Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / Oscar Mike Radio – 507 – Lauren Burns and Don Feeney – Stolen

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Oscar Mike Radio – 507 – Lauren Burns and Don Feeney – Stolen · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

1:01
Irene, I say again. Irene.
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The brain to perfect for the body.
3:04
Am I in your arrest? He results in innocent man in
3:08
front of his wife and be in the group.
3:11
Do you remember any of that? Does the defendant have any
3:13
priors? Resisting arrest, DUI, assault?
3:18
Hey, my client has been awarded a Purple Heart and a bronze star
3:21
medal for his combat service. I'm ordering you to undergo a 60
3:24
day outpatient rehabilitation program.
3:27
Good luck. No, I'm not doing that.
3:32
Do you know what the VA S put me through?
3:33
If you have a brain in your head, you're going to listen to
3:35
me right now. Because the next time you try to
3:37
provoke a lethal response from law enforcement, you might not
3:39
have an Angel sitting on your shoulder.
3:41
The courts think that you're going to fix me.
3:43
I hate to disappoint you, but I can't fix you.
3:46
That's your job, not mine. Did you know that your father
3:49
got out? He's a dangerous man.
3:51
Calvin, be careful. We came back and they spat on us
3:55
at the airport. No homecoming.
3:58
Parade, no celebrations. And you can't pretend like you
4:01
have any idea what it's like to be in combat.
4:04
No, But what I do know is this field of work that I've
4:08
dedicated my life to has helped a lot of people.
4:11
When you got back, something was different.
4:14
It wasn't that you'd changed, you'd been replaced.
4:20
You lose your morality when you go to war.
4:23
And the hard part is coming back to a civilian society that
4:26
doesn't have any idea what's going on in your head.
4:30
It's hard to believe my enemy. He's the man I used to be.
4:35
I bet you wonder, where's my tribe?
4:38
And I ain't talking about no friendship neither.
4:40
I'm talking about brotherhood. What is it that you truly want,
4:47
Calvin? I just want to wake up in the
4:49
morning and feel something. My pain is relative, son.
4:55
Sometimes we got to fall apart to find ourselves all over
4:59
again. Wait for me there.
5:02
Wait for me there. You were willing to give your
5:06
life for your country. Now maybe you can try living for
5:12
it. What are you feeding this guy?
5:17
Look at that. What do you want?
5:19
I did 4 tours. Of The Cheesecake Factory.
5:22
Oh, OK, Little spicy, little spicy.
6:04
the movie, music, news, television, promos, None
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trailers and videos used by OM radio are protected by the Fair
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Use Act, Section 107 of the Copyright Act One.
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The purpose and character of the use, including whether such uses
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of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
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2 The nature of the copyrighted work. 3 The amount and
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substantiality of the portion used in relation to the
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copyrighted work as a whole for the effect of the use upon the
6:33
potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
6:38
What does the life after service look like?
6:41
Kicking back, Taking it easy. We believe it looks a little
6:46
different. It looks like leading for all
6:49
veterans, helping shape policies to make certain they get the
6:53
benefits they've earned, and ensuring every veteran's voice
6:56
is heard. It's like advancing to meet
7:00
today's veterans where they are, lifting them up and
7:03
strengthening the bond that unites us.
7:07
It looks like rolling up our sleeves, serving those in need,
7:11
and cleaning up our communities to make them better for
7:13
everyone. Because a veteran's mission
7:17
never truly ends, and neither does ours.
7:24
The VFW still leading, still advancing, still
7:29
servinggetinvolved@stillserving.org. Hello and welcome to OM Radio.
7:45
My name is Travis, Marine Corps veteran and your host OM Radio
7:49
sponsored by Joyce ASAC of ASAC Real Estate, Danielle Rocco of
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E6 Creations And I want to thank my support supporters Case on
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Shaving Company, Exceptional Parent Magazine and Fight Camp.
8:01
Be your strongest combination. I I love stories like this.
8:07
And when I say this, my one of my guest of the two that you see
8:12
with me were on before and then did all this crazy cool,
8:17
interesting stuff and then brought back more guest to talk
8:21
again. It's just like more equals more
8:23
equals more. I love it.
8:25
I want to welcome back returning guest Lauren Burns with a very
8:29
special guest, Don Feeney. Both of you, welcome to OM
8:32
Radio. I'm looking forward to talking
8:33
with you all well. Thanks for the offer.
8:35
Thank you. Thanks for having me back again.
8:38
I love being able to hang out with you, Travis, so I it's an
8:41
honor to be on your show. Well, thank you very much.
8:44
Thank you very much. I mean, you came on for 4:30
8:46
folks. And you know, this is, you know
8:50
when they say, you know, the truth is better than real life.
8:53
Well, truth and real life were wrapped up in this show.
8:57
And since then, Lauren, you, you start a podcast.
9:00
You're, you're, you're crushing the podcast world.
9:04
And now you've written a book about your story.
9:07
And the book is stolen. It's coming out September 8th.
9:10
Miranda Lambert did the Ford. Ford.
9:14
OK, I got to know. I mean, I blink my eyes and you
9:17
go from podcaster to author. Lauren, and you brought friends
9:20
this time. I can't keep up.
9:22
Tell us how this all happened. Thank you.
9:25
Thank you very much. Well, about 2 1/2 years ago I
9:30
felt really God put it on my heart that hey, it's time for
9:33
you to Share your story. The whole thing from the
9:37
kidnapping to the miraculous amazing rescue, all the details.
9:42
And the cool thing, Travis, is I and my mom.
9:45
Neither one of us knew all the details of the story until we
9:49
got to do a reunion with Don and JD and Dave about a year ago in
9:55
North Carolina. And man, I wish you could have
9:58
been there because sitting around in a little Airbnb around
10:01
a dining room table, eating and listening to the details of the
10:04
story unfold. It was just amazing, all of the
10:08
bits and pieces. And so that's why I launched
10:13
Redeem Podcast. And with that podcast, I got to
10:15
interview the guys that did my rescue.
10:18
And then the book, like you just said, man, becoming an author is
10:21
like a whole thing. It's it's a miracle.
10:24
So any author out there listening, I'm amazed by you
10:27
because it is a crazy journey. But the book's out for pre-order
10:31
and I'll drop in September 8th. And so here we are.
10:35
Here we are now. Now how does remind me again?
10:40
And for the folks who don't know, how does Don figure into
10:43
your story? Well, Don is one of the reasons
10:47
why I have a story. He is one of the men a part of
10:50
the rescue mission. He's one of the key pieces to
10:53
the story and Don will tell the story better than me.
10:57
But he was the initial person that was contacted to say hey, a
11:01
little girl, 7 year old has been kidnapped from Dallas, TX and
11:05
taken to Josh Jordan. The mother is frantic.
11:08
She needs help, she's desperate. She'll do anything.
11:11
And that's where Don entered the scene.
11:15
Don, do you still remember that day?
11:18
Is it still clear to you as it as it is to Lauren?
11:21
Like it was yesterday. So I'm sitting in my office in
11:25
Fayetteville and my secretary gets on the line, says Mr.
11:29
Feeney. There's a guy on the phone by
11:30
the name of Everett Alvarez, and he'd like to speak to you.
