Jocko Podcast - 67: "Company Commander": Important Lessons Directly from WW2

Episode Date: March 21, 2017

0:00:00 - Opening 0:09:45 - Lessons from Charles MacDonald, "Company Commander"  2:02:18 - Support, Cool Onnit, Amazon, JockoStore stuff, with Jocko White Tea and Psychological Warfare (on iTunes). Extreme Ownership (book), (Jocko's Kids' Book) Way of the Warrior Kid, and The Muster002  2:41:31 - Closing GratitudeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is Jocko podcast number 67 with Echo Charles and me Jock Willink. We are soldiers, Marines, grunts, ground pounders, infantry men, jarheads, Tommies, doboys, GIs. We march. We walk for miles. Miles that don't stop. Miles that don't end. miles that are filled with fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the enemy, fear of wounds, fear of death.

We march on. Boots try to stomp that fear into the ground. People talk of glory on the battlefield, but it is only talk. On the battlefield, there is only guttural instinct to survive and protect your brother. things are done not for glory but for love we march on we march in the heat and the cold and the rain and the snow we march through deserts and streets and in the valleys and up the hills every step we take is a new step into the unknown but at the same time it is a step that has been taken thousands of of times before by other soldiers in other times the names change the weapons change the cause is

different but the faces the faces are the same does not change the fear is the same as is the will the hardened will to drive on to move forward to march close with the enemy be it swords or bayonets, rifles or machine guns, spears or grenades, daggers or our bare hands. We bring our weapons to bear and unleash them with fury. There is no crowd watching. There are no admirers. It is only us. And when one of our brothers is killed, it rips us apart.

Magnificent men. The best of us. beautiful human beings filled with hopes and dreams and filled with life and in death all those hopes and all those dreams and all that life is drained away taken away in that moment the warrior falls the whole world should come to a standstill the whole world should stand and bow their heads and greet their heads and greet the loss of that hero world should stop and get on their knees and praise what that man has sacrificed and acknowledge this supreme and uncorrupted eminence of that soldier of that warrior world does not stop carries on it is only we warriors that truly mourn it is us alone that bow our heads it is us alone that bow our heads and mourn the loss of that fallen saint who has given everything

Breers we raise our heads we raise our heads again and with fire in our hearts we lock and load our weapons and we march we march forward without any question of what is at stake we march forward not for reward but for duty but for our sense for each other. We march forward, not for glory, but for love. Good evening. I was asked the other day by another veteran losing friends, and I answered that question, and in that answer, as I thought about it afterwards, you know,

I thought of this eternal warrior, this warrior. this warrior that's been around since man has existed hungry tired scared in his ability to put those discomforts aside and do what he must do and tonight we're going to look at another book about another band of brothers going back once again to world war two back on the European continent a book by a guy by the name of Charles McDonald who served as a company commander during the war and he actually went on to become the deputy chief historian for the U.S. Army and authored a bunch of books about the war but we're going to look at his first book today which is simply called company commander

and he wrote this book just after the war in 1947 and you know I get a bunch of books and I've talked about this like somebody tells me there's a good book out there and I don't even try and read the reviews anymore I just order it because I figure there's a chance it's good and then when I get it I kind of you know I have to crack it open and see if it's the kind of thing that I'm going to cover that really suits the podcast and this book I just cracked it open right to the preface, which normally I go in the middle somewhere. I might take a quick look at the preface,

but then I, you know, we'll look throughout the book and this preface, as soon as I got one sentence into this preface, or I said the first paragraph into this preface, and I was like, oh, okay, we're doing this book. So with that, let's go to the book. and start with the preface once again this book is called company commander by Charles B McDonald's written in 1947 here we go the characters in this story are not pretty characters they are not even heroic if lack of fear is a requisite for heroism

they are cold dirty rough frightened miserable characters G.I.'s, Johnny Doe Boys, dog faces, foot sluggers, poor bloody infantry, or, as they like to call themselves, combat infantry men. But they win wars. They are men from companies I and G, 23rd infantry, but they might as well be men from companies A and K, 16th inventory, or they might be men from company C and E, 254th Infantry. for their stories are relatively the same some may have fought the Germans longer than others or some may have fought the Germans less for all it was an eternity the characters in my story are not fictional and any similarity between them and persons living are dead is intentional and some of them are dead this is a personal story and authentic story and to make a story of war authentic you must see a war not a hasty taste of war but the dread gnawing daily diet of war the horrors and

fears that are at first blunt testimony that you are a novice and then later becomes so much a part of you that only another veteran through some six cents may know that those same horrors and fears are yet there I was an officer in the war a captain and company commander of companies I and G and because I was a captain my lot was easier sometimes than that of Joe Private and Joe first class and Joe Sergeant and even Joe Lieutenant but when my lot was easier physically it might be harder mentally because I knew Joe Private and Joe Private First Class and Joe Sergeant and Joe Lieutenant and I could not suppress my love and admiration for them but physical suffering can be worse sometimes and when the

GI's lot was harder than mine I shall try and tell you that because I am not the hero of my story the heroes are the men from companies I and G the lead scouts the riflemen the machine gunners the messengers and the mortarmen companies I and G are called rifle companies in the army and when you call a company a rifle company you are Speaking of the men who actually fight wars, I did not fight the Germans as long as some of the characters in my story. Some of them had been meeting the enemy since D plus 1, June 7, 1944, when I joined them in September as a replacement company commander. They had completed the capture of a stubborn enemy garrison at Brest, France, the day before I joined them. They rested in an open field on the Brittany Peninsula for five days and then they took a train ride on a French freight cars across France to meet the Germans again.

So there's the preface and you can see when he joins this company. These guys have already been fighting for over three months, close to four months when he shows up new guy, no combat experience. He shows up and has to jump right into the game and here's some thoughts that he has coming fresh from. the States company I 23rd infantry I thought you fought your way ashore in Normandy on D plus one you battled to the hot top of Hill 192 to pave the way for the st. Low breakout you stormed the ring of pillboxes at breast and had your number adduced to 50 in the explosion as the Germans blew them up in your faces and now they give you a company commander fresh from the states they ask you to put your faith in me I felt

weak and ineffectual. My mind began to peruse the duties that were before me. And this is when he's out on patrol. He's kind of on his first patrol now. In one day, and at the most, three, I would be leading these men against a team of trained killers. I wondered how I would react. These men deserve the best leadership. Could I give it to them? They could boast a glorious combat record already, and I knew nothing. Suddenly all my long hours of training for just such a role as this seemed pitifully inadequate. If only there were some way I could know just what it was like. It seemed incredible that this group of hardened combat veterans could accept me as an inexperienced youth of 21 to lead them into battle,

simply because he happened to come to them wearing a set of flashy bars on his shoulders. If only I could look into their minds and see what they were thinking. So you can see this guy's definitely feeling what just about everyone moving into a leadership position feels Which is I'm not ready for this and I don't know everything and as I've said a bunch of times That's okay everybody knows that you don't know everything everything everybody expects that you don't know everything What you don't want to do is go act like you know everything because they're gonna see right through it Now they're they're moving a little bit more and We're starting to get close

Closer to combat. My pulse quickened. So this is it, I said to myself using a phrase that every replacement uses a thousand times before he ever actually reaches combat. I would soon know if I could take it. I would soon know if I could justify the faith of the men of company I. We dispersed to our company areas. In the darkness outside the tent, I noticed flashes of artillery to the east, and the deep rumbling of the big guns came from the distance. A voice in my brain kept repeating, this is it, this is it. I stumbled blindly through the dark forest in the direction of the company. So obviously I'm fast forwarding some stuff here and this is just him getting closer and closer to going into combat.

And, you know, every veteran now has that feeling, you know, since the wars for us started for this generation started of, this is it. It's so true everyone's thinking that this is it this is the big one this is can I take it and so many guys will say that that's what drives them into the military For me for sure you want that test and there's no there's no bigger test then hey there's other Human beings that are trying to kill me and I have to go kill them that's That's the biggest test there is and guys want to know if they can take it Here's some of his thoughts be calm be business business like this is the same as maneuvers maneuvers just meeting training maneuvers give some orders start things movings you're going to have a look at the German army so this is he's

going out on a little reconnaissance and he now they're getting in sort of a defensive position here and he says this back to the book I decided to dispose my company initially as lieutenant had done we could make changes later I would have preferred holding one of my rifle platoons in support position but it seemed unwise for our company frontage was great. So you can see he's already listening to like his lieutenant has his guys set up a certain way. He's going with it. He's not going up there and changing everything right away because he's just going to kind of set back and see how things go. Now they're expecting to get attacked with with small arms fire, but instead it ends up being some mortar fire.

