Special Operations Warrior Foundation - Clayton Hutmacher

Major General (US Army Retired) Clayton Hutmacher served in the Army for forty years - much of it in the Special Operations Community.

He now leads the Special Operations Warrior Foundation which provides support for Spec. Ops families who have a loved one killed or severely injured.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
We all owe them, but very few of us know them.
They are the men and women of our military and
first responder communities, and these are their stories. American Warrior
Radio is on the air.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, you're tuned to American Warrior Radio.
This is your host, Ben buler Garcia American Warrior Radio
broadcast from the Silencer Central Studios. If you're thinking of
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(00:45):
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War is a dangerous business. I've been also told that
our our military trains how they fight, so training for
war is a dangerous business. This is particularly true for

(01:06):
those at the tip of the spear, those in the
special forces community. Now I live in the Arizona Desert
Lakes are a rare commodity around here in a very
special place for our families to relax and cool off.
I bet most families, however, visiting one of my local
lakes don't know what I unfortunately know that the lake
that they're enjoying was the place an Air Force pair
of rescuemen took his last breath, killed during our training mission.

(01:29):
The Special Operations community is a small and tight knit group.
They take care of their own. But I propose to
you today and you'll learn more why I think that
they shouldn't have to bear that burden alone. One of
my first military related memories was as a seventeen year
old when Operation Eagle Claw, the failed mission to rescue
American hostages that were being held in Tehran. Eight service
members lost their lives on that mission. However, out of

(01:50):
that tragedy, an organization was born with a commitment to
support the families of falling Special Forces personnel, joining us
today to share that story. As a warrior who spent
forty years serving nation, much of it in a Special
Forces community, he now continues his service to our nation
as the president and CEO of a nonprofit organization with
a specific mission to provide support for the families of
falling Special Forces personnel. Major General retired Clay Hutmacher, Welcome

(02:14):
to American Worried Radio.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
And thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Now. For the uninitiated, Sir, Major general is.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Two stars, Yes, sir, two stars.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Okay, Well I'll tell you, sir, when we first met
our hero, he was a seventeen year old who no
other children should safely play with, living in a foster home,
trying to figure out what his next step in life was.
And apparently that next step was the Marines.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yes, it was. They did not disappoint. They gave me
the asimuth correction that I needed in my life to
get focused. A self discipline and mission focus were part
of their deliver or part of their offering to me,
and it was very successful.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
What was there something particular about the Marines that tried
to do?

Speaker 3 (03:02):
I was the fosterum I was living in, the father
of Charlie Williams, who since passed away. He was a
Marine Corps veteran in the Korean conflict, and he would
tell me stories about the Marine Corps and boot camp
and how they, you know, treated him and you know,

(03:23):
after listening to him, and I had great respect for him.
I decided to join the Marines. You know, I was
aimless basically, and knew I needed sort of a jumpstart
cattle prod or maybe is another way to think about
her to get me and pointed in the right direction.
And the Marines, like I said earlier, did not disappoint.

(03:43):
From the time I got off the bus and San
Diego onto the Yellow Footprints until I left six and
a half years later. It was a journey of growth
and you know, personal awareness and character development that I
wouldn't trade for anything.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
I saw an interview you did, sir, where you talked about,
you know, life lessons, and one of your first life lessons,
first major challenge in life was was boot Camp. But
it taught you tenacity and commitment which served you well, Yes.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
For sure, you know. I mean I I remember laying
in my bunk in the morning before the lights would
come on. I could hear the drill instructors moving around
in the squad bay, and I used to think to myself, well,
what can I look forward to today? Well, that would
be nothing. There's nothing good going to happen today. We're

(04:35):
going to get yelled at and abused. But what came
out of that was, you know, the I think, the
tenacity and the commitment to overcome. While I, you know
I it certainly at times doubted my decision to join
the you know, Marines when I was in boot camp

(04:56):
due to the stress and the shock of the whole thing,
it also taught me that there was no way I
was going to quit. And that's where that statement came from.
And you know, it would have been a completely differ
You wouldn't be talking to me right now. I'm sure
I would have been a completely different place in life.
And I really credit the Marine Corps for getting me