11:33
Well, I don't know how much you know about PO WS, but Everett
11:37
Alvarez was listed as the longest hell POW in Hanoi
11:40
Hilton. Well, after I got done standing
11:42
up at attention, I answered my phone and I said, Sir, how can I
11:46
help you? And he said, well, Don, I got
11:49
your name from a friend, which was Al Zapata.
11:53
And Al was dealing with Kathy. And he says, I think that you
11:57
guys may be able to do this job. But before I go any further, I
12:00
want to tell you this has nothing to do with the US
12:03
government. And I said, Sir, if you're
12:06
asking me to do it, what do you want done?
12:09
I mean, the respect we have for him was tremendous.
12:13
So he said, well, I'll come down and talk to you.
12:15
It's about a little girl who was taken to Jordan and been
12:18
kidnapped and taken to Jordan and we need to get it back.
12:22
And I said we'll come see you. He said, Nope, I'm coming to
12:25
you. So Everett shows up in my office
12:28
and I've won Dave, who at that time was my partner, and JD
12:32
Roberts, who was almost a on and off contractor for us.
12:37
Me and JD were in Delta Force together.
12:40
So we had a lot of a lot of relationship time and he showed
12:43
up and he briefed us and I told him you didn't need to come here
12:47
if you asked to get it done, we're going to do it.
12:50
And he said, OK, well let's make a plan.
12:53
Then me and Dave went down and seen Kathy and started getting
12:58
the information, came back and we're looking at each other
13:01
like, man, how are we going to do this?
13:04
And that's how it started for our end.
13:07
It just, I remember reading about it in the Reader's Digest.
13:11
That's where I first got with the story, Lauren, that that
13:14
kind of dates me a little bit, but that's the reality.
13:17
I have one on my desk. Couple of those copies.
13:21
OK. And it seemed like something
13:24
like don't, don't think it's the wrong way, Mr. Feeney, that the
13:28
A-Team would do or, or was some like Chuck Norris, you know,
13:32
movie in real life. Like these are real people who
13:35
went to a foreign nation with no support behind any lines and,
13:40
and got this done. And, and I have to know what was
13:47
it like when you when Lauren was returned to her mother and the
13:51
mission was complete? I know we're getting a little
13:53
ahead of things here, but I, I got to know.
13:56
Well, for us, first of all, Dave is a, is a a Southern Baptist
14:02
Christian. I'm a Brooklyn dying the wool
14:05
Catholic Christian and and and JD was a was a medium Southern
14:10
Baptist Christian. So we all had that.
14:14
We all had that in common. Was he a backslidden Baptist?
14:18
Yeah, yeah, he was. So we all had, we all had faith
14:23
that we can do things if it was given to us.
14:25
That was the bottom line. So by the time we got
14:27
back-to-back to the States, you know, it's, it's kind of like we
14:33
knew we were going to get it done.
14:35
There's no doubt. And we also knew that if we get
14:38
caught, if we made it anywhere alive, we'd be under the jail.
14:42
So when we got back, it was kind of like, OK, that was kind of
14:45
amazing, you know. And then of course, you know, we
14:49
went on to do more after that, but we'd done, we've done
14:53
probably 8 hostile recoveries like Lauren.
14:58
And then we actually lost count of once we can't like Judy's an
15:03
operator. She's done two or three
15:05
operation where she was a team leader, my wife in South and
15:09
Central America. So your your wife is part of the
15:12
business and. Oh, yeah, She, she, she was on
15:15
Lauren's op. She was a support network.
15:17
She was going to try to make it today, but she couldn't do it.
15:20
Well, she was a support network because you have to have a
15:22
support no matter what you do in a mission, you have to have
15:24
comms. You have to have support, you
15:26
know, and you have to have the operators on the ground.
15:28
Well, she was the one outside the US coordinating everybody
15:32
because like she'll get into more later.
15:35
Dave was in Jordan, me and JD were in Israel trying to figure
15:40
out how we're going to come across the border.
15:41
And I don't know if you want to get if you want me to get into
15:44
that now or you want to wait. So there's a, we had AI had done
15:49
production security for Rambo 3 and Iron Eagle 2.
15:53
So we had some really good contacts initially. 1 was a man
15:56
by the name of Colonel Diggley. He's passed on now.
15:59
So he says, OK, I know you want to get this girl out of Jordan,
16:02
so tell me how you're going to do it.
16:04
So I gave him my version. We're going to go out, we're
16:06
going to snatch here, we're going to do this, We're going to
16:08
come across the Israeli border. He goes, oh, really?
16:12
He says, come with me. So he takes us out to the
16:15
Israeli border and he puts us on this hilltop and of course,
16:18
Soulja boys show up and then they see Diggly and they start
16:21
saluting them. And he said, OK, let me explain
16:23
something to you. He goes through everything.
16:24
I don't go through a that's the tank traps.
16:26
This is the this is the that. And he gets really close to me.
16:29
He smashed me in a chapstick. So now how are you going to get
16:32
across the Israeli border? I said, well, Sir, I guess
16:35
you're going to tell me. And that's that's how we linked
16:38
up with Colonel Diggley. So he had me over his house that
16:42
night and I got to meet every first.
16:44
It was in the Israeli first tank commander, the 1st fighter
16:49
pilot, and they were all in a meeting and he told them
16:52
everything in Hebrew what we were doing.
16:54
And they're all sitting there scratching their head and
16:56
they're all talking and I can't understand a word they're
16:58
saying. And then one guy says only way
17:03
Allenby Bridge. And I looked at Diggly like,
17:07
what's the Allenby Bridge? He said I'll talk to you about
17:10
it later. So that's how we got the idea.
17:13
And as you know, what's the first thing a sniper plans is
17:16
escape. First thing you plan is your
17:19
escape. So while Dave was in Jordan
17:23
looking for Lauren, me and JD were planning the escape routes
17:27
to cross the Allenby Bridge. And so as you asked me about the
17:32
end of it, at the end it wasn't anti climatic, but we were just
17:36
glad that we got away with it. I mean, to be honest with you,
17:38
we knew the outs were totally against us.
17:41
I mean, but we all had faith that was going to get done and
17:44
we all. I just thought we were good
17:46
enough to do it, to be honest with you.
17:48
You mentioned technology, and you know, you would think that
17:53
with no technology, there's no social media, there's no this,
17:57
there's no that, that. It's like finding you in a
17:59
haystack. How did that work?
18:03
So I say so me and Dave, me and JD went to Israel to plan what
18:07
we're going to do. Diggly, straighten this out
18:09
really quick. Colonel Diggly and then later on
18:13
Dave went into Jordan and he's walking around Jarash now.
18:17
We had sat with Kathy in Texas and got all the information, all
18:20
the proofing of what, how, how, where she was at to the best of
18:24
her knowledge, which turned out to be an issue, of course,
18:26
because her that's. Her mom.
18:29
She she was like, I think this is the house.
18:32
I think that's the house. And then and then so Dave is
18:34
wandering around now. The part about Dave at the time,
18:37
he fit the bill. He's not a dark guy, but he
18:41
tanned up a little bit and he dressed in a complete get up
18:44
hood and had a goatee. And he was older and he, and
18:48
when he was all covered up, he looked a lot older and he wore
18:51
really baggy, whatever they called the men's dress they
18:55
wear. So he didn't look that big, but
18:57
he he was, they was a bear in a human costume, OK.
