Infiltration Under the Canopy: The Art of the Invisible Strike

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Welcome to Stories of Special Forces Operators podcast. Listen to
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some of the bravest and toughest people on the planet
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share their stories, Sit back and enjoy.
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Welcome back, folks for another episode. Today, we have a
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great guest, Clark Impostato. He served eight years in the
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United States military. From nineteen ninety five to two thousand
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and one. He served in the US Navy on the
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USSS Shiloh and at Seal Team five Fox trop Platoon.
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During that time, he deployed to the Persian Gulf in
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Southeast Asia. After separating from the Navy, he served with
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the nineteenth Group Special Forces from two thousand and two
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to two thousand and three. From two thousand and three
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to two thousand and seven, he continued service as a
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private military contractor. He deployed multiple time to Israel, Afghanistan,
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and Iraq. Upon returning home to the US, though he
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didn't stop, he continued on and he's served with the
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Phoenix Police Department from two thousand and eight to twenty sixteen.
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He says, now after all that he's been rocking and rolling,
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joking and living, you can find him a good vised
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podcast with Clark and Pastato and Ryan g By the way,
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his last name is I am past at O. Before
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we get started, to make sure to share, subscribe and
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hit that like but you know we like it. It's
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not waste any more time. And welcome the former Navy
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CeAl Clark and Pistada.
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Welcome Clark, Hey, thanks for having me. I'm stoked.
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Thank you so much for being here. This is so
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much now. I've learned so much interviewing special forces, whether
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it's Navy seals to Green Berets. And I think next
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week we have sas coming on. Oh nice, because people
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don't really understand who you people are. They have a
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misting representation. But the amazing thing is how how would
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I put this? How amazing you individuals are not just
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because of what you did militarily but also psychologically, how
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much you've endured and how much you've overcome and your
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lives outside of that world. But before we get to
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all that, I guess my first question is always is
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whatever made you want.
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To be a Navy Seal.
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I think it was kind of a gradual increase to
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that decision I always attributed to My mom was a
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huge fan of World War Two. She was a kid
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during World War two. But as far as like when
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I was a kid growing up, she loved to watch
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World War two movies, you know, the Battle of Midway
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and all this other stuff. The Black Sheep Squadron, there
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was a TV show about the fire pilots, and so
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I just watching TV with her, I just really kind
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of fell in love with World War two and the
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concept of it, and you know, we're going to fight
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this Hitler dude, and then broke out in Pearl Harbor
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and we went out west and bought the Japanese and
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so I was just at our early age mesmerized by it.
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But then that it continued further with the course growing
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up in the eighties with all the Rambos and the
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commandos and the Schwartzeneggers. I mean, who didn't want to
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be a Greenberry army dude running around.
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Saving the world.
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And so I just it was always kind of on
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the back burner until I was in high school in
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the first Golf War kicked off, and I was glued
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to CNN at the time because that was the first
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for our news network, and so when.
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The golf War popped off, I was just like, I
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have to do this.
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This is amazing, Like I'm watching this almost real time,
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and I just thought, when I'm done with high school,
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like this is this is now off the back burner
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on one of the front burners, like this is gonna happen.
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I didn't have a timeline or anything like that, but
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when that kicked.
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Off, I this is something I gotta do. You know.
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I don't know how long I'll do it for or
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where I'm gonna end up, but that's when I really
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caught the bug.
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Was the first golf for what's a fascinating story. So
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your mom was the one that motivate I can't remember.
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It was Robert cottrad of that blank sheep squadron.
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I can't remember.
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I was so young, but I just remember watching that shows.
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I really would love to be an old school fighter pilot.
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That would be like my dream job. If timeline wasn't
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I could go back in time. That would be just
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you know, the Western specific campaign flying airplanes and shooting
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down zeroes and that just I was like, that's the
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bees and ease Man's that's cool stuff.
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That's so funny you mentioned that because I think it
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was just last weekend I visited the Lions Museum down
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in Orange County and they have all those warplanes from.
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The World War Two. Nice.
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It was really a trip. And I think some of
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the guys were there.
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Oh wow, they were old enough.
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I mean, no offense to them, but yeah, it's.
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Getting harder to find them. They're getting they're getting older
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and older, those guys.
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Yeah, that generation is disappearing, unfortunately. And I know later
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on in the interview, I wanted to ask you a
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little bit about Hollywood, sure, and some of them movies.
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Maybe we'll get back to Rambo. I'm trying to think
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of some of the Navy Seal movies but just can't
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remember when off the top of my head.
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It really wasn't except for the Charlie Sheen one that
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came out like in the nineties, and that was well,
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that's right, Yeah, that's what we thought the teams would be.
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Like you're saying, it's not, well, I'll get into that.
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Let me ask you this about buds training. Everybody's always curious.
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You see the videos on YouTube and things of that nature,
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and it's one thing to watch a video a six
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minute clip, that's another to endure it. Tell us, Kyle,
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walk us through your very first moments of going into
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BUDS training. Did they shake your hands, say how you're
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doing pallor.
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Yeah, orders waiting for you in a cancierge service and
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say hey, we're stoked to have you. No, it's it's
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very overwhelming, and there wasn't a lot of information. I
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showed up to Buds in ninety seven, the summer of
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ninety seven, so.
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The internet really wasn't in full swing. There wasn't a
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lot of info.
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The Navy recruiter laughed at you and showed you a
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ten minute video called be Someone Special, and it was
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like an old black and white UDT diver video.
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It wasn't a lot of info.
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So what I liked about it is it was kind
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of a Scooby Doo adventure. You just each day was
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this new mystery that was unfolded in front of your eyes.
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Whereas now there's so much info out there. I think
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it kind of obviously you can't prepare for the real experience,
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but you have a heads up. I think it takes
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away a little bit of the mystery, the charm to it.
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When I showed up, you had no idea. I did
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have a neighbor when I was in the regular Navy
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that was a sniper at five and so I could
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ask him questions, but it wasn't enough pieces of the
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puzzle to really get that kind of bird's eye concept
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of what I was up against. Whereas now with all
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the documentaries and stuff, it just, in my opinion, kind
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of spoils it.
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But when I was there, it was just overwhelming.
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You can't believe I had to fight my way there
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from the regular Navy. It's been a year and a
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half in the fleet, chip and paint, so I was
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super pumped to be at seal training and we'll never
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have to grab a paintbrush again.
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So I was pretty pumped about that.
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And to be honest, that kind of did me a
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favor because a lot of guys go from boot camp
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to buds and I don't think they realize how special
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that opportunity is, and they throw it away a lot
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quicker than the guys that come from the fleet, because
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you know, if you quit that floating prisons waiting for you, you're
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going right back to the fleet. So for me not
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to get ahead of myself, anytime I was having a
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bad day and feeling sorry for myself, I would see
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a ship just off the coast of San diego and
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think I'm good. I don't want to go back to that.
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I'll sit with cold water and be happy. So I
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turned that negative into a positive and used my fleet
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experience to motivate me to get through the tough time.
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But I can't reiterate enough the awesome effect the first
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day of BUDS has on you.
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It's just like it's just this epic thing that's in
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front of you.
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But what I did realize is once you get settled,
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the instructors really do give you the keys of the castle.
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They tell you how to succeed.
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They tell you, don't look at this as a six
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month program because you'll freak yourself out and quit.
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They taught us how do you.
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Eat an elephant one bite at a time, And what
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they meant by that was survive the day. Maybe you
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just survived getting to lunch. Or more importantly, what I
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did is I just focused on the task at hand.
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Whatever evolution we were doing, that's all I worried about.
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So if we were doing a four mile time to
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beat run, I wasn't worried about the evolution after lunch,
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which might.
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Be the obstacle course or you know what I mean.
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A lot of guys are like, shit, I failed this
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and I got this company. They psyched themselves out. So
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I took on board early on what they taught us
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to focus on it. And really that's the entire mindset
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of the sealed community. You don't really realize that at
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the time because of budge're kind of especially first phase.
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You're kind of in kindergarten, if you will.
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So any little nugget of wisdom they gave me I
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latched onto and I realized these documentaries and YouTube videos,
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it makes it seem almost a little bit marine corpus.
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They kind of ham it up a little bit for
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the camera and they yell a little bit more. But
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I thought of Buds as more of a gentleman's course.
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In fact, sometimes it's so evil that they're being nice
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to you.
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You're kind of like, why.
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Is this kind of like whispering at me, Like it's
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just kind of instead of all this shouting energy, like
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they just whisper in your ear light.
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Now you look cold and wet. I got them purple
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in the van. All you got to do is quit
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like it's creepy, you know what I mean?
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They really they get inside your head because as a
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human being. You can only do so many push ups
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and run so far, and some so far. They'll physically
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break you. But they even told you this little key
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for success. Never let us break you mentally. That's where
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you have to win. We're going to break you physically.
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I don't care who you are.
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They've had Olympic athletes, pro football players, all walks of
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life have gone through Buds, some successful, sometimes success. But
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the key ingreeting is you must never be mentally defeated.
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And I think that's something it's calmon in special operations.
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But Buds is different because of that cold water that
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will get inside your head when you're sitting in the
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drink for hours and hours and hours and the water.
