Episode Title: The Late For Changeover Show 15 Jan 2025
Date: Jan 14, 2025
My dog got out and I couldn’t get him back in the house. Excuse number 253. And for why you’re late for take over, you’re equally amazing.
Ever writing show. I’m your host Marty Smith and I’m joined by the ever faithful man in the closet, Jake Wahl. Awesome to see you Marty.
Too bad the other guys are off messing around. Throw them their unreliable. We’re here to bring you the latest headlines and updates pertinent to all guardians and to the other lower branches as well.
So take your seats, get informed and have a laugh as we present late for changeover. Nice. And there was much rejoicing.
I got to update the sound effect. If I had a guy who could do that, you know, and I watch I watch some of these content creators on YouTube and they’re all slicked up and, you know, they got it intercut, you know, with scenes and stuff like that. And I’m like, you ain’t doing it yourself because I know how long that takes.
That takes forever to do that. Maybe they don’t have a normal job. If they’re making money, if we could make money, we wouldn’t have a normal job.
Then they would become a chore. It wouldn’t be just a pleasant bullshit session. It would be a labor of love.
I would still not require anything you do because you’re so talented with no prep. For reference, Marty sends out at least a day ahead of time, a minimum, a day or two. Sometimes the night before.
Yeah. But I know you’re not going to read them. But you said that that’s exactly it.
You said like five or six, like articles out. And I think twice in all of our 60 some odd episodes, like twice, twice. And then you’ve commented on both times.
I’m like, oh, yeah, that’s this is why that’s important. Yeah, that’s why that’s why prep. No, because I know you got opinions on it.
And I just throw them out. I’ll just throw them out anyway. And once upon a time, I should, I should hearken back to when you guys were supposed to find a story yourself and how we got tired of you shooting them down.
We got like, all right, fine. We’re done shooting, getting shot down. That’s not true.
You know, you just were done trying to look and that’s okay because you’re doing it, uh, of your own, um, you know, you’re giving of yourself. So I’m like, yeah, I, I can’t task them that much. I mean, so I was like, I’m just happy that you guys are on because otherwise they’re hanging out trying to carry a show and then you’d have to be like Adam Carolla, where he’s just bitching and moaning about his own.
Well, he does. Yeah, he does. That’s why it takes skill though.
And I don’t have that skill because I’d make jokes that require somebody else’s reaction and be like, man, this is not, this is not going. No, you could be like Bill Byrd. Just rant hard.
I, you know, I listen to his Thursday morning, Monday morning podcast, whatever that, whatever that thing is. I’ve heard him and I liked listening to him. I like his opinion, but sometimes he’s just, he’s just rambling.
And it’s just like, yeah, it’s too much. Yeah. You got, you don’t have my interest on this.
But he’s going hard for a 45 minutes. I’m like, yeah, I would run out of stuff. Yeah.
I Bill Byrd, Adam Carolla do that. There’s, there’s several that can get off on a tangent and just go. And it’s entertaining to listen to.
I would like to, but I need feedback. Yeah. I’m with you.
Well, let’s get into this week’s, uh, goofiness. Uh, this first one’s from stripes.com and it’s kind of a kind of lane to be honest with you, but it’s a space story. All right.
So space force will play a role in the 60th presidential inauguration. And that makes sense because Trump created them. So he’s like, yeah, I want my boys right out here.
Right. Um, so space force guardians will participate fully in the 60th presidential on inauguration on January 20th of Washington is significant milestone for the youngest branch of military, which was created during president-elect Donald Trump’s first administration. 45 guardians from across the country arrived recently at joint base and Acostia bowling for training to augment the U S space force honor guard and march alongside units during the presidential inauguration, 45, I think it, I think a TD Y money for 45 guys, girls were printing stuff on blue paper or yellow or pink or whatever.
I, I, I, they just sent in like everybody’s just sends like your, your airman of the year, it was like, Oh, you get to go to DC. Good for you. That would be cool.
If they, if they did that, do you remember there was a time at Buckley and I can’t remember it was if it was yearly or quarterly, but like the winners got to go ride in the Black Hawk, where they would get an incentive ride or something like that, that those were the days. Right. Those are the times, man.
I guess they had that squadron right there. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, they have the national guard there and they also have the army national guard. I got to ride in a Black Hawk and these guys were crazy. The national guys were awesome.
