June 29, 2024 • 29 mins
Ryan Gorman hosts an iHeartRadio nationwide special featuring Bryan Stern, Chairman & Founder of Grey Bull Rescue. Bryan Stern discusses his veteran-led, donor-funded organization’s work rescuing Americans from conflict zones like the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan, and other dangerous parts of the world.
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(00:00):
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a publicaffairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting
you. This week, here's RyanGorman. Thanks so much for joining us
here on iHeartRadio Communities. I'm RyanGorman, and we have a great conversation
lined up for you. Our guestfor this show leads rescue missions of Americans
and some of the world's most dangerousregions. He and his team are responsible
(00:21):
for rescuing over seven thousand people acrossthirty five countries during six hundred and sixteen
donor funded operations. To talk moreabout this work and why it's so vital,
especially during this current moment in time, let me bring in Brian Stern,
founder and chairman of Grabel Rescue,which you can learn more about and
support at graybul Rescue dot org.Brian, thanks so much for ticket a
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few minutes to come on the show. Before we get into the work you're
doing with this new organization, Iwant to start with a little bit about
you your time as a multiple tourcombat veteran of the United States Army and
Navy, also a nine to elevenfirst responder Purple Heart recipe, and tell
us a little bit about how yougot to this point in your career.
Uh yeah, thanks, thanks forhaving me. I am one hundred years
(01:07):
ago. I joined the army kindof weird. I'm the uh you know,
the military is a family business,meaning most people joined because their father
or their uncle, or they knewsomebody. It was not that way.
I just thought it would be agood way to you know, kind of
uh be a problem for my parents. Joined the army as a kid and
(01:32):
found myself. I found myself inarmy intelligence, especially, was a thing
called counterintelligence, which is it's isthreat based, meaning in the intelligence community
is very interrogative. Where are thetanks, where are the bad guys?
How many bad guys are there?Counter Intel is much more threat based,
(01:53):
and we we do offensive and defensivethings to prevent or detect or exploit the
bad guys. So I did thatfor a long, long, long time.
I was working in New York.On the morning in nine to eleven,
I was in both collapses. Iwas at the base the tower is
(02:15):
more or less when tower two gothit. So when I came out of
work that morning, tower one washit. Tower two was not hit.
It would get hit very soon thereafter. And I've basically been deployed and fighting
one way or the other since sinceabout noon on nine to eleven, pretty
much. So I went all overthe world, did all kinds of cool
(02:37):
things, supported and daring freedom,Iraqi freedom. I did evasions. But
my real kind of claim to fameas I liked doing weird things. So,
you know, I never wanted tobe a general. I never wanted
to be an admiral. I wasnever I was never that guy. I
like to go places where the generalsand admirals are not, so there was
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just more fun and working on problemsets that were hard, just difficult,
right, just difficult in places thataren't atypical. So, you know,
lots of guys like me went toAfghanistan. But the way you do operations
in Afghanistan is different than how youdo operations just next door in Pakistan,
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let's say, or in Latin America, or in Europe or wherever. So
I was kind of gravitated to maybenot the most popular things, but things
that I thought were harder or morecerebral and in some cases more impactful.
Did that forever went from the army. I had a break in the army.
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I had a break in the militaryservice, still working for the government.
Found myself in the Navy, wasworked with seal teams and all kinds
of cool stuff, units that don'thave names, things that we don't talk
about, lots of classified things,lots of very sensitive things, things that
they've made movies about. In somecases, things that they've made fake movies
about that you are happy that they'refake, but actually they're real, because
(04:10):
some really scary stuff out there.And I've been doing that for pretty much
my whole life, one way orthe other. I've always considered myself a
servant of the nation, whether I'min a uniform or not in a uniform,
or if I'm leading grayble or whatever. I've always kind of thought of
myself as a servant of the people. People say those words sometimes, a
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lot of politicians say those words.Depending on the politician, that may or
may not be true. But forme, I've always been I don't know,
just just just my DNA was woventhat way to be part of something
bigger than myself and give back anddo things that maybe other people don't have
(04:56):
the stomach for or don't how todo, or think that they know but
really they don't, or whatever.But I've always gravitated towards the strange and
unusual, you know, the islandthe Misfit Toys is kind of what I've
always been attracted to. Even tothis day, we certainly thank you for
that service. I'm Ryan Gorman,joined by Brian Stern, founder and chairman
of Gray Bull Rescue, which youcan learn more about and support, and
(05:19):
they do need your support at grayBul Rescue dot org. So this all
leads you to that moment in twentytwenty one when the United States withdraws from
Afghanistan and you see Afghans and especiallyAmericans trying to escape the Taliban. Step
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us through that experience, which putyou on the path to do what you
do now rescue Americans from these differentplaces. Well, it's kind of nine
to eleven. As a nine toeleven first responder, you know, nine
to eleven. I tell people it'slike having a kid. It's a life
(06:04):
changing experience. Yeah, that impactsyou every single day, you know.
And it's funny you say that becauseobviously what you did is incredible. Following
nine to eleven. I did notgo down that road, but I do
tell people I would not be doingwhat I'm doing right now, if not
for nine to eleven. It fundamentallychanged my life, my interests and all
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of that. It had such aprofound impact on so many people in so
many different ways. Yeah, youknow, that's one of the one of
the terrible things about Americans about us, is that we tend to respond to
negative things with more efficiency than positivethings. Right, when someone yells at
you, you remember that way morethan someone says good morning, yeah,
(06:53):
right, right, right, nine. It could be the same person,
but you'll remember the time that theyyelled at you. So, you know.
So you know, nine to elevenis woven into the fabric of almost
everything I do in life. Itjust is. I thank God every day
that I survived. I live everyday like it's September twelfth. I should
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not be here. Lots of people, lots of people didn't make it,
and I was. You know,It's one of those just you know,
divine intervention moments. Fast forward almosttwenty years later to August twenty twenty one.
