Podcasts about afghan national police

Retired CIA case officer Brian Fairchild discusses his life working in the national security state, the New Cold War, and the anti-American military bloc led by China. His biggest grievance is that the CIA is not up to the task anymore. After the collapse of the USSR they had no primary mission and after 9/11, they focused solely on counter-terrorism and forgot about the rest of the world. He explains the problems with espionage today and discusses his new book "The Hidden: A Griff Harkin Novel". Watch On BitChute / Brighteon / Rokfin / Rumble / Substack Geopolitics & Empire · Brian Fairchild: USA Faces New Anti-American Military Bloc, CIA Not Up to Task Anymore #395 *Support Geopolitics & Empire! Become a Member https://geopoliticsandempire.substack.comDonate https://geopoliticsandempire.com/donationsConsult https://geopoliticsandempire.com/consultation **Visit Our Affiliates & Sponsors! Above Phone https://abovephone.com/?above=geopoliticseasyDNS (use code GEOPOLITICS for 15% off!) https://easydns.comEscape The Technocracy course (15% discount using link) https://escapethetechnocracy.com/geopoliticsPassVult https://passvult.comSociatates Civis (CitizenHR, CitizenIT, CitizenPL) https://societates-civis.comWise Wolf Gold https://www.wolfpack.gold/?ref=geopolitics Websites Brian Fairchild https://brianfairchildbooks.com About Brian Fairchild Brian Fairchild was a career CIA case officer for over nineteen years. He ran clandestine operations under nonofficial (NOC) and official cover in CIA stations in Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe, including an assignment as chief of base in a “denied area”. In 1998, Brian testified before Congress as a subject matter expert on a blue-ribbon counter-terrorism panel. During the decade immediately following the 9/11 attacks, Brian trained over 10,000 FBI, CIA, military personnel, as well as state and local police intelligence officers on the terrorist threat. In 2009, he worked one-on-one with His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al Qasimi, then Crown Prince (now Ruler) of the emirate of Ras al Khaimah, UAE, to create a total-immersion cultural course for US military personnel. From July 2011 to December 2012, Brian served in Kabul, Afghanistan where he mentored Afghan National Police intelligence officers for ISAF's Afghan Intelligence Transition Directorate (AITD). He held a Top-Secret clearance from the Department of Defense until 2016. Brian researches and writes articles on national security, intelligence, and terrorism, and is the author of the new spy thriller, The Hidden. *Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Branden Irvine, Director of Sales and Marketing, brings a strong background driving high-performing teams for top global brands. Known for his collaborative leadership style, Mr. Irvine came to sbLiftOff to grow the company's national presence. Mr. Irvine works directly with business owners across the country contemplating an ownership transfer or acquisition. He has extensive business transformation experience spanning operations, supply chain, sales, marketing and post M&A integration. Before joining sbLiftOff, Mr. Irvine worked at Stanley Black and Decker, Inc. (NYSE: SWK), where he served as a Senior Channel Marketing Manager with responsibility for P&Ls, representing some of the most notable global brands from DEWALT to Craftsman, Irwin, Lenox, and Mac Tools. Mr. Irvine brought award-winning, patented products to market in collaboration with Product Development and Supply Chain teams. At Worthington Industries (NYSE: WOR), his primary responsibility was implementing transformation systems across two different business units. Mr. Irvine, a veteran, was awarded a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan. At sbLiftOff, he is deeply committed to the company's charitable work with veteran entrepreneurs. Mr. Irvine served as an Officer in the United States Army's 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), deployed to Afghanistan as a Platoon Leader of Cavalry Scouts in 2012, and again as an Executive Officer in 2013. In addition to being an Executive Officer, Mr. Irvine was also an Advisor to the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army on Logistics. Mr. Irvine was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, and holds an Army Commendation Medal and a Combat Action Badge. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vets2pm/support

This edition features stories on Afghan Air Force taking on more of the air missions in Afghanistan, Afghan National Army Garrison compound construction site in Farah Province, Air Force Medical Technician teaching combat life saving skills to Afghan National Police, and 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit accomplishments. Hosted by Tech. Sgt. Gene Taylor.

This edition features stories on increases in cross-border attacks between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Manas Air Base being an example of how a Total Force effort works efficiently and how U.S. troops are helping the Afghan National Police distribute the supplies necessary to their mission. Hosted by Tech. Sgt. Gene Taylor.

This edition features stories on a weapons crew re-arming an A-10 aircraft and Afghan National Police learning how to read a military map. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Nathan Huffhines.

This edition features stories on French soldiers training to maintain rifle proficiency and emersion training for new Afghan National Police recruits. Hosted by Tech. Sgt. Gene Taylor.

This edition features stories on graduation day for Afghan soldiers at the Kabul Military Training Center and how the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army are helping civilians through a food for work program. Hosted by Tech. Sgt. Gene Taylor.

This edition features stories about Vice President-Elect, Jodeph Biden's visit to Afghanistan, Afghan National Police and coalition forces detaining eight suspected militants and Army and Marine embedded training teams learning how to call for close air support. Hosted by Sgt. Brian Buckwalter.

This edition features stories about Soldiers and Afghan National Police manning vehicle checkpoints, and Soldiers working with the Afghan National Army performing patrols outside of the wire. Hosted by Senior Airman Jaime Ciciora.

This edition features stories on a new recreation facility that helps service members and provides work for local Afghans, Afghan National Police members training with coaltion forces on life-saving techniques and replacing tents with solid structure living quarters for troops. Hosted by Cpl. Kimberly Crawford.

German civilian police officers working in Badakhshan Province are teaching Afghan National Police tactics that protect local Afghans and may help safe their lives. Produced by Ruth Owen. NMT-A

This edition features a stories about Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force, James Roy, visiting the Nangarhar Provincial Reconstruction Team, and U.S. Soldiers instructing Afghan National Police in weapons fundamentals. Hosted by Senior Airman Jarid Watson. Afghanistan

Afghan National Police in Parwan province undergo immersion training giving them the skills to protect their local community.

Package about the US military police from ISAF training the Afghan National Police in Parwan province the skills to safely run a range and improve their marksmanship in Afghanistan. Produced by Ruth Owen.

This edition features stories on Afghan National Policemen in Sar Howzah, Afghanistan learning skills required to save fellow soldiers' lives and Soldiers from the 554th Military Police Company helping Afghan forces train to take control of their own security. Hosted by Spc. Jennifer Dolsen.

This edition features stories about a radio station that provides entertainment and information for its listeners, and U.S. military engineers surveying a site for a new operations and coordination center for the Afghan National Police and Army. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Ali Rose. Afghanistan

This edition features stories on 568 Afghan National Police lieutenants graduating from a three-year professional training program at the Kabul Police Academy and two brothers, serving in two different branches, both serving at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Hosted by Spc. Jennifer Dolsen.

This edition features stories about Afghan and coalition forces killing ten militants during a fire fight in Nangahar Province, Afghanistan and U.S. Soldiers training Afghan National Police on how to conduct a traffic control point. Produced by Staff Sgt. Joy Meek.

This edition features stories about Afghan National Police getting training in dealing with narcotics, and Oklahoma National Guard's Agriculture Development Team holding a meeting to find more contractors. Afghanistan. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Alli Rose.

This edition features stories about Afghan National Police and U.S. Special Forces setting up a medical outreach in Shoragaz Village, Afghanistan, and how Soldiers, embedded in the Afghan community share the task of keeping their comrades safe, 24 hours a day. Afghanistan. Produced by Senior Airman Jay Hernandez. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Michael Jackson.

This edition features stories on members of the Haqqani Network being killed or captured during an operation by Afghan and coalition forces in Paktiya province and Afghan National Police serving in Panjshir province, Afghanistan taking a class on map-reading skills and using a GPS (global positioning system). Hosted by Air Force Staff Agt. Alana Ingram reports. Includes a soundbite from Gen. Abdul Sabor – Panjshir province Afghan National Army commander.

This edition features stories on International Security Forces capturing Taliban commanders and insurgents in an operation in Paktika province, Afghanistan and U.S. troops in Afghanistan teaching non-lethal hand-to-hand combatives techniques to Afghan National Police in order for them to defend themselves without weapons. Hosted by Petty Officer 1st Class Dustin Diaz.

This edition features a story on Afghan and coalition forces capturing insurgent leaders from a foreign fighting network and a story on one U.S. military policeman working to further the counter-insurgency strategy throughout Afghanistan by empowering Afghan national police officers in Nangarhar province. Includes soundbites from Staff Sgt. Scott Morgan, 64th Military Police Company, squad leader. Produced by Petty Officer 1st Class Dustin Diaz.

This edition features stories on Afghan International Security Forces detaining suspected insurgents during searches for Taliban leaders in two provinces of Afghanistan and New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team and U.S. Soldiers working with the Afghan National Police in a combined effort to provide security and deter insurgency for a local village in Bamyan province, Afghanistan. Includes a soundbite from Army Cpl. Loretta Stalnaker, a military police officer. Hosted by Petty Officer 1st Class Dustin Diaz.

This edition features a story on high Afghan civilian casualties result from increased use of improvised explosive devices and the continuous hunt for, and capture of, the insurgents that are responsible and a story on the Afghan National Police taking on more responsibility in securing the country, specifically vehicle checkpoints, as they grow in personnel and experience. Hosted by Petty Officer 1st Class Dustin Diaz.

This edition features stories about the Farah Provincial Reconstruction Team meeting with local officials to discuss proposed development projects, and Soldiers from the Vermont National Gard, along with the Afghan National Army and Police, finding and destroying a rocket in a local village.. Hosted by Senior Airman Jay Hernandez. Afghanistan

Package about U.S. Soldiers of the 98th Military Police Battalion and Afghan National Police working together to try and bring peace and stability to District 8 of Kandahar City, Afghanistan where there is currently a high volume of insurgent activity. Produced by Josh Fortune. Includes soundbites from Lt. Casey Sorensen-Kindt and Sgt. Eric Edwards, both of the 98th Military Police Battalion.

This edition features stories on how Afghan and Coalition forces are in tireless pursuit of Insurgents throughout Afghanistan and Afghanistan's Independence Day was August 19th. Afghan National Police from Wardak Province, celebrated this year's anniversary by getting behind the wheel to help take control of their region. Sound bites include Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Woods and Lt. Col. David Sink. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Alana Ingram.

This edition features stories on the increasing violence of insurgents to the civilians of southern Afghanistan and Afghan National Police and Army along with coalition forces teaching local children about the government and it's benefits. Hosted by Senior Airman Barbara Patton.

This edition features stories on the Afghan National Police and the International Security Assistance Force discovered an Improvised Explosive Device in a soccer field near Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. The 4th of July is a time to celebrate American's independence and remember those who served in the Military before us. One Airman decided to honor his Fathers service with a special "Flag Flight". Hosted by Petty Officer 1st Class Dustin Diaz.

This edition features stories on combined Afghan International Security Forces disrupting a suicide bombing ring in Paktia province and pursuing a Taliban leader in Zabul province, Afghanistan and U.S. and New Zealand medics teaching Afghan National Police first aid to further their training. Includes a soundbite from Spc. Christina Nisun, U.S. medic. Hosted by Marine Cpl. Bryan Lett.

This edition features stories on eight Taliban insurgents turning themselves in to Afghan National Security forces in Puzaieshan and Afghanistan police learning how to react to indirect fire. Produced by Senior Airman Jay Hernandez

This edition features stories about Afghan National Police making the first step in improving their capabilities in Lagham province, Afghanistan and Afghan soldiers taking the lead on air drop operations after weeks of on the job training Produced by Petty Officer 1st Class Dustin Diaz.

The UN and international human rights groups have stated that insurgent groups have used children in combat, including as suicide bombers. Some of these children, pardoned by President Karzai, speak about their experiences. Meanwhile, the Afghan National Police are working with UNAMA on a campaign to increase awareness about underage recruitment.

Package about how the Czech soldiers have an ongoing mission of training 50 cadets at Logar Police Academy, who will become Afghan national police officers, Logar Afghanistan. Produced by Alessandro Pavone. Also available in High Definition.

Report of the Afghan National Police's response to the Sept. 13-14 attack in Kabul. Several Afghan policemen died while confronting the terrorists during the attack of Sept. 13-14 in Kabul. One ANP member, Abdul Same, held a suicide bomber to his own body in order to dampen the blast, losing his life but preventing all civilian casualties in the area. Produced by Jeff Holden. This version includes the reporter voiceover.

Sgt. Monica Davis is a cook for the 1st Batallion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team,Rakkasan . She is responsible for supervising local Afghans as they prepare meals for Soldiers. Produced by Sgt. Ann Cantu. Also available in high definition.

This edition features stories about the Sergeant Major of the Army, presence patrols, Afghan battlefield training, Afghan National Police and a medevac crew receiving recognition. Also available in high definition

In this episode of the Radio Resistance Podcast, we are joined by our special guest Mina Sharif. We discussed the discourse amongst Afghanistan's diaspora on social media, and how we can stand together as a community and heal as nation.Mina Sharif was born in Afghanistan. When she was less than a year old, her family was forced to flee and eventually immigrated to Canada where she was raised. Mina was brought up in Toronto Canada. In early 2005, she travelled back to Afghanistan as a volunteer radio trainer working with women managed radio stations in various provinces across the country. Mina Sharif has had a variety of experiences in Afghanistan including radio training for street children in a number of cities, developing and disseminating campaigns in support of the Afghan government (particularly the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police), authoring the IOM “Guide to Afghanistan,” and leading a literacy training project for the ANA and ANP. Mina Sharif was the Executive Producer for seasons two and three of Baghch-e-Simsim, the Afghan version of Sesame Street. She was also the Executive Producer of a TV and radio series highlighting the accomplishments of Afghan children throughout the country called "Voice of Afghan Youth". She is currently part of the team at Rumi Consultancy. On the side, Mina Sharif is involved in numerous volunteer initiatives in support of Afghan youth and directs a girls mentorship program called "Sisters 4 Sisters".Link to donate to Compassion First: https://compassionfirstconsulting.com/volunteer-aid-workSupport the show

Before his NFL career, Alejandro Villanueva was a rifle platoon leader in the 10th Mountain Division. During a deployment to an especially restive sector near Kandahar, Afghanistan, his unit faced heightened security challenges due to a prison break that freed a large number of Taliban fighters. But Villanueva also had to contend with a unique dilemma: after a member of the Afghan National Police accompanying his platoon opened fire on an approaching motorcycle, they lost sight of the driver. The potential that this was a civilian casualty led Villanueva's brigade headquarters to task his soldiers with determining what happened. The task was made much more challenging when Taliban radio communications indicating they were planning to attack the Americans along one of the most dangerous wadis in the area: Route Mariners. He joins this episode to share the story.

