Episode Title: The Late For Changeover Show 24 Apr 2024
Date: Apr 24, 2024
Special event alert. Say bye bye to match and grab your bat because you are late for changeover. Your weekly space news and variety show.
I’m your host Marty Smith, and I’m joined by our man in the closet, Jake Wall. What’s going on man? This is a hard one to follow. And Mr. History, Eric Perot.
What’s going on from Arizona fellas? And we got a guest host, Master Sergeant Retired Juan Lopez. Senior Master Sergeant Retired Juan Lopez. I demoted you.
Damn, I demoted you. We’re here to bring you the latest headlines and updates pertinent to all Guardians and to top the other lesser branches as well. So take your seats, get informed, and have a laugh as we present Late for Changeover.
All right, we got to do this quick because Eric, you probably got better internet connection there than you do in your own house. Well, a little bit, not bad though. I’m on my phone, so it’s not real good.
Actually, it’s not bad. Where are you at? You’re in Arizona? Yeah, we’re in Goodyear, Arizona. Fly back home tomorrow.
Been here a week. Played a couple rounds of golf at some really nice courses. Man, just had a great week.
And where’d you play today? Out at Luke Air Force Base. It’s called Falcon Dunes, man. Great course.
Very nice. Any T-box shots with the jets going off or any flying today? Oh, yeah. F-35’s all over the place, man.
Oh, really? Yeah. We took a ride on base and checked them out close up. Pretty damn cool.
That’s so different because when we’re at Buckley, and they’re flying, the National Guard is flying up there. You know, the once every couple months or whatever. And you go, oh, they must have got money come through.
They can afford fuel. But Luke, being Luke, man, those guys are training base like crazy, huh? Yeah, they were flying all morning, man. It was loud.
Freedom ringing loud. What’d you shoot? Well, we didn’t need to go there. Oh.
That’s out of 101. 101? What happened to all the lessons and all that shit? What happened to being retired? Apparently, I need more lessons. You know, but I still had a great time.
You know, the standard excuse for that is that, you know, Bear Cart wouldn’t leave us alone, so. Well, my wife beat me, so I had to lower my head in shame, and she played real well today, man. Was she playing trans man and hitting from the male tee boxes? One box in front of us.
Which is only, what, 10 yards? Yeah, man, she was in the frickin’ fairway each time. She was awesome. Well, maybe we should give her the good conduct medal.
Yeah, probably so. Well, thanks, buddy. Continue on with your investigative report down on Luke Air Force Base.
We’re looking forward to the full review next week. You got it, fellas. You guys have a good night, man.
Thanks, guys. See you later, Eric. See, that way, we don’t have to do the lengthy introductions because he’s going to drop.
Here, I’ll remove them. I’ll take you out. You’re out.
That’s a lengthy introduction. It was. It was, kind of.
Well, when was the last time you two guys saw each other? His retirement? Oh, no. Oh, I guess so. I don’t know, man.
I thought it was after that. But we celebrated the week before his retirement, and that’s a start to tell, one of these days. That was a good time.
Well, we don’t have that many stories Hey one when you retired what 21? Yes, did you do the Conrad Dawes and put it out on zoom. I did not so Yeah, so no, it’s just like whoever showed up, you know that that was it some people reported it But I never got a copy of it or any of that Well, like I said Kevin Baucom teapot is usually on here, but he’s indisposed so, you know, you know Kevin is like The teapots like a major league here, you know his batting average if we can get him up to 300 You know Three out of seven shows every hour three out of ten shows would be like I like it That’s a pretty good bang, but he’s now me Important stuff man. I know we’re pretty sure he’s like got a meat platter We’re somewhere that’s getting devoured, you know I I sent an extra email out tonight with a with an extra story that probably prompt him.
He’s like, oh shit Hey, but when I saw that like, you know the sales in space I was thinking like space pirates right away If I can space say oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Did you see that? Well, I we didn’t have a we did when I was looking yesterday and the day before we didn’t have any space stories, so I figured well, let me go look today and actually that was They launched a couple hours ago. So The Juan Lopez, you can find his interview out on Swearing in podcast. We just did it two hours.
I’m awesome. Yes Yeah, and Jake if you watch his interview It starts and it’s all it’s light like this Right by the time we finished the Sun had set and he had no light except from his we on your phone or you’re on Your computer so he’s all dark And you can like barely see him But it was good. It was good.
I Contacted Kevin Reed. So that’s another Senior and CEO coming so we’re slowly but surely getting the sibbers brother and together getting everyone I Went Medina did I see I saw him at a retirement and I gave him a card and you know, he’s Yeah, maybe I wonder I wonder to those who are listening there was a period of time when I came off a crew with all these guys and I went into scheduling and When I would when somebody would fall out and we need to call people on the list you know, I’d go through many phone calls before if I finally somebody answered answered the phone and It’s strange. That was 20 years ago, and I’m still doing the same thing In that hey, can you come on the podcast today and they’re like you have reached 303 and I like yeah It’s like the same thing when I was in scheduling So I remember those phone calls and I remember one time you caught me on a Saturday and you gave me that guilt trip Yeah, no, I never guilt ripped anybody.
It was oh, yeah, there’s like but you’re very sigh about it, you know You know, I was like fine I’ll go in but that’s when they did a six-week standby, right? Remember on the schedule. I’ll say if you’re kind of like on the six-string to be called I do remember that and that’s right. I I pushed for that because that first six months or whatever I was like, you’re just calling random people Nobody, I wouldn’t answer the phone for that.
