Latest / The Stan R. Mitchell Show / The 8-1-24 edition of The View from the Front podcast.

Transcript

The 8-1-24 edition of The View from the Front podcast. · The Stan R. Mitchell Show

0:01
SPEAKER_02: What is going on guys?
0:03
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to this week's edition of The View from the Front.
0:06
SPEAKER_02: My name is Stan, and I can promise you that you are listening to the most unique news show in America.
0:14
SPEAKER_02: I primarily cover defense news and the military, but I do it in a way unlike any other news organization.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: My goal is to relieve your anxiety.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: My goal is to reignite your faith in this country.
0:28
SPEAKER_02: My goal is to make you feel like you can keep up with the news again without
0:33
SPEAKER_02: feeling sick to your stomach by the end of you watching it.
0:37
SPEAKER_02: At my heart, I am an optimist.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: And deep in my soul, I believe in the good of this country.
0:44
SPEAKER_02: And every week that I put this out, I do my very best to make it non-sensational.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: To keep you calm and positive about our country's future.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: I served this country for six years as a United States Marine,
0:58
SPEAKER_02: and I have seen how diverse people from a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities
1:04
SPEAKER_02: can come together to accomplish large missions.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: I also worked as a journalist for 10 years,
1:11
SPEAKER_02: and during that time,
1:13
SPEAKER_02: and in the years that have followed,
1:15
SPEAKER_02: I've seen how people have become disengaged because of how the news almost always
1:21
SPEAKER_02: increases your anxiety.
1:23
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to be that way.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: I want to honor the more than 41 million Americans who have served in uniform over
1:32
SPEAKER_02: the course of the nation's nearly 250-year history.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: And so each week,
1:39
SPEAKER_02: I cover the news in a calm and balanced manner with an overarching goal to unify
1:45
SPEAKER_02: our country.
1:46
SPEAKER_02: Are you sick of being mad?
1:48
SPEAKER_02: Are you sick of being scared?
1:50
SPEAKER_02: Do you want to find a show that will lift your spirits?
1:54
SPEAKER_02: I think you've found that show,
1:56
SPEAKER_02: and I promise I will always do my best to lower your blood pressure and avoid
2:01
SPEAKER_02: trying to scare you with articles designed to only get more audience share.
2:07
SPEAKER_02: Finally,
2:07
SPEAKER_02: I wrap up each episode by adding in some motivation and wisdom at the end of the show,
2:13
SPEAKER_02: because who doesn't need that?
2:15
SPEAKER_02: One final footnote.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: I will always support our military, and I will always defend democracy.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: Let's get started.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: Oh man, are we live?
2:26
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we are live.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: Guys, what is going on?
2:31
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you.
2:33
SPEAKER_02: It is Wednesday night and it is 10pm.
2:37
SPEAKER_02: And I don't believe I have ever began recording as late as 10pm.
2:43
SPEAKER_02: So,
2:43
SPEAKER_02: let me tell you,
2:44
SPEAKER_02: I've had a week and a lot of things trying to prevent this week's episode from
2:51
SPEAKER_02: being amazing.
2:53
SPEAKER_02: And the crazy thing is,
2:55
SPEAKER_02: so I had this little bit of a viral situation happen on Twitter where I said
3:02
SPEAKER_02: something about politics and it got shared.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: I don't even remember how many times.
3:08
SPEAKER_02: A few hundred times, something like that.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: And the crazy thing is, is that last week's episode, because of that, set new records of downloads.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: In fact, on Sunday alone, we had, I think it was 220 downloads in a single day.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: So by stand numbers, these are pretty big.
3:29
SPEAKER_02: And so all week long, I was like, I have to crush this week's episode.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: Got these new listeners.
3:37
SPEAKER_02: They're going to come back for some more.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Let's knock it out of the park.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: And you know how life goes.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: You set things up to go a certain way.
3:47
SPEAKER_02: And Murphy,
3:49
SPEAKER_02: as they used to say back,
3:50
SPEAKER_02: at least during the Vietnam era,
3:52
SPEAKER_02: maybe going back before that,
3:53
SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure if it goes back to World War II.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: I believe Murphy was a
3:57
SPEAKER_02: Vietnam creation, but it might be World War II.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: It's definitely a longtime military creation or phrase,
4:05
SPEAKER_02: but Murphy struck this week and has,
4:08
SPEAKER_02: for a number of reasons,
4:10
SPEAKER_02: this episode will probably be a little shorter and probably not as good as I would like,
4:15
SPEAKER_02: which frustrates me.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: Thankfully,
4:18
SPEAKER_02: I have a couple of little things that I had worked on back just a bit,
4:23
SPEAKER_02: so it's still going to be a good episode.
4:26
SPEAKER_02: But I'll tell you,
4:27
SPEAKER_02: my week,
4:28
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to get into it a lot,
4:30
SPEAKER_02: but,
4:30
SPEAKER_02: you know,
4:31
SPEAKER_02: emotionally,
4:32
SPEAKER_02: there are certain things that just exhaust me.
4:37
SPEAKER_02: And Monday night,
4:38
SPEAKER_02: I spent,
4:40
SPEAKER_02: you know,
4:40
SPEAKER_02: a couple or three hours with my dad,
4:44
SPEAKER_02: who's struggling with some memory things and
4:48
SPEAKER_02: You know, just caring for a loved one is emotionally exhausting and draining.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: And so I came home Monday night and I didn't get to work on a podcast any.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: And then Tuesday night,
5:03
SPEAKER_02: I had already pushed back a phone call a couple of times with a Marine who I've
5:07
SPEAKER_02: never met,
5:08
SPEAKER_02: but...
5:09
SPEAKER_02: Way back in 1999, my unit, my infantry company, we unfortunately lost a Marine in training.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: He died during a pretty dangerous river crossing, and someone had come across on the internet that
5:28
SPEAKER_02: his name.
5:29
SPEAKER_02: And so this Marine reaches out to me and says,
5:31
SPEAKER_02: Hey,
5:32
SPEAKER_02: I was the rescue swimmer who unfortunately couldn't save his life.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: I was there.
5:38
SPEAKER_02: I tried my best.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: And so we exchanged a few emails and I said,
5:41
SPEAKER_02: Hey,
5:41
SPEAKER_02: I really want to talk to this guy because he's carrying guilt like 25 years later.
5:46
SPEAKER_02: You know, so Tuesday night we set up a call.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: Of course, before the call even happens, my wife and I are walking a lap around the back of our house and
5:56
SPEAKER_02: just to get a little exercise in, and a car is broken down.
5:58
SPEAKER_02: So we spend 30-something minutes helping a couple of young lads.
6:02
SPEAKER_02: They were probably 19 or 20.
6:04
SPEAKER_02: So that pushed back the phone call.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: The phone call runs long.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: It's like an hour and a half.
6:09
SPEAKER_02: It's emotional.
6:11
SPEAKER_02: The gentleman still carries a lot of guilt.
6:14
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to know a few more details about the story that I didn't know.
6:18
SPEAKER_02: So Tuesday night, nothing.
6:20
SPEAKER_02: And then tonight, I was like, I got to get on this.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: I got to get on it.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: And of course, the podcast recording software that I use had done an update.
6:32
SPEAKER_02: And so I download the update, foolishly in hindsight.
6:37
SPEAKER_02: It had changed a ton of settings that I've been using for two plus years.
6:42
SPEAKER_02: The new version didn't work well.
6:44
SPEAKER_02: I had to try to find the old version.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: In between that, I had recorded, tweaked one little thing.
6:49
SPEAKER_02: The old version wouldn't play the new version.
6:51
SPEAKER_02: You guys know how this goes.
6:53
SPEAKER_02: Absolute tech nightmare.
6:55
SPEAKER_02: And so now we're well after 10 o'clock.
6:57
SPEAKER_02: and all of my dreams for making this episode one of the best have pretty much been flushed.
7:06
SPEAKER_02: So you guys,
7:08
SPEAKER_02: I know all of you have been in the situation I am in,
7:11
SPEAKER_02: and so hopefully you will grant me some forgiveness and some grace.
7:17
SPEAKER_02: and I will do my best to make this episode as amazing as possible, especially for the new listeners.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate all you guys joining us,
7:28
SPEAKER_02: and I think you're going to enjoy the show,
7:31
SPEAKER_02: even despite everything that the devil has thrown at me this week.
7:36
SPEAKER_02: Not going to be enough today, Satan.
7:39
SPEAKER_02: Not going to be enough.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: Stan is going to bring the fight and bring the energy.
7:44
SPEAKER_02: Because that's what I try to do.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: And because I have a higher power on my side.
7:48
SPEAKER_02: So let's get started with some pretty big news.