Kevin is joined by co-host of the series, Donald Vandergriff, author of Adopting Mission Command. Together, they begin a conversation with Joe Labarbera. Joe served in Afghanistan 2003-2004 as a staff officer, 2009-2010 as an Advisor to the Afghan National Police, and 2013-2014 as an Infantry Battalion Operations Officer. Joe currently works as a Sussex County Farmer. The topic is about culture. What is culture? How does it impact operations? Check out the our conversation!

Photo: Afghan Local Police, Afghan National Police and coalition special operations forces members approached a local farmer during a foot patrol in Nawbahar district, Zabul province, Afghanistan, April 13. Twenty-one Weeks after the Tragedy: #ClassicLongWarJournal @BillRoggio and @ThomasJoscelyn #UNBOUND the complete, forty-minute interview, January 10, 2023. @LongWarJournal.

This week on Scuttlebutt we continue our reflection on Afghanistan with Will Schick. Mr. Schick, who served as a Police Advisor for Afghan National Police, discusses the complexity of telling the story of the war, its complicated legacy, and more, in addition to talking about growing up in an immigrant family, his transition into becoming a The post Scuttlebutt 4: Will Schick appeared first on MCA.

This week on Scuttlebutt we continue our reflection on Afghanistan with Will Schick. Mr. Schick, who served as a Police Advisor for Afghan National Police, discusses the complexity of telling the story of the war, its complicated legacy, and more, in addition to talking about growing up in an immigrant family, his transition into becoming a The post Scuttlebutt 4: Will Schick appeared first on MCA.

