out therethat wants to ride it or maybe

(01:03:00):
it's always gonna be the peethat rides, or the President
rides in it every time.
Yeah.
Maybe it works out that way orhowever the group decides they
want to do it.
We just stay consistent with itevery year and that's even a
couple times it gets out otherthan maintenance stuff, you know
.
But I mean, I think that's Iwas so proud so proud of the

(01:03:22):
group.
And I I understand that daybecause it was, like, Tuesday.
Who went and did it?
Yeah.
Right?
I mean, it was

Everything happened so fast.
Yeah.
Like, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

So I get so I get that there was some emotions.
Right.
Going on because it was, like,twenty four hours after he
passed away, we bought the bikeback, but it just goes to show
that the group will put one,their money where their mouth is
, but two, their heart in theright place.
Right.
Because none of us

would love

That's their brotherhood.

None of us Oh, yeah.
None of us would wanna haveseen that bike at another bike
night with somebody else sittingon.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
It would've it would've brokeour fucking heart.
Yeah.

Yeah.
Yeah.

But it it would have real Tim, sir.
Now he knows that bike is safeforever.
Yeah.
Gonna be in his post.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
We had this play case.
You know what

I mean?
Not just any Not just

any Not just any

It's gonna be right now.

Yeah.
Some ran amity it.
And and that's that it doesn'tto it.

Lays it down and totals it

or whatever it is .

And that's why, you know, when I went in there, she
said we got two people coming tolook at.
I was like, No fucking way.
No.

It's a fucking way.

No.
Right.
Yeah.
No fucking way.
No way.
Alright.
So So I went ahead and and

Well, when I told lady Jen this bike was sitting
here, she was like, well,there's only four thousand in
the account.
I got five hundred at home.
I'll transfer another couplethree thousand in the account,
whatever we need, go buy it.
And I'm like, hey, I'm at ameeting.
Whether you're gonna have ameeting, can you come in and go,
whoa, put five hundred down onit?
I'm like, well, we got itanyways, but Yeah.
You know, she just she was sohappy that we ended up getting

(01:04:55):
it.

Yeah.
I I didn't wanna change thesubject real quick, but just a
quick shout out to my buddy,Jimmy Huckabee.
He's joining us right now fromOregon.
Yeah.

He said there's no video.

So Well, yeah.
There's no there's no livevideo.

Because I can just do this.
It could be.

Yeah.
Hey.

There we go.
What's up?
Hey, Jimmy.

We normally don't have video on.
Yes.
Thanks for tuning that button.

So my buddy, Jimmy, is actually gonna be here
in a couple of weeks.
He's gonna he's gonna he'sactually my sponsor.
I'll be confirmed in theCatholic church here at the
Easter vigil, and he says,what's up?
Yep.
He's he's gonna be joining mehere in a couple weeks.
It'll be the first time I'veseen that guy in twelve fucking

(01:05:43):
years.

Oh, wow.

Last time I saw him, we were both stationed at
the hospital in Bethesda,Maryland.
And it's yeah.
Twelve years, man.

So you're getting confirmed in the Catholic church
.
Yes, sir.
What was the what what was thething you did?

Let me see if we can make Jimmy's man a little
bit.

It looks like two weeks ago, May no.
It was longer than two weeksago, where you were you you
missed our meeting.
It was our last meeting we had.
You were.

Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was on Sunday.
So that was the right of theelect over at the cathedral in
Sacramento.

Yeah.
Someone else will have to leavecomments.
That's right.

I shouldn't be able to say it.
So yeah.
So the the right of the electis a group of people in the
entire diocese of Saginaw.
Who are are all joining thechurch.
Okay.
And so everybody got to gothere and meet the the bishop,
the bishop, Russ,

Joe Gates (01:06:43):
you know.

Shake his hand, talk to him a little bit, you
know, get to know him, that kindof

thing.
Okay.

Must be full.

And then you get confirmed on that little.
Yep.
Parker.
When do you get confirmed?

I get confirmed on March thirtieth.
It's the Easter vigil.
It's a candle light service atsacred heart here.
Well, town.

Let me know.
I I would come to that, Martin.
Absolutely.
If I can.
I don't know.
I'm able to

Everybody but you.
Hopefully, you don'tspontaneously combust with you.
Okay.

I go there.
I go there and support you.
I'm all about people, though.

No.
I got I got a Facebook event.

Bettering themselves one way or their other.

I'll shoot you an invite for the Facebook event
I got going on.
So but I'm coming there.

My daughter goes to sick Well,

I would I would gladly come support you there,
Brent, but I'll be heading outto California.
California.
April sixth.
Two thousand and four.

Yeah.
Two four of you.
So

We got the twenty year battle of Remedy Union in
California at greater heights.

Oh, shit.
So we leave the twenty ninth

to head out there.

Taken a family Sure.

To be a part of that .
And so on

and so

on.
Yeah.
Where's your oh, here it

is.
Okay.
Some of the boys just showed up.
Is that true?
That was the boys.

Is that true?

That's probably true.

Justin Justin.
I mean, that that that musicwas Sounds like Justin to me.

Hey.
Charlie.
Hey.

They said me further away at the sound is

Oh, we gotta bring you on the sound.

I'm really the good looking

ring over here that said the sound struggling
for some reason.

Joe Gates (01:08:24):
I'm sitting in my best future.
There you go.

I don't know why I'm sounding corry plugged in.

I'm really the good looking one.
I know Trey said that at thebeginning, but let's just be
honest.

That Well

He's he's got a face for radio, just saying.

I don't I don't I don't disagree with you, buddy.
I don't disagree.
You are pretty fucking handsome.

Alright.
Sexual chocolate just showed me

she has.
Then.

Add a girl.
Got Timmy seats here though.

Well, time the ladies show up.
Yeah.

Was that you that pulled up?
Just you?
Yeah.
Your wife was

pretty his

my Ramati brother over there, man.

If we

can get

it.
No.
That's me.

He need to get something to a whole lot.
Hand handle something.

He was in

Yeah.
Here's my fridge and son.

He was in Rustenburg .
How was that Ramati?

We should get an actual, like I don't know.
We'll figure that out.
There's just for those of youlistening, there's obviously a
reason why this is called soupsandwich.
I know I've said that oncealready, but still.
The face for radio.
Yeah.
The face for radio right there.

Everybody's gonna have to stare at Joel and enjoy
their estimate.

Was talking about Ramati?
There we go.

Roy was.

Oh, yeah.
That was in Ramati.

Where are

you in Ramati?
Yeah.

Before me and you were in bad dad together.
I went with a Bravo company.

So he was over in Johnson City.

I was in Ramati for three months.
Yep.
I have a new one in the Hopiniand then I'll order Ramati.

I just saw Jimmy's post.
He said I'm I'm coming to theDark side of the Vatican.
Yeah.

I want the squared

vase soup sandwich.
Yeah.
Fantastic.

Alright.
Do you guys hear us betteronline now?
I hope so.

I think so.

We gotta get we gotta get something to hold the

phone up.
Yeah.
You know?
Or or like a like a was saying,like, a legit, you know, webcam
or something.
We gotta figure all that shitout.
We'll have to play with it.

Joe Gates (01:10:32):
I have

Soup sandwich, baby.
Soup sandwich.
Yep.

Alright up here.
Drop a little arm down.
I don't have an officer home

Joe Gates (01:10:40):
no more so.
You said, didn't mention stufflike that.

We'll try to get it figured out.

There you go.

And that says the sound quality is better, so
good.
Good.
So yeah.
You know, I think I think therewas a fast fast team just
deployed not too long ago andthey had to evacuate an embassy.
The embassy in Haiti?
In Haiti.
Port of Print?
So they said it was Yeah.
He raised raised that went.
So that was that unit that Iwas with.

(01:11:05):
That's what we that's what wedid.
That was one of the missionsthat that have fasted.
So we went ahead and did eitherextra security on m p c's or or
any high value target stuff orevacuation stuff.
They were that.
Actually, the fast team out ofNaples was the one en route to
Benghazi when they got turnedaround mid air.

(01:11:26):
So yep.
When that whole thing went down.
So

Yeah.
I've been I've been kindapaying attention to what was
going on, J.
D.
So apparently, apparently, athousand Kenyan police officers
are headings of Haiti now fromthe United Nations.
And I'm like, oh, shit.

Talk about it earlier.
You wanna

see that?
I'm really thinking

about signature from a guy that was a standout.
That's still running.
Mhmm.
That's not signature.

He's saying bolt .

Just Yep.
So I've put up his I've put upthat sticker.
Is Memorial Street.

Since we got the I know we're having an issue
with the sound, but since we gotthe video on, you wanna show
that if we can.

Yeah.
Mine is, no.
I got this flip camera.
This flip.

Nice.
Jimmy's Jimmy's fucking around.

Must be from the navy.
So this is that you'relistening earlier.
Here's the banner.
If everybody comes up topodcast sign,

Sheen

Did you do Skyloans and then it's got a
super sandwich podcast logo onit?
So James is signing right now.
Jesus, how long does it take tosign?
I think a mortgage over there.

He's he's trying to make sure he spells
everything right now.

Joe Gates (01:12:51):
Sure.
Good thing about that.

It's gonna live forever.
That's that's the bad.
Good.
Everybody live in

it for me.

Living it for me.
When do you get the call fromdepartment tomorrow?
I'm gonna make sure that theypoint that you're away.

Really?

So Alright.
So getting the other volunteerscoming out up.

Jimmy's signing in spirit and solidarity.
Well, By the time you're gonnabe here in a couple weeks, Jimmy
, we might have another episode,you know, recording.
So I have to see you'd bewelcome to join us.

Welcome join and sign in person.

What's

it?
Yeah.
We need a black marker too.

That's on sign.
I might have to go get one ofthese oil ones that are in black
.
Yep.
Soon start sign to the bottom.

Right on.
I'm gonna we run out

of room.
We run out of

room.
I'm gonna miss, you know, ourlast podcast we were having a
conversation about politics andeverything like that.
And I and really upset that.
I'm not gonna be able to havethat.
I don't wanna say argument,debate.

(01:14:06):
I wanna have I don't have Iwon't be able to have that
debate that Tim.

Joe Gates (01:14:09):
I love it.
That

factory guy.

Yeah.
Look.
But Tim was so staunchlyindependent of my views.

Kim was very red.

Yeah.
He was he was very opposite ofof my views.

So I'm very I like I like debates.
I like to talk about politicsand stuff on the limited debate.
I'm I'm by no means an expert,but I like to share at least
what my opinions are and I wouldconsider myself a moderate red.
I mean, there's there's somethings that I would be Well, I
find as we are living alone.

(01:14:45):
Yeah.

And I think we all

Health care being one of them.
Yeah.

I think we all are that way too.

Well, we know you like pillow talk too, buddy.

Yeah.
I do.

Roy Roy knows.
Roy knows.

Trust

me.
These navy guys.

I know a guy that knows a guy that knows a guy.

I don't think Roy heard you, Joe.

Joe Gates (01:15:07):
Or they call it the the six degrees of

two parts.
Really nice.

I have a big one

that's doing for two parts, maybe.
So these are greens.
I know.

I know.

I mean, Well, that's you.
And I understand that they arepart of the Navy, whether they'd
like to admit it or not

to mention the

thank you guys.
No, ma'am.
Fucking.
First thing that every singleone of those guys say, Should
move support me.
If I can get it original.

The brains have the world's most expensive taxi
service.
United States Navy.

That I can't I can't argue on that.
That's that's true.

But, you know,

Joe Gates (01:15:50):
someone someone loses the valet parking ticket.
Yeah.

Would drop you as off in the middle of the
Pacific somewhere, and that'swhere you stay.

I mean, the Marines used

We had enough sailers on the boat to kick us
off.

Yeah.
But, I mean, the the marinesuse navy boys as their sock.
That's what they come in.
Mhmm.
A special sock.
Yep.
Big

big gray sock.

It's not special operative name.

Good old Roy Thomas.
Look at look at him, bitch.

Jimmy, being Jimmy.
Jimmy, before warning, I'llgive you a two week head worn
head start warning or whateveryou wanna fucking call it.
And two weeks with Jimmy againhere, he's a very intellectual
individual.
Jesus Christ.

So he's probably don't really need another one.
Good.

Hey, tech is more intellectual than me.

Joe Gates (01:16:53):
I just keep it all in .

Joe denser himself down to our level.

Yeah.
Wanna

Joe Gates (01:17:01):
find a knuckle driver like they said.
Okay.

So when is he gonna be here?
Two weeks?

Yeah.
So the the confirmationceremonies on Saturday, so he'll
be here the prior Wednesdayuntil, like, the Tuesday
following.
So he'll be here for about aweek.
I'm What's he flying into?
Grand Rapids.

Alright.
Let me see.

So I got him flying into Grand Rapids, and
we're gonna kinda do a tour ofMichigan.
He's never been to Michigan, soI'm just gonna kinda

Where is he from?

Oregon.
Just north of the Californialine.
Uh-huh.

We go we go corrupt this shit.

Well, you just wait, Jimmy.
He likes Oregon.
My hope, Joe or my hope, Brent,don't bring you around.

He likes Oregon, but he's gonna

know pretty nice.
He's he's red like that.
I'm assuming I'm assuming thathe's a he's a Catholic like you.
Uh-oh.

You can Jimmy.

What if I can

Hold on.
I gotta read this comment.
Jimmy's throwing shade at themarines.
Hold on a second.

We're gonna have to kill the video on that.
My phone's not gonna make it.

Oh, okay.

That's how to kill the video on it.

I'll turn it off .
Jimmy says the marines took theego from the air force, the
anchor from the navy, and onseventh day when God rested,
they took over the world andhaven't given it back since.

That's the truth.
That's not shade.

Yeah.
You said the marines.

Yeah.
Jimmy is the man.
He's the man.

He's the man.
We want Jimmy.
Jimmy, how do you think aboutbeing the quarter master of our
post?
We're gonna send Breno your way.

And then God realized he fucked up and
created the infantry.
That's why

the sky is blue.
Actually, I don't know how heturned it off and he's fucking
iPhones and shit

doing pretty good, actually.

Charlie, you were supposed to do a speech tonight
thinking the auxiliary.

Yeah.
A lot we're here.

Oh, yeah.
You just did it.
You did it?

We did it out here.
But Yeah.

Listen.
I

was actually gonna go to the auxiliary
meeting and tell them thank youfor everything that they did.

Yeah.
But if if the auxiliary soTabitha, if you go back

to early on this post, Yeah.
You'll hear the deepappreciation.
I don't know how

to turn it off

for the auxiliary

and option here.

We had a we had a discussion on that.
How great the auxiliary wasduring this whole time and how
you guys have

it's

not off.
You know,

still gonna kill me badly.

From the shadows just took care of everything
that needed to be taken care ofand but I think that had
everything, you know, situatedand took care of the post like
you guys always do.

Facebook live, I think, is video centric, so I
don't think they're gonna havean option to turn off your video
.

You need to plug mine in Charlie?

Well, right, but I'm the one who run-in the life.
Yeah.
I got it.

Joe Gates (01:19:55):
Well, we ended up before we turned the video off,
because

I got twenty two percent.

Jimmy said challenge acceptance.
Okay.
So

somebody else wants who's an administrator on
them.
Jill, I

think we're all admins, aren't we?

So I just need some you know, I plug your phone
in.
I'll kill this live.

You've only got thirty two percent, so I'll be
in the same boat as you are.

K.
We'll just keep rolling tillthe day.
I'm at eighteen.

I don't want to pass phone

with miss Christ.

What it does it does?
Mhmm.

Joe Gates (01:20:29):
I do have a portable charger, but that's not gonna do
anything as your hooked up.
Right?
I do have portable charger.

Right.
I mean, if you start chargingyour phone right now Yeah.
Or maybe you'll get up to sixtypercent.

Maybe sixty nine ?
Then and we'll

then we'll kill it and yeah.
Hopefully, time with the herd.
You say if she wants to bringit to the ladies and gentlemen,
they can listen to the beginningof the podcast where we were

thinking Yeah.
Don't don't listen to the wholething.
And and

doing doing the rest of stuff because yeah.
It was that was one of thethings I wanted to do, but that
we did this.
So Jodie got your box.
I think your box is at theExorbitant meeting.
Isn't that?