So yeah, I mean at least six ring gives you Sort of a heads up, but it’s still it’s still a suck deal But yeah, yeah, yeah, so I think I still think people you know how you You know you ever seen what was the last time you saw somebody from like your high school class? But even if you have it you can you can think about that you picture them in that time frame right in your head And you’re like, oh, that’s how they’re gonna be when they’re grown up. They’re like, no They’ve gone through many iterations of themselves But your memory is like no you were that 17 year old guy who got the pants in front of the whole auditorium You know, you’ll always be that guy and I think to to many I’ll always be a scheduler. Unfortunately, that’s right So Jeff Powell so I had lunch with Jeff Powell today at work.
Oh, yeah I was like man Marty Smith. This looks like Wolverine now you saw that beer is like It has like it’s just like Barry Wolverine Yeah, yeah, I should get a hold of how well how it wasn’t in that long I don’t think but that doesn’t know he’s still in He’s still in he’s still in the reserve. So he’s at the holy shit.
Is he full house at Peterson? Yeah. Oh my god so Did another interview That put out Marty you goes he wasn’t in that long Oh, yeah, no, he’s still in he’s like, oh my god Well, I got reactions ready I got him in the chamber so whichever whichever way you hit me I’m gonna I’m gonna react appropriately Show just so you know he’s right He’s the one that started giving me all all the interviews and notes and everything about your show Did he really? You prep for that No Wow, he’s I did learn a lot from watching myself and that last day the interview that he gave me I was like, ooh Man schoolhouse. I will use gave myself all kinds of it’s hard.
It’s hard I mean when I interviewed Jake, I was doing audio only but still if you go back and listen to that You know, I was so amateurs Jake was great. He was telling great stories But I was you know, you get you when you first do it, you’re just like Terrible this I’m so bad. It’s hard to watch me, you know But in addition to your interview one I also did another interview with a With an American who started as a Soviet comrade.
That’s Yeah, he grew he was born and raised in in the Soviet Union And they could they constrain in 89 he got conscripted so they have conscription they had conscription over there I think they still do for two years. So Yeah, probably do. Yeah, so he went in the he went in the army went in as a paratrooper Then He was adept right and then the Soviet Union fell and the Russian Federation came up and I guess he impressed his supervisors and it was like hey, do you want to go to this? Russian Military Academy that they just started so he said yeah, so he went there and there was it was like a it was like a West Point so he goes During his time as a cadet he got sent to a war zone to be kind of like a Like not an observer, but kind of like a protector He’s of certain rear assets and they got terrorist attack and he had to fight there He graduated gets commissioned as a lieutenant in the Russian army Goes straight to his first unit that’s fighting in the first Chechen war It’s like holy shit, dude, you’re a little fresh lieutenant and they send you to the war zone.
So He stayed there to the conclusion Later he got out as a captain He had relatives in California. They put in a green card. He came out there in California The funny part is because he was like, okay, I’m on a green card out here I better start learning the language and learning the culture.
So he started driving a cab and Then he and then he said oh I’ll take a job as an on the night shift at Target to help me to learn more English And he goes I didn’t learn a thing because nobody spoke English But guess where his relatives lived his relatives lived up in Carmel. Oh So he’s like, oh, this is this how America is every word of America’s good. No so 9-11 happened and He said I’m gonna go talk to a recruiter because he felt He had friends who joined up and he goes I want to go back in So he went to talk to a recruiter and they signed him up with a green card And at 28 he went through basic Yeah on a green card They he went to basic as an infantryman out at Benning Fort Benning, Georgia at 28 and You know, he got he was a PFC specialist at 28 e4 it’s like this guy was a captain in the Russian army and Anyway, I asked him I was like, hey, you’re in a Russian army.
Well when you got in conscripted This the Afghanistan for Russia just ended Like a year before I was like so you didn’t have to go and he goes no I didn’t have to go to Afghanistan Lo and behold he comes to America. He joins up He joins his first unit out in Hawaii and he deploys to Afghanistan Wow Fascinating And he looked I mean you can’t tell because he was I don’t know if he was on his phone, but he was you know, he was hunched over for most of it But every once in a while he would lean back and I was like, oh this guy’s a fucking Dolph Lundgren land This guy a lot big, you know, and he was a jump master in the Russian army He was a jump master in the US Army Like holy shit, and he graduated and he retired as a major he graduated He went to OCS got commissioned I was like This guy’s a badass. So interesting interesting story.
It’s out of swearing in podcast I just put that out there. So Fellas before we get into the news story. I noticed this I I signed up for stripes.com It’s five bucks for a subscription or something like that.
Right? Otherwise, they only let you read a couple stories if you ever know Yeah, exactly. And that’s why I don’t do any research Marty. I know I don’t want to use them up before That’s true.
That’s a good point Two stories So But they send me updates in the email and you know how I’m always like, okay Let’s not be so negative. Let’s try to be positive out of like eight stories. These are the stories check this out These are the stories that they hit me with right? So So the first couple look Marine based at Camp Lejeune killed during training Good.
Yeah, and then the next one was Georgia based airmen dies while deployed to go Guam with the rescue squadron That’s depressing and it keeps going Court martial of army doctor accused of 53 counts sexual abuse. Oh, it’s delayed until next year Okay Former Fort Liberty soldier headed to prison for romance Stolen over 350,000. These were all in one day All right.