7:54
SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about Ukraine.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: ukraine finally the big news that we've been waiting for for how long two years but
8:04
SPEAKER_02: certainly for the past six months or so and what am i referring to i'm referring to
8:08
SPEAKER_02: the f-16s that have been promised for to ukraine and that they have spent months
8:14
SPEAKER_02: and months and months of getting their pilots trained in various locations in both
8:19
SPEAKER_02: the u.s and parts of europe in a couple of different countries
8:23
SPEAKER_02: I've covered this at length in several previous episodes.
8:27
SPEAKER_02: Those F-16s may be in Ukraine, or they may be arriving any day now.
8:35
SPEAKER_02: There are some reports that they have arrived or are arriving as we speak on Wednesday.
8:41
SPEAKER_02: There's also a little bit of news it might be in a day or so.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: And of course,
8:44
SPEAKER_02: throughout it all,
8:46
SPEAKER_02: they are trying to keep some level of secrecy so that Russia doesn't attempt to
8:52
SPEAKER_02: interfere with the flight in of these F-16s.
8:56
SPEAKER_02: But I want to share in our first segment some great reporting about how many they're going to get.
9:03
SPEAKER_02: Some of the complications in the situation that is is going to be faced by Ukraine
9:09
SPEAKER_02: now We know that their air defense is a little bit better but the frustrating part
9:14
SPEAKER_02: for Ukraine is that they are Going to get quite a few fighter jets f-16s But they
9:22
SPEAKER_02: have as few as six fighter pilots Six that are currently ready that would be in
9:29
SPEAKER_02: Ukraine so only about six
9:32
SPEAKER_02: And I want to share a report that talks about the challenges of only having six
9:37
SPEAKER_02: fighter jets,
9:38
SPEAKER_02: six fighter pilots or six fighter jets available at any given time.
9:43
SPEAKER_02: There was some great reporting on that from the Telegraph.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: And so I want to share that.
9:48
SPEAKER_02: I think you'll get something from it.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: So in many ways, it's a continuation of the story we've just been discussing.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: It's coming out of the US.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: This is a Washington Post story,
9:57
SPEAKER_00: really,
9:58
SPEAKER_00: quoting Ukrainian and Western officials saying that these much vaunted F-16s,
10:03
SPEAKER_00: they're going to turn up in Ukraine from European NATO.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: So this is Netherlands, Norway, Belgium and Denmark.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: They're going to start turning up in Kiev next month.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Ukraine's been promised 80 of them.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: The first 20 or so are going to turn up over the next few weeks.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: The problem is the sources in the US and in Ukraine were telling the Washington
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Post that there are probably only likely to be six trained up Ukrainian pilots who
10:28
SPEAKER_00: are able to fly these F-16s.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: which of course is massively underwhelming and of course really limits the amount
10:35
SPEAKER_00: of flying time they can get out of these F-16s.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: The Russian military bloggers again was mocking this number,
10:42
SPEAKER_00: saying that even if you have six pilots,
10:45
SPEAKER_00: you can only get up to two or three F-16s up in the air at any one time because you
10:50
SPEAKER_00: can't have all the pilots working all the time.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: And they said basically if you can run 10 sorties a day in the entire Ukraine,
10:56
SPEAKER_00: that's going to be fairly ineffectual.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: So it's definitely something to be worth watching there.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: This has been backed up by Ukrainian frustration at senior military command level,
11:08
SPEAKER_00: who admitted that the Russians now have deployed so many air defence systems around
11:12
SPEAKER_00: their own front lines,
11:13
SPEAKER_00: they can't risk sending the F-16s near the front lines,
11:16
SPEAKER_00: even when they get hold of them.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: So, Ukraine's been asking for these F-16s for two years.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: We know in the summer last year,
11:23
SPEAKER_00: when they launched this counter-offensive,
11:25
SPEAKER_00: much harder counter-offensive,
11:26
SPEAKER_00: which has basically failed,
11:28
SPEAKER_00: that they lacked any air cover,
11:30
SPEAKER_00: and they blamed the failure of the counter-offensive to some extent on the lack of
11:34
SPEAKER_00: air cover.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: So,
11:35
SPEAKER_00: in many ways,
11:36
SPEAKER_00: as Ukrainian officials have been complaining for so long,
11:39
SPEAKER_00: this is another prime example of
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Western military aid, Western kit arriving too little, too late.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: And they say the reason that only six pilots have been trained up on the F-16
11:52
SPEAKER_00: fighter pilot program,
11:54
SPEAKER_00: which has been much heralded,
11:55
SPEAKER_00: they've been dotted around Europe,
11:57
SPEAKER_00: language training in Britain,
11:59
SPEAKER_00: technical training at bases in Romania and Denmark.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: et cetera, is because the program has been muddle-headed and hasn't focused properly on deliverables.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: They also say that they can't spare enough pilots from frontline action on their
12:13
SPEAKER_00: sort of design warplanes that they're using at the moment and getting them trained
12:17
SPEAKER_00: at the same time.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: So frustration's clearly bubbling over.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: Everyone's blaming each other.
12:23
SPEAKER_02: So there you go.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: That is the latest reporting.
12:26
SPEAKER_02: It will be very interesting to see in the coming weeks how these F-16s are used.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: I've seen some reporting,
12:35
SPEAKER_02: and you're going to find conflicting information on this depending on which article
12:38
SPEAKER_02: you read.
12:39
SPEAKER_02: But I've seen some reporting that the U.S.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: plans to arm them with some of the more up-to-date and sophisticated air-to-air missiles.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: So part of me thinks they may be effective in helping stop some of the missile and
12:56
SPEAKER_02: drone attacks that are coming in.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: Part of me thinks,
13:00
SPEAKER_02: I don't know,
13:00
SPEAKER_02: these are newer pilots,
13:01
SPEAKER_02: even though they have experience flying older Soviet jets,
13:08
SPEAKER_02: maybe they're not as capable at that.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: And then additionally, there are layers of air defense, and do you want F-16s flying near F-16s?
13:18
SPEAKER_02: not perfectly trained ground units that have Patriot missiles and other things.
13:23
SPEAKER_02: You certainly don't want to shoot down one of your own aircraft and one of your
13:26
SPEAKER_02: very limited pilots,
13:28
SPEAKER_02: so maybe they don't engage that much in that mission.
13:31
SPEAKER_02: Do they play it safe for a few weeks or a month or two,
13:35
SPEAKER_02: get plenty of sorties,
13:36
SPEAKER_02: get more familiar,
13:37
SPEAKER_02: get more and more comfortable?
13:40
SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure at what level of training they have.
13:44
SPEAKER_02: Now, some of these pilots have been training for, you know, within six months.
13:47
SPEAKER_02: They have previous flying experience, many of them combat experience.
13:52
SPEAKER_02: These are actually good pilots.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: And the Ukrainians have consistently, on most weapon systems...
14:00
SPEAKER_02: surpassed Western expectations.
14:03
SPEAKER_02: So there's part of me that thinks in a week or two I'll be sharing just incredible
14:09
SPEAKER_02: stories of feats that they have pulled off that stun Western observers.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: I hope that's the case.
14:18
SPEAKER_02: But it is a complicated plane compared to what they're used to operating.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: So it's really up in the air.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: I have no idea.
14:26
SPEAKER_02: I do think the Russians had tried to hit some Ukrainian airfields to possibly
14:31
SPEAKER_02: damage them before they arrived to damage the runways.
14:35
SPEAKER_02: I don't think that was successful.
14:37
SPEAKER_02: There was a massive drone attack last night with one missile as far as most of the reporting I saw.
14:43
SPEAKER_02: But 80 plus drones.
14:45
SPEAKER_02: Every single one of them was downed.
14:48
SPEAKER_02: based on the reporting that I saw.
14:49
SPEAKER_02: So the air defenses are getting better around Ukraine.
14:52
SPEAKER_02: Of course, their power grid is at about 50% capacity.
14:57
SPEAKER_02: So these new jets are arriving at the, you know, literally almost too late.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: But I'm hoping that these jets,
15:06
SPEAKER_02: if they can't be used to shoot down drones or missiles,
15:09
SPEAKER_02: then maybe they can push back the Russian fighters that are using those glide bombs.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: Remember the Russian bombers and Russian fighters have been using very heavy bombs lately.
15:19
SPEAKER_02: launched from inside Russia that glide into Ukrainian territory, and they have been devastating.
15:26
SPEAKER_02: And the Ukrainians had said in the past that F-16s using long-range missiles would
15:31
SPEAKER_02: be able to help push those back so that they can't attack ground troops as well as
15:38
SPEAKER_02: just Ukrainian civilians.
15:41
SPEAKER_02: I'll be looking very hard for additional details of when they arrive, what they're being used for, etc.
15:48
SPEAKER_02: And hopefully next week, maybe, if it's out there, we'll have an update on this story.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: But the Ukrainians could play it low-key,
15:57
SPEAKER_02: could keep the information pretty close to their chest,
16:00
SPEAKER_02: and so we may not know a whole lot.
16:03
SPEAKER_02: I'll keep you posted, though.