(05:17):
on the right track.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
You know, Sorr. I tried not to live my life
or it might live my life without regrets, but I
do regret not joining the military at some point in
my life. I certainly could have used a discipline to
put it that way. So you six and a half years,
I believe in the Marine Corps and then you transition
to the Army. Explain to us how that came to pass. Well.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
I was stationed at Marine Barracks which has now closed,
Widb Island, Washington, Naval Air Station Widby Island, Washington, and
to make some extra money on the side. We had
our own enlisted club called the Globe and Anchor Club.
I was a bouncer in the club and I was
walking into the bar area and there was a marine

(06:03):
sitting at a table, and on the table I saw
a brochure with a Cobra helicopter hovering over the trees
with the morning mist coming up through the trees. And
I just asked him, I said, what's the deal with that?
And that gentleman was in the middle at the very
end of the process of applying for flight school, and

(06:25):
he said, well, it's this Army warren Officer flight training program.
And I'd never heard of it. I didn't even really
fully understand what a warrant officer was. I mean, I
knew they were different than a commissioned officer, but not
much beyond that. And so I asked him if I
could look at that, and he let me take the brochure,
and that started me down that path. And you know,

(06:47):
in May of eighty four, I or in June May
of eighty four, I reported to Fort Rutger, Alabama, freshly
out of the Marines, and in June of eighty five
I graduated as a WO one Blackhawk pilot and signed
of one hundred and first Airborne Division.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
At which point in that process, Clay, did you decide
to make the Army your career or you just son
of looked back and said, whoa forty years I'm a
major general. Maybe what happened?

Speaker 3 (07:15):
Well, you know, I was when I mentioned earlier that
I didn't fully understand the warrant officer role in the military.
What they are is technical, very technically focused. In the Army,
the majority of the warrant officers are aviators, but there's others,
you know, in the intelligence community and the supply intelligence branch,

(07:36):
supply branch, and others. But as a warren officer, really
your whole function as an aviator warrant officer was to fly,
and I love to fly, but I also, as a
former non commissioned officer and the Marines enjoyed the leadership aspects,
and you weren't going to be afforded those opportunities as

(07:59):
a warrant officer. I applied to Officer Candidate School and
graduated from there in October of nineteen eighty seven. October sixteenth,
and nineteen eighty seven, commissioned as a second Lieutenant Army
Aviator and went because I was previously rated, I went
right into the special ops community and stayed there for

(08:19):
really the vast majority of the rest of my career.
But you know, and at that point, I was ten
years in, so I was committed, you.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Know, going right into the special ops community. I don't
know if that's really the full story, Clay. When we
come back, I'd like to talk a little bit about
your transition. Ladies and gentlemen. The one hundred and sixty
Special Aviation Operations Regiment, the Night Stalkers, is one of
the most storied units currently serving in our military. And
it's an interesting coincidence I found, Clay that, you know,

(08:51):
your nonprofit organization and the Night Stalkers all came to
be out of the tragedy from Operation Eagle Claw. You ever,
is that parallel struck you?

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah? Actually, I mean yes, you know, and frankly, you
know many of the kids that we support today. You know,
you mentioned it earlier this there were seventeen kids that
came from those eight that were killed at Desert One,
and even today there's lots of Night stock or kids
that are in our program Sadly, but yes, we were

(09:26):
both created, you know, rising from the as the phoenix
out of the ashes from that really national embarrassment. And
it wasn't just us, there were other commands that Joint
Special Operations Commands, so calm, we're all created as a
result of that failure at Desert One.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well, Clay, if you don't mind, we come back, we'll
talk a little more about that. Ladies and gentlemen, there's
your host, Ben Bielergarci. We're talking with Major General retired
Clay Hutmaker. Check out www. Spec pops dot org, spe
c o p s dot org. We'll be right back.