And here we go back to the book. But the sound of bullets did not come. In its stead came the sharp crack and heavy explosion. that I knew must be mortar fire falling behind me it sounded as if the shells were falling on the crest of the ridge that we had so recently left but I took no time to look back I increased my speed and dived behind a clump of bushes There would be no protection protection from those bushes against the mortar shells but I was comforted by their concealment I lay there panting so here's his in first contact This is it. This is it. My brain kept repeatedly kept repeating madly overrepeating

over I must not appear afraid I must give these men confidence in me despite the fact that I they know I'm inexperienced they were playing their parts well I had been unable to detect any attitude of distrust in their actions and I had searched their faces for long periods of time I must keep that confidence I must I must scared captain sergeant savage asked so sergeant savage is like his senior enlisted guy and he's looking at him he goes scared Captain and he says a little I admitted I took a long slow drag on my cigarette We are we all are Savage said. We always are pretty good vote of confidence And you can see the senior enlisted guy trying to make him feel comfortable with it right? That's a good senior enlisted guy

That's not trying to make it not trying to go ego Hey what do you you your problem? You look scared. You know captain? No, he said hey don't worry boss we're all scared. We're all scared No big deal. We just got to stay professional. So these guys end up in a hunkered down defensive position that he's got a man. He ends up being there for quite a few days where it's a pillbox, you know, a bunker. And his main control point or command point is inside one of these pill boxes. And they end up with a bunch of guys in this pillbox. And he's got little foxholes dug out away from the pillbox where there's little platoon guys and squads that are set up in these positions and so his his task is to maintain this security positions and

that's what he does going back to the book I didn't plan to sleep at all the first night now that we were in position and the difficulties of moving were moving in no longer worried me I was filled with a growing fear that the Germans might hit us with a counter attack I decided that the enemy must surely know that the troops were moving in and would attempt to dislodge us while while we might still be disorganized 11 men in a pillbox 11 men who must live from day to day never thinking of the immediate future But only of the in infinity when the war would someday be over there was sparky and first sergeant albin savage blackburn Crotoo and me there was private first class Willie Hagen the tobacco chewing 39 year old army regular who kept us laughing with sage tactical wisdom wisdom and served as first class willie haggen the tobacco chewing 39 year old army regular who kept us laughing with sage tactical wisdom wisdom and served as first first first first first

platoon runner then there was private first class angelo Boutaree of Boston second platoon runner who had lost two brothers in the war already private first class Hubert Berger of Memphis Tennessee third platoon runner who's 18 years old and read his Bible every night private first class Kenneth Lampton of Detroit Michigan weapons platoon runner who is also 18 and corresponded with college girls from Michigan and private first-class Erling G. Salberg of Fargo, North Dakota, who was 19 in cleanly good-looking and the headquarters Bazooka Man.

The cooks and Jeep drivers, the supply sergeant and the mail orderly, had been left behind with the service company to keep us supplied. The changing of the guard at 4 o'clock revealed that it was raining outside, a slow, cold, miserable drizzle. I thought of the men in the forward platoons in their exposed foxholes with no protection from the elements except shelter half stretched across their holes and nothing between them and the hostile killers in front of us but the muzzles of their own rifles i had admired the unglomerous infantry soldier before but as the rain continued to fall and the night grew colder

my pride at being a part of this dirty miserable infantry knew no bounds now like i said there was he was in this main pillbox which it has protection right it's got a roof and they're a little bit relaxed in there a little bit You know they're protected not just from the enemy but they're protected from L the elements as well somewhat So he goes out and he's going out to visit the guys that are in foxholes that are just basically sitting out there Baring the elements you know like he said nothing between them and the enemy but the the muzzle of the rifle back to the book Any idea that I might have entertained that my visit would bolster the morale of these men's was overshadowed by the effect the visit had on my own morale How they could smile and laugh and joke in their present condition I could not see

But each man had a cheery word for me as I approached if I had possessed any misgivings that these men would weaken under the hardships of their cramped position and the adverse weather They faded away into nothing their courage and fortitude made me admiringly envious and brought a lump to my throat So he's thinking, I'm going to go out there and boost their morale. The opposite happens. The opposite happens. He's boosted by seeing them and seeing how intact and motivated they were out there. Back to the book. As we reached the right flank of the platoon, I noticed a man huddled in his foxhole,

trembling violently beneath a blanket which covered his head. Lieutenant Antigrassed him by the shoulder. I thought I told you to get digging this hole out deeper, he said sternly. The blanket came off the soldier's head. You're putting me way off here by myself so I can be killed, he shouted, half sobbing. You want me to be killed. There's nobody over here, but shut up, auntie said. You want the whole goddamn German army to hear you?

Get to digging that hole. There's two men right here with you, and the next hole's 10 feet away. Nobody wants to see you killed. We turned away. I looked back over my shoulder at the soldier. He's been like that ever since he's been with the platoon, aunt. he said, uses every excuse he can get to go to the rear. He won't work to get himself warm like I try and get him to.

If he doesn't come around tonight, send him back to the CP, I said. We can keep him there for a night and see how he turns out. So, although some guys are clearly in good spirits out there, you still got guys that are breaking down. And you've got to deal with him. And you can see he's going to pull him off the line, get him back to the CP. And actually, I don't go into this, but he ends up getting evacuated. And when they get him back, they figure out that he's got appendicitis.

So he's in rough shape. But so some time passes, and, you know, they're dealing with sort of clandestine attacks are coming. The Germans will kind of probe him. Sometimes they're, well, they're receiving indirect fire. So mortars and artillery are on a fairly regular basis. Back to the book. I awoke at 10 for the start of the fourth day in the pillbox.

It was a day of K-rations of glorious sunshine, of adjusting artillery, fire, of testing telephone mines after enemy shelling, of signing one's names to envelopes of countless letters, of requesting supplies from battalions, of one and a hundred things that were becoming more and more routine. But always there was the deep, fearful dread of the enemy mortar shell that dropped unheralded from the sky, of the artillery round that screeched a fiendish warning as it approached,

And the deep dread too of the darkness that would come tonight just as it had come last night and just as it would come the next night and the next And any night the darkness might release a horde of fanatical German soldiers eager to kill and drive us from our holes and pillboxes or perhaps a flame throwing half-track spouting its flaming oily death into the deepest recesses of the pillboxes The nervousness was like a malignant disease that ate itself up and down the line and back again hear about that stress You hear about that constant constant stress and you notice it's the things that you can't control Yeah it's the things that you can't control that's the horrible things about the the the mortar and the Artillery fire you can't control it just random and you can't control where that round hits if it hits in your foxhole you're dead if it hits three feet away from your foxhole you live and I think the They had these flame throwing half tracks and I think just the the the the to die by burning to death

Everybody knows that's a nightmare and so that's creeping in their minds as well Back to book it seemed that I'd only been asleep a few minutes when I awoke The pillbox was a massive moving men with apparently no pattern a deep dull throbbing filled my head Accentuated by a fierce pounding that pushed relentlessly against my temples I jumped from the bunk with a start the throbbing in my head was a big gun firing the man seated there by the table was covered with a dull brown dust blood was streaming from a gashness forehead a tank's firing right at us captain sparky said excitedly they hit the head they hit the shed with the mortarman in it sergeant

patterson got a cut in the head i tried to shake the cobwebs of sleep from my brain i had been asleep for hours it was daylight it was eight o'clock in the morning i moved over to the wounded man he was Sergeant Lee Patterson a North Carolinian and one of the squad leaders from the mortar section the wound is bleating profusely Another man held a handkerchief immediately below it to prevent blood from running into the sergeant's eyes It's not bad the sergeant said that the sergeant said just a cut from some loose brick it was flying all around the cellar when the shells hit Looks worse than it is I guess So now they're they're under attack and you're gonna notice a pattern I don't if I'll cover enough but But this poor guy, this poor guy, McDonald, Captain McDonald,

it seems like every time they get a major attack, he's getting awoken from being asleep. Because he's not sleeping very often, but every time he puts his head down, you see almost every time he gets awoken or every time they receive a major attack, it's because he's asleep and boom, all of a sudden things start happening.