16:05
SPEAKER_02: Let's move from the air to the ground.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: And recently,
16:10
SPEAKER_02: especially the last week,
16:12
SPEAKER_02: there's been some pretty feverish reporting on social media about a couple of
16:18
SPEAKER_02: possible breakthroughs of the Ukrainian lines by the Russian army.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: And initially,
16:28
SPEAKER_02: especially in one instance,
16:30
SPEAKER_02: it looked like a couple of Ukrainian battalions nearly got cut off,
16:34
SPEAKER_02: but then that reporting kind of fizzled,
16:37
SPEAKER_02: so I'm not real sure how true that breakthrough either was or wasn't.
16:42
SPEAKER_02: And as I was trying to research that today, just...
16:47
SPEAKER_02: And in perfect timing,
16:48
SPEAKER_02: the Institute for the Study of War released some audio from one of its analysts who
16:55
SPEAKER_02: have been studying the situation.
16:57
SPEAKER_02: And I'll just share exactly what that analyst said,
17:01
SPEAKER_02: because I think it will probably make you feel better as it made me feel better.
17:06
SPEAKER_02: They did confirm that there have been some very large Russian attacks,
17:11
SPEAKER_02: including a battalion-sized mechanized assault...
17:16
SPEAKER_02: of tanks and armored vehicles.
17:17
SPEAKER_02: So the Russians are still trying.
17:20
SPEAKER_02: But let me just share this report because I think it will make you feel a little
17:23
SPEAKER_02: bit better if you've seen some of that news out there that had you a bit worried.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: Hello, my name is Angie Evans and I'm a Russia researcher at the Institute for the Study of War.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: Today,
17:34
SPEAKER_01: I'll be assessing the significance of Ukrainian forces repelling seven Russian
17:38
SPEAKER_01: mechanized assaults in western Donetsk Oblast in late July.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: Ukrainian forces repelled a reinforced battalion-sized mechanized assault on the
17:47
SPEAKER_01: southwestern outskirts of Kostantynivka on July 24th,
17:51
SPEAKER_01: and then repelled a slightly smaller reinforced company-sized assault in the area
17:56
SPEAKER_01: on July 25th.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: Ukrainian forces later stopped a reinforced battalion-sized mechanized assault and
18:03
SPEAKER_01: several company and platoon-sized assaults near Kostantynivka,
18:07
SPEAKER_01: Krasnohorivka and Pobjeda on July 29th and 30th.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: Russian forces likely intended to cease close to Antonivka and part of the nearby
18:15
SPEAKER_01: highway in order to force Ukrainians to withdraw from the area,
18:19
SPEAKER_01: but only made limited tactical advances.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: Russian forces conducted some of these assaults in mechanized columns,
18:26
SPEAKER_01: making them easy targets for Ukrainian artillery.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: Russian forces have conducted costly mechanized assaults in column formations
18:33
SPEAKER_01: throughout the war and have consistently suffered significant armored vehicle
18:37
SPEAKER_01: losses in exchange for very minimal territorial advances.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: Russian mechanized forces may be struggling to apply lessons learned from previous
18:46
SPEAKER_01: failed offensive operations.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: These most recent mechanized assaults in Western Donetsk Oblast suggest the Russian
18:54
SPEAKER_01: military command is still willing to expend a large number of armored vehicles in
18:58
SPEAKER_01: exchange for limited tactical advances.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: This approach will become increasingly costly as Russian forces burned through
19:05
SPEAKER_01: irreplaceable Soviet era weapons and equipment reserves.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Localized mechanized assaults in western Donetsk Oblast are the manifestation of
19:14
SPEAKER_01: Russian forces' forecasted summer offensive.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: It is unlikely that Russian forces have the wider operational capabilities to
19:23
SPEAKER_01: conduct a separate offensive operation in what remains of this summer.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: So there you have it.
19:29
SPEAKER_02: Now,
19:30
SPEAKER_02: one thing that I wanted to mention also during this podcast is how warfare is
19:36
SPEAKER_02: changing and advancing,
19:38
SPEAKER_02: especially with drones.
19:40
SPEAKER_02: But one sort of old-fashioned thing that I did want to mention, we have seen the Ukrainians...
19:49
SPEAKER_02: and the Russians both struggle to break through enemy lines with the drones that
19:55
SPEAKER_02: are out there even just the take away their ability to deliver munitions accurately
20:02
SPEAKER_02: just the fact that optically they can see almost everything happening on the
20:07
SPEAKER_02: battlefield now there's not really much of an element of surprise
20:11
SPEAKER_02: as much as there used to be so technology has really reduced that but one thing i
20:17
SPEAKER_02: wanted to mention as far as an old-fashioned weapon system that thanks to the use
20:22
SPEAKER_02: of drones has improved far more significantly than even in the past is
20:30
SPEAKER_02: There was a story in Forbes about that Ukraine is using artillery-delivered mine
20:38
SPEAKER_02: shells from the artillery that the U.S.
20:42
SPEAKER_02: and some of those in NATO have delivered.
20:45
SPEAKER_02: And so I linked to the article, but I'll just share just a couple of small things about it.
20:51
SPEAKER_02: The way those shells work is a drone or a forward observer from Ukraine...
20:59
SPEAKER_02: notices or observes a Russian column moving toward it.
21:05
SPEAKER_02: Ukraine loads these anti-armor mine system rounds.
21:11
SPEAKER_02: The round fires out.
21:14
SPEAKER_02: Range up to 17 kilometers.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: The munition,
21:20
SPEAKER_02: while obviously above the ground,
21:23
SPEAKER_02: separates,
21:24
SPEAKER_02: and nine separate mines float to the ground,
21:29
SPEAKER_02: and then any tank or armored vehicle that comes near it explodes.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: Now the mines themselves have a self-detonation timer on them that vary from
21:41
SPEAKER_02: between 4 hours to 48 hours.
21:43
SPEAKER_02: So the great thing about these munitions is that you see an advancing column,
21:49
SPEAKER_02: you fire these rounds which deploys anti-tank mines right in front of the enemy.
21:56
SPEAKER_02: If, by chance, the enemy doesn't drive over them, you don't have to worry about where exactly they were.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: They're going to explode,
22:03
SPEAKER_02: which would allow Ukraine to counterattack or advance through in future weeks or months,
22:09
SPEAKER_02: assuming they could mount such an assault and not have to worry about running into
22:14
SPEAKER_02: mines that are very dangerous and have not been properly marked.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: So that's one weapon system that Ukraine has been using to great effect.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: And it was a fascinating article.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: So if you get a chance, follow that link.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: You can find a link to it in the episode notes if you've never heard of it and you
22:33
SPEAKER_02: want to learn a little bit more about it.
22:36
SPEAKER_02: As far as weapons systems go, one other thing I wanted to make sure I covered this week.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: We've talked a lot about how Ukraine has been using their kamikaze surface boats or
22:47
SPEAKER_02: sea drones to destroy much of Russia's fleet in the Black Sea.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: Well, there were some interesting photos of those drones being armed with Ukrainian anti-air missiles.
23:06
SPEAKER_02: So the idea was because the Russians,
23:08
SPEAKER_02: as a counter to these drones,
23:10
SPEAKER_02: have been flying out helicopters well outside the range of the fleet to look for
23:16
SPEAKER_02: these incoming boats,
23:17
SPEAKER_02: which are coming in very quickly,
23:19
SPEAKER_02: and then these Russian helicopters would use machine guns and snipers to try to
23:26
SPEAKER_02: detonate them well outside of range of the ships because we've seen lots of videos
23:31
SPEAKER_02: that once those ships
23:32
SPEAKER_02: Boats get close to the ships.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: There's just not enough machine guns and basically close-in support weapons for the
23:41
SPEAKER_02: Russians to stop them.
23:43
SPEAKER_02: So the Russians had this great idea to start using helicopters,
23:47
SPEAKER_02: and they've been using them increasingly effectively to destroy these sea drones
23:53
SPEAKER_02: before they get to the ships.
23:55
SPEAKER_02: Now, these sea drones are big.
23:56
SPEAKER_02: Don't think they're small.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: They're like the size of small boats in some instances.
24:00
SPEAKER_02: They carry hundreds of pounds.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: of explosives.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: So these are very good, you know, these are good sized small boats, not really small sea drones.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: I don't want you to think they're very small.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: But again,
24:13
SPEAKER_02: there have been video and some footage of these drones being armed with anti-air missiles,
24:20
SPEAKER_02: a R-73 missile,
24:22
SPEAKER_02: which is a Ukrainian version that shoots down,
24:25
SPEAKER_02: you know,
24:25
SPEAKER_02: short range anti-air missile.
24:28
SPEAKER_02: Well, a couple of weeks ago, I've been meaning to get the story in.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: Russia reported that they lost one of their helicopters in the Black Sea,
24:36
SPEAKER_02: and all four crew members had died.