19:01
And and he was a big boy. So he covered up and he walked
19:05
around that place. I got to say 1010, eleven days
19:11
at least, while me and JD were doing different plannings,
19:13
getting from different locations and he could not find Lauren.
19:17
And he said, boys, I need help. So he said, OK, we're done.
19:20
We think we'd have a good idea how we're getting across.
19:24
We got to do a few things with Kathy.
19:25
We call Kathy up and that's where Judy comes in because Judy
19:29
was in touch with Kathy and talking to us.
19:31
And then Kathy came over to Cyprus.
19:33
Was it, I think Yep. And she linked up with one of
19:38
our other operators and we kept her there while me and JD were
19:41
running around Jordan and Cypress was talking to Judy and
19:45
then I was talking to Judy and we had that link going.
19:48
And then we we said, OK, we've, we've got to bring Kathy in to
19:54
get this location because now Jarosh, Jordan is not a big
19:57
place. And we were there.
19:59
The streets weren't even paved, I mean.
20:01
We used to see people jumping out of the way.
20:03
We thought that maybe they were jumping out of the way because
20:05
they were afraid they get hit by cars.
20:06
No, they were jumping out of the way because they knew where the
20:09
potholes were and where the the water was and they didn't want
20:12
to get splashed. OK, so it's that kind of a city
20:15
town. And of course, up on the hill is
20:18
all the rooms. So you from the rooms you can
20:21
look down into into the into the town.
20:24
So I don't know how far you want me to get into it, but.
20:26
I'll keep going, keep going. So we were we'd show up with
20:30
with Dave and me and me. Dave and JD are now running
20:32
around. Now my claim to fame is I can
20:35
blend in a crowd of 2 when I have to.
20:37
OK, originally from Brooklyn, NY and I lived around all
20:41
nationalities. I grew up right on the
20:43
waterfront, right? As a matter of fact, I walk out,
20:45
my house turned left and I stared at the Statue of Liberty
20:47
going to school. The waterfront was right there
20:50
and we had Arabs, we had Puerto Ricans, we had blacks, we had
20:54
Haitians. So I got, and I was a butcher as
20:56
a kid. So I got along with all of them
20:57
because they all like me because I cut the meat for them.
21:00
And I actually started working as a butcher at the age of 12.
21:02
So I was there from 12 to 17. So I knew a lot of the customs
21:08
of the, of the Arab customs. We had a Ave. we called the, we
21:11
used to call it the Egyptian street, but it wasn't, it was
21:13
mainly Jordanians, Egyptians and everybody.
21:17
And we used to make their sausages for them.
21:19
Anyway, Long story short, so I was really good at kind of
21:22
surveillance and surveillance. And in my old unit, I did a lot
21:25
of that. Also, JD was a little harder to
21:27
hide because he was so well built.
21:29
JD was a solid guy. He was like, you know, he was
21:32
the guy and a guy. We're running surveillance and
21:34
OK, JD, I'm going to do this. You're going to JD, you're
21:36
staying in the frigging car, OK, until we need help, OK, You're
21:40
the biggest guy. You're the ones with the with
21:42
the and he was also good at hand to hand.
21:44
He was like black belt and karate and I said if I'm getting
21:48
beat up really bad, then you come save me.
21:50
If not, I'm going to try to run and get in the car.
21:51
We're going to drive off. So we had JD, me and Dave now in
21:57
Jordan. We finally said we got to call
21:59
Kathy. So we brought Kathy in and we
22:03
dressed her up, put her in the car and we drove around for a
22:07
while and then all of a sudden Kathy sees the car, her, her
22:14
ex's car and the the dummy still had Texas plates on it.
22:18
We're we're positive it wasn't there when Dave was walking
22:21
around because it's the minute she's seen it.
22:23
We let Texas plates. How the hell we miss it found
22:26
that later we had it someplace else, you know, but it was, it
22:29
was there. So then now we found the house.
22:34
Now we have to figure out how we're going to find Lauren
22:37
because in that town the kids did not run the streets and play
22:41
stickball or, you know, donkey or whatever you play.
22:44
They didn't play none of that. They just stayed in the houses.
22:47
So we figured out from Judy talking before Kathy came over
22:54
that Lauren was in school. So we figure out how to get into
22:57
school. We first thought that he would
23:00
drive her to and from school, so we were trying to get a watch to
23:03
him, but he wasn't doing that. And then we started thinking
23:07
about the school buses. So, and this is a part, that was
23:12
the amazing Part 1 day. Dave says, you know, guys, we
23:15
need a little more prayer. So you guys get back to your
23:17
room tonight. Let's do some heavy praying
23:19
about this. So we get up the next morning,
23:21
we go out and we're looking around and we're all separated.
23:25
Just just just just one second, you know, one thing that talking
23:29
with Lauren before, since and and you know, we talk off and
23:32
on, you know, through the course of a month is the foundation of
23:37
faith in her rescue in her life at that time.
23:42
It seems like your faith was very important to you.
23:44
Catholic or not, Protestant or not, the faith was the
23:47
foundation of your team. How how key was your faith at
23:51
that time? When doubt is creeping in,
23:54
frustration is creeping in, you're in a different place.
23:56
What was your faith like during that time?
23:59
Our faith, all of our faith at that time was very strong.
24:01
I mean, and, and like Dave carried his Bible into, into
24:07
Jordan and, and you, he'd walk around with it when he was in,
24:11
in the hotels in different places.
24:13
I'd knock on his door one time and he, and he didn't know who
24:15
it was. And he answered his door and
24:17
he's got his Bible in his hand. I said, you know, that may not
24:20
be a good idea to answer the door like that.
24:22
You may want to keep it inside. So we did have a lot of faith in
24:27
what we were doing. And plus we had a lot of
24:28
confidence. I was a Delta operator.
24:30
JD was a Delta operator. I spent 10 years in Delta.
24:34
JD spent 9 to 10 years. I can't remember exactly what.
24:37
We did a lot of things in our real life back then.
24:40
And Dave was an intelligence operator, Air Force and Army.
24:45
So we had a lot of knowledge. We figured we could figure this
24:48
out. So when we brought Kathy in, she
24:53
zoomed in on the area and then we left her back in the hotel
24:57
and we came back and next thing you know, we say, OK, we're
25:01
going to spread out today. We know she's going to school.
25:03
We got there real early. And then we're watching these
25:06
school buses and the school buses, they're so afraid that
25:09
the kids are going to be hurt by someone.
25:12
They only stop with the school bus door next to the house.
25:16
In other words, you can't get out across the street and cross
25:19
and crossover because they don't want the kids getting run over
25:21
and becoming a pancake. So they only stop when the door
25:25
opens to the house. So we're following these school
25:28
buses, sometimes on foot and sometimes by car.
25:31
And then one day, that day, a day, he said, oh, boy, let's go
25:33
home, back to the room tonight, get something good to eat.
25:35
But how about picking up your prayer time a little bit?
25:38
So we did. The next morning, we got out and
25:40
we separated. And I can see JD, but I couldn't
25:44
talk to him. He was about maybe a block away.
25:47
And I can see his demeanor totally change.
