October 25, 2024 • 11 mins
Jack Murphy is a former Green Beret and Army Ranger Sniper that has served on multiple combat deployments. He also hosts the Team House Podcast and has written multiple books.
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https://www.youtube.com/@TheTeamHousePodcast
Support the show
https://www.jcramergraphics.com
https://www.ANGLICOshop.com
https://www.patreon.com/formeractionguys
The Team House Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/@TheTeamHousePodcast
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it was by Welcome to the Formers podcast. Before
we get started, I want to let you know that
you could support the show by going over to Jkremergraphics
dot com and picking up an item. We also do
discounts for group orders. So if you're looking at your unit,
your business, whatever, is looking to do a large purchase,
reach out and I'll send you a discount code that
allows you to also let everyone order individually. That way
you're not stuck like collecting money making rosters for sizes,
(00:23):
colors and all the other stuff. You know, that's the
worst part about it. I remember doing it when I
was in Also, we offer free shipping on orders of
seventy five dollars or more. And as always, if you're
looking for a custom design for your unit, then reach
out and we can facilitate that as well. So again,
support the show, go over to Jcramergraphics dot com and
let's get to it.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We had the Regimental Reconnaissance Attatchment today it's the Regimental
Reconnaissance Company and they their job was to do recon
for the range of regiment and they kind of work
themselves out of a job in the sense that they
got sucked up into JSOCK and started doing operations for them.
So that left the battalions without any sort of reconnaissance element,
(01:04):
and to rectify that, they created battalion reconnaissance platoons. So
this was a brand new capability for the battalions and
this was their first deployment. The pointing uh, you know,
like you said earlier that there was kind of a
throwback to works in the sense that these guys were
would work in five six man teams with maybe with
(01:28):
a JPAC, maybe with a sniper, and they would act
as scouts. They could go out and uh, you know,
low visibility vehicles disguised as Afghan people and or soldiers
or whatever the case may be, or do aerial reconnaissance
whatever whatever really needed to be done to get out
(01:48):
there and do recon on targets for rangers.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
That's a that's I mean, that sounds like an awesome job,
to be honest. You know, that's like a lot of people,
I think when they think of recon or reconnaissance of
some do in a gilly suit laying in a bush,
you know, and it's way more than that, especially nowadays,
like you talked about in Afghanistan, where you got people
going out and intermingling with the local populace and stuff,
you know, unknown to them. Was that ever something you
(02:15):
considered doing or wanted to do, And is that an
extra like end doc or anything to get into that
or how does that work?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I'm pretty sure that they do now have their own
selection and their own training course and everything. I'm sure
it's much more advanced now that they've that they've matured
that capability since it was first stood up, you know,
a long time ago now, like we're talking like fifteen
years ago. Yeah, for sure, it wasn't something that I
necessarily thought about doing per se, just because I was
(02:44):
a new sniper at the time, so I was still
wearing the ropes at.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
My own job.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, definitely, Now that you've gone and been to Afghanistan,
like you said, you joined you know, initially you were
going to join the French Foreign Legion because you just
wanted to get into a combat unit. Now you've had
that taste of it, you've been there, you've done that,
you've gone into the great unknown. You know, what was
your kind of thought process afterwards? Did it seem like
(03:09):
was it what you thought it would be? Was it
worth it to you? I mean, obviously you went back. Honestly,
it was a dream come true.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I was exactly where I wanted to be, doing exactly
what I wanted to do, getting to roll out on
combat operations with a highly trained, motivated force like the Rangers.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It was absolutely amazing. You know. I had some great leaders.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I had, you know, with my sniper partner, you know,
some great training. I was under the wings of some
really good guys. We had the best equipment, we had
the best helicopters.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
So, I mean, it was an amazing experience. It really was.