Um, the guardians will go through an intensive 12 day training period during which they will get instruction to meet the fundamentals of serving in an honor. God, 12 days. Yeah.
I mean, it’s just like stand there and don’t move. No, they got to march. You got to start again.
Oh man. You got to march around. They got to salute the right time.
They got to, are they going to do like a review of troops? Are they going to go by like a unit? Do you think that are you kidding me? The eyes, right? And shit like that March I, when I got promoted to EA, right? I was like, I’m going to show them how to do a real promotion. And I was like, I want a formation. I want present arms and stuff like that.
And it was, I’ve got a video of it. It was the most awkward. That’s why they got to do 12 days worth of it.
People were like saluting beforehand. I was like, no, like terrible. I was like, I don’t know what I thought I was going to do.
It, but it was a skill to form people up. Cause it was kind of cool because the schoolhouse like once a month, we would do retreat, you know, we’d all go out there and all the schoolhouse squadrons would, would form up. Oh, wow.
It would all salute the flag as it was, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah.
But it was, unless you practice, man, forming up. It’s yeah, it’s, it’s like a bad movie, right? It’s a, it’s like, Oh my God, why are we doing this? I think the last formation we did was on Peterson. And I can’t remember what year it was, but we did it.
We did one on Peterson and it had multiple squadrons out there. And they had to like band, some band members or something. Yeah.
And they had guys in the back ready to grab those dudes that fell out. And because I locked in their knees and all that. Yeah.
And we practiced three or four times before that. And we still had like the trumpet kid. I felt so bad for him because he’s sitting there and it, it was hotter that day than normal other days.
Yeah. And, and he’s sitting there and he’s got his mouthpiece like right here. He’s holding it straight.
And he just goes dink straight forward and it was on grass, thankfully. But he just goes, boom, straight on top of his instrument. And everybody, there was some people that flinched and were ready to go and they rolled him over and he split his lip and I was like, Oh, that poor dude.
You know, and that’s, but that happens now to all the, all the services who were watching by that, Oh, pussy Air Force. It was like, no, no, no, because I was in the army when I saw the same exact thing happen. Oh, yeah.
I, nobody stands at attention for a long period of time. No service does that. And if you do it practice, honestly, because you got to know how to flex and kind of wiggle in place to, to like relieve your body.
Ridiculous. So I don’t fault them at all. The one Marine out there is like, okay, fine.
Okay. That was the only, that was the 45 minutes of my month that I wasn’t in AC. Absolutely.
Yeah, sure. But everybody goes, uh, I, I was listening to a podcast with, um, I can’t remember his first name, but his last name was Peranto. He was part of that 13 hours.
They call him. Oh, yeah. Right.
Oh, and he was saying, um, you know, it doesn’t matter. You know, none of that matters. Uh, but one, you know, they make fun of the air force and all that stuff, but he remembers going to like an air force barracks and he was so appreciative of the room that he got, even if this was afterwards and he goes, man, that was nice because that was nice.
I’m not going to criticize those guys. And it’s like, Hey, you know, you do what you can’t. I mean, I understand that, but there’s no requirement, uh, to, to rough it.
So, I mean, other than the fact that we don’t make rank as fast as any of the other branches, because we’re so small, right? We were small, but that’s it. Right. We get paid the same.
We, yeah, yeah. We get better facilities or we used to have better chow halls. We have better barracks, right? We, right.
We’ve, it’s the same thing. You can get paid a lot being a garbage man. Or you can get paid a lot working in front of a computer.
He says, what’s choice do you want to make? That’s what I always tell him. I was like, Oh, you air force pussies. And I was like, you had a choice not to go sleep in the dirt.
And honestly, all those army guys, like all of the army personnel, or sometimes Navy people, you ask their kids or ask them who they’re going to push their kids. They’re not going to tell them all of them say air force. They’re like, go air force.
Dude, in, in like Okinawa, there’s Marines on the other side of the air force. Why? Oh yeah. Yeah.
Because they’re like, these are your in, these are enlisted rooms. Like, yeah, I got, I only have a one bedroom apartment. It’s got the Marines.
It’s not the best Marines are like, we got linoleum from 1964. There’s four of us in that room. Yeah.
There’s a name carved in the wall from freaking World War II. It’s painted over. Yeah, exactly.