25:51
And then he starts walking to me and he starts walking and he's
25:53
walking. He's walking a little faster.
25:55
He's walking a little faster. Pretty soon by the time he gets
25:58
to me, he grabs me by the collar.
26:00
We told the story. He laughs his butt off, too,
26:02
about it. And he grabs me by the collar.
26:04
He says, I seen those eyes and I'm going, JD, you're choking me
26:09
out, let me go. I've seen those eyes.
26:12
And I go, OK, OK, calm down. You're doing a little bit of
26:15
tension here. I said where?
26:17
He says, on that bus that just went by you.
26:19
I didn't see her at the time, but he said that's the bus.
26:22
So we then we knew she was getting on a bus and going to
26:26
school. Because if if Lauren, your whole
26:30
face was not exposed, right? It's just your your eyes.
26:34
No, there we covered our hair. We didn't cover our our, our
26:38
face. And so I would cover my hair
26:40
every day. But my eyes were the
26:42
distinguishing feature because I have, you know, all the
26:45
complexity of skin and darker hair, but I have my mom's light
26:48
bluish green eyes. And that was sort of the
26:50
standout feature. And so that's what Don's talking
26:54
about is JD literally standing on the street, looked into the
26:58
bus window and I stared right in at him and we locked eyes and
27:03
that's how they found my location.
27:05
And so all these years, you know, 38 years later, people
27:09
compliment me all the time about my eyes.
27:11
And it's a beautiful compliment. But I'm like, there's a story
27:14
behind those eyes. You know, it's more, it's more
27:17
than a compliment. And that's a way that I get to
27:19
share my testimony many, many times to people.
27:24
You see the eyes and then you gotta get ready to do the the
27:28
recovery or extraction, whatever you call it, right, Right.
27:31
How? How?
27:33
We said, OK, now we know she's going to school.
27:35
We know she's on a school bus. So what do we do?
27:37
The next couple of days? We have following every freaking
27:40
school bus in town, right? We got two cars.
27:43
We're like the Keystone Cops. Sometimes we cross each other
27:46
and next time we pass each other and finally we find this one
27:50
bus. And I'm pretty sure I was the
27:53
guy driving that day and I think I had Dave in the car and JD was
27:57
driving the other car because we had two cars.
27:59
And I said hey look at that bus. It just went by here but now
28:02
it's down at the bottom of the hill.
28:04
So I zoomed down the bottom of the hill to try to catch it and
28:08
it goes down this country Rd. And I said man if this is her
28:11
bus, this is a blessing. And we watched it and it goes up
28:17
this road and it does kind of 1/2 U-turn and these kids that
28:22
are at the farmhouse get onto the bus and then the bus goes
28:25
back into the garage. And we seen Lauren on the bus
28:29
and said that's her bus. Yeah.
28:32
OK. Now we know when she gets on the
28:35
bus, we know where the bus goes. Let's make a plan.
28:39
And between us, we made a plan that was very simple when you
28:43
get down to it. Now, you got to keep in mind, in
28:44
the meantime, me and JD are driving back and forth to
28:48
Allenby Bridge. And that's when it was real
28:51
important to have Kathy in country because in order to get
28:55
Lauren and Kathy out of the country, we had to have a pass
29:01
for the Allenby Bridge. So we talked to some of our
29:05
contacts, they told us where to go, would be the easiest place
29:08
to get this pass. And then Kathy had to put her
29:13
her Academy award-winning act on to talk this guy into it.
29:18
And I was supposed to be the uncle, OK.
29:21
And we were going to take Lauren on vacation because the father
29:25
was too busy working and, and it worked.
29:29
I mean, there's no, there was no getting around it.
29:32
It was the grace of God that made it work.
29:35
Because we wind up getting a pass for me, Kathy, JD, who
29:40
wasn't there, and Lauren on one piece of no two piece of paper,
29:44
one for Kathy and and Lauren, one for me and JD.
29:47
And the guy gave it to us. And I kind of think he was a
29:51
little memorized by Kathy's species because Kathy was a
29:54
beautiful woman. And we talked nice to him and I
29:57
told him how hard we were working and we gave the sob
30:00
story. And even when he said no, the
30:02
first time, we didn't get we didn't get mad.
30:04
And Kathy was perfect. She said, oh you know, we're
30:08
going to do this, We're going to be doing that.
30:10
We really need to get my daughter for vacation.
30:13
And he signed 2 documents. And when that happened, we
30:18
walked out of there like, thank you, Jesus, because there's no
30:21
other way you're going to get that without that kind of luck.
30:23
And Kathy did a great job talking to this guy.
30:26
And like I said, I think he was a little mesmerized by her,
30:29
number one. And then two, we walked out of
30:32
there with the papers. Now, me and JD have been driving
30:36
back and forth to the Allenby Bridge and we knew every
30:39
checkpoint and we knew the cops sometimes.
30:42
And then one time a guy would say, hey, can you give me a ride
30:45
to the to the far checkpoint? Yeah, we're going there.
30:48
You and we weren't going there. We give the guy a ride.
30:50
So it was like, what are you? We're working, we're doing some
30:53
work and we're doing this, We're doing that and we give some kind
30:56
of story, whatever it was, they believed us.
30:58
And of course we always bring cigarettes because they all
31:00
smoke. And me and JD, neither one of us
31:03
smoked right at the one time. JD was a tobacco chewing guy,
31:07
but he gave that up. So we're sitting in these cars.
31:09
Sometimes these guys were smoking like chimneys, windows
31:12
rolled down nowhere, no air conditioning going on.
31:14
We couldn't take it. But we got to know them all, so
31:17
they got used to seeing us. And we made sure we drove the
31:20
same car. We had a red car and a white
31:23
car. OK, So we always drove the white
31:27
one. I'm pretty sure.
31:29
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the white one.
31:30
I have to go back and check my notes.
31:32
So they see us coming. We talked to them and of course,
31:34
we make believe we're trying to learn Arabic and my, my language
31:38
barrier is 00. You know, even when I was
31:41
training in Spanish, my, my, my granddaughter picks on me now
31:44
because she hears my great granddaughter.
31:46
She heard the story about the guys talking to me.
31:48
So Mr. Don, you must do us a favor.
31:50
What's that? Your Spanish is so bad.
31:52
Please speak English. So every time she hears me, she
31:57
tries to say something in Spanish.
31:58
She goes, remember what they told you?
32:00
So we would do that and get friendly with them.
32:03
And that was part of the scam that we saw it running.
32:06
We made reservations for Lauren and her mother on Air Jordanian
32:11
flight going out about the same time that we were going to make
32:16
the hit. So let's say we made the hit at
32:18
I guess we're like 830 or something in the morning, 8:00
32:21
early. And we made reservations for her
32:23
and Lauren at the airport at 12:00.
32:28
OK, so then we are how we going to do this?
32:31
So me and JD looked at each other.
32:33
Well there's only one way to do it.
32:36
We got to hijack the bus. OK, how we going to hijack the
32:40
bus? Well, we started thinking if we
32:43
actually hijacked the bus and take it somewhere, then we could
32:47
be charged with actual kidnapping and we might be
32:49
extradited to the United States from the United States.