The war in Afghanistan is over. In this episode, we document how and why the Biden administration finally admitted defeat in our 20 year attempt to create a new government in Afghanistan and we take a hard look at the lessons we need to learn. Afghanistan is a country in a far away land, but there are disturbing similarities between the Afghanistan government that just collapsed and our own. We'd be wise not to ignore them. Executive Producer: Rachel Passer Executive Producer: Anonymous  Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD236: January 6: The Capitol Riot CD218: Minerals are the New Oil CD210: The Afghanistan War CD124: The Costs of For-Profit War How We Got Here Craig Whitlock. The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War. Simon and Schuster, 2021. Patrick Tucker. August 18, 2021. “Trump's Pledge to Exit Afghanistan Was a Ruse, His Final SecDef Says.” Defense One. Eugene Kiely and Robert Farley. August 17, 2021. “Timeline of U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan.” FactCheck.org. Eric Schmitt and Jennifer Steinhauer. July 30, 2021. “Afghan Visa Applicants Arrive in U.S. After Years of Waiting.” The New York Times. Craig Whitlock, Leslie Shapiro and Armand Emamdjomeh. December 9, 2019. “The Afghanistan Papers: A secret history of the war.” The Washington Post. Mark Landler and James Risen. July 25, 2017. “Trump Finds Reason for the U.S. to Remain in Afghanistan: Minerals.” The New York Times. John F. Harris. October 15, 2001. “Bush Rejects Taliban Offer On Bin Laden ” Washington Post. The Evacuation: Those Left Behind William Mauldin. September 2, 2021. “Afghanistan Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Staff Left Behind.” Wall Street Journal. Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Annie Karni. August 29, 2021. “Series of U.S. Actions Left Afghan Allies Frantic, Stranded and Eager to Get Out.” The York Times. Sami Sadat. August 25, 2021. “I Commanded Afghan Troops This Year. We Were Betrayed.” The New York Times. Marjorie Censer. August 18, 2021. “US contractors rush to get former employees out of Afghanistan.” Defense News. Siobhan Hughes. August 18, 2021. “Afghanistan Veterans in Congress Trying to Prevent ‘a Death Warrant' for Helping America.” Wall Street Journal. Alex Sanz and Tammy Webber. August 18, 2021. “US friends try to rescue brother in arms in Afghanistan.” AP News. Seth Moulton. June 04, 2021. "Moulton, Bipartisan Honoring Our Promises Working Group to White House: Evacuate our Afghan Partners.” Contractors in Afghanistan Matt Taibbi. August 18, 2021. “We Failed Afghanistan, Not the Other Way Around.” TK News by Matt Taibbi on Substack. Jack Detsch. August 16, 2021. “Departure of Private Contractors Was a Turning Point in Afghan Military's Collapse.” Foreign Policy. Matt Stoller. July 15, 2021. “‘A Real S*** Show': Soldiers Angrily Speak Out about Being Blocked from Repairing Equipment by Contractors.” BIG by Matt Stoller. Lynzy Billing. May 12, 2021. “The U.S. Is Leaving Afghanistan? Tell That to the Contractors.” New York Magazine. Oren Liebermann. March 29, 2021. “Pentagon could open itself to costly litigation from contractors if US pulls out of Afghanistan this year.” CNN. Lucas Kunce and Elle Ekman. September 15, 2019. “Comment Submitted by Major Lucas Kunce and Captain Elle Ekman.” [Regulations.gov(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulations.gov). Aaron Mehta. Oct 25, 2016. “30 Years: William Perry — Reshaping the Industry.” Defense News. Jared Serbu. August 22, 2016. “DoD now awarding more than half its contract spending without competitive bids.” Federal News Network. 41 U.S. Code § 3307 - Preference for commercial products and commercial services. Money: Lost and Gained David Moore. August 23, 2021. “Lawmakers Benefit From Booming Defense Stocks.” Sludge. Lee Fang. August 20, 2021. “Congressman Seeking to Relaunch Afghan War Made Millions in Defense Contracting.” The Intercept. Anna Massoglia and Julia Forrest. August 20, 2021. “Defense contractors spent big in Afghanistan before the U.S. left and the Taliban took control.” OpenSecrets.org. Stephen Losey. April 16, 2021. “The Bill for the Afghanistan War Is $2.26 Trillion, and Still Rising.” Military.com. Eli Clifton. February 16, 2021. “Weapons Biz Bankrolls Experts Pushing to Keep U.S. Troops in Afghanistan.” Daily Beast. Open Secrets. 2021. Defense: Lobbying, 2021. Open Secrets. 2021. Defense: Money to Congress. Laws S.1790 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 Sponsor: Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) Status: Became Public Law No: 116-92 on December 20, 2019 H.R. 3237: Emergency Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 Sponsor: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) Status: Signed into law, 2021 May 20 House Vote Breakdown Congressional Budget Office Score Law Outline TITLE IV: BILATERAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE GENERAL PROVISIONS EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF THE AFGHAN SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM Sec. 401: Amends the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 to expand eligibility to include Afghans who worked not only for the US Government for more than 1 year but also our allies as an off-base interpreter or if they performed "activities for United States military stationed at International Security Assistance Force (or any successor name for such Force). Increases the number of Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) to Afghan partners by 8,000, for a total of 34,500 allocated since December 19, 2014. Sec. 402: Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security and Secretary of state to jointly waive for 1 year (maximum 2 years with an extension) the requirement that Afghan partners eligible for SIVs get a medical exam before they can receive their visa. The Secretary of Homeland Security has to create a process to make sure Afghan SIV holders get a medical exam within 30 days of entry into the United States. Sec. 403: Allows the surviving spouse or child or employee of the United States Government abroad to be eligible for immigration into the United States if the employee worked for our government for at least 15 years or was killed in the line of duty. It also expands entry permissions for Afghan SIV applicants in addition to those who have already been approved. This is retroactive to June 30, 2021. Policies for Visa Processing: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Manual, Chapter 9: Certain Afghan Nationals U.S Department of State -- Bureau of Consular Affairs. “Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans - Who Were Employed by/on Behalf of the U.S. Government.” Audio Sources Gen. Mark Milley: "There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days." August 18, 2021 General Mark Milley: The time frame of rapid collapse that was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months, and even years following our departure, there was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days. Central Command submitted a variety of plans that were briefed and approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the President. These plans were coordinated, synchronized and rehearsed to deal with these various scenarios. One of those contingencies is what we are executing right now. As I said before, there's plenty of time to do AARs(After Action Reviews) and key lessons learned and to delve into these questions with great detail. But right now is not that time. Right now, we have to focus on this mission, because we have soldiers at risk. And we also have American citizens and Afghans who supported us for 20 years also at risk. This is personal and we're going to get them out. President Biden on Afghanistan Withdrawal Transcript July 8, 2021 Sound Clips 01:30 President Biden: When I announced our drawdown in April, I said we would be out by September, and we're on track to meet that target. Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31. The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart 3:40 President Biden: Together with our NATO allies and partners, we have trained and equipped nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military, the Afghan national security force, and many beyond that are no longer serving. Add to that hundreds of thousands more Afghan national defense and security forces trained over the last two decades. 04:04 President Biden: We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools, let me emphasize, all the tools -- training, equipment -- of any modern military. We provided advanced weaponry, and we're going to continue to provide funding and equipment and we'll ensure they have the capacity to maintain their Air Force. 5:54 President Biden: We're also going to continue to make sure that we take on Afghan nationals who worked side by side with US forces, including interpreters and translators. Since we're no longer going to have military there after this, we're not going to need them and they'll have no jobs. We're [sic] also going to be vital to our efforts. they've been very vital, and so their families are not exposed to danger as well. We've already dramatically accelerated the procedure time for Special Immigrant Visas to bring them to the United States. Since I was inaugurated on January 20, we've already approved 2,500 Special Immigrant Visas to come to the United States. Up to now, fewer than half have exercised the right to do that. Half have gotten on aircraft and come commercial flights and come and other half believe they want to stay, at least thus far. We're working closely with Congress to change the authorization legislation so that we can streamline the process of approving those visas. And those who have stood up for the operation to physically relocate 1000s of Afghans and their families before the US military mission concludes so that, if they choose, they can wait safely outside of Afghanistan, while their US visas are being processed. 8:13 President Biden: For those who have argued that we should stay just six more months, or just one more year, I asked them to consider the lessons of recent history. In 2011, the NATO allies and partners agreed that we would end our combat mission in 2014. In 2014, some argued one more year. So we kept fighting. We kept taking casualties. In 2015, the same, and on and on. Nearly 20 years of experience has shown us that the current security situation only confirms that just one more year of fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution, but a recipe for being there indefinitely. It's up to the Afghans to make the decision about the future of their country. Others are more direct. Their argument is that we should stay with the Afghans and Afghanistan indefinitely. In doing so they point to the fact that we we have not taken losses in this last year. So they claim that the cost of just maintaining the status quo is minimal. 9:19 President Biden: But that ignores the reality, and the facts that already presented on the ground in Afghanistan when I took office. The Taliban is at its strongest militarily since 2001. The number of US forces in Afghanistan had been reduced to a bare minimum. And the United States and the last administration made an agreement that they have to with the Taliban remove all our forces by May 1 of this year. That's what I inherited. That agreement was the reason the Taliban had ceased major attacks against US forces. 9:55 President Biden: If in April, I had instead announced that the United States was going to go back on that agreement, made by the last administration, the United States and allied forces will remain in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future, the Taliban would have again begun to target our forces. The status quo was not an option. Staying would have meant US troops taking casualties, American men and women back in the middle of a civil war, and we would run the risk of having to send more troops back in Afghanistan to defend our remaining troops. Once that agreement with the Taliban had been made, staying with a bare minimum force was no longer possible. 10:34 President Biden: So let me ask those who want us to stay: how many more? How many 1000s more Americans' daughters and sons are you willing to risk? How long would you have them stay? Already we have members of our military whose parents fought in Afghanistan 20 years ago. Would you send their children and their grandchildren as well? Would you send your own son or daughter? After 20 years, a trillion dollars spent training and equipping hundreds of 1000s of Afghan National Security and Defence Forces. 2,448 Americans killed, 20,722 more wounded, and untold 1000s coming home with unseen trauma to their mental health. I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome. 11:51 President Biden: Today the terrorist threat has metastasized beyond Afghanistan. So, we are repositioning our resources and adapting our counterterrorism posture to meet the threats where they are now: significantly higher in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. 12:07 President Biden: But make no mistake, our military and intelligence leaders are confident they have the capabilities to protect the homeland and our interests from any resurgent terrorist challenge emerging or emanating from Afghanistan. We're developing a counterterrorism over-the-horizon capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed at any direct threat to the United States in the region and act quickly and decisively if needed. 12:38 President Biden: We also need to focus on shoring up America's core strengths to meet the strategic competition competition with China and other nations that is really going to determine our future. 14:58 Reporter: Is the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable? President Biden: No. It is not. Because you have the Afghan troops, 300,000. Well equipped, as well equipped as any army in the world, and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban. It is not inevitable. 15:45 President Biden: Do I trust the Taliban? No, but I trust the capacity of the Afghan military who is better trained, better equipped, and more competent in terms of conducting war. 18:07 Reporter: Your own intelligence community has assessed that the Afghan government will likely collapse President Biden: That is not true 18:53 President Biden: And I want to make clear what I made clear to Ghani, that we are not going to walk away and not sustain their ability to maintain that force. We are. We're going to also work to make sure we help them in terms of everything from food necessities and other things in the region. But there is not a conclusion that in fact, they cannot defeat the Taliban. I believe the only way there's going to be -- this is now Joe Biden, not the intelligence community -- the only way there's only going to be peace and secure in Afghanistan, is that they work out a modus vivendi with the Taliban, and they make a judgement as to how they can make peace. And the likelihood there's going to be one unified government in Afghanistan, controlling the whole country is highly unlikely. 21:30 Reporter: Mr. President, how serious was the corruption among the Afghanistan government to this mission failing there? President Biden: First of all, the mission hasn't failed yet. 22:00 President Biden: There were going to be negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan national security forces, and the Afghan government that didn't come to fruition. So the question now is where do they go from here? The jury is still out, but the likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. 23:20 Reporter: Mr. President, "speed is safety," as you just said in your remarks. Are you satisfied with the timeline of relocating Afghan nationals? Is it happening quickly enough to your satisfaction if it may not happen until next month at the end? President Biden: It has already happened, there have already been people, about 1000 people have gotten on aircraft and come to the United States already on commercial aircraft. So as I said, there's over 2500 people, that as from January to now, have have gotten those visas and only half decided that they wanted to leave. The point is that I think the whole process has to be speeded up -- period -- in terms of being able to get these visas. Reporter: Why can't the US evacuate these Afghan translators to the United States to await their visa processing as some immigrants of the southern border have been allowed to? President Biden: Because the law doesn't allow that to happen. And that's why we're asking the Congress to consider changing the law. President Biden Remarks on Afghanistan Strategy Transcript April 14, 2021 Sound Clips 00:38 President Biden: I'm speaking to you today from the Roosevelt -- the Treaty room in the White House -- the same spot where in October of 2001, President George W. Bush informed our nation that the United States military had begun strikes on terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. It was just weeks, just weeks after the terrorist attack on our nation that killed 2,977 innocent souls, that turned Lower Manhattan into a disaster area, destroyed parts of the Pentagon and made hallowed ground in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and sparked an American promise that we would never forget. We went to Afghanistan in 2001, to root out al Qaeda to prevent future terrorist attacks against the United States planned from Afghanistan. Our objective was clear, the cause was just, our NATO allies and partners rallied beside us. And I supported that military action along with the overwhelming majority of the members of Congress. More than seven years later, in 2008 weeks before we swore the oath of office -- President Obama and I were about to swear -- President Obama asked me to travel to Afghanistan and report back on the state of the war in Afghanistan. I flew to Afghanistan to the Kunar Valley, a rugged, mountainous region on the border of Pakistan. What I saw on that trip reinforced my conviction that only the Afghans have the right and responsibility to lead their country. And that more and endless American military force could not create or sustain a durable Afghan Government. I believed that our presence in Afghanistan should be focused on the reason we went in the first place: to ensure Afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again. We did that, we accomplished that objective. I said, along with others, we would follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell if need be. That's exactly what we did. And we got him. It took us close to 10 years to put President Obama's commitment into form. And that's exactly what happened Osama bin Laden was gone. That was 10 years ago. Think about that. We delivered justice to Bin Laden a decade ago. And we've stayed in Afghanistan for a decade since. Since then, our reasons for remaining in Afghanistan have become increasingly unclear, even as the terrorist threat that we went to fight evolved. Over the past 20 years, the threat has become more dispersed, metastasizing around the globe. Al Shabaab in Somalia, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, on Al Nusra in Syria, ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates in multiple countries in Africa and Asia. With the terror threat now in many places, keeping 1000s of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country at a cost of billions each year makes little sense to me and our leaders. We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdraw and expecting a different result. I'm now the fourth United States President to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth. After consulting closely with our allies and partners, with our military leaders and intelligence personnel, with our diplomats and our development experts, with the Congress and the Vice President, as well as with Mr. Ghani and many others around the world. I concluded that it's time to end America's longest war. It's time for American troops to come home. 5:01 President Biden: When I came to office, I inherited a diplomatic agreement, duly negotiated between the government of the United States and the Taliban, that all US forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1 2021, just three months after my inauguration. That's what we inherited. That commitment is perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself, but it was an agreement made by the United States government. And that means something. So in keeping with that agreement, and with our national interest, the United States will begin our final withdrawal beginning on May 1 of this year. 8:11 President Biden: You all know that less than 1% of Americans serve in our Armed Forces. The remaining 99%, we owe them. We owe them. They've never backed down from a single mission that we've asked of them. I've witnessed their bravery firsthand during my visits to Afghanistan. They've never wavered in their resolve. They paid a tremendous price on our behalf and they have the thanks of a grateful nation. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) High-Risk List Center for Strategic and International Studies Transcript March 10, 2021 Speaker: John Sopko - Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Sound Clips 7:40 John Sopko: But right now, that state is under threat. In the wake of the February 2020 withdrawal agreement, all is not well. Compromise appears in short supply on either side. Taliban attacks have actually increased since the agreement was signed. Assassination of prominent officials, activists, journalists, aid workers and others have also increased, including an unsuccessful attack on one of the female members of the peace negotiating team. And the Taliban offensive on Kandahar city last October, as peace negotiations were ongoing, may well have succeeded, were it not for U.S. air support. Peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have achieved little for Afghanistan so far, and only time will tell as to whether the new Biden administration initiative will bear fruit. And the Afghan people's fears for its own government survival are exacerbated by the knowledge of how dependent their country is on foreign military and financial support. 12:56 John Sopko: Another equally serious threat to Afghanistan's stability has also largely been ignored as we focus on the boots on the ground in Afghanistan. And that is the provision of last year's U.S.-Taliban agreement that stipulates that in addition to the departure of U.S. and coalition troops, or non-diplomatic civilian personnel: private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting service personnel also must leave the country by May 1. Should this come to passSIGAR and many others believe this may be more devastating to the effectiveness of the Afghan security forces than the withdrawal of our remaining troops. Why is that? Because the Afghan government relies heavily on these foreign contractors and trainers to function. In the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 there are over 18,000 Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan, including 6000 Americans, and 7,000 3rd country nationals, 40% of whom are responsible for logistics, maintenance, or training tasks. Now, it is well known that the Afghan security forces need these contractors to maintain their equipment, manage supply chains, and train their military and police to operate the advanced equipment that we have purchased for them. For example, as of December, the Afghan National Army was completing just under 20% of its own maintenance work orders, well below the goal of 80% that was set and the 51% that they did in 2018. So that's actually going down. The Afghan National Police were just as bad if not worse, undertaking only 12% of their own maintenance work against a target of 35% and less than the 16% that we reported in our 2019 high risk list. Additionally, and more troubling. The Department of Defense does train, advise and assist command air, or commonly called TAC air recently reported that since late 2019, they have reduced their personnel in Afghanistan by 94%, and that the military drawdown now requires near total use of contract support to maintain the Afghan Air fleet. They assess that quote “further drawdown in the associated closure basis will effectively end all in country aviation training contracts in Afghanistan.” Again, why is this significant? Why do we view this as a high risk? Namely because contractors currently provide 100% of the maintenance for the Afghan Air Force, UAE 60 helicopters and CE 130 cargo aircraft and a significant portion of Afghans Light Combat Support aircraft. TAC air this January gave a bleak assessment, namely, that no Afghan airframe can be sustained as combat effective for more than a few months in the absence of contractor support. 17:51 John Sopko: Continued funding for U.S. reconstruction programs aimed at promoting economic development, rule of law, respect for human rights, good governance and security for the Afghan people may be more significant, because it may be the primary lever left for the US and other donors to influence that country. It appears that even the Taliban understand Afghanistan's dire need for foreign assistance. Because, as one of the few commitments that the US had to make last year was, “to seek economic cooperation for reconstruction, with the new post settlement, Afghan Islamic government.” Now how much the donor community wishes to stay involved will of course depend on what that government looks like and how it behaves. Numerous officials, including then Secretary of State Pompeo and Ambassador Halley, have stated that the US will be able to advance its human rights goals, including the rights of women and girls with the Taliban by leveraging or conditioning this much needed financial assistance. But unfortunately, as SIGAR has long reported, even when conditionality involved only dealing with the Afghan government, donors do not have a stellar record of successfully utilizing that conditionality to influence Afghan behavior. 27:19 John Sopko: Today our report suggests the donor community should realize the Afghan government is focused on a single goal, its survival. Afghanistan is more dependent on international support than ever before. It may not be an overstatement that if foreign assistance is withdrawn and peace negotiations fail, Taliban forces could be at the gates of Kabul in short order. Hearing: A PATHWAY FOR PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN: EXAMINING THE FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE AFGHANISTAN STUDY GROUP House Committee on Oversight and Reform: Subcommittee on National Security February 19, 2021 Testimony was heard from the following Afghanistan Study Group officials: Kelly A. Ayotte, Co-Chair; News Corp Board of Directors since April 2017 BAE Systems Board of Directors since June 2017 Blackstone Board of Directors Boston Properties Board of Directors Caterpillar Board of Directors Board of Advisors at Cirtronics General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. (Retired), Co-Chair Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Obama and Trump presidencies. Lockheed Martin Board of Directors since February 2020 Nancy Lindborg, Co-Chair President and CEO of the David Lucile Packard Foundation Former President and CEO of the US Institute for Peace Former Assistant Administrator for the bureau for democracy conflict and humanitarian assistance at USAID During the mid-Obama years. Sound Clips 3:13 Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA): I'd also like to take a moment to thank the nonpartisan US Institute of Peace for the support and expertise they provided to the study group during the course of its work. 3:23 Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA): In the fiscal year 2020 omnibus bill Congress led by Senator Graham Senator Patrick Leahy and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee of state foreign ops and related programs. They tasked the independent and bipartisan Afghanistan study group to quote, consider the implications of a peace settlement or the failure to reach a settlement on US policy, resources and commitments in Afghanistan. After nearly nine months of review and consultation with current and former US and Afghan government officials, allies and partners and other key stakeholders, the Afghanistan study group issued its final report earlier this month. 15:12 Kelly Ayotte: We recommend that US troops remain beyond may 1. We believe a precipitous withdrawal of US and international troops in May, would be catastrophic for Afghanistan, leading to civil war, and allow the reconstitution of terror groups which threaten the United States within an 18 to 36 month period. 15:41 Kelly Ayotte: Let me be clear, although we recommend that our troops remain beyond may 1, we propose a new approach toward Afghanistan, which aligns our policies, practices and messaging across the United States government to support the Afghan peace process, rather than prosecute a war. Our troops would remain not to fight a forever war, but to guarantee the conditions for a successful peace process and to protect our national security interests to ensure that Afghanistan does not become a haven again, for terrorists who threaten the United States of America. 37:15 General Joseph F. Dunford: Do we need to increase forces if the Taliban don't accept an extension past the first of May, and if they then would re initiate attacks against US forces? and Chairman, we heard exactly what you heard. In the fall. What we were told by commanders on the ground in the department of fence was that 4500 US forces, in addition to the NATO forces that are there was the minimum level to address both the mission as well as protection of our forces in the context of the conditions that existed in the fall in as you've highlighted, those conditions have only gotten worse since the fall so in in our judgment 2500 would not be adequate. Should the Taliban re initiate attacks against the United States Hearing: Examining the Trump Administration's Afghanistan Strategy House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on National Security January 28, 2020 Witness: John Sopko - Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) Sound Clips 48:54 John Sopko: We've almost created a system that forces people in the government to give happy talk success stories because they're over there on very short rotations. They want to show success. The whole system is almost geared to give you, and it goes up the chain of command, all the way to the President sometimes. He gets bad information from people out in the field because somebody on a nine month rotation, he has to show success, and that goes up. 54:24 John Sopko: Maybe incentivize honesty. And one of the proposals I gave at that time,be cause I was asked by the staff to come up with proposals, is put the same requirement on the government that we impose on publicly traded corporations. Publicly traded corporations have to tell the truth. Otherwise the SEC will indict the people involved. They have to report when there's a significant event. So put that onus, call it The Truth in Government Act if you want, that you in the administration are duty bound by statute to alert Congress to significant events that could directly negatively impact a program or process. So incentivize honesty. 1:10:25 John Sopko: Over 70% of the Afghan budget comes from the United States and the donors. If that money ended, I have said before and I will stand by it, then the Afghan government will probably collapse. Wartime Contracting Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs September 21, 2011 Witnesses: Charles Tiefer: Commissioner on the Commission on Wartime Contracting Clark Kent Ervin: Commissioner on the Commission on Wartime Contracting Sound Clips 1:11:30 Charles Tiefer: Our private security in Afghanistan appears to be a major source of payoffs to the Taliban. Our report has the first official statement that it's the second-largest source of money for the Taliban. Sen. Carl Levin: After drugs. Charles Tiefer: After drugs, that's right. 1:25:18 Clark Kent Ervin: It's critical that the government have a choice, and that means that there needs to be at least a small and expandable, organic capacity on the part of these three agencies to perform missions themselves, so the next time there's a contingency, the government has a choice between going with contractors and going in-house and the determination can be made whether it's more effective to do it either way, whether it's cheaper to do it either way. As we said at the inception, right now the government doesn't have an option. Contractors are the default option because they're the only option. President George W. Bush announces U.S. Military Strikes on Afghanistan October 7, 2001 President George W. Bush: Good afternoon. On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against Al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime. More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and specific demands: close terrorist training camps, hand over leaders of the Al-Qaeda network, and return all foreign nationals including American citizens unjustly detained in your country. None of these demands were met and now the Taliban will pay a price by destroying camps and disrupting communications. We will make it more difficult for the terror network to train new recruits and coordinate their evil plans. ** International Campaign Against Terrorism Senate Foreign Relations Committee October 25, 2001 Witness: Colin Powell: Secretary of State Sound Clip 27:00 Colin Powell: Our work in Afghanistan though, is not just of a military nature. We recognize that when the Al Qaeda organization has been destroyed in Afghanistan, and as we continue to try to destroy it in all the nations in which it exists around the world, and when the Taliban regime has gone to its final reward, we need to put in place a new government in Afghanistan, one that represents all the people of Afghanistan and one that is not dominated by any single powerful neighbor, but instead is dominated by the will of the people of Afghanistan. Executive Producer Recommendations Elect Stephanie Gallardo 2022 Krystal Kyle and Friends. August 21, 2021. “Episode 35 Audio with Matthew Hoh.” Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Ambassador Ali Jalali served as Afghanistan's Interior Minister from 2003 to 2005, overseeing the creation of a trained force of 50,000 Afghan National Police and 12,000 border police to work effectively in counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, and criminal investigation. He also served as Afghan Ambassador to Germany and Designated Special Envoy to NATO. He is a Professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, DC. His most recent book is a military history of Afghanistan from the Great Game to the Global War on Terror. A former official in the Afghan Army, Col. Jalali served as a top military planner with the Afghan resistance after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