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Temp is like fifty degrees and you're shivering.
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You could be the toughest dude in the world, Mike Tyson,
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but you don't want to sit in that cold water,
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so you quit. So that's unique, and it makes us
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a little different than other special operations selection processes. That
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cold water really has nothing to do with your physical ability.
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It's your state of mind, and you have to develop
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that early on and realize this is just a new
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part of my life.
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And I either accept it or I'm going to go away.
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And you start to see people go away, some.
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Bigger guys, some very athletic guys can't mentally handle that
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cold water, and so you realize early on, Hey, the
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key to this shit is your state of mind, your
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mental fortitude. And so luckily for me, I latched onto
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that pretty quickly and that served me.
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Well throughout Buds.
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It's just to remain calm, as they say, embrace the suck,
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except that this is your reality for now, and you're
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going to be wet all day, every day for six
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months if you're lucky. If you get injured or roll back,
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you could be in BUDS for over a year if
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you don't get through in one shot.
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So oh wow.
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Kind of an open ended course, depending on your success.
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You have to complete certain things along the way. If
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you get hurt or you get performance dropped. If you're
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a good dude, they might roll you back. They might not,
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they might drop you from the program. So it behooves
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you to.
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Do it right the first time.
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So's I did my best to stick to that, to
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that philosophy.
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So that's the fascinating thing. I do these interviews, and
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I'm sure folks have heard it before. Is the psychological
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mindset of people in special forces. And I don't want
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to overgeneralize your guys, but everybody has a similar mindset.
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Sure you'd already did it early where you reframed the
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scenario you were in and then able to strengthen your
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mental fortitude as well, which is something I've I found
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sometimes when I've interviewed I think we're a similar age.
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Are you familiar with Larry Holmes, a boxer, No homes okay,
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Larry Holmes. He fought Mike Tyson and he fought Muhammad Ali.
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Oh okay, and same thing with him. And I asked him,
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what do you think about when you got knocked down?
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I expected him to say something like, oh my gosh,
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I got knocked down whatever he did, and he said,
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I got to figure out how to get back up
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and knock him out. And I thought, that's a whole
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different mindset. What a lot of people have. They just
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don't give up. And the Olympic athletes told me the
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same thing. Every time they failed or they didn't get somewhere.
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What they always came back to is how do I
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get it? I'm going to move aside? What just happened
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and go back to how do I get that goal?
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You have to compartmentalize your defeat, and they teach us that.
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For example, when I went through buds, you were allowed
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to fail something twice, So if I failed a four
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mile time run, they would retest me, but if I
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failed a second four mile time run, you're gone. So
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if you fail something, you know the safety net's now gone.
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You have one more chance at this.
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But what they teach you is to to you have
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to data dump that. It's kind of like in advanced
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training when you're doing CQB and cleaning rooms. If you
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have a bad run and let's say you know, you
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sweep a guy or you to hostage target and then
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make you reset, you have to completely wipe that from
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your mind that you just screwed up. You have to
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go back in that house and have a good run.
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You have to be able to just compartmentalize that. You
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can revisit that failure later. There's a time and a.
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Place for that, but it's not right then and there.
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So they really are good at like you're saying, the
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athletes can do. There's lessons to be learned from failure,
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but oftentimes you have to reperform immediately and you can't
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dwell on that, and.
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So that actually ends up serving you well in life.
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For example, if you're having problems at home, you have
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to compartmentalize that, go to work and be a professional.
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Or if you're having financial problems, you got to compartmentalize that,
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go to work and be a professional. So it really
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a lot of my buddies that are civilians, they dwell
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on things, and I'm like, dude, just put that in
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your back pocket for now. Get through the day. When
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you're done with work and get home, that's when you
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can analyze what happened. You know why this happened or
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that happened. And so buds really taught me that if
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you mess something up, you can't let it eat you up.
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You have to to learn from it when the time
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is appropriate and then come back stronger. You've got to
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Failure is not a bad thing. Everybody has a bad day,
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has a bad week, messing something up. We all have talents,
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you know. For me, I sucked at swimming. I had
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to swim scared, I had to basically run on the water.
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I'm from Colorado, I'm just a little hillbilly that grew
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up at eight thousand feet. I probably should have been
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a ranger or a Green Beret, but I got the
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seal shit in my head. So I honestly had a
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friend in college that taught me how to swim the
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sidestroke so I could back fire.
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Had no idea beyond that.
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And obviously there's a lot of water evolutions and buds
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00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:41.159
and I was the worst swimmer in my class for
320
00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:43.480
a long time, but I didn't let that beat me.
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We would swim laps at the pool and I was
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the last guy to get to the edge. These guys
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had already been resting for fifteen twenty seconds. I hit
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the edge and they say go. So I had no rest.
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I was just back for just sucking in water. Thought
326
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I was gonna die. But in the true sp of
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buds and the instructors wanting you to be successful, they said,
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for those of you that suck at swimming, instructor so
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and so we'll be here Saturday at noon. I suggest
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you'd be here and every Saturday there would be an
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instructor there at the pool and they would completely come
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out of character and be cool, and they would teach
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you how to swim and it behooved you if you
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were struggling to be there every Saturday and learn how
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to swim, And eventually I became a middle of the
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pack swimmer once the technique set in and I was
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fighting myself in the water. You know, it's just like
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00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.360
if you try to run sideways, you're not going to run.
339
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Very far, very fast.
340
00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:35.440
But if you learn the proper technique for anything, it
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becomes pretty easy. So unlike a lot of selection processes
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I've been through, buds has the time because it's six
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months to really if you're a good guy, that'll work
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with you and they'll get you.
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Up to speed. And in my case it was the swimming.
346
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So they do set you up for success, but you
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00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:55.519
do have to compartmentalize those failures and not let them
348
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meet you up. And it does eat a lot of
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people up because it gets in your.
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Head, say it really helped a lot in your life.
351
00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:03.399
Yeah, it does.
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I mean I still use that philosophy today. Like I said,
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if something happens on the way to work, I'm able
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to just put that in a little box, do what
355
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I got to do at work, and then go home,
356
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or or something happens at work, I don't have to
357
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bring that home and bring that nastiness into the home,
358
00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:20.759
and I can compartmentalize it and.
359
00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:22.279
Think about it the appropriate time.
360
00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:27.279
So Special Operations specifically because it's and they taught us
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this too, it's ninety percent mental, ten percent physical. And
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that's in any Special Operations unit. It's just such a
363
00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:39.759
vast variety of tasks you have to become an expert at,
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00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.399
you know, any special operations. Guys is kind of a
365
00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:43.840
Swiss army, and I have kind of a jack of
366
00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:46.000
all trades. We're not just a screwdriver or.
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Just a hammer.
368
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You have to learn a bunch of stuff. So there's
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a level of intellect that's required. But more importantly, it's
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the psychological part of it. Being able to control your emotions,
371
00:16:55.799 --> 00:17:04.319
being able to maintain your professionalism in multiple challenging environments desert, jungle, snow.
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All that's a mental game.
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When you're extremely hot, extremely cold, the mission's impossible.
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You have to convince you so if you can do it.
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So that's why they say it's ninety percent mental, ten
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00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:16.279
percent physical. And when they first told me that, I'm like,
377
00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:18.240
there's no way, because Buds is brutal.
378
00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:20.039
I mean you're running with boats on your heads.
379
00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:23.440
You got hell week, you're you know, log peet, you're
380
00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:26.759
doing two mile time to open ocean swims and second
381
00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:29.440
phase you do a five point five nautical mile swim.
382
00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:32.240
Took me four hours and fifty seven minutes to do
383
00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:36.000
for the four hours, almost five hours, four hours, fifty
384
00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:38.839
seven minutes, and it's just a complete there's no time requirement.
385
00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:40.000
You just have to do it.
386
00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:42.359
And of course it was in the wintertime and the
387
00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:45.480
water was freezing and you're cramping up and you see
388
00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:48.640
the pier down an imperial beach you have to swim around,
389
00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:51.000
and it's this tiny little blip on the horizon not
390
00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:54.279
getting closer to you. Of Course, I'm convinced that there's
391
00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:56.680
like five hundred great white sharks around me at all time.
392
00:17:56.799 --> 00:17:59.839
So there's always this mental battle of you just have
393
00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.240
to accept it and go for it, and like we've
394
00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.000
talked about, that really gives you some tools for later
395
00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:08.039
in life that you don't realize at the time. So
396
00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:11.240
I just very blessed to buds in and of itself
397
00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:16.079
is really a very pure selection process, and it.
398
00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:19.880
Is mainly you versus yourself versus nature. There's not a
399
00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:21.039
lot to the buds compound.
400
00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:24.440
There's an obstacle course, there's some pull up bars, dip bars,
401
00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:26.640
rope climb, and so when you get there your first
402
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.680
day and you're looking around, you're like, there's not a
403
00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:31.960
lot to this place, Like, I mean, really, how hard
404
00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:35.200
can this be? You know, they're trying to psych yourself
405
00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:38.480
up right the pregame Jenners, You're like, you know, whatever,
406
00:18:38.599 --> 00:18:41.599
I could do this, But then you realize it. It's
407
00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:44.759
the soft sand, it's cold water, it's the long runs,
408
00:18:44.839 --> 00:18:48.640
the boats on the heads. They just do this stuff forever,
409
00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:51.319
for hours and hours, and that's when it shifts to
410
00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:54.359
that mental piece, how long can I tolerate this? They
411
00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:57.359
might have you do something and they will say we're
412
00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:00.799
gonna do this until somebody quits. It could be just
413
00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:02.559
walking down the beach with the boats on your head.