24:40
SPEAKER_02: Now,
24:40
SPEAKER_02: Russian sources on Telegraph claimed that the helicopter was tracking some of these
24:44
SPEAKER_02: kamikaze surface boats,
24:46
SPEAKER_02: or sea drones,
24:48
SPEAKER_02: and were shot down by friendly fire.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: But one analyst that I followed did throw out that he wondered...
24:56
SPEAKER_02: and did not rule out that perhaps one of the anti-air missiles on one of these sea
25:02
SPEAKER_02: drones may have shot down this helicopter.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: So there might have been,
25:07
SPEAKER_02: probably for the first time in history,
25:11
SPEAKER_02: a drone with an anti-air weapon on the seas shooting down an enemy aircraft.
25:18
SPEAKER_02: aviation asset or a helicopter if that was the case that's pretty big news but
25:24
SPEAKER_02: again there is some speculation it's truly impossible to know but even ukraine
25:30
SPEAKER_02: arming them putting out those videos and photos of these sea drones or these
25:36
SPEAKER_02: kamikaze boats with anti-air weapons on them has to have the russians thinking
25:41
SPEAKER_02: twice
25:42
SPEAKER_02: about how to combat them.
25:44
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
25:45
SPEAKER_02: if I was a helicopter pilot in the middle of the Black Sea,
25:50
SPEAKER_02: no Russian naval assets around,
25:53
SPEAKER_02: you know if you get shot down,
25:54
SPEAKER_02: you're probably not getting rescued.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: Russia doesn't have a lot of helicopters there that could rescue you.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: I would be a little worried as I closed in on that high-speed seaboat or kamikaze drone,
26:08
SPEAKER_02: whatever you want to call it.
26:10
SPEAKER_02: I'd be a little worried.
26:12
SPEAKER_02: And is that a very long-looking log or stick on top of that,
26:17
SPEAKER_02: or is that an anti-air missile that could potentially shoot you down?
26:21
SPEAKER_02: And that is kind of the unique ways of warfare that are happening now,
26:27
SPEAKER_02: and whether they can actually shoot down
26:31
SPEAKER_02: A helicopter or a Russian fighter jet, we don't know yet.
26:37
SPEAKER_02: We probably won't know until the history books are written.
26:39
SPEAKER_02: But the fact that they're even mounted or even that people are already thinking
26:42
SPEAKER_02: about it,
26:44
SPEAKER_02: it's just impressive how fast technology has advanced in two years of warfare.
26:51
SPEAKER_02: Now,
26:51
SPEAKER_02: one final war-type technology story that I wanted to get in,
26:56
SPEAKER_02: and I've been trying to get this in for like a month,
26:59
SPEAKER_02: There is a video that I have linked to in the episode notes where increasingly you
27:04
SPEAKER_02: can see drone versus drone warfare happening in the skies over Ukraine.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes you'll see video of cheaper Ukrainian drones that are chasing more
27:15
SPEAKER_02: expensive Russian drones and they'll basically just crash into them.
27:19
SPEAKER_02: But again, you're kind of expending a fast moving drone that is expensive and
27:26
SPEAKER_02: To destroy a Russian one.
27:28
SPEAKER_02: Well, there's video of a Ukrainian drone that is flying above a Russian drone.
27:37
SPEAKER_02: And the Ukrainians have mounted this long stick on the Ukrainian drone.
27:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure exactly how they attached it.
27:45
SPEAKER_02: But the Ukrainian drone is chasing this Russian drone,
27:48
SPEAKER_02: which probably has no idea it's being chased,
27:51
SPEAKER_02: that its predator is right above it.
27:53
SPEAKER_02: Because they have, obviously, video cameras.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: They're watching the ground.
27:56
SPEAKER_02: They're probably looking for enemy troops or Ukrainian troops or maybe spotting for
28:02
SPEAKER_02: artillery fire or something like that.
28:05
SPEAKER_02: But as it's moving around,
28:06
SPEAKER_02: a Ukrainian drone is trying to catch it,
28:09
SPEAKER_02: get above it,
28:11
SPEAKER_02: and it manages to get right above it,
28:15
SPEAKER_02: lower itself,
28:16
SPEAKER_02: and drives this decently sized stick,
28:20
SPEAKER_02: maybe as thick as your finger,
28:22
SPEAKER_02: maybe two fingers thick.
28:23
SPEAKER_02: into the drone below it,
28:25
SPEAKER_02: and so obviously the blades hit the stick,
28:29
SPEAKER_02: and the Russian drone falls to the ground.
28:33
SPEAKER_02: And people are laughing that,
28:35
SPEAKER_02: you know,
28:35
SPEAKER_02: that's not exactly how we imagined drone warfare to be,
28:38
SPEAKER_02: but drones are so important that it is just crucial that you...
28:43
SPEAKER_02: shoot them down, get them down, either run a drone into them or use a stick and knock them down.
28:49
SPEAKER_02: Because if you can see it,
28:51
SPEAKER_02: we used to say this in the Marine Corps,
28:52
SPEAKER_02: and this was before there were even drones,
28:54
SPEAKER_02: this was back in the 90s.
28:56
SPEAKER_02: We used to have a colonel say, if you can see it, you can kill it.
28:59
SPEAKER_02: Whether it's calling in artillery or air or mortars or machine gunners, snipers, obviously riflemen.
29:07
SPEAKER_02: If you can see it, you can kill it, which is why concealment is so important in warfare.
29:12
SPEAKER_02: But now,
29:13
SPEAKER_02: fast forward from 1999 to 2024,
29:17
SPEAKER_02: almost 25 years,
29:19
SPEAKER_02: with these drones everywhere,
29:21
SPEAKER_02: you cannot let them see you.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: So you have to somehow knock them out of the skies.
29:26
SPEAKER_02: And I know the West,
29:27
SPEAKER_02: especially,
29:28
SPEAKER_02: is working on various forms of electronic warfare that block signals or that would
29:34
SPEAKER_02: stop any type of ability to control them.
29:37
SPEAKER_02: There's more sophisticated ways to
29:39
SPEAKER_02: But in the end,
29:40
SPEAKER_02: if you're in Ukraine and you have no sophisticated way to stop them,
29:44
SPEAKER_02: sometimes you just got to tie a stick to the end of a drone and get the drone above
29:50
SPEAKER_02: you knocked to the ground.
29:52
SPEAKER_02: And so that's where we're at.
29:54
SPEAKER_02: It's both amazing and scary to think about where we're going to be in even five
29:59
SPEAKER_02: more years as these drones get better and better.
30:03
SPEAKER_02: But I did want to talk a bit about technology.
30:06
SPEAKER_02: I'm always fascinated by technology on the battlefield and the way that warfare is changing.
30:13
SPEAKER_02: So I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about those.
30:16
SPEAKER_02: And I have links, again, in the episode notes.
30:18
SPEAKER_02: Go check them out about that artillery system.
30:21
SPEAKER_02: You can read the story or the small story.
30:24
SPEAKER_02: um social media post from an analyst who suggested that maybe the helicopter was
30:29
SPEAKER_02: shot down there's a photo of the helicopter that was shot down and there is a video
30:33
SPEAKER_02: if you want to see that drone knocking out another drone it's good stuff
30:39
SPEAKER_02: We're going to take a quick break,
30:41
SPEAKER_02: but when we come back,
30:42
SPEAKER_02: we're going to talk about a military airstrike you probably didn't hear about that
30:47
SPEAKER_02: happened in Iraq.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: We're also going to talk about what's happening down in Venezuela just briefly.
30:53
SPEAKER_02: That is huge news.
30:55
SPEAKER_02: And then we'll also do the best part of the show, the motivation and wisdom section.
30:59
SPEAKER_02: So stick around.
31:00
SPEAKER_02: It's going to be worth hanging with us and hearing this final part after this break.
31:14
SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, just a quick reminder.
31:15
SPEAKER_02: If you enjoy the show,
31:17
SPEAKER_02: been listening to it for a while,
31:19
SPEAKER_02: and you'd like to support what I'm doing,
31:21
SPEAKER_02: there's a few ways you can do so.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: You can sign up on my Substack page, support the show at $5 per month.
31:28
SPEAKER_02: You can also do it through Patreon.
31:30
SPEAKER_02: I've got a link to that in the episode notes.
31:32
SPEAKER_02: And then finally, you can even just send a tip through Venmo.
31:35
SPEAKER_02: I've got a link to that as well.
31:37
SPEAKER_02: Your support is honestly so important because as you guys know, I do work a normal job 40 hours a week.
31:45
SPEAKER_02: And long term, I really think the podcast needs to be twice a week coming out on Tuesdays and Fridays.
31:52
SPEAKER_02: I think that not only would that help unite the country better,
31:56
SPEAKER_02: not only would it help me reach more people,
31:58
SPEAKER_02: I think it would allow the show to grow greatly with the way that the algorithms
32:05
SPEAKER_02: are set up on the various podcast stations.
32:07
SPEAKER_02: It's just pretty challenging with a weekly show to get where you need to be on the charts.