He must have been so paranoid to go to sleep knowing that this stuff was hanging over his head. So they're getting this pretty big coordinated attack, and then some aircraft show up, some some P-47 shows up like five P-47 shows up and here's the description of that each plane circled high into the air and came down with the skill and grace of a periwedding dancer upon its target the bullets from its cannon beating a staccato chant of death as it dived on the Germans below someone behind me said oh them goddamn beautiful birds we watched in silent admiration as the

planes climbed once again well their work's done for the day someone said yeah a mortarman answered reaching for a shovel they'll go home now and have a short scotch and a hot bath and shack up with some mademoiselle or some limey wench what a life yeah and draw double salary for it a headquarters man put in that's the life for me willie hagen said oh dry up you never had it so good so that's that's a common thing you know and we're gonna get dave burke on here and i'm sure we'll hassle him about being a pilot I mean, that is, you go, you do your mission, and then you're flying back to base. The bases are in friendly areas and they're protected, so you're going to get a short scotch and a lawn on a hot bath.

And, again, fast forward in a little bit and also going back to him being asleep and being rudely awakened. Here we go. Back to the book. I was nodding off. I was nodding often as the hands of my watch neared three o'clock, awakening each time with a start and shaking my head in an effort to clear it. Clear the sleep from my brain. A shot rang out. It seemed to come from the very entrance of the pillbox and was the cue that set off a fusillade of small arms

that reverberated back and forth among the hills. I could discern the slow chatter of one of our heavy machine guns than the intimidated guttural tone of a burp gun. All the sounds seemed to emanate from the area around the farmhouse as if every conceivable type of small arms vied to be heard above the accompanying noises the explosion of a German-type concussion grenade joined the uproar an American grenade exploded and its fragments whined through the air a few

rounds of mortar fire exploded above the din I heard the guard scuffle and curse as they tripped on the entrance to the pillbox I was suddenly afraid I was suddenly more afraid than I had ever been before my body seemed weak all over and I wondered if I had the strength to I opened my mouth to sound the alarm and I wondered if anything would come out Wake up everybody I shouted surprise that the words actually came forth I don't want anybody caught sleeping in this damn pillbox We had waited long enough the Germans had come the sound of small arms continued heightened by the explosions of dozens of light mortar shells Fear gripped my body and left me trembling I was not so much afraid of what was happening and was happening and as I was of the horrible visions my mind had dreamed up of what would happen should we fail to repulse the attack

I visualized the mad dash dash to reach the entrance to the pillbox To escape entrapment within only to be met by a hail of enemy fire or a hellish blast of a flamethrower My imagination ran a gauntlet of evil So this is a counterattack Well, this is what you've been waiting for now the company of veterans will find out what it's a counter-outice. I'll find out what it's a counter-outice. I'm not what it's a counter-outice. I'm a counter-to-waiterer. Well, well this is what it's what it's what it's what it's what it's what it you've been waiting for. Well, what it's Well, what it So this is What it So this is What it So this is My my has in this youthful inexperienced CEO quit shaking god damn it stop trembling all over get control of yourself act like a soldier god damn it at least you can impersonate an officer savage tried the battalion phone the handle which should have produced a ring made an unnatural

grating sound the lines out he cried i'll try the other line blackburn i'll try the other line blackburn get your radio set up outside so this is despite the fact that they've been mortared and they've taken some fire and they've had some little probing attack this is the big one this is this is it the germans had come and it's interesting to hear his thoughts as this is going on he's trying to tell himself stop shaking calm down act like a soldier hey if nothing else just pretend that you're a soldier right now just act like an officer should act right now classic so they start receiving this pretty intense attack and he gets on the radio eventually get the radio set up and he says attack is hitting my left flank and right flank of love company their lines must be out to fire us concentration

two to one over so what they do is and they get these these defensive positions they set up and they have pre-designated firing areas where they can have our friendly artillery or mortars bomb areas they already know where they are so they this one was called a concentration in 2-21. That's wherever the enemy was attacking from, they have a name for it. They say put bombs on 2-21, boom, you can get it done really quick. And it's, it pretty much almost immediately holds this attack.

And of course, that attack goes away. They kind of get that one under control. And now he's tired because he didn't get much sleep. So he goes back to sleep. And here we go back to the book. It seemed that I had been to sleep for hours when I awoke suddenly with a start. Sparky's voice came to me

from somewhere in the distance. I'm trying to get the artillery. I'm trying to get the artillery. Blackburn's voice was somewhere else beside it. Get me Captain Anderson. Get me Captain Anderson. But what was the noise in the background? What was that pounding?

Someone must be beating on the pillbox with a sledgehammer. What was that deafening noise? I jumped from my bunk. My feet stung from the rough contact with the concrete floor. That was artillery and mortars exploding my head. I couldn't think.

I shook my head sharply to clear the sleep from my brain. The Germans had come again. And what mortars and artillery? Good God, they must be firing every weapon around for miles. There was a wild look in Sparky's eyes. They've hit all three platoons, Captain, he cried. Head on. They're pounding the hell out of them.

Worst barrage I ever heard. Worst barrage I ever heard, Captain. So like I said, whenever Captain McDonald falls asleep, they're getting attacked. And that's what they're receiving really heavy attack again. So they repulsed that first attack and now they're coming back at them again. And this time it's with some serious artillery. For God's sake, get us some artillery.

Captain, he cried. They're knocking the hell out of us. Small arms and burp guns and this goddamn mortar and artillery fire. I never saw such a barrage. We got to get some help or we'll never stop them. For God's sake, Captain Hurry, Middlebrook said. His voice was half frantic. I got two wounded men here in my pillbox now.

God knows how many more are out there. I suddenly remembered the 155s that close in concentration we had zeroed on our front so 155 is a bigger artillery shell it's a big big daddy and they had they had got a concentration of fire that was really close to them so hey if we're getting like just about to get overrun we can call this this particular concentration of fire that close in concentration we had zeroed on our front what was it called queen 163 queen 163 Queen 163. Oh God, let us get the 155s.

Hello, tear one to tear three. Roger, tell Tara to give us the 155s concentration queen 163 and fast over. So he calls in that concentration, which is really close to them. You're calling in 150, I think 155 millimeter mortar shell. I want to say it has like 25 or 30 pounds of explosive in it. And they're calling in a bunch of it. And Here we go my heart skipped a beat

Savage ran back inside to relay the news to platoons And the big artillery shells whispered their messages of outgoing death The deafening explosions to our front were followed by the noise of shrapnel spraying the trees around the farmhouse And small pieces of spent shrapnel fell around us So they're calling those bombs so close that they're getting hit with the shrapnel from the bombs That's how close the enemy was and that's how close they're calling these bombs in I called for a repeat on the barrage and And when the battalion said, Roger, I knew we had won.

No attacking force could withstand a barrage like that. So that's a command that you use when you're calling an artillery. It's called repeat. Which is actually why you never say repeat on the radio. When you see in the movie, someone says, oh, can you repeat that? You don't actually say that. You don't say repeat unless you're specifically doing this, getting them to call more bombs in. What do you say then on the radio?

Say again. Oh, say again. Yeah, you say say again. And so they call these big bombs come in. And another couple days go by they end up spending a total of nine days in the in the pillbox and in that position and then finally they get Told okay, we're gonna pull you out of the pill boxes and we're going back to the book I tried to keep my voice in a normal pitch through the conversation But I wanted to jump and kick and scream with joy tears came to my eyes and I thought I would choke with happiness It was almost too wonderful to be true my battalion runners would arrive around midnight leading the men of company B

We were getting out of the pillboxes And tonight, company I was to be relieved. So there you go. Nine days in the pillboxes. The other company, Company B, comes out to relieve them, and they're doing a turnover with Company B. So he's sending like one platoon back at a time, and he's staying there with a new company commander

whose name is Captain Cowan. And we're going back to the book. A few minutes later, a call came for Captain Cowher over the platoon phone. A tenseness came over his face as he answered. He handed the phone back to the soldier sitting at the table. They just killed one of our own men, he said to me. One of my squad leaders was moving around to the front and was going back to his hole. One of the barmen let him have it.