From 2001 to 2014 Canada was engaged in it's longest war ever as it joined an international coalition to destroy the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban regime that sheltered it in Afghanistan.All told, more than 40,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces served in the 12-year campaign that claimed the lives of 158 Canadian soldiers and 7 civilians.What you may not know though, is that throughout that period, over 300 Canadian police officers also saw duty in Afghanistan. Their mission, to help train, mentor and build the capacity of the Afghan National Police.My guest this episode was the deputy commander of the Canadian police mission from 2011 – 2012 and author of the book Cops in Kabul: A Newfoundland Peacekeeper in Afghanistan.  Retired RCMP Superintendent William Malone shares his experiences leading the civilian policing mission and the impact the recent events in Afghanistan have had on him and his colleagues. If you're interested in picking up a copy of William Malone's book, check out the link above. Fifty percent of the proceeds go to Wounded Warriors Canada, a national mental health service provider utilizing clinical best practices and evidence-based care to create an environment of compassion, resiliency and hope for Canada's Veterans, First Responders and their families. Shimona & Associates Mortgage Consulting Mortgage Broker

In this episode, I am speaking to Air Force Lt. Col. Jacob English, a 15-year active-duty officer who is currently Deputy Chief of the Security Cooperation Organization at the United States Embassy in San Salvador, El Salvador. He advises and coordinates training and equipment programs with senior leaders from El Salvador's military. Among other assignments to include time at the Pentagon and working as an avionics engineer, he deployed to Afghanistan where he managed the purchase of ground wheeled vehicles for the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.  He also led a pathfinder project that laid the groundwork for total asset visibility in the Air Force supply chain and then went on to get a Master's degree in Systems Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Prior to joining the Air Force, he spent two years working as a missionary in Costa Rica and is a fluent Spanish speaker. He solves tough problems, and I know you'll enjoy listening to his story.

Read the transcript: Is There a New Path to Peace in Afghanistan? – Westminster Institute (westminster-institute.org) Ambassador Ali Jalali served as Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Germany and designated Special Envoy to NATO. He served as Interior Minister from 2003-2005, overseeing the creation of a trained force of 50,000 Afghan National Police and 12,000 Border Police to work effectively in counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, and criminal investigation. He recently served as a Professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at National Defense University in Washington D.C. His most recent book is A Military History of Afghanistan from the Great Game to the Global War on Terror (2017). A former officer in the Afghan Army, Col. Jalali served as a top military planner with the Afghan Resistance (Mujahedin) following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He graduated from high command and staff colleges in Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.A published writer in three languages (English, Pashto, Dari/Farsi), Ali A. Jalali is the author of numerous books and articles on political, military and security issues in Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia. He is the author of The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War (2010).

Thanks for joining us for today's 21 Gun Podcast! This week we talk about upcoming IW announcements and recap the week's veteran related stories. Special Guest: LtCol Mitch “Taco” Bell joined the Marine Corps in 1986 and was winged a Naval Aviator in Jan of 1991. He flew the KC-130 in Cherry Point, NC, Okinawa Japan and Fort Worth TX in the Reserves. His primary duty has been on Recruiting duty for 9 of his 29 years in the Marine Corps before retiring in June of 2015. In 1998, he left active duty and was hired by American Airlines and currently fly’s the Boeing 737. As a reservist, he was the Assistant Airboss and ran the airfield on an old Mig Base in TQ Iraq from 2005 to 2006. He followed this up with a billet in Kabul with the Afghan National Police for 8 months in 2008 and again for a short tour in 2009 with Prison Corrections over in Afghanistan. He currently assists with numerous charities and Veterans organizations in the DFW area including SkyBall, Snowball Express, Salute to the troops, Dallas Military Ball, Purple Hearts Reunited, Marine Corps Metroplex, Cow Town Warrior Ball and Gainesville Medal of Honor parade. Visit www.irreverentwarriors.com  for a list of all upcoming #Silkieshikes! If you liked this episode or want to share you story, shoot us an email kevin@twentyonegun.net  Visit www.twentyonegun.net for everything 21 Gun Follow 21 Gun on Instagram @21gunpodcast

This week on the podcast we're joined by my old and close friend Michael J. Penney. Penney is a Marine Combat Veteran with combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He served as a foreign weapons instructor, a Police Advisor to the Afghan National Police, and was trained as a designated marksman. Since leaving the Marines, Penney has been a serial entrepreneur - or "Vetrepreneur" - and has become a published author of the Five Paragraph Business Plan. He is also a Co-Host of one of my favorite podcasts Cigars and Sea Stories. Penney is also an avid outdoorsman, hunter, and lover of all things venison. Penney shared the first deer he killed in North Carolina with me. He is, in many ways, responsible for my obsession with deer and deer hunting (Thanks, Mike!) In this episode, we discuss how his season is going, "extreme" tactics for calling in Whitetail Deer, and many other topics - from pooping in the woods to, well, just tune in to find out! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/changeyourpov/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/changeyourpov/support

Impact Talk from Oxfam NovibPower of Citizens' Voices Series: Integrating Women into the Afghan National Police Force This is the second of four episodes in the Power of Citizens' Voices series, “Integrating Women into the Afghan National Police Force”. In this series we talk with civil society leaders, activists and colleagues from around the world about how raising the voices of citizens drives impact on critical topics like conflict and security, the right to food, and securing the financing needed for development. While women still only make up a small percentage of the Afghan police, their total number has risen from just 164 women in 2005 to 4070 in 2020. Why it is so important for Afghan women to safely join the police force? How does this relate to citizens' voice? And what support did  these brave women receive? In this episode of the Power of Citizens' Voices series, we discover how Oxfam and partners have supported citizens to raise their voices within a context of conflict and fragility, focusing on the safe integration of women in the Afghan police. Wazhma Frogh (Founding Director, Women and Peace Studies Organization) and Jorrit Kamminga (Policy Lead Inclusive Peace & Security, Oxfam Novib) join us to discuss. Hosts: Lisanne Hekman and Patrick GuyerEditing and sound design: Sound SeekersArtwork: Anouk Klinkers Links to organizations and publications referenced in this episode:Organizations:Women and Peace Studies Organization – official website Oxfam Novib – official website  Publications: A Tale of Two Pragmatisms: How to increase the meaningful participation of women in Afghanistan's police force (2020) – Oxfam Discussion PaperBeating the Drum (2020) - book (see pp. 95 – 103)Stronger Together for Women in the Afghan police (2020) - reportZahra: A Policewoman in Afghanistan (2020) - comic bookKeywords: Women, police, security sector reform, conflict, Afghanistan, Women Peace and Security, NAP1325 