32:13
SPEAKER_02: As I love to say,
32:14
SPEAKER_02: there's a quote,
32:16
SPEAKER_02: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
32:19
SPEAKER_02: committed citizens can change the world.
32:22
SPEAKER_02: Indeed,
32:23
SPEAKER_02: it is the only thing that ever has,
32:25
SPEAKER_02: and so I'm hoping that this small group of thoughtful,
32:30
SPEAKER_02: committed citizens that listen in every week can help this show grow to where we
32:36
SPEAKER_02: can have the kind of impact that goes far beyond our own internal borders and
32:42
SPEAKER_02: actually helps people out there.
32:43
SPEAKER_02: That's the long-term goal,
32:45
SPEAKER_02: and of course,
32:47
SPEAKER_02: I want to help people inside our own country as they face so many weekly and
32:53
SPEAKER_02: sometimes daily challenges.
32:55
SPEAKER_02: All of us need pep talks,
32:56
SPEAKER_02: and I would love to be doing this full-time and doing that at least twice a week.
33:02
SPEAKER_02: So thanks if you're supporting already,
33:04
SPEAKER_02: and thank you for those who are on the fence and thinking about it.
33:08
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate even your consideration.
33:19
SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about a little bit of U.S.
33:22
SPEAKER_02: news.
33:23
SPEAKER_02: The United States military did launch an airstrike in Iraq.
33:29
SPEAKER_02: It was the first airstrike in months,
33:32
SPEAKER_02: but the Department of Defense said that it launched an airstrike targeting Iraq.
33:39
SPEAKER_02: There's unspecified combatants following some recent attacks on U.S.
33:43
SPEAKER_02: forces in the past week.
33:46
SPEAKER_02: There hasn't been much released about it.
33:48
SPEAKER_02: It's one of the first airstrikes, as I said, in quite a while.
33:53
SPEAKER_02: There had been some increasing...
33:56
SPEAKER_02: chatter on the socials, if you will, about frustrations that U.S.
34:03
SPEAKER_02: troops in the area had been taking some attacks and not responding very much.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: And of course,
34:11
SPEAKER_02: as so often happens,
34:12
SPEAKER_02: there were that social media attacks began to be directed toward President Biden.
34:19
SPEAKER_02: I will say, I see both sides to that, but...
34:23
SPEAKER_02: It's not completely uncommon for United States troops to have to deal with dangerous situations.
34:32
SPEAKER_02: I know just speaking for the short time,
34:35
SPEAKER_02: we were in Albania for two days when the government collapsed,
34:40
SPEAKER_02: evacuating more than 900 Americans,
34:42
SPEAKER_02: about 150.
34:44
SPEAKER_02: What I would call NATO civilians from Italy, France, Britain, other allied countries.
34:51
SPEAKER_02: And we took fire quite a few times.
34:53
SPEAKER_02: We had rules of engagements that we could respond, but there was also lots of command.
34:59
SPEAKER_02: I don't know the right word, but I guess pressure to respond.
35:03
SPEAKER_02: Try to limit our response.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: And so when you take ineffective fire from mortars or from poorly aimed shots from
35:14
SPEAKER_02: poorly trained civilians,
35:16
SPEAKER_02: often you do not retaliate because you're in a very
35:20
SPEAKER_02: I guess, tightly condensed area where there would be collateral damage.
35:25
SPEAKER_02: And so,
35:26
SPEAKER_02: even direct fire,
35:28
SPEAKER_02: we took some direct fire from a large apartment building across from us that
35:33
SPEAKER_02: probably had,
35:34
SPEAKER_02: if I remember correctly,
35:35
SPEAKER_02: like five to six levels and maybe...
35:39
SPEAKER_02: you know,
35:39
SPEAKER_02: 15 or 20 windows,
35:41
SPEAKER_02: and so we were trying to keep,
35:42
SPEAKER_02: we had little code words for which level,
35:45
SPEAKER_02: which window,
35:46
SPEAKER_02: but you would,
35:48
SPEAKER_02: they would lull you into a sense of,
35:52
SPEAKER_02: you know,
35:52
SPEAKER_02: I guess boredom,
35:54
SPEAKER_02: and then after three or four hours of you no longer wanting to sit behind your
35:58
SPEAKER_02: rifle aiming at a window,
36:00
SPEAKER_02: when there are literally hundreds of them,
36:02
SPEAKER_02: including this apartment building,
36:03
SPEAKER_02: looking towards you,
36:05
SPEAKER_02: someone would put a weapon out a window,
36:08
SPEAKER_02: fire off a few rounds,
36:09
SPEAKER_02: yank it back,
36:10
SPEAKER_02: and you would initially flinch slash half duck,
36:13
SPEAKER_02: and then you would try to remember what window,
36:15
SPEAKER_02: what row,
36:16
SPEAKER_02: where that fire came from,
36:18
SPEAKER_02: knowing the entire time that the entire apartment building is full of civilians.
36:24
SPEAKER_02: So there are situations where you unfortunately have to take...
36:32
SPEAKER_02: some risk and some incoming fire.
36:35
SPEAKER_02: That has been happening for a long time.
36:37
SPEAKER_02: It's not just a President Biden thing.
36:41
SPEAKER_02: So some of the political attacks when our troops are overseas are a little frustrating to me.
36:46
SPEAKER_02: We,
36:47
SPEAKER_02: as men and women of the armed forces,
36:50
SPEAKER_02: signed up for a dangerous job to help others,
36:53
SPEAKER_02: to protect American interests,
36:56
SPEAKER_02: and we try to set the example in discipline and
37:01
SPEAKER_02: as well as lethality when we do let it go.
37:03
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes we do have to let it go and respond.
37:08
SPEAKER_02: And it's nice when you can, especially when there's not collateral damage.
37:12
SPEAKER_02: But we've come a long ways in the past, what, 75 to 100 years from a...
37:20
SPEAKER_02: draft army with very little training to a very professional armed forces that we
37:27
SPEAKER_02: are the envy of the world and so anyway I don't mean to go on a long diatribe but I
37:34
SPEAKER_02: do get a little frustrated with some of the attacks especially when they're from
37:37
SPEAKER_02: people who don't know it's easy to say why aren't they responding why aren't they
37:42
SPEAKER_02: this well you're probably not there so it's it's more complicated when you're on
37:47
SPEAKER_02: the ground and in that situation
37:50
SPEAKER_02: Let's do one final news story.
37:53
SPEAKER_02: Of course, I'm talking about Venezuela.
37:57
SPEAKER_02: It's arguably one of the bigger stories,
37:59
SPEAKER_02: and maybe I should have led with it,
38:01
SPEAKER_02: but a lot of people aren't very well informed on Venezuela.
38:05
SPEAKER_02: It's been mostly not in the news for a long time, but just a quick recap.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: They held an election there.
38:12
SPEAKER_02: There was an opposition leader there.
38:14
SPEAKER_02: that almost certainly won.
38:17
SPEAKER_02: Polls showed the opposition leader winning by far, large majority.
38:23
SPEAKER_02: The actual election day results on some of the polling that happened in the
38:28
SPEAKER_02: canvassing as people were standing in line
38:31
SPEAKER_02: certainly appear to show that the opposition leader won but that doesn't
38:37
SPEAKER_02: necessarily matter when you have an authoritarian in charge so the current
38:42
SPEAKER_02: president president nicholas maduro has
38:47
SPEAKER_02: led his forces or ordered his forces to put down the unrest of a lot of very weary
38:59
SPEAKER_02: venezuelans who have been sick of his rule and of the previous authoritarian leader
39:08
SPEAKER_02: And in the past few days, there's been some pretty serious rioting.
39:12
SPEAKER_02: There have been large gatherings of tens of thousands.
39:16
SPEAKER_02: And the current president,
39:19
SPEAKER_02: Nicolas Maduro,
39:20
SPEAKER_02: has been using some police officers,
39:23
SPEAKER_02: some military units,
39:25
SPEAKER_02: but lots of almost ragtag militia-type units of supporters who are riding around on
39:31
SPEAKER_02: motorcycles and firing live rounds into the crowds.
39:37
SPEAKER_02: And there have been, unfortunately we're not sure exactly of how many have died.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: You'll see numbers somewhere between 12 to 16 to higher than that.
39:47
SPEAKER_02: It's very hard to get news out of Venezuela right now.
39:51
SPEAKER_02: But the current president is cracking down.
39:54
SPEAKER_02: More than a thousand people have been arrested.
39:58
SPEAKER_02: Governments around the world have demanded that the election results actually be
40:03
SPEAKER_02: put out,
40:04
SPEAKER_02: but the current president can't even put out what the percentages are or the vote
40:08
SPEAKER_02: tallies because it's been so rigged and so affected.
40:13
SPEAKER_02: And in the latest story, he is actually arresting even poll workers.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: who have details on what happened,
40:20
SPEAKER_02: because he does not want,
40:23
SPEAKER_02: not even close,
40:26
SPEAKER_02: for the reality to come out on what happened.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: Some of the exit polling showed that the challenger captured as much as twice as many votes as Maduro.