Thought he was a German. I wondered how it would feel to have one of your own men killed by an accident. Having a man killed by the enemy would be bad enough, although I had been mercifully speared that thus far. I shuddered. My men are nervous as hell, Captain Cowan said. They've heard all sorts of rumors and stories about these positions makes them trigger happy So we got a blue on blue guys first night in position and they're freaked out

They've heard all these rumors. They know that these guys are getting pounded by the enemy and the Germans keep attacking and they get so paranoid that they Accidentally shoot one of their own guys now these guys get moved to the rear company eye kind of get some Some they get moved back a little so not on the front line anymore and this was kind of an interesting look on that it seemed back to the book it seemed now we were in a quiet position every officer in the division with rank of major above wanted to inspect the company area they condemn the men for not having shaved or for wearing knit wool caps without their helmets evidently an unpardonable misdemeanor or for untidy areas around the dugouts these officers did not inspect my first platoon area however usually passing it over with the excuse that it was a bit

far to walk but we laughed inwardly knowing that it was the threat of enemy shelling that kept most of them away so oh you're back in the rear now everyone wants to come and meet you meet the boys because there's no danger there well guess what the boys know the boys know what's up now he's about to get an order to go out on the attack. So he's been in an evensive position. Now he's moving to the attack. Get set. It's coming now at the attack order. At last you're going to attack. There's no chance now for a reprieve. The CEO of the 393rd had insisted that we attack immediately to relieve the besieged unit. The colonel continued, but he had succeeded in putting off the attack until morning. We would jump off slightly before dawn at 7 o'clock attacking astride the east-west highway.

company I would attack on the left additional ammunition would be available later at battalion The platoon ladders were assembled when I returned to the company I only had one map of the area and there was no place where we could have a light to examine the map with the lie Sergeant Albin's slit trench was deeper than the others but that's but but at that it amounted to a little more than a than the snow scraped from the earth and a few inches of frozen earth removed the men hastily through dead branches across the makeshift hole and I wriggled underneath with my map and a book of matches one puts one of the platoon leaders one by one the platoon leaders crawled in to receive the order I would strike a match and give them a brief glance at the map now wet and sodden from the melting

snow I wondered if I could have drawn any worse conditions under which to issue my first attack order so here the uh they moved forward but now they're getting ready to attack and he's given his first briefing to his platoon leaders He only has one map, which is completely ridiculous. And I think about, like, every single guy, when we would go out on the battlefield, every single guy would have a battle map, every single guy. If we take 30 guys, they all are going to have a battle map with him. So here we are, the whole company of 150 guys.

We've only got one map, and he's got it. And by the way, it's soaking wet. And by the way, for your briefing, nowadays, we go into a big secure area with a PowerPoint and big projector up and we go through all these slides that are well prepared. He's got a match. a hole and he's given this brief. That's what I'm talking about. So they end up in a forward position and as this attack goes they end up now having to switch from attacking to a defensive position and things start to get go sideways really really quick and this ends up. This is actually

the beginning of the Battle of the Bulls. It's a famous, obviously a famous battle and this is sort of the beginning of it, although they did not know that at this time. So here we go back to the book. I took stock of our defensive situation. We were one rifle battalion thrust into a densely wooded area with no terrain features that favored the defender with orders to hold at all costs. We were hastily dug in along a highway facing the direction from which we hoped the enemy would come if he had to come. No company had been able to withhold a support platoon. There was no support company.

Thus, the defense was a thin, single line of riflemen. So there's no backup. That's the situation they're in. A shallow draw lay to the front of my rifle platoons with a higher ridge rising beyond it, over which the enemy would soon be coming. Another draw led up to my left flank, protected by two light machine guns

and a few riflemen in position, which no man in his right mind would place machine guns unless he had no other method of defending the probable enemy approach. These guys are in a horrible situation. Our right flank lacked 50 yards of tying in with K company along a firebreak which bisected the highway. We had no anti-tank defense except two Sherman tanks and a bazooka with three rounds of ammunition.

We were being supported by a 99th Division artillery, an outfit about which we knew nothing, except this was their first action except for holding a quiet defensive sector for a month. But there was nothing that could be done now, but wait. At 10.30, a Jeep loaded with men clipped down the highway toward the rear at breakneck speed. That would be the vanguard of the retreating battalion from the 99th. The Germans would be here soon. Just imagine that. You're there to help out and defend this position and support this battalion.

And the first thing you see coming from ahead of you is a Jeep filled with rag-tag soldiers going as fast as they can away from the enemy. Craziness. Yeah. Craziness. And here it continues. A ragged column of troops appeared over the wooded ridge to the front of the second and third platoons. There were not over 200 men, the remnants of 900 who had fought gallantly to our front since they

were hit by the German attack the preceding day. Another group, the size of a platoon, withdrew along the highway, donating a few hand grenades and clips of ammunition, which they passed to my first platoon. Two men stayed to fight with my company. It's legit. You just got overrun some guys are giving away ammunition given grenades away and these guys are hey Where can I help out? Two enlisted men carrying a badly wounded lieutenant stopped exhausted with my third platoon

They could carry him no further I called for a litter squad The riflemen could not be sure if the next troops that appeared over the ridge were friendly or enemy I alerted the artillery men to call for fire in the event the approaching troops were German Lieutenant Brock's call came a few minutes later scarcely proceeding a a hail of small arms fire, which sounded like the crack of thousands of rifles echoing through the forest. There was no doubt now. My men could see the build caps of the approaching troops.

They were Germans. And, you know, we're going to get to a point as I go through these books and I highlight little sections and I read that little section. I'm about to get to a point here shortly where I'm just going to read the whole damn section because it's so much, it's a company that's about to get all. Overrun, right? It's a company that's about to get overrun by Germans and it's it's really interesting to hear what this looks like from the company commander Company commander's perspective But this is I mean this is it this is you're losing the battle I mean he survives, but it's

It's as bad as it gets It's as bad as it gets back to the book enemy bullets whistled through the trees around us. I jumped into the slit trench with savage and blackburn Request after request for artillery and mortar support came from the platoon leaders I called for every concentration listed on my overlay and for variations of each so that little thing I was talking about when you're calling for these concentrations you got two to three and this one and that one he's just calling for all of them calling for all of them just bomb everything the inevitable maddening three rounds fell each time so they're trying to in the rear they're trying to conserve up conserve ammunition so only you're firing three rounds at a time

and he's do it again do it again do it again the platoon leaders begged frantically for more I began on one side of the company area and called for concentrations all across our front and back again Lieutenant Sawyer called for barrage after barrage of 81 millimeter mortar fire. The crack of small arms reached an ear splitting crescendo like static on a forgotten radio during an electric storm. I lay flat on my back in the slit trench, the platoon phone to one ear, the receiver of the battalion radio on the other. The chill from the frozen earth seeped through my clothes and I shivered, but I was surprised at my own. calmness the long nights of shaking terror in the pillboxes convinced me that I would never be calm in combat I did not know what had possessed me to keep calm surely this is the most serious

situation which I had ever found myself the small arms fire reached another crackling crescendo crescendo the small arms fire reached another crackling crescendo long had several men wounded long as one of the other commanders he didn't know how many or how badly the enemy bullets were too thick to move around were too thick to move around I called again for litter squads wave after wave of frantically screaming German infantry storm the slight tree-covered rise held by three platoons a continuous hail of fire exuded from their weapons answered by volley after volley from the defenders Germans fell left and right a few rounds of artillery the few rounds of artillery we did succeed in bringing down caught the attackers in a draw

to our front and we could hear their screams of pain when the small arms fire would slacken but still they came artillery and nabblewerfers which is like another kind of canon and german cannon with their accompanying terrifying screams played a deep accompaniment in the background the shells exploded to our rear and around the road junction to our right we ignored their crushing explosions thinking how thankful we were that their effects were reserved for others than ourselves The small arms fire rose and fell again and then again indicating that the attacking troops were withdrawn momentarily to the bottom of the draw to regroup before launching another suicidal assault.