Five times like that much pain is over. Yeah. Well, senior master Sergeant Matthew Mesoth, who is the US space force honor guard, senior enlisted leaders said, these members truly embody the guardian spirit and exemplify the space force’s core values by stepping up as volunteers.
They represent every guardian who has raised the right hand to serve their nation. That’s a good quote. Good job.
And oh, by the way, nearly 8,000 national guard troops will be present to provide security support during inauguration day at the US Capitol. Maybe we learned, but, but I always laugh when they’ll go, hold a call, not the national guard. You know, how many of those national guard are really all that familiar with weapons or crowd control? Unless you’ve got a battalion full of Eric’s.
These guys are like, I’m a cook. What do you want me to do? Yeah. Yeah.
Here, grab your riot shield. He’s like, what’s wait a minute. I don’t have to fill sandbags.
I don’t know if this is better or worse. So get on them. I think it’s great that they’re pulling a space force out there.
I think it’s totally appropriate. Yeah, that’s cool. You know, Trump will be great.
Yeah, that’d be great for Trump. All right. So remember when, and I can’t remember the general, but remember it was like last year, some time when they were saying, Hey, we, uh, the guy who took over ACC.
And he’s like, we’re not playing air force, laying down the law. Well, now, uh, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a society that can fatigue and only the Air Force but they’re military and they’re young guys so if you give them an inch they’re gonna take a mile but Air Force chief of staff this is from task and purpose Air Force chief of staff general David Alvin announced the service leaders will be conducting more formations for uniform inspections and will review policies and standards that look at waivers and the exceptions alright so no more of this loose oh yeah yeah you know don’t challenge me I’ll go to eo shit they’re gonna go let’s lock this stuff down right the message is the latest indication that Air Force leaders believe a rank and file airmen need to more rigidly follow dress and appearance rules than many now do so chief of staff Alvin says he sent out a video I didn’t get a copy of the video but he said in the video message to the force Friday or last week the first thing is to be able to look at yourself look at your teammate hold yourself and him or her accountable to ensure that you’re in standards okay I’m with that nice although the initial review of policies and standards largely relates to dress and personal appearance the scope is not just limited to uniforms there is a spokesman who told task and purpose the goal is to ensure all policies and standards are easy to understand easy to comply with and easy to enforce so what he’s trying to get at is there have been a number of mishaps where people that have or airmen have not either followed the TO followed the procedure took shortcuts here took shortcuts there and hell we’ve we’ve covered a number of them on this shelf and disasters happen people get hurt property damage all that other stuff because they have taken shortcuts with the standards so he’s starting with uniforms and rolling it down and I was like nice I can buy that because if you’re gonna take a shortcut on uniform maybe you’ll take a shortcut on that TO like a broken windows kind of mentality but for you can fix the little things let’s fix and hold the standards on the little things that are clear-cut and then you won’t have big life-threatening problems and I get it when you’re out there like field you’re tired you’re like I don’t want to do I can get in that jammer and drive it even though I haven’t driven it in 30 days right oh yeah the spokesman went on to say adhering to uniform standards is essential for building the daily muscle memory needed to uphold and enforce high standards across the board this review is not in response to any single incident but rather reinforces the importance of maintaining consistent standards as airmen work together to accomplish daily mission requirements they build trust in one another knowing that standards cannot be overlooked this trust ultimately translates into stronger more effective units in combat nice nice that’s it so it’s couched in get your uniform straight but the real intent is get everything you do straight yeah I like I like that I like that for most of the video message Chief of Staff Alvin frame the review in terms of safety concerns over the past few years Alvin said the Air Force has implemented some policies and standards that are so complex and difficult to implement that some airmen believe they choose which ones to follow this is where the danger lies because as airmen decide for themselves whether they should comply with the tech order or safety reg or other instructions they make the wrong choice that’s uninformed and the damage is to property to our equipment but most importantly we get airmen injured or killed that’s what’s at stake I was like good on you Chief of Staff is that right so in the weeks and months to come we’re going to be reviewing some of these policies waivers and the exceptions that we’re going to be reviewing them to ensure that they’re easy to understand easy to comply with and easy to enforce Chief of Staff said so you know what’s gonna happen is that all these people well not all these people there are some fringe people who are like this is my beard right and they’re gonna run and they’re