Yeah, and there was just another marine NCO. I think that also had yeah, I saw that too. Yeah Yeah, you had something too.
Yeah And then policeman testifies the US Navy’s we should have done this story. Maybe we’ll save it until next week But policeman testifies the US Navy sailors strange behavior after beach attack in Japan and the little tagline in there says He’s slammed into a group of Japanese people on the beach town identified himself afterward as Satan What did it have on them boats are you right And then the last one was police say marine with knife tried to rob a convenience store on Okinawa freaking Okinawa man Drives them nuts over there. Oh my gosh surprised that they haven’t kicked us off that island for good Harry Whitmer’s wedding in Florida and at the Johnny Rockets there’s a Marine former marine I guess now he was called the Marines cuz I read that on my article, right, right, but He was one of the group that got kicked out of Okinawa He’s starting to tell teapot and I the story about how he was part of the group that got kicked out I think that was like what that was been over 15 16 years ago, but that’s when they made the bigger headlines and He’s telling the stories is like so you know, you’re working at Johnny Rockets.
I was like Well 15 16 years ago. Well and even today Yeah, though every five to ten years they’ll go on a rape and pillage mission. Yeah And mess up some locals and then the locals are like, okay We are sick and tired of this.
Yeah, get them out here Get them out of the provost has to come down there and talk to them and you know commanding officer But we did how many stories two or three that we did last year? About the Marines getting drunk and just climbing up and sleeping on random Yeah, I mean the Japanese people go. Oh, there’s a there’s a drunk Marine, you know, Mike Balcon that the same day a Navy guy Wakes up and he was on the second floor balcony of Someone he knew like was pounding on the door of somebody he knew and he blew Like a point one or so. It was crazy high after he got to be out done Now you know the Marine not to be outdone by the Navy the Marine a Elderly Japanese or Okinawa and lady wakes up goes outside to water her her plants like 11 finds a marine on the eighth story on her balcony covered in his own everything all his fluids She’s like what He blew at noon and when they got him he blew a point nine something She’s yeah, he’s still blasted after climbing a freakin eighth eight story.
Yes You know, I might have to have my nephew listen to this because he’s a Marine So funny he’s left camp campers June two months ago, and he’s about to go to Japan here in the next couple months Oh, no, shut Yeah, okay. I mean flip that right say that you say that you had I don’t know a place in like Panama City, Florida Yeah, right. Hey bought it and you’re living there and all that stuff and you wake up and you find a Russian soldier drunk on your balcony first time you’d be scared chillest.
You’re like, holy shit. It’s a soldier drunk on my balcony How many times would you have to put up with that before people go and get these guys out of here would you just get? I think I think Jay Jake just said it like for that area. It’s like not again.
Yeah, it is All right, imagine what does 9-1-1 call sound like They probably finished the sentence they’re like, hey, I’m calling it a drunk Marine. Yeah, like okay. We’ll be right that you know Like can you imagine if a wahoo had this many problems with right with Marines or Navy personnel military personnel.
Yeah, like Every two years somebody’s getting raped every weekend. There’s a bar fight every like Every time and you when the fleets in you know There’s a lot of shit that happens down there, but yeah, it’s it’s contained into areas that are like a downtown Right. Yeah, there’s nobody in residential areas because they they Real estate and all that stuff.
They don’t live anywhere close to them, but You know The way they hate us anyway, they don’t want us. Well see probably cuz the Navy I mean I was over there and they were doing they wanted to do The Navy wanted to do these practice beach landings way up on like the north west part of the island and There’s groups that protested and the group was out there and they’re like now this is sacred ground We have ancestors buried here and they couldn’t they they closed the whole beach out They wouldn’t let them but they do that every chance they get so Okay, let’s get into the news here right just a couple news stories, I thought they’re kind of interesting This launch just happened today. It happened at like four something in a mountain time Today, so this company called rocket lab or this group called rocket lab It launched a new NASA solar sail tech No, that’s a dumb headline.
They launched a new NASA solar sail toward orbit so rocket lot rocket lab launched the South Korean Earth observation satellite and A new NASA solar sailing tech this evening or this evening. Yeah, April 23rd the agency’s advanced come advanced Jesus NASA’s Advanced composite solar sail system or ACS 3 for short was one of two payloads that lifted off atop a rocket lab Electron vehicle from New Zealand. So I also thought this was fascinating too because this brings up other launch sites So that’s cool.
Now. We’re just we’re just throwing up everything from around the world. So Solar sails harness a subtle push of sunlight.
I have a video for this. I’ll let them explain The a few solar sailing missions have already flown including Japan’s Ikaros spacecraft and the Planetary Society’s light sail to ACS 3 aims to develop the technology further Rocket lab wrote in a mission description quote the mission plans are a test of deployment of new composite booms I will unfurl the solar sail to measure approximately 30 feet per side or about the size of a small apartment in total Hey, you know what? there was another article I read about this same thing ACS 3 and the Units of measure that they used to like dumb it down for us. I’m like, this is a small apartment You’re like that doesn’t really give me a sense of space.