32:52
So we said, OK, let's not hijack the bus, let's just say
32:55
commandeered. So what I did was we, we
32:59
followed the bus and made sure first of all we made sure Lauren
33:02
got on the bus from her house and then we followed it and when
33:05
he went to make EU turn I, we had me, JD and Kathy in the car.
33:12
Kathy was all covered up. And I said here's what.
33:16
We're going to do when he makes that U-turn, I'm going to pull
33:19
out in front of him and say hey you speak English.
33:22
I'm lost. I'm a tourist.
33:24
I need help. And the guy, at the first couple
33:26
of seconds, he was like, oh, you speak English, but I must, you
33:31
must move. You must move.
33:33
And that gave me enough time to get close enough to the window
33:36
of the the bus to reach through the window and grab him by the
33:39
throat and jerk him halfway through the window by a shirt.
33:42
Meanwhile, Kathy and JD were getting out the other side of
33:46
the car. So you really didn't see him.
33:48
And they ran around to the door. JD, of course, kicks the door
33:52
in. OK, the folding door for the
33:54
school bus. And I think Lauren, you seen
33:57
your mom before she got on the bus, didn't didn't you?
33:59
And you looked at her window. She.
34:01
She. Went to the window, she saw me
34:04
and she tapped on the window and I remember this vividly, you
34:08
know, looking at her. And that's when, and y'all
34:10
prepared my mom for this. I went into immediate shock
34:14
because I, I remember looking at her thinking it looks just like
34:17
my mom. But how can it be my mom?
34:20
My mom's in Texas. And at this point I didn't think
34:22
I'm ever going to see her again. And so I froze.
34:26
She was motioning for me to get up and come to her, but I
34:29
wouldn't. So she followed JD behind him
34:32
and got on the bus to go and get me while JD was dealing with the
34:36
bus keys. Yeah, JD.
34:39
Then come in and then we we didn't.
34:41
What we didn't know was there was a maitre-d' but it was a
34:43
woman and the maitre-d'. When Kathy came in the bus, the
34:47
maitre-d' was like screaming at it, didn't know what was going
34:49
on. I had the driver by the the
34:51
stack and swivel halfway out the window.
34:54
JD reached in and pulled the key out of the bus and passed me the
34:57
key and then we heard some commotion and it was Kathy
35:01
smacking the oven daylights out of the maitre-d'.
35:04
She gave her about two good wax and backed her up and then
35:06
jumped in Lauren's arm and her and JD went out the bus and then
35:11
we all jumped back in the car. But before we jumped in the car
35:14
I took the key once again thinking we don't want to get
35:17
tried for kidnapping and I just threw it as far as I can.
35:21
We had a little thing on it. It was, it was a pretty good
35:23
throw into the weeds out by the farm.
35:26
So we knew it would take them a while to find it.
35:29
And this is all, this is all in the plan that we had.
35:32
So we took the we took the car and we drove back towards the
35:36
rush. Meanwhile, Dave was down at the
35:38
bottom of the hill with the other car.
35:41
We had the white 1, he had the red 1, whichever way, but I
35:44
think that was it. And then we all swapped.
35:47
Dave took, of course, we, we, we, we muddied up the license
35:50
plates a little bit. Not a lot because all the
35:52
license plates over there were muddy, were muddy, but we didn't
35:55
want to look too obvious. We muddied them up a little bit.
35:57
So they didn't have an exact license plate, but they knew it
35:59
was a white car and they knew there was 2 dudes in it, 22
36:02
white boys in it. And they were, when they were
36:05
looking for us, that's who they were looking.
36:07
Well we swapped cars and we got in Dave's car and and Dave I I
36:14
would talk bad about him if he was here today.
36:16
So I can say this I told him get in that damn car and head
36:20
straight to Jordan. OK Dave with his security mind
36:24
was thinking OK I got to stay behind a little bit in case
36:27
something goes wrong. So me and me and JD jump in the
36:31
other car and we now head towards the Allenby Bridge.
36:34
OK, we didn't know Dave didn't go straight back to Jordan.
36:38
We found out later. So we get through the checkpoint
36:41
and they see us. Now.
36:42
I got we got Lauren, we got Kathy, we got JD and me, and
36:47
this guy still asks for a ride. Mr. Don, Mr. JD, how are you?
36:52
I need a ride. Yeah.
36:53
OK, JD, get in the back. So JD jumps in the back with
36:56
Lauren and Kathy's got Lauren kind of hidden.
36:59
She don't. And because we're talking the
37:01
daylights at him, so he's not paying attention, of course, we
37:04
give him cigarettes and he starts smoking and that take up
37:07
thing let him off. And then we get to the Allenby
37:09
Bridge and we get to the Allenby Bridge and our contact is there.
37:13
And he said it's all set. My cousin works here.
37:17
You got your passes, you got your passport and you got the
37:20
Bakish, of course. So we paid the money, gave him
37:25
the passes. And of course this guy was him
37:27
hauling around, taking his time. And we're waiting and waiting
37:31
and I knew we had a deadline. So finally I walk up to him and
37:34
smile. And I said the movie has a
37:36
little bit not too not too real. And I won't use the words.
37:40
I won't use the words I said to him.
37:42
But I said 5 minutes, 3 minutes. I said three.
37:46
I huddled up, said see that 3123 to get on that bus, get it
37:50
started and get on this bridge. We have somebody waiting over
37:53
there for us to pick us up. And if we missed that time,
37:57
you're going to get your ass kicked.
37:58
OK. So Oh no, no, no, we just pay
38:01
them like like 800 bucks to, to take this.
38:04
So we, we're, we could be a little forceful.
38:06
We get on the bus. All of us and.
38:10
It starts chugging along and I tell you what, this bus had to
38:13
be AV 12 Squirrel Bus. It had to run by squirrels
38:18
because it wouldn't, it would make an all kinds of noise.
38:20
It was chattering. And then it starts slowing down.
38:22
And then he he pops the clutch and gets it running again.
38:26
And we get to where the Jordanian side of it is.
38:28
The Allenby Bridge has a Jordanian and the Israeli, and
38:32
me and JD already said if anything goes wrong, we're
38:36
pulling the knives out, going to work.
38:38
And we're running across whatever it is screaming in
38:41
English that we're Americans to the Israelis.
38:44
Hopefully, and hopefully me and JD will go 1st and Lauren and
38:48
Kathy will follow us and they won't get shot.
38:50
All right? And he stops and these two guys
38:54
get on the bus and of course, they're the security guards, and
38:57
they're looking at everything. And we're all sitting there and
38:59
got Kathy and Lauren in the back and me and JDJD sitting right by
39:02
the driver because one of our plans was throw the driver out
39:06
the door and drive the bus across.
39:07
So we had a little alternate plans and all violence that
39:11
would have to take place. Nothing was needed.
39:14
The guys came on. They looked they must be getting
39:17
part of $800. They said, oh, you're the
39:19
Americans. Yeah, yeah.
39:21
We're going on vacation. You guys want to come with us?
39:23
You don't. No, no.
39:23
We don't go to, we don't go to Israel.
39:25
We stay over here. OK, good.
39:27
And then the bus cleared off to the Israeli side.
39:31
Meanwhile, Dave, who was supposed to go straight to
39:34
Jordan, waited. And now they know.