gonna complain and it will be interesting to see if the Air Force empowers its leaders to go nope that’s BS man yep you know you’re not really complying with what the profile says or anything like that so yeah so that’s cool it’s good to see him good to see him coming back in line you know it seems like maybe the military is getting the second wind it’s like kind of standing up for itself now maybe the leaders are empowered to make the decisions they should have before EO office got so powerful you know cuz I think I think it all the depth to be called to the carpet by EO or any other kind of complaint mechanism that’s what I think that I want to do I think you weren’t a good superintendent or commander until you had your first IG complaint I write all every super commander I know had at least one IG complaint but it followed by the investigation and then it was like okay this bullshit yeah yeah you know if it was real then cool but if everybody in the unit is super happy with your leadership then sure that out there’s always gonna have the one complaint you’re always gonna have well you’re I mean you you shouldn’t always get your way like it’s not it’s not right you’re playing it’s not your vision it’s it seems to me that that has been less over the next over the last four or five years in a sense that maybe they felt they had to acquiesce to the squeaky wheel I said just pushing down the squeaky wheel and go fall in line with everybody else maybe they’re maybe they’re not getting the support above themselves yeah that they can go hey I called this BS and I’m not gonna honor it and then the chain of command goes you better honor it and then now they’re cowed you know they’re out into acquiescing to the to the noisy person so maybe that’s changing well remember how it used to be like you I mean we’re cranky and crusty but it was if you had an airman or a subordinate that if if another subordinate came to me and was bitching about a decision like you made yeah or and I didn’t agree with it I wasn’t gonna fucking tell them I wasn’t I’ll be like hey that’s what Marty said that’s what we’re doing we’re rolling with it yeah cuz you know cut right yeah later on I’ll go Marty dude come on and that was a bit we might need to dial that back but that was you and me right and that was peer-to-peer at our level and it wasn’t me going to the next captain or next officer next whatever I went right to you and now if you were I don’t know if you were like shut the fuck up don’t be a dick I’m like okay maybe if it was a legit thing then I would take it up but after that that’s you know I always I always tried to push the Chiefs to teach that kind of NCO interaction yeah and they never would but that’s the biggest thing right the chief mafia you had the NCO Mafia you had like you guys were a co-host you know you might not agree with everything but at least you were on the same page of I’m not gonna disagree with him publicly sure and staffs Texan masters should learn that relationship yeah but it’s not really taught unless you get somebody like yourself who’s like oh I see how that relationship is supposed to work but it’s not taught in any formal class you know what I mean no but that but the whole the whole point of NCO business is like NCOs get together but when you leave the room you still respect even though your other problem yeah I had to stay there yeah right I had to stay playing it down and it it all falls apart no it stays at the top three or it stays at the NCO you know yeah Air Force has a hard time with that you know I think the other services are more structured that are in an easier way but and the Chiefs were directly responsible for that that’s what they should be teaching that’s what they should come down and talk about but they never do because they just parrot they just parrot that’s all well I mean you should have realistic leadership experience like NCOA and things like that should have taught you hey this is your peer group right you guys are one in the same like you guys this you guys should be doing this like these are the ten things you should be doing as an NCO if you don’t know if you have a problem with it go to an NCO that you admire don’t write like don’t immediately go up there go to one of your peers right go to you know and that way you’ll both learn from that situation sure yeah I always push for that and that’s why I retired well I I mean we learned that lesson hard when I cross strange right well and you came from a different background and so did I and there and there are good space NCOs but across the board it’s just not a common thing with so many officers you know officers are down into that business and it’s just like the Chiefs got it should go talk to them and go hey stay out of that let the NCOs take care of that and you know you don’t take me down a road they’ll give me I got you going speaking of going down a road it looks like the army is on its way in the good road look at these guys I know so already the army hits 30,000 recruits which is half its goal for the year so are things coming back to the military are we starting to see a return to days of before when everybody was positive on the military maybe this story is from military calm the army is already nearly halfway to meeting its ambitious goal of recruiting 61,000 active-duty soldiers during this fiscal year and a what they’re four months into it already and they’ve already hit half of it oh yeah yeah this service has 30,000 new enlistments this year an increase of 6,000 