Joe Gates (01:21:17):
That box.
Yeah.

She's gonna be so mad.

Joe Gates (01:21:22):
No.
She's not she's not sensitive.
She's not like that.

Six seconds away, so we're gonna see her comment
here in a minute.

Miss Jimmy, I've always said the marines have a
best dressed uniform

And the space doors.

And the space doors I told my non alpha hogsmeere.

She just showed up last fall load.

Yeah.
The space let's be honest.
The space course uniform.
I mean, it looks kinda cool,but that shit came straight from
star

two.

Yeah.
There's no fucking way it camefrom anywhere else.
Well, so what else is are wegonna have a debate?
When I have a debate?
I don't know.
Feel like it tonight?

No.
Maybe next one.

Next one.

Next one.

Tonight, it's all about Timmy.

Oh, shoot.

Alright.
It's all about Timmy.

What?

Joe Gates (01:22:21):
I did a comment, but it didn't comment under my name.
A minute under the soupsandwich podcast.
The records have of this is, ofcourse, I hit my box.

I love.
It's like that's just anotherprocess.

Don't enjoy this interview.

Good.
She's gonna kill me right now.

It's deleted.

Joe Gates (01:22:43):
We got my name up there.

So Hulk Charlie's phoned him.

I can.

But I

think if I disconnect it, we're not gonna
be running through the systemfor sound.
Right.
Which actually doesn't makesense considering that was over
there and they said they had ahard time and it was plugged in
here.

Joe Gates (01:22:57):
Because the mic is going through the mic on your
phone.

Oh, almost impossible.
So we need to be plugged inthere for that.
Oh,

can y'all still hear us?

Because I can do that.
Just put someone on here then.
Yeah.

Joe Gates (01:23:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Hey, comment.
If you can still hear us.

You have to read comments.

We promised we'll get this soup sandwich
figured out.

Yep.
Still here.

Okay.
So

we get

there.
We're

running.
Alright.

Does that mean we could turn the video back up?

It still isn't.

Yeah.
It's just face

It's just fight that .

What we need to do is we need to we need to
figure out a better way toactually hold it up so you can
see everybody because we'resticking it between here and all
you see is that.

That's why we have to get

a holder.
They make

Well, I

don't know what stands for phones or shit like
that.

Joe Gates (01:23:54):
Well, I have them on desktops, the two parts are
never ringing in.
I feel it was set up.
But

Look at a shove.
That's actually some of the gun.

Look at that handsome son of a bitch right
there.
This is Maua down outside

of the potty potty.

Some old popcorn.
Yeah.

Well, we got it.
You got it.
That was made Yeah.
Sure.
Last Thursday.
Sorry about your loudest again.
I know.
Dan Baco.
We might have You know what

we need is we need a we need a female perspective up
here.
Who's that?
That that we got two ladiesthat are a part of the VFW Yeah.
That are VFW members.
Which is Christa.

And that and that's Tim's niece.
Yeah.
Or Jeff's niece.

Yep.
Kelly?

Yep.
She's, like, a nursepractitioner?

Yep.
Yes.
I don't know.

Yeah.

But she was we voted her in a couple months ago
, and I haven't seen her since.

No.
She came to a cup meetings.
We've voted her in, like, inOctober ish.

Did me?

Yeah.
In October, November.

By the She

she came to a couple of things

and then she came to a couple of

things and then she got really.

Me and Jeff were down in my hands at the same
damn time.

Me and

Jeff were down in Miami at the same time.
And he was like, hey, are youin Miami?
I was like, yeah.
He was like, I know.
He said, I just flew inyesterday I'm down to the keys
now.
I was like, shit.
I came to Miami yesterday.
We could've got together.
So

Yeah.
I don't know.
We're gonna go I mean,obviously, we've started that
that transition.
And it's awe inspiring at howmuch Tim did.
Yeah.
And, I mean, look at we're allscrambling, trying to fill And
we got, like, eight peopletrying to fill Tim's shoes.

Mhmm.

And

he did it as one fucking person.
Yeah.
Like, I mean, how the hell?

Joe Gates (01:25:55):
And he was tracking

all time.

And he

was tracking

all time soon.
He's still

able to do it.
He was

still able to stay until three in the morning.

That meeting was difficult.

Yeah.
The last

the most most weighting that was difficult.
Oh, you

could you could feel the tension.
In the air.
You could just feel it.

But, you know, what does it look like?
Perspective.


Yeah.
I mean, you're

gonna be at an excellence meeting.
Right?
Yes.

So I'm

gonna nominate you for a commander.

Oh, yeah.

I'm not gonna be receiving California.
Yeah.

If I'll write a letter.
For what?
Come in?

Are you gonna paint a light?

Which has to be it has to be

actually Yes.
I know.

I mean,

I will run for commander and I'll win.
Right?
But I need you to pay my childsupport for me.
What?
Because my wife is gonnadivorce me.
How

much does she divorce you?

If I became the commander of the post?

Well, yeah.
What was your divorce?

Because I'm taking time away from our children, so
on and so forth.

You're gonna you'll do less as the commander
than you will as the presidentof the Ryers group next

year.
Maybe.

Yeah.
Don't tell my wife that.
Roy.
So just say VP.
I didn't know.

Somebody now an EU for junior?

Joe Gates (01:27:12):
I did.

You did.
Yeah.
Okay.

And he's already he's already accepted it.
Right.

And Roy accepted it.
But then somebody because Chrisdenominated me, and then there
was a third person.

I got renominated for senior.

I'm talking about junior.
Well, third person for junior.

Joe's probably got the meeting message.

Joe Gates (01:27:31):
Yeah.
Like, if if only someoneuploaded these meeting minutes
every week that I'm supposed to.

I looked the day afternoon wasn't there yet.

Joe Gates (01:27:39):
Forty eight hours of my well, I'll give myself was a
a due date.

So so the yep.

This might even Yeah .
Better.
Shell.
Shim, listen.
We've been talking about beforeyou got here.
I don't wanna kill that.
Beards.
Okay.
But you said you you need tolet your beer.
You too, handsome Dan.

I mean,

I've never done that .
I'm good.
I

don't even let

it grow just a little bit.
I just shaved my my shoes isalready fucking bushy little bit
like a fucking brother pad.
Nope.
And it felt like one too.
Tack is gonna grow jade beernow.
I can't do it.
Tack's gonna grow his beer now.

These are the girl's patches.
Yeah.

So I tried to grow my beard out.
It's just like I can't grow.
I mean, I'm

I'm trying

to grow my hair.
Ain't growing anymore, but I'mtrying to go, like, long hair.
I cannot That's what I mean.
I cannot do, like, twelve

minutes.
Good.

Yep.
You just need a little long.
That's all.
Just fill it in.

I thought just trim

it like this.

Tab tab says it's a bunch of men up here.
You're damn right, tab.

Yeah.
That's what that's why what ledme to

we

need to get some of our female members up here to
get a female perspective.
So we got Kelly and Krista.

Yeah.
There you are on VFW members,but I think it's good to have
spouses that served with us

That's true.

Coming to talk too.
I mean Yep.

You know what last one last time I really grew my
shit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Phone.
I mean, that about Oh, that wasgreat.
Right.

I don't

make it about racially ambiguous.
Right?
There

you go.
Right there.
Fucking little it felt like abrutal pan.
Yeah.
You need to let it just let itgrow

to that.
Right there.
There you go.

My shit was just at that.
Today, before I shaved it, youfucking fucking fucking fuck
that.

Speaker 1 (01:29:24):
Yeah.
I just sold them

up that seven hundred down.
I let mine go pretty long forme.

Joe Gates (01:29:27):
I saw this issue.
Yeah.
I was like, I was like, I

took a look at the beard.

Is that you?

Who do you know?
I've actually had

Joe Gates (01:29:32):
It was an AI thing that did it.
Okay.
I sure did that happen.
She's like, no.
Yeah.
No.

She immediately shuts that shit down.

No.
You're way hotter with thatbeer.
Okay?
So let it grow.
Let it grow.

Joe Gates (01:29:46):
Well, if she says I can't touch her with it, then I
have to cut

typical tech guy .

There you go.
That's the one I'm talkingabout.
Rick Ross.
Rick.
Yeah.

Fucking eight.
So Jimmy says, you should

join us as long as I could manage.
It was it should like amotherfucker.

And she should join join my group.
It's the upper Kane Smith Lakemilitia.
I'm the Lord high admin.

Oh, god.
Jimmy.
See how can Shut the fuck up,Jimmy.

He needs about

He's he's messing around.
He had jokes about this.
He's in Columbus Falls, Oregon.
So upper Columbus Lake Melisha.
He's the Lord, hi, Anmirall,but he's also the only member.
And he needs a book.

Tavada said, let it grow, let it grow.

Joe Gates (01:30:35):
What was she talking about me though?

Tabada, who are you talking about?

Was she talking about his beard?

Yeah.
Yeah.

Joe Gates (01:30:42):
But I I she's got the music thing after it.
So I think she's wanting you toto hear that with Nelson about

letting her

let it grow.

Well, you know, just freaking dealing

Joe Gates (01:30:51):
with you.

Drug dealer here will let a lot of things grow
if you let them.

There's a lot of Everything's gotta grow.
That's what I mean.
My my Let it all grow.
Let it grow.

Joe Gates (01:31:02):
There's no stuff like

her fur shaped.

Hey.
You know, we we gotta we gottadrop some names here.
So we're in AJ Sky lounge.
Right.

We're always at.

We're always at.
We got business owner here, theEmpire Collective.

Best weed in Michigan.
Go ahead and get some.

Get some.

I need some slack.

I got too.

Yeah.
I need some swag too.
Yeah.

I I'm still waiting on my swag.

Well, the fuckers.
Listen.
All you gotta do is let me giveme give me give me a size, like
, in a mess.
So this

Joe Gates (01:31:33):
is what I had to do to get one from my wife

from home.
Tapes says use your imagination.

Joe Gates (01:31:36):
Visual text message.
They went to them at teno'clock in the morning.
With the size and stuff, sothey never mind.

Yep.
See?
Gotta remind me when I'm atwork.
Because otherwise

When are you ever at work?

I was here today.
I came in at three thirty inthe morning.
I was still at work by teno'clock.
Ten ish.

Yep.
Ten o'clock.
Ten ish.
Ten that means, like, seven

fifty I

was out of there by one

I was out of there by one o'clock.
I could still

say it.
What time

was it?
I called you.
Before when I called you.
You was at home.
Oh,

where's the Listen.

I I saw you on I was

out of there.
I was out of there by oneo'clock.
As a matter of fact, I wouldthink yeah.
I was driving home.
I was home by one.
Yeah.
I had to get out there.
I need some wind therapy.

I get you.
I need it up to date too.
Let me get it.

Is there a way to see, like, who's

watching?

Yeah.
Because it just tells methere's four people watching.
I don't know if you can see you.
I don't think you can see who'swatching.

Should be able to because you can ban them.
You kick people off if youdon't want them out.

You can ban them.
So Jimmy says, she'll show hisfor his gun.

Yeah.
I'm looking for it.
Hold on a minute.
I gotta find it.

He's gotta find it in the secret folder.

Where it keeps dude.
Dude legit looks like ForrestGump on this picture.

Joe Gates (01:32:58):
Probably he's

got his boyfriend's picture.
Yeah.

That's that's what I'm saying, man.

You know, Tiffany has occasionally
insinuated the fact that Jimmyand I have an inappropriate
relationship.

Who's Tiffany?

My fiancee with a Oh,

oh, I

what?
I

didn't know.
Damn.

We thought you said Timothy.
Trust me.
That made more sense for afiancee.
That differently.

Tiffany, Tiffany .
You are a peacocker.

Didn't you have breakfast at Tiffany's?

Right.
Did I

This guy or me?

You.
Yeah.
Over his head.
I I caught this.
I caught the reference.

Joe Gates (01:33:34):
Understood.
But

I did.

It's a song.

What was a movie ?
I got a movie.

Was it a movie?
Yeah.
Movie and

a song.
But Yeah.
But Alright.
This was this was Jimmy aboutwhat?
Three months ago, jeez.

I'm really used for it.

Let's see it.
Yeah.
Let's see it.

Oh, jeez.

Holy shit.

Shit.
That is Forrest Gump.

He does look like Forrest Gump.
Does he not?

Jenny, she

lives in the desert in Oregon.
No.
It's This would've This

is pretty fucking impressive.
Right.
Let's say I'm pretty fucking Iwish I could grow a beard like
Great.

Race now.
Right now, though, he lookslike he's part of the fucking
mafia.

Wait.
What does he look like now?
He also did Michael yesterday.

Did you get it from here?

Yeah.
Hold shot.
That's nice.
I love the man.

Dude, you shaved it all off.

That's bad.
I see, you know, better likeCan

it look like a mafia hitman?

Sure.
It does.

And it's in my house .

I don't even look like the same.
I'm gonna

show you what it used to look like.
Jimmy, go ahead and grow thatfucking beard back.
This is what it used to looklike.

He likes to go for the long hair and long beard
kinda fucking duck dynasty.
Yeah.
But you gotta like, you gottaunderstand what it you jimmy
that I knew in Maryland twelveyears ago.
Couldn't grow a beer.
And do you

have the harley shop paint it?

Joe Gates (01:34:56):
So I've got a hold.

Yeah.
Yeah.
You have something.
They couldn't get written abouttwelve years or so.
This is twenty three, I sat

on the floor for a year.

I'm pretty sure I know the guy.

Tim is talking about his branded bike right now.

Tim says maybe you can regardless of some of
Tim's beard.
They We'll do a beardtransplant.

The order before the dealership at the Palmo.
I hope I I really hope thatChem's wife is listening to this
podcast right now.

Okay.
I got a really good buddy.
He paints a whole bunch ofHarley parts out of his pull
barn.
He does it for a stop.

Yep.
He probably would Who?
Maybe he went to them.
I don't know where my Who?
Honestly where my bike went to.

Kim Smith.

Oh, I thought you're talking about John Gates.
Don't don't check if he'spainting my stuff.

Don't Tim paints a whole bunch of stuff for Harley.
Where's his side gig?
Yeah.
He's right here in Montana?

Yep.
Okay.
I hear I know he was when I gotwhen I bought my bike because
they were he was backed up andhe was actually out of town.
But they he's an amazingpainter.
Yeah.
Broy, make sure I get yournumber before we leave.
I got a I got a project for you, boy.
Me too, I need my fuckingtoilet pack painter.
You have a tour back?

(01:36:05):
Oh, when did they come here?
I've been had it for a coupleof weeks now.
Oh, I got the mounting and all.
I got everything up.
Just got it.

What's it?
Yeah.
Funeral is gonna charge youbecause the color match mine.
John's playing mine for threefifty.
Those in at the end of themonth for three fifty.
Painter?
Yeah.
Because I got that fuckingstupid pearl black.
Oh.
So it's almost it's not likethe vivid black.
It's a little bit lighter, butit's got all that flaking stuff
in

Joe Gates (01:36:34):
it.
Mhmm.

So you would have done it.
Like, if you had, like, vividblack or probably like his, you
know, like, three hundred bucksif paying it.
And then if you wanna do allthe custom shit, you have to go
to

you think he'd be able to do mine at the same time
, sure.
So I can

ask one.
I'll ask her.

Go at the same time.

Should I need one ?
Well, you got two.

You got two for one special.

Yeah.
I'll ask him.
Well, I should I I got a holdend in January, and that's how I
looked out.
He has people that ship himhold bikes.
And he honestly has paint jobs,man.
He fucking stripes everything.
Fucking pin stripes.

Then he

Everything's hand painted, man.
He don't just throw a detail,like, a little bit

of paint job on that bike.
We auctioned off a wrap pulledoff at midnight last year?

No.
That was Dean Myers' cusp of

Oh, yep.

Okay.
Yeah.