The other one used half a tennis court. I’m like, that’s better Yeah, yeah, it’s not a pickleball court Fuck I I think though that they’re constantly giving us or 14 elephants Maybe we should just get used to oh, what’s a 30 by 30 foot. What’s that look like? Oh, I I guess because I feel so dumb when they do that right near like yeah Yeah To the lowest Nominator like who’s who’s really reading these are we have if you’ve watched some of the videos Yeah, and and and this one’s this one I’m about to show you is is not as bad But some of them are so condescending because they got these big brain guys and they put in front of these videos And they’re like this flies through space like a dolphin swims in the sea and you’re just like oh Thanks for explaining it that way Mr. Billionaire egghead Well, you got me there that’s too complicated for me A ACS 3’s target altitude is 620 miles so a thousand kilometers It’ll be deployed there about 105 minutes after launch if all goes according to plan I didn’t see that there are any destructions or anything.
So I guess it did This was rocket labs fifth orbital launch at 2024 and it’s 47th overall All but for the company’s liftoffs to date have occurred from its New Zealand site on the North Islands Mahia Peninsula the others have lifted off from NASA’s Wallops flight facility in Virginia Did they every once in a while when we were working missile warning we get something out of Wallace, but it was always small, right? Too small, right? But yeah Wallops Island wasn’t it or something like that. Yeah, you’re right. So here is Rather than me trying to explain the solar sail Let me do this and we’ll enjoy the solar sail video from ACS or NASA.
Whoops. A NASA mission is testing revolutionary technology to allow robotic spacecraft to sail on sunlight The advanced composite solar introduces a new way to explore the cosmos Much like a sailboat is propelled by wind a solar sail spacecraft is pushed by the physics and the technology So the constantly it’s accelerating bounce off the reflective sail the spacecraft accelerates This eliminates the need for rocket propeller and makes it possible for spacecraft to travel This is like for ten-year-olds This is what his tonal voice his tone about the size microwave That technology is pretty bad that is cool When fully deployed the sail forms a square that is 33 About half the size of a tennis court Oh tennis court not a small apartment a position are changed by angling the sail toward or away from the Sun Results from the mission will guide the design of next-generation solar sail spacecraft to explore and conduct science See there’s another one Jake that’s like we’re using science as a verb They’re doing science. We’re sciencing You know though, you know the one The one term watching sports that has been so prevalent over the last ten years That drives me nuts every time is when sports casters are lazy and they use the word physicality Always physicality is just superior.
It’s like it’s such a lazy Comment, right? Well to science is is such a lazy This will make it easier to science in space. Oh Thank you, thank you, I don’t know like I look at that sound so I think it’s cool But here’s the thing is like I Don’t know. It’s like the pain on what mission you’re trying to do how big this thing gets Now These are just and these are just initial experiments, right? So I don’t know how how big they have to get it now If you can use those cells as nets to pick up space junk and bring it back Well, but but think of the think of the solar sail that kind of dies Right.
Yeah, and it just angles itself. So now it’s just an orbit. Now you’ve got a Enormous net that you got to navigate around Until you call the space junk guys, you know, yeah, or there’s some government finds them It’s like hey, you left this thing up there.
That’s the size of a small apartment People we oh I get that I’m sorry. I charge you like half a tennis court that do Charge you a hundred million per square foot so because there are there are governments trying to start Imposing fines on companies, you know for leaving stuff up there. I don’t know how they’re gonna Well, I guess I guess it would be easy to track and they’re like, hey, what’s that big cross-section piece of junk up there? It’s not ours.
I was like, yeah, it is. We tracked it all the way from your lunch facility We know it’s yours. Well, it’s like it’s like those those ticketed cars that you find on the highway, right? Yeah car in the highway.
He’s put a ticket on there. See if they pay it Right and you go by a week later and it’s like that tickets faded But it’s still there somebody about it. All right, cool.
Go into my space Well, I’d like to know is it starting now So do we get all our shit grandfathered? Or yeah, right. Right. Right.
Or do we have to clean up all our shit first? I mean any new stuff I mean, we’re good with the new stuff, you know Come on and they’re like, hey Russia, are you responsible? They’re like that was Soviets That’s not me 1958 that’s not us we we only came in in 19 Russians say yeah to the space junk Okay, this was actually the US Kazakhstan Yeah, cuz they launch a lot of stuff All right Jake actually sent me this story during the week And it’s great, but I have a video I would love to say these are actually space guys In Bart’s Dale, but it’s pretty close. It’s pretty close All right, so here’s the video I had before Just don’t ask where the meat comes from Up see what’s that supposed to mean? Do you see any cows around here detected? Okay. Yes.
That’s the kind This is a rapper Now that’s an airman It was so it was so perfect, I mean So this is from task and purpose Barksdale Air Force Base closes dining facility amid reports of a rat problem. I Should have made headlines. I forgot to make headlines today The main dining facility on Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana was closed indefinitely as photos circulated online of what appeared to be a swarm Of rats in the facility the closure left many airmen on the base without their usual meal option at the dining facility Now one I have an upcoming question for you, but this was the picture that was going around on social media Wow, I don’t know what they’re on It’s a food truck.
Oh It’s a glue chip. Oh god. So what were those two mice doing together? And they’re dumb as shit like hey, what are you standing on that? Oh, I Like the indefinitely part.