compared to the same period last year president-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon Pete Hegseth who was in confirmation hearings today has pledged to make recruitment a top priority often citing culture and political grievances as the root of the military’s recent difficulties the army’s struggles have mostly been attributed to young Americans not qualifying for service either failing to meet body fat or academic standards okay in 2022 the army stood up the future soldier preparatory courses training camps training camps it’s like indoctrination camps training camps for applicants to get up to snuff with those standards nearly one-quarter of the 55,000 soldiers recruited last year went through one of these courses and would have otherwise not been able to serve that allowed the army to meet its recruiting goals in 2024 after missing its enlistment goals since 2022 so I think that was a great idea it’s like yeah hey you guys are willing but you’re close but you’re not there let us let us take you you know come once a week or whatever it is I know Marines do that for delayed enlistment a lot of yeah and now they just kind of formalized it so that’s smart that’s smart the early recruiting milestone this month is largely attributed to the services delayed entry program which consists of 11,000 recruits about double the number from recent years now part of that is they’ve chosen to be delayed entry part of it is they’re delayed entry because they’re not like making it yeah I think I did delayed entry well I signed up after well I signed up after I graduated right and that was summer and I just knew like I grew up in Oregon right so it’s not it’s not Texas hot and I and I’m like well I’m gonna spend the holidays with my family that’s right yeah then I’ll go in in January and it’s gonna be tolerable down there did you get any storms over here where you’re pretty good in tech school we get some ice storms everyone we got ice storms in northern Texas I went to text my first tech school at Shepherd oh yeah tough falls yeah yeah yeah yeah ice storm for like two days well yeah but that wasn’t basic which is what your plan was no yeah that was what your ass offered basic yeah yeah the shepherds still around I think so yeah shepherds a big tech school no it’s a lot of it was dental it was a lot of all the weapons now I think chiefs went there fuels went there oh damn we had Marines we had Marines we had some Navy yeah all at Shepherd when I was at Fort Sill in Lawton Wichita Falls was a great place to go party so it was yeah I would compared to Lawton you know and if you didn’t want to drive all the way to Dallas Wichita Falls was your halfway point so it was your point that’s desperation right there but you didn’t see a lot in Oklahoma so yeah the service has also faced persistent delays and medically processing recruits prompting officials to bring in additional staff and adopt a more lenient approach to minor medical histories unlikely to affect military performance recruiters have long complained about enlistment delays sometimes lasting months for minor injuries or conditions that applicants have already recovered from and as those delays continue potential recruits are more and more likely to walk away yeah because you got some dumb thing right whatever it is yeah like I broke my ankle when when I was in junior high yeah and now you can’t get cleared and now your life’s literally on hold sir and you probably have another job now you might read two or three calls to that recruiter who’s not returning him or it’s like oh I still don’t have any information you’re like yes you’re either gonna go to another service are you just like that was it that or you know I gotta get a waiver right oh the waiver shit yeah the way we don’t have enough medical history to see if you do now listen to this one but do you think them the lack of physical fitness I mean is that a direct correlation or is that a correlation and lack of PE at schools now oh there’s no schools yeah unless you’re in sports right you don’t really have to know not really and if you’re in his gym you just you just dress yeah like okay we’ll walk around the we’ll walk around the track and talk with each other for an hour and then we’ll go get changed and go back yeah so that could be I really think I really think it’s a pretty it’s the it’s kind of all the woke forces in America kind of playing they never played the military down but with all the DEI stuff inside the military you know they’re promoting trans performers or they’re promoting some other non merit-based success story I think people are like why do I want to go join that you know I want to go I want to go be a badass like the old movies but you know but also to be fair like the military hasn’t gotten a good rep lately right with with 20 years of war for basically nothing yeah you got a lot of people coming back with PTSD that oh yeah that’s a good point and and then for nothing for the Afghanistan pull out like oh yeah and then like that you look at that thing that’s true you look at that it’s not it hasn’t been good it’s for the last right 15 20 years and maybe maybe in a way it was even worse to see the effects of that war the global war on terror worse than the Vietnam guys had to face they just had public sentiment about it was a bad war and we’re gonna take it out on the military we got it but here it’s like okay it was a war that turned out to be minimized because Afghanistan pulled out but then you elevate oh these guys are