I was actually working on a keynotespeech for the twentieth anniversary of nine
to eleven. It's in the withdrawalof Afghanistan got really nasty. The second
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third week of August. Just afew weeks later was the twentieth anniversary of
nine to eleven. I was inmy living room and in Florida, and
I was working on my speech.And it's a tough thing to talk about,
it really is. It's a veryemotional thing for me, you know.
And then you're talking about the twentyyears of war. You know.
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I've lost a lot of friends alongthe way. Even more friends have been
tore up with no arms and nolegs. So working on this speech is
is hard. It just it's justhard. I'm working on my speech.
I'm watching the fall in Afghanistan onTV, and as an Afghan, this
is very emotional for me. RightI'm watching the Afghans that we promised that
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we would help them. We promisedfor year, twenty years, twenty years,
and you know, if you helpus, we will, we will,
we will take care of you.And watching us not honor that agreement,
that agreement that I personally made tohundreds of Afghans myself, and watching
us welch on that deal if youwill, this is a very emotional thing
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to be watching and writing. Itturns into breaking news. I was watching
TV breaking news and there's a Cseventeen, the big military plane, and
it's the footage that you're talking aboutwhere Afghans are falling from an airplane that
as a better idea, as abetter option, as a better thought,
(09:09):
than to stay where they are.And it struck a chord with me because
the last time I saw that wason the morning of nine to eleven.
At the point at the time,media was drawing a parallel between the fall
of Afghanistan and the fall of Saigon. Well, if you're a student of
history, as I am, thatmakes absolutely no sense. There's almost no
similarities or whatsoever. So I wantstalking about the fall of Saigon as it
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were, comparing it to the fallin Afghanistan kind of silly, and it's
breaking news. I watch this andI go what planet am I on?
That? Twenty years later, almostto the day, almost to the day,
twenty years later, the amount ofpeople that have died and sacrificed and
orphans that have been made on allsides, on our side and the bad
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guys side, how many, howmany Afghans were pressured into doing bad things
that we had to kill them.Twenty years later and we're right back where
we are full circle to talibanner andcontrol, and innocent people are jumping to
their deaths as a better plan.And I said, I can't watch.
(10:18):
I cannot do it. I can'tdo it. I can't be a spectator
and watch this on TV. Ijust can't. I know how to do
things. I know I can helppeople need. My phones are exploding from
every single Afghan that I ever metthat still had my number, begging me
for help, saying you promised,you promised, all this stuff. And
(10:39):
I said, you know what,I'm not going to watch this on TV.
I'm just not. I can't.It's against my religion. I bleed
red, white and blue. Idon't care about politics. I care about
our American values. I care aboutour reputation. I care about our handshake.
I care that we made a dealand we're stiff and people. I
(11:00):
care about all these things. AndI said, I'm not going to be
a spectator. I got some friendstogether and I said this is what we're
gonna do. We're gonna pack ourstuff and we're gonna go forward. Okay,
We're gonna go to Uzbekistan and openup the northern border. And everyone
said, you're out of your mind, and I said, I don't care.
(11:20):
You know you think I'm wrong.I know I'm right. This is
what we're doing, and that's whatwe did, and that's exactly what we
did. And my team and I, one way or the other had been
forward deployed all over the world prettymuch ever since then, Afghanistan becomes a
thing. At the time, goingback August twenty twenty one, the game
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was figure out ways to get peopleto the Marines at the gate, and
then the Marines will let them inand get them on airplanes. The secondary
of Finch, General Austin, aformer sent Come commander and Secretary Stay Tony
B. Lincoln uh and a coupleof other senior leaders. They get on
and they say August thirtieth will bethe last day for US troops in Afghanistan.
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When that happened, I got ahold of my whole team and by
now we're busy. Now we're there, we're doing things, and I tell
them our entire calculus has to change, and they go, why. I
go, getting an Afghan who weknow, an interpreter, a source,
a judge, whoever, getting thatperson and their family to the Marine at
the gate to get them on anair Force plane. That's awesome and that's
(12:31):
hard. But once the marine vrienand once the air force brieves because sectary
Offensive Secretary said said they're going tothis entire thing goes sideways and everything changes
because there is no marines anymore andthere is no air force and the Taliban
are going to run the DMV.Right, the Taliban are in charge.
Now what do we do with thatproblem? And these people's lives they're at
(12:56):
stake here and again we're joined byBryan's and founder and chairman of Gray Bull
Rescue, which you can learn moreabout and support at gray Bull Rescue dot
org. If they don't get out, they very well could be and some
of them were murder. I mean, what happens is is heos That's what
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happens. We had made had wehad a very deliberate conversation right around this
time about who should we try andget out because you can't rescue the world,
you just can't. Everyone that livesin Afghanistan doesn't want to be there,
even when we were there, theydon't want to be there, right,
So we had this discussion about whoare we going to rescue? And
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as the boss, what I said, is is it has to be someone
who we know, and if it'ssomeone who we don't know, they have
to know someone who we really knowand trust. So, meaning my interpreter
is, Okay, he's going tovouch for his family, that's fair.
If he's not a friend down theroad who I've never met before, it
needs to be someone who I knowand trust. We had a discussion about
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Americans, and my instructions to myteam were that's not for us, and
everyone said, well, and Igo, Look, we've got Navy seals,
we've got Green berets, we've gota trillion dollar a year national security
budget. We've got the CIA,We've got DIA. We can see golf
walls from out of space. Thereare a whole units that wake up every
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single day with the express mission ofhow do I rescue Americans from bad places?
Right? Captain Phillips has meant afew of them. Jessica Buchanan has
met some more of them. Osamabin Laden has met some of them too,
right. So, right, Sowe have men, We have brave
men, the best in the entireworld, that wake up every single day.