414
00:19:02.839 --> 00:19:05.599
There's no time limits. We're gonna do this until somebody quits.
415
00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:09.240
And eventually somebody does quit. So it's that that they
416
00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:12.680
want to see somebody break mentally, how that affects you?
417
00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:16.599
Well, you saw somebody break, does they are like, uh,
418
00:19:16.839 --> 00:19:18.880
does it give you? Like, oh, jeez, he broke. I
419
00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:20.519
can't believe he broke or something like that.
420
00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:23.880
No, it motivates you. You know, uh, day one of buds.
421
00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:26.279
They line you up in a heightline from tallis to shortest,
422
00:19:26.359 --> 00:19:28.799
and I remember, I've always been kind of a middle
423
00:19:28.839 --> 00:19:29.920
of the road guy, you know.
424
00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:31.519
I think at that time I was six.
425
00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:33.799
Foot probably one seventy five point eight, so just kind
426
00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:36.359
of your average build dude. But there are some bodybuilder
427
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:38.759
Towartzenegger looking dudes and you're.
428
00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:40.319
Like, oh my god, look at that dude. He's going
429
00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:41.160
to crush it.
430
00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:43.880
He's the first guy to quit because he can't manipulate
431
00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:46.519
his body weight on the obstacle course. He can't run,
432
00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:49.240
he can't swim, he's just a big powerlifter dude. Or
433
00:19:49.480 --> 00:19:51.599
so when you see those bigger guys quit, you're like,
434
00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:52.960
it kind of motivates you.
435
00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:55.559
It gives you energy, Like that guy looked like he
436
00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:56.440
would fucking.
437
00:19:56.200 --> 00:19:58.279
Take your lunch money. But he's the first one to quit.
438
00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.279
Like holy shit. Pretty soon it's a bunch.
439
00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:03.559
Of little wiry guys that are left. You're like, damn,
440
00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:04.240
look at us.
441
00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:07.000
Then we're still So anytime I heard the bell ring,
442
00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:09.200
it motivated.
443
00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:11.759
Me in that I'm still here now. It was sad.
444
00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:14.920
They also teach you don't make friends with people right
445
00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:17.920
away because if your friend quits, you're likely to follow.
446
00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:22.119
So there's a little a little bit of stand offficseness
447
00:20:22.119 --> 00:20:24.200
at first. Obviously you bond with your boat crew a
448
00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:26.200
little bit. But if someone in your boat who quits
449
00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:29.119
and you're real close with that guy, maybe your roommates,
450
00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:32.599
maybe your carpool, maybe you knew each other before, that
451
00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:35.359
has a huge effect. If your battle buddy quits, you're
452
00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:38.440
like damn, because you really relied on them and their energy.
453
00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:42.039
And so it's it's tricky. You got to the further
454
00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:45.039
along you go, the smaller and closer the class gets,
455
00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:47.440
you know, second third phase. Then you're just this little
456
00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:50.160
little band of pirates and there's nothing they can do
457
00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:52.559
to you, and and you you're kind of safe. But
458
00:20:52.680 --> 00:20:56.240
first phase is we started with one hundred and seventy four.
459
00:20:56.359 --> 00:20:58.839
We graduated thirty nine originals. Just to give you an
460
00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:02.400
idea of how many people do spirit, it's about eighty
461
00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:07.000
percent attrition rate seventy to eighty percent historically, So that's
462
00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:08.559
a lot of your friends.
463
00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:10.680
They're gonna go away. So and that's that's fairly common.
464
00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:14.839
If you look across the the specops selection attrition rate.
465
00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:17.880
Whether it's SAS or Green Beret or Delta, they all
466
00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:22.640
have very high attrition rates and it's mainly due to
467
00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:25.680
that that formula of ninety percent mental ten percent physical.
468
00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:29.079
People just mentally can't wrap their brains around it.
469
00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:31.240
So if you just kind of focus on the task
470
00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:34.000
and at hand, it's right in front of you, accomplish it.
471
00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:35.839
Then the next one, the next.
472
00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:38.359
One, you're just gonna trudge along, and before you know it,
473
00:21:38.359 --> 00:21:40.480
you're gonna pick your head up and you're a week
474
00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:41.440
away from graduation.
475
00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:44.079
You know, it's like, holy shit, I can't believe that
476
00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:45.000
was six months.
477
00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:48.319
Fascinating stuff. Again, we're talking to Clark and postaal I
478
00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.240
m p A S t A t O. You can
479
00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:52.599
find them a good vibes with Clark and Postyle and
480
00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:57.559
Ryan G. Can listen to that podcast. Clark, really amazing stuff.
481
00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:01.359
Can you share whether it's a story of whatever you
482
00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:03.759
mission or you went out that you were able to
483
00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:06.119
benefit from your training at BUDS. I'm sure there's plenty
484
00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:06.960
of them.
485
00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:11.960
You stand out, Yeah, no, absolutely, you know, not every
486
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:17.160
mission is successful or happy. We had a situation in
487
00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:19.720
the Philippines in two thousands that we were involved in
488
00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:22.519
really in a support role for a Seal Team one
489
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:23.440
and some Green Berets.
490
00:22:23.480 --> 00:22:24.759
There was a hostage situation.
491
00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:29.160
The ABUF had kidnapped some Western hostages and we had
492
00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:31.880
basically a task force trying to sort.
493
00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:32.240
It all out.
494
00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:34.880
And I tell you, we never found them, and so
495
00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:39.160
it was really hard psychologically. I mean, it's almost it's
496
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:40.920
a needle in a haystack. I don't know if you're
497
00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:43.079
familiar with the geography of the Philippines, but there are
498
00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:45.279
just tons of islands that are part of this.
499
00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:48.240
Did you go to mind the now, No, we're actually
500
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:53.519
based out of a Cubic not a longapup.
501
00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:55.960
We're based out of a longa pot of a hotel there,
502
00:22:56.759 --> 00:22:59.440
and so we linked up with our Filipino counterparts and
503
00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:01.200
you know, we trained up a little bit. What was
504
00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:03.400
funny is we were a Winter Warfare Team win a
505
00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:07.160
warfare platoon and we were poised out of Okinawa really
506
00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:09.119
to respond to anything.
507
00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:10.799
That might happen in North Korea, China, Russia.
508
00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:14.079
So we were a Winter team, Mountain Warfare Team, Team
509
00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:18.319
Wons jungle Dudes, but they were just overwhelmed and so
510
00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:20.079
we were in the area. We were out of Oki
511
00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:22.960
and I think we're actually training in Thailand at the time,
512
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:23.720
and they flew us in.
513
00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:26.759
I remember telling my chief like, what are we doing
514
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:27.480
in the jungle?
515
00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:30.000
Man, Like, we don't even have the right camouflage, and
516
00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:32.880
he was kind of getting snippety with me, and I'm like,
517
00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:35.200
one last question, Chief, So we're not going to need
518
00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:38.039
our snow shoes, is what you're saying, Like for us
519
00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:42.240
to go into the jungle, it was. It was weird
520
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:43.400
because I've never been exposed to.
521
00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:45.279
It before and now we're just thrown into it.
522
00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:49.119
And again we're with our Filipino counterparts and they're trying
523
00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.759
to spin us up on jungle warfare, and they put
524
00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:55.519
us through ambush courses and we died every time simulated.
525
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:55.640
Of course, you know.
526
00:23:55.799 --> 00:23:58.279
And these little booby traps they set and you realize,
527
00:23:58.359 --> 00:24:03.160
oh my god, a crazy place and at night there
528
00:24:03.160 --> 00:24:05.519
are all these crazy noises and shit, and we didn't
529
00:24:05.559 --> 00:24:08.279
know is that or is that like a tiger about
530
00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:08.640
to eat me?
531
00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.519
Or is it punky that's gonna steal my shit? It was,
532
00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:17.119
it was. It stands out because it's it was a failure.
533
00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:21.079
You know, we never located, you know, our target, no
534
00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:24.799
fault to our own geographies just against you. But it
535
00:24:24.839 --> 00:24:28.079
was very surreal, It was very weird. I felt very
536
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.160
vulnerable being out there in the jungle. Obviously, the bad
537
00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:33.319
guys it's their backyard and they know it very well.
538
00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:35.680
Here we are not even trained up in this type
539
00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:38.599
of warfare, and so it kind of showed me the
540
00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:40.599
reality of the battlefield.
541
00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:44.400
Did you get more of an appreciation for the Vietnam veterans?
542
00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:46.799
Well, I thought about that a lot. I thought about,
543
00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:49.759
this is a very tough environment to fight in, and
544
00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:51.440
I'm sure they felt the same way. They had no
545
00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:54.279
idea where they were at. It was very difficult to navigate.