You can't really oh, go ahead, I was just gonna say.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And also just being in such a remote, austere location
like the Afghanistan, at times it feels like you're on
another planet.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, for sure. At times it definitely does. It is
an interesting place. I try to like convey some of
the some things you see in Afghanistan. It's like you
can't really understand it, some of the stuff unless you've
been there and you've seen you know, we always say
there's like when I was on the advisor team, there's
an Afghan solution to an Afghan problem. You know that
it doesn't matter if that's what was made or designed
(04:23):
to fix that issue. They will work it some way
to make it work.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
It's just how.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It's just how the people are seeing the craziest looking
vehicles drive down the road that are pieced together from
probably thirty other vehicles. Yeah, Afghanistan is an interesting place
for sure. I'm sitting here thinking about that, and I
totally forgot the question I was gonna ask you. You know,
being at Ranger Battalion and other units like that, where
(04:49):
there's a high expectation of individual performance and there's a
sense of people that just want to be there, you know,
is a different world than being in like I'm assuming
the big Army, I know, in the big Marine Corps.
You know, being in these working in these small specialized
teams and doing those missions was way more fulfilling for me,
(05:11):
you know, when I was with Anglico doing stuff with
those guys than being at like I was a mechanic.
You know, when I first came in the Marine Corps,
there was two different levels of like this is really cool,
I'm in the Marine Corps and what was the Marine Corps?
You know, did you guys have that same kind of feeling,
like you can appreciate like, hey, everyone that's here wants
to be here. You know, everyone here is trying their
(05:33):
hardest to be good at their job.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah yeah, And I hate to use like such a
kind of cliched metaphor, but it's kind of like you're
with modern day samurai, right, They're like they're making an
art form into what they do. They're trying to be
the best at every little, single task that they're given.
So it's just an incredible environment to be in. And
you know, I can safely say, you know, I was average.
(05:58):
I was an average guy. It's on a relative scale.
I guess I was in an elite unit, but I
was just an average guy in an elite unit. And
I was very fortunate to be able to work around
that kind of caliber of soldier for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
And you know, that was kind of my whole point
in starting this podcast was there's so many like normal dudes,
you know, you see walking down the street that you
would never know unless they told their story, the things
that they've seen or done. You know, one of the
first guys I interviewed, I bring this story up a
few times on here. His name's Jerry. My neighbor told
(06:34):
me about him and I'd seen this guy walking down
the street a few times, and I thought he was
just some beach bump because I lived in the ocean
side right next to the beach, and I thought this
was some old beach bump, you know. He'd always seen
him with the shades and a big hat on. And
he's like, yeah, he was in the Marines. He was
a fighter pilot. You should talk to him. He's like,
I know you got that podcast, you should hit him up.
And I was like, all right, man. So he introduces
me and turns out this dude is like ninety eight
(06:55):
percent blind. He's like walking to and from the beach
barely even able to see. And he went blind because
he was doing a bombing run in Vietnam and got
shot down and the canopy like busted through the windshield
and blinded him. As he ejected, and I'm like, dude,
like that's exactly what I'm talking about. No one would
ever know that story, like unless you told that. And
(07:16):
it's unfortunately he doesn't tell. He doesn't really talk about it.