Yeah, it gets worse. I how bad is it? You got me man Hey, we gotta close it, but listen to some of the listen to some of the the double speak that they do Air Force officials did not confirm that rats were a problem But told task and purpose that the dining hall will be closed until a quote unquote issue Was resolved the base announced the closure on April 9th Saying that the defect would undergo quote unanticipated but required maintenance actions that must be addressed immediately However after swarms of rats were found in the Red River Dining Facility According to photos and videos posted on the popular Air Force Airmen NCO senior NCO Facebook account service members received an email about an abrupt closure Officials for the base told task and purpose that it’s civil engineer Entomology public health and for support teams are quote working diligently to address the issue, but they don’t they won’t cop to the rats but entomology What a fire extinguisher go off is that why you need entomology there? Oh, no, you get something else going on The email how bad did it have to be like and I did That freakin shell hall had rats outside by the dumpster that were like yeah full cat size Yeah, that was a source of food Big rats That’s That I think I think the scary thing is is that However bad it was however good or bad it was it was being ignored until Somebody posted a put it on Facebook. Somebody put on social media That’s how they react to things now.
That’s how they’re reacting the leadership are reacting to oh the airmen are really hot on this on social media Maybe have you done on that page? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So and they’re brutal and that’s when remember when the mold was going on in all right That’s how I first got exposed. That’s right.
I remember in 2012. I was at NCO Academy in San Antonio my room was just full of mold. I made a comment about it.
Oh, yeah No, that it’s it’s fine. You know, they they checked it. You’re safe I’m now waiting for that VA letter 20 years from now.
It’s like hey, you’re exposed mold you won’t get that Were you else ever stationed at all you deed or Randolph Air Force Base? Were you exposed to mold? Yeah, yeah, right We’re doing a class action. So come on board Cammie June style. Yeah, it was can’t believe it is campus unit.
That’s kind of the the banner for all these cases that are following right and in fact on a side note I was Thinking about bringing up this story, but they went out and here’s They were all proud of it. This story was that I read if they went out to the missile silos or the What are they what do they call the missile control stations? I don’t know what I don’t know what they go It’s Vandenberg even though Vandenberg hasn’t been used saw that article. I know would you see that? Remember we Jake remember we did the article about The missile air is getting cancer because all the stuff is coming out of the walls and stuff Well, the Air Force said well, we’ll just go prove that let’s go to Vandenberg That they don’t use anymore.
And not and they say Vandenberg was never mentioned either Right. I know it was no In other bases, right north of here that were all mentioned But the Air Force tested Vandenberg and they’re like, hey there’s only a couple swipes out of us several hundred that came back with any PCBs on it and The water the water was was generally good because it came from the from the town So, you know, and you know, they’re combating it. They’re combating it by going to Vandenberg They didn’t go to Minot they didn’t go to Malmstrom They didn’t go to F. E. Warren because they probably don’t want to go down there anyway, right? And those are different silos.
Those are different manufacturers. Those are different missiles. Yeah, everything’s different Nobody’s reporting cancer from Vandenberg Exactly go check make sure nope, no cancer there so we can negate all of them So you’re saying all these? Chevy trailblazers are failing with their gas tank.
Well, let’s check this Volkswagen bug. Nope. We didn’t find any problems there That’s about the same thing So stupid The email posted to social media originally said that the dining facility would be closed for two weeks on April 9th It’d be closed for two weeks and that’s 650 Barksdale essential station messing airmen with meal deductions would receive BAS during a closure so they’re gonna give them BAS so they can eat off but off base This means the listed troops would receive 460 per month and officers would get 316 per month so They’re like, yeah, we close it now.
Here’s the question I had one were you When you’re in 2002, I don’t know when the barracks were built, but the but the mess hall was still available then, right? So I never I lived in the dorms at Buckley for like one month But I did live in the dorms at Peterson and that’s how I was awesome. Like I Yeah, yeah, yeah any better. Yeah, but were you you were up at Buckley or were you up a buck? Yeah, you were up at Buckley when they came down.
They’re like, oh, we got to close the dining facility Do you remember that? So I remember that it was already closed when I got there. Oh, it was Three months. So like for me as I oh cool.
I get $250 extra a month. That’s all I cared about Well when they first closed it they gave them vouchers for meals Money yeah, because they were like, oh shit, what are we gonna do with all these guys here? I give them vouchers Think oh, yeah What so just vouchers like it was like like an EBT Carter. Well, yeah No, it was like it was like coupons for a few months until they kind of unass themselves and like Yeah, we should probably do something better than this Wow.
Well, listen to this The latest vermin crisis follows a year of reports on quality of life issues affecting junior service members including a GAO government accountability office report which found junior enlisted barracks and dorms did not beat Department of Defense health and safety Standards due to mold rats and broken security systems jeez Now this is this is a killer Service members and half of the GAO’s discussion groups told the federal watchdog about quote issues with pests including bedbugs rodents cockroaches and wasps at 3 3 out of 10 installations reviewed by GAO Officials said service members were in charge of their own pest control But so if you solve that yeah, I put it on the guys They got to go buy their own ortho and go spray their rooms remember when base housing you could go to like That housing facility and they would give you light bulbs and yeah Exactly, yeah, well all that went away right when they privatized it Yeah, that’s why hmm and then cuz air force used to be like oh, you could good housing You could fix your cars. You could go to the auto shop. You could go to self-help store Hell, I mean even airman’s attic was it wasn’t airman’s attic.
It was something much broader But you could go get used furniture. I mean you could kind of live for free if you were living on base you could That’s a good point. I never even thought about it.
And and now that it’s all privatized now Yeah, forget it and they got rid of all those self-help areas. Yeah. Yeah, you’re consistently seeing on Base issues Yeah, what a simple life it used to be right? You’re like, what are you doing? What are you doing this weekend? Oh, I’m going over the auto shop.