Reinforcement streamed over the ridge behind them to join the assaults. The draw and the highway were littered with their dead and wounded, but there seemed to be no end of their fanatical attacks. Second platoon reported a company soldier killed. It was the first death in company I, since I had taken. command three months before but the news was not so staggering as I had expected it would be there was too much other excitement the dead soldier was technician fifth grade Martin w Carlson from Pennsylvania he was an aide man whom the rifleman idolized who had jumped from

his foxhole to aid a wounded soldier nearby a bullet pierced his helmet and he fell face forward into a hole of the wounded rifleman he had sought to aid he was a non-combatant according to the rules of warfare and was denied the privilege of wearing the combat infantryman badge and The ten dollars per month pittance for dangers and hardship endured But death made no distinction Message after message came over the platoon phone Lieutenant Wilson was badly wounded he could not walk and must have a litter ammunition was running lower and lower The M company machine gunners with the first platoon were out of ammunition except enough to keep one gun firing a few minutes longer a

The 60 millimeter mortars found their ammunition supply so low that they fired only when the enemy was actually assaulting Germans were being killed as close as 10 yards forward of the foxholes hand grenades were practically all gone Yeah, this is this is it There was no solace from the battalion each call for litter bearers or additional ammunition was met with the maddening words we're doing all we can I told them we could not hold up much longer unless we got additional ammunition captain Montgomery said we must hold our orders are to hold at all costs he said I wondered if he could possibly realize the meaning of those words we must hold until every last man was killed or captured company eyes last stand and what is to

be gained nothing but time time born of the bodies of dead men time Seven times the enemy infantry assaulted, and seven times they were greeted by a hail of small arms fired hand grenades that sent them reeling down the hill, leaving behind a growing pile of dead and wounded. But with all, the attacks seemed poorly organized. There was no supporting artillery or mortar fire on our positions, and I wondered why they had not yet found the open flank on our left. There was only the suicidal wave of fanatical infantrymen whooping and yelling and brandishing their rifles like men possessed. I looked at my watch. It was 3.30 in the afternoon. Time was passing amazingly fast.

Long, again, Long was one of the other platoon commanders. Long said he saw enemy tanks. There were five of them. Giant tigers lungering down the road 300 yards away, surrounded by over a hundred enemy infantry men. Get those Sherman into action. Sherman was our U.S. tank. Get those Germans into action.

It's your only hope. He's talking to himself. You might hold off the infantry, even with your ammunition. mission practically exhausted, but riflemen can't fight tiger tanks. The first platoon has your only three rounds of bazook ammo. Unless the Sherman's can stop them, three rockets are all there is between you and company I and kingdom come. So small arms, obviously machine guns, they don't do anything to a tank.

And there's five enemy tanks coming and they only have three bazooker rounds, which a bazook around can stop a tank, but you know, you've got a hit. It's got to be a good hit and all that. So he knows he's in big, big trouble. I called Sergeant Garcia to send a man to contact the tankers and tell them to move immediately to their form positions on the left flank. This business of improved positions was so much bosh. Garcia's answer was stunning. They're gone, Captain.

They pulled back to K Company 15 minutes ago. So he's expecting the Sherman tanks there to be help out. They're gone. I did not take time for the full meaning of his words to sink in, giving him. our call sign over the radio, I asked Colonel Tuttle and told him my plight. Either I get those tanks back to my left flank, or I could not possibly hold the position. While waiting for the colonel's answer, I tried barrage after barrage to destroy the tigers with artillery and mortars, but we made not a single hit, and the near miss has only

stopped the infantry temporarily, not phasing the great steel monsters in the least. They waddled effortlessly on toward the hapless riflemen. A round of 88 millimeters snapped from the top Snap the top from a fir tree above our heads And fragments sprayed down in all directions There could be no doubt now the tiger's head arrived Round after round crashed into the area A momentary shrill whistle followed by a deafening explosion

And a sharp thud of the round being fired The latter reaching us after we heard the shell explode For God's sake cap'n long screamed over the phone his half voice sobbing Get those tanks down here do something For God's sake, these bastards are sitting 75 yards away and pumping 88s into our foxholes like we're sitting ducks. For God's sakes, Captain! What about your bazooka? He said a bullet had gone in one end and bent the tube so the rocket would not pass through.

Colonel Tuttle was on the battalion radio. The tankers said it would be suicide for them to face the Tiger tanks. They would not move unless he gave them a direct order and then he was afraid they would disobey it. and he was inclined to agree that they stood no chance against the more heavily armored tigers and the 88s. So these American tanks, they can't fight against the tigers, and so they're backing up so that they can survive. I burned with anger, and I must have been insubordinate. If my men could fight the armor-plated monsters with nothing but rifles and die in the attempt, the tankers could afford to at try it with medium tanks.

If we don't get the tanks, we can't hold another five minutes, I said slowly, And finally, thank you, sir, Roger, out. And for those of you that don't know, I've explained this before. Out means you don't need to talk back to me. You don't need to, I'm not requesting a response. Out means I'm done. I'm hanging up the radio, which is interesting that normally the junior person, the says, you know, over, and it's the senior person that says, hey, don't talk to me anymore, right?

I'm done with you. So he's saying to his leader, he's saying, If we don't get the tanks, we can't hold another five minutes. Thank you, sir. Roger, out. Shades of General Custer. Company eyes last stand. Hell, what does it matter?

You never expected to get out of this war alive anyway. Not really. I gave long the news. He was frantic. There was absolutely nothing he and his men could do. A direct hit had landed on one of the heavy machine guns. Another had hit the technical sergeant Smith's fox. He was the platoon sergeant Long didn't know if he was dead or not the other machine gun crew was out of ammunition and was withdrawing

He was powerless to stop them. He was afraid his left flank and the draw was falling back, but he couldn't see to make sure Hold long. I cried for God's sakes hold. We've got to hold I wondered how I made my voice so convincing I wanted to throw away the platoon phone and the battalion radio and everything connected with the war and bury my head in my hands and cried cry cry the infantry assault upon the other platoons continued the sound of the battle reached a height which I had never thought possible before the burst of the 88 millimeter shells in the woods vied with the sound of hundreds of lesser weapons it couldn't last forever I thought it must stop sometime it must stop but when and how I looked toward the draw between me and the highway about 20 men

were walking down the draw toward the rear I recognize several men from the light machine gun section and a machine gun from M Company the others were riflemen from first platoon I did not know where they were going all I knew is that somehow I must stop them I jumped from the slit trench and ran toward them ignoring the crack of bullets through the trees waving my arms and shouting for them to stop they turned to look at me with vague blank expressions they seemed to wonder who was this crazy man who wanted them to do this foolish thing I saw that it was the entire left flank of first platoon the thin lines of the remainder of the

Patoons would soon be cut off from the rear the 60 millimeter mortar men a few yards away a few yards away were dismantling their weapons I managed to get my moot to get the men to move to my CP but I could not step them that stop them there They walk slowly on towards the rear half dazed expressions on their faces so his guys are leaving And he's doing what he can to get them to stop and fight but they're they're leaving This is it's not happening the guys know and and they're out I mean I mean They're out of bullets, right? They're out of bullets. They don't have any ammunition left, but nothing to do.

So they're leaving. I jumped into the slit trench and grasped the radio handpiece. I sat on the edge of the trench, ignoring the whistle of bullets and the crash of 88-millimeter shells around us, as everyone seemed to be now doing. Get the platoon leaders on the phone. I called the savage. Hello, Roger 1. I said in the radio, not waiting for my acknowledgement that they were receiving my message. This is Mack. My left flank has fallen back. I can't stop them. The Germans are overrunning my left platoon.