Now the shit that John does, which I don't have

he does in late.
I mean

Right.
Right.
Let me see your phone whenyou're done.
Yeah.
But let me go to John's inFacebook.
You don't mind?
No.
No.
You got it.
So I'll I'll hold some pictures.
I

mean, here's a there's a few painters here.
Obviously, you guys haveobviously, you think with
painters time.

Yeah.
Just don't go into a savedpicture as you mentioned.
See if you took pictures.
So you don't wanna they saythey

can have it.
They're gonna have it done acertain time.

Asking you shall receive.
So this is the this is the kindof stuff that John does.

You go through there.
He paint a shit.
He he paint it off.
Oh, sure.

He Why did you You had

to fuck it up in your tray?

Yeah.
I'd like to literally

The big old green comes.
He's got Yep.

Can I tell you can I tell you another thing I'm
proud about this group for is Ithought this something like this
tragedy that has befallen onthe group has the potential to
really

Just

tear us apart?

Mhmm.

But I can tell you this.
It has brought us together.

Like

I wouldn't say it's been the exact opposite.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And it really brought ustogether.
I was telling Preacher, right,like, day before, I think it was
Friday, day before Tim's Tim'sservice.
I was just in awe of everybodyjust without even at anybody
saying anything.
Everybody just knew what neededto be done and it got fucking

(01:38:46):
done.
Yep.
Yep.

Yeah.

I was just like, wow .
You know, I never thought theydid you know, because of this,
how everybody just came together.
All hands on that, nope.
There was no fighting.
There was no bitching.
Everybody just knew and justgot it done.

Yep.
And I will say, I'mappreciative of the people who
were appreciative of that.
And specifically on the role ofthe quarter master, you know,
as most of you know, but foranybody listening that doesn't
the quartermaster is basicallythe post accountant.
They're responsible for thebank accounts.
They're responsible for keepingthe books the right way in a

(01:39:25):
whole nine yards, plus somemembership responsibilities.
And No no less than no lessthan five times was I thanked
for, you know, stepping up, youknow.
And I I felt like I was justdoing my job, but I was
appreciative of the fact that,hey, you know, because everybody

(01:39:45):
says, you know, being quartermasters, a thankless job, you
know, well, you

know, fucking is.

It is.
It is.
But I'm just thankful for that,you know, just kinda

but I don't know.
Our our brothers and sistersreally came together Yeah.
Really have come together Yeah.
Behind us.
And I was I was worried.
I was worried that that it wasgonna tear us apart because Tim
was such a It was all about thecollective.
Right.
And but he was, like

There's almost a woman that hold us together.

Yeah.
He was, like, the glue.
He was like the glue that Ifeel like held us together, but
but I think you probably stilllose that glue.

Yeah.

He still is that glue.
And that that Oh, for sure.
He will be.
All you see me.
He will forever be.
In his, you know, go down he'sgoing down in history.
He's probably one of our bestcompetitors we've ever had.
Yeah.

A lot

of sports.
And the way that people the wayhe brought people together, how
much of an asshole he was nomatter how much people disliked
him and disliked the way he didthings.
Even me, I love the man.
Fucking love them to death.
Like my old flesh and blood,but I swear to god, sometimes I
can just look at him and be likemotherfuckers.
Yeah.

I don't wanna kill you.

I I wanna kill And then at the same time, I'll go
up and fucking just give a bigold fucking hug.
But I

think I think, you know, at at certain levels of
leadership and and you know,especially where we can all get
along with different people inso many different opinions like,
you know, we can all sit down.
Not all of us are gonna agree.
And we're gonna, you know, buttheads, but at the end of the
day, we're gonna come togetherand we're gonna get shit done.

Well, we all know as leaders.

We have a common goal.

I know I don't drink or not.
I don't drink or they theyinstill in us a lot different
probably same values, butdifferently than what the army
does or even what the navy does,since that's who's represented
at the table night.
We're not there as a leader tomake friends?
No.
We're there to conduct thebusiness that needs to be done.

(01:41:51):
We have to convey the point onhow we have to do it.
I do it through ours.
Right?
I'm I'm not there to be theirdad.
Right?
Where there's things that wehave to do.
We I don't like them either.
You know, but we have to getthose done.
And then from there, you know,that's have fun and that's do
the things we're supposed to bedoing.
Right?
But Right.

(01:42:12):
You know, so when peoplethought Tim was being a fucking
asshole.
They didn't realize that thisis something that he's we have
to accomplish this.
Right?
Well, that's stupid.
I don't know.
It doesn't matter.
Still have to do it.
It doesn't matter if you don'tlike it.
You don't

think he wants to do it.
There's a big deal of life

ahead.
Right.
And and and people aren'talways gonna get all the damn
details.
Because it's not in our payperiod to get the details.
Right.
You know?
I mean, we got a patrol order.
We didn't argue what it was.
We might not like it, but guesswhat we're gonna go do.
That was an issue.
We're gonna go get it done.
Right.

You know, I mean, I I know especially the Marine
Corps and and and you can relateis, listen.
I might have hated you as aperson, but I have to respect
you as your rank and yourability.
You know?
So if I'm a corporal and you'rea sergeant or, you know, a
staff or a gunny, I might hateyour effing guts.
What?
I might think you're anabsolute piece of shit.

But when but when we're

a uniform, more standard information, I'm
getting orders.
I have to respect you

Yep.

As your rank.

Yep.
I mean, not like he has aperson or whatever else, it
doesn't matter, but Right.
Yeah.
You're you're putting thoseleadership positions.
That's the reason why peoplevote, especially the VFW people
vote for you.

Right?
Mhmm.

It's not just time and grade.
You know, or proficiencyconduct marks or whatever else
that gets you to that number toget your promotions.

But you're not working off a cutting scoring, a
POT score, and MCIs and allthat.

We we literally as a membership, vote you into
our leadership.
Right.
So when I always agree, well,we're gonna follow the orders.
So or the direction that you'regonna lead us in.
Right?
You know, and I I tried tobring those same things to the
writer's group.
And and that comes a lot fromTim.
Right?
Tim kind of has molded me tothe way that the VFW does things

(01:43:51):
.
And he was a huge biginspiration.
He taught me a lot.
Really did because he was v f wfirst.
Always.
V f w first.
Regardless if you like it ordon't.
These are the things that weneed to be doing.
We're not necessarily so tiredto do that.
Right?
But these are the things thatwe should be doing.
To help support the VFW ingeneral.

(01:44:15):
Yeah.
So

because his vehicle previously was a support as well
.

Right.
So our our pulse is now we gotto a hundred percent membership.
Mhmm.
And now with new members andstuff coming in, we've got to
our hundred and two percent thatnational is now required.
So our post I think hasaccomplished everything else for
the Allstate program.
And you have to look in thegame,

but I'm pretty sure you

and the All American programs.
So once again, We're gonna bein all state and in all American
post again this year.
Right.
So we we we accomplished allthose goals.

I wanted to jump in real quick as Jimmy
commented about the leadershipthing.
Are you reading it?
Yeah.
I'm reading it.
There it is.
Okay.
Says general Eisenhower said agood leader gets other men to do
what he wants done, not becausethey have to, but because they
want to.
As supreme commander of theallied forces during World War

(01:45:13):
two, I think we should listen.

But I think that and and that bounces back to what
we talked about earlier as faras Tim leadership principle.

And that's funny that he says that what Tim
always called himself.

Supreme allied commander.
He just

When he goes back to that, know, and and and you go
back to the styles of leadershipand,

yeah,

you have those guys that because they're in these
ranks, you absolutely despise ofthem and hate their guts for
who they are, but you have to,you know, listen them because of
their rank, or you got theseguys that you absolutely would
run through a brick wall for andlove to death no matter what
rank they are, but they're justa great leader

And a lot of that a lot of that comes from what
I've always told people you haveto be consistent and concise.
Right?
So everything you do always

have to choose

has to be consistent Yeah.
And your decisions have to bewe have the fourteen leadership
traits.

Right.
So

you you

tie back on.

Right?
We could hammer those out allthe time.
A lot of it sometimes is taggedas well.
Yeah.
So when you're gonna give thedirection of your troops, your
marines, your sailors, whatever,the

way you're doing

that, the way that you could talk to them.
You can you can either force iton the protocol.
I'm I'm the commander.
I'm the president.
I'm the this.
I'm the that.
You're gonna do what I tell youto do.
And they're gonna be like, yep,fucking asshole.
No.
They're they're gonna do it.
But it but the way that youtalk to people, you either get
them just to straight up,believe it.

(01:46:46):
And they're gonna they're gonnawanna go do it.
It's gonna get done one or twoways, either you're gonna force
them to go do it because theyhave to or two the way that you
can present it, the way that youcould talk to people, they
wanna go do it.
But I'd rather have people wantto go do the right things than
before ask them to go do theright thing.

Joe Gates (01:47:06):
My phone Sorry

to interrupt you , Charlie.
You're laughing because Jimmyalso said president Biden said,
oh, never mind.
I can't remember.

I don't think he knows what he said.

It's Boy.
Boy.
Oh, man.

He reminds me of a Ruba.
The only thing I thought aboutthat before when he when he
leaves his podium after a speech, he, like, Hings a sharp laugh
takes about four steps.
Kinda takes a side step to theright, looks around, and he
spins back around, and thenwatch the opposite way to get on
stage.
He reminds me of her rude, butlancing off the corners of the
chair.
And then the thing's spinningand trying to figure out the

(01:47:52):
next way to go and has no cluewhat it's doing.

You know, and they just calm that

for the

rest of the

rest of the rest of the rest of the rest of

the rest

of it.

And this isn't, like, not a political thing or
anything, but let's be honest.
That man should not beat upthere.
No.
And and and not not forpolitical reasons because, you
know, he's been in congressforever.
Literally.
But just his mental state.
Well, you know, I think

that was actually because they just the house and
stuff just had hearings andstuff.
And does the metal state withall his documents that they
found at his houses over theyears and he had stuff going all
the way back, classified dadgiven us from Right.
Way back.
And when he was senator days,all the way through his vice
president see it now.
And we would've been screaming

Joe Gates (01:48:40):
at the beginning to work at home.

And it was basically all the same thing for
what they did to Trump.
Going through the place bydocuments.
He had

one four

year period, but he had, like, one point four
million documents or something.
Then there was something insane.

There was a kid who was

court martial No, Biden.

Biden had one point four million documents.

Something like that.
Yeah.

Get the fuck out of here.

Over the course of his over

his whole career, from classified documents he's
looked at?
No.
Classified documents in hishouses Uh-huh.
In everything that that theycollected, and they just had the
hearings on it yesterday.

Yeah.
I know that.

Right.
Because the whatever justicesystem or Justice

system or counsel or something

came out and goes , well, you know, nothing really
was that take a deal.
Done it out.

They had

to re they had to he had to they had to send
stuff off to other departmentsto get them classified or if
they were classified or whatever.
I I didn't listen to the wholething, but So essentially, they
came up with he's a sittingpresence.
There's really nothing we cando.

He literally called him an elderly man who's
memory was impaired?

Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

I mean, he didn't he didn't really know

what he was taking because he's not in the
capacity to know what he'staking, and I'm thinking to
myself.
He basically well, I wascalling

He he did at the time.
Right.

When he now he took

these documents,

But now, it's well, I don't have any you know,
I don't know.
I couldn't remember that.

One one of the biggest craigs about, you know,
these documents to where hemust've you know, obviously, he
was in a coherent enough stateof mind is he had that ghost
writer.
Yeah.
They put a book together withall these documents, and it's I
mean, it's like a eight milliondollar grossing book.

And then and then the ghostwriter was deleting of
stuff and Yeah.
Getting rid of the evidence.
That was one of the specialprosecutors.
It was, like Mhmm.
Or whatever the special counselguy was, like, well, we don't
know really know how to deleteit or didn't delete or, you know
, they saved some stuff.
But, yeah, he deleted otherstuff and they're like, well, if
he was basically getting rid ofthe evidence.
Right?
Why are we charging him withgetting rid of the evidence?

(01:50:49):
Like, we would anybody else ifRight.
If if cops busted into a houseand he's like, burned looks like
the Nazis throwing shit in thefireplace.
The strikes they get you fordestroying evidence.
Right?
Right.

My main

weapon is

in this.

No.
They found various

They found documents and it's garbage.
They found documents.
They found at the institute.

Yeah.
It was some crazy.
Like, mind you, one point fourand one point seven million
documents.
I mean documents.
So I'm talking it's gonna bepages.
Right?
So each page is gonna beconsidered back and even if it's
a file.

I'm not this

It was some it was some insane number.
It was some insane number.

I'm not this crazy job supporter really with that
one.

It was insane.
You go into it.

Fair is fair.
You know, they're hammeringTrump right now.
Trump, you know, of thesedocuments at Mar a Lago.
Mhmm.
But, you know, then you gotBiden with all this other stuff,
you know.
I mean, that's

that's the reason why a lot of times they
try not to play politics becauseyou set a precedent one way or
the other, can you open yourselfup?
Leadership.
You can't before we get too far, I wanna chunk what tech said,
you know, we would have beenfucking buried as as service
members if if we had access toclassified information and that

(01:52:01):
shaven.
We were Yeah.
Fucking buried.
Yep.
And I remember I remember a guya a sailor who was assigned to
a submarine All he did was tooka picture of himself at work to
send to his family while theysent it to his family and come
to find out he accidentally thebackground one of the machines

(01:52:21):
in the background was a fuckingclassified machine.
They sent his ass to elevenwords.

Oh, my god.

He had no ill intention or he wasn't fucking
selling shit to the Russians.
He just took a goddamn picture.
And they said this has to lovenorth.
And, you know, not to dig upold past, but fucking Hillary
Clinton, you know, all the

fucking Yep.

Trump fucking Biden.

Oh, not Trump?
Not just Trump.
Biden.
Trump's VP.
What was it?
Mike Pence?
All of them.
All of those Oh,

I agree.
All of them fuckers.

Anybody on Capitol Hill should not have any
kind of access to that yet.

Well, the number of the the number of documents that
Joe Biden had between twentyfive and thirty.

Well, that was His His His my

twenty five And there

was way more than that.
Twenty five I I listened tosome of the hearing.

Okay.

Those might have been the top secret ones.
But they were sending outdocuments all over the place to
get classified by all thedifferent like, if this was an
NSA Mhmm.
Thing or CIA thing.
Yeah.
But we are insane.
One point four No.
It was it was insane number,dude.

Listen.
Alright.
Yes.
One point four but Just imaginethe Right.

But spread over gold.
Right.
But spread over is eightfucking houses.
But this Really, that's that'slike taking a stack like this to
each one of your places.

That's not even right here.
This is ten thousand right here.

I'm telling you it was when I heard it was way
more than that.
I listened to it.
I listened to that special

Find that clip for me.

So anyways, like, how was that faster?
But you know, when I went toAfrica in ninety eight, the
Embassy Biden's happened.
We have secret securityclearances.
Fasten two went into DarsalonTanzanian.
It was inairovia, and there wastwo bombings within, like,
whatever, eight hours orsomething that they went up.
So we have we have to havesecret secret security

(01:54:24):
clearances because we have to goon and gather documents.
We gotta go on and gatherlaptops.
We have to get computers.
We have to get blah blah blahblah and secure the site.
And then when whatever threeletter digit shows up.
It's typically state departmentkind of people that show up and
they We have the we vaulteverything basically.
We've all the vaulting.
We've vaulted it.

(01:54:44):
And then we stand security outthis month, as well as the
building and everything, andthey come get that shit.
Once they get that shit that wecan leave, you know.
But yeah.
We there was all kinds of shit.
We didn't obviously, we're notsitting there reading stuff, you
know.
I mean, We're just gatheringthem gathering all that all that
.
In denial documents whatever.

(01:55:05):
Right?
Mhmm.
Got that hold of them.
But Yeah.
It's it's crazy.
Could you imagine if the guygot caught, you know, in the
midst of grabbing shit, ramps upand threw it in those freaking.
We have we had a fly bag withall of our gear, you know.
So some reason something got inthere.

(01:55:26):
That guy gets caught with it.
Should he be the same thing?
He'd be at eleven words, man.
It was a total accident,

Joe Gates (01:55:31):
like, training exercise in California.