I’m gonna You know change some Transmission out and then you want to meet at the bowling alley. Yeah. Fuck.
Yeah, that’s that’s a great day for about $15 toll People will offer you and it made the community tighter because then people I agree Yeah, you’re swapping out the transmission. What if I meet you over there? Not if you need a hand? Oh shit Yeah, yeah, come on now because you can use all that stuff for free. I Think it was for free.
No, they have all the tools. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there were some places You rented the stall or you ran into one with the lift and there were different lift I knew you had to rent that because but yeah anything pneumatic But but basically with the stall all the tools everything like that or you just checked it out And then you get to you get you go fast-forward When all that stuff disappeared and you got guys trying to do stuff out in the dorm parking lot, you know Okay, they’re parked up on milk crates.
You’re like that’s not gonna hold dude You know, yeah, yeah, they can’t afford to take it off base, right? Right, right And it’s all in the effort of saving money in the long run though. I think like that’s as soon as Well that man was like well, we got to save money we try cuss costs we got to do this Cheaper if we go contractor Well, and then there’s a lot earlier life and the rest of that article from what I read and the thing about the quality of life Like I really truly believe that that that It’s kind of worse when we’ve gone privatized I agree resources well and look at the Well, let’s let’s before we get into that look at the difference between Say Buckley which has been trying to build up to a real base, right? But they never really kind of got there And shreever which they and they built dorms And then you look at what like Peterson is all right. Peterson’s a fully established base that had all those amenities.
Yeah a bowling alley and of course You know, I mean and that was like that was like an army base that I was used to Pete was So you could even if you lived on base, it was no big deal because it was big enough It had all these different things that you could do Yeah, I don’t need to go off base But Buckley is like there’s nothing to do especially when they closed down the dining facility and they were all proud of themselves because they’re like Brack neat. We need to cut this much out of the base budget. Oh That’s the dining facility.
It just perfectly matches and That’s why they cut the dining facility because of the brack define. So they try Rebamp that dining facility so many times and make into a club make it Yeah, that’s a zen right so the problem with it though, like I remember 2001 2002 The first sergeants would get together at Peterson. They’ll bring kegs.
They’ll ID people right. I’ll have a DJ I’m where I was fun. People would used to come off base to party on base.
Oh, yeah And you should have seen you should have seen the military Sorry, I mean you’re not that I’m not that much older. Maybe I am that much older But prior to 9-11 Yeah, especially when they had the club system officer club NCO Club and Airman Club and At least as far as the army was You know every once a month on Friday They would have like right arm night where like the commander would take his first sergeant or the platoon leader would take his platoon sergeant And you both will have a beer together at the club system And I Thought that was one of the worst things that they ever did in the military was when they disbanded it and just like well Just make one club Well, not only that big disbanded that you take away the culture of those peer groups Yeah, that’s right. And then you run into the you’re running the asshole out of Vanneberg.
Who’s just happens to be an oh four And like yeah, you’re drunk like me. What are you? Why drinking with you? And then it’s like there’s a stigma where like, okay, who’s gonna seem to drink cuz they’re not gonna show right? Right, right. So everybody feels like I’m being watched.
So why would I even want to be on base? Yeah, we’re one you should probably feel the safest there, too Yeah, yeah as they’re gonna be cops out there waiting for me with I think I was telling you during my interview one of the reasons I joined the Air Force because my At the time Chuck was telling me all these stories like yeah We’ll go to the club and then sometimes the cops will pick us up. They’ll take us home So even I never got to care. Well, I know what you mean.
Yeah, the story is this Airmen took care of airmen soldiers took care of soldiers, you know sailors took care of sailors and now it’s like I Was gonna take care of me if something happens. Well, who’s taking care of the Guardians one? Yeah, I Don’t know I mean you were as a guardian. Did you did you have a cross over? We’re all legacy.
I know we gotta get that pin Jake. We gotta get that damn pin. I got I’m gonna look for it I’m gonna get it Original guardians legacy guardians.
Oh, oh geez. Oh geez We’re we’re veterans of veterans and one who you saw on there Eric. He’s a retired security forces Okay, so he hates the shit out of space and that’s why I love being on here because he’s just he’s every episode He’s like this is so dumb So we make fun of him wrecking cars and Bopping each other in the area.
He called by his proper moniker though defender. They think they want to be called defenders Be called defenders. That’s true Do love air control or something like that air defense So he was a defender he was a defender.
Yeah the air Speaking of that what a segue, right? This story is a couple this story is a couple weeks old, but I ran across and I was like this is badass We gotta bring this guy up, right? Unfortunately, I couldn’t find out how he did it. However from task and purpose Soldier earns quote ace of Syria nickname after drowning six drones So that’s that’s cool, man I mean that little piss all the the real pilots off but F him right? So he’s a He’s the ace of Syria a 10th Mountain Division soldier earned the nickname ace of Syria after shooting down six drones during attacks A forward operating base. He was assigned to defend in the northeastern part of the country of Syria Army specialist Dylan Green Army specialist Dylan Green an infantryman with the 10th Mountain Brigade second brigade combat team Earned the ace moniker after his fifth confirmed kill of a one-way one-way drone Jake of a one-way drone according to an army press release a Green a forward air area air defense and Nighthawk Operator said he had quote no idea what to expect when he got to Syria He had attended an air defense course of Fort Drum, which included practice in real-world simulations with drone equipment I really wish Eric would be on there because he could go on and on about his stinger time, right? But that’s he’s playing golf The Houston Texas native was chosen by his unit leadership to attend Fort Drum’s air defense course despite his only three years in the army And no deployments.