39:38
The bus driver makes it back to Jarash, and he's screaming and
39:43
hollering. Of course, we left him a little
39:44
note to give to Ali. It says, And it said something.
39:50
What? What exactly did it say to the
39:52
about the eyes of Texas? My mom.
39:53
Yeah. My mom wrote the eyes of Texas
39:55
are upon you. Don't ever try to get Lauren
39:57
back again, and I told the. Driver, I'm glad you understand
40:01
English. But I had him because I had him
40:03
halfway out the window. I said, you tell Ollie that if
40:07
we have to do this again, we're going to do it with him.
40:11
He's not going to make it out alive.
40:13
And a driver's eyes got about biggest silver dollars.
40:15
And by that time, JD drives him back in the bus, drug him off
40:19
the bus, and then we got everybody in the car and did
40:22
what I just told you, Dave, because she's so far behind
40:26
schedule. Is driving down the road in this
40:28
car that was seeing the bus and now here you got me 5 foot 10180
40:34
lbs And Dave sets out of the car 6 foot one 240 lbs goatee Gray
40:41
hair, you know and he gets out and that's stopping his car and
40:45
they got so he got them surrounded.
40:47
They got caught and he just breaks out of snicker bar and
40:50
starts eating a snicker bar and starts offering him a snicker
40:52
bar and they're searching the car and they're searching the
40:55
car and he's going, what are you guys doing?
40:57
And of course, they're not speaking English, but he knows
40:59
what they're doing. They noticed the car and he
41:02
wasn't far enough away from Jirosh to make it.
41:05
So he gets the he's he's standing there and they're all
41:08
searching now they're searching him.
41:09
They're searching the car. It's the same color car.
41:12
It's the same model. They don't have a license plate,
41:14
so they can't tell. The next thing he hears on the
41:18
radio is Queen Alley Airport. And they have found out about
41:23
the. Reservations for Kathy and
41:26
Lauren, so they would drop everything, left him right in
41:29
the middle of the road, drop everything and they take off the
41:32
Queen Alia. Dave being smart now he wants,
41:36
he is a smart guy. He gets right behind them and
41:39
follows them to Queen Alia airport 'cause that's where he
41:41
goes. When he gets to the airport, he
41:43
goes in, he tells the guy, what's the next plane you got
41:47
leaving? The guy says, where do you want
41:48
to go? He says, you don't listen to me,
41:49
are you? What's the next plane you got
41:52
leaving? And he got on it.
41:55
And right after that plane took off, they shut the whole airport
41:57
down. Wow.
41:58
And they shut down Queen Allenby Bridge.
42:01
By that time we're in Israel. JD sees a party of and he starts
42:05
talking because JD is the kind of guy that could talk to a
42:07
fence post and get an answer. And he's talking to these, this,
42:10
this black crowd is there and he just assumed that was a
42:14
Christian missionary thing. And it was, he gets over there
42:17
and it was a Christian missionary tour.
42:19
And he gets around and starts telling him.
42:21
And then next thing you know, they're singing praises and
42:24
marching around us. And the guys in the guys in the,
42:28
the, the checkpoint of looking at him, what the hell is this
42:32
going on? Finally we tell him, we just
42:34
recovered this girl. She was kidnapped from America
42:36
and we're bringing her back. And then we made it back from
42:39
there. You do all this.
42:43
And you know, I, I guess one of the things I'm trying to
42:46
connect, Lauren, is we go from this successful outcome.
42:51
You're back with your mother. How did the Reader's Digest
42:54
movie get made? Well, it was.
43:00
It, it was international news. I don't know how media finds
43:03
things out, but we were so we were hiding.
43:07
And you, Don and I talked about this before.
43:08
My mom had so much guilt of not reaching out to them after the
43:12
rescue to say thank you for what you did.
43:14
And, and Dave even said this to me.
43:16
It was like people that we've helped, you don't go back to
43:19
your trauma, you hide. We we changed our last names.
43:23
We were living and hiding. My mom had no money to even pay
43:26
rent at this point. We moved so many times.
43:29
And I write about all of that in in the book.
43:33
But here we're trying to hide and the media is finding us.
43:37
The media was reaching out to all of my family members in
43:40
Florida, asking for any photos of us.
43:42
And so however, the IT was just international news on every
43:47
newspaper and magazine. And so NBC is who produced the
43:50
movie in the 90s and it came out in 1993.
43:54
Desperate Rescue, but I'm not sure how everyone found out.
43:59
My mom started sharing her testimony later, like on the 700
44:02
Club and Inside Edition, and I know Don did a lot of interviews
44:06
as well. And like Don was saying, these
44:08
are the cool things I did not know until we did a reunion.
44:12
I was the first kid for them to ever rescue.
44:14
And then I don't know if it was Dawn.
44:16
Yeah. And I don't know if it was Dawn
44:18
or Judy, but one of them were telling me that one of the
44:20
children they rescued changed their first and last name.
44:25
And the young girl. Whoops.
44:26
Sorry. Changed her name to Lauren.
44:30
After me, I had. I had.
44:32
I had. No idea to have that kind of
44:34
impact, you know, so and to hear that they rescued several other
44:39
children after mine. But to answer your question, I'm
44:43
not 100% sure and Don might know more.
44:45
I can tell you of how the movie was made.
44:47
Yeah, I can tell you real easy. We think in once again not
44:51
knowing because we didn't know about international law that
44:54
well, but we we have spent a lot of time overseas.
44:56
We knew a lot about international and how that the
44:58
the the locals were not going to cooperate with us unless you pay
45:01
them good money. We didn't have a lot of money
45:04
either, but we had some. But we one of the dumbest things
45:09
we ever did. We actually went to the State
45:11
Department and wanted to talk to someone about help, you know,
45:15
what can you do? And they have tried to make a
45:18
health and well, you never had a health and wealth affair
45:19
inspection, did you, from the state?
45:21
Did you have one right? Did the State Department show up
45:23
at your place once, Lauren? Oh, I don't remember my.
45:27
Mom would have to answer that question, so we went.
45:30
There, and this is in the movie, exactly how it happened.
45:35
This guy is telling us that we're not going to help you.
45:38
As a matter of fact, if we find out who it is, we're going to
45:41
tell the father because that girl is in a Jordanian now.
45:44
She's a Jordanian. And I'm like pounding on the
45:46
glass. I was at ARSO for temporary ARSO
45:50
for the State Department one time.
45:51
I'm expecting the security guys to come drag me out any minute
45:54
now. Dave grabs me by the collar and
45:56
says wait, we need to leave now because I wanted to grab this
46:00
guy and pull him through the window.
46:02
So we just wait a minute, isn't? Lawrence technically an American
46:06
citizen, yeah, but they state. Department don't see it that
46:09
way. If he she is with the father, he
46:11
has control of her and they and they would notify and this is.
46:16
Happening in Jordan, the the part that Don's speaking about,
46:19
this was happening in Jordan. And that's how.
46:23
And that's how the word got out because the minute they did it,
46:27
the father called the embassy screaming at them.
46:30
They then realized these two idiots who showed up a couple of
46:33
weeks before were talking about something like this.
46:36
So they immediately sent sent out an apology press letter.
46:39
OK. And.
46:41
It hits the wires. We had camera crews outside of
46:44
their office hiding across the street in the bushes because we
46:47
wouldn't talk to anybody. OK?