(10:11):
Welcome back to American Warrior Radio. Labes and gentlemen, there's
your host, Ben buler Garcia. We're talking with Major General
Clay Hutmaker. Most of his career spent in the Special Forces.
He's also the president and CEO of the Special Forces.
I forget this right, Special Forces.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
Special Operations, Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Sir, wh I wasn't even close. Okay, Well, Clay, you
talked about early in the first segment about how you
went right into special into the one sixtieth, but they
they didn't really want you at first, right, I think
you're kind of blowing you off.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
Yeah. I when I was a warrant officer over in
the hundred and first, I was flying METAVAC you know,
medical evacuation helicopters. In the hundred and first, I had
a back and I had initially put in my application
to go to the special ops community as a warrant officer.
I wouldn't say they laughed at me, but everything short
of laughing at me as a young pilot, you know,

(11:09):
they just said I didn't have enough experience to go
out and fly for a few years and come back.
I really took that to heart. You know, get experience,
get checked out as a pilot in command, and advance,
you know, through qualifications in your aviation career, which I did.
I became a unit trainer, which is between a pilot

(11:29):
and command and an instructor pilot in the Army. The
instructor pilot you have to go to a formal school.
I ended up being an instructor pilot, but in flying
with the Air Force years later as an exchange pilot,
and so I you know, I was doing everything I
could to get qualifications that I thought would put me
in a good position to be accepted into the one

(11:50):
sixtieth and when I graduated Officer Canada School, I was
on my way to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I had
orders to fly with the eighty second Airborne Division and
I had called the recruiter at the Special Aviation Regiment,
the one sixtieth it was actually the Special Ops Aviation
Group at that time. It was a regiment a few

(12:12):
years later and said, hey, I just graduated Officer Canada School.
I did really well. I placed at the top of
my class. Would you guys give me a shot? And
they came back and said yes, but they said, you know,
expectation management, we don't think you're going to make it.
And I also they also let me know that it

(12:34):
really irritated my assignment's officer that they were trying to
pull me out of going to the eighty second. I
went through the process and to everyone's surprise, including my own,
they accepted me because I had about eight hundred and
fifty flight hours when I went there, so I wasn't
a like a second lieutenant coming out of flight school

(12:55):
and I ended up staying there flying different aircraft. I was.
We were in Operation Prime Chants and the Persian Gulf
at the time of the Arabian golf flying off of
oil rigs or platforms that make oil rigs, going after
you know, hunting for Iranians laying mines, and from there

(13:17):
I went to got involved in Operation just Cause and Panama,
you know, the hunt for Noriega and then desert storm,
all right, and almost keel to toe. So you know,
my timing was impeccable.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
I think it's safe to say that the Nightstalkers, I mean,
these are some of the Army's best qualified aviators, There's
no question about that. And I don't know if this
is the model or not, but you know, plus or
minus thirty seconds. You know, that's a commitment that would
even make Amazon jealous.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yes, well that is our that is our mottol. You know,
night Stalkers don't quit, as our motto, which we've proved
multiple times throughout our history and all. So plus or
minus thirty seconds anywhere. So you know, when you tell
us this is where we need you to be. You know,
all of our planning we call it the reverse planning sequence.
We start, you know, the end state is that being

(14:12):
at that point in space at that time with our
aircraft and we backplan everything from there, and we train
to that standard routinely from the very first time you
strap on an aircraft at the one sixties is a
brand new trainee until you leave. Plus or minus thirty
seconds is always the standard. But it's much more than that.

(14:33):
It's a unwavering, relentless commitment to that special Operations operator
that's on the ground that we will never ice tell
them that we will never leave you. We will always
be there for you, whether it's a metavac, whether it's
a hot LZ that we're going into. I mean, we

(14:54):
only exist to support that operator on the ground, and
that sort of customer first mentality still exists today.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Well, and it sounds like it also is transferred over
to excuse me, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. I mean,
you're not leaving any of these families behind.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
No, we you know, I had mentioned earlier. We started
with seventeen and today we have twelve hundred and nine kids,
the youngest of which was just born about two weeks ago,
and he'll be with our foundation until twenty forty eight.
I mean people, I think a lot of people assume
we're a college scholarship organization, and that is certainly a

(15:34):
big part of what we do, but not even close
to all we do. When we start, we fund preschool,
we fund unlimited tutoring, private school, tuition assistance, college prep
courses or post secondary education prep courses. We pay for
their application fees, their travel for them and a guardian
you know, to college admissions briefs, and they if they