I don’t know if that’s a qualification to go to Fort Drum’s air defense course, but Probably they had like a couple of Air Force slots and they’re like a green We’re gonna send you to with the army and they’re like, okay good Green was assigned to the combined special operations Joint Task Force of Levant According to the army. He was awarded an army achievement medal with combat device in December By commander of US Central Command general Michael Kurila. That’s a CENTCOM commander alright Very cool.
Very cool Soldiers like green assigned to post in Syria have found themselves on the cutting edge of anti-drone fights since last October A drone strike that month resulted in close to 20 cases of TBI among Americans at Al Asad airbase in Iraq And a base on the Jordan Syria border known as tower 22 Another Iraq attack at al-harir air base in herbal Left a pilot with the 82nd airborne critically injured with catastrophic injuries So I searched and I searched I they wouldn’t say how he shot him down Cuz I was what ran the article too. Yeah, was it stinger and I went to dvids I went to some other sites and I was like, how do you shoot him down stingers? You know coyote munitions What was it and and they wouldn’t say so good good good on the op sec, right? I’m glad they didn’t reveal that and they’re like how we’re gonna look for that guy with stingers. He’s an ace We got to take him out with one-way drones so Good on specialist green.
I Thought that was pretty cool. Well That is pretty neat. Oh, so that’s pretty cool.
It’s funny that they gave him a I don’t know why it strikes me. It’s funny But they gave him an achievement medal. I Thought he would get more than it’s like I didn’t know you in the army.
I didn’t know you could have Achieved Air Force Air Force cans that stuff out like candy. Oh Air Force. He would have been our army.
They’re like Fine, that’s the lowest of the metals. That’s true Six times he got the combat designator on there. He did I know that’s impressive and then that’ll be points for his promotion So that’ll be that’ll be great, you know Yeah, but yeah, if he was if he was a space command that would have been an MSM soldier airman or guardian of the year Community service of the year, you know, he would have been he would have been propped up all over saved countless lives single-handedly countless Countless.
I mean he did save a lot of lives. Yeah but I Just wish they would have would have said they How he did it, but I guess it’s good that they didn’t, you know, I mean that’s cool I mean like we talked about it last week Jake about how many of those damn things they shot down And it’s either Iran wasn’t that good at it or they’re really easy to shoot down or both or There’s another clear clearly there’s one of us that’s good, right There’s another skit. We should we should have rope Remember those old like They came in like one package and you had to pull them out and they had like the little balsa wings and he put them in The plastic and then you had the propeller with the rubber band.
Oh, yes, that’s Iran’s drones That one the wind got it shit that one went on the roof damn it Right off the bat almost that the ones where you pull the zip tie and then they fly out those were more advanced those were That’s classic. Those are the real ones. Those are bad as if you had the little like wrist rocket.
Yeah launcher. Yeah Yeah, those are great man Hotshots or something like that. So Let’s see.
Oh, I read that already so good I’m specialist green for shooting all that stuff down and meeting the second commander as an e4 meeting up Was it three star? I Know I’d say four three. I think it’s work on that looks like four star, man. Yeah So oh my yeah, good man.
So Okay, so I mean general We don’t have Eric here and I’m sure he would have liked it and we I wish He would have looked at the stories that I sent him because today’s date in US military history April 22nd 2004 from a guy who was in Arizona to our host who was in Arizona God, it would have been perfect, right? April 22nd 2004 day in history 20 years ago Pat Tillman was killed at age 27 by friendly fire in a firefight in Spira Afghanistan as part of the US Army 2nd Ranger Battalion Tillman story in the military cover-up that followed over the circumstances of his death became national news So what do you think what did that I mean? Do you remember that? I remember that I remember being in and I’ll tell you I remember when he enlisted And for us like man, he’s living his dream. He’s a football player. He paid for ASU got drafted by Arizona the Cardinals.
Yeah, and we’re like man He’s just giving that up But then that tells you the dedication because the events of September 11th and everything to follow on after that is What pushed him to go and listen and it was a closer child. Yeah, he was absolutely I didn’t know it was him and his brother in this state. His brother was a semi-pro baseball player Triple-a like baseball player.
So yeah, so I kind of combined these two articles one is from One is from Yeah, I didn’t put it down. I think it’s military.com and the other ones from history so yeah, I kind of combined these together but Tillman and his younger brother Kevin enlisted after Oh Yeah enlisted after digest or witnessing the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001 Pat Tillman walked away from a 3.6 million dollar contract as a safety for the Arizona Cardinals after starring at Arizona State Tillman became a standout safety playing through playing from 98 through 2001 his decision to list in the army and join the Rangers elite fighting force along with his brother Kevin after the 9-11 attack surprised friends and family Although they weren’t shocked Tillman alerted his inner circle before news broke and urged them to keep their feelings private He gave no interviews and recoiled at the thought of personal hyperbole Resisting efforts to be used as a recruiting tool. They used him as a recruiting tool.