40:37
SPEAKER_02: So, clearly...
40:39
SPEAKER_02: At best, he has 20 to 30 percent of the support of the country.
40:44
SPEAKER_02: And unfortunately,
40:46
SPEAKER_02: it's one of those situations,
40:47
SPEAKER_02: as I posted on social media,
40:49
SPEAKER_02: that people say this as kind of,
40:54
SPEAKER_02: it's a fun thing to say,
40:55
SPEAKER_02: that freedom isn't free.
40:58
SPEAKER_02: And the reality is that it's a very serious truth.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: And you see these large crowds of people in Venezuela demanding change.
41:09
SPEAKER_02: And the sad reality is I know it's got to be scary and terrifying for them down there,
41:15
SPEAKER_02: but freedom is not free.
41:18
SPEAKER_02: And many of them will have to take various levels of risk and show various levels
41:25
SPEAKER_02: of courage if they want to have the freedom in the elections today.
41:32
SPEAKER_02: that they once had.
41:33
SPEAKER_02: And so the coming days will probably unfortunately be pretty terrifying.
41:39
SPEAKER_02: There will probably be bloodshed.
41:41
SPEAKER_02: And the fate of their nation lies in the balance.
41:44
SPEAKER_02: And one of the reasons I'm committed to this podcast each week is we have seen how
41:49
SPEAKER_02: our own political situation in the United States has grown worse and worse for
41:57
SPEAKER_02: really going back more than a decade.
42:00
SPEAKER_02: And it's something where in America we take this country,
42:03
SPEAKER_02: this great freedom we have to vote,
42:06
SPEAKER_02: to have our votes counted,
42:07
SPEAKER_02: to have freedom of speech,
42:10
SPEAKER_02: to have the ability to speak out without fear of thugs showing up and either
42:15
SPEAKER_02: beating you or arresting you or any of the things that happen in so many countries.
42:21
SPEAKER_02: We take this for granted.
42:23
SPEAKER_02: And if you take it for granted, you start to give it up inch by inch until eventually a strong man...
42:29
SPEAKER_02: or a strong woman,
42:30
SPEAKER_02: but in most cases it's usually a strong man,
42:32
SPEAKER_02: takes control,
42:34
SPEAKER_02: and then there's years of oppression.
42:36
SPEAKER_02: And so Venezuela's been in about 20 years of oppression,
42:40
SPEAKER_02: and they have the potential opportunity to retake their country.
42:45
SPEAKER_02: And so I hope...
42:47
SPEAKER_02: That for their sake,
42:48
SPEAKER_02: they are able to successfully wrest power from an unpopular authoritarian figure
42:55
SPEAKER_02: and can regain their own freedoms down there that we take for granted.
42:59
SPEAKER_02: And I hope that we can see what they're going through and at least, at a minimum, have the energy...
43:08
SPEAKER_02: And the motivation to be informed,
43:11
SPEAKER_02: to make sure we're registered to vote and to make sure we show up to vote.
43:15
SPEAKER_02: It's not asking that much,
43:17
SPEAKER_02: particularly when we think of how many men and women have bled and died to give us
43:23
SPEAKER_02: that right.
43:25
SPEAKER_02: All right, so let's get to the best part of the show.
43:27
SPEAKER_02: This is the motivation and wisdom section.
43:31
SPEAKER_02: And I share these because I know that life is hard and that pep talks help.
43:36
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm hoping that this will help reach some people.
43:40
SPEAKER_02: I will say, you know, my wife and I spent Saturday volunteering at a church event.
43:45
SPEAKER_02: And it was...
43:47
SPEAKER_02: Called Boom Bash and our church gave out 500 backpacks and we had all kinds of food
43:52
SPEAKER_02: and bounce houses and carnival games and obviously fireworks at the end and all of
43:58
SPEAKER_02: it free.
43:59
SPEAKER_02: Nothing,
44:00
SPEAKER_02: you know,
44:01
SPEAKER_02: didn't cost anyone who showed up there a penny for the food,
44:04
SPEAKER_02: for the games,
44:05
SPEAKER_02: for anything.
44:06
SPEAKER_02: And there was a short church service too,
44:10
SPEAKER_02: and some people got saved,
44:11
SPEAKER_02: which is huge if you're a Christian.
44:13
SPEAKER_02: But what I really noticed was the disparity in the attendees.
44:18
SPEAKER_02: And it's so easy to forget, just in our own towns, how...
44:28
SPEAKER_02: unfair,
44:29
SPEAKER_02: I guess is for lack of a better word,
44:31
SPEAKER_02: but just how unfair life can be to some and how blessed we can be in our own situations.
44:40
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, we saw some folks there that
44:45
SPEAKER_02: I tell you,
44:46
SPEAKER_02: there are some people struggling,
44:47
SPEAKER_02: and these people live 10 to 20 minutes from where I live right now.
44:51
SPEAKER_02: In fact, we even talked with a family that had driven an hour and a half for the event.
44:57
SPEAKER_02: An hour and a half.
44:58
SPEAKER_02: And there was a young girl from that family that was so excited.
45:01
SPEAKER_02: She had said this was her favorite thing of the year,
45:03
SPEAKER_02: and that she'd been looking forward to it since last year.
45:06
SPEAKER_02: And it's funny because,
45:08
SPEAKER_02: you know,
45:08
SPEAKER_02: as we were planning it,
45:10
SPEAKER_02: and what I did was very little,
45:12
SPEAKER_02: it was what we volunteered,
45:13
SPEAKER_02: but
45:15
SPEAKER_02: To me, it was like, yeah, you know, carnival games and fireworks and it's just not that big a deal.
45:20
SPEAKER_02: And it's,
45:21
SPEAKER_02: you know,
45:21
SPEAKER_02: if you've got if you're living,
45:23
SPEAKER_02: you know,
45:24
SPEAKER_02: if you have a little bit of money,
45:26
SPEAKER_02: you can go to the fair.
45:28
SPEAKER_02: You can go to do any of these things that we had there.
45:33
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it's easy to take it for granted.
45:36
SPEAKER_02: But like when you see a kid who,
45:39
SPEAKER_02: you know,
45:39
SPEAKER_02: is not lying and is clearly so excited to be there,
45:43
SPEAKER_02: it's it's kind of heartbreaking to and it's touching,
45:47
SPEAKER_02: of course.
45:48
SPEAKER_02: There were some people who Uber to it because they didn't have transportation there.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: There were a few families that I think it's safe to say they didn't have access to dental care.
45:58
SPEAKER_02: And we just forget how blessed we are,
46:01
SPEAKER_02: what opportunities we have,
46:03
SPEAKER_02: and that there are some that live very close to us.
46:06
SPEAKER_02: And they are not in as good a situation as we are.
46:10
SPEAKER_02: And so part of why I like to share these every week is...
46:15
SPEAKER_02: If I can do anything to try to motivate someone to come to a higher standard of
46:21
SPEAKER_02: living from where they're at currently...
46:24
SPEAKER_02: My sister and I were both the first college graduates in our family.
46:28
SPEAKER_02: All of us in America, we live in a country where it is a competitive country.
46:34
SPEAKER_02: Whether you're in school or trying to get into college...
46:37
SPEAKER_02: Or no matter, or even in just the workforce, you have to compete.
46:42
SPEAKER_02: You have to be tough.
46:44
SPEAKER_02: You have to pull yourself up out of sometimes tragic, difficult situations.
46:51
SPEAKER_02: And I share these because I want to motivate some people.
46:55
SPEAKER_02: But if you have that excess capacity, I also want to inspire you to help someone this week to...
47:01
SPEAKER_02: If you see that person struggling, you know, we saw kids there that do not have the same opportunities.
47:08
SPEAKER_02: I mean, life is not fair.
47:09
SPEAKER_02: We know that.
47:11
SPEAKER_02: But there were some of these kids that you just looked at the family that they were in,
47:16
SPEAKER_02: and we're talking,
47:16
SPEAKER_02: you know,
47:17
SPEAKER_02: lots of kids,
47:19
SPEAKER_02: not well-educated parents.
47:21
SPEAKER_02: Some of the parents were even mean to us.
47:24
SPEAKER_02: Some of them were not even grateful because we ran out of backpacks,
47:28
SPEAKER_02: even though we took their information to get backpacks for them.
47:31
SPEAKER_02: And you realize, man, these kids aren't even getting a good example from these parents.
47:38
SPEAKER_02: It's just, it's really, it pulls on your heartstrings.
47:42
SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, I believe whether you're a Christian or not, it's just basic decency.
47:47
SPEAKER_02: If you have an opportunity to help some people or to volunteer or to do something
47:51
SPEAKER_02: at your school or to do something at a poorer school,
47:55
SPEAKER_02: Think about doing it.
47:56
SPEAKER_02: It'll really seriously touch your heart.