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They go to the rains, theywork out, they eat good.
They do push ups, they carrytelephone polls, hoping that their beepers go
off to rescue Americans. That's whatthe that's what they dream of. Surely
we won't need to deal with that. That's what Therefore, let's focus on
Afghanist. In twenty five years inthe intelligence business, I have never been
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that wrong about an assessment in mycareer. Okay, Abby Gate happens.
Lots of thirteen brave Americans get killed, a whole lot more get tore up,
real bad, real bad, andthe whole calculus changes. General Donahue
great, great, great officer,phenomenal, real national treasure for leadership.
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And I mean just a guy thatwho I shook his hand once and was
like an awe. General Donahue isthe last man, last American soldier in
Afghanistan. Right around then is whenall the Americans started reaching out to us
saying help. And I couldn't believemy years, I couldn't believe it.
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We were where it can't be.It can't be that we're leaving Americans behind.
It just that's doesn't compute. Wedon't do that ever, ever,
ever, ever, Captain Phillips willtell you that when he was taken when
he was taken hostage by a coupleof Somali pirates. We sent a seal
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team with Giant with two flat deckboats, helicopters, a parachute jump,
and a Tom Hanks movie. Right, Yeah, that's what happens when you
take an American hostage. It's thebiggest mistake of your life. We don't
leave our people behind. What wedid. We did and a lot of
them, So everyone leaves and wehave to figure out ways. How do
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you land an airplane under Taliban rule? Actually, that's not so hard.
What's really hard is is how doyou take off? Of course, the
Taliban won a three hundred million dollarair of US A three to twenty as
an asset. It's like breaking into jail. That's easy. Breaking out
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of jail is hard. Right.We figured out a way, using some
unconventional tactics to figure out away tonot only land an airplane, to not
only take off an airplane, butto do it legally under the Taliban.
My team and I got the firstlanding clearance under Taliban rule under Taliban rule
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period period Numero uno. And onthat first mission, you've saved the one
hundred and seventeen stranded Americans in oneday, in one day at the time,
at the time, that was thelargest. Uh well its eventually you
talked to but most people would saythat that was the largest private rescue of
American citizens from a war zone inhistory. Now I thought at the time,
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I thought that would be the mostgnarly thing that we ever did.
Twenty five years the intelligence business.Again, I was fast forward to October
twenty twenty three. We we doubleour number with two hundred and ninety three
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Americans out of Israel. That becamethat became the undisputed largest private rescue of
American citizens from a war zone andhistory. Okay, so in between those
we do all kinds of things.We do land ops, we do air
ops, we do we do uhwe break people out of jail from the
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Russians, we do babies in Ukraine. We do the first rescue of Americans
in Ukraine pistols land And at fivepoint thirty in the morning, I had
I had a sprinter van filled withAmerican citizens out of the city in fifty
eight minutes. Okay, the TampaFire Department would struggle with that. This
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is international in a war zone withRussian cruise missiles landing all over the city,
fifty eight minutes out of Keith,Okay. All kinds of things,
all kinds of things we do.Premature babies that got stuck in Ukraine from
Atlanta, Georgia that got stuck.My good friend Sash Respector and his boys
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Lenny and Moisha. It's another crazystory, all kinds of things. We
go into Sudan, right, theUS embassy gets evacuated and same song,
different verse. US government leaves.They leave behind sixteen thousand American citizens in
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the middle of a very terrible civilwar. Yet again we land the first
plane for American citizens of that war. Doumero Uno Right, Maui happens.
Team and I Forward deployed to Maui. We do two thousand, four hundred
percent more operations in Maui in thefirst six days than the entire Department of
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Defense combined. And that's what Iwant to touch on, because this goes
beyond just these conflict zones. Andagain I'm Ryan Gorman joined by Brian Stern,
founder and Chairman of Gray Bull Rescue. You can learn more about all
the work they do which we're talkingabout right now, and support that work
at Gray Bull Rescue dot Org.So, Maui, you have the fires
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in Florida, you have a hurricaneIan and the flooding there on the southwest
coast of Florida. So you've gonebeyond these conflict zones and you've dealt with
natural disasters too and rescuing Americans there. Well, yeah, because if you
think about it, so we're notGray Mike team and I as my team
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and I we are. Our specialtyis doing operations like this, plain strains,
automobiles, helicopters, boats, bigplanes, little planes, all kinds
of stuff. We are Our expertiseis doing things where the government is not.
That that's our that's our space thatwe work in, what we call
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the gray space. That's why we'recalled grapel this space. We're not competitors
of the government. We work wherethey're not. You'll never see a picture
of me or any of my teammatesnext to UH an American soldier helping him
do anything. That's not what wedo. We don't augment. We're in
lieu of So it doesn't matter tome, it really doesn't. It doesn't
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matter to me where an American maybe in trouble. It's kind of irrelevant.
Actually, if you're an American stuckin Lehaina, Maui and you can't
get out, or you're an Americanstuck in in Malova, Ukraine and you
can't get out, or you're therean American stuck in Porter Prince Hadian you
can't get out. Would I knowto be true that you're American and you
can't get out? That's all.That's really the beginning and the end of,
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you know, of my decision makingwhen we go do analysis, you
know, should we or should wenot do an operation? It's a very
binary discussion. Are they American?Yes or no? Yes? Are they
in trouble? Yes or no?Yes? Can we get there? And
can we do an operation? Yes? Is anyone else coming? No?