Anyway Yeah, you know You know inadvertently they’re like, oh look at this NFL player giving up his his thing to go in but Jake when you step away, I asked him on if you remember the story. Do you what I should have asked Do you remember when you first heard about oh, it was friendly fire they killed That was hard to digest wasn’t it that was like no No And then they went into and I was like Yeah, I can see how that happened because it was all Was it was it a night or I can’t remember how it was but All the fog of war but then was like they think that was years, right? There was a several years. Oh, it wasn’t Secret for And it was just like I mean cuz they used him as Cuz I remember he was not that they put his picture up and they’re like look what this guy did But it was very well known that This NFL player gave up his career to go in and then you know Like when people ask that well, you serve for God and country, right? the thing on I feel but like it’s like the push of like the biggest sacrifice that you did and that was the That the campaign that he did behind him.
Yeah, it was It’s a volunteer force or volunteer or whatever, right? But right that’s that’s what they were getting behind is like hey look at the sacrifice people make For our freedom and look at the sacrifice that he did with the money. Yeah, his career money Came and he went to Ranger School And he had it and for what I hear he had a degree so he What I heard is that you know, he wanted to be out there I heard that too And they just joined because I was a quickest way in. Yeah, that was the quickest way they could get it The Tillman brothers were assigned to the seventh 75th Ranger Regiment in Fort Lewis, Washington and did tours in Iraq in 2003 followed by Afghanistan the next year So they already did a tour came back Yeah, I didn’t did another one On April 22nd 2004 Pat Tillman was killed by gunfire while on patrol in a rugged area of eastern Afghanistan The army initially maintained that Tillman and his unit were ambushed by enemy forces I remember hearing that I remember that story Tillman was praised as a national hero awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart medals and Posthumously promoted the corporal.
I remember all that too and everybody’s like, we all gotta join. Let’s get over there Weeks later Tillman’s family learned his death had been accidental His parents publicly criticized the army saying they had been intentionally deceived by military officials Who wanted to use their son as a patriotic poster boy? 100% they were a hundred percent, right They believed their son’s death was initially covered up by military officials because it could have undermined support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Oh a hundred percent. Yeah Well, everyone knows we shouldn’t have gone into Iraq.
I mean that was big. Can you imagine the public outcry of that then? Or yeah, yeah would have seriously started asking questions of why are we here? What are we doing? Why are you killing our own? Yeah, and you read enough reports now of Soldiers leaders who have come back and I like we had you know, there was no cohesive Strategic picture of what we were supposed to do out there for 20 years, you know And that’s how they were so frustrated because they’re like, why are we doing this? why are we taking shots out on this outpost because Yeah, so I’m sure Eric would disagree with it, but you know He’s a toe the line guy a criminal investigation was eventually launched into the case and in 2007 the army censured Retired three-star General Philip Kensinger who was in charge of special operations at the time of Tillman’s death For lying to investigators and making other mistakes. They don’t go into what other mistakes were Memorandums of concern were also sent to several brigade.
That’s around file stuffing. That’s nothing Memorandums of concern were also sent to several brigadier generals and lower ranking officers who the army believed acted improperly in the case You know what? You know what the disturbing part about that whole thing is is that I wonder I Wonder obviously it was high up and they’re like we’re not gonna say that he was killed by friendly fire Right commander and the commander is like You’re right. I’m not gonna say he was killed by friendly fire.
I mean, they’re so coerced into that because their careers are on the line So yeah memorandums concern is nothing to slap on a wrist when they’re like, oh, yeah We we got everybody down to you know captain level. I’m like you forced us to say this you son On the good news on the good news his legacy lives on in the Pat Tillman Foundation, which has sent 871 Tillman scholars to graduate to the army Congrats Tillman scholars to eat at Barksdale defact But the Tillman Foundation sends these guys to graduate school 871 of them at a cost of more than 34 million The scholarship is open to military service members veterans and spouses and is funded in part by the annual Pats run in Tempe, Arizona, which drew more than 28,000 participants on April 13th Yeah, it’s too bad we didn’t reach out to Mike Jones maybe he did that Yeah, he loves to run The only one who loved to run was this scars ago he was the only one who loved to run And now you don’t have to right He’s still running I Think I think secretly he just wants an excuse to wear those short shorts Oh, he was a he was a 70s nylon short wearing little silkies You know, I never heard of I mean that that was the Army’s PT uniform for you know half of the 90s, right Well, no, no, no for the early part of the 90s because I used to try to wear like Before they had the tights. I had some like wrestler singlets that hey cut up.
So my my rub together because I’m too short and too thick legged to run in those nylon shorts without Rash central, right, you know Yeah, right right, right even though like they’re so light. They shouldn’t bother you at all Like my thighs rub together all the time So at Vandenberg you couldn’t run during certain fire seasons like it’s a red flag warning all you thick thighs Don’t be friction firing anymore Get a running waiver just for that That’s also why I blew the seams out of most of my flight seats because it was like other these things are These things are reaching 150 degrees temperature every day, you know, they they’re fire retardant But they’re not they can’t withstand. Yeah kind of like that and then not only that but You can start getting that vinegar smell.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, it’s a little bit hot down there I didn’t go down to the data chase that often so We end up we had end up so very awkward episode, but I loved it though. Yeah, it was a good one I Be half of all of us here.
I’d like to thank you for listening today Please like share subscribe and let us know how we get in the comments and make sure next week that you are not late for changeover Gentlemen well one. Thanks for coming on Sergeant retired Touching you’re gonna be senior master sergeant. We took unless you get in the closet See the message Right Here in the more ranks than I ever thought I should I mean Forward one step back that was he’s going away.
He’s going away flag from Set STS Staff text Thanks for listening, we’ll see you next week You