He has a group of pilot friends and they're the
only ones that know their own stories because they have
like an email chain all these old Vietnam de pilot
dudes that stay in touch with each other, and I'm like, man,
you guys really need to get these stories out because
it's it's history.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
It's very important, and.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Everyone has done more than somebody and less than somebody else,
you know, And I think too many people get wrapped
around like what did I do in the military compared
to what these other people did?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
You know? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, and you know, we all served like our own
little small part, you know, And I think it's good
to record all of those experiences. And a lot of
those guys who they have the most insane stories, they're
the least act to talk about them, and you kind
of have to pry them out of it, you know,
I do. You know, I'm maybe this is a self
serving statement to some extent, but I think that what
(08:06):
I do, what you do. There are a few others
out there as well who have similar podcasts, and it's
not really about like shooting my own horn. It's about
allowing other people to tell their stories and hopefully inform
and educate the next generation.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And you know, in speaking of informing and educating, when
you came back from that first deployment, you probably had
a whole group of new guys, right, did you Was
it up to you to start training these guys or
were you still considered a new guy. I mean, the
deployments are a little bit shorter than what I'm used to,
so I don't know how the vibe is and the
range of battalion.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I was still relatively junior, but the way things worked out,
I did end up taking a fire theme in weapons
squad first platoon over an ACOW, And yes, I had
new guys assigned. Now it's my responsibility to show them
how things are supposed to work.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
It's such a crazy concept because you were probably twenty
two or so at the time, and now you're in
charge of like teaching these these people how to survive
in a combat situation, or like, hey, this is the
most efficient way to kill a dude. You know, like
just to think. In the military, it's like whatever, that's
just you know, whatever, that's the job. But outside of
the military, it's hard for me to imagine like regular
(09:23):
people understanding that kind of thought process where you're like, hey,
if I get smoked in the face, I need you
to step up and grab the radio and take over.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, yeah, twenty one year olds leading eighteen year olds,
and you know, it's a when you put it in
that context, it's kind of horrifying, right right, But it's
also it's also you know, best job in the army. Yeah,
I mean, best.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Job in the world.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And it's incredibly gratifying, as intimidating as it is at
times that but to have that much responsibility dumped on
you as a young person, it's a real important formative
experience to have, for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
And I honestly think that that level of responsibility given
to someone and I don't know, I think that is
why a lot of people have an issue when they
get out of the military, because everything else just kind
of seems like bullshit. Now, you know, after you've done
something that's like you're riding the edge constantly, you know,
(10:25):
and at any time you could be killed, something could happen.
It's dangerous, Like it's inherently dangerous. No matter how many
safeties you put into play, you're still dropping a live
bomb on something. You know, something bad could happen. And
then you get out. Now it's like, hey, I'm a
insurance salesman, you know, or whatever you choose to do.
It's like I understand why a lot of guys have
issues after they get out, and it's like they don't
(10:46):
feel like they're fulfilling the most that they could be,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Especially in war, where every single decision you make, everything
you do, is so important and there's so much riding
on it. And now, I mean today, the worst thing
that happened was we're in the middle of this interview
and my computer shut down to do an automatic update
and it interrupted our interview.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
The worst thing that happened to me today.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I can't believe it, but I mean, really, just the
stakes are so much lower. Just reset the computer, get
it back up, and we're good to go. And yeah,
I think absolutely so many of us, incutting myself, you know,
struggle with those things. Not not so much anymore, but
in that transition out of the military, it was difficult
Hey, it was by Welcome to the Formers podcast. Before
we get started, I want to let you know that
you could support the show by going over to Jkremergraphics
dot com and picking up an item. We also do
discounts for group orders. So if you're looking at your unit,
your business, whatever, is looking to do a large purchase,
reach out and I'll send you a discount code that
allows you to also let everyone order individually. That way
you're not stuck like collecting money making rosters for sizes,
(00:23):
colors and all the other stuff. You know, that's the
worst part about it. I remember doing it when I
was in Also, we offer free shipping on orders of
seventy five dollars or more. And as always, if you're
looking for a custom design for your unit, then reach
out and we can facilitate that as well. So again,
support the show, go over to Jcramergraphics dot com and
let's get to it.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We had the Regimental Reconnaissance Attatchment today it's the Regimental
Reconnaissance Company and they their job was to do recon
for the range of regiment and they kind of work
themselves out of a job in the sense that they
got sucked up into JSOCK and started doing operations for them.