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Tucking our bags, let's get outof you, let's go. And I
think it's important to note that whenyou go into these different areas, whether
it's Ukraine or Afghanistan, this isnot like what people will see in movies
of these rescues where you're going andguns blazing and things like that. You're
(22:48):
having to do it a very differentway because the cavalry's not coming. If
you get into trouble. There isno net, There is no net,
there is no help. You know, we are my team and I are
the absolute end of the road,last resort. You call us after you've
called everybody already. Have you hadpeople who you've rescued when you show up,
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They're like, this is it everybodyelse? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
I'm more than one occasion. Youknow, we we've had. You
know, you know, people alwaysask me, you know, well,
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when you're in the field, whatkind of gun do you carry? Right?
Like, you know, what doyou carry You're in all these crazy
places, you know, what doyou carry? Right? And people are
usually shocked to hear that I workunharmed, and they're like how how what
do you mean how? And Iexplained, if it's like me and one
or two other people three hundred fourhundred miles behind enemy lines, surrounded by
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Russian bag guy, I would needa dump truck of AMMO to survive.
Yeah, you know, you know, I did an operation of this place
called Malova, Ukraine, and we'reworking we're working this other place called pri
Verrigan Zaparigia, surrounded by bad guys, you know, between between me and
anything that looks like a friend isthirty one hours away. You know at
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my day, you know, Ican hold my own in a gunfight,
but yeah, I don't know anyonethat's killed three four thousand people in one
shot. You know, my shoulderwould get tired, right, So you
know, those are the kinds ofnumbers that we're talking about. So it's
much more like a magic trick.It's seemingly but not the half the time
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we do these things. The badguys see it later and they're like,
wow, we had no idea happensall the time. We broke this kid
out of jail. We broke thiskid out of jail. He's the first
American victim of war crimes alive sinceWorld War Two. Young kid from Detroit,
Michigan, gets arrested by the Russians. He asked for help. Help
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doesn't come. He's right in theinvasion corridor and he gets arrested by the
Russians. Eleven counts of espionage,tortured, beaten, the whole nine yards.
His case is the first indictment inthe history of the United States.
The Department of Justice was able tobring indictments for war crimes against foreign powers
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for the first time ever in thehistory of the United States. This is
our case and we we we tookhim. He wasn't released. Brittany Grinder
was exchanged right amicably. This wasn'tbad. The Russians still had his underwear,
they still his passport. Uh,we took him. Today the Russians
(25:45):
have no idea how we did it. It's amazing. I do want to
note and again we're joined by BrianStern, founder and chairman of Gray Bull
Rescue, which you can learn moreabout and support a Gray Bull Rescue dot
org. These stories you're telling us, these missions that you go on.
We only have a couple minutes left, and I want to make sure we
get to this. This can't happenwithout the help of everyone listening. That's
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the thing is. Helicopters in Haiti, the rescue Americans cost money. Boats
during Hurricane e it cost money.Helicopters in MAUI cost money. I can't
get Russians to, you know,betray their country because I'm a nice guy.
Doesn't work that way. Airplanes inAfghanistan and today cost money. All
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these things, travel, body armor, helmets, night vision intelligence vehicles,
all those things, they all costmoney. If you're If one of your
listeners wants to do us a favorand they're in the night vision business or
the body armor business, or theboat business, or you own a car,
you own a car dealership, goto grabule Rescue Dot or push to
(26:52):
contact need button. I need yourhelp. We need gear, We need
comms, We need laptops, GPS, strobes, landing lights, all kinds
radios, all kinds of stuff.It all costs money or has to be
donated in kind. We don't getanything from the government, so my team
and I love to do the work, but we need your help. Our
(27:15):
motto is, don't be a spectator. That doesn't mean you got to give
us a million dollars. One dollaris good too if you can. If
you own a Chevy dealership and youwant to donate us a suburban, we
need we need. We need suburbansfor hurricane ops, for domestics, for
natural disasters, all kinds of stuff, all kinds of stuff. You can
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donate us your your travel points fromyour Marriott thing, all kinds of stuff.
But it all costs money, Itall takes resources. My team and
I we rescued over seven thousand peoplesince August twenty twenty one. That's what
we admit to. Number is actuallya lot bigger. We've done six hundred
operations all over the place. We'rethe only people to rescue Oskar kidnapped Americans
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out of Gaza. January twenty twentyfour, five American kids trapped in Gaza.
Got them out. The FBI triedfor months, couldn't figure it out.
We did it. They're from Campa, Florida. You can meet them.
Google it. I have the receipts. Google anything I say. You
could see it for yourself. Don'ttake my word for it. No problem.
It's all out there. It's allout there, but we need your
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help. Not being a spectator meansbeing an American. I don't care if
you're a Republican. I don't careif you're a Democrat. On my team.
I got Republicans, Democrats, Muslims, Christian Jews, men, women,
skinny, Harry Bald we got themall. We got them all.
If Paul Revere were alive today,he would have a grable patch on his
(28:45):
horse because we're just Americans doing whatAmericans should do. My oath of enlistment
when I joined did not have didwhen I join the Army did not have
an expiration date commitment many years agoto the people and my team and I
all of us do at GRABEL,I actually make my people do an oath
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so that we don't forget why wedo what we do. As a reminder
the work you do is absolutely incredibleand it's vital and everyone can support that
work at gray Bull Rescue dot org. Brian Stern, founder and chairman of
Gray Bull Rescue, Brian, reallywant to thank you for your service of
this country and for taking a fewminutes to come on the show. We
appreciate it. Thanks so much forhaving me. I appreciate it. Thank
(29:30):
you all right, and that's goingto do it for this edition of iHeartRadio
Communities. As we wrap things up, I want offer big thanks to our
guests and of course to all ofyou for listening. I'm your host,
Ryan Gorman. We'll talk to youagain real soon.