I'll try to build up another line along the firebank. We can't hold here. There, I had said it. This was eye company turning tail and running. This was eye company retreating. This was eye company hauling ass. This was eye company running like a son of a bitch. strangely I didn't give a damn I was utterly void of feeling savage held the platoon phone toward me I can't get long he said and Scotty's here with us now don't sound afraid you've got to sound like you mean business hello Brock I said calmly they've overrun Long's position swing your platoon back to the left rear and we'll build up another line along the firebreak did you get that Garcia pull back and we'll tie with K company my cp's pulling out now we've got a hold at the fire blake do you understand that we've got to hold the fire break the men in my cp group were already moving towards the rear i grabbed my musette bag and my carbine

savage took the phone blackburn grabbed the radio we ran toward the rear we reached the north south fire break and crossed it the foxholes which battalion had occupied were fall along the far end of the clearing in a patch of small firs whose interwoven branches formed a small dense green barrier. I knew that any fight here would be at close quarters because the Germans would be able to advance unseen to the edge of the firebreak 15 yards from the foxholes we would occupy. But it was the only spot where we had any possibility of holding. I ran up and down the line shouting, we've got to hold him here. We've got to hold them here. The men stared back at me unbelievingly. I was asking headquarters men armed with carbines and pistols to hold off hordes

of attacking Germans that had already broken through all our rifle platoons could offer. There was only one machine gun, a light gun manned by private first classed Richard Cowan of Wichita, Kansas, set up five feet from the foxhole which I occupied. The Germans were almost upon us before we knew what was happening. We could not see them for the low-hanging branches of the fir trees across the firebreak, but we could hear their shouts and shrill whistle signals, which evidently. came from their leaders. I decided they were a flanking group that was on its way unseen around our left flank

even as we left our former CP. The attackers who had dislodged first platoon could not have reached us so quickly. Cowan began to spit machine gun fire across the narrow firebreak and I heard a German scream with pain. The headquarters men fired their carbines and pistols into the low-hanging branches. The fir trees to the right were too thick to see the area where the rifle platoons were supposed to be going into position. I wondered if they had been able to build up any semblance of a line.

A round came from an enemy tank, broke the top of the small fir tree above Cowan's head, sending him reeling from the gun, but he jumped back and continued to fire. I knew that the big tigers had reached the junks in the firebreak on the highway. Hales of enemy bullets thrashed the snow and the fir and the trees around us, the fir trees around us I ducked beneath the cover of my foxhole trying to get battalion on the radio but without success

I stood up and looked out of the hole Great God there was no one left but Cowan The others had fallen back I jumped from the foxhole and yelled the Cowan to withdraw Savage and Blackburn followed me I left my Mossette bag lying on the ground but my carbine was over my shoulder absent mindingly I screamed to get the radios

Savage jumped back into the foxhole and Blackburn and I turned and plunged through the thickly interlaced branches of the little furs. Bullets followed us lashing the furs on all sides, and I wondered if maybe I'd been hit. I felt no pain, but I could not see how any human being could endure those hails of bullets and not be wounded. I stumbled blindly through the brush, unheedful of the branches scratching at my face and hands. My overshoes were slick, and I tripped and fell face downward in the snow. I rose again and stumbled on blindly as we plunged through the furs I was separated from Blackburn and the group that it held Held briefly at the firebreak I did not worry that Savage or the others were not with me

They were at some place else in the fur thicket I came across Sergeant Albean and Sergeant Walter L Dietrich of Cincinnati Ohio a machine gun squad leader We plowed through the furs together until we came Unexpectedly upon K's K company C p A series of half-completed foxholes dug in the frozen red earth. Captain Howard C. Wilson of Houston, Texas, the K-company commander, was talking frantically over his 300 radio. He turned as I approached.

Damn, but I'm glad to see you, he said. Battalion lost contact with you, and I haven't heard anything about how your company's coming. He seemed more relieved than perturbed at seeing me, and I wondered what he thought brought me to his CP. Perhaps it was the way I stood looking at him blankly. There must have been nothing in my face to tell him that my company was no more. And that even now, hordes of Germans were rushing toward us unchecked. Through my mind raised only one thought. I had failed and failed miserably.

My orders had been to hold at all costs, and I personally had failed, and because of my failure, the entire battalion would be routed or annihilated. and all from a local German counterattack. I company had fallen back, but I could not blame the men. They had given in because I had some way not led them correctly. It was I who was responsible. I would turn in my captain's bars if I ever reached the rear, or perhaps they would court-martial me.

I did not care. There's nobody on your left flank, I told Captain Wilson in a matter-of-fact voice, that I hardly recognized as my own. They'd just knock the hell out of us and the whole company's fallen back. I couldn't tell you where any of I company is right now, except these two sergeants and myself. Good God. What can I do, Mac? I don't know, I said.

You can't hold here. There's nothing on your left. And then it continues. My platoon has fallen back, he cried. It's those goddamn tanks. Yeah, I said. I had three rounds of bazooka ammo, and they knocked the bazooka out. I've got six rounds, Captain Wilson said.

Two men grabbed a bazook and disappeared into the underbrush. in the direction of the enemy I thought how foolish it was to think of stopping 10 tiger tanks with one bazooka the two soldiers return a moment later panting for breath good god captain one of them said the woods just a few yards away from here are full of the bastards we better get the hell out that settles it tell your other platoons to withdraw into creek out and rockershelt notify battalion tell them we're getting the hell out we plunged again through the thick fir trees towards the rear I heard cap I heard cap I heard battalion on captain wilson's radio telling l company to withdraw on to rachirath before the full force of the enemy's flanking drive could hit them we reached the edge of the patch of small firs to our left lay the exposed highway leading up the hill into rochirath to our right the corner of the fur thicket joined the corner of a patch of larger trees which extended out two hundred yards up the hill we chose the louder route without hesitation we ran Halfway through the patch of woods before we came upon a group of abandoned foxholes Captain Wilson yelled the group to the Holt We'll hold up here he shouted we may be able to hold them up for a while While some of the others get out I could not see what good we could do from this position, but I was taking commands now and I took cover alone in a foxhole on the edge of the woods facing the highway It was good to let someone else do the thinking for a while even if I disagreed with the decision I was not a

I was strangely apathetic to the whole affair the Germans were hot on our tails so what they'd been a hot on my tail for almost as long as I could remember now and they had cut my company to ribbons They might as well get me to German infantry men emerged from the thicket We had left such a short time before and milled around two US abandoned US tanks parked in the open beside the forest A company and machine gunner private first class Jose Jose M. Lopez of Brownsville, Texas set up his gun beside a hole five feet to my rear. He opened up on the German infantry with a blast of muzzle, the blast of muzzle forcing me to sink to the bottom of my hole for cover. The Germans wasted no time in returning fire, riddling the area around the machine gun in my foxhole with a burrub gun and rifle fire. A tiger tank appeared at the road junction where the battalion had been shelled the night before and fired point blank at Lopez's

exposed position the long barrel of the 88 on the tank seemed to reach half the distance from the hole to my foxhole Lopez continued to fire an American Jeep with two aid men their red Geneva crosses painted on their helmets tore down the highway from the direction of roshirath toward the road junction I held my breath the tiger tank would surely blast them from the road couldn't they see the Germans were here now they did with the jeeps spinning on two wheels they turned around and tore back up the road the tank did not fire over the noise of Lopez's machine gun I could hear the captain Wilson shouting to withdraw to Ratcharath I wanted to obey but I was caught in the crossfire of the heavy

machine gun and the attackers I gritted my teeth and waited for a lull in the firing none came I jumped from the hole and ran blindly towards the rear bullets sniffed at my heels the tank saw that we were running again and opened with renewed bigger the big shells snapping the tops from the trees around us as if they were matchsticks but I saw no one fall dusk was approaching and it was difficult to see for any great distance I could not make out the town of Racharath that I knew was high on the hill to our left front but we plunged blindly up the hill following a thin hedgerow that would be scamp protection against the Germans should the Germans elect to follow us with fire I slipped and fell down

the fell face down in the snow I cursed my slick overshoes I rose and fell again I found myself not caring if the Germans did fire snow had gotten inside my shoes and my feet were soaked my clothes were drenched per perspiration covered my body and my mouth was dry I wanted a cigarette I felt like we were helpless little bugs scurrying blindly about now that some man monster had lifted the log under which we had been hiding I wondered if it would not be better to be killed and perhaps that would be an end to everything and that's the that's the section right there that like I said I mean you just can't I couldn't skip anything in there just too much stuff going on and to hear what it's like from his perspective of being overrun and they continue to fall back as fast as they can and they're basically in an every man for himself situation at this point they finally do get back and he ends up in sort of a compound and he tries to find his battalion commander and so he does going back to the book

we walked across the courtyard and down the dark steps of the house into the basement a group of enlisted men were eating k rations colonel tottle was quietly talking to a group of officers a dim candle lit the room nice work mac colonel tuttle said i couldn't control myself i could control myself no longer the choking sensation in my throat became racking sobs that I could not hold back the colonel tried to comfort me and I felt foolish and childish but I could not stop someone gave me a cigarette I held it with trembling fingers I was suddenly conscious that Colonel Tuttle was saying something to me but at first I could not make any sense of what he was saying this had been no local German attack the enemy had

already broken through and taken Bulligan catching the devoutes quartermaster and the engineering troops unaware in the undefended town the main supply route from Krenkel to the rear through Berlagan had thus been severed the two other battalions of our regiment had been thrown into the battle and the division was abandoning all its gains in the offensive to hold this critical area our battalion had held long enough for the ninth and 38th regiments to withdraw past the vital crossroads guarded by two stone farmhouses that I remembered from the trip forward. The ninth was setting up a line along our present location and the 38th had taken over the

defensive crinkelt. There were unconfirmed rumors that this was a big German push all along the First Army front. The news stunned me. I stammered. You mean, you mean, I mean you did a good job, Mack, the colonel said. The Germans are throwing everything they've got. You held out much longer than I expected after I learned the true situation. So I had not failed, and I company had not failed.