So that left the battalions without any sort of reconnaissance element,
(01:04):
and to rectify that, they created battalion reconnaissance platoons. So
this was a brand new capability for the battalions and
this was their first deployment. The pointing uh, you know,
like you said earlier that there was kind of a
throwback to works in the sense that these guys were
would work in five six man teams with maybe with
(01:28):
a JPAC, maybe with a sniper, and they would act
as scouts. They could go out and uh, you know,
low visibility vehicles disguised as Afghan people and or soldiers
or whatever the case may be, or do aerial reconnaissance
whatever whatever really needed to be done to get out
(01:48):
there and do recon on targets for rangers.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
That's a that's I mean, that sounds like an awesome job,
to be honest. You know, that's like a lot of people,
I think when they think of recon or reconnaissance of
some do in a gilly suit laying in a bush,
you know, and it's way more than that, especially nowadays,
like you talked about in Afghanistan, where you got people
going out and intermingling with the local populace and stuff,
you know, unknown to them. Was that ever something you
(02:15):
considered doing or wanted to do, And is that an
extra like end doc or anything to get into that
or how does that work?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I'm pretty sure that they do now have their own
selection and their own training course and everything. I'm sure
it's much more advanced now that they've that they've matured
that capability since it was first stood up, you know,
a long time ago now, like we're talking like fifteen
years ago. Yeah, for sure, it wasn't something that I
necessarily thought about doing per se, just because I was
(02:44):
a new sniper at the time, so I was still
wearing the ropes at.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
My own job.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, definitely, Now that you've gone and been to Afghanistan,
like you said, you joined you know, initially you were
going to join the French Foreign Legion because you just
wanted to get into a combat unit. Now you've had
that taste of it, you've been there, you've done that,
you've gone into the great unknown. You know, what was
your kind of thought process afterwards? Did it seem like
(03:09):
was it what you thought it would be? Was it
worth it to you? I mean, obviously you went back. Honestly,
it was a dream come true.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I was exactly where I wanted to be, doing exactly
what I wanted to do, getting to roll out on
combat operations with a highly trained, motivated force like the Rangers.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It was absolutely amazing. You know. I had some great leaders.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I had, you know, with my sniper partner, you know,
some great training. I was under the wings of some
really good guys. We had the best equipment, we had
the best helicopters.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
So, I mean, it was an amazing experience. It really was.
You can't really oh, go ahead, I was just gonna say.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And also just being in such a remote, austere location
like the Afghanistan, at times it feels like you're on
another planet.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, for sure. At times it definitely does. It is
an interesting place. I try to like convey some of
the some things you see in Afghanistan. It's like you
can't really understand it, some of the stuff unless you've
been there and you've seen you know, we always say
there's like when I was on the advisor team, there's
an Afghan solution to an Afghan problem. You know that
it doesn't matter if that's what was made or designed
(04:23):
to fix that issue. They will work it some way
to make it work.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
It's just how.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It's just how the people are seeing the craziest looking
vehicles drive down the road that are pieced together from
probably thirty other vehicles. Yeah, Afghanistan is an interesting place
for sure. I'm sitting here thinking about that, and I
totally forgot the question I was gonna ask you. You know,
being at Ranger Battalion and other units like that, where
(04:49):
there's a high expectation of individual performance and there's a
sense of people that just want to be there, you know,
is a different world than being in like I'm assuming
the big Army, I know, in the big Marine Corps.
You know, being in these working in these small specialized
teams and doing those missions was way more fulfilling for me,
(05:11):
you know, when I was with Anglico doing stuff with
those guys than being at like I was a mechanic.
You know, when I first came in the Marine Corps,
there was two different levels of like this is really cool,
I'm in the Marine Corps and what was the Marine Corps?
You know, did you guys have that same kind of feeling,
like you can appreciate like, hey, everyone that's here wants
to be here. You know, everyone here is trying their
(05:33):
hardest to be good at their job.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah yeah, And I hate to use like such a
kind of cliched metaphor, but it's kind of like you're
with modern day samurai, right, They're like they're making an
art form into what they do. They're trying to be
the best at every little, single task that they're given.
So it's just an incredible environment to be in. And
you know, I can safely say, you know, I was average.
(05:58):
I was an average guy. It's on a relative scale.
I guess I was in an elite unit, but I
was just an average guy in an elite unit. And
I was very fortunate to be able to work around
that kind of caliber of soldier for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
And you know, that was kind of my whole point
in starting this podcast was there's so many like normal dudes,
you know, you see walking down the street that you
would never know unless they told their story, the things
that they've seen or done. You know, one of the
first guys I interviewed, I bring this story up a
few times on here. His name's Jerry. My neighbor told
(06:34):
me about him and I'd seen this guy walking down
the street a few times, and I thought he was
just some beach bump because I lived in the ocean
side right next to the beach, and I thought this
was some old beach bump, you know. He'd always seen
him with the shades and a big hat on. And
he's like, yeah, he was in the Marines. He was
a fighter pilot. You should talk to him. He's like,
I know you got that podcast, you should hit him up.