And these you gotta remember, and then these
people are elected, they havedone nothing for this country.

Nothing except mine in their own pockets.

Right.
You know, when was the lasttime we had a we had a president
who was you know, we had apresident who was military
veteran.
I think it was George h w.
It was the last militaryveteran president that we had.
Right?

You know what

I'm saying?

Not that it's,

you know Yeah.
Oh.

I thought you were doing that for me.

No.
I mean, I'm traveling.
You say he was a he was aveteran.

It was something insane.

It was Which is true .
He was a veteran, but he was

GEORGE H.
W.
He was a fucking fighter pilot.

Oh, the fuck he was in the National Guard.
Yeah.
The National Guard.
He

was a tech

h w.

Oh, it's dad.

Oh, it's

dad's dad's dad was Air

Force by the shit.
He was Director CIA back.

Got you there.
Yeah.
World War two, he actually flewoff of aircraft carriers in
Lake, Michigan on traininggrounds.

No.
It was it was a lot more thanthirty to fifty thousand
documents.
I can tell you that.
It was it was an insane number.
And, of course, I could beembellishing when I say one
point four because I don'tremember the exact number.
But it was

I think it was probably more like one point
four.

Didn't say four point one?

No.
One point four.
Like One

point one

nine point four.

One nine point four.
I'll trust Wikipedia at fiftythousand before I'm gonna trust
one point four

You could have twenty five to thirty documents.
Not twenty five to thirtythousand.
Twenty five to thirty.

No.
Twenty five to thirty documents.

Maybe it was total pages.

That's how

Joe Gates (01:57:27):
I was just gonna say that maybe he's talking to a
hundred pages or so.

Are you against the world trade?
It's you against the world.

Yep.
Fuck it.
Right?
Tapped them.

Alright.
What did she say?
No.

She said it's you it's you against everyone else.

They usually Always.

Always.
That's not gonna change.

But, you know, like

Brett.
Right?

What did they maybe do to what did they maybe do to
Jimmy when he missed a yearanalysis?

They put him through a fucking n j p.
Okay.
You aren't gonna really tellthe story, Jim?
I'll tell the fucking story.

You just basing a cop, man.

So he was at work.

He probably fucking fell asleep.

The way that they did the urinalysis, as you
guys know, it's random andthey'll fucking shoot you an
email.
Right?
So that's what they did.
Well,

No.
I didn't do that at the ring.

No.
Fuck no.
They got a guy staring at yourpicture.
You picked up.

No.
No.

Not a But you got a hospital filled with ten
thousand snail mail.
That's hilarious.
You know?
But anyway, so that's

how it was in the morning.

That's how it was kind of a thousand.

Anyway, they they put them on the list and
they early in the morning to say, hey, you gotta go piss today.
Alright.
Cool.
Well, as Carmen, you know,we're kinda fucking busy.
So he forgets.
Next morning, they come downand they fucking put him in
front of a the Chiefs mess as anNJP.

(01:58:50):
Right?
They ended up taking him allthe way to a fucking XOI
executive officer inquiry beforethe executive officer put his
in tire fucking jaded command onblast for doing something so
fucking stupid.
Because he offered to drop theminute that the issue was, you

(01:59:10):
know, come up.
But, no, they they drag himthrough this whole fucking
process.
Got NCIS involved in thefucking investigation.
Has changed it to me too.
His chain of command accusedhim of being on drugs, and he
dropped a number of times,proved to him.
He wasn't.
NCIS gotten involved fuckingyeah.

(01:59:30):
I got all the way up

to the

executive officers before she was like,
what the fuck is wrong with youpeople?
Like, we're we're wasting ourfucking time.
And at the hospital, theexecutive officer was a colonel.
An army colonel.
Next hire, commanding officerwas a two star admiral.
He was that close.
Right.

(01:59:52):
But we're not.
Mhmm.

Damn, Jimmy.
I'm sorry, Jimmy.

I think we talked about it.
That's the way they did with us.
Right?
We show up I I figured zerofive's p t.
Yeah.
Zero six p t, so everybody'sthey get up.
First thing you do, man, yougrab bottled water.
You hit it.
Take a fucking league.
Take a shit because your noseis gonna go run ten miles.
Mhmm.
You know?
And then line up on abasketball court or out on the

(02:00:16):
grinder.
Parking lot, whatever.

There it is.

And then they're like, then they go, oh, pissed
test everybody being in thefreaking duty room or day room,
Some people call the duty.
Some people call the day room.
Being the guy, being in the dayroom in ten minutes.
So then you're like,motherfucker.
Right?
Yo.
You just took shit.
A piss.
Right?

Like, yeah.

So you run back and you're getting your big old
judge of water and shit and yougotta go up there and then, yeah
, literally, y'all line up Yeah.
When you gotta go take a piss.
You'd walk over to the counteror table, they, you know, climb
whatever, blah blah blah.
So they okay.
Here's your cup.
Take your cup.
You gotta sign some shit, andyou gotta hold the cup above
your head.

(02:00:54):
Yep.
And you gotta be in PT shorts,the go fasts, the shoes, and
just

Yep.
Your

PT shirt.
Walk in the freaking head likethis.
Couple over your head, then theold Peter Gazer right on your
back, which is usually anofficer.
I always had an officer.

Really?
No.
Not an n c o.
Nope.
I don't have n c o.
We'll

have ring now and then depending on where you were
in a training regimen, you feellike a NCO, sergeant, or staff
sergeant?
Oh, sergeant was an officer.

Yeah.
You said officer.
So you walk in there?
So you stand at the figure atall.

Some Buddha They definitely wanted

they definitely wanted to look you're caught
there.

Well, he can he can stay down the day room and
see that.
Yep.
Oh, I'm sorry.

Charlie is still holding his hand over it.
I am.

And then you then you take it.
You you have to sit on top ofthe ear hole.
Then you take your freakingshirt.
You gotta pull it up.
Drop your shorts past yourknees.
Like, stay to the ground.
Past your knees.

Joe Gates (02:01:50):
I don't think No.
No.
No.

No.
No.
No.

Joe Gates (02:01:53):
Shaftor this stuff.
They shift over the same way.
They cheat the system.

I'm showing everybody a terminal in the
land's comic.

Can you

take top off?
And as soon as you take top off, then you steps right over your
shoulder.
Yep.
The watch is good.

You stay on your your business cut, man.

Make sure your fingers don't get in it because
people, you know, they do, like,the bleached under the nail
Yeah.
Some bullshit.
Yeah.
And we say if it touches yourfinger, you're doing it again.
And we count this one as a foul.
So you knew, like, I mean, theywere all over your shit.
And it's crazy because he mightpiss once a month.
Those dots.
So you wouldn't piss for awhile, but then you

here's a terminal lens comic.
Just pass it around.

So in Greens, man , they didn't they didn't screw
around.
They didn't even there was nobut, again, you guys have, like,
day jobs when you're in theindustry or like, I'd say,
training for China becauseunless we're at war, we're on a
mission, we're not we don't havea regular day job, you know,
like a supply guy or somebody,you know?
Or more more coming

twenty miles from the field.

Yeah.
You know

what I mean?
I mean, we were just sittingaround the barracks.
I remember a man just dosomething but I remember the
first time

I had a good test while I was in the army.
And I was in AIT Hold on.

Live on Facebook.

When I was in AIT and and the drill sergeant,
actually, like and I know thepeople listening can't see it,
but

He actually got down Hold on.
Hold on.

Hold on.
Hold on.
Yeah.
There you go.

I didn't feel like He

got down like this.
Like, and watched this is thecup.
Got down like this and watchedme actually pissing the cup over
, like Yeah.
Damn.
You're really fucking close?
No.

On the radar like Charlie saying, as you go up,
you know, you got your cup up.

Yeah.
That's that's what

you take

it to.

You said in the back of deck?
You pull your shirt, like, upto your titties, and you I mean,
you drop your your PT shorts.
I mean, you drop them straightto your fucking ankles, and
you're standing there.
And next thing, you know, thisguy's looking he's like this.
He's literally, like, breathingon your neck Yep.
As you're trying to piss and doa cup.
Yep.
That's why we call him peppercheck.
He's like,

He was Peter

Giggly staring at your shit.
So you weren't putting yourfingers in there.

Right.

Like, you had to let her grab your shit and, like,

They

may have a stream stream stream

stream.
As if as if somebody wants tofucking pissing their hand in
their piss.
Like, I don't get around a piss.

That was very

if if there's a bleach on your fingers and you
piss through your fingers oninto the cup through the and got
some of that bleach,

you know, it'll it'll kill the test of testing.

Well, back then, I mean, they had those they had
those bladders that you could,like, tape your thigh and they
ran up on the side and you couldjust, like, press buy moment
and pull out some clean urine.
Like, there were so much shitthat I mean, they literally they
would fucking stare

at me.
Shit.
Now you're taken.
Not when you take it, theyactually fucking there's a, like
, a temperature gauge.
Uh-huh.
Like that, it's always knows if

Yep.
So so when I first got in, whenI first got in and I graduated
SOI, there was a huge drug bustat two four.
They're like, massive thesefuckers.
They had, like, drug rings inthe fucking barracks.

Wow.

There was, like, a massive fucking drug boss.
So, like, literally, like,whole fucking on the tombs from
SOI, like, went straight to tofour because they needed so many
bodies because of this hugedrug bust So I mean, dude, we
were we were under the radar.

We're just using or were they just using No.

They were, like, making shit in their fucking
room and everything.

No matter why they don't allow hot plates in
our fucking bearings.

Looking Joe Joe will fucking find a way.
That's that's that's great.

That is

a month Joe will find a fucking way.
That is true.

And I was I was wondering about the axials for
something.
Owning the storage storageunits.
I'm thinking to myself, who thefuck's cooking method and unit
here?
Like, you never

know.
Well, did

you see what are two people?

Did you see it cut down a few years ago, I can't
tell you, like, back when, butthere was that huge bust out in
the fifth Marines.
For trafficking?
They were trafficking fuckingillegal aliens?
Yeah.
Yeah.

They didn't like They were just smuggling their
cross border.
Yeah.
They're smuggling cross border.

Those guys mail out automation.
And also the next thing, youknow, you do saw swarms, like,
swotting a t f, just come up inthe arrest of them all, like
grain formation.
Yep.
Or, you know, there's

a That's always the way they do it on our guys
too.
Right?
They would you'd have companyformation.
Right?
And everybody's lining up, andthey'd call three four names
right up front.
And then also PMO come walkingout of the office, go up and
call them rank for them.

Yeah.
Question.
You know, they say once amarine, always marine.
Right.
So you're marine for life.

Those guys are One of it's

one of these fuckers do that.

No.
No.

No.
Robert Marine again.

Oh.
Marine for life is an odderthing.
You know what?
You've successfully completedyour term letter four years of
twenty.
You got out, like, legitimatehonors, like, no bullshit.
These guys know he's job bossand all this fucked up stuff.
Like,

they didn't live up to what a minute.
Turn the

Joe Gates (02:07:13):
backpacks in.

I mean, they're probably sitting in their VFW
halls or whatever and maybetelling story, American legions
or whatever.
I don't know.
You know, there was so muchstolen valor you know, in the
past twenty years, like, it wasactually just got out of control
.

Right.

Yeah.
We haven't seen We haven't seen

We had we had And if you like that up at our folks
just the other day

Oh, you're next year.

A couple weeks ago.
A couple weeks ago.
Fuckin' cotsucker.
This this this is Kelly

She was scheduled in for This guy rolled in with
a Air Force veteran sweatshirtout, and he's like, I wanna join
the Pauls for, like, sweet.
And what his two forty?

He said army.
Tim's Tim's what?

Ten stock and tell me he's like, well, you
need the d two two d d twofourteen, blah blah blah.
He's like, going to someone'scar.
So he goes, I guess this.
So Jim's got him filling out,you know, the fucking thing, and
he's like, hey, can you go scanthis?
Did I search scan it, crossedout social?
Trey and shimmer up there.
I didn't really look at it.
I just stapled the shittogether and these guys started

(02:08:13):
looking at.
And when I'm scanning it, Iasked him, what what rank were
you?
You know what he said?
It's f a f eight that I'm like,f eight.
There goes red flag.
I go.
Yeah.
I go.

He's like, oh, he ain't.

Yeah.
Yeah.
Then he fixes it.
I'm like, I'm shoot darts, youknow.
So I'm just flying out and thenthese guys are like, So they
start looking at it.
That says e one.

On his fucking d d two fourteen, it says e one.
And that he served eighteenfucking years.

So he went through

an eight he changed.

Yeah.
And the font wasn't even thesame.
Alright.
You can tell

it was it was doctor

We're healing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So then we call him on it.
You could hear us out theretalking about it.
A bit of a fucked up d d twofourteen.
Everybody's getting called inover

Yeah.
Well, Tim was talking to him inthe doorway in the office, and
at this point, they had handedit to me.
And I I didn't even realize hewould stand there, but I had my
hands.
I'm looking at it.
I was like, as famous fuck.

What the fuck was this guy thinking?
Right.

So then the fucking kid grabs the paperwork
and the fucking locks out thedoor.
And

Joe Gates (02:09:17):
Brent, what's the date for that?
I could pull up on the cameras.

Still be still be that was like a month ago.
Sogie, lost him, lost him, losthim.
So I was like, hey, man.
That's fucking dude.
Just turned out a fake dude towork team.
He's like, what?
I said, yeah.
So where the guy goes, I didn'tthink he ever served.
Because let me make a call.
It calls the fuck guys' mouth.

And I was like, you

know, was Johnny in the fucking world.
You know, military or whatever.
She's like, no.
He did, like, a in high school,you have, like, young marines
or ROTC Like, ROTC junior thingkinda thing, and he's like, he
did that.
And he was like, we just turnedit and tried to turn it in
fucking fake d a two fourteen upto the post.

Then the asshole shows back and he's in the post,
like, two days later.
No.
The next day.
It was next day

because I talked to the mom.
Just as I care, my mom hastalked to you.
And I'm like, alright.
She was like, I'm so sorry bythe line.
You know, you guys calling thecops what you're doing?
I said,

this is not something to call.

I go I go.
I know.
She doesn't know.

Oh.

So she's like, well, you know, what are you
guys gonna do?
Whatever.
And I said, just tell him he'snot allowed back here.
Yeah.
And I said, probably because ifany of us there here tonight
and see him here, we'll probablybeat him the death of the
doorway.
Yeah.
Right.
I mean, I mean, honestly, wedon't come in in our house and
try to give us about yourbullshit.

(02:10:37):
You just you just not welcomehere.
And I don't actually mean we'dprobably beat him to death, but
aggressively he'd be thrown outthe door.
Right?
Right.
And not welcome.
Well No.
And then and then, yeah, thehearings shows back up, which is
crazy.

I haven't heard that.
You know, we're talking to you.

Well, he he showed up.
I was there and somebody waslike, think it was shovel like
that.
Fucking dude's

back here.

I was like, fuck her over there.
Well, the trailer was like, gethim out of here immediately.
Listen.
I went over there.
I said, listen, man.
You are not welcome in thisfucking place.
And he was like, well, why?
I was like, that fucking bogustwo fourteen, you passed off to
us.

He was

like, what?
No.
I served.
I was like, look, man, we'vebeen in long enough.
We've seen enough two fourteen.
That shit is bullshit.
You need to get the fuck out ofhere.
And and then my wife called me.
I was like, Justin was there.
I was like, Justin, get thismotherfucker right here.
And and before Justin could getover to him, he was walking out

(02:11:40):
the door.
No.

Like

So let's go under that a little bit, you know, as
far as

because I was just I was

just going from here.
You're stolen stolen valvestuff.
That's why Yeah.

So yeah.
So let's go into that a littlebit.
You know, you you go back Let'slet's designate VFW.
VFW, veterans, and for wars.
You know, the investment forthat is is anybody that served
in a in a foreign war.
You know, world war one, worldtwo, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, so on
.
You've had plenty of servicemembers in the meantime, you

(02:12:11):
know, that have that have servedin the military, that never got
an opportunity.
Nothing on them.
They serve peace time.
To the American legions for.