I was almost happy that the German offensive was a large-scale one. My men had done an excellent job against heavy odds, and those who had died were not dead because of some personal failing of mine. The realization made me want to cry again. I still did not know what had happened to my company. So like I said, this was the massive, massive German counterattack that he happened to bear the brunt of the beginning of the Battle of Bulge. And, you know, you can hear clearly he just thought, I just, we just, it was a local little German attack and we folded. But it was a massive German attack.

And they put up an incredible resistance. So now he starts, he links up with Savage, Sergeant Savage, his senior enlisted guy. He sees him back to the book. Savage and I ran for each other like two college girls suddenly reunited. Smiles wreathed our faces. We both tried to talk at once. He had heard that I'd been killed. I had not known what had become of him.

I jumped back to the foxhole after you said, get the radios, he explained at length. First thing I knew, there were Germans all over the place. They made me come out and took my watch and moved me over to the highway where they had two other GIs. Then one of our artillery barrages started falling. The crowds hit the dirt. I grabbed one of their burp.

guns and started spraying and we ran like hell all three of us got away so that's that's how savage got out of there and a little more time passes I began to evaluate our losses in the fierce opening day fight in the kentkelter vault initially approximately 80 men were listed as missing but each day brought a new list of names from the rear hospitals of men who had been wounded and evacuated or were victims of trench foot the list the list the list of missing an action finally narrowed down to 24 men so even though you know they lost control and he didn't know who he didn't know where everyone was I mean they were just gone he was the only guy that he was alone when he came back or he was with one or two other guys so that's out of 150 guys

so eventually they realize or he comes to there's only 24 guys that they don't know what happened to and the rest of them the rest of them got out of there and this is what it looked like overall back to the book our battalion was awarded the distinguished unit citation for its defense in the crinkwold kringlech walde and a number of men in the company were awarded bronze and silver stars for gallantry including silver stars for lieutenant goffing gun and me others were posthumous awards private first class cowen the light machine gunner who had performed his duty so faithfully and fearlessly at the firebreak was killed in action the next day but he received the distinguished service cross that was later changed to the medal of honor And private first class Lopez, the M company machine gunner attached to K company, also received the nation's highest soldier honor, the Medal of Honor. So in that one defense, these guys, you know, two Medal of Honor's given out, unbelievably. Now, this is also kind of crazy. So you go through that, right?

You go through that. You lose a bunch of guys. You barely make it out your company is overrun. Well, guess what? It's not over. It's not over. These guys are right back at it again and the next thing they're at is they are they get tasked with doing another attack. So they do recover a little bit, but they're getting told okay, you good? Got you got assembled again? Okay, we got more work for you One of the men awoke me at six o'clock. I blinked my eyes several times and tried to realize where I was the realization came And with it a feeling a revulsion that the war still went on and today we would attack I wanted to turn my face back toward the wall and sleep on and

They're planning this attack I was too busy with the various details of the movement to think much about fear I tried to recall the various phases of an attack that I had learned in training but I was planning fully conscious of my lack of experience. So even after all this, he still doesn't feel like he's experienced enough. I looked at my watch. It was 15 minutes until 4 o'clock. The artillery barrage would begin in five minutes. L company was moving into position now.

The time was drawing near, oh God, be with us on this attack. So the nerves don't go away. When we reach the railroad track, the first and second platoons jockeyed into position in the open field. They moved quickly into an approach-march formation. Small explosions that sent the snow cascading in all directions and little black puffs of powder and noise appeared unpaverned over the field the men fell face downward into snow and rose again when the brage lifted the germans were firing

light mortars one man from the second platoon lay in a crumpled heap and did not rise his face was buried impassively in the snow i looked at him as i passed he was a new man a replacement received the week before He was the first man from the company whom I'd seen killed And a mixed feeling of honor and pity swept over me And a mixed feeling of horror and pity swept over me But there was no time to stop and think I didn't even know the man's name How strange is war some of us can go for days and weeks and months in war and never be killed or wounded But another man is killed in his first ten

taste of war. So as they're doing this attack, this is a little tactical advice here from from Sergeant Savage. God damn it, Captain Savage said, you've got to stay further back, at least get some scouts out in front. His admonition reminded me that it was foolish for me to lead the column. The foolish days of leading one troops into battle were passed, even though correspondence persisted in telling of daring generals who preceded their troops, firing from the hip or brandishing a bayonet. I had no feeling of bravado but it seemed obvious that the woods were undefended I dropped back to the rear of first platoon so leadership position tactically if you're too far forward number one

you might get killed number two you might just end up in a firefight where now you can't move and you can't make direction you can't even talk on the radio because you're you're in the fire fight fast forward in a little bit and they're in a big firefight a burp gun stuttered a flood of fiery tracer bullets blazed along the trees we fail fell face found downward into the snow the bullets traced a fiery path two feet above the ground my men did not return fire and i was glad the confusion would be terrific if they opened up the night was quiet again i rose in motioned for savage salberg and charles to follow we had taken only a few steps when the burp gun opened up again i'm hit captain i heard charles scream and he dropped into the snow i'm hit i was conscious

of a sudden pain in the calf of my right leg as if someone had hit me with a giant club swung by powerful arms I realized that I too was hit and a sudden flood of fear engulfed me we were 200 yards forward of any friendly troops and 800 yards inside the woods a momentary vision of a night spent bleeding in the frozen forest swept through my mind a warm liquid flowed over my leg and into my boat that would be blood I thought I'm hit too Charles I said my leg felt numb and I dropped the ground The firing ceased. Charles said he was hit through the right hip and could not walk.

Savage took the battalion radio and I designated two men to carry Charles. We would have to get back to third platoon now. I believed I could walk. I stood and put weight on my wounded leg. A nauseating pain swept over me and I thought I was going to faint. But I tried keeping the leg stiff and found that I could walk. The men around us lay flat on the snow in little bunches as if gained some solace through sharing their fears with each other my brain was whirling should we continue the attack

how badly was I hurt had we hit a German patrol or an outpost outpost or stumbled upon a main line of defense I hastily decided to continue to the rear out of the line of fire of the direct attack upon the German position from a less respect restricted spot we moved toward the rear two men supporting Charles with his arms about his with his arms about their shoulders a sudden burst of small arms fire came from our right rear and the woods echoed to the crack of machine gun and rifles the fire was coming from the direction of the defensive position at the junction of the fire breaks which we had left bullets whined low over our heads and buried themselves into

the trees and snow around us my first thought that was was that k company had contacted our rear elements and thinking they were germans had opened fire we heard battalion talking on the radio asking k company what they what time they wanted to pick up their bed Red rolls for the night. We've got no use for betting rolls. K company answered. It was Lieutenant Flame. We're in a firefight.

Savage turned the butterfly switch on the radio and broke the conversation with a distressed voice. Lieutenant Flame, he cried. Lieutenant Flame, this is I company. You're firing at us. This is item company. This is item company. God damn it.