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a publicaffairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting
you. This week, here's RyanGorman. Thanks so much for joining us
here on iHeartRadio Communities. I'm RyanGorman, and we have a great conversation
lined up for you. Our guestfor this show leads rescue missions of Americans
and some of the world's most dangerousregions. He and his team are responsible
(00:21):
for rescuing over seven thousand people acrossthirty five countries during six hundred and sixteen
donor funded operations. To talk moreabout this work and why it's so vital,
especially during this current moment in time, let me bring in Brian Stern,
founder and chairman of Grabel Rescue,which you can learn more about and
support at graybul Rescue dot org.Brian, thanks so much for ticket a
(00:43):
few minutes to come on the show. Before we get into the work you're
doing with this new organization, Iwant to start with a little bit about
you your time as a multiple tourcombat veteran of the United States Army and
Navy, also a nine to elevenfirst responder Purple Heart recipe, and tell
us a little bit about how yougot to this point in your career.
Uh yeah, thanks, thanks forhaving me. I am one hundred years
(01:07):
ago. I joined the army kindof weird. I'm the uh you know,
the military is a family business,meaning most people joined because their father
or their uncle, or they knewsomebody. It was not that way.
I just thought it would be agood way to you know, kind of
uh be a problem for my parents. Joined the army as a kid and
(01:32):
found myself. I found myself inarmy intelligence, especially, was a thing
called counterintelligence, which is it's isthreat based, meaning in the intelligence community
is very interrogative. Where are thetanks, where are the bad guys?
How many bad guys are there?Counter Intel is much more threat based,
(01:53):
and we we do offensive and defensivethings to prevent or detect or exploit the
bad guys. So I did thatfor a long, long, long time.
I was working in New York.On the morning in nine to eleven,
I was in both collapses. Iwas at the base the tower is
(02:15):
more or less when tower two gothit. So when I came out of
work that morning, tower one washit. Tower two was not hit.
It would get hit very soon thereafter. And I've basically been deployed and fighting
one way or the other since sinceabout noon on nine to eleven, pretty
much. So I went all overthe world, did all kinds of cool
(02:37):
things, supported and daring freedom,Iraqi freedom. I did evasions. But
my real kind of claim to fameas I liked doing weird things. So,
you know, I never wanted tobe a general. I never wanted
to be an admiral. I wasnever I was never that guy. I
like to go places where the generalsand admirals are not, so there was
(02:58):
just more fun and working on problemsets that were hard, just difficult,
right, just difficult in places thataren't atypical. So, you know,
lots of guys like me went toAfghanistan. But the way you do operations
in Afghanistan is different than how youdo operations just next door in Pakistan,
(03:21):
let's say, or in Latin America, or in Europe or wherever. So
I was kind of gravitated to maybenot the most popular things, but things
that I thought were harder or morecerebral and in some cases more impactful.
Did that forever went from the army. I had a break in the army.
(03:45):
I had a break in the militaryservice, still working for the government.
Found myself in the Navy, wasworked with seal teams and all kinds
of cool stuff, units that don'thave names, things that we don't talk
about, lots of classified things,lots of very sensitive things, things that
they've made movies about. In somecases, things that they've made fake movies
about that you are happy that they'refake, but actually they're real, because
(04:10):
some really scary stuff out there.And I've been doing that for pretty much
my whole life, one way orthe other. I've always considered myself a
servant of the nation, whether I'min a uniform or not in a uniform,
or if I'm leading grayble or whatever. I've always kind of thought of
myself as a servant of the people. People say those words sometimes, a
(04:36):
lot of politicians say those words.Depending on the politician, that may or
may not be true. But forme, I've always been I don't know,
just just just my DNA was woventhat way to be part of something
bigger than myself and give back anddo things that maybe other people don't have
(04:56):
the stomach for or don't how todo, or think that they know but
really they don't, or whatever.But I've always gravitated towards the strange and
unusual, you know, the islandthe Misfit Toys is kind of what I've
always been attracted to. Even tothis day, we certainly thank you for
that service. I'm Ryan Gorman,joined by Brian Stern, founder and chairman
of Gray Bull Rescue, which youcan learn more about and support, and
(05:19):
they do need your support at grayBul Rescue dot org. So this all
leads you to that moment in twentytwenty one when the United States withdraws from
Afghanistan and you see Afghans and especiallyAmericans trying to escape the Taliban. Step
(05:43):
us through that experience, which putyou on the path to do what you
do now rescue Americans from these differentplaces. Well, it's kind of nine
to eleven. As a nine toeleven first responder, you know, nine
to eleven. I tell people it'slike having a kid. It's a life
(06:04):
changing experience. Yeah, that impactsyou every single day, you know.
And it's funny you say that becauseobviously what you did is incredible. Following
nine to eleven. I did notgo down that road, but I do
tell people I would not be doingwhat I'm doing right now, if not
for nine to eleven. It fundamentallychanged my life, my interests and all
(06:28):
of that. It had such aprofound impact on so many people in so
many different ways. Yeah, youknow, that's one of the one of
the terrible things about Americans about us, is that we tend to respond to
negative things with more efficiency than positivethings. Right, when someone yells at
you, you remember that way morethan someone says good morning, yeah,
(06:53):
right, right, right, nine. It could be the same person,
but you'll remember the time that theyyelled at you. So, you know.
So you know, nine to elevenis woven into the fabric of almost
everything I do in life. Itjust is. I thank God every day
that I survived. I live everyday like it's September twelfth. I should
(07:15):
not be here. Lots of people, lots of people didn't make it,
and I was. You know,It's one of those just you know,
divine intervention moments. Fast forward almosttwenty years later to August twenty twenty one.
I was actually working on a keynotespeech for the twentieth anniversary of nine
to eleven. It's in the withdrawalof Afghanistan got really nasty. The second
(07:42):
third week of August. Just afew weeks later was the twentieth anniversary of
nine to eleven. I was inmy living room and in Florida, and
I was working on my speech.And it's a tough thing to talk about,
it really is. It's a veryemotional thing for me, you know.