546
00:24:54.599 --> 00:24:57.359
You couldn't see the stars. You can't use GPS, not
547
00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:00.079
that they had GPS, but our GPS was ineffective. We
548
00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:02.559
had to do map and compass. We had to rotate
549
00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:04.559
pointment out because you had to keep slashing through the
550
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.480
you know, the vines and the canopy and all that. So,
551
00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:09.279
I mean, you were moving maybe a mile a day,
552
00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:12.440
and you were just completely I had a bad rash
553
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.920
down my back because the moisture and the mosquitoes, and
554
00:25:16.680 --> 00:25:19.039
you're worried about these snakes. You know, they say, oh
555
00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:21.400
if you're bit by one of these, You'll last about
556
00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.519
thirty seconds and all this shit going through your head.
557
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:24.680
I wasn't even.
558
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:26.440
Worried about the bad guys. I was just thought, Oh,
559
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:28.319
the spider's going to kill me. The snake is going
560
00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:28.799
to kill me.
561
00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:30.839
They got bears and tigers.
562
00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:33.240
I'm like, what else is I mean that our predators
563
00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:36.880
in these jungles, these you know, the from the movie Predators,
564
00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:38.359
that one of them, Dude's gonna show up.
565
00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:40.599
You know, That's exactly what I was thinking.
566
00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:43.200
To be honest, I was overwhelmed because that was the
567
00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:46.519
first time, well not necessarily, I was said that the
568
00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:48.400
first time I was put in a real world environment.
569
00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:51.400
In ninety six, we did some ship takedowns in the Gulf,
570
00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:54.839
but that was mainly administrative. We were enforcing UN sanctions
571
00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:58.319
against Iraq, so it was different. I felt a lot
572
00:25:58.359 --> 00:26:00.640
more comfortable climbing up the last out of a ship
573
00:26:00.680 --> 00:26:02.599
and you know, taking down the crew.
574
00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:04.559
In the jungle.
575
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.960
I felt very, very scared, very vulnerable, way out of
576
00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:10.079
my element, and so for me that it just stands
577
00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:13.319
out because that was very pivotal as far as UH
578
00:26:13.720 --> 00:26:18.200
maturing as an operator as a shooter, because you realize, damn,
579
00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:20.359
there's a lot of things that are out of your control,
580
00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:22.640
and not every mission is a success, you know, like
581
00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:24.640
this one on paper is a failure, even though we
582
00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:25.279
did our best.
583
00:26:25.319 --> 00:26:27.559
I mean, we were just pounding away.
584
00:26:27.799 --> 00:26:30.079
We'd hit a different island every day, patrol through it,
585
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:32.599
lay up at night, patrol around the next day, and
586
00:26:32.599 --> 00:26:36.480
then usually we would xpill and H. Yeah, it was
587
00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:38.519
it was. It was a tough one to walk away from,
588
00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:41.640
but I'm glad. Like we talked about before, you have
589
00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:45.359
to kind of compartmentalize your failures. Obviously we had debriefs
590
00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:47.680
and and uh again it.
591
00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:49.240
Really was no fault of our own. There was just
592
00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:50.319
too much area to cover.
593
00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:52.519
All you can do is pick an island, hit it
594
00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:55.039
for a day or two, and then go back and reset.
595
00:26:56.279 --> 00:26:59.640
So it was, uh, that was my first, my first
596
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:03.680
real where the rubber meets the road type moment. Obviously,
597
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:06.839
things changed after nine to eleven and I ended up
598
00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:09.319
bouncing around the Middle East quite a bit. I got
599
00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:11.200
nine rotations in and out of the Middle East, and
600
00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:14.880
so I saw the evolution of what was going on,
601
00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:17.720
the evolution of the battlefield, and did different ao and
602
00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:22.759
things like that. So I felt very lucky to kind
603
00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:25.039
of ride that wave. In the years, I did some
604
00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:27.000
pre nine to eleven stuff and then post nine to
605
00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:30.160
eleven stuff, and so I saw dramatically how the mission
606
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:33.960
statement changed, how the tactics changed, the weapons changed. Our
607
00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:36.519
state of mind as a country and as a fighting
608
00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:41.440
force is very different during peacetime versus wartime. Not that
609
00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:44.119
peacetime really exists in special operations. I mean, you can
610
00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:47.279
look at the Blackhawk down incident. That's during quote unquote peacetime.
611
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:51.640
Peacetime is probably the best time to be in special
612
00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:54.759
operations because then you're doing the sneaky peaky ninja shit right,
613
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:58.480
because you're your places, you're well, you're in places you
614
00:27:58.519 --> 00:28:01.039
shouldn't be. There's a lot of eyes on type missions,
615
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:04.640
a lot of reconnaissance type missions. One of our missions
616
00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:06.839
we got in that same deployment was to identify a
617
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:09.559
target on this island. So we had a recon team
618
00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:13.039
free fall in and then pose as tourists, literally throwing
619
00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:15.200
on the Hawaiian shirt shorts and flip flops and just
620
00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:18.079
kind of cruising around this island until they located somebody.
621
00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:21.400
And then we passed off that intel to the appropriate
622
00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:24.039
individuals and so off like that is kind of how
623
00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:26.279
I envisioned special operations, you know what I mean.
624
00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:30.680
When a war kicks off, you kind of become a
625
00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:31.519
navy ranger.
626
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:34.519
Everybody armors up, everyone hops in an armored vehicle. You
627
00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:37.519
go smash down doors and snatch up bad guys. To
628
00:28:37.559 --> 00:28:40.039
be honest, everyone kind of has the same mission. You're
629
00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:45.440
going after high value targets. During this peacetime era, there
630
00:28:45.559 --> 00:28:47.559
was a lot of creativity. There was a lot of
631
00:28:47.559 --> 00:28:50.839
indigenous work where you went in and blended in with people,
632
00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:54.559
and a lot of you might you know, recon the
633
00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:56.599
beaches of North Korea to see if any of their
634
00:28:57.160 --> 00:29:00.359
fortifications have moved, or to see, hey if we have
635
00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:02.079
to land marines, or there are a bunch of rocks
636
00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:03.400
in the way. So you got to do a lot
637
00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:06.960
of digital imagery. And I found that stuff. It's not
638
00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:11.240
the cool, sexy gunfighting stuff, but that's the stuff that
639
00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:12.960
raises the hair in the back of your necks when
640
00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:15.119
you're creeping around a place you shouldn't be and you know,
641
00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:18.599
if you get compromise, you're screwed, and they'll even deny
642
00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:19.240
that you were there.
643
00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:20.160
That type of stuff.
644
00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:22.319
So that was kind of the pre nine eleven vibe
645
00:29:22.359 --> 00:29:25.680
was really like I said, you're sneaking through someone's backyard
646
00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:27.559
and you hope you don't get snatched up. That to
647
00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:33.440
me how I envisioned Special Operations more so, and throwing
648
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:35.599
on your body armor, rolling out in the vehicle.
649
00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:36.480
And kicking down the door.
650
00:29:36.519 --> 00:29:39.920
I mean, that's everyone kind of blended into one type
651
00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:43.799
of operator overseas as the war went on throughout the
652
00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:47.759
mid two thousand, so I saw that shift, probably because
653
00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:50.240
I was brought into the community pre nine eleven. I
654
00:29:50.279 --> 00:29:52.480
always kind of missed those days, and I don't know
655
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:54.680
if they're back now with the young operators out in
656
00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:57.200
the field. I think a lot of it is more
657
00:29:57.240 --> 00:29:59.920
of that indigenous type stuff, more of the stuff like
658
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:02.680
we were doing in the Philippines, trying to look for hostages,
659
00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:06.759
low level stuff that doesn't make the news. Hopefully the
660
00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:09.279
community has gotten back to that stuff, because I think
661
00:30:09.319 --> 00:30:13.279
that's really the bread and butter of what Special Operations is,
662
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:16.799
very small surgical stuff that nobody knows about, as opposed
663
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:20.079
to you're basically doing the stuff that Marine infantry guys
664
00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:23.279
should be doing, smashing down doors and snatching people out.
665
00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:25.680
Let The infantry guys do that stuff.
666
00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:30.079
That's fascinating, fascinating take on it, And you're right, it's
667
00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:31.640
one of the things. People don't get to hear those
668
00:30:31.640 --> 00:30:33.839
stories about the seals or the Berets and all the
669
00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:36.839
stuff that they're doing, or extractions or anything of that nature.
670
00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:39.200
They just don't hear it. They see a movie or
671
00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:41.559
two then that we'll talk about that a little bit.
672
00:30:42.200 --> 00:30:45.039
That changes perspective. I guess my other question would be
673
00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:47.519
you also worked as a military contractor, so I'm sure
674
00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:50.319
you can't say much about that, but was a different
675
00:30:50.519 --> 00:30:54.599
because you're not operating necessarily under the military per se.
676
00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:57.519
Now you're a private military contractor. Who knows who your
677
00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:00.519
boss is. But we won't get into that either, But
678
00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:01.920
how different is that for you?
679
00:31:05.079 --> 00:31:09.519
Yeah, it was very different, and it was a very strange.
