Eben Brown looks at US Army's 250th anniversary celebrations

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Big event over the weekend, very patriotic US Army celebrating
there they they're two hundred and fiftieth anniversary in style.
President Trump also celebrating that birthday. Some of the highlights
that went down that were good. Evan Brown joins us
now from Fox News. Good morning, Evan, Good morning. Saw
while the crazies were all out there and on their
different costumes in the no King's Day, we had a

(00:22):
patriotic event going on the President's birthday. How did that go?
No major problems, I.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Would assume none, No problems that I heard of. The
parade was actually for the armies two hundred and fiftieth birthday,
So happens it's the same day as President Trump. And
yes there was a singing of Happy Birthday, but this
was a celebration of the army, which was formed a
full year before the country was declared. And these are

(00:51):
the people who you know, these shopkeepers and farmers and
blacksmiths that banded together to fight the English Army, the
world's most fearsome fighting force at the time, and they
beat them eventually in our revolutionary war, without training, without
proper equipment or food, and really herculean task and since

(01:13):
then it's become the world's most foremost fighting force, in
the world's most foremost logistics force. Our military can get
anywhere in the world in a day and build something
like field hospitals and stuff. It's pretty amazing. And so
it all began with the Continental Army, now the US Army.
And if you were watching that on television, you would

(01:34):
have seen this parade through history, you know, from the
you know, we saw our soldiers wearing you know, Continental
Army uniforms, and then up through all the you know,
through the Spanish American War, the Civil War, the different uniforms,
all the way through Desert World War two, Desert Storm,
it's all the way to you know, Afghanistan and Iraq

(01:54):
and everything. And so you could see this progression and
a lot of celebration, and I think this was really
I think to celebrate the troop, the soldier. You know,
our have been demoralized. I think over the past few years,
the Afghanistan withdrawal didn't didn't help UH and we had
seen recruitment levels fall UH to to really crisis levels.

(02:16):
And this has been the first year in a while
where they've exceeded already their recruitment goals, and it's only
halfway through the year. And I think that has to
do with President Trump UH and the Secretary of Defense
Pete Hegseth, who have made troop morale a very big
part of of their military policy. And I think that
has part of that is is being effectuated because Secretary Hegseeth,

(02:38):
our former Fox News colleague, you know, he's from the
enlisted ranks, you know, kind of was, you know, down
down on the lower end of things, on on the
on the totem poles, so to speak, and and they
you know, I think he's made the troop morale part
of a personal mission for him, and I think it's
paid dividends.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Well, you relates you know to the the I guess
where the rubber hits the road, they are troops that
are doing the work. You know, he's not big brass
and the elite and hanging out at the Pentagon. He
is now. But with that said, you know, I wasn't
around during World War Two, Evan, but you know, my
father in law is retired army and passed away this year.

(03:16):
And you know he spoke about the Greatest Generation, a
lot who was behind him. As you know well or
ahead of him if you will. But you know, remember,
you've seen the movies, You've seen the documentaries. You certainly
know history. Evan. The patriotism that existed in that era
is just unlike anything I've ever seen before. Is it

(03:40):
going to take us to get involved in a monster
war for the you know, American citizens to come back?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
I certainly hope not, because no one wants war, but
we should be ready to fight one if we need to. Yeah,
And I think that used to be the you know,
the ethos there. I think there that, Yes, Americans are
a bit tired of war because we saw two very
large wars that began out of earnest, especially post you know,

(04:08):
nine to eleven. But what did it end up doing?
We spent twenty something years in Afghanistan, We lost a
lot of lives, spent a lot of money. Yeah, and
minute we left, the enemy came right back. It's almost
like we were never there. Yeah, I mean that, you know,
So what you know, how do you how do you

(04:28):
then motivate troops to to do that kind of work
because you don't pay them very well and you're asking
them to perhaps lay down their lives. So what do
you do. You have to you have to celebrate them,
and you have to make them love their country. There's
a lot of love for the country, and I think
that that's really you know, when you get out out
past the New York or the las you know, and

(04:51):
you get into everything else in the United States, they
absolutely love this country and there's a lot of patriotism
to tap into. I think why we think that it
was more patriotic back then, as I think we had
a Hollywood and a media that positively portrayed that patriotism,
and that's what's in the records of.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Those Evan, do you know. I mean, I don't know
my war history enough back in the forties when this
was going on with World War Two, But did the
United States involve them in so many conflicts like it
seems we do now. It's like we're at everybody's back
door if they need us just knocked and won't come through.
Or did we just protect ourselves and the bigger allies

(05:32):
and interest you know kind of stated for the.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Most part, we protected ourselves until we got to the
World wars, right because we're facing a global catastrophe that
affected first of all, it affected us economically especially World
War One, but world War Two we faced actual threats
that were global but also specific to US. Japan first

(05:54):
of all for US, and then you know, if Hitler
was able to to completely take over Europe, he was
looking to cross the Atlantic and that was very much
a reality. So, yes, there were pressing American interests in
getting involved in those wars. But then the attitude became,

(06:16):
you know what, you know, do we have to fight
the Russians everywhere the Russians are? And that's where it
led to things like Korea and Vietnam, because that was
the spread of communism. You know, General Patten, the great
American General, he didn't want to stop in Berlin. He
wanted to go right all the way to Moscow. He
thought the Communists were the actual threat beyond the Nazis.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Well. At the end of the day, though, Evan, I
think we've got to get back Americans. Forget politics, forget
party lines. You better be proud of this United States
of America. You know, we've got enough enemies out there
wanting to destroy us. We don't need to be destroying
ourselves from inside our borders. Evin, thanks buddy, I appreciate

(06:57):
you