And then you're talking about the twentyyears of war. You know.
(08:03):
I've lost a lot of friends alongthe way. Even more friends have been
tore up with no arms and nolegs. So working on this speech is
is hard. It just it's justhard. I'm working on my speech.
I'm watching the fall in Afghanistan onTV, and as an Afghan, this
is very emotional for me. RightI'm watching the Afghans that we promised that
(08:26):
we would help them. We promisedfor year, twenty years, twenty years,
and you know, if you helpus, we will, we will,
we will take care of you.And watching us not honor that agreement,
that agreement that I personally made tohundreds of Afghans myself, and watching
us welch on that deal if youwill, this is a very emotional thing
(08:48):
to be watching and writing. Itturns into breaking news. I was watching
TV breaking news and there's a Cseventeen, the big military plane, and
it's the footage that you're talking aboutwhere Afghans are falling from an airplane that
as a better idea, as abetter option, as a better thought,
(09:09):
than to stay where they are.And it struck a chord with me because
the last time I saw that wason the morning of nine to eleven.
At the point at the time,media was drawing a parallel between the fall
of Afghanistan and the fall of Saigon. Well, if you're a student of
history, as I am, thatmakes absolutely no sense. There's almost no
similarities or whatsoever. So I wantstalking about the fall of Saigon as it
(09:33):
were, comparing it to the fallin Afghanistan kind of silly, and it's
breaking news. I watch this andI go what planet am I on?
That? Twenty years later, almostto the day, almost to the day,
twenty years later, the amount ofpeople that have died and sacrificed and
orphans that have been made on allsides, on our side and the bad
(09:58):
guys side, how many, howmany Afghans were pressured into doing bad things
that we had to kill them.Twenty years later and we're right back where
we are full circle to talibanner andcontrol, and innocent people are jumping to
their deaths as a better plan.And I said, I can't watch.
(10:18):
I cannot do it. I can'tdo it. I can't be a spectator
and watch this on TV. Ijust can't. I know how to do
things. I know I can helppeople need. My phones are exploding from
every single Afghan that I ever metthat still had my number, begging me
for help, saying you promised,you promised, all this stuff. And
(10:39):
I said, you know what,I'm not going to watch this on TV.
I'm just not. I can't.It's against my religion. I bleed
red, white and blue. Idon't care about politics. I care about
our American values. I care aboutour reputation. I care about our handshake.
I care that we made a dealand we're stiff and people. I
(11:00):
care about all these things. AndI said, I'm not going to be
a spectator. I got some friendstogether and I said this is what we're
gonna do. We're gonna pack ourstuff and we're gonna go forward. Okay,
We're gonna go to Uzbekistan and openup the northern border. And everyone
said, you're out of your mind, and I said, I don't care.
(11:20):
You know you think I'm wrong.I know I'm right. This is
what we're doing, and that's whatwe did, and that's exactly what we
did. And my team and I, one way or the other had been
forward deployed all over the world prettymuch ever since then, Afghanistan becomes a
thing. At the time, goingback August twenty twenty one, the game
(11:41):
was figure out ways to get peopleto the Marines at the gate, and
then the Marines will let them inand get them on airplanes. The secondary
of Finch, General Austin, aformer sent Come commander and Secretary Stay Tony
B. Lincoln uh and a coupleof other senior leaders. They get on
and they say August thirtieth will bethe last day for US troops in Afghanistan.
(12:07):
When that happened, I got ahold of my whole team and by
now we're busy. Now we're there, we're doing things, and I tell
them our entire calculus has to change, and they go, why. I
go, getting an Afghan who weknow, an interpreter, a source,
a judge, whoever, getting thatperson and their family to the Marine at
the gate to get them on anair Force plane. That's awesome and that's
(12:31):
hard. But once the marine vrienand once the air force brieves because sectary
Offensive Secretary said said they're going tothis entire thing goes sideways and everything changes
because there is no marines anymore andthere is no air force and the Taliban
are going to run the DMV.Right, the Taliban are in charge.
Now what do we do with thatproblem? And these people's lives they're at
(12:56):
stake here and again we're joined byBryan's and founder and chairman of Gray Bull
Rescue, which you can learn moreabout and support at gray Bull Rescue dot
org. If they don't get out, they very well could be and some
of them were murder. I mean, what happens is is heos That's what
(13:18):
happens. We had made had wehad a very deliberate conversation right around this
time about who should we try andget out because you can't rescue the world,
you just can't. Everyone that livesin Afghanistan doesn't want to be there,
even when we were there, theydon't want to be there, right,
So we had this discussion about whoare we going to rescue? And
(13:43):
as the boss, what I said, is is it has to be someone
who we know, and if it'ssomeone who we don't know, they have
to know someone who we really knowand trust. So, meaning my interpreter
is, Okay, he's going tovouch for his family, that's fair.
If he's not a friend down theroad who I've never met before, it
needs to be someone who I knowand trust. We had a discussion about
(14:05):
Americans, and my instructions to myteam were that's not for us, and
everyone said, well, and Igo, Look, we've got Navy seals,
we've got Green berets, we've gota trillion dollar a year national security
budget. We've got the CIA,We've got DIA. We can see golf
walls from out of space. Thereare a whole units that wake up every
(14:26):
single day with the express mission ofhow do I rescue Americans from bad places?
Right? Captain Phillips has meant afew of them. Jessica Buchanan has
met some more of them. Osamabin Laden has met some of them too,
right. So, right, Sowe have men, We have brave
men, the best in the entireworld, that wake up every single day.
(14:46):
They go to the rains, theywork out, they eat good.