680
00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:12.920
I got into that in two thousand and three, so
681
00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:17.160
that was really sort of the infancy of it. There
682
00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:20.359
were a couple guys already on the ground that set
683
00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:22.160
it up, but we were really the first wave of
684
00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:25.559
sled dogs to come in and it was very weird.
685
00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:28.039
When I heard about it, I was very suspicious of it.
686
00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:30.359
It sounded like some Soldier of Fortune type shit, like
687
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:33.480
what are we doing And how much are they paying?
688
00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:34.079
Like, that's weird.
689
00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:35.759
They're going to pay you that much, it must be
690
00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:39.039
dangerous if they're gonna pay you.
691
00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:41.039
You know, more than you were making as an E five.
692
00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:42.519
So I was very suspicious of it.
693
00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:44.759
But I had some buddies that were in it and
694
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:47.240
assured me that as long as you got with the
695
00:31:47.319 --> 00:31:48.559
right group of.
696
00:31:48.519 --> 00:31:50.279
Guys, you were good to go. But it was very weird.
697
00:31:50.279 --> 00:31:52.839
It was very mysterious because.
698
00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:56.119
The book hadn't been written, the rules haven't been written yet,
699
00:31:56.599 --> 00:32:00.279
a lot of these government agencies figured out that their
700
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:05.279
own full time employees have rules, but as a contract employee,
701
00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:07.440
you are technically a civilian. You don't have to abide
702
00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:10.039
by any of those rules. Nothing applies to a civilian.
703
00:32:10.079 --> 00:32:12.640
Not that you didn't have a conviction, not the Uniform
704
00:32:12.680 --> 00:32:17.680
Code of Military Justice. Nothing applies to a civilian. So technically,
705
00:32:17.759 --> 00:32:20.359
as a civilian, you could do things that their own
706
00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:24.519
full time people couldn't do. So basically what would happen
707
00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:27.079
is you would have one full time guy it was
708
00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:30.599
kind of your boss, and then you contractors would do
709
00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:35.279
his bidding. And it was very much known to you
710
00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:37.559
that if you ever got snatched up. They would just
711
00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:39.240
straight up deny you, like, we don't know who this
712
00:32:39.319 --> 00:32:41.920
guy is. He's a civilian, he has no affiliation with
713
00:32:42.039 --> 00:32:44.079
US government. So you knew there was a weird You
714
00:32:44.119 --> 00:32:46.920
knew you were a fall guy if something went bad.
715
00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:50.359
In fact, when I was in Afghanistan, there was a
716
00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:53.400
Green Beret dude who was a contractor who got snatched
717
00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:58.720
up supplying weapons to one of our friendlies, but the
718
00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:01.400
State Department hung them out to Part of our mission
719
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:02.799
was to check on him in prison. I think he
720
00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:04.559
got like a seven year prison term out of it
721
00:33:04.599 --> 00:33:07.200
for gun running in Afghanistan and he had to serve
722
00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:10.559
it in a local prison. The State Department basically denied
723
00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:13.400
his existence. So part of our mission was once a
724
00:33:13.400 --> 00:33:16.240
month we would go with USA and make sure he
725
00:33:16.440 --> 00:33:19.240
wasn't being tortured or abused or starved and things like that.
726
00:33:19.319 --> 00:33:20.880
And he was happy as a pig of money. He said,
727
00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:22.039
when I get out of here, I'm writing a book.
728
00:33:22.039 --> 00:33:23.640
I'm gonna be a millionaire. So I'll just sit here
729
00:33:23.640 --> 00:33:24.519
for seven years.
730
00:33:24.279 --> 00:33:26.720
And think about it, you know.
731
00:33:26.759 --> 00:33:28.440
And he was always happy to see us, to see
732
00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:31.119
your brother, and a really cool dude. But it showed
733
00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:34.880
me as a contractor, if the wrong people catch you
734
00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:37.799
doing something, the government will just leave you out to
735
00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:38.640
drive real quick.
736
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:41.079
So in the military, you.
737
00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.599
Know you're a valuable asset, whether you're a seal of
738
00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:46.599
Greenberry whoever. They have spent millions of dollars to train you.
739
00:33:46.599 --> 00:33:49.920
You're very valuable to them. Where as a contractor, they
740
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:52.319
didn't spend shit to train you. They might have put
741
00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:54.880
you through an evaluation course, a two three weeks selection
742
00:33:54.960 --> 00:33:56.720
to make sure you can still shoot in PTE you're
743
00:33:56.759 --> 00:33:59.000
not an old has been, but that's it. They don't
744
00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:00.799
have to spend the millions of dollars in years and
745
00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:03.039
years to train you. They're just going to get you
746
00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:05.359
in the field and have you do their their bidding,
747
00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:10.000
oftentimes things they can't do. So a lot of it's
748
00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:13.159
reconnaissance work, a lot of it's intel driven, a lot
749
00:34:13.159 --> 00:34:17.760
of it is diplomatic security, protecting important people in dangerous places.
750
00:34:19.079 --> 00:34:21.440
Later on in Iraq, I got into the training side
751
00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:27.039
of things with the Department of Defense, so we were
752
00:34:27.079 --> 00:34:30.400
probably accidentally created isis looking back on it, A lot
753
00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:34.400
of our students our motto was training tomorrow's terrorists today,
754
00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:37.239
because who are these guys they're not vetted, and so
755
00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:41.280
a lot of these Iraqis we were teaching I you know,
756
00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:44.400
it was it was tough, and I think the US
757
00:34:44.440 --> 00:34:46.280
has a history of that.
758
00:34:46.840 --> 00:34:49.280
We basically will train our future enemies.
759
00:34:49.360 --> 00:34:53.280
For example, Osama bin Laden was CIA trained and funded
760
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:55.400
to fight the Russians in the eighties and he ended
761
00:34:55.440 --> 00:35:00.639
up becoming Yeah, I mean that became out CADA, and
762
00:35:00.679 --> 00:35:03.920
so a similar thing happened in Iraq. Here we're teaching
763
00:35:03.960 --> 00:35:09.280
these guys sniper initiated assault CQB, explosive preaching. All of
764
00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:13.159
our tricks are now out there in their community. For example,
765
00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:15.199
when we taught them how to long run, we taught
766
00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:19.519
them sniper stuff. Sniper attacks on US troops skyrocketed throughout
767
00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:24.440
Baghdad almost immediately after we put on that long range course.
768
00:35:24.760 --> 00:35:26.280
So what do you think these students are doing.
769
00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:29.159
They're going back to their villages and they're teaching this
770
00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:31.480
skill set to you know, the people out there, the
771
00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:34.440
insurgents or the locals that are fighting against US. So
772
00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:37.599
I just I've seen that repeat throughout history. Why we
773
00:35:37.639 --> 00:35:41.400
continue to do that. Eventually ended up leaving that mission
774
00:35:41.400 --> 00:35:43.320
after a couple of rotations out there, because I just
775
00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:45.920
I didn't agree with it. I just thought, damn, we're
776
00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:48.440
teaching these guys pretty much our entire playbook. I mean,
777
00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:51.119
I can't think of anything that we haven't put them
778
00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.840
through in a course.
779
00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:52.440
So it's just.
780
00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:57.199
Yeah, So that that's a slippery slope with contracting.
781
00:35:58.840 --> 00:35:59.840
Is you find yourself.
782
00:35:59.880 --> 00:36:02.159
For example, when I was active duty and we were
783
00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:04.840
training the Tie Seals, I was allowed to teach them
784
00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:07.599
shotgun breaching, but I wasn't allowed to teach them anything
785
00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:10.599
through the doorway, no CQB, not how to take a room,
786
00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:12.519
none of that. And I'm like, these are Tie guys, Like,
787
00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:15.960
no one's mad at Tie dudes. Fast forward, as a contractor,
788
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:20.000
I'm teaching iraqis how to blow up shit, CEQB, all
789
00:36:20.039 --> 00:36:24.159
of it, motivate operations, attack on, motivated, attack on principal,
790
00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:29.719
defensive measures, defensive driving, basically our whole playbook. But we
791
00:36:29.719 --> 00:36:32.360
weren't even allowed to teach the Seals more than shotgun breaching.
792
00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:36.400
So active duty, there's a lot of rules and regulations
793
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:40.320
in place. As a contractor, quite honestly, it's the wild West.
794
00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:43.599
You could do anti piracy shit off the horn of Africa,
795
00:36:44.920 --> 00:36:49.280
a lot of intel driven stuff. So it's It always
796
00:36:49.320 --> 00:36:52.119
reminds me of you open a door, you walk in
797
00:36:52.159 --> 00:36:55.000
a room, and across the room there's three more doors.