46:49
We, we, we, we weren't that savvy on how we could have used
46:53
the news media and it, it wasn't like it is now.
46:56
So we just kept away from them and they finally went out, went
47:00
over the world, and that's how everybody found out about it.
47:04
So so. All this time passes and you
47:09
bring. Her back home.
47:10
She's with her mother. Life changes in so different
47:13
ways. Lawrence, we discussed and Don,
47:15
you were talking before we came on, recorded that you know,
47:18
you're doing this, doing that. You're not slowing down at all.
47:22
Why? Write the.
47:23
Book now, Lauren what what prompts to say, you know what?
47:26
I want to write this book now at this part of my life.
47:31
Well, one and like you said, it's.
47:32
Been 38 years later, right and it's not anything I ever thought
47:36
I would do ever. I never thought I was going to
47:39
be have a podcast and, and speak publicly, but 2 1/2 years ago,
47:44
God put it on my heart. It's time for you to share what
47:47
I did, not just the NBC movie drama and to share the healing
47:52
journey. And for anyone that's gone
47:54
through trauma, you can't Share your story until you you can
47:58
speak from a place of healing or it comes across so sideways.
48:03
And so my story, yes, it's about the kidnapping and this
48:06
miraculous rescue, but it's also a story of the healing of the
48:11
father. I call him father wounds of the
48:13
trauma, the questions of why was my childhood such a hot mess?
48:17
Why did my father do this? Why did I grow up without
48:20
knowing my father? There's and you know, not
48:23
knowing my last name and moving the loss of identity, just the
48:27
layer upon layer and the struggles I went through through
48:30
high school and college. And I write about all of that.
48:32
The reason I write about it and I share about it is because I
48:35
want to encourage others that there is hope and there is
48:39
healing on the other side of brokenness.
48:42
And so that is the heart of the story.
48:45
It's it is a amazing miraculous rescue.
48:50
I get to honor the people that. You know they sacrificed their.
48:54
Own lives to come and save me. But I'm also talk about
48:58
scripture verses and how God healed me and walked me through
49:02
all of that. I reconnected with my Father
49:04
after all this, several times, several times over the phone, in
49:08
person when it was safe, and I talked about all of those
49:10
things. Don you, you.
49:13
Have done this for not just more of other people, but I don't
49:17
think they've ever written a book about, you know, their side
49:20
of the story. What was it like for you to see
49:22
this book in the podcast and her outreach about this come
49:26
together well? When she when she talked to us
49:30
about it and she the first thing she said was, I want to write
49:34
this to help other people. Well, what, what do we do?
49:38
And that's what we did. And then we we realized how how
49:41
close of a Christian she had become stronger and stronger in
49:45
her in her own ways. We thought it was a great idea
49:48
and we were happy to hear it and we said anything we can do,
49:51
we'll do to help you. I don't know how closely.
49:55
You all have been in contact over the years, but how is it
49:58
now, Don? You've seen, you know, Lauren's
50:00
not doing this to make money or to put her name in lights.
50:04
It's, it's more of a ministry. And and you have said that your,
50:08
your faith figured into her recovery and your, your work
50:12
after her. What's it like seeing that
50:14
ministry come together at this point in her life?
50:17
Oh well. To be full honest here, I had a
50:20
lot of faith when I was when we doing that, OK, I lost it for a
50:24
little bit and then I came back and I came back and then a
50:28
couple of years later, Lauren's making contact with us and
50:31
talking about this. And to me it was just absolutely
50:34
amazing. I mean that that she was going
50:36
to do this. I think I thought it was a
50:38
fantastic and I knew automatically knew.
50:41
You know, one thing about she said, you know, she was running
50:44
and hiding and then we were back in business trying to make a
50:48
living doing We were had we were training at the time.
50:50
We were trying to get more training, more stuff.
50:52
Life gets in the way and you never have a bad feeling about,
50:57
oh, Lauren or Kathy hasn't called me in six months.
51:00
No, they had to go on their life and we had to go on with our
51:03
life. And you don't do this for for
51:06
pride or for gain. You do it because you think it's
51:09
right. Although admittingly, her rescue
51:13
gave U.S. business because I was in every friggin newspaper in
51:17
every major city for about two or three months, you know,
51:21
people calling and we and then we, we finally talked and said,
51:24
yeah, we got to talk to people, otherwise they're going to be
51:26
putting out the wrong story. One guy got on the phone.
51:28
He said, OK, this is the story I'm going to publish tomorrow
51:30
and I'm going to read it to you. If you don't want to listen,
51:32
hang up. It's going out like it is.
51:34
And he said, but if you want to make a correction on it, I'll
51:36
make the correction. And he read the whole story to
51:38
me on the phone and I corrected a couple of things and it came
51:42
out and it was good. And it showed that these, this
51:46
crew are basically 5 people. We had JD, Dave, me, and then
51:54
two others, Judy. And what's this?
51:56
What's the other guy's name? And Jim?
51:58
Jim. We had Jim.
52:00
Had a middle block there. So we had this team of five that
52:03
was just going out doing stuff that the people say it can't be
52:07
done, but we thought we can do it and we had enough faith that
52:10
would it would get done. So when Lauren called us on
52:12
this, JD and me were like laughing about it.
52:15
Well, I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad Lauren's doing
52:17
something. And of course then we found out
52:19
it was for her ministry package and we, we even loved the idea
52:23
more and we also had the fact that Lauren wants to get
52:26
everybody together and she got us all together and then not
52:30
long after that JD passed on passed away.
52:33
So it was all a fantastic thing that happened for us.
52:36
We now Dave lives not 45 minutes from me.
52:41
So we see each other probably once a year, maybe twice a year.
52:45
But JD was got was off in the wild blue Yonder.
52:48
We'd see me and him would see each other at some of the unit
52:51
reunions and that's about it. You've.
52:55
Lived this, Lauren and Don, you have seen, you know this happen
53:01
and you've lived your part. The movie came out which.
53:05
Was not really anything to do with Lauren Wright at the time
53:09
you created the podcast. You got led to write this book.
53:13
This book is out now. Had the links in OM Rio's show
53:16
post. One question I did want to ask.
53:20
Because in, in #430 when we talked, you mentioned how key
53:24
Miranda Lambert was to you as, as a friend and, and dare I say,
53:28
a sister. I'd be curious to know.
53:32
What was like reading her Ford and the book that she did for
53:35
you? Emotional.
53:40
This whole thing. This whole thing has been.
53:44
Emotional reliving it and then seeing the guide connections,
53:49
just like Don was saying, Rick, Rick and Beverly Lambert, that's
53:53
Miranda's parents. They're they are a big part of
53:56
my story. They've known my mom before I
53:59
was born. I'm older than Miranda before
54:01
either one of us were born. That was my mom's only friends
54:05
in, in Dallas. And when I was taken, that was
54:08
the first person my mom contacted was Rick and Beverly.
54:12
So they, they lived, they have lived this whole thing out with
54:15
us and they're still in my life today.
54:19
And when we did the reunion, they went to the reunion with us
54:22
in North Carolina. And just the time, God's timing,
54:26
you know, you asked me earlier, why now?