Mhmm.

As you you know, as as we I mean, we've been war for
twenty past twenty years.
Some of you, most of the people, you know, that come in now
applying or whatever.
Yeah.
They're they're they're gonnabe eligible.
But there's a distinction there.
A lot of people don't know, youknow, that the American Legion,
the Vietnam are, like,legitimately different
organizations as far as, like,qualifications.

Yep.
And then you got the AmVets,which is just everybody.

Well, that was definitely just a certain of DSL
service organization.
They're just like anorganization which is full of,
you know, veteran serviceofficers to help veterans along
the way.

Joe Gates (02:13:01):
Mhmm.
Yep.

Like, they don't have I mean, I might be wrong,
but they don't have, like, ahall.
Right.
Right.
They kinda

just Yeah.

Do they?

I think

Stanton has

Oh, really?

Big wrappings.

See, I

didn't have that.
That's yep.
Embeds?
Yeah.
Oh, did they?

Yeah.
See,

I didn't know that either.

Yeah.
Yeah.
Because, actually, a coupleyears ago, when we were gonna
leave, blessing the bikesinvolved when we hit the Reed
City post, we them and they openup for us coming up, you know,
visit for a bit, and then wewere gonna add down the big
rapids and have and vets andthen

they're right there at the the almost downtown big
rapids.
Mhmm.

So let me ask you guys something here.
Because I'll I'll kind of fillyou in on the cor pulmon side.
In in the manual of medicine,there's an entire chapter about
enlistment physicals.
Okay.
And in that chapter, no joke.
It's a hundred and fifty pages.

(02:13:58):
Of medical diagnoses thatdisqualify you from service.
Mhmm.
And and all it is is a list.
There's, like, you don't get aparagraph under each one

of them.

That's fucking the list.
Alright?
And when we we say, you know,that this is a small community
because it is.
Right?
That your average American,maybe three percent of Americans
even try

I think it is.
One percent.

Well, yeah.
Three percent try.
Only one percent of that Threepercent.
Get in for medical reasons.
Right?
So I there's no excuse tofucking walk into our house and
do the stolen valor bullshit.
Yeah.
But on the other hand, like, Ifeel I feel bad for some of

(02:14:53):
these guys because

they they wanted to do

They want

so bad.
And you know that they'rethey're fucking motivated, and
they but for whatever reason,they can't get it.
You know?
So I just, you know Yeah.

I can't wonder about this.
Bad newspeaker Bad newspeakerBad newspeaker Bad newspeaker

you know, so I'm wondering, like and and I've
talked to Jimmy about this,actually.
Him and I tend to have some ofthese conversations, but you
know, what would you guys say?

Jesus, we're on the second part of this fucking
statement.
I didn't see parts.
I didn't

see There are two parts.

You're still looking to explain to them.

Boy, go ahead.
Two parts.
Go ahead.

So what would you guys say about, like, all of
the support roles, like, youknow, typewriter here?

I'll have you typewriter.

All the support rules that are, you know, that
do all that shit in the navy,you got fucking humans.
They're admin pukes.

Yeah.
People with disabilities, theydon't get

a whole month dedicated to their MOS field.
Right.

It's it's literally, like, in cooks, maybe
cooks.
I think it's, like, four months.
Not even four months, a monkos.
Anyway, so that's the point is,you know, people with
disabilities physical or mentalor whatever filling in some of
those non deployable Supportrole?

Support role is always deployable.
Yes.
They never did that.

So you know that the Marine Corps went up privatized
?
Cafeteria Services?
Everywhere?
Not sure everywhere, but Ithink across the board.
Like, cloaks or they wentprivate times?

Both services over the end.
They had already had been doingthat.
If you're going like,

if you're if you're back in Kentucky, if
you're

in the states, you're you're on base.
Most defects are ran bycivilians.
Sodexo was a big one.
K for the army, it was KBR, KBR.

So when we went back to Tampa, I don't think for a
ten year battle or Ramadianniversary, and and we went to,
like, just touring and play themovie on nights at Tahoe.
I'm like, it was Oscar Gillians.
I was just

like Yeah.
I stood there for a minute.
Alone?

Yeah.
I stood there for a minute,like, Well, I mean, that's right
.

You know?
Yeah.

I learned that.

I didn't know that

they were going they were privatizing the food
services industry at the MarineCorps.
So

So did I miss something

that very well could just be man manpower?
Sure.
Because it's not enough people.
Sure.
So

What was TAB saying?
What were you guys talking toTab about?

Wow.
She actually she made a commenton the distinction between the
BMW Hall American Lease bikewhat did the requirements to be
in the BMW, which we kind ofjust touched them.

Right.
But so she says

there were some people who didn't know that.
Right.

Joe Gates (02:17:55):
Yeah.
She says clarify more forpeople, please.
You can serve during the war,but never leave the states and
not qualify for your stuff.

You don't have to bid.
You haven't gone in the country.

On

just that it was crazy that some of the ladies in
the auxiliary didn't understandthis.

So the way that Oh, wow.
The the way that it works is wesay boots on the ground, but
you have to remember you have asailor that probably never came
off a ship.

They were in

the region.
They're in, like, right.
And as we all say so we can'tsay they can't Right.
You're in theater.

Yes.
Right.

So if you're in the region during the conflict
for so long, a lot of, like,unforces expeditionary metals
sometimes global warming.
Air metals to sit certainthings.
You might be sitting just offthe coast.
While there's a conflict goingon, you didn't have to actually
go to it.
Right?
But you earned a distinctivemedal for being right there with

(02:18:49):
ready to go on.
Wait.
Yeah.
Still to earn that medal in inorder to be able to join.
So granted it's it's not fairbecause, you know, you were
still you might have been servedon the state side in the exact
same role you just happened todidn't be on the ship.
Because, I mean, if you thinkabout Air Force, you're probably

(02:19:09):
not gonna have a lot of peoplein the Air Force qualified to be
in the VFW.

Yes, sir.
Less than AMAGRO or somethinglike that.

Right.
Right.

But I mean, you're very they're small
selected.
Now they could be running therefuelers in the region.
Right?
So they might be six hundredmiles away from the conflict.
And they're just refuelingplanes.
And they're flying back toGermany or Italy or whatever.
They're taking back off andrefueling and going back.
Right.

(02:19:38):
But they're they're supportingthe mission in the theater of
the conflict.
So they would earn a a certaintype of metal.
So it's not just the combataction riveting or combat action
badge or, you know, your yourfeet were actually in the sand.
There's a lot of support rolesor CIB.
Which is which is great.
Yeah.
You're you're coming in a fewbatches.
I would've listened to that.
You have an extra batch.

(02:19:58):
Just those things that thatpeople military members can
qualify to be ansel, like

So most of you guys yeah.
Korea.
Most of you guys have probablyqualified because you guys got
the Iraq or Afghanistan campaignmedal.
Right?

Yep.
Yeah.
For a lot of guys were combatactions or

for me, Basically, what that means is is when we
say Bhutan, right, you can be ina combat zone or region, but
it's it's it it goes you to toqualify, you wouldn't have to
have direct direct boots onground or support thereof.
If you're if you're in a in aunit that supports a combat, you
mean it.

(02:20:38):
Mhmm.
And it's in in you're in thatregion, you you and you qualify
for whatever badge, the combatbadge, or or mental like the
expeditionary or, you know, gwhat, the g what, which is the
support you're you're in supportof a combat conflict

Mhmm.

Or can't pay Tomback , can't pay We

can go back now.

Quote qualify.
Yeah.
We can go back here now.
I'm trying to fix it.

Yes.
Mhmm.

The navy.
Yep.

They were in support of

they were a huge support of that from the
firepower from the sea, so wecould get Yeah.

Push the

lane in basin.

Yep.

So even though they didn't have boots on the ground,
their support from the sea,they are included

Right.

In that offensive.

And so and I was just gonna say that's how

I Okay.

That's how I qualified Okay.
Was my g one expeditionary.

You qualify for Azure plan?
Yeah.

And then I qualify I mean, I qualified two
ways.
The general expeditionary andmy hazard thing.

Mhmm.

But I just submitted my expeditionary

analysis.
Totally.

But, yeah, a lot of people don't realize that.
I've caught a few people out inpublic, you know.
I'll see, like, a sticker onthere.
I'm a few people or whatever.
And I'll be like, hey, you know, you signed up for the VFW?
No.
I don't qualify.
Did you ever receive imminentdanger pay?
Has your pay?
Yep.

They said, oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Then qualify.
You're qualified.
Destination.
Yeah.
This is like oh, they

just don't know.

When I got stationed in Egypt, when on MFO mission,
it's a peacekeeping mission inEgypt.
Now we're near really near acombat zone like Iraq or
Afghanistan.
But because of the region it'sin, it still was we still
received hazard duty pay orimminent danger pay.
A lot of guys that I servedwith on that mission never went

(02:22:17):
to combat, but they stillqualify, yeah, you know, they
still quote because that was amission that was under either
iraqi freedom or, you know, somecampaign thereof.
Right.

Well, that's like we were talking about Korea.
So right now, like, if you werein a military and you were
flying from Germany to Japan,you got to layover in the rear
and you switch planes as long asthat's documented.
Yep.
Then I

think, yes, you

qualify because that's still an ongoing war.
An ongoing war.

I think it's thirty consecutive days in Korea
or sixty non consecutive days.

If you're a DD two fourteen says Korea at any
point, all it's gonna say.

Yep.
Really?
Yep.
Just because of, you know, withmy generation, our generation,
our qualifications for becomemembers of the BMW are a little
different Mhmm.
From, like, guys like mygrandfather served in World War
two Mhmm.
Or guys that served in Vietnamor guys that were part, you know
, served directly on boots onground during back in the

(02:23:18):
fifties during the Korean waractually saw combat, you know,
their qualifications are alittle different than mine your
charges.
Right.

Right.
You

know, the Should we find a

better way than you guys?
Because we weren't when I wasin ninety eight till two, Iraq
had even really kicked stuff yet, but I was in the theater

Yep.

In fucking two thousand.
Right.

You know

what I mean?
Doing doing stuff with myfasting.
So that's how I got it.

Mhmm.
Jimmy posted a comment here.
He says, every role matters aslong as you serve

Right.

I've read that for every combat event who
serves in an active combattheater.
It takes three support staff sohe or she can do their job.

That's right.

He says, Hedi Lamar, the actress, didn't wear
uniform during World War II, butshe did design the Lamar
torpedo, which was instrumentalin her

I I've said that forever.
The men and women that are backhome, making sure my pay was
correct.

Joe Gates (02:24:12):
Mhmm.

Or making sure that our supplies got on the
plane and were flying over.
Mhmm.
We're made we're way more thanimportant than us actually out
on the mission because if paydidn't hit right or it was
fucked up and Jen couldn't paythe bills back home, Yeah.
Actually You know what I mean?
She's gonna

be, bitch.
Let me describe.

What do you mean?
Or or

do you want me to do?

What do you want

Joe Gates (02:24:39):
me to do?
You wanted to talk to somebody,we had to call them.
They couldn't get ahold of youguys.

We yeah.
We've talked about this onprevious podcast where what what
is it a detriment and pray?
Is ex wife is

was sitting in

Iraq right now.
And it was like, if I didn'tcheck my email, when I checked
my email.
But if I didn't get a letter, Ididn't get a letter, she could
call me.
So the only way for me to getin touch with her is either I
gotta go do those other twothings or I gotta pick up the
phone and call.
Yeah.

(02:25:11):
Right?
Other than that, I didn't haveto worry about distraction on
cell phones.
Know, where Trey's ex wifesitting in a rack with a cell
phone.
She was like, yeah.
She called me earlier today.
This is like three podcasts ago.
And I'm like, you know, thatfor me, for someone just be able
to be back here and instantlybe able to reach out to me.
I think it would be adistraction.

We wouldn't

be a distraction for the

But most of them Absolutely.

Joe Gates (02:25:32):
Don't know when you'll get those phones and
stuff like that.

As long as you

Joe Gates (02:25:34):
don't tell them, you're not they'll have that
extra

Oh, well, she has her personal cell phone over
there.

Joe Gates (02:25:39):
Yeah.
Oh, wow.

She was texting me today.

See what I'm saying?
She's gonna remember.
You gotta remember.

Matter of fact Matter of fact,

she sent me my child support today.

What did I bump up?

The legend?
Yeah.

Well, what we got when we were in Iraq was they
were lucky once a month, but wegot they passed the SAT phone.
It's not like Oh, yeah.
This is all four.
They passed it around thepresume, but you got, like, two
minutes max.

Oh, yeah.
Oh, no.

By the time it got connected now to him, you're
like, hey.
My dad, like, it's me.
I'm going good.
Like, I love you guys.
See you later.
That was it.
Not a network phone call.

Yeah.
Sounds like the your guys' bootcamp phone call you make.
Yep.
You're yelling.
Yeah.

You have thirty seconds.
Yeah.

And read the sheet, verbatim.
Okay.

If you

didn't But,

like, when you go back to the the whole combat
horse

and you better sound like you mean

it too.

I don't know.

I don't know.
This is the best place ever.

Thank you for sending me here.

Like, I

don't know, Harman, and you guys could chip on on
this.
But and and I'm it's probablyvery similar.
But I know from Marine Corps,in order to get a combat action
ribbon because there's no metal,just a ribbon that you had to,
you know, have been reported ordocumented in legitimate

(02:27:03):
firefight.

Does the ribbon look like a bullseye?
It's like red, white,

and it's red, blue, and blue, and blue, like, yellow
.
Yeah.
Marine Corps.
No.
I don't know what these guys is.

No.
We call the

Joe we

call the car.

We call the car.
Combat X.

No.
That's the purple heart.
The purple hearts, the enemy.
Marchmanship.

Yeah.
Oh, hardcore enemy marksmanship.
They got you.

Good.
What I really got you.

But, yeah, in order to get combat action, you know,
combat action, badge, like, youhad to have engaged in actual
combat.
That's what qualifies you inthe marine corps.

I'm a

church, same with army.
I don't know what you guys callthem, but, you know, so even
though you were in theater, Like, you don't rate it.
Like, you had to You

actually didn't get bombed, mortar, shot at, or
an idea?

Slow enough in your

And that's the immediate area.

That's the thing .
It's like, I I was saying Iqualified for VFW two times over
.
I got my g one expeditionarybecause I was deployed as part
of the surgical team.
Right.
And that surgical team followedaround a team of navy seals
that were doing some anti piracy, anti terrorism bullshit.
But most of the time, we wereonly on ship, like, for three

(02:28:18):
total weeks out of, maybe fourout of, like, nine months.
The rest of that time, we werein Jabouti Africa.

Joe Gates (02:28:25):
Sure.

And at that point in time, Bocaheram was
still a big deal, and so we gotimminent danger pay because we
were in Jabouti, because theJabouti Jabouti, Jabouti, had
previously taken rocket fire.

And and so

and they were like, okay.

It's all,

you know

So would you say you were in Jaboukie?
Jaboukie.
You were in theater?

I was in Joe Boodie.
In Jabouti.
Yo booti.

Was that your marines saying?
I'm in Jabouti navy guy.

That could be slight .
Yep.
I mean so the you know, if youhave w terms, like, you were in
you were in theater.
So, like, you Right.
You rate and you qualify as wego there.
And as you can break it down,like, you get into CIB or CER or
whatever, like, then there'sdifferent, you know, or deals,
but For VFW Hall purposes, like,if you were in theater, you

(02:29:16):
rate the entitlement ofmembership.

Membership of VW, where where an American Legion
doesn't matter when or where youserve.
Right?
And what are a honorably Yes.
Discharge, and I think youmight be able to be, like, less
than honorable Yeah.
Other than Right?
Or other than Yeah.

Some under honorable condition

or something like that general under honorable.
And then there's Well, there'sa couple and and

if you can even

do that, you can even do that, the VFW as long as
not at

Joe Gates (02:29:45):
this interval.

And a lot of those other than interval falling or
medical or deal

oh, yeah.