(15:58):
have challenges along the way, you know, in the special
needs category, we have a special program that we tail
We have a program that we tailor to each individual
child to best meet hear shoes needs for whatever their
challenge are, whether that's dyslexia or autism or down syndrome
or anything in between.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
And so really I think that's on your website from
cradle to career.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yes, sir, that's our motto and we live to it,
and we proactively reach out to the families and once
we establish contact with them, they never fill out another application.
They're part of our family until they well, they're part
of our family forever. But we fund them all the
way through post secondary education and we don't push them
to a four year institution then we you know, our

(16:48):
country needs people with technical skills as well, and we
our goal is that they make an informed decision. You know,
we have firefighters and the MT and linement and hairstyle
US and everything, and then we have doctors and everything
in between.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
Clayton, when we come back, I'd like if you wouldn't
mind maybe share a couple of war stories with us,
and then I want to get back and deal more
deeply into the foundation and what you do with your personnel.
I kind of I smile when you say that, because
I woke up to a clog toilet this morning, and
I tell you what, every day I appreciate plumbers and
our country needs plumbers. And you know what, based on

(17:28):
the checks I write then play, they make a pretty
darn good, darn good living as well. I'm curious, real
quick though your foundation has been around long enough, do
you have any of the young people that started off
or you know, earlier in the history of the organization
that are now coming back to help or volunteer or
to donate.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yes, we do so. One of the programs that we
run as a college prep course, we call it Epic
Education Planning Information Conference, and we're you know, targeting high
school sophomores, you know, to prep them for or making
that informed decision on this next chapter of their life,
whether it's tech school or college. The mentors for that

(18:07):
program are graduates from our program that volunteer to give back.
You know, they have also lost a parent. They have
a shared experience and a bond that you and I
will never have with them and I you know, to me,
that's probably the coolest thing about our foundation is I

(18:28):
really take private we are. The coolest thing is these kids,
you know, realizing their folk potential. But seeing these graduates
volunteer to come back to sort of pay it forward
is really special.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Outstanding ladies and gentlemen, this is Ben Biler Garcia. We're
talking with Major General retired play Hot Macker. He's the
president and CEO of these Special Operations Warrior Foundation. You
can learn more visit spec Hops dot k. RG will
be right back. Welcome back to American Warrior Radio. Lason, gentlemen,

(19:13):
this is your host, Ben Bueler Garcia. We're coming to
you from the Sallencer Central Studios. Slencer Central is the
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(19:34):
right to your front door, making silence simple. Since two
thousand and five, Sallencercentral dot com. We're very please be
talking this morning with a Major General, Clay Huttmacher. He
is the President and CEO of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
You can learn more at spec ops dot org. Clay
spent forty years plus or minus in our United States military,

(19:54):
both as a Marine and a member of the US Army,
and he was also involved with the one hundred and
sixty Special Aviation Operations Regiment that's famed night Stalkers. Clay,
you mentioned earlier that you participated in Operation Just Caused
kind of, you know, the invasion of Panama. Tell us more,
and one thing I love about my interaction with Special
Operations personnel is their ability to overcome, to adapt, to adjust,

(20:18):
and a little bit of bailing wire and duct tape.
Tell us about the.

Speaker 3 (20:23):
DAP OH adapt the direct Action penetrator. So it is
the armed and it only exists in the one sixties
Special Ops Aviation Regiment and it is a specially modified
black Hawk helicopter that when we started, and I was
the first Fulton leader in that, when we stood that

(20:46):
capability up and it's we were armed with rocket pods
and mini guns and actually for a short period of
time twin fifty cal machine guns on the wings that
we mounted decks, hard points, external stores hard points. Today
it carries hellfire missiles, miniguns of thirty millimeters, cannon rockets

(21:10):
and you know, a really good target acquisition systems. But yeah,
we took it down there. There was only we had
three total. I took one down there to Panama with
our about a half a pallet of rocket ammo and
mini gun ammo and with the intention of this is

(21:32):
going to be our big moment of glory. We were
going to go down and participate in Panama. We got
down there and I was flying with Cliff Walcott who
was who was later killed in Somali and Super six
to one and my middle son is Mitchell Walcott hell
hut Mocker in his honor his memory. And we got

(21:55):
down there and my boss, the regimental commander, said, I
don't need another helicopter. I needed to do you know,
troop lift assault work. So our our counterparts in the
armed attack helicopter business in the one sixtieth were little
birds guns and they made they wasted no time in