54:29
I don't know why now, but God does and he knew that JD had six
54:34
more months to live. None of us knew that sitting in
54:37
that Airbnb around that table. But that's the goodness of God
54:40
is when you. When you do something.
54:44
That you don't know what the heck you're doing.
54:45
I don't know how to do a podcast or write a book, but if when you
54:47
say yes, when God tells you to do something and you do it,
54:50
those are the sweet gifts that he gives you that those times I
54:54
would have missed it. If I would have hesitated, I
54:56
would have missed seeing and talking and getting J DS story.
55:01
I would have missed it. And so I think that's important
55:03
for people to realize, don't hesitate, just just step out in
55:07
faith and just do the thing. Miranda writing that forward is
55:11
huge and her being supportive and saying I support this.
55:16
I want to be a part of it and her family being a part of it.
55:20
And it also gives us a chance to tell the all the pieces of the
55:25
story. Like Don was saying, you know,
55:26
the movie's pretty darn close, but this is all 100% of the
55:31
truth of it. Even her, even Miranda's
55:33
connections of being there when I arrived in Texas in the
55:36
airport. And no one would have known that
55:38
she'd be some famous country singer when she was four years
55:41
old, right? So you've you've done all.
55:44
This is is there, what's what's the path forward?
55:49
Is it maybe a a series or movie in your own words about how you
55:53
want the story to go? What's next for you?
55:55
What's next for you both? Possibly.
55:59
And that's. Been, you know, and I don't
56:01
know, I was just, you know, I felt led to write, to write the
56:04
story, to get all the details, put it on paper.
56:08
But since that's happened, everyone I've spoken with has
56:11
said this. The movie needs to be redone.
56:13
It needs to be told in in your voice, meaning the whole thing,
56:17
the whole redemption, the perspective of the child.
56:21
So a series, a movie, I don't know that's out of my hands.
56:26
So we will see what what comes next.
56:29
Just getting getting this book out is amazing to see it on like
56:33
target.com and Walmart and Amazon.
56:35
I literally was in my closet in the floor crying.
56:39
I was like, I can't believe this has happened because it's not
56:42
easy to write a book. Y'all like it's not easy.
56:49
Yeah, you know, one of the things I wanted.
56:51
To ask during this time together, and this is just like
56:55
super bonus time for me because this is this is all real.
56:59
Like this really happened and we're living this now.
57:02
And you've given this a a peek into, you know, who Lauren is
57:06
and who these people are these true heroes who helped you out.
57:11
I want to ask each one of you in your own words to tell me, you
57:14
know, what do you want people to know about Lauren's story when
57:18
they read this book? What do you hope they get out of
57:21
it? We'll, we'll go with Don first.
57:24
A simple for us is. Just that we, you know, me and
57:27
me and JD were on the Iranian rescue attempt back in the 80s
57:31
with a plane and we were on the plane that blew up when it, when
57:34
it caught fire. And you know, we all got out of
57:38
that alive, you know, and, and just live life to the fullest.
57:41
Do what you think is right as long as you think it's right.
57:44
Go do it. And I tell my grandkids now and
57:47
I'm telling my great grandkids, you know, when it comes to work,
57:49
go find something you love to do.
57:51
You never work a day in your life.
57:53
You know, that's the beauty of it.
57:54
And we had that and we and we think that's what we do now.
57:57
Today we still feel that way. And when Lauren said she wanted
58:01
to do this, all three of us had no hesitation, no hesitation to
58:05
help. Lauren, what about you?
58:10
I want someone to. Not only see just the miraculous
58:14
things that the men did, the faith of my mom, right?
58:18
That alone is amazing. But to know that it does not
58:21
matter what you've gone through, what your past looks like, what
58:24
your situation is that you're going through right now, God can
58:28
redeem and heal and rescue any story.
58:31
You have to have faith. You've got to pray.
58:34
You've got to be willing to surrender some things.
58:36
I spent a long time wrestling with God.
58:40
I was mad that I didn't not have a father and I had all of these
58:44
questions and these wounds. But when I finally laid that
58:48
stuff down and I was like, all right, God, I'm going to trust
58:51
you. You rescued me out of Jordan.
58:52
You can rescue me from this. And that's when my healing
58:55
started and, and not isolating myself and getting into
58:58
community and sharing the things that I was dealing with with
59:01
other people, That's when my healing started and I was no
59:05
longer depressed and angry and I could finally heal from all the
59:08
things I went through. So that's what I hope people see
59:11
and they read as they read the story.
59:16
How can people? Closing down this, how can
59:18
people purchase the book, find a book and then people, how can
59:22
people connect with you, Dom? Because you're still working.
59:24
You're still, you know, doing high speed, low drag stuff well.
59:29
We're, we're, we're. We run a security consulting
59:31
company. You know, I got to tell people
59:33
I'm no longer the point, ma'am, and I'm the navigator.
59:36
As you get on in the years you don't, you're not going to be
59:39
out there trying to wrestle some 26 year old to the ground.
59:42
What I could have done when I was 40 or 50 if I went to Iraq
59:46
at 50 and I spent 7-8 years there.
59:50
But you know, we're, we're an open book.
59:52
I'm easy to find. We, we, we have, we're on the
59:55
web. We have our website and our new
59:57
company name is Fordham Genus. But we're easy to.
1:00:01
Find we do consulting, we still a lot of consulting.
1:00:04
I will have that link. In the Oscar Mike Rita Show
1:00:06
post, Lauren, what about you? You have so much going on.
1:00:11
Yes, so the. Stolen true story.
1:00:13
Kidnap, rescued, redeemed. It is out for pre-order
1:00:17
apparently pre-order. The big deal if people pre-order
1:00:20
it tells Amazon, hey, we need books because people are going
1:00:22
to buy it. So you can find it on Amazon,
1:00:25
Target, Barnes and Noble, all the places.
1:00:27
It will be out September 8th. laurenburns.net has everything
1:00:33
about me, has the podcast, has all of the photos of the rescue,
1:00:38
has the book information where where I'm going and doing
1:00:40
speaking events. That's really the best place to
1:00:42
find me. The truth is stranger than.
1:00:47
Fiction. But you know, in this case, the
1:00:49
truth is also changing lives because your lives were changed
1:00:53
through this ordeal. And one thing I, I remarked on
1:00:56
when our first conversation, Lauren, was it seemed like you
1:01:00
could have taken a very different path with this.
1:01:04
And it seems like. Right.
1:01:06
And it seems like you know your faith, God, You've allowed God
1:01:11
to work for you to help so many more.
1:01:15
And your capacity to? Forgive is something I think we
1:01:17
all could learn from. Just want to thank you for
1:01:19
sharing with us. Thank you for taking the time.
1:01:23
To have us on, Absolutely. Absolutely.
1:01:25
We're going to have her back on. I don't think it'll be the last
1:01:28
time and it's going to be better and better.
1:01:30
Don, I, I just, you know, you're the kind of guys I read about
1:01:34
before I joined the Marine Corps and, and it's just been awesome
1:01:38
getting to to know you in this way.
1:01:40
I want to thank you both again. The book is stolen.
1:01:44
It's going to be out for pre-order.
1:01:46
You can get it anywhere books are sold forward by Miranda
1:01:50
Lambert real story, real lives, real change and they were here
1:01:55
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