They do push ups, they carrytelephone polls, hoping that their beepers go
off to rescue Americans. That's whatthe that's what they dream of. Surely
we won't need to deal with that. That's what Therefore, let's focus on
Afghanist. In twenty five years inthe intelligence business, I have never been
(15:09):
that wrong about an assessment in mycareer. Okay, Abby Gate happens.
Lots of thirteen brave Americans get killed, a whole lot more get tore up,
real bad, real bad, andthe whole calculus changes. General Donahue
great, great, great officer,phenomenal, real national treasure for leadership.
(15:37):
And I mean just a guy thatwho I shook his hand once and was
like an awe. General Donahue isthe last man, last American soldier in
Afghanistan. Right around then is whenall the Americans started reaching out to us
saying help. And I couldn't believemy years, I couldn't believe it.
(15:58):
We were where it can't be.It can't be that we're leaving Americans behind.
It just that's doesn't compute. Wedon't do that ever, ever,
ever, ever, Captain Phillips willtell you that when he was taken when
he was taken hostage by a coupleof Somali pirates. We sent a seal
(16:18):
team with Giant with two flat deckboats, helicopters, a parachute jump,
and a Tom Hanks movie. Right, Yeah, that's what happens when you
take an American hostage. It's thebiggest mistake of your life. We don't
leave our people behind. What wedid. We did and a lot of
them, So everyone leaves and wehave to figure out ways. How do
(16:41):
you land an airplane under Taliban rule? Actually, that's not so hard.
What's really hard is is how doyou take off? Of course, the
Taliban won a three hundred million dollarair of US A three to twenty as
an asset. It's like breaking into jail. That's easy. Breaking out
(17:02):
of jail is hard. Right.We figured out a way, using some
unconventional tactics to figure out away tonot only land an airplane, to not
only take off an airplane, butto do it legally under the Taliban.
My team and I got the firstlanding clearance under Taliban rule under Taliban rule
(17:26):
period period Numero uno. And onthat first mission, you've saved the one
hundred and seventeen stranded Americans in oneday, in one day at the time,
at the time, that was thelargest. Uh well its eventually you
talked to but most people would saythat that was the largest private rescue of
American citizens from a war zone inhistory. Now I thought at the time,
(17:53):
I thought that would be the mostgnarly thing that we ever did.
Twenty five years the intelligence business.Again, I was fast forward to October
twenty twenty three. We we doubleour number with two hundred and ninety three
(18:17):
Americans out of Israel. That becamethat became the undisputed largest private rescue of
American citizens from a war zone andhistory. Okay, so in between those
we do all kinds of things.We do land ops, we do air
ops, we do we do uhwe break people out of jail from the
(18:38):
Russians, we do babies in Ukraine. We do the first rescue of Americans
in Ukraine pistols land And at fivepoint thirty in the morning, I had
I had a sprinter van filled withAmerican citizens out of the city in fifty
eight minutes. Okay, the TampaFire Department would struggle with that. This
(19:00):
is international in a war zone withRussian cruise missiles landing all over the city,
fifty eight minutes out of Keith,Okay. All kinds of things,
all kinds of things we do.Premature babies that got stuck in Ukraine from
Atlanta, Georgia that got stuck.My good friend Sash Respector and his boys
(19:23):
Lenny and Moisha. It's another crazystory, all kinds of things. We
go into Sudan, right, theUS embassy gets evacuated and same song,
different verse. US government leaves.They leave behind sixteen thousand American citizens in
(19:45):
the middle of a very terrible civilwar. Yet again we land the first
plane for American citizens of that war. Doumero Uno Right, Maui happens.
Team and I Forward deployed to Maui. We do two thousand, four hundred
percent more operations in Maui in thefirst six days than the entire Department of
(20:08):
Defense combined. And that's what Iwant to touch on, because this goes
beyond just these conflict zones. Andagain I'm Ryan Gorman joined by Brian Stern,
founder and Chairman of Gray Bull Rescue. You can learn more about all
the work they do which we're talkingabout right now, and support that work
at Gray Bull Rescue dot Org.So, Maui, you have the fires
(20:29):
in Florida, you have a hurricaneIan and the flooding there on the southwest
coast of Florida. So you've gonebeyond these conflict zones and you've dealt with
natural disasters too and rescuing Americans there. Well, yeah, because if you
think about it, so we're notGray Mike team and I as my team
(20:52):
and I we are. Our specialtyis doing operations like this, plain strains,
automobiles, helicopters, boats, bigplanes, little planes, all kinds
of stuff. We are Our expertiseis doing things where the government is not.
That that's our that's our space thatwe work in, what we call
(21:14):
the gray space. That's why we'recalled grapel this space. We're not competitors
of the government. We work wherethey're not. You'll never see a picture
of me or any of my teammatesnext to UH an American soldier helping him
do anything. That's not what wedo. We don't augment. We're in
lieu of So it doesn't matter tome, it really doesn't. It doesn't
(21:40):
matter to me where an American maybe in trouble. It's kind of irrelevant.
Actually, if you're an American stuckin Lehaina, Maui and you can't
get out, or you're an Americanstuck in in Malova, Ukraine and you
can't get out, or you're therean American stuck in Porter Prince Hadian you
can't get out. Would I knowto be true that you're American and you
can't get out? That's all.That's really the beginning and the end of,
(22:04):
you know, of my decision makingwhen we go do analysis, you
know, should we or should wenot do an operation? It's a very
binary discussion. Are they American?Yes or no? Yes? Are they
in trouble? Yes or no?Yes? Can we get there? And
can we do an operation? Yes? Is anyone else coming? No?