In this episode, Edwina talks to DCI Nick Plummer about his work leading the Missing Exploited Trafficked (Children) Team and Youth Offending Team, within the Public Protection Department of Hampshire Constabulary and their plans to become a trauma informed county. Nick has been a police officer for 27 years and is an operational and strategic police leader, with a wide range of experience including responses to kidnap, misconduct and corruption, the management of Covert Human Intelligence Sources. He has also served in Kabul as a leader on a training and mentoring mission supporting the Afghan National Police. https://www.hampshire.police.uk/Read more about the One Small Thing charity here.Twitter - @OSTCharityThis podcast is created and produced by The London Podcast Company. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Richard "Red" Brion is essentially an American ronin: a samurai without a master. Red has spent years in Navy intelligence, serving in Iraq, and years with Blackwater doing some crazy shit in Japan and Afghanistan. He's done quite a bit in Africa as well. And he's recently made the move over the last couple of years, taking his skills and experience from masterless warrior to hyperlocal, urban agriculture. As founder and CEO of Revolution Agriculture, Red is tackling the Global Food Security Problem through technology-enabled food production and land optimization. They have patented a system that makes it possible to grow virtually any crop, anywhere. Show Notes Revolution Agriculture Follow Red on LinkedIn Theme music by: Ruel Morales Audio Transcript Brian Schoenborn 0:01 Hello, Hello, everyone. Welcome friends. Our guest today is like an American ronin, which is essentially a samurai without a master. Red here has spent a lot of time in the Navy serving in Iraq over there. He has spent years with Blackwater, doing some crazy shit in Japan and Afghanistan and stuff like that. He's done quite a bit in Africa as well. And he's recently made the move, over the last couple of years, he's made the move from masterless warrior into hyperlocal, urban agriculture. Give it up for my friend, Richard Brian. Brian Schoenborn 0:52 My name is Brian Schoenborn. I am an explorer of people, places, and culture. In my travels, spanning over 20 countries across four continents, I've had the pleasure of engaging in authentic conversations with amazingly interesting people. These are their stories, on location and unfiltered. Presented by 8B Media, this is Half the City. Brian Schoenborn 1:21 This is fucking low-fi bro. It's just a couple of microphones in a goddamn recording studio, not even a studio. This is a makeshift this is this is a this is a private couch-filled office in a WeWork. There's nothing more to it. microphones Adobe Audition. I'm not going to tell you any more about that. But that's pretty much it. Richard Brion 1:48 I mean, it could be worse. We could we could be in a coffee shop trying to do this. It does happen. Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 1:53 Let me get that a litte closer. Richard Brion 1:54 Oh, getting up close and personal, now are we? Brian Schoenborn 1:57 Yeah, I mean, you want to keep it about a fist. You know just just like captures, you want to fist it. Brian Schoenborn 2:04 I'm greasing the gears right now. Richard Brion 2:10 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 2:13 So Richard, Red. I'm going to call you Red because we know. Richard Brion 2:18 Yeah make sense. Brian Schoenborn 2:19 We know the siutation. Richard Brion 2:19 I'm a ginger bastard anyway. Brian Schoenborn 2:21 This guy's fucking beard matches his grape. Richard Brion 2:26 Yeah pretty much there's, I was watching this thing the other day where…he's a YouTube star and he was making fun of the fact that he doesn't tan and he's like I just go from white to red and he's like, is tan the color after red because I never seem to get that far. Well, yeah, that's about the size of it when it comes to my head so Brian Schoenborn 2:46 I don't think I've ever seen you not red. Richard Brion 2:48 Yeah. The name fits. What can you What can I say? Brian Schoenborn 2:54 So dude, let's let's get into it a little bit. Um, you you were telling me the other day that you just came back from a couple of backpacking trips right? Richard Brion 3:03 Yeah, here in Washington State. Brian Schoenborn 3:05 Tell me about that. I want to hear about this. And then I want to go into that other stuff. Like, this is the most recent shit. So let's hear about this. Richard Brion 3:11 Yeah. So it was just a, there're backpacking trips in an area and then Alpine lakes wilderness here in Washington, you have to have a permit for, it's a lottery permit. And you get to spend, you know, between a couple of days and up near two weeks out there just kind of packing around seeing these really awesome Alpine lakes that, you know, are pretty much untouched and fairly pristine. The mountain goats are super aggressive up there. Brian Schoenborn 3:37 Really? Richard Brion 3:37 It's actually kind of funny. Yeah, they, they, for whatever reason, there's not a lot of naturally occurring salt and they're addicted to salt. So humans urinate, goats come and try to get the salt out of it. Brian Schoenborn 3:50 So they're drinking pee? Richard Brion 3:51 Yeah, basically. So they asked you to like… Brian Schoenborn 3:54 They're like fucking Bear Grylls! In animal form. Richard Brion 3:58 So basically, they they asked you to, you know, urinate on the rocks because it makes it so when the goats go after it, they don't decimate the plant life and everything else. Brian Schoenborn 4:06 So they encourage you to pee on the rocks? Richard Brion 4:08 Yes, so that it doesn't. So that way the goats don't end up tearing everything up. Brian Schoenborn 4:12 Nice. Richard Brion 4:12 But the funny thing is, is that goats have gotten so used to it that they're actually become a little bit aggressive about it trying to get as close to Brian Schoenborn 4:17 They're like, “Give me your pee!” Richard Brion 4:19 Pretty much Brian Schoenborn 4:21 Like a fucking crackhead, they're like “I will suck your dick for some pee!” Richard Brion 4:25 So basically, there was a there was a couple of there was a couple of girls in the group that kind of actually almost got like chased down for it. It was pretty funny. I in the morning, you just even trying to just go check out one of the lakes and a waterfall just to take pictures, and you look up and there's a goat they're like, “are you gonna pee?” Like, you're like, “wait a minute.” Brian Schoenborn 4:46 They're like giving you the look. Richard Brion 4:48 Yeah, and they follow you down there and they basically like oddly feels like they've got you pinned up against this rock face. Like, either you pee or I knock you off the cliff but I mean, outside of that it was pretty awesome. We got to see a deer right up close, it really didn't care too much that we were around. And then on the way down from the second trip as well, there was a pretty sizable buck that basically was just standing there staring at us, like “what's up people?” Richard Brion 5:18 So they kind of get up there this it's odd, they're still pristine, they still come around, but then they're getting used to humans enough and as we're not being too much of a threat that they kind of just leave you alone. Brian Schoenborn 5:28 Huh, nice. Richard Brion 5:29 And then of course, we had one of my friends that I grew up with since the time we were like 10. He came out with us, and he ended up leaving his tent open just a smidge and a little field mouse came in. And he's not really afraid of much but he screams like a girl when a mouse gets in his tent. And that's not to say a bad thing about screaming like a girl but it when he's got a voice that isn't well suited for that falsetto scream. So when I'm when I'm saying scream like a girl it's more it's this high pitch sound that he makes that isn't within his normal vocal vocal range so it's pretty interesting. Richard Brion 6:10 Woke us up, and, you know, but the the lakes are amazing we got to see some peaks of mountains and stuff or ranges and then we got to see some crazy people actually doing some approaches and some straight up rock climbs on what's called Prusick. So yeah, it was it was a good time lots of cool stuff to see you gotta you know kind of clear out, not have to pay attention and one thing: the water taste better. Even though you have to filter it it really tastes better. Brian Schoenborn 6:38 I bet, man. Richard Brion 6:39 And it's so cold which is so awesome. Brian Schoenborn 6:42 Really. It's that's that fresh mountain water. Richard Brion 6:44 Yeah, it's all most of its all glacier or snow base filled and there's still snow up there. Oddly enough at the tail end or the middle of July in Washington state in the North Cascades. So yeah, we got to do a little snow sliding. Brian Schoenborn 6:58 Nice. Richard Brion 6:58 Yeah. In order to get is a little bit faster and more fun. Brian Schoenborn 7:02 Nice. So so for people listening, we're currently in Seattle. And in case you haven't realized it at this point, this show is pretty fucking mobile. You know, I gotta make sure that you guys know that where we are right now. So we had so you have some reference, right? It's maybe some imagination is to like, Look, you know, Seattle is fucking surrounded by god damn mountains Richard Brion 7:25 and water. Brian Schoenborn 7:26 And water. Exactly. And there's so much water so much mountains the Alpines like you're talking about the Cascades Richard Brion 7:32 and for those of you East coasters you don't know mountains till you've been here. Brian Schoenborn 7:35 Dude. Richard Brion 7:36 The Appalachians are hills. Brian Schoenborn 7:38 I remember when I was in when I was in Boston, people were like, “Oh we're gonna go to Killington in Vermont,” and I like check it out. It's like fucking ice. Like they're they're black diamonds are like bunny hill. Richard Brion 7:49 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 7:51 Like Okay, alright buddy, check out why don't why do you come by Colorado sometime or check out Seattle or Tahoe or you know, Big Bear. Richard Brion 8:00 See some actual…see some actual mountains. Brian Schoenborn 8:03 I only went skiing once, and the one time it was at Breckenridge. And my buddy who is like his big time snowboarder, and his, his brother-in-law's a professional snowboarder and snowboard instructor and shit, and he's like, “Here, have some fucking skis”, and he takes me down the blues first. I don't even know what the fuck I'm doing, dude. Brian Schoenborn 8:22 It was a…it was it was intimidating. Let's put it that way. I mean, I did it. Richard Brion 8:27 I don't know about you. But that's sort of how I learned how to swim. It was just Brian Schoenborn 8:30 Really? They just fucking threw you in there? Richard Brion 8:32 Yeah, here's here's a lake just you're getting tossed out of the boat. You'll figure it out or you don't I mean, sometimes especially the warm things. Sometimes it doesn't work out so well. Brian Schoenborn 8:41 I just remember the first time I went down, like, I got off the ski lift and I didn't know how to stand up. So like, so like, I'm like crouching with my ass is almost touching the fucking snow. And I'm still moving forward, and I'm like, “Oh shit!” Richard Brion 8:54 I'm already moving. I'm not even standing. Brian Schoenborn 8:58 I was going down the hill here. And I'm like not far from the ski live like I'm like I could see it in the distance I can see people like going up, and I fell and my both skis fell off my feet. Right? And like, I tried to stand up to go after the skis and I fucking sunk like waist deep in the god damned snow. Richard Brion 9:17 Post hold on that. That's awesome. Brian Schoenborn 9:19 People are looking at me. from above, they're going, “Hey! You okay?” I'm just like, “Leave me alone in my fucking misery.” Richard Brion 9:25 I'll just slide down. I'll just I'll just get on my stomach and slide down. That's That's hilarious. But no, yes. So the to get into this path. To get up into this part of the mountains though. It's a step you have to earn it. It's about six miles from the trailhead to the top but the last mile, you end up or it's point nine of a mile you end up taking on something in the neighborhood of like 2000 feet of elevation. Brian Schoenborn 9:56 That's pretty intense, dude. Richard Brion 9:58 Yeah, it was it. was definitely pretty interesting. It took us I there's a few different there's three little pockets of our group. The first guy took longer to eat lunch at the bottom than it did to get up, for him to walk up it but. Brian Schoenborn 10:13 Really? Richard Brion 10:13 Then again he's a former Marine. Brian Schoenborn 10:15 So he's like a mountain goat basically. Richard Brion 10:16 Yeah he's a former Marine mountain goat and spend time in Iraq, and yeah he basically did it in if not two hours, or if it took him the full two hours it was somewhere hour 45, two hours. We were a little behind him took us about two hours and 45 and then the the the stragglers in our group still did pretty good. They did it just over three hours. Just for that point nine miles and we're talking point nine of a mile that's not even that far. And it took you know, nearly three hours. Brian Schoenborn 10:45 Three hours, like that's crazy, dude. Richard Brion 10:47 Yeah, it moves up. I forget what the pitch ends up being but you're definitely doing for every foot forward. you're definitely doing some feet up. So and it definitely burns out the quads. Brian Schoenborn 10:58 Oh for sure, dude. That reminds me of… Richard Brion 11:00 …especially carrying 50 pounds. Brian Schoenborn 11:02 Right. I mean that well, that reminds me when I was in Beijing, me and three of my friends. We went camping on the Great Wall. And so so my buddy Yo, shout out to Josef. He's in Hong Kong right now. But he's, he's, uh, yeah, he actually hiked the great wall like 40 something times. He recently scaled. He recently did Mount Everest base camp, and he did it without a fucking Sherpa. Like he mapped it out himself and like, he's, this dude's a fucking hiker, dude, let's put it that way. Brian Schoenborn 11:34 But he mapped out this stretch of the wall because you know, it's technically illegal to camp on the Great Wall. So we found the stretch because, you know, it's 3000 miles long or whatever it is. So there's parts that are like unrestored, you know, not a lot of people go to. Richard Brion 11:48 You get too far out and yeah. Brian Schoenborn 11:50 And he mapped out the stretch, which was crazy. It was like rubble, dude. So for anybody that's if you haven't If you don't know much about the Great Wall if you haven't been there, it's 3000 miles but it's along a mountain spine. It's like a lot like on the ridge. Right? So like, when we get to the stretch not only was there like no parking area, you know, it was just fucking out in the boonies, right. But, you know, we stayed the night so we had our backpacks full of food and water and all that other stuff. And I swear to God, the first 45 minutes was like scrambling like hand and feet up this mountain ridge. Just to get to the wall, dude. Richard Brion 12:32 Yeah, I mean, you'd have to, based on where they are, Geographically where it is. There is a mountain range and between Mongolia and China, so. Brian Schoenborn 12:41 I mean, that's why they built the Wall. To keep the goddamn Mongolians out. Richard Brion 12:44 Yeah. And they worked for a long time. But they figured it out. Brian Schoenborn 12:51 They did. Richard Brion 12:55 Ask the Khans. Brian Schoenborn 12:56 Exactly. Well, I think they built it to keep the Khans out. Richard Brion 13:00 Yeah I'm pretty sure. Brian Schoenborn 13:01 I mean, Gengis and all the you know, I think Kublai Khan might have might have figured it out but Richard Brion 13:06 I can't remember if it was coupla or it might have been cool i'd figured it out but Brian Schoenborn 13:10 but it was you know was an ordeal but it was you know that was kind of cool like as an aside like that was kind of cool to like, you know, be in this area like like the tourist areas of the Great Wall is like full of people. Richard Brion 13:23 Oh, yeah. Brian Schoenborn 13:23 Right? I mean, they were restored in the last like 30 years it's all like new looking brick and shit like that. But just like it's like… Richard Brion 13:29 easy to get to take good photos. Brian Schoenborn 13:32 So like, like in, in Chinese and Chinese slang, they ren shan ren hai, which means people mountain people sea, which is just like fucking people everywhere. Kind of like, Well, you know, when you're when you're at a sports game, or a concert and you're leaving, you know, kind of like that. But like, all day, every day. Richard Brion 13:49 Yeah. Tokyo's pretty much that way all day every day. Brian Schoenborn 13:53 But Tokyo people have this sense of common courtesy. Richard Brion 13:58 Oh, of course. Brian Schoenborn 13:58 So it's a little bit different. Richard Brion 14:00 I mean, there's just a ton of people everywhere. Brian Schoenborn 14:02 I love China. I love Beijing. Don't get me wrong, but there's, you know, there's some they've got some room to grow in terms of stuff like that. Richard Brion 14:11 Yeah, but there's not a culture on the planet that doesn't. Brian Schoenborn 14:13 Of course. Um, but so the point being was that that long winded thing, like the point being is that we found the stretch where we didn't see a single other person for a day and a half, dude. On the Great Wall. Right, like, that's crazy. So yeah, so I can relate, in a sense, and I know, like being in the middle of nowhere, and Richard Brion 14:35 Actually, it's quite nice. It really is. I was talking to another person about it a couple weeks ago that it can be one of those temporary transformative things where the world is getting to you you're looking for a reset on everything. Some people think that you need a near death experience to really kind of set your course or to end up really influencing your life now, something like that. Brian Schoenborn 14:58 Sometimes you just need to be like out in the middle of nowhere, like Like, for example, I like I really enjoy stand up paddleboarding. And I like it, you know, for the workout, of course, but like what I really like about it is I can be 100 yards out from the beach, but I'm miles away from anybody. Richard Brion 15:15 Yeah, Brian Schoenborn 15:16 You know? Richard Brion 15:17 It can be that simple. But yeah, so you don't have to you don't have to go so crazy and do you know, 30 miles and four days in order to really kind of get it, but it can be anything for some people. I mean, I've got a friend that does it in music. He goes out to his garage, and it basically changes his life for a while. Yeah. Until the people creep back. Brian Schoenborn 15:38 Yeah, exactly. That sounds really cool. That's so So tell me a little bit about like, let's go back. I want to go back back back back back. Like, you know, talk about your Navy stuff. Talk about your Blackwater shit, because, you know, even with those backpacking stuff, like there's, there's stuff that's like, I'm sure there's stuff that you took from there that's still relevant to this sort of thing, right. Richard Brion 15:57 Yeah. I mean, moreso the Blackwater days in the post military contractor days, did a lot more trampling around in the mountains, places like Afghanistan, which oddly enough: Afghanistan and New Mexico sorry New Mexico but I mean, you're just the Afghanistan in the United States. Geographically, it's pretty much the same the way the structure… Brian Schoenborn 16:21 Shout out to New Mexico. Richard Brion 16:22 Yeah, the way the the structure of the cities are set up. It's actually oddly similar. You've got the Albuquerque to Santa Fe, which is pretty much your Kabul to Bagram kind of thing. And then you go up into the Taos mountains in New Mexico and that's like heading up towards the Salong Pass of Afghanistan. Looks pretty much the same. Probably a good reason that Jarhead the movie was filmed actually in Albuquerque. Brian Schoenborn 16:44 Was it? Richard Brion 16:44 Yeah, so there, there's a whole lot to it and I guess I shouldn't shout so badly in this microphone before I start creating some feedback. Brian Schoenborn 16:51 Oh, you can shout all you want, dude. It's all good. Richard Brion 16:52 It sounded like I was getting a little bit of reverb. Brian Schoenborn 16:55 If you see it turning red. That's when you know that you're saying too much. Richard Brion 16:58 That I'm saying too much? Or too loud? Brian Schoenborn 17:03 Pack it up. Richard Brion 17:06 It's the Supreme, the Supreme Court light. You're green, you're good yellow starts to run out of time you hit red. Nope. Stop talking. Oh, yeah. So I mean, Afghanistan, I learned quite a bit about being able to carry weight through mountainous terrain and whatnot. And one of the things you learn that's interesting is when you're going downhill, is foot placement can be incredibly important in terms of how you do it and the heel stomp activity that most people don't do…only when they're in snow, it actually helps out quite a bit. Brian Schoenborn 17:38 What is this heel stomp activity? Richard Brion 17:38 So we have a tendency to walk heel, toe, heel toe, or when we're going downhill or runners do they go more to a mid strike toward their foot is. But if you actually kind of lean back, stand straight up when you got weight and you kind of straighten your leg and then drop your heel first, solidly into the loose terrain. Whether that's sand or snow and then you kind of cant, you kind of cant your feet outward almost like you're doing a kind of like a military salute stance. You get that 45 degree angle. You just set your feet… Brian Schoenborn 17:50 Yeah, heels together. Feet slightly apart, toes slightly apart. Richard Brion 18:17 Yeah. And then just kind of step each one at a time that way and it makes for good solid footing when you're not and you can move pretty quick downhill that way. Brian Schoenborn 18:26 That's interesting, like Richard Brion 18:27 I learned it from…oddly enough, I learned it from the Afghans. I grew up around mountains, and it's not something I've ever done. And I see them run down these steep sandy faces and I'm like, “Wait a minute, how did you do that?” They're like, “Oh, you know, we know how to do it.” Brian Schoenborn 18:43 So that reminds me of this. This time I did. I did a three day, two night homestay in northern Vietnam, like Sapa Valley, the foothills of the Himalayas, right? Richard Brion 18:55 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 18:55 Um, I was in good cycling shape at that point. So like my legs were strong or whatever. But like, I my guide was this lady she was like, I don't know, probably 30 something, 30 ish. But like, fucking four feet tall. Brian Schoenborn 19:09 She's tiny you know, minority minority village person, that sort of thing. And she wore these like, these sandals these cheap ass plastic sandals with just that wide band that goes across. It's not a thong, it's anything like that. And holy shit dude, she just boo boo boo boo boo boo boo boo up and down up and down, like no no beaten path, right like we're going up and down these Himalayan the foothills, right? Richard Brion 19:37 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 19:37 Just going up and down and stuff like mud path and you know and she's just flying dude. And like so I took it upon myself like, “I gotta keep up at her.” Point of pride. Richard Brion 19:47 Spoken like a true marine. Brian Schoenborn 19:49 Exactly. Richard Brion 19:53 That reminds me I one time in Thailand, you know they they've got the little Muay Thai boxers. Brian Schoenborn 20:00 Oh sure. Yeah. Richard Brion 20:01 They always have to tell the Marines when you come into port don't get in. Don't Don't do it. Don't do it. Sure enough, there's always a marine. It's like, I can try this. And this dude, you know, the funniest ones are when they're like, 14, 15 year old kids and they think that it's they think that Oh, I'm a big bad marine that the Marine Corps trained me and then… Brian Schoenborn 20:19 This guy looks scrawny. Richard Brion 20:20 Yeah, within seconds they get their ass whooped by this little, four foot tall 85 pound Thai kid that yeah, he's just tough as nails, but spoken like a true marine I got taken upon myself to keep up with him. Richard Brion 20:35 The few, the proud All right. Well, unfortunately isn't it isn't an old biblical proverb that says pride cometh before the fall? Brian Schoenborn 20:35 Right? It's a point of pride man. That's how we roll. Brian Schoenborn 20:48 There it is. Spoken like a true squid. Richard Brion 20:57 We, yeah, we some of us, we try to we try to finesse it a little bit rather than just brute force everything. Brian Schoenborn 21:03 Grace, fall gracefully. Richard Brion 21:04 Yes. Brian Schoenborn 21:05 Tell me a little bit more about this Afghanistan stuff. So this was in your in this wasn't we were working with Blackwater or was this the Navy? Richard Brion 21:10 So I was doing I was Brian Schoenborn 21:13 like, what timeframe was this? Richard Brion 21:14 So this is like, when was that? It was like 2004 or five ish. Brian Schoenborn 21:21 Okay, so that's likely the heat of Afghanistan. Richard Brion 21:25 I was at Well, it was in a weird it was in a weird transition like right at the beginning. It was on that transitioning period from still being really hot in everywhere to where then Kabul and some of the other places, Bagram and whatnot. Even parts of Nangahar and whatnot. It kind of settled down to kind of an equilibrium for quite some time. We were able to go… Brian Schoenborn 21:48 Was this before or after they put Karzai in power? Richard Brion 21:52 This was during Karzai. Karzai been in for a couple of years by this point, I think or at least or at least a year. Brian Schoenborn 22:00 I'm just trying to refresh memory cuz, you know, like I was active during 911. Right? I didn't serve obviously. But I mean, I didn't go over there for reasons out of my control. But, you know, my unit was a first to go Iraq, right? Richard Brion 22:07 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 22:11 But it was Afghanistan first so it was 911, Afghanistan, and then for whatever reason, they said, Hey, we gotta go to Iraq too, which was bullshit. But that's a whole nother thing. Richard Brion 22:23 Were you first Marines? Brian Schoenborn 22:24 My my unit was 3/1. Richard Brion 22:26 3/1? Brian Schoenborn 22:27 Third Battalion, First Marines. We were I MEF. We fought in Fallujah. Richard Brion 22:31 Yeah. My uh… Brian Schoenborn 22:32 We were the first battle in Fallujah. Richard Brion 22:33 My buddy that's a border patrol. He was in Afghanistan at the time, before I met him. He was active duty Marine for 3/1. Brian Schoenborn 22:42 No shit? Richard Brion 22:43 Yeah, he was a … Brian Schoenborn 22:44 Do you know what company he was in? Richard Brion 22:46 311. I want to say. Brian Schoenborn 22:48 Well, no, it's no No, no, no, no, no, it's three one and then the. So I was weapons company. Yeah, but it was like Lima, India and Kilo. Richard Brion 22:57 I would have done what I would have to ask him. But Brian Schoenborn 23:00 Lima, India, Kilo and Weapons Company. I was in Weapons Company. Was he rifle man or was he a weapons guy? Richard Brion 23:02 He was. He was infantry straight up grant. He was. He was the Brian Schoenborn 23:06 0311? Richard Brion 23:07 Yeah, he was 0311. He was he was the sergeant for his platoon. The actual, the Soldier of Fortune magazine actually, at one point there was a photo taken. So he was the Marine Sergeant that was actually tasked with doing the Marcus Luttrell recovery after, and the interesting story was we were in the same place basically at the same time didn't know each other yet. So it was with Blackwater. We were in Kabul. Brian Schoenborn 23:34 We might have even been in boot camp together. That's weird. That's fucking me up. Richard Brion 23:38 He's younger Yeah, I think he's younger but um, so he he's closer. But yeah, so anyway, so Brian Schoenborn 23:46 So 3/1 didn't, we were not in Afghanistan. The unit that went to Afghanistan before like the first ones in was 1/5. Richard Brion 23:54 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 23:54 First Battalion, fifth Marines. Richard Brion 23:55 I had them backwards. They were also saying it was 1/5 was Iraq and 3/1 was Afghanistan. Brian Schoenborn 24:00 They were also based in Camp Pendleton. They were near us. So I was in Camp Horno, which is kind of the it's like the coastal kind of North ish area. One five was right at the border of the base. I hope I'm not giving away government secrets, sorry, government. But ish ish, you know, but kind of kind of kind of at the, you know, kind of near the border between, you know, between San Diego and Orange County. Richard Brion 24:26 Yeah. And, but to funny, the interesting thing was is so during the whole Lone Survivor incident, I was in Kabul with Blackwater and a bunch of the Blackwater team were were former SEALs that were actually good friends with a lot of those guys. Brian Schoenborn 24:44 Oh shit, man. Richard Brion 24:45 So when it went down twice, we actually were planning, sending taking a helicopter down and Nangahar and getting out towards that area and jumping into the recovery mission until there was a… at first it we were having the green line and somebody decided was probably not the right idea to have private contractors handling that kind of thing. Richard Brion 25:05 So, so my buddy, because helicopters and air support was off limits because of the two helicopters getting shot down. So he was the sergeant that led the platoon on foot to go in, and they got ambushed. And then during the ambush, I don't know, I still don't know. And I'm not sure even he knows how the photograph was taken. But it ended up becoming one of the Marine Corps coins as well. There's a picture of Marines squatting down behind a rock: one with a with a rifle aimed, the other one making a phone call. And that photo made Soldier of Fortune and it was also made a Marine Corps coin and my buddy's that sergeant, is one of those two guys that are memorialized in that coin. Brian Schoenborn 25:45 That's crazy, dude. Richard Brion 25:46 Then he ended up becoming a contractor, working with me in Blackwater in Japan, then we went to Iraq together with another contracting company and… Brian Schoenborn 25:52 So so for late for so the listeners out there, let me let me let me explain what a private contractor for Blackwater is in terms of you can understand. He's a fucking mercenary. Right? I mean paid, you know you're for-hire security services in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. Does that sound…is that fair? Is that accurate? Richard Brion 26:15 Yeah, pretty much. Brian Schoenborn 26:16 He's just like, “Yeah whatever, you know, it's all in a day's work.” Richard Brion 26:20 Well, I mean it. So it's a perspective thing. Brian Schoenborn 26:23 Yeah, for sure. Of course. Richard Brion 26:24 So I sit down and I watched the show the Deadliest Catch from time to time you know, like, crazy assed crab fisherman and I think that is the craziest… Brian Schoenborn 26:31 That's a crazy fucking job but that also pays well, Richard Brion 26:33 Well, of course it does. and… Brian Schoenborn 26:35 it was like six months and they make like six figures in six like, Richard Brion 26:38 Yeah, of course. But to me, I think that it's crazy. It's a crazy ass job. Now, a good chunk of those guys would think that what I was doing back in the day, as a contractor with Blackwater and all this stuff was crazy stupid. And I mean, when you think about it, there's some there's some dumb things and we called it delayed death a little bit as you're dead being there. It's just a matter of if your card got called what while you're actually in country or not, but It's perspective. Richard Brion 27:01 You know, for me, those those Deadliest Catch people were way crazier than I was doing. But then again, it's because I was doing a job that I was well trained to do and well