798
00:36:55.320 --> 00:36:57.199
So you pick a door, you walk through it, there's
799
00:36:57.199 --> 00:37:01.360
another room with three more doors. It's just like, yeah,
800
00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:03.639
you just it's a twilight zone. It spends how deep
801
00:37:03.679 --> 00:37:06.119
you want to go with it. So for me, that
802
00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:10.760
was a turn off. I missed sort of the nobility
803
00:37:10.760 --> 00:37:13.320
of the active duty days. You know, you are held
804
00:37:13.320 --> 00:37:15.639
to a standard, you are monitored, you are held to
805
00:37:16.039 --> 00:37:19.639
an ethos or a code. If you go haywire, you
806
00:37:19.639 --> 00:37:22.039
could be charged with war crimes and stuff. Whereas a
807
00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:26.559
contractor in the early days, if you did something squirrely,
808
00:37:26.559 --> 00:37:28.599
they would just send you to another country. They would
809
00:37:28.599 --> 00:37:31.559
just get rid of you. And I thought, that's bizarre,
810
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:34.639
Like there's no repercussions. For there were stories I never
811
00:37:34.679 --> 00:37:36.800
witnessed it with my own eyes, but there were stories
812
00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:40.039
of a triple canopy guy in Iraq that was going
813
00:37:40.039 --> 00:37:42.199
to the airport to fly out and he said, oh,
814
00:37:42.199 --> 00:37:43.840
I haven't got a kill yet, pull over and he
815
00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:45.760
just shot up a car driving by and then went
816
00:37:45.800 --> 00:37:49.039
to the airport and flew out. So stuff like that,
817
00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:52.000
You're like, what is that dude, that's chicken shit, you know,
818
00:37:52.079 --> 00:37:57.960
that's that's contracting is this big gray area. When I
819
00:37:58.039 --> 00:38:00.639
came in, you had to either be sealed, delta SF
820
00:38:00.679 --> 00:38:04.280
that was it. But unfortunately they tapped that resource and
821
00:38:04.320 --> 00:38:06.159
so then they opened it up to this and opened
822
00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:10.199
it up to that, and then Blackwater flooded Iraq with
823
00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:13.000
thousands of dudes. So now anybody who is a security
824
00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:14.920
guard for half a day is running around Iraq with
825
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.880
an AR doing weird shit. So contracting got watered down
826
00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:23.639
very very quickly, and in my opinion, became a big problem.
827
00:38:23.719 --> 00:38:26.400
Now. Being special operations guys.
828
00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:27.960
You always knew where your guys were at, so you
829
00:38:28.039 --> 00:38:30.599
knew which detail to avoid, or hey, these guys have
830
00:38:30.679 --> 00:38:33.880
this going on over here. It's diplomatic security, or it's
831
00:38:33.880 --> 00:38:37.559
a training gig or intel. So we we always clicked
832
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:40.400
up and had it. I was always on good teams.
833
00:38:40.440 --> 00:38:41.519
Nothing squirrely happened.
834
00:38:41.559 --> 00:38:44.800
It was all sas dudes, Delta dudes, sealed dudes.
835
00:38:46.039 --> 00:38:47.880
But you could get wrapped up on a detail that
836
00:38:48.039 --> 00:38:51.039
just had these shit bags doing really bizarre stuff. Like
837
00:38:51.800 --> 00:38:54.960
you know, basically, as a contractor, you're supposed to be
838
00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:57.719
a defensive mechanism.
839
00:38:58.239 --> 00:39:01.119
You're not supposed to be offensive. It's the active duty guys.
840
00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:05.480
What we're doing in theory is freeing up all their
841
00:39:05.599 --> 00:39:07.679
shit so they can go do big boy stuff so
842
00:39:07.719 --> 00:39:10.000
that they don't have to train locals. They don't have
843
00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:13.400
to provide security for diplomats or generals or admirals.
844
00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:16.199
We're doing all of that stuff. We're not out there
845
00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:17.119
looking for a fight.
846
00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:20.440
Oftentimes we got ambushed and we would we call it
847
00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:22.840
the death blossom. We would give them the hornet's nest
848
00:39:22.840 --> 00:39:24.559
and get off the X. We're not there to fight.
849
00:39:25.400 --> 00:39:26.239
That's the difference.
850
00:39:26.280 --> 00:39:26.480
Now.
851
00:39:26.559 --> 00:39:29.199
Sometimes if your vehicle's disabled, you might have to dismount,
852
00:39:29.239 --> 00:39:31.719
take down a building, wait for big army to roll
853
00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:35.440
in and save your butt. But the mission statement's very different,
854
00:39:35.519 --> 00:39:38.119
and some contractors didn't get that, Like, bro, you're not
855
00:39:38.159 --> 00:39:40.920
an offense. It's not your job to light this car
856
00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:44.320
up for no reason or you know it just there's
857
00:39:44.360 --> 00:39:47.159
some gray area with contracting, and so eventually that's why
858
00:39:47.159 --> 00:39:51.000
I left. In addition, I realized I had been away
859
00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:54.039
from home for eleven years and my toddlers were now teenagers.
860
00:39:54.519 --> 00:39:55.000
That was an.
861
00:39:54.960 --> 00:39:58.519
Epiphany moment because you get tunnel visions.
862
00:39:58.000 --> 00:39:59.960
And like they taught us at Budds, you're so folks.
863
00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:03.639
Just on the task in hand, you can oftentimes forget
864
00:40:03.679 --> 00:40:06.159
about things back home because you're halfway around the world.
865
00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:09.280
This is before video chats and all that stuff. So
866
00:40:09.360 --> 00:40:13.440
it was letters. Eventually, I think there was a couple
867
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:17.800
Skype was coming online and what's another one I used
868
00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:21.039
to use. But anyway, communication was very limited, so your
869
00:40:21.079 --> 00:40:23.280
family wasn't necessarily on your mind all the time. It
870
00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:25.239
was very easy to get wrapped up in the culture
871
00:40:25.239 --> 00:40:28.159
of the men, the mission, all that type of crap.
872
00:40:28.280 --> 00:40:32.800
So for me, I saw contracting slipping and I realized,
873
00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:34.679
holy shit, my kids are teenagers.
874
00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:38.239
You know this this mess is now someone else's problem.
875
00:40:38.280 --> 00:40:39.320
I got to get back home.
876
00:40:39.880 --> 00:40:43.239
My conundrum was what am I going to do when
877
00:40:43.239 --> 00:40:45.639
I get back to the States. You know, I've been
878
00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:48.480
running a gun and for you know, my first deployment
879
00:40:48.519 --> 00:40:51.880
was ninety six. Here I am seven in Iraq, not
880
00:40:52.039 --> 00:40:54.000
knowing any other way of life, and it's a very
881
00:40:54.039 --> 00:40:55.400
tough transition for people.
882
00:40:57.519 --> 00:40:59.760
Amazing, I mean, you gave me so much insight into
883
00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:02.119
all the different worlds, and I'm sure everybody out there
884
00:41:02.239 --> 00:41:05.320
has learned so much I know, we got about about
885
00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:08.639
ten minutes left. Got to bring it back, Clark, got
886
00:41:08.679 --> 00:41:12.280
to bring it back. We learned so much from you.
887
00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:15.280
I'm trying to see which questions I want to start
888
00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:18.119
wrapping up this interview with. I guess one would be
889
00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:21.239
the Phoenix Police Department. I've talked to special forces who've
890
00:41:21.239 --> 00:41:24.280
worked in police as a police officer, and thank you
891
00:41:24.360 --> 00:41:27.840
again for both services as well, military and law enforcement.
892
00:41:28.360 --> 00:41:28.719
Thank you.
893
00:41:29.239 --> 00:41:33.840
We're definitely indebted to you for that. How different is it,
894
00:41:33.920 --> 00:41:36.320
all of a sudden games change? You can't do things
895
00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:39.039
like you can't. You can't just draw your weapon and
896
00:41:39.079 --> 00:41:42.000
fire at certain individuals anymore, even though it may be
897
00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:44.679
a threat to you. How different was that?
898
00:41:45.519 --> 00:41:49.519
It was an eye opener. I had some buddies that
899
00:41:49.559 --> 00:41:50.679
were contracting that were.
900
00:41:50.519 --> 00:41:53.280
Cops, some swat dudes, one of them from Chicago, and
901
00:41:53.320 --> 00:41:55.199
so he recommended, Hey, if you're going to be a cop,
902
00:41:55.239 --> 00:41:57.679
go to a big city because it's busy and they
903
00:41:57.760 --> 00:42:01.119
want kind of crazier dudes. Not some small town in Nebraska.
904
00:42:01.159 --> 00:42:02.840
They don't need an ex seal there. They need you
905
00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:06.400
in you know, Chicago, Detroit, PI, Phoenix. My brother was
906
00:42:06.440 --> 00:42:10.000
living there. I applied for them to answer your question.
907
00:42:10.079 --> 00:42:16.760
The academy, to me, was amazing because I realized how
908
00:42:16.840 --> 00:42:19.960
smart cops have to be in a life and death situation. Okay,
909
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:22.559
you're a spec ops guy overseas. You perceive a threat,
910
00:42:22.599 --> 00:42:24.960
you neutralize it, no questions ask no one gives a shit.
911
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:27.039
For example, in Iraq, if we got in a gunfight,
912
00:42:27.639 --> 00:42:29.760
we would type up what we call a foxtrot report.
913
00:42:29.800 --> 00:42:32.000
It was basically three sentences. We email it to our
914
00:42:32.039 --> 00:42:34.679
team leader just in case state department or the Prime
915
00:42:34.679 --> 00:42:36.800
Minister wanted to inquire what happened.
916
00:42:36.880 --> 00:42:38.039
Otherwise that was it.