(22:26):
Tucking our bags, let's get outof you, let's go. And I
think it's important to note that whenyou go into these different areas, whether
it's Ukraine or Afghanistan, this isnot like what people will see in movies
of these rescues where you're going andguns blazing and things like that. You're
(22:48):
having to do it a very differentway because the cavalry's not coming. If
you get into trouble. There isno net, There is no net,
there is no help. You know, we are my team and I are
the absolute end of the road,last resort. You call us after you've
called everybody already. Have you hadpeople who you've rescued when you show up,
(23:12):
They're like, this is it everybodyelse? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
I'm more than one occasion. Youknow, we we've had. You
know, you know, people alwaysask me, you know, well,
(23:33):
when you're in the field, whatkind of gun do you carry? Right?
Like, you know, what doyou carry You're in all these crazy
places, you know, what doyou carry? Right? And people are
usually shocked to hear that I workunharmed, and they're like how how what
do you mean how? And Iexplained, if it's like me and one
or two other people three hundred fourhundred miles behind enemy lines, surrounded by
(23:59):
Russian bag guy, I would needa dump truck of AMMO to survive.
Yeah, you know, you know, I did an operation of this place
called Malova, Ukraine, and we'reworking we're working this other place called pri
Verrigan Zaparigia, surrounded by bad guys, you know, between between me and
anything that looks like a friend isthirty one hours away. You know at
(24:22):
my day, you know, Ican hold my own in a gunfight,
but yeah, I don't know anyonethat's killed three four thousand people in one
shot. You know, my shoulderwould get tired, right, So you
know, those are the kinds ofnumbers that we're talking about. So it's
much more like a magic trick.It's seemingly but not the half the time
(24:42):
we do these things. The badguys see it later and they're like,
wow, we had no idea happensall the time. We broke this kid
out of jail. We broke thiskid out of jail. He's the first
American victim of war crimes alive sinceWorld War Two. Young kid from Detroit,
Michigan, gets arrested by the Russians. He asked for help. Help
(25:03):
doesn't come. He's right in theinvasion corridor and he gets arrested by the
Russians. Eleven counts of espionage,tortured, beaten, the whole nine yards.
His case is the first indictment inthe history of the United States.
The Department of Justice was able tobring indictments for war crimes against foreign powers
(25:25):
for the first time ever in thehistory of the United States. This is
our case and we we we tookhim. He wasn't released. Brittany Grinder
was exchanged right amicably. This wasn'tbad. The Russians still had his underwear,
they still his passport. Uh,we took him. Today the Russians
(25:45):
have no idea how we did it. It's amazing. I do want to
note and again we're joined by BrianStern, founder and chairman of Gray Bull
Rescue, which you can learn moreabout and support a Gray Bull Rescue dot
org. These stories you're telling us, these missions that you go on.
We only have a couple minutes left, and I want to make sure we
get to this. This can't happenwithout the help of everyone listening. That's
(26:10):
the thing is. Helicopters in Haiti, the rescue Americans cost money. Boats
during Hurricane e it cost money.Helicopters in MAUI cost money. I can't
get Russians to, you know,betray their country because I'm a nice guy.
Doesn't work that way. Airplanes inAfghanistan and today cost money. All
(26:30):
these things, travel, body armor, helmets, night vision intelligence vehicles,
all those things, they all costmoney. If you're If one of your
listeners wants to do us a favorand they're in the night vision business or
the body armor business, or theboat business, or you own a car,
you own a car dealership, goto grabule Rescue Dot or push to
(26:52):
contact need button. I need yourhelp. We need gear, We need
comms, We need laptops, GPS, strobes, landing lights, all kinds
radios, all kinds of stuff.It all costs money or has to be
donated in kind. We don't getanything from the government, so my team
and I love to do the work, but we need your help. Our
(27:15):
motto is, don't be a spectator. That doesn't mean you got to give
us a million dollars. One dollaris good too if you can. If
you own a Chevy dealership and youwant to donate us a suburban, we
need we need. We need suburbansfor hurricane ops, for domestics, for
natural disasters, all kinds of stuff, all kinds of stuff. You can
(27:37):
donate us your your travel points fromyour Marriott thing, all kinds of stuff.
But it all costs money, Itall takes resources. My team and
I we rescued over seven thousand peoplesince August twenty twenty one. That's what
we admit to. Number is actuallya lot bigger. We've done six hundred
operations all over the place. We'rethe only people to rescue Oskar kidnapped Americans
(28:00):
out of Gaza. January twenty twentyfour, five American kids trapped in Gaza.
Got them out. The FBI triedfor months, couldn't figure it out.
We did it. They're from Campa, Florida. You can meet them.
Google it. I have the receipts. Google anything I say. You
could see it for yourself. Don'ttake my word for it. No problem.
It's all out there. It's allout there, but we need your
(28:22):
help. Not being a spectator meansbeing an American. I don't care if
you're a Republican. I don't careif you're a Democrat. On my team.
I got Republicans, Democrats, Muslims, Christian Jews, men, women,
skinny, Harry Bald we got themall. We got them all.
If Paul Revere were alive today,he would have a grable patch on his
(28:45):
horse because we're just Americans doing whatAmericans should do. My oath of enlistment
when I joined did not have didwhen I join the Army did not have
an expiration date commitment many years agoto the people and my team and I
all of us do at GRABEL,I actually make my people do an oath
(29:08):
so that we don't forget why wedo what we do. As a reminder
the work you do is absolutely incredibleand it's vital and everyone can support that
work at gray Bull Rescue dot org. Brian Stern, founder and chairman of
Gray Bull Rescue, Brian, reallywant to thank you for your service of
this country and for taking a fewminutes to come on the show. We
appreciate it. Thanks so much forhaving me. I appreciate it. Thank
(29:30):
you all right, and that's goingto do it for this edition of iHeartRadio
Communities. As we wrap things up, I want offer big thanks to our
guests and of course to all ofyou for listening. I'm your host,
Ryan Gorman. We'll talk to youagain real soon.
Host
Manny Munoz
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