equipped for. Richard Brion 27:11 And I knew my equipment no different than an electrician knows his pliers and his wire strippers and everything else no different than a crab fisherman knows his nets in gear. For me, I always thought the distinction was is that humans are a lot more predictable than nature. So So when you're out there, even when you're even when you're surprised in an ambush, there's still things that humans do that are predictable on some level. So you can still make plans on some degree and you can still rely on them with some level of reliability, but nature just does whatever the hell it wants. Brian Schoenborn 27:11 Sure. Brian Schoenborn 27:45 There's no stopping nature, dude. Richard Brion 27:45 I mean, even when they're even when there's weather predictions and weather forecasts. I mean, Brian Schoenborn 27:50 Weathermen are never right, man. Richard Brion 27:51 Yeah, especially in these places, right. So, I mean, you were in in China too. The South China Sea? Brian Schoenborn 27:58 Oh, dude, they have typhoons all the time, man. Richard Brion 28:00 I know and it's so unpredictable. So you're going out into this thing with against effectively an opponent or a foe that you can't predict anything. You're just flying by the seat of your pants all of the time hoping for the best. So, I mean, that's, I guess that's what perspective is. So yeah, it was some crazy environments. You know, Afghanistan Kabul, you know, Nangahar, Salong. Up there in Iraq. I was mostly I was in Baghdad proper, but then we were in Diwaniya, which if you want to go look that up that was that was a fun show. It's on. Brian Schoenborn 28:33 Let's look it up right now. I wanna see what you're talking about. Richard Brion 28:36 So yeah, so it was a camp, or that Camp Echo? In Diwania. So this camp, when we first when Yeah, there it is, right there. Diwania, Iraq. So it's a couple hours south. Brian Schoenborn 28:57 I'll post information on this. What do we do when we post The show but yeah… Richard Brion 29:01 Oh l ook at that Polish troops in Iraq, Camp Echo. So so basically it was this little postage stamp of a forward operating base in central Iraq near near the Nijef province. But this thing was so small. I mean, it was literally probably the size of a small school compound. Brian Schoenborn 29:21 The camp or the town? Richard Brion 29:22 The entire camp. Brian Schoenborn 29:24 Wow, that's tiny. Richard Brion 29:24 In the in this town yeah and so they had this tire factory in town and whatnot and so it was first… Brian Schoenborn 29:30 It's the last place you would expect a military encampment to be. That's good shit. Richard Brion 29:36 But it was kind of a key point for the Nijef province for the US Army Corps of Engineers but this so initially post the invasion and us trying to figure out what to do you know, we brought in the coalition. The Spanish took it, and no offense to those Spaniards out there but you kind of you lost it. You got overrun. And it's because the city, I mean, and to be fair, it's not It's not as it wasn't a super large base, the area would go through ebbs and flows where the insurgency would build up and it would dissipate, but eventually they got overrun. Richard Brion 30:11 So then the Polish took over. And they were the ones running the camp when we were there with a small contingent of US Army, Military Police. And so and and basically the it was this kind of school kids playing with each other, where the Polish would completely be out in town, in full force, and then they would slowly start drawing back towards the base. The insurgency would get more and more emboldened by it. And then at some point, we ended up having to drop a MOAB, which is a “mother of all bombs” into the middle of the city, kind of kind of reset the situation. Richard Brion 30:55 The Polish went back out, they kind of held it and then they got drawn back to the base. So Diwaniya was probably the dodgiest place I was it was we were getting rocketed pretty much every night. Brian Schoenborn 31:07 Those are RPGs, right? Richard Brion 31:09 155 Katooshes. Brian Schoenborn 31:12 I'm not familiar with that. Richard Brion 31:14 So usually you know one five fives are your largest you can over the one of the some of the largest there are a lot louder, bigger than standard mortar there, you know. 155 millimeter. Brian Schoenborn 31:25 Mortars are no joke. I know some I remember, I had some mortar men in my CAAT platoon. Yeah, I mean, those guys are pretty hardcore. Richard Brion 31:32 I mean rules of engagement. This was starting to change as well. So we weren't allowed to specifically do straight up counter battery. Which for those that don't know counter battery just means we use sound to triangulate a rough position of where they might have been coming from. And then you just rocket everything back. Brian Schoenborn 31:49 Yeah. Richard Brion 31:49 Which is effective in certain circumstances, but at the same time, Brian Schoenborn 31:54 It's also essentially spray and pray. Richard Brion 31:55 Yeah, there's there can be significant collateral damage, and so we were, we were drawing back on that and the problem was they were putting their their rockets and stuff into mounts in the back of pickup trucks. So basically even by the time you were able to get a 3 pings triangulation for a counter battery, the truck had already moved. So even, you know, and then you're firing even within 30 seconds to a minute, if it took that if it was that fast, truck could still fire and move. So, the likelihood of you actually hitting the target that was rocketing you was small, so then, you know we get rocketed every day and of course, we were contractors. We had Polish. We had a Polish dude that was French, former French Foreign Legion, some British special boat guys, special air guys on the team. Couple of Army Greenie Beanies. l Brian Schoenborn 32:48 When you say special boat and special air, you're talking like Special Forces. Richard Brion 32:51 Yes. So the so the British they have their SS in there. SBS, so their Special Air Service and their special boats, which is kind of basically the SAS would be sort of like our it's a cross somewhere between our Army Special Forces and our US Air Force paratroopers in terms of responsibility. And then special boats are basically like their version of a Navy seal. Brian Schoenborn 32:51 So basically, you're a Motley Crue badass motherfuckers basically. Richard Brion 32:51 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 33:17 Okay, got it. Richard Brion 33:18 And then we had some, also some Royal Marine commandos, so kind of like our recon Marines and whatnot. So we had a hodgepodge of British, American, and European guys that were on this team all well-trained, but also a little bit mad in the head, as they would say. Brian Schoenborn 33:36 You kind of have to be off to go to do some of that stuff. Richard Brion 33:40 A little bit. Yeah. And then it got even more strange. So we lived kind of nearest to where the marine or not where the Marine Corps, where the army military police unit was. So every every evening the rocket… Brian Schoenborn 33:51 I bet they had their hands full. Richard Brion 33:52 Oh, they definitely did. But every every evening, the rockets always came in right around the same time. Everybody else has all hunkered down in places. And where we go, we get our chow, we come back, then we all sit around the proverbial campfire just bullshitting with our, with our gear, our guns, our body armor… Brian Schoenborn 34:11 As these bombs are going off. Richard Brion 34:12 And basically we're having what we called our mortar tea parties. We were drinking tea and biscuits, you know cookies and tea, waiting for the mortars to start and then the gear was all preset because then we'd have to repel borders, which again, for those that don't know what that means. That means that they would use the rockets in order to distract us because we're all hiding, hopefully then they could storm the walls. So basically, it was this kind of tit for tat thing, they'd rocket us then they would try to mount an offensive to come over the wall. So you have to have your gear with you in the mortar shelters to be ready for it. So we just kind of sat around every day just having a chat kind of like we're having right now. Just bullshiting, laughing and just waiting for them. And some of those those army military police guys thought we were batshit crazy. Brian Schoenborn 34:59 Of course! They have every right to think that. Richard Brion 35:03 AAnd maybe we were, but like I said that the those guys that go pick up crab fishing jobs in Alaska, they're crazier than me as far as I'm concerned. Brian Schoenborn 35:10 That's the thing that I'm talking about, right? Like like in the Marines, like my Marine Corps training, even as short as it was, like one of those things you realize it like you can be ,you can experience, you can be in the middle of experiencing fucking hell, dude. But what you realize that if you're with there was somebody, if you're there with somebody else and you can sit there and bullshit about stuff while while this is all happening? It's a completely different thing, dude. It makes it manageable. Richard Brion 35:38 Well, yeah it does. And I mean, Afghanistan was the same way so that circa 2004, 2005 and got to the point where we were allowed to go on town, there were Lebanese restaurants, French restaurants… Brian Schoenborn 35:55 You're allowed to go off base and like, check out the town? Richard Brion 35:57 Yeah. So as Blackwater we lived in our own compound anyway. We also we were running, we were help training counternarcotics police for the government in Afghanistan. We were doing those kinds of things. So we were we weren't doing a lot of things directly with US military. They had, we were getting support from them. So we could access military installations. We got Intel from them, of course, was since we were working in the same sphere, we also had to have crypto to be able to talk back and forth, so that we could deconflict so that in the event that we were out on our own thing, and in the middle of a fight and US military or ISAF forces were in the middle of a fight. We could make sure that we weren't shooting at each other kind of kind of important, you know, blue on blue. Brian Schoenborn 36:43 Crypto meaning encrypted messaging? Richard Brion 36:46 Yeah, encrypted radio, you know, the big old fat, you see them on movies. Brian Schoenborn 36:49 So you're free to talk, but nobody can intercept it. Richard Brion 36:52 Yeah, exactly. So basically, you see them on any of those military movies. You know, the guy standing back there with the little what looks like antique headset phone… Brian Schoenborn 37:02 One of my buddies was a comm guy, man. You look at before you stick it, when you put that little… Richard Brion 37:07 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 37:07 When you put the antenna on you got to like. Richard Brion 37:09 yeah they the old mark one seven you know the different radios and whatnot and and then they came up with some slightly better ones but the range was different so I mean yeah we were we were out there doing, but yeah we could go on the internet they have an Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, no joke, from the Intercontinental Hotel Group it's still there. As of 2018 when I was there last in Kabul, it's a little bit harder to get to in from these days, but back then there was a you could go get a proper massage at the hotel. You could go for lunch or whatever and they had a swimming pool you could take in there. They even had a lake resort in just outside Kabul that had a golf course that we could go on. Brian Schoenborn 37:51 Oh, it's crazy. So, I mean, so it sounds like you were pretty like ingrained into Kabul and the, you know, the local culture a little bit like did you I mean, did you stand out like a sore thumb or like what you know Richard Brion 38:08 For the most part… Brian Schoenborn 38:08 Like your interactions with the Afghans with the Afghans and stuff like that? Richard Brion 38:11 Yeah, I mean for the most part of course we stood out like sore thumbs but then again there was enough Western and I sat forces that there was no real distinguishment between who was who and you know, who was white, I mean, contractors we kind of dress like each other but then again, contractor dress looks like British Special Air Service dress. So you know, and then of course, you have your other governmental groups and they all dress kind of however, and so it was almost impossible to distinguish one set from another. Brian Schoenborn 38:40 Sure. Richard Brion 38:40 You could be at a restaurant having you know, having a meal with these people and they could have been FBI, they could have been, you know, any other lettered soup or they could have been a contractor or they could have been active duty Special Forces. There was really no way to tell unless you got into the weeds with it. Everybody wore beards, but as far as me? Oddly enough, you, you put the right kind of Afghan clothes on and I had my beard grown out and with the blue eyes and I could look like I'm an Afghan from the Panjshir Valley because Russian influence to the Panjshir area. Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 38:57 So did you? I mean, did you interact with, like the Afghan people? Or was it mostly with the other military units? Richard Brion 39:19 Oh, no, we were moreso Afghans and then I my job was intelligence. So I was a lot more interacting with them. But there's a famous street in Kabul. It's called Chicken Street. Basically, it's, every city pretty much has one. That's kind of where you go to get a lot of your tangible goods. So we could go down and get trinkets and rugs and everything else and we used to go down to Chicken Street and you could get a suit fitted. I have I still have them actually in my closet a few of the suits that an Afghan Taylor put together for me. Richard Brion 39:54 There was a barber that I would go in that would use all the old school hand tools, no power, to do trims and stuff and we used to, we used to get kids to come with us, because the Afghans themselves have this “kids are off-limits” in terms of this thing. So, Pakistanis and the Iraqis, unfortunately, don't quite have that same threshold when it comes to kids, but the Afghans do. So you get the kids that are out trying to make a buck or whatever else, and you give them some money and some food and then they would go recruit their friends. And then when you wanted to go into a place, they would then crowd the door, so that it would keep people that could be or are thinking about taking advantage of the situation from doing so because kids were off-limits. Brian Schoenborn 40:39 Yeah. Richard Brion 40:40 And so and then some of the elders in the village in the city and stuff that were around didn't mind it either, because we were giving the kids some sort of value and job, you know, we were giving them food and they were helping us out. And there was a similar thing in Djibouti one at one point and I can't get into the why I was there and with whom… Brian Schoenborn 41:00 Dammit. Richard Brion 41:00 But you pay, Brian Schoenborn 41:03 I wanna hear that styory. I always want to hear the ones that you can't talk about. Richard Brion 41:06 Yeah, I know, right? But the funny part about the story was is, there was there was a kid and you paid 20 bucks he would come he actually had this he had the racket down. He would come and he had this big stick and you'd be like, “I be your bodyguard” all in English. Couple couple of few bucks in English he would tell you he would be the bodyguard. And then he would have liked two of his little friends and they were doing, and I did protection details for years. So I had all these this training on doing the box and the, you know, contact rules, but Brian Schoenborn 41:33 What is it what is the box? Richard Brion 41:35 So the box we did, so depending on there's triangles, there's boxes. It's how you set your people up to do protection. So we always ran a five man box. Brian Schoenborn 41:46 Okay, so basically you had four corners and then one in the middle? Richard Brion 41:49 You have four corners, and then one in the middle standing next to the client that was basically the client director and then so depending on how contact goes you can close the box and basically create a wall. Brian Schoenborn 41:58 Got it. Richard Brion 41:58 But these these three little kids, they had their own little version of a protective detail triangle down with sticks. And then if people got too close, they would kind of, and sometimes even with some of the adults in the area, they even had a little, like playful ruse for the adults would kind of give them a little, a little reason to practice. So, you know, and then the little kid that was in charge was like, you know, “don't worry right now”, and then the adults would kind of come up and play and then they would like beat him back with the sticks and stuff like kind of keep practice. It was kind of interesting, but Brian Schoenborn 42:31 Enterprising entrepreneurial little kids over there. Richard Brion 42:33 Exactly. very entrepreneurial on how they were doing it. And in Kabul, it was that way too. There were stores that you want to go in and the kids would go in first and kind of rush all the other people out. And again, that sounds very privileged of us. We were able to have little kids kind of push the rest of the adults out but at the same time, like I said, it was that weird in between phase of the community where the the adults didn't mind so much because we were spending money in local shops and we were having some, we're having interactions with the kids. So in their own way it allowed it created a sense of security for us and a peace of mind for us that we knew there wasn't someone in the store waiting, gave the kids something to do then we were spending money on the local economy. So we felt that we were giving back a little bit a little bit. Brian Schoenborn 43:17 And you were giving the kids food and other stuff too. Richard Brion 43:19 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 43:19 So they were so they're, they're getting benefits for their services too, right? Richard Brion 43:22 Yeah. And I mean, we've had a lot of the guys thought I was crazy, but we had a little…but, I mean, so I there was a lot that I had to do that was by myself. So I was driving around a lot by myself places and there was a, there was this little rig on a rickety cart that was an engine with a set of wheels and basically you turn it on and you would feed what looked like a sugar cane through it. And then it would come out as a juice or something. Brian Schoenborn 43:53 Oh yeah! Sugarcane juice. Yeah. That's all over the place. Like I've had that in India. Richard Brion 43:58 Yeah, that's what I didn't realize that sugar cane. Something that was really available. Brian Schoenborn 44:01 It's literally just pressed cane liquid right? Richard Brion 44:03 Yeah, and it, but at the time I wasn't completely sure that was sugar cane because I still to this day not hundred percent certainly sugar cane grows naturally in Afghanistan, but in either case it was just it was kind of dirty looking cart but I would pull over for $1 whatever it was at the time I would get one and you know it's not like the United States or you pop in and they give you a bottle you take with you or whatever, it's just a glass. Brian Schoenborn 44:29 It's not the processed stuff. Richard Brion 44:31 Well, yeah, and it's just a glass that you drink it there. Brian Schoenborn 44:33 You drink it on the spot, right? Richard Brion 44:34 They take the glass right? Yep, they take the glass back and they wash it so you know a lot of guys are like, “hey man, you're kinda it's kind of dirty kind of don't know.” I didn't care. I liked it, and the other thing that I really liked to this day is Afghan naan you know? You can get naan everywhere else but the Afghan naan to me is some of the best I've ever had. Brian Schoenborn 44:53 So, like, how is it different from like Indian naan? So naaa, like n-a-a-n, like a flatbread? Richard Brion 44:59 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 44:59 Like Indian food that you would like take and like scoop with the curries and stuff. Richard Brion 45:03 Yeah and so you get Stone Fire here in the US makes it, is a brand that will make it. But it's it's a little bit more I would almost say even though it's unleavened, it's almost a little more leavened than Afghan, it's a little bit a little bit softer, which most people are like bread, you know, soft bread, but for some reason, the way that whatever it is in the recipe, and it's slightly more crispness to it. Brian Schoenborn 45:29 So it's crisp? It's not like a thick chew? Richard Brion 45:31 Not not quite like a thick chew, but it just something about it. You know, I could probably deal less with the fact that the way it was delivered is just a dude on a motorbike, sticks it under his arm after all day. Brian Schoenborn 45:44 That's what I'm talking about, dude. That's the real shit. You know, what I love about traveling, just diving deep and like, you know, there's millions of people that like eat that, you know, eat stuff like that or live a certain way like you don't, you can't really understand or appreciate another culture unless you really dive into it. You know? Richard Brion 45:58 Well yeah, and so this is a good story. Right, so I can I can say the guy's name now because it doesn't matter, but his name was General Aasif. He was the he was the general from the Afghan government. I don't know if he was specifically Afghan National Police or if he was Afghan National Army, but he had a general title general uniform. And he was in charge of the Narcotics Interdiction Unit, which is what we call the, basically, the Afghan version of the DEA. And he's no longer involves anybody that might be listening that thinks that they're getting any intel, he is not. But he used to think that I was so skinny. And so every time I come to his office, I mean, Brian Schoenborn 46:40 You're a slim dude, you're lengthy. Richard Brion 46:41 But I'm heavier than people would think. Right? And so especially then I was working out a couple times a day I was eating quite a bit. You know, when there's nothing else to do. You take your legal supplements and your protein shakes and your nitrus oxide and lift at the gym. You know, do all the bro things, right? Brian Schoenborn 47:01 No, of course. You got nothing else to do, you know, in an area like that. Richard Brion 47:04 And I mean, we had a lot to do, but there's still times when there's downtime, right? Brian Schoenborn 47:08 Sure. Richard Brion 47:08 Between stuff scene workout and you make sure that you're fit to do. Brian Schoenborn 47:12 Yeah, right. I mean, that's what I mean. Richard Brion 47:13 Yeah, it is part of your job. So you're fit to your job, but he would always want to give me food. So it was meatballs and naan and chai and… Brian Schoenborn 47:22 General Aasif always wanted to give you food. Richard Brion 47:23 Yeah. And so it was goat meatballs and lamb meatballs. Brian Schoenborn 47:27 Oh, dude, that sounds so good. Richard Brion 47:28 And I mean, at first I was in, you know, because I was still young, they're still fairly. I mean, I've been to a few places by this point, but I was still a little bit of an isolationist when it came to the local cultures at this point, because this, this happened from the moment I walked into Afghanistan, right into General Aasif's office there is just trying, and so he's feeding me food that I know came off the off of the local economy that wasn't specifically off of the military base that had, you know, all of the, what do they call it the HACCP or whatever. Brian Schoenborn 48:03 The HAACP? Richard Brion 48:04 Yes, sir. Yeah health standard yeah the health standards and servsafe. And, you know, they, they definitely didn't have their authorized food handler's permit. So I was a little bit apprehensive but truthfully I got in I didn't, didn't get sick. The only place that the only time I got food poisoning in Afghanistan was when I went to a Lebanese restaurant, that's an actual restaurant, but owned my Lebanese people, and to this day, I have a hard time with hummus. Because the only thing I ate that night was hummus because it was just there for a quick meeting. And it made me so sick they had a banana bag me for like three or four days. Brian Schoenborn 48:42 I have no idea what that means but it doesn't sound good. Richard Brion 48:44 So banana bags are. There are basically an IV fluid bag and it's very bright yellow, banana in color almost. That's why we call them banana but it's basically hydration bag. Brian Schoenborn 48:55 Oh got ya. Richard Brion 48:56 You know the team medics and stuff, you get way too drunk you know from whatever and they would banana bag you and it's good way to, but I needed a banana back for like 3 or 4 days. Brian Schoenborn 49:06 Good way to get your head right. Richard Brion 49:07 Yeah and it was pretty It was pretty gnarly. Brian Schoenborn 49:09 You know it's funny that you talk about the food poisoning thing, right? Like like, I was in Asia for almost four years. Richard Brion 49:14 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 49:15 Right? I traveled through Southeast Asia. Fucking Beijing all over China, South Korea all over the place. Indonesia, Australia. Everywhere dude, and I dive dive super deep. I get local street food, all that shit. I got food poisoning once in my four time in my four years there. Richard Brion 49:34 American restaurant? Brian Schoenborn 49:35 American barbecue restaurant. Richard Brion 49:37 Doesn't surprise me. Brian Schoenborn 49:38 The pulled pork sandwich dude. Richard Brion 49:39 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 49:40 Fucked me up. I was fucking like, it was literally like hours after I had this dude. I was just like, I could not puke enough. Richard Brion 49:48 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 49:49 Just all night long. Just dry heaving. It was fucking awful, dude. Richard Brion 49:55 Well, no, and I'm like you I got and after that point, I dove in. Iraq. You know, local food everywhere. In Japan I ate on the local economy a lot of the other guys that were there that came later you know, they were like oh there's McDonald's there let's get the McDonald's on the way to work. And me there I was with the… Brian Schoenborn 50:12 Fuck that. Richard Brion 50:13 with that sticky rice it's like a mayo finish like a mayo filling in it or whatever. Brian Schoenborn 50:18 Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Richard Brion 50:19 And then you know, I've got the rice dishes and I I like to go to the yakiniku places which is you know, you cook your own little barbecue, meats… Brian Schoenborn 50:28 Yeah, they do that in China too. They call it chuar. Yeah, it's a Beijing dialect. Brian Schoenborn 50:34 Were they giggling too? Richard Brion 50:34 I'm pretty sure it's yakiniku is what it is, I'm I might be slightly incorrect there. It's been a while but so for those who speak Japanese, you know, you know, I'm sorry for this but but it was it was really I loved it the sushi I mean, it got so local that there was a local family that was involved in running one of the little drinky bars we go to, they invited me and a couple of guys back on to this barbecue out on the coast. And we drove out to the coast. I still remember one of the pictures, actually my buddy that was a marine, he was one of those guys with us. And we took a picture of the cloud that just looked like a phallic symbol one day. One of the Japanese girls pointed it out. So the van had a sunroof… Richard Brion 50:59 And they're looking at the cloud. So what, they had a sunroof in the van we're all riding in so I stood up through the sunroof, because of course I'm the tallest dude in the van. Brian Schoenborn 51:26 And they point at it like, “Penisuh!” Richard Brion 51:27 So well I'm and I took a picture of it. So I still have the picture somewhere. But we get to the coast and we're having barbecued eel and everything, and then also uni, which for those that don't know the Japanese word, it's sea urchin. Brian Schoenborn 51:40 Sea urchin. One of my favorite foods. Richard Brion 51:41 Yeah. And so you can you can get it at your sushi restaurants but the best I ever had was the little kids were going down into the water sticking their hand right in the water grabbing it right out and then we were just popping in straight outta right on this remote beach and way north Honshu, Japan, the Honshu island of Japan. It was awesome. Brian Schoenborn 52:01 So, I mean, so where were you in Japan? I mean, you were there for a while, right? Richard Brion 52:05 Yeah, I was there for just shy of a year. Brian Schoenborn 52:07 Okay. Richard Brion 52:07 So we were we were on the far north end of Honshu. So um, Brian Schoenborn 52:13 And Honshu is what? Richard Brion 52:14 Honshu's the main island in Japan. Brian Schoenborn 52:16 Like Tokyo and stuff? Richard Brion 52:17 Yes, so Tokyo is on the southern. Brian Schoenborn 52:19 Japan like, yeah, primarily that island, right? Yes. Osaka of course. Richard Brion 52:25 Hokkaido in the north, right. Yes. So on to the main about Okinawa, which is right there. So Honshu was the main way up there. Yeah. So Tokyo is way south, almost on the complete opposite end of the contract Brian Schoenborn 52:36 Roughly how long of a train ride would that be or something? Richard Brion 52:39 So bullet train, it was like two hours and 45 minutes by car… Richard Brion 52:42 By car, it's like a 12-hour drive. Brian Schoenborn 52:42 Bullet train's going, like 200 miles a hour. Brian Schoenborn 52:47 Yeah. Okay. Richard Brion 52:47 And that's down the toll road. So that's pretty much nothing else but toll road and freeway and it's 12 hours. So basically, if you were to look on a map and you see where miss our airbase is, and then take a ruler and draw straight line To the other side of the island from them on that same skinny part. Yeah, that's where we were, was called the Aomori prefect or Aomoir prefect would be more more precise. And we were in a little town called Goshuguara. And we had to stay in a Japanese hotel and let me tell you, I mean, this one had a… Brian Schoenborn 53:16 What kind of Japanese hotel was this? I've heard a few. I've heard about a few different types of Japanese hotels. Richard Brion 53:21 It wasn't any of those. But it was…. Brian Schoenborn 53:23 Not a love hotel? Richard Brion 53:24 Well no, it was not a love hotel. And it was done…and it was also not one of the not one of the space pod ones are all bed slides out and stuff. Brian Schoenborn 53:31 I slept in one of those. In Bangkok I think. Or Saigon, one of them. Richard Brion 53:35 Yeah. And so it was still, I mean, it still was a room a desk. It was a queen size mattress, but there wasn't really room for much other. I mean, literally, I had to take the chair out for the desk so that the bed was my chair because that there I mean, there was no point. You couldn't pull the desk out. Brian Schoenborn 53:37 Dude, I slept in a pod that like, literally, like there's a hallway and on the left and on the right It looks like these bunk beds, but they're walled off and it's literally just this like, elongated hole. Richard Brion 54:05 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 54:06 …that you slide into. It's just a bed. And there's a there's a TV at the foot of it. So if you want to watch TV you can there's nothing fucking on there anyway that you could understand. Literally slide in and then you drop down. It's like a curtain almost you just drop it down. There you go. That's my pod. Kinda like on a navy ship. It's a lot like that, you know? Richard Brion 54:25 You know, um, there's a there's a Netflix original that will had Brian Schoenborn 54:31 Shout out to Netflix. Richard Brion 54:32 Yeah, shout out to Netflix. Right? But it had Emma Stone and, wow, Jonah Hill. And it was called… it was about that was the… Brian Schoenborn 54:42 …they were they had a mental problems