You know, they got hurt.
They got broken bones or orwhatever.

Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm not I'm not saying it'sbecause you're an asshole.

Right.

But you got in trouble.
And there's, yeah, there'sother reasons why you're getting
out.
But any any veteran at any timeserved honorably.
Right?
Mhmm.
Not necessarily that's gonna

be easier.

Essentially, the distinction is the BFW Hall is
did you serve in, you know, awartime zone in American Legion
is peacetime?

Yep.
Yeah.
Basically, I'm

cutting dry.

And there's the reason why I have a member

of both.

Yeah.
So, you know, I'm a member ofboth too.
I I love paid out for life for

the police.

Yeah.
They're they're both greatequally.

You must It's like to live to a hundred and
twenty years old way off thatstupid fucking life.
That one, like, eighteenhundred hours when I looked at
it.
Jesus.
It was ridiculous.

I think I paid, like, thirteen hundred.

And I'm sitting there thirteen hundred for what?
Life membership at the AmericanLegion.
I'm sitting there looking atthat and I'm like, okay.

That's How

much is in a year ?
It's thirty dollars a year, soI think.
Okay.
Eighteen, whatever it was,divided by thirty.
I'm, like, hundred and nineyears old.
I'm like, okay.
I'm thirty two.
So okay.
If I make seventy, I'm probablydoing pretty fucking good.
So I'm gonna be, like, anotherthirty eight years past that in
order to get now.

(02:31:03):
I'm good.
I'll pay my I'll pay my annual

Yeah.
Sorry about that.

That's nuts.

Seem ridiculous.
It was, like, eighteen.
Oh, I was, like, fifty two.

I just didn't receive a half.
I I didn't care to look.
You know, I I didn't during theday have you

even done any fall and I was

Gosh.
I wish I made that maybe money.

I wish I was growing the dope that he's got
in the closet because he's maybemore more money in trade.
I don't know how to shitlegally.

Fuck it.
I was

It's far below fifteen hundred bucks.

Joe Gates (02:31:31):
He said,

he's just making it rain on

those old leaves.
So that's a fucking Americanleaves.

Hey.
It's, you know actually, I amTo meet Donaldson in pins.
I made some money over there atthe Legion the other night.
I won I hit their fucking

pull

tab for the top price.
Two nights ago.

Yeah.

What agent here on

top?
Yeah.

I think

I think we'll do it.

A hundred and ten.

That was the top price for the pull tabs.

Yeah.
For one of them.
Yeah.
Oh.

Well, good.
Congrats.

And you didn't.

You didn't took you one hundred and forty
together.
Good job.

I totally am addicted again.
Like, no.
I'm not really addicted.

You better talk to Jesus boy.

But yeah.
Like, I was playing the EmeraldDang here in

a hundred and ten bucks.
Mhmm.
Exactly.

Okay.
Jesus has a plan for you.
Really?
It's not game.

See, I I ever hated myself.

Tell him, trade.
Tell

him.
Everything in moderation.

We're getting you confirmed.
We're getting you confirmed.

Everything in moderation.
Listen.
Seriously,

I will be there for that.
I do.

I appreciate it.

Man, I wish I could be there.
I really do.
I'm probably a long ways away,though, man.
California.

But I

I I wish yeah.
It's gonna be

an awesome service because it's

it's gonna be an awesome service because it's
it's so it starts at night.
It's a candlelit service.
Alright?
So but it's it's all about thesymbology of everything.
So those of us who are beingconfirmed are being brought into
, like, the light.
Right?
So it starts off with a littlecampfire upfront, and then we
we're gonna be lighting candlesas we go in.

(02:33:07):
And then eventually, it'llsound

all yep.

It'll all light up, you know, on Missy's side.
It's gonna be it's gonna bepretty cool.
It's gonna be really awesome.
So but

Joe Gates (02:33:17):
I'll smaller because

I got a noise.
But yeah.
Anyway Mhmm.

Joe Gates (02:33:21):
It's all smaller.

I'm looking forward to it.
I've I've decided that myconfirmation name is gonna be
after Saint Joseph.
So

You'd pick your own?
Yeah.
Two parts.
So wait.
You can't

you can't do two parts?

You only pick one.

Okay.
One part.
No.

But what I'm saying is, can you confirmation
a and b two parts?
No.
Not, like, two different names.

It has to be

It has to be the Bible.

It has to be synced.

Joe Gates (02:33:47):
Oh, okay.

Seventy two parts .
Yes.

Seventy two

parts part of that guy.
Look it up.
There's, like, state law.

Joe Gates (02:33:57):
I'm I'm sure I can make a

there's, like, a thousands of

Yeah.

Saints.
So I guarantee you they'llprobably be a saint.
I was, like, an industrycitizen.

Jump on to Wikipedia and Saint two parts.
And then that way, we're there.
Like, also such a guy.
He could be, like, well,Wikipedia says they're

the Saint two parts.
Alright.
Here it is.
Listen.
So Saint Clair of Asisti is thepatron saying of indecisiveness
.

There you go.
So two parts.

What are you gonna say, Trey?
Oh, he's on the phone.
What up?
He's busy.
He's busy.
He's busy.
He's busy.
He's busy.
No.
Must be my retirement.

So let's go back to Combat Medics.

Double dogs.

You guys are me.
You guys are bad motherfuckerstuff.

Look at me.
Dogs.
You're not

I don't think you're gonna

I will not claim that.
No.
I don't.
I

But you're you're a medic?

I was I was a blue side medic.
Yes.

Oh, okay.
I'll tell you combat combat andfight.

I was I was I was a little mixed in both.

The utmost respect, like, those guys are bad mother
fuck.

Yeah.
They are.

So they are amazing.
They are hardcore.
Yeah.

Is there Did you know that I

got those guys?

McCormick attached to us.
They go through their corporateschool.
Then they get asked, maybebefore, maybe after, I'm not
quite sure.

It's a If they like school of the infantry.
It's a it's another school of

the military.
But they get asked if theywanna do it.
Then they have to go do this.
Yeah.
And then it's basically a ashortened version of SOI.
Eighty four zero four when theyhave to learn how to hunt the
gear and do the bullshit.
And they have to meet meet RPTstandards.
A qualification.

We can choose to wear the Marine Corps uniform.

Dude, there's times.
So, you know, not to dress

I had I had the corman.
He had his corman, that fuckingbig square, fucking with a
produce whatever.
The fucking curve is the

same.
A fucking thing.

So you So that's in an in an e word, the EGA, on
the other side.

And and and back And they absolutely fucking rate it
.
Oh, absolutely.
One hundred percent, like, wehad, you know, in our training
our training up, we had thisdock.
I mean, gosh, just bad asmotherfucker I knew.
You know and, you know, Heightsman.
There's always somebody that'sfallen out, like, some
somebody's getting, you know,whatever.
Her getting a silver bullet,whatever.

(02:36:28):
But like this this guy, man,

Joe Gates (02:36:30):
asked his sister.

He would grab wires, saw, or two zero three, or a
mortar plate or

whatever he's picking up.

You would just grab that shitting off.
Like, hey, man.
We got a fucking get here.
Let's go.
So he's got

his gear, plus all his medical shit.
And then he's picking up

the insignia.

Then he's picking up somebody else's shit.
And up on it.
And I tell you what, I had toguy back Washington when we when
we were over and he was

he's confused.

He was probably the

the Yeah.
And why's it now?

The craziest dude I like Atlanta, Georgia.
He runs.
He was funny.
He was funny as fuck.
But I tell you what, he was thesame way.
We had a guy get shot and tookhis glasses off and ripped his
nose.
And he's sitting there andwe're sitting outside of the
five ton.
Yeah.

(02:37:26):
So it's that it's that it'ssaying the under his, like,

a little snake run the staff.

Yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
And he'd wear that and then hehad the EGI and his other top.

He asked why our chevrons were, like, this

upside down.
Instead of because you guys arebackwards.

Yeah.
So

anyways He's sitting there and he's sitting
there because we cut off.
Guys' name was shit.
Guys' name was Robinson.
And he was sitting outside ofthis five tunnel.
He got the picture.
He was like, what the fuckhappened?
He said, we took a ricochet offthe wall.
Fuck.
It took his fucking bridge ofhis nose out, took glasses right
off his face and shit.
He's sitting there justlaughing.
He's he was talking Treyu says,I'm I'm a I'm a good shit

(02:38:04):
talker.
Back Washington was the king.
Dude, I mean, he was like, dude.
Well, the fuck are you got?
No.
You got three fucking nostrilsbecause he had a big fucking
chunk.
And he's like, oh, shit.
No.
And he's like, he's laughing atthis fucker sit

without fucking skipping a beat.

This fucker sit there, you just clean out the
blood up and shit.
He's holding it.
We're all like, holy shit.
He was just you can see him inthe picture laughing.
Well, like, you know, like, Imean, that was his humor.
Like, it was so crazy.

So we had loved that .
He was a fucking combat doc.
His name was Doc Bulls.
I mean, one of the mostlegendary men I fucking knew.
Know, he was he was an AfricanAmerican.
That is motherfucker alive.
He that motherfucker, like, youknow, when we were on our

done marine marine.

Yeah.
But we're in the field.
You know, we're out there, like, doing our ambush training or
whatever.
He would, like, just lean back,lay on his back, he would undo
the buttons because when he came, he's doing his buttons, he'd
pull his fucking ball sack outand just let him fucking lay
there.

This is the name of Justin.

So, like You log by or whatever.
You log by or whatever, and youlook at him.
He's like, what man?
Just getting a suntan.
Or what do you

ask me if

you wanted to chill on some bubblegum?
He was so fucked up.

No.
Man.

But do it, like, you would just lay there on his
pack.

Our managers are the same type

of majors.

Just

bunch of nutty and

nutty burgers.

But I I almost think they

have to be just bigger than

the company.
The job they do

would have meant what they call oil checks.
You know, after trainers, I'mmaking, you know, or medics
aligners, I'll make sure ifwe're on the field for x amount
of days and where everybody'sdragging ass and fucking doc
will come through just kindalook you over.
My fucking just come up withjust grabbing by

the nuts.
Every day.

It it's not that crappy.
It's ever so gently.
And just give you gentlesqueeze just making sure you
still have them.
But I do motherfucker.

So so their attitudes.
Or exactly what we talked aboutearlier with tragedy.
You have to have humor.

Absolutely.
So you have to have

you know, when when Tim's tragedy happened.
And I'm up at the post tryingto make people laugh.
Right?
These are Mormon oramedicsregardless whoever.
Right?
When when you're you're servingon those roles, you have to be
that comedic relief.
Mhmm.
You have to have a little bitof a twist in your step to where

(02:40:33):
when it needs to be serious,it's gotta be serious.
But other times, you need tohave that comedic relief.
Right, to be able to, you know,get people's minds back going
kind of the right way.
So I think you're hundredpercent right.
Those guys that served with usjust like the guys that your
your guys' semantics in the army.

(02:40:54):
They were a different fuckingbreed of people.

Absolutely.
Mhmm.
You know, and and, I mean, Ilet me I give those guys, you
know, one hundred and tenpercent, you know, boom, we got
we got fucking destroyed intheir ass.
You know, one day we losttwelve marines.
You know, it was they droveright into a fucking well placed
ambush, and there was two fiftycows up on top of these two

(02:41:19):
buildings.
And as they fucking drove rightbetween them, I mean, this some

funnel of fire

day fucking loaded them.
You know?
And the thing is is, you know,every fire fight, you know,
what's what's the most common,you know, word that we heard was
, dot up dot up.
Mhmm.
You know, and know, in combat,I mean, these ducks saw
absolutely chaos and carnage.

Carnage.

You know, and and through, you know, putting
pressure dressings on and, youknow, whatever, you

know, it's pretty up a excessive every time they
go to the next guy.
Ready reassessment.

But at the same time , and even know these docs knew
that it was fatal.
You know, they're like, hey,you're gonna be alright.
You're gonna be alright.
You're gonna be just comfortingthem until the end.
You know, that that care andthat compassion until the end.

Mhmm.
Mhmm.

The even though the docs knew,

Right.

They were they were they were compassionate.
They were caring.

We're not gonna fucking

they were they were not black.
We wanna talk.
Well, you're gonna fucking die.
I'm gonna move on.
No.
They they gave one hundred andten percent every single fucking
person.
You know, we we lost thirtyfour marines in seven months.
We had over two hundred andfifty fucking wounded.
You know, in per squad, there'sonly, you know, getting near

(02:42:39):
one doc.
That's the long corpsman perper thirteen people.

Yep.
Right?

Those guys fucking saw

it all.
Mhmm.
And that Mhmm.
Is why I wanna make thisabundantly clear.
Because I've had marine who'scalling me doc.
And to me, that title is earnedfor an eighty four zero four
cor pulmon who went with thecorps.

I And I I I might just agree with that.

Because and you might and that's okay.
I just wanna I mean,

you just get off the strap.
A softphone channel.
That's right.
That's right.

Hopefully.
Good

to hear it now.

I I saw some things in the hospital after
they'd gotten back.
So you have to think this istwo or three days after the
initial injury?
Right, of the initial whateverhappened.
And I'm still kinda messed upfor that.
And so I feel that If you callme doc I so I don't know.

(02:43:42):
I I don't feel like I earnedthat title.
So Because I was never with thering.
So for us.
And, again, they saw shit.
I didn't at least to thatdegree.
And I just, you know,

every every corpsman of me is a deck.

Bingo.

If you served in a marine unit, we call you
double deck.
Bingo.
So I think there's adistinction that probably Roy
and I will have.
But I don't when I when I wouldgo up to get my teeth cleaned,
there was garment that was stilldark.
Right?
My corporal that served with usat three seven or at fast or
whatever, he was he was doubleback.

(02:44:19):
Right.
And we called him double back.
Gotcha.
We called every other corner atthe back.
Right?

You can see

the thing.
They earned

the rank.
We had we had the devil docsthat patrolled with us Mhmm.
And that were out with us witheverything.
But we also had the medicalstation.
Like, I remember right there acombat outpost, you know, in
Iraq, we had we had the medicsout with us, you know, the docs
that would treat us until ahumbly come pick us up or or a

(02:44:50):
or a or a Bradley or whateverMhmm.
And get us back Right.
You know, to to the compound,to the phabia.
Guess what was there?
Mhmm.
Navy doctors.

Yep.
Yep.

You know, further assessing you, further triage,
getting you stable, priorprioritizing you, whatever
needed be.

Trees in here.

Like, they got you there.
Mhmm.
And then and then and thenthat's where you guys come in.
So you were very crucial, veryvaluable.
You know, the the the docs, thedemo docs, like, they were out
on patrol and they were in thefirefights and whatever.
And they they kept us alive,stable, Soviet until we could
get to you guys.

Mhmm.
Yeah.

And then you guys took over.
And but I mean, those guys

You guys you guys still rank on for us, for backs
.
And then we have the devil docsthat were actually out on
mission with us.
So I I think it actually servedwith us.
You didn't share with us?
Right?
But I mean

When I still had the utmost responsibility.
Yeah.
There's no there's there'sthere's no you're less superior

No.
No.
In what I and you still For me,you still rate it.
Absolutely.
Still rate the document.
Absolutely.

And I appreciate that.

And I'm never if you call me doc, I'm never
gonna correct you.
I'm just gonna leave it as Oh,

we can't park

a lot if you did.
You're fucking two parts.

But You

know what?
You know what?
Hey.
There's parking lot fundraiser.
Fighting in the parking lot.

But I was

rear.
He was actually rear.

So when

I set up the dojo,

when I was in when I was in that wreck,

Joe Gates (02:46:18):
behind there.
So we got high, so I can goround for a round for a round.
Okay.

We got hit we got hit real hard one day.
And Some of the guys I knew

were at

this was in Scania, Irak.
So we got hit real hard one day.
The QRR app went out.
They had their medic with them.
And they as soon as they'rerolling out the

gate, to our our annual quick reaction for a

quick reaction.