(22:18):
making fun of the adapt guys. In fact, they said,
DAP what does that stand for? Didn't actually participate or
didn't attack Panama. So they were giving it to us
pretty good. And you know, I actually laughed about it,
but they were pretty relentless. And then you know, just

(22:40):
a few months later, Iraq invaded Kuwait. But our capabilities
came into play in a major way when Iraq was
shooting scud missiles into Israel. And if you remember back
to that time, there was real concern that Israel was
going to come into the war and that would have

(23:01):
broke up the Air of Coalition at the time. So
we were sent over there as part of a Air
Ground task Force and I spent many a night flying
up into northern Iraq along the border shooting at scud
missile launchers up there, which only we could do. We
were the only platform that had the range and capability

(23:23):
to do that well.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
And I never wore the uniform serve but I thinking
about your story, my response to those little bird pilots
would have been, because the reason the direct action penetrator
even came into being was the little birds just they
didn't have the range.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
So range it may be.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, yeah, my response would have been plus or MIAs
thirty seconds. Hell, you boys can't even get there and
we can so. But are there any other that you
can share, because I'm sure a lot of this is classified.
Any other particularly squarely missions you were involved with, sir.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yeah, I think one that comes to mind, which there's
been an article written about it if you google it,
called Operation Reindeer. It was June eleventh, two thousand and three.
We got the mission, along with a company of Rangers
from it was Bravo Company, second Ranger Battalion, to conduct

(24:19):
a raid on a terrorace camp in western Iraq that
had been discovered the night before. And so we did
what we call an air ground assault, So we did
a combined air ground assault. So we carried in the
majority of the Ranger company on one side of their

(24:39):
encampment and some of a smaller element or a smaller
element of the Rangers drove up. It was about one
hundred and seventy five miles as the crow flies from
Baghdad up there, and we hit them at one o'clock
in the morning, and it was exciting. I will say
that it was pretty intense for about an hour and

(25:02):
a half and then we were doing mop up operations
for two or three hours. After that ended up. There
was seventy eight enemy build in action. I thought it
was more than that originally, but I recently was told
it was seventy eight. And they were all committed, all
these and they were about half of them were Iraqis.

(25:22):
The rest of them were from different Arab countries and
they had committed to martyrdom and they were getting ready
to go out on suicide missions and attack our forward
operating bases. And we got there basically just in the
nic and time. I think they were scheduled to start
departing the next day, and we interdicted him that night

(25:43):
and really saved a lot of American lives and coalition
lives in the process. And we had one ranger taken
RPG below the knee starting Matt Waters got us, lost
his leg and we metavacked him. One of my came
in and metavacked him down to medical care in Alasade

(26:05):
And Air Base, about forty five minutes south of where
we the operation has taking place. Saved his life and
he ended up being a police officer in Tacoma, Washington
with one leg. And I'm still in touch with him
to this day. I mean he's continued to serve and
he's got a son who was in the eighty second

(26:27):
and a daughter who's attending Kennesaw State up in Georgia.
And so it was a great op. We saved a
lot of lives. They had tons of weapons, man portable
surface to air missiles, sniper rifles, night vision goggles, rocket
propelled grenades. I mean, they were going to move out
with a purpose. They were intending to put a hurting

(26:47):
on the US forces.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
Clay, We've got just about a minute a half for
the next break. Ben gets a dumb question every show.
So my dumb question for you is how I see
Operation Reindeer or Operation Gothic Serpent. Who gets to choose
these names? How does that come to be?

Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah, I mean we weren't exactly delivering presents on that one, so.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Right, well you were in a way, but we were.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
Yeah, yeah, it's computer generated. Actually, you know the original
code name for Operation Just Cause and Panama, for instance,
was Blue Spoon. It was changed by the administration. You know,
there's a pr aspect of this, and you know they

(27:30):
we this computer generates these code names and we just
you know, they end ups like, for instance, Somali in
nineteen ninety three with Gothic Serpent, and you know there's
many others, but they're all computer generators. So we don't
sit around with a Ouiji board or think any of
his things up. It's just so we get gold. Here's