917
00:42:38.760 --> 00:42:41.400
Now, as a cop, if you shoot somebody, it's way
918
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:45.039
more than a three sentence email to your boss, which
919
00:42:45.119 --> 00:42:47.079
I did get an officer involved shooting. We can talk
920
00:42:47.119 --> 00:42:50.599
about that the other time. But in the academy, I realized,
921
00:42:50.679 --> 00:42:55.039
holy shit, when a cop is faced with a threat,
922
00:42:55.280 --> 00:42:58.599
they have to use that use of force continuum and
923
00:42:58.639 --> 00:43:00.800
they have to be very accurate, very quickly with it.
924
00:43:01.159 --> 00:43:03.239
Am I using verbal skills to de escalate? Do I
925
00:43:03.280 --> 00:43:04.800
gotta go hands on? Do I have to go to
926
00:43:04.800 --> 00:43:07.480
the tool belt? And ultimately do I have to use
927
00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:10.599
my firearm? And if I present my firearm, I better
928
00:43:10.639 --> 00:43:14.079
be prepared to use it. So our academy, it was
929
00:43:14.119 --> 00:43:18.119
a multi jurisdictional academy called the Leah, and they were
930
00:43:18.239 --> 00:43:21.599
very good at their scenarios and the main firearms and
931
00:43:21.639 --> 00:43:23.239
tactical guy really he liked me.
932
00:43:23.519 --> 00:43:24.719
He knew my background, and he.
933
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:28.079
Liked to see how I reacted to these scenarios. And
934
00:43:28.159 --> 00:43:30.159
one thing he said early on was Clark, you can't
935
00:43:30.159 --> 00:43:32.079
solve every scenario with your handgun.
936
00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:33.199
Dude.
937
00:43:33.719 --> 00:43:36.800
All right. There was some rewiring, for sure, but they
938
00:43:36.840 --> 00:43:40.679
did a great job at doing that, and I think
939
00:43:40.679 --> 00:43:43.960
it was interesting for them to watch. I think I
940
00:43:44.119 --> 00:43:47.280
was the first person of a special operations background that
941
00:43:47.320 --> 00:43:49.599
had been through the academy while that staff.
942
00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:49.800
Was in charge.
943
00:43:49.800 --> 00:43:51.719
I'm sure there's been other guys that had gone through,
944
00:43:51.800 --> 00:43:53.960
but while that cadre was in charge. So they were
945
00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:55.840
very interesting to see how I would react to these
946
00:43:55.880 --> 00:43:59.480
tactical scenarios. And I really had to learn to the
947
00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:02.000
dial it back and rewire it. So they did a
948
00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:03.880
good job. By the time I got to the street,
949
00:44:04.199 --> 00:44:08.280
I felt very comfortable with what's my mission statement as
950
00:44:08.280 --> 00:44:12.239
a cop. Obviously it's not as an operator or even
951
00:44:12.599 --> 00:44:15.559
a protection specialist contracting, which you're still allowed to be
952
00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:17.880
very violent, very fast. If someone's trying to attack the
953
00:44:17.880 --> 00:44:19.599
first lady, yes you're allowed to fuck.
954
00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:20.599
Them up very violently.
955
00:44:21.360 --> 00:44:24.079
As a cop, you see two people fistfighting in a
956
00:44:24.119 --> 00:44:27.880
parking lot, and even if they come at you throwing punches,
957
00:44:27.920 --> 00:44:29.519
that doesn't mean you can shoot them. You have to
958
00:44:29.800 --> 00:44:33.400
really adjust your response. And so I credit that.
959
00:44:33.320 --> 00:44:35.880
To really good training at the academy.
960
00:44:35.960 --> 00:44:38.519
I think it was about four months long, and so
961
00:44:39.719 --> 00:44:41.719
they did a real good job. But I also liked
962
00:44:41.719 --> 00:44:43.719
that I still had a little bag of seal tricks
963
00:44:43.719 --> 00:44:45.800
in my back pocket that if shit did get violent,
964
00:44:46.559 --> 00:44:48.480
I could, you know, break glass in time of war.
965
00:44:48.559 --> 00:44:51.360
And my squad mates appreciated that. And I also shared
966
00:44:51.400 --> 00:44:53.519
a lot of knowledge with my squad mates. If we
967
00:44:53.559 --> 00:44:56.199
had a double squad day, I would tell my sergeant, Hey,
968
00:44:56.199 --> 00:44:57.280
there's an abandoned house.
969
00:44:57.360 --> 00:45:00.000
Let's do some TQB runs, let's do some room clearing.
970
00:45:00.599 --> 00:45:03.039
And so our squad was able to do additional training
971
00:45:03.079 --> 00:45:05.639
and get more comfortable with each other and movement and stuff.
972
00:45:05.719 --> 00:45:10.840
And so I think my background benefited my situation with
973
00:45:10.880 --> 00:45:11.639
Phoenix for sure.
974
00:45:12.280 --> 00:45:16.880
Absolutely amazing stuff on that one. Again, folks, Good Vibes
975
00:45:17.719 --> 00:45:19.880
dot com. So we can find more information good Vibes
976
00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:22.239
dudes dot com. Good Vibes dudes dot com. You can
977
00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:24.360
find more information about Clark. I guess in our last
978
00:45:24.400 --> 00:45:27.199
few minutes. I didn't want to miss this part either.
979
00:45:27.599 --> 00:45:30.280
There's been I guess more recently. I think maybe in
980
00:45:30.280 --> 00:45:32.519
the last decade, and I haven't actually even looked because
981
00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:35.239
I'm not a huge movie guy anymore. But there's been
982
00:45:35.239 --> 00:45:40.199
some Navy Seal movies out there. I think I think
983
00:45:40.199 --> 00:45:42.800
they're classifying the Navy Seal movies. Whether or not they are,
984
00:45:42.840 --> 00:45:47.760
I don't know. But Zero Dark thirty, I think thirteen
985
00:45:47.840 --> 00:45:52.719
hours MM. Can't look more for the older ones, I
986
00:45:52.760 --> 00:45:53.920
can't remember.
987
00:45:54.000 --> 00:46:01.440
My own Survivor Active Valid was one under Yeah. Yeah, yes,
988
00:46:01.519 --> 00:46:03.360
Steven Sagal Casey Rye Beckett.
989
00:46:03.480 --> 00:46:07.039
That's about It's all this thing is, You're gonna get.
990
00:46:06.960 --> 00:46:08.960
Right, Yeah, that's what I was hoping.
991
00:46:12.239 --> 00:46:14.840
What's your take on those type of movies. Do you
992
00:46:14.880 --> 00:46:17.960
think it hurts or helps or it's just so far
993
00:46:18.039 --> 00:46:19.239
fetch it doesn't even matter.
994
00:46:19.880 --> 00:46:21.119
Yeah, I don't think it does.
995
00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:23.960
I mean, I remember seeing the Charlie Sheen movie Navy Seals,
996
00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:27.000
and even as a kid, I'm like, I just enjoyed
997
00:46:27.039 --> 00:46:28.519
it for the entertainment value.
998
00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:31.280
The thing that I wish they would capture.
999
00:46:31.480 --> 00:46:33.920
And I will admit I've never seen the TV series
1000
00:46:34.039 --> 00:46:36.079
Seal Team, which my mom watches. That a lot of
1001
00:46:36.079 --> 00:46:38.480
people love it, and I think they try to hit
1002
00:46:38.519 --> 00:46:42.000
it on more of a personal note, and I think
1003
00:46:42.039 --> 00:46:44.039
it's a it's a good way to finish our conversation.
1004
00:46:44.920 --> 00:46:47.679
Is any Seal movie that I've seen. They make the
1005
00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:50.760
Seal seem too militant, too marine corpus, if you will.
1006
00:46:51.280 --> 00:46:54.559
What I learned in special operations across the board and
1007
00:46:54.840 --> 00:47:00.000
even in naval special warfare, the personalities of these due
1008
00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:03.679
it's the funniest people I've ever met in my life.
1009
00:47:03.719 --> 00:47:07.239
Like just almost like a violent Robin Williams. I mean,
1010
00:47:07.280 --> 00:47:11.360
these people are hilarious. The personalities, even the way we
1011
00:47:11.400 --> 00:47:14.960
talk with each other. There's really no difference between a
1012
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:17.719
Seal officer and a Sealing listed guy. If we're doing
1013
00:47:17.719 --> 00:47:20.719
our thing, it's first name basis, like, it's very We're
1014
00:47:20.760 --> 00:47:24.960
the most non military military unit out there. It's very casual.
1015
00:47:26.719 --> 00:47:29.119
Yeah yeah, no, it's like hey dude, what's up?
1016
00:47:29.159 --> 00:47:29.280
Bro?
1017
00:47:29.440 --> 00:47:32.039
Yeah dude, you know, it's just it's they don't capture
1018
00:47:32.039 --> 00:47:33.239
that in the movies, they make.
1019
00:47:33.159 --> 00:47:34.719
It seem too militant, too.
1020
00:47:35.159 --> 00:47:37.000
Yes sir, no, sir, hey go over there and do this,
1021
00:47:37.039 --> 00:47:39.800
and bark park Park Park. That's not how the community is.