This week on the podcast we're joined by my old and close friend Michael J. Penney.  Penney is a Marine Combat Veteran with combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.  He served as a foreign weapons instructor, a Police Advisor to the Afghan National Police and was trained as a designated marksman.  Since leaving the Marines, Penney has been a serial entrepreneur - or "Vetrepreneur" - and has become a published author of the Five Paragraph Business Plan.  He is also a Co-Host of one of my favorite podcasts Cigars and Sea Stories. Penney is also an avid outdoorsman, hunter and lover of all things venison.  Penney shared the first deer he killed in North Carolina with me.  He is, in many ways, responsible for my obsession with deer and deer hunting (Thanks, Mike!) In this episode we discuss how his season is going, "extreme" tactics for calling in Whitetail Deer and many other topics - from pooping in the woods to, well, just tune in to find out!

For the show today, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about the announcement by the Defence Minister to increase capabilities for cybersecurity, also, NATO has made a request for Canada to send police trainers to Afghanistan and we will close with our latest Game Changers.  This show is brought to you by Gap Wireless. Gap Wireless provides UAV Hardware and Software solutions for inspection, survey and mapping and public safety. Learn more at gapwirelessonline.com. Cybersecurity Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said that the Canadian Armed Forces will be looking to increase training so as to deal with cyberattacks, also it plans to recruit more cyber specialists. The minister said, "The use of cyber technology in a military context is growing steadily and as such Canada must leverage that technology to maintain a military advantage. Our forces need to be equipped with the ability to detect, organize and identify cyber threats and be prepared to take appropriate action." The new defence policy which was announced on June 7, outlines the plan to be Strong, Secure, Engaged by increasing the size of the military, modernizing the submarine fleet, and replacing the CF-18 fleet along with other procurements.   NATO's request   Canada is considering a NATO request to send police trainers to Afghanistan according to the Defence Minister. This comes three years after the military mission officially ended. The request came from the U.S. through NATO, and could involve either civilian police trainers like the RCMP, or military trainers working with Afghan police, a defence official said according to CTV news. The minister said that "We are actually still committed to Afghanistan. We've provided the funding, whether it's for development" or salaries for security forces in the country. From 2014 to 2017, Canada committed $227 million in international development programs in Afghanistan, and $330 million from 2015 to 2018 in support for the Afghan National Security Forces, which include the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. Over the 12-year mission, 158 Canadian troops were killed, as well as a diplomat, a journalist and two civilian contractors, according to a tally by The Canadian Press. Game Changers for June/July issue We are in the process of finalizing the June/July issue of Vanguard which will feature an exclusive interview with the Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard, Jeffery Hutchinson. In this issue, you can read about his top challenges, his focus and vision for the Coast Guard and the most pressing needs with regards to procurement. Also, we are excited to announce the Game Changers for this issue: Barney Bangs, President of Tulmar Safety Systems Inc.; Mohsen Mohammadi, Assistant Professor and Director for the new Marine Additive Manufacturing Centre of Excellence at the University of New Brunswick; and Colin Stephenson, Executive Director, DEFSEC Atlantic. Thanks for listening.