(27:50):
your ops name.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
Ah, Okay, I'm kind of curious, So I mean, Gothic
Serpent sounds pretty darn cool. Just god, it sounds pretty
darnk cool. Were you ever sitting in the in the
brief bay and they revealed the name of the operation
and you and your comrades locat You're like, what Operation
Fluffy Puppy? No, No, I don't want to be part
of that.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
No.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
Well, there was the our British Special Ops counterparts were
with a Silver and Iraq and they they were going
after I ed Makers and Baghdad and they get they
got a bad run of names like Fly and Larva,
and you know, they were all like insect related. I

(28:32):
just remember thinking, bummer dude.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Well claim when we come back, I like to introduce
our listeners more to what you do with the Special
Operations Warrior Foundation, just the wonderful things you're doing to
support our families. Ladist and gentlemen, there's Benbula garcias stick around,
will be right back. Welcome back to American Warrior Radio. Lasier. Gentlemen,

(29:13):
there's your host, Ben Bueler Garcia. We are very pleased
and privileged to be joined by a retired Major General,
Clay Hutmocker. He is now also the President and CEO
of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Clay, I was looking
at some numbers on your website, and folks can find
out more of visit spec ops dot org, s p
E c O p s dot org. You know, some

(29:33):
interesting numbers come up on your website. I talk about
how Special Operations folks are hotly known for adapting and overcoming,
and I see that the numbers of the children you
serve the fallen. But then I also see a number
there about spouses who have died. And from looking at

(29:56):
your website, Clay, it looks like that's been a very
common theme where the history of your organization is. Oh,
here's an issue too. Let's let's pivot, let's adapt and
serve these other folks who need our help.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
Yeah, it's interesting, it's a it's a great story behind
our spouse program, which was started in twenty twenty two.
I was at an event in Fort Bragg, North Carolina,
in the surrounding community, and a young Special Forces non
commissioned officer that I had met. I didn't know him
that well, but I had met him. I had learned

(30:32):
that his wife had passed away, so and I was
going to be there anyway, So I threw a suit
in my bag, and in the middle of this event,
when I could, I broke away and went to this funeral.
And his first name is Jamon, and he was in
a church in Vast, North Carolina, very small town. And

(30:55):
as he was eulogizing his wife, Mary Alice, who had
passed away breast cancer and left behind not only Jamn
but two sons and a daughter, it occurred to me
that I didn't know of any program out there that
really supported families in the education for children area. When

(31:19):
you lose a spouse, I mean, you know, if an
active duty service member. There's some VA entitlements that come
with that, but for a spouse, there really is nothing.
My wife was an Air Force officer, you know, for
four years I flew as an exchange pilot with Air

(31:39):
Force Special Ots Command, and we got married, and she
gave up a very promising career in the Air Force
to raise our three sons, who are doing great in life.
I'm very, very proud of them, but I absolutely take
no credit for their upbringing. I mean, my youngest was
born three weeks before nine to eleven, and so I

(32:00):
was deployed obviously almost NonStop after that, and so spouses
play a critical role in the lives of our special
operators for us. But really, you know, for all service
members that are married, that have families, when they when
you lose a spouse, not only is there obviously the
trauma to the family like jamins, but also a financial impact,

(32:26):
you know, if they were a breadwinner or you know,
contributing to the family's income, which I believe strongly that
it was the right thing to do to support our
families when they lose a spouse. And I went back
to our board of directors, we did our due diligence
and the board agreed. It was unanimous, and you know,

(32:49):
we're proactively, you know, reaching out to families that have
lost a spouse and it could be a military spouse technically,
and really just what I would call taking a rock
out of their rucksack by relieving them of this, you know,

(33:11):
very expensive burden of providing for their kids' education.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
I'm curious, started interrupt, But so, I mean for a
civilian like me, clearly Delta, Navy Seals, Green Berets, all
special forces. But how what else? Who else qualifies? I mean,
does Air Force Pair rescue qualify? Do Ford Air Controllers qualify?