1022
00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:44.639
It's it's a very laid back community. And other special
1023
00:47:44.679 --> 00:47:47.639
operations are very similar, maybe not quite as laid back
1024
00:47:47.679 --> 00:47:50.199
as they called my team a Seal Team five.
1025
00:47:50.239 --> 00:47:52.840
They call it Surf Team five because we were so
1026
00:47:52.920 --> 00:47:54.800
laid back and we would surfer pt.
1027
00:47:55.480 --> 00:47:59.320
I wish the movies would capture that camaraderie, that bonding.
1028
00:47:59.360 --> 00:48:05.400
They've tried to couple times. But we are very very human.
1029
00:48:05.840 --> 00:48:09.280
A lot of seals specifically, and Special operations in general,
1030
00:48:10.039 --> 00:48:12.800
very intelligent. They seem to portray us as kind of
1031
00:48:12.800 --> 00:48:17.199
the Schwarzenegger dumb, muscle bound, you know, kill them all.
1032
00:48:17.079 --> 00:48:21.960
Type people, very very capable.
1033
00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:24.000
In the Teddy Bear world, A lot of my buddies,
1034
00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:25.960
for example, when I was going through my first divorce,
1035
00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:28.199
would kick in my door with bags of groceries and say, hey,
1036
00:48:28.239 --> 00:48:30.000
I know you're hurting, so I picked up some groceries
1037
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:33.039
for you. Like there's really a hoggy Bear side to
1038
00:48:33.079 --> 00:48:36.679
the community. We love each other. We always said I
1039
00:48:36.719 --> 00:48:38.800
know more about you than your mother does because you
1040
00:48:38.840 --> 00:48:41.280
spend so much time training together, You help each other
1041
00:48:41.280 --> 00:48:44.079
through divorces, you help each other through all kinds of
1042
00:48:44.119 --> 00:48:50.079
scenarios on and off the battlefield. It's really this bond
1043
00:48:50.639 --> 00:48:52.320
that I wish they would capture. I don't know if
1044
00:48:52.320 --> 00:48:54.280
you it's like capturing lightning in a bottle. I don't
1045
00:48:54.280 --> 00:48:56.039
know if you can do it. But I have not
1046
00:48:56.159 --> 00:48:59.400
seen that in a movie. All the tactics and the gunfights,
1047
00:48:59.440 --> 00:49:03.920
and that's just it's really the behind the scenes, how
1048
00:49:03.960 --> 00:49:06.000
we take care of each other through the ups and downs,
1049
00:49:06.039 --> 00:49:10.320
the sense of humor, the pranks, the hazings. I've caught
1050
00:49:10.360 --> 00:49:12.519
little snippets of it in these different movies, but it's
1051
00:49:12.639 --> 00:49:16.679
just I just felt like I was at a stand
1052
00:49:16.719 --> 00:49:19.800
up comedy show the whole time. These guys are amazing, intelligent,
1053
00:49:19.840 --> 00:49:23.000
funny people, and so I wish Hollywood would would get
1054
00:49:23.039 --> 00:49:23.440
that right.
1055
00:49:24.159 --> 00:49:26.320
And the only thing I've ever seen close to that would
1056
00:49:26.320 --> 00:49:29.920
be maybe Apocalypse Now had a little bit, but you know,
1057
00:49:29.960 --> 00:49:31.679
that was kind of carried off a little too far
1058
00:49:31.760 --> 00:49:35.440
too But yeah, yeah, Jarhead did okay with some of that.
1059
00:49:36.280 --> 00:49:38.360
I saw the first one. I think they did pretty good.
1060
00:49:38.440 --> 00:49:41.320
Yeah, And I did like Blackhawk down. The one thing
1061
00:49:41.360 --> 00:49:44.800
they got well was they got the fog of battle.
1062
00:49:45.199 --> 00:49:47.559
Remember when the dudes were lost, Hey are the Humpies
1063
00:49:47.599 --> 00:49:49.039
coming to us? And we're supposed to go to the
1064
00:49:49.119 --> 00:49:50.960
Humpies and they're kind of running around lost in a
1065
00:49:50.960 --> 00:49:54.000
little village looking for the motorcade and yeah, and how
1066
00:49:54.079 --> 00:49:56.800
loud the gun was and the dude couldn't hear, Like
1067
00:49:57.000 --> 00:50:00.239
all that stuff in the eighties movies, everything had like
1068
00:50:00.280 --> 00:50:03.239
little silencers and suppressors and everything. It's like pre picture
1069
00:50:03.320 --> 00:50:05.880
perfect coming out of the repel from the ceiling and
1070
00:50:05.960 --> 00:50:09.519
kill everybody, you know, and then you know, for real,
1071
00:50:09.639 --> 00:50:12.559
you're just running around lost, tripping on ship, you lost
1072
00:50:12.679 --> 00:50:15.199
this and that and you know. So I sometimes they
1073
00:50:15.239 --> 00:50:18.920
get certain aspects of it correctly. But again, if they
1074
00:50:18.760 --> 00:50:22.920
can capture the personality of Special Operations guys, I think
1075
00:50:23.639 --> 00:50:25.880
they would have a hit movie on themselves, because I.
1076
00:50:25.840 --> 00:50:28.880
Think people want to know who are we really? You know,
1077
00:50:28.920 --> 00:50:32.360
there's these myths and urban legends about who we are.
1078
00:50:32.760 --> 00:50:34.480
But I think if they saw that we're just kind
1079
00:50:34.480 --> 00:50:37.039
of goofy, normal people, like it's we're just.
1080
00:50:37.519 --> 00:50:40.159
That's our goal here, hopefully they'll get the different side
1081
00:50:40.159 --> 00:50:42.840
of your personalities one.
1082
00:50:42.800 --> 00:50:45.599
Of the Goofy your seals, So I'm a good ambassador
1083
00:50:45.599 --> 00:50:46.760
for the Goofy to the team.
1084
00:50:46.840 --> 00:50:50.000
So hopefully that comes through in the interview to your listeners.
1085
00:50:51.039 --> 00:50:52.519
I guess it's a little bit of a throwback to
1086
00:50:52.599 --> 00:50:54.320
mash and Hogan's heroes.
1087
00:50:54.000 --> 00:50:55.400
Right there, you go.
1088
00:50:55.559 --> 00:50:57.559
Yeah, or maybe a little poly Shore in the army
1089
00:50:57.559 --> 00:50:58.480
now if you ever.
1090
00:51:02.000 --> 00:51:04.599
Oh man, that's intense. Thank you so much again, Clark
1091
00:51:04.679 --> 00:51:06.960
for doing this. We'd so appreciate it very much.
1092
00:51:07.639 --> 00:51:10.239
Yeah, no, absolutely, I had a blast, Thank you very much,
1093
00:51:10.599 --> 00:51:11.239
so much fun.
1094
00:51:11.320 --> 00:51:14.159
Clark and Pastado, I don't know what they got that
1095
00:51:14.199 --> 00:51:16.280
came by that. I am p A S t A
1096
00:51:16.440 --> 00:51:18.800
t Oh. You can find them at good Vibes dudes
1097
00:51:18.880 --> 00:51:20.719
dot com. He really does have good vibes. I have
1098
00:51:21.079 --> 00:51:23.920
Good Vibes podcast with Clark and Pistata and Ryan g
1099
00:51:24.920 --> 00:51:27.159
Uh do you want to send anybody anywhere else? Clark's
1100
00:51:27.400 --> 00:51:27.880
is that good?
1101
00:51:28.639 --> 00:51:29.760
Uh? Yeah, that's good.
1102
00:51:29.760 --> 00:51:31.559
I mean, if you guys want to DM me, my
1103
00:51:32.039 --> 00:51:36.639
personal Instagram account is Clark Underscore m Pistado. A lot
1104
00:51:36.679 --> 00:51:39.719
of younger guys will will hit me up with questions about,
1105
00:51:39.800 --> 00:51:42.840
you know, how to prepare for this or that or Hey,
1106
00:51:42.880 --> 00:51:44.760
I'm married with a wife and kids. Should I be
1107
00:51:44.800 --> 00:51:47.000
a sealer green Beret? How does it affect family and
1108
00:51:47.039 --> 00:51:48.840
all that stuff? And so, if you want to send
1109
00:51:48.880 --> 00:51:51.920
me a personal message my personal Instagram account, I reply
1110
00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:54.199
to every DM I get and I'm happy to try
1111
00:51:54.199 --> 00:51:56.280
to pay it forward if I can answer your questions.
1112
00:51:56.320 --> 00:51:58.679
If not, I can hear you in the right direction,
1113
00:51:58.840 --> 00:52:00.559
So feel free to hit me up anytime.
1114
00:52:01.039 --> 00:52:04.320
Cool against Clark, Underscore, Impastado, and I am P A
1115
00:52:04.519 --> 00:52:07.639
S T A t O. Thank you so much again, Clark,
1116
00:52:07.679 --> 00:52:09.440
Thank you everyone for joining us. Make sure to share
1117
00:52:09.440 --> 00:52:11.519
a subscribe, hit that I like button and leave a
1118
00:52:11.559 --> 00:52:13.320
comment if you can. Thanks a lot, everybody,