all screwed up everybody coming back is screwed up and you’re like why would I want to go join that yeah that’s a good point yeah it’s a damn good point I mean we we got low recruiting yeah but you also have multiple stories about mold and barracks you have multiple stories about contaminated fuel on bases soldiers on food stamps yeah who the hell wants to join up if I can barely make it you know what I mean I mean yeah right right I’m with you I’m a firm believer though that a lot of that’s a lot of the guys that joined the military they might say it’s for there’s a handful that are like patriotism or I always wanted to be in the military but I think that’s the minority I think that could be the military is just kind of a lost boys club for a lot of I have nothing else it’s almost it’s almost like going to the military go to jail man I mean how many or how many people that came in mid 20s that already had a kid that were doing some other job and were like this isn’t this is not a career sure and then they come in they enlist then like there was a cousin right many of them yeah many of them the patriotism was last seen right after 9-11 right that that populated in the military big and shit but now I don’t think it’s that you’re right that’s not the motivator I think that dropped off fairly quickly after that unfortunately yeah well sure I mean you get into some of those battles they’re like oh my god these guys are really in it so yeah but listen to this the army has also embraced new strategies to entice recruits including allowing them to choose their initial duty station well nice I know so active duty yeah yeah they’re letting them pick where they go so if you now I know your story because I got your story but let’s go back would that have made any difference to you at the time that you signed up if they said hey you can pick where you go yeah you still signed up though right because you’re already going right yeah now where would you have picked to go like Japan oh you would have really yeah I had all overseas yeah and then I don’t think I had any konos basis oh sure I had Alaska Alaska basis in Hawaii as like the only like US soil basis right right but I had Germany Italy I would have got a Germany in a heartbeat yeah cuz I was a weapons guy I was like oh we can do this sure yeah imagine if you get a pick where you I mean really if they’d have honored where your first choice was oh that’d be great now space you’d have 8,000 people who want to go to England or the other one Capone or you know you know they’re standing maroon back up are they we’re they’re standing Spain back up yeah outside right yeah what what for three three one Charlie sixes yeah you know who’s getting the first assignment well I can Bobby Crowley that son of a bitch I was gonna say every every England assignment you know what they had three one Charlie sixes out there we’re all hot ones you know they were all hot you know it’s like oh you went to England like yeah it was it wasn’t that hard to get I was like was it hard back to get for you like my when they read off our first assignments yeah I don’t know how it was for you but we were in tech school right and we we all got slotted for f16 bases because we don’t have 16 tech school so we’re all getting f16 bases and the guy the instructor starts going down the list Marty you got this wall you got this and yeah he read it he goes I’ve never even heard of this one wall you got Eilson Air Force Base Arkansas you know how I was genuinely scared I was like I’ve never been to the south it sounds like sweaty and hot like oh that sounds horrible Arkansas and then I look at the paper I’m like hey hey Alaska dude but that was cool though I mean everybody who’s gotten that last goes like like dreads it and then says it’s one of the funnest assignments cuz it’s a remote like yeah everybody’s terrified of Thule all the space nerds are terrified of Thule or was it Cav and the environment sucks right yeah the environment sucks yeah outside the base sucks but you have like some of the best relationships at those at those point austere locations right right because you’re all suffering together but yeah but it’s still Alaska it’s still Arkansas that’s good Arkansas now no offense Arkansas I have since been to your state yeah it is a beautiful state yeah it’s like I want to go back honestly but that triggers are a real thing they’re horrible yeah then there’s not a good thing yeah but the Ozarks despite the show Ozarks is still pretty badass beautiful you know and fairly inexpensive still yeah all right speaking of war and all that stuff military.com had a pretty interesting article thought it was fun so you and I are gonna see how many songs now I already know what the songs are oh here we go they’re not some of them are but some of them I didn’t but they but military.com went out and talked to a bunch of vets and they made comments and like the most comments they about a song they included them in this article so let me let me unscrew this they changed the layout here so the first on their list was drowning pool remember drowning pool all right that was the first like when they attached that to like predator porn that it was bodies right now that was like one of the first ones I saw but it was great let me see what they said about it let’s see bodies by drowning pool originally pulled from radio play falling to September 11th terror attacks over concerns over the lyrics is considered the modal pump up song for a significant number of military.com readers