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Any organization Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines that support special
operations are part of US Special Operations Command located here
in Tampa all qualify. And that's not just the operators
that are going in. I mean it's the supply people,
the intelligence. Everybody on the team is qualified and they're

(33:59):
all treated exactly the same. If there is what I
would call general purpose forces that are supporting special ops,
which happens frequently, if they lose their life as a
result when they're in support of special ops, we cover,
then you know, most first comes to mind. Major Troy
Gilbert was flying in F sixteen in Iraq and lost

(34:22):
his life supporting special operations on the ground. My organization
lost a helicopter that day as well, was shot down.
His kids are covered by us and no difference.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
It's interesting you bring up Troy because I'm curious if
your transition from so I'm good friends with General Robin rand.
I don't know if you know him. He retired as
a four star and you know then he was just yeah, yeah,
they were very close. And anyway, if we spent a
couple of years as the CEO of the Gary Soonese

(34:56):
Foundation after he left the Air Force, was that Is
that a difficult transition for you going from wearing two
stars on your shoulder to working in the civilian world.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
Yeah, at times it was difficult, I think, you know,
I frankly wasn't on my radar to go to a nonprofit.
I didn't come out with the intent of going to
a nonprofit. But when I was approached about potentially taking
the Special Ops Warrior Foundation, it was a very easy decision,

(35:32):
primarily because I recognized and I knew from personal experience
the impact they have on our families over the long term,
and I remember thinking I was taken over from a
Navy seal, retired three star Joe McGuire, and I was
sitting in his office and I asked him, well, how

(35:52):
many people are in this organization anyway? And he said sixteen.
And I remember thinking to myself, well, sixteen, Well, how
hard could that be? And I learned quickly that, you know,
it was difficult. It was difficult because it's a different culture.

(36:13):
People are motivated by different things, and you know, but
I had to adapt to them. They didn't adapt to me.
And now we have I mean, we had a great
team then, but we have an exceptionally strong team today
that I couldn't be more proud of and humbled to

(36:33):
serve with them. And they are unwaveringly committed to each
and every child. It's much more than an entitlement or
a check. It really is a personal commitment to each
and every one of our families.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
It's you know, especial operations communities is very relatively to
the rest of our military, small and tight knit and
just for our listeners listening you know, around the globe
on the American Forces Network, how do folks if there's
an and to clarify it, this is also for injuries
or deaths caused by training. Correct.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
Yes, it's any in line of duty, any death that
is ruled by their service as in the line of duty.
In the line of duty. It doesn't necessarily it's not
a good title for it. In the line of duty
just means that there was no misconduct associated with the death.
And that's like ninety nine percent late are ruled in

(37:30):
the line of duty.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
So, if there's a family out there, Clay that is listening,
who feels that they could use some of your support,
do they just go to specops dot org and is
there like an online application or what's the about a
minute half left or what's walk us through the process?

Speaker 3 (37:45):
Yeah, they can reach out to us if they are
loved one that lost his life or her life or
assigned to the Special Operations community or at the time
of their death and direct support of the Special Operations
community or a spouse like I had mentioned earlier. And
then the last category as we support the children of
all Medal of Honor recipients living in to see special

(38:08):
ops and non special ops. So if that's the case,
you know, please email us. There's a there's a contact
form on our website and we'll take a look and
see if you qualify, and you know, and we'll and
if we do, we'll get right back to you. All right.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Well, there there again, ladies and gentlemen. The website is
spec ops dot org, s P E c O P
S dot org a lot easy to remember, the American
Warrior Radio dot com. Clay, It's been a real privilege
having you on the show here and sharing your story,
both your personal stories of the Special Ops community and
your foundation. And I tell you, sir, honestly, every day
I am so grateful that there are men and women

(38:50):
like you who are willing to, you know, stand watch
and even take it to the bad guys when when
we need to protect our nation. So thank you so much, sir.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
No, thank you, Ben, thanks for having me on. To
believe me when I say I received more out of
my service than the Army or the Marines that ever
got out of me. I'm grateful for every minute.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
All right, Well, maybe you can provide me some support.
I'd like to do some research on funny operation names.
That might be a hope, that might be a whole
show while bide self.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Sir, Yeah, that could be. Yeah, happy that her Clay.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Thank you so much. Don't forget folks. Visit spec ops
dot org. There's been your host, Ben buler Garcia. Until
next time, all policies and procedures are remaining in place.
Take care.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
You've been listening to American Warrior Radio. Archived episodes may
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platform