48:01
SPEAKER_02: And I know that event definitely touched my heart, so it inspired me to try to do even more.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: So, with all that out of the way, here's some motivation and wisdom for you.
48:12
SPEAKER_02: I hope at least one of these touch you guys.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: Alright, here's the first one.
48:16
SPEAKER_02: It's a quote.
48:17
SPEAKER_02: If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.
48:24
SPEAKER_02: Again, if you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.
48:31
SPEAKER_02: That's pretty good.
48:32
SPEAKER_02: All right, here's the next one.
48:35
SPEAKER_02: A list of 10 things.
48:39
SPEAKER_02: First list is easy work.
48:40
SPEAKER_02: Second one is hard work.
48:41
SPEAKER_02: I'll read it twice.
48:43
SPEAKER_02: This is easy work.
48:46
SPEAKER_02: 1.
48:46
SPEAKER_02: Complaining 2.
48:46
SPEAKER_02: Pretending 3.
48:47
SPEAKER_02: Blaming 4.
48:48
SPEAKER_02: Judging 5.
48:49
SPEAKER_02: Resenting 6.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: Taking 7.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: Shouting 8.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: Expecting 9.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: Waiting 10.
48:52
SPEAKER_02: Doubting This is hard work.
49:09
SPEAKER_02: 1.
49:10
SPEAKER_02: Inspiring 2.
49:10
SPEAKER_02: Learning 3.
49:12
SPEAKER_02: Teaching 4.
49:12
SPEAKER_02: Trusting 5.
49:14
SPEAKER_02: Empowering 6.
49:14
SPEAKER_02: Sponsoring 7.
49:16
SPEAKER_02: Committing 8.
49:17
SPEAKER_02: Unselfishly Giving 9.
49:18
SPEAKER_02: Loving
49:31
SPEAKER_02: Number 10, nurturing.
49:34
SPEAKER_02: I said I would read that twice, but it's kind of lengthy.
49:37
SPEAKER_02: And so if you need to hear those again, just hit the back button 15 seconds twice.
49:42
SPEAKER_02: You probably can hear all 20 of them again, but don't do the easy work.
49:47
SPEAKER_02: Do the hard work.
49:49
SPEAKER_02: Alright, here's the next quote.
49:51
SPEAKER_02: Every pro was once an amateur.
49:53
SPEAKER_02: Every expert was once a beginner.
49:56
SPEAKER_02: So dream big and start now.
49:58
SPEAKER_02: That's a good one.
50:01
SPEAKER_02: Here's the next one.
50:02
SPEAKER_02: You can't change someone who doesn't see an issue in their actions.
50:07
SPEAKER_02: Again, you can't change someone who doesn't see an issue in their actions.
50:12
SPEAKER_02: We all do that, don't we?
50:13
SPEAKER_02: We try to change people.
50:14
SPEAKER_02: It's like, you know, just beating your head against a wall sometimes.
50:19
SPEAKER_02: All right, here's your next one.
50:22
SPEAKER_02: That is such a good one.
50:27
SPEAKER_02: We all know situations like that.
50:30
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes your heart needs more time to accept what your mind already knows.
50:35
SPEAKER_02: We all know people who've gone through a divorce or some really traumatic event.
50:40
SPEAKER_02: And you just want to say,
50:41
SPEAKER_02: you got to move on or you got to do this or you got to do that or blah,
50:44
SPEAKER_02: blah,
50:44
SPEAKER_02: blah.
50:45
SPEAKER_02: And it's like maybe they know that, but you got to give them time.
50:49
SPEAKER_02: So don't be the person that says that.
50:52
SPEAKER_02: This next one is a quote about gratitude.
50:54
SPEAKER_02: In the blink of an eye, it can all be taken away.
50:58
SPEAKER_02: Be grateful always.
51:01
SPEAKER_02: Again, in the blink of an eye, it can all be taken away.
51:03
SPEAKER_02: Be grateful always.
51:06
SPEAKER_02: This is one of those where I always think about with spouses especially where...
51:11
SPEAKER_02: We all know, you know, all of us get frustrated with spouses sometimes.
51:16
SPEAKER_02: We take them for granted.
51:18
SPEAKER_02: And then you see someone after they lose a spouse.
51:22
SPEAKER_02: I've been seeing it with my dad, especially losing his wife of 50 years, my mom.
51:29
SPEAKER_02: And it is just the cavity, the depth of the hole in his heart is almost impossible to explain.
51:40
SPEAKER_02: And I can't even imagine.
51:41
SPEAKER_02: I don't even know how he goes on sometimes.
51:44
SPEAKER_02: I know he's a man of faith and it's with God's strength.
51:46
SPEAKER_02: But man,
51:48
SPEAKER_02: like next time you're looking at your wife or your husband,
51:51
SPEAKER_02: think about the fact that they won't be there always.
51:55
SPEAKER_02: And so let's not be rude.
51:57
SPEAKER_02: Let's not be short with them.
51:59
SPEAKER_02: Let's be kind.
52:02
SPEAKER_02: Speaking of which, the next one, I didn't exactly plan it this way.
52:04
SPEAKER_02: I just paste these in through the week.
52:06
SPEAKER_02: But the next one's a good quote.
52:08
SPEAKER_02: Be nice to people.
52:09
SPEAKER_02: We're all just trying our best.
52:12
SPEAKER_02: Be nice to people.
52:13
SPEAKER_02: We're all just trying our best.
52:17
SPEAKER_02: Alright, here is the next one.
52:19
SPEAKER_02: This will be the last one of this and then we'll do a few from the Bible.
52:22
SPEAKER_02: The best weight to lose is the weight of other people's opinion.
52:27
SPEAKER_02: Man, that's good.
52:28
SPEAKER_02: The best weight to lose is the weight of other people's opinion.
52:33
SPEAKER_02: Do not care what people think of you.
52:36
SPEAKER_02: Let it go.
52:37
SPEAKER_02: Don't think about it.
52:38
SPEAKER_02: All right,
52:39
SPEAKER_02: as you guys know,
52:40
SPEAKER_02: I always like to share a few from the Bible or that touch on Jesus just because
52:45
SPEAKER_02: Christianity and the Bible have become such a source of strength and wisdom and
52:50
SPEAKER_02: calm for me during the past couple of years.
52:52
SPEAKER_02: So I hope by sharing a few,
52:54
SPEAKER_02: it might encourage you to get in the Bible yourself because I think it'll really
52:58
SPEAKER_02: help you
53:01
SPEAKER_02: Here is the first one.
53:02
SPEAKER_02: I saw that quote this week, and oh my word, I was thinking of a family member in particular.
53:21
SPEAKER_02: That was a lifelong struggle.
53:23
SPEAKER_02: But when someone isn't right for you,
53:26
SPEAKER_02: God will continuously cause them to hurt you until you're strong enough to let them go.
53:29
SPEAKER_02: This next one's about being patient and waiting.
53:34
SPEAKER_02: These are some biblical names that probably,
53:37
SPEAKER_02: even if you're not very well read on the Bible,
53:38
SPEAKER_02: you would know.
53:40
SPEAKER_02: Joseph waited 13 years.
53:43
SPEAKER_02: Abraham waited 25 years.
53:46
SPEAKER_02: Moses waited 40 years.
53:48
SPEAKER_02: Jesus waited 30 years.
53:51
SPEAKER_02: If God is making you wait, you're in good company.
53:59
SPEAKER_02: It was just really good.
54:00
SPEAKER_02: Hopefully you know some of those names.
54:01
SPEAKER_02: Those are all very big-time names in the Bible.
54:05
SPEAKER_02: I know you know who Jesus is.
54:06
SPEAKER_02: I know you probably know who Moses is.
54:08
SPEAKER_02: 40 years for Moses, 30 years for Jesus.
54:12
SPEAKER_02: Abraham was the founder of the people of Israel, waited 25 years.
54:17
SPEAKER_02: Joseph is the guy who got sold into slavery 13 years before eventually becoming the
54:24
SPEAKER_02: second most powerful man in Egypt.
54:27
SPEAKER_02: So...
54:28
SPEAKER_02: Thirteen years.
54:29
SPEAKER_02: So if God is making you wait, you're in good company.
54:32
SPEAKER_02: Alright, the next one's a verse from Joshua 1, verse 8.
54:39
SPEAKER_02: Keep this book of the law always on your lips.
54:43
SPEAKER_02: Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
54:49
SPEAKER_02: Then you will be prosperous and successful.
54:54
SPEAKER_02: This is one of those things,
54:54
SPEAKER_02: I always talk about the Bible being a source of strength,
54:57
SPEAKER_02: but the amount of wisdom in there is crazy.
55:01
SPEAKER_02: And it's so deep, and there's so much about love and forgiveness and turning your cheek.
55:08
SPEAKER_02: There's so much in there, and when you read it...
55:12
SPEAKER_02: It seems,
55:14
SPEAKER_02: especially if you've been away from it for a while,
55:17
SPEAKER_02: you realize that everything we do in the modern world is wrong,
55:20
SPEAKER_02: with our instant this,
55:21
SPEAKER_02: instant that.