So just wanna make sure in case someone out
there isn't listening thatdoesn't know what I mean.
Yeah.
We we we throw a lot ofacronyms around, so we try to

Yeah.
Try to help you

Yeah.
So, basically, it's a standbyteam.
So if there's a situationhappens, there's a quick
reaction for us that goes out toreinforce.

And or the enemy, they knew our our protocols.
So they knew a quick reactionfor us is going out.
So what did they do?
They set up an ambush form.
Mhmm.
Some roadside bombs and andthey hit him as soon as they
were going heading out the gate,boom.
And one of the guys that I knewand he was a big guy.

(02:47:26):
He was a funny guy.
And took his took his leg off,and the the medic was a female.
And the guy kept asking her,like, Alright.
Is my dick still there, my boss?
Yeah.
He he frees down and grabbedhis shit and squeezed it to,

(02:47:46):
like, you feel that?
And he was like Yeah.
Yeah.
And you're like

So so what's going on?
Can I

I wanna throw something in here before I
forget it?
So I'm talking about the notfeeling like I belong in that,
you know, Harry.
It's kinda weird because again,I never I never went to the
eighty four zero four school,but when I was at Naval Health
Canada, Hawaii, they assigned meto County O'Hay or Air Station.

(02:48:14):
And so there were the unitsthere that had their own
embedded corpsman Mhmm.
But my clinic dealt withheadquarters, battalion, and a
few other units.
So it was kind of a weird, like, you know, mix of the two.
Yeah.
So it was just it was justreally

So going going on on trades or a deal, I was brought
up by a hanger date.
You know, in a firefight,Atlanta made a tray away.
I was pretty fucked up.
Department downstairs, putpressure dressings on, you know,
and whatever.
We got back to the soleJunction City was the Army

(02:48:55):
Charlie Med.
Like, the big the bigger basein the area.
So, like, there's hurricanepoint where you're afraid he's
in the and the Tigris

meet.
Yeah.
To meet.
Yep.

And then, like, we were down here, and on the other
side of that was Junction City.
So the ring we had hurricanepoint, we had state paid, and
then we had combat outflows.
And that was two four, themarines.
Mhmm.
And then just crossed wasJunction City, and that was the
army.
So when I severely wounded,they took them to the army

(02:49:28):
Charlie because they were morewell equipped than, you know,
our level two four Navy docs.
And I remember, like, they tookme there because I was I was
fucked up.
Mind you, I had I was blind,you know, because because the
strap went through my left eye,but they put a pressure dressing
across my whole fucking

face.

I couldn't see.
I I had no idea.
I couldn't see it in a where itwas, but I was still alert, and
I remember they pulled me outof an Acema Hammer And they it
must've been in the operatingroom at Junction City, you know,
Charlie Med.
And I just remember thisfemale's voice and come to find

(02:50:09):
out, like, later on, ourbattalion sergeant Major, like,
he posted this post of, like,who this, you know, backlosing.
But I remember it it juststicks out to me and she's like,
you know, hey, I'm so and soI'm gonna cut all your clothes
off, your your candies off.
And I remember I was just like,No.

(02:50:31):
No.
You can't see my dick.
Like, like, I don't know you'rein the field, you know, like,
I'm on nasty and shit like, Ican't fucking see.
Like, that was a shit runthrough my mind.
Like, don't cut my shit off.
You'll see my shit.

You know?
Like, it was

just it's fucked up, you know, here I am.
Completely fucked up and blownup and, you know, I needed they
put four fucking IDs in me forblood transfusion.
Like, I was dead near fuckingdead, but like here I am.
I already remember this chick.
Tell me they're gonna tell mykitties off and I'm just like,
oh, you can't see my shit.

Damn.
It's amazing, like, you know,when you're in that situation,
like, the shit that comes out ofyour mouth.
Shit you're thinking about.
Right.

You know what I mean ?
I mean, dude, we haven't.
We we had field showers, youknow, we didn't have running
water.
They motored our fucking base.
So it was hit and miss, youknow, whenever we got supplies.
I mean, do we?
We were at once about, like,logic show So you lost a fucking
it was wet wipes, man.

You lost you lost a man?
Yeah.
I just saw you had lazy accent.
No.
No response.
I feel No.
I knew that.
Dude, I'm just messing with you.
Don't drop it on the table.

Look at that.
My grandmother had one of those

Just messing with you, man.

He just took his eye out.
He knows it.

Here.
Here.
Let's let the fans, like,

It's like damn fucking arrogant.
Pirates of the Caribbean.
They do their own.
This is designed.

What I really This is a good one.
I really Let's see how you putit.
You know, it's

like a cock.

That's like a cat .

So think think of the right

thing, Roy.
I I mean, you took

a fucking grenade to the face.
It he might as well took afucking face.

That's a

fucking That's

a dumbass

man.
Handsome man in the room.
I'll I'll fight for that firstposition later.
Yeah.
Part of the fun.
Part of

the best.

This is good.

You're a top notch kid.

Yeah.
You are a top notch.
And and I hope you are a topnotch today.

I hope you're not

Joe Gates (02:52:32):
saying anything is going to take you out back and
Yeah.

I hope you're bottom.

I mean, young.

Your top notch, but Nice to be Bob.

I'll do that one.
Finish up, Timmy's beardtonight.
I'll do this one.
Okay.
Thank you, though.
So

so let me ask you guys something again because
I haven't been with marine unit, but I have heard a story.
So maybe you guys can give kindof a general idea on the other
side of it, on your side of it.
So I know of a foreman who waswith one of the units there at
county way.
And he had been on a coupledeployments with his guys.

(02:53:10):
I don't really know exactlywhat, but there was this new
marine who came to the unit andkind of had this, you know,
holiers and bow attitude andwalked in, called that back a
pig in front of the rest of therest of the unit.
What's the first thing thatcomes to your mind?

(02:53:33):
Because, I mean, I could tellyou the story that as as I heard
it.
So I mean, it's from your end.

So as an infantryman , I mean, there's a there's a
dinked, you know, reaction inthe rainwater.
You know, Pogo's person otherthan grounds.

Right.

So

I thought it was always thought it was a piece of
garbage.
No.
Okay.

So in a recall, like , a recall, we on the grout side
is You know, we're we're themarine corps.
You know, we do the dirty work,we go, and we fight, whatever.
But so, like, the derogatoryterm that come up with Pogue is
a person's other than a grunt.
So, like, if you're anythingother than a grunt, like, your

(02:54:19):
second best you know, in theMarine Corps, like,

blah,

blah, blah, just that inner, you know, military
banjo.
So Mhmm.
Or Ruth?
I don't know that.

Rear Echelon motherfucker.
Sure.
Yeah.

Here's the rear of the gear.
So, you know, there there'sjust this and and per all, you
know, ranks in in in military.
I mean, you're gonna find thatthat inner banter and mind you,
in the end, I mean, We wouldn'tbe able to do what we do without
the support of Mhmm.
The folks

Right.

You know, I mean, the the air support and the
intelligence and so on.
But it's just Right.
You know, that that that banteramongst each other, you know,
that we can riff each other,pick on each other

So I'm still going on the pole.

Yeah.
The Did you know how did heever Does he get the did

he get the definition?

No.
I already knew what

the definition was.

I just wanted to hear from a marine's
perspective as to what mighthave happened, because I'll tell
you the story that I heardafter it had happened.
Was, obviously, this this docwas decorative.
He had been out on a couple ofdeployments with his unit, so he
ain't some new fucking, youknow, And so he's obviously
respected.
Right?
And that's just new fucking guy.

(02:55:33):
F and G.
Just fucking shows up and justcauses a grab hold out of
nowhere.
And and obviously, the rest ofthe well, the guys in the room
were, like,

do you think you are in there?
It's a term up in here.

You know, they beat they beat the shit up.
Well, I mean, not

because they no.
They probably berated them byfar.

They they put them through some PT.
Sure.

Because you open your mouth and something you
don't know about.
That's that's dangerous.

Listen, man.
Like, if you're a boot, youdon't get to come in fucking
running all these terms.

Right.

Like, you gotta earn your fucking plate.
Right.

But

so from what I understand, he came straight
from, like, SLI.

When we're when we're marines.
We lost

some room

a little bit different than other people.
Right?
So Absolutely.
I I I get the attitude.
I get the attention.
Misplaced as as it was.
Right.
And I'm sure he got he gottuned in the right direction.

Mhmm.
SOI leadership what?

Truly different.
So that was so let's

see your your AIT, whatever they

call you.
Yeah.
How how long does that?

You know, everybody's in Army, everybody's

in everything is different.

All different.

It's what?

AFT just advanced individual trainings.
Whatever.
Whatever.
You see the job.

So Like, jeez.
I thought I feel like

If country was No.

For us, we're on the cross family.
That's what we talked to thisguy.
Two of your weapons, one handed, but I was a guy.
Yeah.

For me, Arduar say, a massive training.
Okay.
But for but

Joe Gates (02:56:54):
but, like,

monthly, it's

Joe Gates (02:56:56):
in the Victor training.
I was, like, twenty

That's what I did.

I never fucking knew that.
How how long is specifically,

Joe Gates (02:57:01):
it was, like, twenty two, twenty four weeks.
I'm,

like Yeah.

Specific training is a computer.
Yeah.

Right?
Yeah.

But there is no idea .
Basic training.

So one one

basic training was the same for everybody Those are
in combat skills.

So as you go on for your AIT for your comp, what is
your AIT for Inventory.
Inventory.
How

many weeks?
For arbitrary shit.
Thanks.
Isn't it?
No.
Hell no.

A so it's still called AIC, please.
It's not like it's not likedifferent tree schoolers.
He says six feet across theboard.

Yeah.
Six feet, whatever you're in

the west.

Yep.
Basic with AIC together.
Oh, shit.

Joe Gates (02:57:36):
In the industry.
But yeah.
No.

When I went through Yeah.
I went through basic.
That was eight basic was justunder sixteen weeks, like,
fourteen weeks, actually.
And then when I went to AIT, itwas with basically for infantry
.
It was going through basic allover again except with some
advanced, you know, training,and that was sixteen weeks.
Listen, basic is eight weeks.

(02:58:00):
Was eight weeks when you wentin.
That's basic.
Eight weeks, two months.
And then you had another

many weeks learning inventory stuff.

Yeah.
Another well, I hosted yeah.
For hosted.
Yeah.
But I was I was splitting.
So that's why I think I my shitwas so much was was much longer
.

So for us, and the Marines, and I'll let So my
role is after me.
That's right.
He does that.

I'm just so it's twelve weeks total

with basic and

advanced and hold on .
Ten weeks of basic and thentwelve weeks of AIT.
So it's all together.
They do it all together.
Hosted.
Once I stopped unit trainingYeah.
But I was I was split up.
I had my basic Yeah.
Was was separate from my AIT.
Yeah.
So they've increased basictraining from eight weeks to ten

(02:58:57):
months now.

So we do in the range.
It's thirteen weeks for yourbasic.
And then school of inventory, Ithink, for the old three
eleven's, which is the basicinventory, and it's six.
Maybe eight?
Because I was I was all throughfifty one, so I was a anti tank
assignment.
So we shot the shoulder firingmissiles.
Not like the eighty fours whenwe're in the smaws, the dragons,

(02:59:21):
the javelins.
How how how long does s y?
It's a six or eight weeks.
Oh, gosh.

It was, like, eight weeks or so.

Okay.
So it might be eight weeks.
So you did you did thirteen youdid thirteen weeks of boot camp
?
Mhmm.
Then you did and I would Googleit, but my phones over the life
.
And then you went to SMI in inthe basic course, which I don't
I'd say basic course, but theregular o three eleven's.
That was eight weeks.
And then if you got a secondaryMOS, like I was an intake

(02:59:48):
assault manager, your machinegot a borderman, You stayed an
extra four weeks after that tolearn that specialty weapon.
So you did thirteen weeks bootcamp, eight weeks o three eleven
.
And then if you got a secondaryin the west, you stayed again
at that same school for an extrafour weeks.

Seoul.
You guys have

They've changed it.
It it was nine weeks.
Now they changed it to fourteenweeks.
For what?
For the infantry and marinecourse

So that's why that's why I went to fourteen
weeks.
Yeah?
Okay.
Were guessing, so you dothirteen to boot camp.
You do fourteen for o threeelevens, regular infantrymen.
And then if you did it, you gota specialty, which they got rid
the fifty ones, they don't havethose anymore.
So it'd be thirty ones machinegunners, forty ones mortarmen.
You would probably still stayanother four weeks?

(03:00:41):
On top of that.
Yeah.
On on top of that fourteen.
Yeah.

To learn

on your So that So yeah.
So then after I got done with afifty one school which was the
Javelin slash dragon everphasing them out Yep.
Or the small guns.
That I went to my fast.
Or it was my supreme courtsecurity force at school, and

(03:01:06):
then So yeah.
We ended up I ended up infucking school for essentially,
like

So when we went through a little

camping Right.

When we drew his like, an eight nine week course.
Yeah.
Now it's fourteen weeks.
So so essentially, you were,you know, eight weeks, and then
you had another, you know, fourmonths on top of the or, you
know, four weeks top of that foryour your fifty one training.

So so my training was pretty
straightforward.
Comparison to you guys becauseI sold them on.
Who was eight weeks and thenimmediately followed by about
fourteen to maybe sixteen weeks,of course, school, depending on
a few things.
So by the time I for me,specifically, I started boot

(03:01:48):
camp first week of January.
And then I didn't get to myfirst actual duty station, which
was the hospital in Virginia.
I didn't get there untilhalfway through June.
So but based on what you guysare saying, you guys are doing
fucking you know.

Yeah.
Basically This is this is whereall the branches so different.
Right?
And even though these guys areinventory stuff Yep.
Just the way the Army does itcompared to the Marine Corps
does it, it's it's so different.
Mhmm.
You know, and it's always hardfor at least me to try to keep
up with these guys or AITs.
But he calls his AIT too wherewe call ours smoke of entry.
So if you're if you're what wecall a pole, get a drink,

(03:02:27):
alright, don't care for yoursupply of truck pressure.

How do you think

and I'm in guy yeah.
Anybody other than inventory,They do what it's called MCT, at
least back in my name.
MCT.
Yeah.
And that was, like, a two weekor three week course because
everybody every marine is abasic rifleman.
Mhmm.
So don't care if you sit behinda desk.
You're gonna go through aextremely shortened version of
infantry school.

(03:02:50):
Because every marine is arifleman.

Because through boot camp, you learn you qualified
on the range yet, you know, twohundred, three hundred, five
hundred, you know, whatever.

Yeah.
Yeah.
So they they do a very shortcondensed.
And then from there, they takeoff and go to their primary
school Mhmm.
Be it, admin stuff, cook stuff,supply stuff, whatever.

So, you know, as as to to dig deeper into Charlie,
you know, as he was an o threefifty one.
So he was an o three was hisinfantry.
You know, like I was an o threeeleven, which is your basic
rifleman like you get in seventwenty two.
He went further on.
He learned a specialty you know, as a fifty one, there's forty
one with Sheen Gunner, you know,and there's different

(03:03:31):
specialties.
But, you know, to go on to his,you know what?
Obviously, in all the military,you got, you know, acronyms.
So Charlie was a fleet antiterrorism, like task force, fast
.
They they would come in on, youknow, like, helicopters just
like the stuff in Haiti.

(03:03:52):
They needed to hurry up and getthose people in the embassy out
.
Mhmm.
So they would call on a fastcompany.
You know, which they didextensive training on Hilo
operations and extractions.
They come in, they would dropdown, they would get those
people, get them in the birds,and get them out.
So there's once you get into,you know, the MOSs, like,

(03:04:14):
there's, you know, different

There's a there's a there's a crazy different
different gamut.
I'm sure the interview'sprobably got the same.
Right.
You know, so, you know, if

you're gonna be bunch of different occupational
specialties.

Yeah.
I mean, we were there foranything from riot control to if
we did a humanitarian drop.
Yeah.
And that plane comes in, we'regonna have to have security out
because they don't want a wholebunch of star for people rushing
the plane and just stealingeverything off it, you know?
Or there was an emptyextraction

I mean, I I was reporter.
I was a legal company, so I dideverything from fast roping to
spy insertion extractions

and stuff that we did.