And I was like, all right, man. So he introduces
me and turns out this dude is like ninety eight
(06:55):
percent blind. He's like walking to and from the beach
barely even able to see. And he went blind because
he was doing a bombing run in Vietnam and got
shot down and the canopy like busted through the windshield
and blinded him. As he ejected, and I'm like, dude,
like that's exactly what I'm talking about. No one would
ever know that story, like unless you told that. And
(07:16):
it's unfortunately he doesn't tell. He doesn't really talk about it.
He has a group of pilot friends and they're the
only ones that know their own stories because they have
like an email chain all these old Vietnam de pilot
dudes that stay in touch with each other, and I'm like, man,
you guys really need to get these stories out because
it's it's history.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
It's very important, and.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Everyone has done more than somebody and less than somebody else,
you know, And I think too many people get wrapped
around like what did I do in the military compared
to what these other people did?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
You know? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, and you know, we all served like our own
little small part, you know, And I think it's good
to record all of those experiences. And a lot of
those guys who they have the most insane stories, they're
the least act to talk about them, and you kind
of have to pry them out of it, you know,
I do. You know, I'm maybe this is a self
serving statement to some extent, but I think that what
(08:06):
I do, what you do. There are a few others
out there as well who have similar podcasts, and it's
not really about like shooting my own horn. It's about
allowing other people to tell their stories and hopefully inform
and educate the next generation.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And you know, in speaking of informing and educating, when
you came back from that first deployment, you probably had
a whole group of new guys, right, did you Was
it up to you to start training these guys or
were you still considered a new guy. I mean, the
deployments are a little bit shorter than what I'm used to,
so I don't know how the vibe is and the
range of battalion.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I was still relatively junior, but the way things worked out,
I did end up taking a fire theme in weapons
squad first platoon over an ACOW, And yes, I had
new guys assigned. Now it's my responsibility to show them
how things are supposed to work.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
It's such a crazy concept because you were probably twenty
two or so at the time, and now you're in
charge of like teaching these these people how to survive
in a combat situation, or like, hey, this is the
most efficient way to kill a dude. You know, like
just to think. In the military, it's like whatever, that's
just you know, whatever, that's the job. But outside of
the military, it's hard for me to imagine like regular
(09:23):
people understanding that kind of thought process where you're like, hey,
if I get smoked in the face, I need you
to step up and grab the radio and take over.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, yeah, twenty one year olds leading eighteen year olds,
and you know, it's a when you put it in
that context, it's kind of horrifying, right right, But it's
also it's also you know, best job in the army. Yeah,
I mean, best.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Job in the world.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And it's incredibly gratifying, as intimidating as it is at
times that but to have that much responsibility dumped on
you as a young person, it's a real important formative
experience to have, for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
And I honestly think that that level of responsibility given
to someone and I don't know, I think that is
why a lot of people have an issue when they
get out of the military, because everything else just kind
of seems like bullshit. Now, you know, after you've done
something that's like you're riding the edge constantly, you know,
(10:25):
and at any time you could be killed, something could happen.
It's dangerous, Like it's inherently dangerous. No matter how many
safeties you put into play, you're still dropping a live
bomb on something. You know, something bad could happen. And
then you get out. Now it's like, hey, I'm a
insurance salesman, you know, or whatever you choose to do.
It's like I understand why a lot of guys have
issues after they get out, and it's like they don't
(10:46):
feel like they're fulfilling the most that they could be,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Especially in war, where every single decision you make, everything
you do, is so important and there's so much riding
on it. And now, I mean today, the worst thing
that happened was we're in the middle of this interview
and my computer shut down to do an automatic update
and it interrupted our interview.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
The worst thing that happened to me today.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I can't believe it, but I mean, really, just the
stakes are so much lower. Just reset the computer, get
it back up, and we're good to go. And yeah,
I think absolutely so many of us, incutting myself, you know,
struggle with those things. Not not so much anymore, but
in that transition out of the military, it was difficult
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