who deployed in the early years of the global war on terrorism well it’s worth noting that repeated conditions of the song were used as a form of interrogation on detainees at Guantanamo Bay nice in 2003 they just kept playing it over play it loud sleep deprivation so I don’t know if this will pass YouTube’s but I just I tried to pull a little clips if you’ll remember yep it was it was a test to somebody of the first video of Afghanistan so drowning pool was I don’t say it’s like number one or anything but do you remember yep you know who that is nope that’s Toby Keith so Toby Keith beloved post 9-11 ass-kicking anthem was never supposed to make it the airways while the late country star only ever intended to perform courtesy of the red white and blue you remember that song yeah okay at USO shows and military performances then commandant of the Marine Corps general James Jones told him that the track was the most amazing battle song I’ve ever heard in my life and convinced him to release it as a signal so and it took me a second I had to hear it first so let’s go this well I was trying not to play the video you know I purposely didn’t put Lee Greenwood because that was one of the real ones right but it I was like okay that’s a 1984 song that’s been screwed so it doesn’t count when I’m gone you remember that song released in 2002 just as we were going into Afghanistan by three doors down oh yeah remember three three doors down I knew they’d have to be on there yeah yeah yeah yeah that was a sound of that early oh yeah yeah yeah so three doors damn when I’m gone let’s see although the song is nothing to do with the US military the lyrics make it easy to see why troops identify with it one Navy vet wrote this song captured the essence of the deployment experience in terms of the fears loneliness bonds and hope and that’s true yeah that’s fun can do that but it doesn’t matter if you’re deployed whatever song you latch on to you’re going to remember that oh yeah it’s funny even us going through when we were ILC we’re sitting this over early 2000s doesn’t feel like it’s as long ago as 25 years which is insane isn’t it that’s crazy yeah next song how about Evan essence in 2003 when they came remember Evan essence yeah bring me to life Evan essence this marine wrote Evan essence songs had a nerve for me as the deployments wore on he said I still cannot help getting emotional when I hear these songs today so I don’t know how many hours yeah why do you have so many dog tags on there’s that like a trophy necklace or something she’s like oh for military dudes yeah this is way before like only fans were second set in the 12-hour world records you know 12 hours what 1057 you have to wear the camelback just to stay hydrated do you remember John Michael Montgomery no I don’t but I do as soon as you play it I’ll be like I do vaguely remember the country singer song letters from home in 2004 it became a love letter to the deployed life the country songs are always time I was hoping you guys do I’m so sorry John Michael Montgomery I know I thought I mean nothing to me now somebody out there is like oh no it’s a great somebody will say that right now we’re like there can’t be smirched that guy in a closet but JMM people say that about country music all the time they of course they’re used to it right flaws and like they listed it was funny the article also listed Lee Greenwood of course I did not realize that his song was he did that in 1984 I had no idea went back that far I don’t think I heard it until 9-11 oh yeah I never heard it until yeah yeah but and then they listed a couple of other songs like cream sounds like that’s a that’s a knob so you can’t do that stuff and then war bigs I was like that’s not even appropriate you know yeah but this one is totally appropriate yeah I probably I only played a little snippet of this 100% this is it Trey Parker said that America has this rolled world as a dick cops are dick you effing hate cops but you need them because there are assholes or terrorists you got to have dicks people who hunt down terrorists and I think that is a pretty strong thing to assert actually that’s what he said about this song there was a whole that whole monologue in this movie the team America world police where it’s talking about dicks and assholes right right so if you’re like right out of that but assholes shit on me yep perfect I cut the next part out because you know how bad that next part of me so pretty interesting pretty good article really you know yeah I like it for pulling some of those old signs and and it’s wild when you go all right these are creams color water revival is used in every vietnam so fortunate son right right there wasn’t much in the 80s not much in the 90s desert storm wasn’t long enough to have any songs dedicated to them but the G watt the global war on terror really had a pretty good run of songs right now I thought that was a good run down and it was 20 some years ago which is sad to say but I think those those songs man they have the ability to take you back to right when yeah yeah I there’s certain songs where I hear them and I’m like oh this is a great song I was it right this place during that I’m like I’ll give you an example when I went to jump school in 87 right yeah and it was the first time you know I was a ROTC cadet obviously if you talk to anybody jump school is not that stressful but it was when you’re like this is my first foray into real stuff right yeah into a corporal who hated me because I had a C for cadet