55:22
SPEAKER_02: But again, the quote is, or the verse is, "...keep this book of the law always on your lips.
55:29
SPEAKER_02: Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
55:34
SPEAKER_02: Then you will be prosperous and successful."
55:37
SPEAKER_02: Seriously,
55:38
SPEAKER_02: guys,
55:38
SPEAKER_02: I challenge you,
55:39
SPEAKER_02: if you haven't read any of the Bible in a long time,
55:41
SPEAKER_02: just open up to Proverbs and read a few chapters.
55:45
SPEAKER_02: It will blow you away.
55:46
SPEAKER_02: All right, here's the next quote.
55:50
SPEAKER_02: This one's really deep.
55:53
SPEAKER_02: It's from Charles Spurgeon, who was a very famous theologian.
55:56
SPEAKER_02: I believe it was from maybe the 1600s or 1800s.
55:58
SPEAKER_02: But the quote is, Man, that's deep.
55:59
SPEAKER_02: Again,
56:17
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, Christians are not just focused on this life.
56:21
SPEAKER_02: They are thinking about the next life.
56:24
SPEAKER_02: And it is mind-blowing to read that and realize so much of our pain in this world
56:29
SPEAKER_02: is because we want to be super happy here and not let it go.
56:35
SPEAKER_02: And when you are trying to hold on to something from your health to your youth to
56:41
SPEAKER_02: riches or whatever it is,
56:44
SPEAKER_02: As those things get taken from you,
56:46
SPEAKER_02: and they will get taken from all of us,
56:49
SPEAKER_02: you become scared,
56:51
SPEAKER_02: desperate,
56:52
SPEAKER_02: angry,
56:54
SPEAKER_02: all those things that happen.
56:55
SPEAKER_02: But for Christians, we know that there is another life, that this is a very short life.
57:02
SPEAKER_02: And so that quote is just so deep.
57:04
SPEAKER_02: Be thankful for the thorns and thistles which keep you from being in love with this world.
57:11
SPEAKER_02: Alright, one more.
57:12
SPEAKER_02: This is just kind of a quote someone had shared.
57:16
SPEAKER_02: Don't say that God has been silent if your Bible has been closed.
57:23
SPEAKER_02: Read that again.
57:24
SPEAKER_02: It's so good.
57:25
SPEAKER_02: I'll read it one more time.
57:26
SPEAKER_02: Don't say God has been silent.
57:28
SPEAKER_02: If your Bible has been closed, read that again.
57:32
SPEAKER_02: I know speaking for personal experience, that literally happened to me just a couple of days ago.
57:37
SPEAKER_02: I was looking for some wisdom and maybe for God to show me something and...
57:43
SPEAKER_02: Couldn't hear or see or get the message I wanted.
57:46
SPEAKER_02: And later,
57:48
SPEAKER_02: out of frustration,
57:49
SPEAKER_02: I just opened the Bible and was reading where I should be reading and following
57:53
SPEAKER_02: this long reading plan I've got.
57:55
SPEAKER_02: And literally the chapter that I was reading that day,
58:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm a little off schedule,
58:01
SPEAKER_02: but was exactly what I needed to hear.
58:03
SPEAKER_02: So, don't say that God is silent if your Bible has been closed.
58:09
SPEAKER_02: Read your Bible, people.
58:10
SPEAKER_02: Great stuff in it.
58:11
SPEAKER_02: It will rock your world.
58:14
SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for joining us this week.
58:17
SPEAKER_02: I hope as you go through this week that you act a little nicer on social media and in the world as well.
58:22
SPEAKER_02: Smile at folks in the grocery store.
58:25
SPEAKER_02: Do small acts of kindness.
58:27
SPEAKER_02: And remember that most Americans are good,
58:29
SPEAKER_02: and they will help you in an emergency,
58:31
SPEAKER_02: even if you don't agree politically.
58:33
SPEAKER_02: as you go through this week i want you to aim to be more motivated and more
58:38
SPEAKER_02: disciplined try to improve yourself mentally physically and spiritually you don't
58:44
SPEAKER_02: have to set impossible goals on these matters just be a little more motivated and
58:48
SPEAKER_02: disciplined than you were the week prior
58:52
SPEAKER_02: As I said earlier, I really hope that you spend some time in your Bible this week.
58:57
SPEAKER_02: If you have no idea where to read on your own, just start with Psalms or Proverbs.
59:03
SPEAKER_02: Read some of those and then start with the New Testament by reading the book of John.
59:08
SPEAKER_02: Moving to a final note on the political front,
59:11
SPEAKER_02: I'm confident after this episode,
59:13
SPEAKER_02: you're going to hear some bad news this week,
59:16
SPEAKER_02: where you're going to hear something ugly,
59:17
SPEAKER_02: and it's going to remind you of how divided we are.
59:20
SPEAKER_02: This is as certain as the law of gravity.
59:23
SPEAKER_02: But I'm begging you, please do not give up on this country.
59:27
SPEAKER_02: I know it's pretty ugly right now.
59:29
SPEAKER_02: and I know we're living in dark times,
59:31
SPEAKER_02: but we've made it through nearly 250 years together,
59:34
SPEAKER_02: and we're far stronger together than we'll ever be apart.
59:37
SPEAKER_02: Don't ever believe anyone who tells you differently about that.
59:42
SPEAKER_02: Let me wrap up the show by talking about my books and a couple of other newsletters that I do.
59:47
SPEAKER_02: First, a bit about myself and my books.
59:50
SPEAKER_02: I am a military vet.
59:51
SPEAKER_02: I spent four years in the Marine Corps, all of that time in the infantry.
59:55
SPEAKER_02: And yes, that does matter.
59:57
SPEAKER_02: After my enlistment, I went to college at the University of Tennessee.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_02: I became a journalist.
1:00:01
SPEAKER_02: I spent more than 10 years in the news business.
1:00:04
SPEAKER_02: Besides all of that, I've also written 12 books.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_02: Those books include a series about a Marine Corps sniper,
1:00:10
SPEAKER_02: several novels about a police detective and a private investigator,
1:00:13
SPEAKER_02: and a few books about war,
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SPEAKER_02: such as World War II and Afghanistan.
1:00:17
SPEAKER_02: Basically,
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SPEAKER_02: these are all fast-moving books with lots of action and plot twists,
1:00:22
SPEAKER_02: because those are the kind of books I've always enjoyed reading.
1:00:25
SPEAKER_02: You can find all of those books in the link in the episode notes,
1:00:29
SPEAKER_02: or you can look on Amazon by just searching my name,
1:00:32
SPEAKER_02: Stan R.
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SPEAKER_02: Mitchell.
1:00:34
SPEAKER_02: Buying a book,
1:00:35
SPEAKER_02: telling a friend about a book,
1:00:36
SPEAKER_02: or buying one as a gift for someone,
1:00:39
SPEAKER_02: friend or loved one,
1:00:40
SPEAKER_02: is a great way to help support the show.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_02: Now, I always like to end each show by reminding people that you can comment anytime.
1:00:47
SPEAKER_02: I try to monitor those.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_02: You can also reach out privately by email to me at AuthorStanRMitchell at Yahoo.com.
1:00:55
SPEAKER_02: And that's in the episode notes, by the way.
1:00:56
SPEAKER_02: But again, it's AuthorStanRMitchell at Yahoo.com.
1:01:01
SPEAKER_02: Hey, here's one other thing.
1:01:02
SPEAKER_02: This podcast is about defense news, but I also do a political blog.
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SPEAKER_02: So if you love my moderate, optimistic views, you might enjoy that.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_02: It's called Thoughts from a Southern Gentleman.
1:01:13
SPEAKER_02: You can find a link to the episode notes to that, or you can just search that on Google.
1:01:18
SPEAKER_02: Hey, thanks for hanging with me this week.
1:01:21
SPEAKER_02: It's truly an honor to talk with each of you and to know that there's a few of you
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SPEAKER_02: out there who are listening and who care about our country and our military and all
1:01:30
SPEAKER_02: the issues that we face.
1:01:32
SPEAKER_02: I know there are a lot of scary issues out there,
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SPEAKER_02: but we're going to get through them together,
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SPEAKER_02: the same way America's gotten through everything before this.
1:01:39
SPEAKER_02: If you can at all this week,
1:01:41
SPEAKER_02: reach out to a friend or anyone who you know is struggling,
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SPEAKER_02: whether they are young or old.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_02: Life is truly hard.
1:01:48
SPEAKER_02: We know this.
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SPEAKER_02: But the true strength of this country is its people,
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SPEAKER_02: and that includes you folks listening to me right now.
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SPEAKER_02: So be a leader, be a doer, be a servant to someone.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_02: With all of that being said, I'll catch you all next week.
1:02:01
SPEAKER_02: You have been listening to The View from the Front.
1:02:05
Thank you.