All the same stuff you did as a fast company.

But ours was we just had to be there, like, on
the spot, you know.
So I had pager back in the day.
We'd be Jen and I'd be in theapartment sleeping.
Pager go off.
Yep.
Go back.
I had two sets of gear.
I had a a seabag packed withall set of kvies and all my
stuff.
I had a flight bag with all mygear in it.
And then another set ofeverything the same.

(03:05:13):
I wore every day.
I had to have one set ofeverything packed, ready to go.
The only thing we had to do isthe armers had to come in and
open up the armory for us todraw m p fives or shotguns or
breadas or m sixteen or m fours.
In our shotguns.
We'd grab all of our shit outof the airway, go right across
the freaking road to the NavalAir Station Northland, and then

(03:05:38):
on the plane.
You know, we had and we gottimed on, and we did a lot of
drills where they would justtime on, because the navy navy
would have to send a crew over.
And we had guys that were justbringing shit down, but we're
all running with the armory.
So there's always an extrastand by platoon that could get
into our rooms.
Grab our sets of gear.
Mhmm.
About we had, like, our ownsquad room that all of our shit

(03:06:02):
was in the closet.
That stuff that was the goldthe gold bags.
Right?
And we would just grab our shiton the plane.
It didn't matter if we were incivilian clothes.
Know, get a drier shit.
And your

job was to get your ass there.

That's because you didn't get the fuck out of
the plane and that that planestarted taxiing.
So there was a navy pilots andall the crew Then we had our the
guys palletizing stuff, and wehad motor tea guys putting on
these on that that plane, youknow.
And then once the taxi, thenour drill was over.
Until that plane actually tookoff one day.
We're gonna wait in Africa.
We had no idea, you know.
It was your first time.

(03:06:37):
Yeah.
So that was my very first drillman.
I literally I literally got tomy unit, like, on the third or
something of August.
It was embassy bound until,like, how the seventh or eighth
of and maybe GOOST, I wasGoogled it, but or, you know,
I'm I'm up maybe I have a coupledays, but Anyways, the the the
average seat mottings went offlike on the it'd have been like

(03:06:59):
August fifth, maybe of ninetyeight.
So we would have gone rightthat day and or that night
because I have some timedifferences, you know.

So August seventh nineteen ninety eight?

August seventh.
Yeah.
So I think I got to my unitvery beginning of August.
And within, like, two or threedays, I mean, I literally just
got issued all my weapons, myweapons cards, and we were gone.
Yeah.
Within just a couple days.
I'm sitting on the plane of theguys like, oh, it's just a
drill.
No big deal.

More than two hundred and twenty people were
killed in nearly simultaneousattacks truck bomb attacks

Yep.

In two capital east African cities.

Yep.
Nairobi, Kenya, and thenthere's a lot of times the name
was the other one.
So that fast counteen.
Tien

tien tien

tsin tsin tsin tsin tsin tsin tsin tsin

tsin.
So when we first got to fleetin o four or o one, Yeah.
In o one, we were immediatelytasked with QRF, quick react
force.
And, like, just like you said,we had our our bag.

(03:08:13):
Our pet was ready to go.
Mhmm.
Because at that time with us inCalifornia, like, the near
because because after nineeleven, It was, you know, target
points in the United States.
Like, what were the hotspots?
What were the destinations tobe targeted.
And for us, it was the GoldenGate Bridge.

(03:08:35):
So we were on a QRF, you know,because everything was still
high alert.
We did so many drills.
Like, you know, they like,you'd you'd get, like, a page,
you know, two o'clock in themorning.
We'd be up.
Grab our pack.
Be staged on the parade deck,you know, within, like, fifteen
minutes.
In order to you know, get atruck, get a bird, whatever you

(03:08:57):
needed, you know, to head towhatever destination.
For us, it was Golden GateBridge because that was a
targeted a high profile target.
Right.
You know?
But it was yeah.
Like, we we were that's all wedid.
You know, for months wastrained for, you know, the the
QRF.

Well, that was that was crazy because this is
my first one.
Right?
So we're sitting on the on thefucking plane.
You know, all of our ships getloaded out by the name of these,
they they sent over theirtrucks and all their people.
And we just had guys in theback throwing shit down, you
know, load them up overall inthe air because there was always
a team.
There's always a team that'sbasically on duty Yep.

(03:09:38):
You know, so you could only goso far from base.
You know, you can't go down toVirginia Beach.
You know, you had to staywithin a twenty minute, fifteen
minute radius of camp Allen iswhere we're at.
But anyways, yeah, that pagerwent off.
We roll in.
So I don't you know, it'sprobably just a drill, you know.

(03:09:59):
That's what the guys aretelling me.
That fucking plane starts taxiand taxi and and that's kinda
like where the drill would end.

Mhmm.

And and and then the guys that have been doing
forever.
Right?
They've been on the they'vebeen on the team for two years.
All of a sudden, you know.
Yep.
We'll be started turning around.
Okay?
Yeah.
We're turning around, you know,and of course, the legendary
plants, again, we'll fuckingwindows Mhmm.
Right?
So you're just feeling what theplane's doing, you know?
Okay.
Yep.
Yep.

Now I'm just saying you feel everything.

And all of a sudden, it was, like, and I look
I look around and he's fuckingguy's eyeballs.
What about fucking, like, Royce, take around out of the fucking
head.
These guys are going, what thefuck?
Also, the plane takes off.
And I see people just like,what the fuck?
And, of course, we go as of atune.

(03:10:44):
So you got twenty four marines,plus you got your your staff
sergeant, and you got twoofficers.
Mhmm.
Typically, first lieutenant,captain in our corner.
Right?
Couple of these.
Couple of piles full of shit.
Our bags and then food andstuff like that, water, blah
blah blah.
We take off about half hour ofthe flight.

(03:11:07):
Everybody's kinda kindastarting to calm down.
You know, because we realizedwe're going somewhere.
Captain calls us back to bigold pallet of MREs and
constantine wired.
Sure.
You know, it's all loaded up.
And then he goes, k boys, thiswhere we're going.
This was this was happening.
Rod mission.

(03:11:28):
Right?
Like, this is what we're doing.
So, you know, and then and hewe laid out.
We had plenty of time.
I mean, he had to freakingeighteen hour flight over there,
you know.
So, I mean, we had plenty oftime to we knew what we're doing
.
Staff sergeant's like, hey.
Everybody hit the rack as muchas he can.
We're gonna wake him about twohours before.
We hit him around, and we we'renever gonna have another brief.

(03:11:50):
So as soon as we hit the ground, everybody's right back on the
page.
You know what I'm saying?
Mhmm.
And that was pretty prettycrazy, man.

Joe Gates (03:11:58):
Hold a day.

Sorry, Jim.
Haven't been paying attentionto the comments?

I I let him know, like, we are.
Yeah.

Yeah.
My phones on do not disturbbecause it's past my bedtime
ladies and gentlemen.

So I remember I remember we pulled out

at all you can.

We pulled out of California.
We flew to Bangor, Maine.
We spent, like, a few hours inMaine Bendor.
To transfer.
Then we flew from Main Main toRhine Mine, Germany

in there.

You know, we spent an extra amount of time in
Germany, and then we flew from,you know, Rhine Mine into Klee.
And I remember when we firstlanded in Kuwait, and he's up on
that plane and

just, like, the heated city and the heat.

Oh.
Oh.

It was just, like, the first

of the world.

It just, like, just tucked away right out of your
sails.
You're like, oh,

like, holy.

That's why they sent you to coin.

So you could get used

to it.

No way.

Aggle me before you get in.
Right.

You know what I mean ?

Because I'm gonna get inside of your over.

So love you though.
Love you too, man.
Saturday.
You're right.

Joe Gates (03:12:59):
And then,

ma'am, back to my daughter.
Yeah.

There was no.
Yeah.

And then and then we went from

Queen to Honey, you

know?
Yeah.
These actual chocolate isleaving the building.

We're losing

Wait.
Wait.
That's a camera.
What's that?
We live with the camera.
Think of mine, peace, love, air, Greece.

Why did you you didn't fly right into robotics?

No.
We drove up to Ramati.

You flew in the bag then

and then We didn't even find the bag then.
We we because they couldn't geta slice or So we convoyed from
Kuwait, Ollie in the remodeling.

Whoa.
That was a long trip.

That was a long trip .
Yeah.
Yeah.
For for whatever reason, theycouldn't get us flights.
Oh.
So, like And and they needed usthere, like, hey, Zach, because
we replaced the eighty second.
So they're like, hey, sucks.
We can't give flights.
You're you're fucking driving.

So they

piled us into you know, I think I think the worst
decision was from five times toseven times.
That was the fucking worst.
Five times were big enough tojump off anyway.
But then when you had to jumpout of a I don't think you.
Did you even have to jump outof a seven time ago?
Dude, Five times are far enoughoff the ground, but those seven
times are, like, another, youknow, four or five feet high Oh,

(03:14:17):
jeez.
And you know, jumping out ofhim as an o three.
Like, you got a pack in msixteen.

Yeah.
You got a hundred pounds When

they stop, you got a discount, you got a jump out
the fucking bag.
So, I mean, you're, you know,seven, eight, nine feet off the
fucking ground.
All of a sudden, you're layingon the ground with sixty pounds
a year.

Yeah.

Mhmm.
That's fucking horrible.

Damn.
Yeah.

I wanted to share a couple of things that
Jimmy was posting.
I know he's still listening.
So sorry, Jim.
I I didn't see these, but He'stalking about Donald Duck
Ballard.
I already know about him.
He's a corporation thatreceived the medal of honor back
in Vietnam.
Except So let's see.

K?

You're just a foreman until the marine bestows
the title of dock.
After that, it's official.
You're wearing?
We've

already told you that.
Yeah.

Yep.
So let's see.
He gave his story of when amarine a wounded marine at the
hospital but still the title onhim.
We were talking about theoguestory, and he was telling me he
says here that had him ring callhim a squid because he didn't
know.
He was a courtman.
So sorry, doc can give him ahug.

And here's the thing .
A legitimate doc, somebodytries to come to fucking square
like a doc, They have everyfucking right to square them
away.

Yeah.
Mhmm.
Like, there

there No

one advantage butts bought it like a dot.
They didn't straighten mymother her out.

They're they're they're fucking ringing.
Absolutely.
Those devil docs.

Devil docs are legitimately fucking ringing.

And it's hard calling.
It's crazy how we protect themas much as possible.
Ourselves.
Mhmm.

I would I would fucking protect our dogs through
thick and thin.
They're they're fucking marines, man.

Yeah.

They did everything we did without a weapon.
And they humbled us, theyhugged us, they slept in a few
with us, they did all thefucking training with us, they
went to combat with us without aweapon, like hardcore.

And I don't think it's funny, like, like, in

Joe Gates (03:16:18):
the guy from a with a hacksaw.

The hacksaw rig.

Yeah.
Yeah.

Or that or what does that

He was an he was an army medic, but, yeah, he

Joe Gates (03:16:26):
probably, like, seventy five, seventy six people
.
Yeah.

Yeah.
That's the thing.

I mean

Same thing.

Fucking document .
So he

What?
This isn't doing?

Did I Sure.
Still got the life?

Where they lose it.
No.
It's it's dead right now.
Yeah.

It's back.
Alright.
Sorry.
Alright.
Well, let's wrap it up.
I guess I can't live real quick.

Yeah.
It's dead.

Hold on.
Hold on, bud.
Alright.
Should be back on now.
You guys got that six seconddelay.
I had to just jump off everyquick.
My phone's been on this thewhole time.
So Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we're gonna get we're gonnaget ready to wrap up.
We'll get ready to wrap uptonight.

You're looking at the roof.

Joe Gates (03:17:16):
Oh, roofs on fire.

There we go.

Down roof.
Down roof.

Alright.
Well, we appreciate everybodylistening.
It looks like they got we gotsix people in.
We don't even know who they allare, but my wife

is one

of them.

Alright.
Awesome, man.

I was just checking on you.

You can make You make

sure you're here.

You see

who's sexier than me ?
Nobody knows you.
Well, my and he lives rightdown the road.

Hey.
Nobody's sexier than this guy.

I'm sitting there down to your house.

Joe Gates (03:17:45):
The thing went to my apartment.
Oh.

Yep.
Hopefully, your wife ain'tlistening.
She's in Florida though.
Yeah.
She's in Florida.

She doesn't count.
We're only married when I'm inFlorida.

Well, I'm not aware of that.
Wait a minute.

Okay.
I was just kidding.

You're kidding.

Just can't.

Joe Gates (03:18:06):
Can't right to look at that out.

Yeah.

Alright.
So we're gonna be we're gonnawrap it up tonight.
We're already Yep.
Three hours and twenty minutesin.
So you know, we we appreciateeverybody.

We had a great turnout tonight.

Yeah.
Yeah.

And I I I I love this group.
I gotta tell you.

Yeah.
I love everything.

We appreciate you listening tonight.
Thanks of Gladys, California.
Yeah.

And Jimmy, we appreciate you, Tabitha.
We appreciate everyone of ourlisteners.
Like, we appreciate you guys.
One hundred percent.

And hopefully, we'll be back in the next couple
weeks.
We'll make sure that we try topost a little bit ahead of time.
Yep.
And we'll try to coordinate itwhen Jimmy's in town.
We'd love to have him up hereand need him to sign this banner
.
Yeah.
That'd be great.
So it's always cool.
Always gonna have new newpeople up here talking about
different things.
So, you know, we kind ofapologize for the cyber
beginning of this, but we'regonna miss the big sexy up here.

(03:19:05):
And it's big sexy.
Probably not not gonna changefor Yeah.
The time, man.

But

No, ma'am.
That's a that's a huge void,you know, that we're getting
around.

It's it's good therapy for us to remember and
talk and do the things that'swhat we have to do.
So

Joe Gates (03:19:20):
Especially with one another.

Yeah.
Well, that's that's huge.
And that's why just like Tracysaid earlier, man, I'm proud of
this group.
Ryers group that we got to bedeputy was about fucking right.
Appreciate, you know, Roy wason the ride with us.
Not not a member of the Raptorsgroup, but it was able to able
to come in and and ride in that,participate.
See, Chris is on, Chris Deere.

(03:19:42):
How are you?
So we definitely need to getyou up here to the lounge one of
these nights when we do thispodcast or whatever.

Oh, there's Krista?

Yeah.
Yeah.
She just popped in.

So Hey, Krista.

How are you?

We were talking about you earlier, Ebertsons.

Uber.
Yeah.
And then she's talking toJustin Bieber.
It'd be nice to have you uphere.
We've had tabs up.
We've had trays' wife up.
Maybe I'll try to get old lady,Jen, up here one of these
nights.
Hey.

Her sister, Courtney

Yeah.

So You're up here ?
Yeah.
She was she's Yeah.
No.
We love everybody listening.
Yeah.
We we appreciate the comments.

Any bet.
Yeah.

Yep.
Well, you gotta remembercomments interactions of any
type help to push this out toother people.
So that's just the way socialmedia works.
So the more you comment, themore you share, all that good
shit, you know, the more it'llget out.
So

Good shit.

But

Joe Gates (03:20:35):
It'll tell me somebody.

Yeah.
Maybe it'll help somebody.
So but alright.
Shall we say good night

and been everybody to do?
We will.
Appreciate it, guys.
Appreciate you all.
Yep.
Until next time.

Until next time, guys.
Love you guys.

Until next time.

Speaker 1 (03:20:56):
Thank you for joining us at Soup Sandwich, a podcast
that explores the complex andcompelling world of veterans in
the United States.
Through interviews withveterans themselves, military
experts and advocates, will divedeep into issues that matter
most to this community, frommental health and employment to
the history of the US military.
This a future of militaryservice and everything in

(03:21:17):
between.
Whether you're a veteranyourself, a spouse or family
member of a veteran, or simplyinterested in learning more
about this community.
This podcast is for you.
So come with us on a journeyinto the heart of the veteran
experience and discover thestories, struggles and triumphs
that have shaped our nation'sbrave after they've returned
home.

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