on my helmet and he just hated me for that I was scared to death with this on the bench right but we made it through and me and a couple other buddies and the song that just came out was the whispers rocksteady and we were part of Delta Company the rock and so every time I hear that I’m like ah shit you know takes you right back to that spot yeah yeah what’s this what what’s a song example of that takes you back to a military palese I mean I for some reason I know this is gonna sound it’s not hardcore military I know that yeah but there’s that Jack Johnson brush fire fairy tales that was going on yeah a hundred percent you I listen to that song yeah right back to Vandenberg right back to tech school playing consistently during that whole time so I always think and then like banana pancakes by by Jack Johnson because that came out later but later on I was stationed at Vandenberg and when when Chris was pregnant with the kids yeah I would walk down to Kay’s country kitchen and they had banana pancakes and that was one of the things she wanted all the time so I’m like I walk down there get in order to go bring it back to the house and that’s pretty cool hang up so is it it’s not hardcore military song I know no no but but those songs have the ability to instantly take me right back to that location that period of time yeah that’s what that’s the brilliance of the music yeah I mean you listen to you can listen to stuff from your high school and you’re like oh man this is right right right it takes you right back to the first car to hanging out in the parking lot with your friends well think about it in 2003 right when those guys first deployed over to Afghanistan or when they started going over there right you know mp3 players were new yeah there was no streaming music so whatever you brought with you yeah and that I remember my dad in one of the last years that he worked for State Farm he won a prize of like an mp3 plays like I don’t even know what the hell this is it was a real it had enough for 10 mp3 songs but no skipping right it was like oh look at this so imagine if you go over there if they brought if they let you bring like a CD collection or something like that but it’s limited so whatever it’s got the sand and everything it’s gonna get yeah yeah yeah and whatever you’re gonna love it or you’re gonna hate it but it’s gonna bring that memory to you but you’re with the same crew of guys also yeah so you’re gonna get forced to listen to three doors down like to get pumped up or there’s gonna be that guy that’s listening in the country music so you might not be a fan of that country music but your crew that you’re with it was still there like okay fine you know or he’s got the mp3 player so we got to listen to that stuff because I don’t have one yet you know as good a song is that Evanescence one is if you hear it for a year it’ll be the worst like ever or but it’ll take you right back absolutely yeah yeah absolutely it’s almost like a some songs can be PTSD inducing yes but almost any song if that’s all you have because I don’t know how much AFN was blasting songs out there you know so anyway I thought it was interesting I thought it was a good it was a good article what’s a high school song for for you like oh a high school or like growing up I loved the Jimi Hendrix blues album so I listen to any one of those songs and I’m like oh right back to my parents basement or like I was sneaking Midnight Marauders Tribe Called Quest like wow look at you man because we weren’t allowed to listen to music with cuss words so oh yeah yeah I had my that’s the core you were in but up there right yeah we didn’t just my parents didn’t like cousin yeah I had on the one side of the cassette was scorpions blackout on the other side was deaf leopard pyromania and the tape never came out for almost a year it would just play flips play on flip play yeah I was like perfect that was perfect so every time I hear any any any song off any one of those albums it was like oh yeah I’m right I’m right back in 1985 yeah yeah so good times man good trip good time let’s call it in-depth buddy and let’s trash our non-existent podcast mates who aren’t here Anna boo for being tired Eric I hate you for being retired and one I you know I hope your hair is even curlier next time I see you yeah that hair last time right I’m in no position to talk but it was just gorgeous wasn’t it lustrous a lot I wanted to run my hand through this if we’re just glisten he was yeah he was I want him to carve a message in my head whenever you do in yours is a skill yeah you could do it I do it I do it for the podcast what if you could do late for change over in a side of my head oh man the space force Delta oh all right one we got a challenge for you see we could do I’ll do it up those beautiful gray hair yeah it’ll be all pink in here yeah exactly how’s the matter with your head I’d like to thank you for listening today please like share some stuff let us know how we did in the comments and make sure next week that you are not late for changeover oh that was pretty quick on that one yeah thank you and everyone listening and watching out there thank you listen to watch it we’ll see you next week let us know what what songs take you back yeah that would be cool to hear whatever AC Slater is he comments on all our podcast let us know what’s wrong is the biggest military memory for you all right that would be all that’d be interesting I think it’s interesting stuff thanks Jake always really and we’ll see y’all next week