In 2001, after the fall of the Taliban, there was little in the way of a functional police force in Afghanistan. Instead armed militias carried out their own brand of justice. Now, police figures have surpassed 150,000, and building, training and improving the Afghan National Police or ANP is a priority. Produced by Jake Tupman.

On this episode, the Afghan National Police continue to face challenges as they take on more responsibility in Helmand province, we follow the first enlisted female Marines to ever attend infantry training, Soldiers provide support as the Afghan military leads clearing operations in the Paktia province, scientists look for ways to create renewable energy on the battlefield, and we hear a heroic story that was once hidden from the world.

Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell IV, Commander, NATO Training Mission and Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan, on ‘Progress and Challenges to Transition in Afghanistan‘. The General spoke at RUSI via video link on Friday 23 September 2011. Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) has begun to assume the lead for security of its country. For the past 22 months, the Afghans, alongside the men and women of the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A), have worked tirelessly to develop their Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police to be capable of providing security across Afghanistan by the end of 2014. In his lecture, Lieutenant General Caldwell will discuss how the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police, assisted by NTM-A’s security force assistance, have generated capable forces which continue to grow in quality and professionalism.

It felt like we were on a safari today and Afghanistan is gorgeous. We rode with the Germans to a place named Tanji Marmor. A German commander went there to talk with the Afghan National Police chief about a bridge that was built there. Ken and I have been looking over at the mountains for days, and dreaming about visiting the place where the two mountains meet. There’s a small stream that runs between the two of them creating a footpath that is guarded by the ANP.

This edition features stories on Afghan families having difficulties crossing the border from Pakistan, Afghan and Pakistani refugees returning home after the overthrow of the Taliban and Afghan National Police conducting patrols to keep towns secure. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Trevor Pedro.

This edition features stories on Vice President Cheney visiting troops in Afghanistan, an entry-level training course for Afghan National Police and a Navy Seabee on a mission in Afghanistan. Hosted by Cpl. Todd Hunter.

This edition features stories on the opening of a new building that will improve the operational capabilities and general lifestyle of Airmen at Bagram Air Field, an Airman juggling his career, being recently married and expecting a child all while serving overseas, Afghan National Police leaders meeting with local leaders about being reintegrated into the district and a memorial ceremony for two Airborne Soldiers killed by a vehicle borne improvised explosive device in eastern Afghanistan. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Trevor Pedro.

This edition features stories on the change of command ceremony for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, an Iraqi civilian girl receiving medical treatment from coalition Soldiers after being shot in a tribal conflict and the 66th Military Police Company giving advanced training to Afghan National Police in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Trevor Pedro.

This edition features stories on troops at Bagram Air Field taking part in athletic competitions over Memorial Day weekend, how provincial reconstruction teams are improving the infrastructure of Afghanistan and a combined Coalition and Afghan National Police convoy returning fire on attacking insurgents. Hosted by Senior Airman Sarah Mihlfeld.

This edition features stories of the Afghan National Police providing an early warning of a rocket attack at Bagram Air Field, a deployed Soldier dealing with life's challenges and Coalition and Afghan forces detaining five suspected Taliban fighters. Hosted by Senior Airman Sarah Mihlfeld.

Today's edition features a look at Afghan National Police mentors and a profile of the "Small Rewards Program." Hosted by SSgt Dominique Dickens.

This edition features stories on the graduation of Afghan National Police officers and two U.S. Air Force C-130 maintainers who have served a combined 50 years. Hosted by Cpl. Aron Harrity.