I said we're in a firefight. We can't use any betting rolls now. Lieutenant Flame, Savage continued. This is Savage. You're firing at I company. make your men quit firing you're firing an eye company you're shooting the hell out of item company the radio was silent for a moment the hell we are if we're firing an eye company then why in the hell don't you quit firing back i was frightened with the realization of what he

had said we were receiving fire from k company but they were not firing at us the enemy had slipped behind us for on for some unexplainable reason my men had not opened fire in either directions from which the bullets came. I thank God that they had not started shooting. The confusion would have been trebled, and I could visualize GIs firing at one another in the darkness. That's the worst case scenario. You got bad guys in between you and other good guys.

It's just a horrible situation. Maybe it's hard for civilians to understand this. When you're in a firefight, you're not hitting all your targets. You're shooting suppressive fire. And so if I'm shooting in one direction, the bullets are not stopping where the enemy is. They're going to keep going indefinitely, you know? So if there's friendlies behind the enemy, you can't, you basically can't shoot. You basically can't shoot.

So he, McDonald gets, they continue on, he continues on for a while trying to get them in a secure situation, but eventually he has to get extracted because of, because of his wound. and he gets back when he gets he's now like under warm blankets and stuff and he's in the aid station I shuddered at the thought of the company where were they now

did Brock's platoon get out had I done a right thing and withdrawing or should I have stayed and fought it out it seemed that I was always running perhaps it was all my fault there had been a brief moment of exultation in the aid station when someone had reminded me that now I could a nice rest

in the hospital, but now a nausea of fear for the welfare of the company enveloped me. I felt somehow like a deserer. Yeah. You hear, we've heard plenty of stories about guys looking for the million dollar wound that's going to get him back to the States, and the million dollar wound's good for about three minutes, and then, then McDonald says, hey, I feel horrible. He eventually recovers from the wound. Now, you think, hey, you know, the guy's,

done a bunch of fighting he recovered from his wound but he got wounded but now he's in the rear and so you know he's probably gonna get whatever extracted maybe move to the states maybe you know give him a nice cushy job no not happening they don't give him i company back because i company now as a new company commander they give him a company g so now he's in company g and what are they doing are they in the rear somewhere relaxing no it's attack time they're going forward So here we go We went back to the book We would attack the next morning at 4.45

Someone awakened me at 3.30 the next morning It was cold in the room And I shivered as I climbed from my sleeping bag My mind was dulled with sleep And I wanted to climb back into the warm sleeping bag And sleep on and on I wanted to scream to hell with the war And go back to sleep

The sudden jolt of awakening Was like emerging emerging from a wonderful, peaceful world Into a world of forbidding reality There would be men hurt today, perhaps killed, men from my own company. It could be me. That seemed remote and impossible, but it did not remove my fear for the others. There were many responsibilities.

Had I given the platoon leaders all the information they would need? How was my attack plan? Was there some important detail I had forgotten? Would Heimback be defended? Would our attack be discovered as we crossed the flat open field towards the town? Oh God if we could but rush from the house into the attack without thinking again It was the waiting and the thinking and the wondering that got you Talked about that before

That fear that you're feeling It's the waiting it's the hesitation and he's saying hey if we could just go from this house that I'm sitting right now right into the attack That's what he'd prefer to do but he can't and now they're moving and now they're moving to the attack is is is full on now the last man in the forward positions crossed the crest of the small hill they should be almost inside the first houses of bendorf now i thought i halted the cp group in a sunken trail running across the crest of the hill and told junior to ask reports from the assault platoon suddenly a tank fired from somewhere to our front a big shell whirred over low over our heads a machine gun chattered a round of tank fire ripped from the

limb from a tree above our head. A burp gun said burp burp. There was no question now we had hit their defenses. The Germans too had tanks. I was trembling slightly from the excitement but I was not as deathly afraid as I had once been in the pillbox positions. The opinion often expressed among some GIs that after any man was wounded once he was never any good in combat again did not hold true in my case I was more calm than never before but I was also more cautious now they proceed with that attack in and again obviously there's this book is just filled with tactical situation after tactical situation after lesson learned after lesson learned after tactical situation and and I'm not reading the entire book right now but that is why

you get the book so that you can get all this information from it I can't give it to you on a podcast you have to read it but fast forwarding through that assault back to the book i stopped longer at the house where the men from the squad of the sergeant who had been killed were preparing for the night i had not known the sergeant personally but to these men he was an important character in the little war that revolved around themselves there was an undertone of sadness as they talked but there was no bitterness the sergeant had died like any one of them might die at any time there was a war on you know and what I like about that is he points out that you know from his perspective all this stuff is going

on he realizes that these guys that's the whole world to them right that sergeant that was killed that's their guy and their war is everything to them and it's just like when you meet people you know if you're in a business and you go and meet someone on the front lines like they don't care I'm not saying they don't care, but they've got their whole world in what they're doing. So you've got to be cognizant to that. You got to understand that. And you've got to keep that perspective when you go out and talk to people.

You can't be like, you know, hey, there's a lot of people that got killed today. No, it doesn't matter to these guys. There's only one guy that matters to these guys. Now, like I said, this book covers a ton of different combat. And they go while he's in charge of G company they go through all these different towns I mean they go through the town of Hombresen and across the Vesser River and they go through Ellerhausen and they go through Varlausen and they go through Varminson and they go through Mengherhausen and Gizmar and they're going just from from city to city they're going very

quickly and the fighting it's becoming a little easier as they're going the defenses you know the Germans are running out of out of people they're running out of you know supplies as well so the fighting's going to eat but they're still meeting some hardcore some hardcore defenders and one of the things that's happened that's really horrible is they the the Germans now are using anti-aircraft weapons against the ground troops so anti-aircraft weapons make flack they go up in the air and they explode and they're now using those against the ground troops and there's a it just the way that these browns are coming in exploding above them it's it's a nightmare and it's really hard for them to fight so they've got some good efforts going on to go and take out

these these anti-aircraft weapons and one of the one of the anti or one of the groups of anti-aircraft weapons that they take out they finally get they finally take out these anti-aircraft weapons through an assault and when they get done with the assault McDonald comes up on the position and here we go back the book sergeant Patton said the Germans manning the position in the field which held them up were bastards they had two AA guns he said some of them wanted to surrender but every time a crowd would jump out of his hole to surrender some other kraut SOB would shoot him right in the back counting the ones they killed and the ones we got too there's 19 dead patent had one man slightly

wounded in the arm but he'd already walk back to guisemar to to the aid station My weapons platoon and platoon of heavy machine guns from H company arrived from their supporting position outside Geismar. Sergeant Martin Mitchell was killed, one of the sergeants from the heavy machine gun told me. I could not think of for a moment who Sergeant Mitchell was. Then I remembered he was the pleasant, perennial, cheerful tech sergeant in command of the platoon who was to receive his commission as a second lieutenant in a few days. an anti-aircraft gun fired from the woods to the south the sergeant continued and sergeant mitchell got hit he was unconscious and the aid man took him back to one of the TDs to give him first aid

TD is a tank destroyer it's like another tank but they're specifically meant to fight other tanks the aircraft gun fired again and the goddamn TD backed up ran right over sergeant Mitchell so that's a another thing that you have to train for is when you're working with armor

when you're working with tanks, they don't know what's going on around them. They don't have like rearview backup cameras. And so if you get in a way of a tank, it's going to run you over. And so that's something that we were lucky when we, before we went on deployment, we'd go work with tanks a little bit

and that's where we'd learn that lesson. Because you might think I'll take cover behind this tank. That tank could move at any moment. So you've got to be very careful of that young troopers out there. If you don't work with tanks often, stay out of their way. Here's as they're continuing to press through and press through and press through from village to village from town to town. And again, they're moving pretty rapidly now.

Back to the book, Colonel Smith rolled up beside me beside my tank and his Jeep. Nice going, Mackie said, you're doing a really swell job. Just keep them moving. The faster the better. Don't thank me, Colonel. I said, meaning it and disgusted that it sounds. melodramatic thank lieutenant bagby and the first platoon I'm just tagging along so you got a leader there that's not looking to grab all the credit himself but give it to his troops now

like I said the the fighting continues to get easier and easier and they're starting to see you know people surrender they're also starting to see like young kids because you're starting to see the Hitler youth that are being recruited their 13 years old 14 years old kids that are surrendering They fight through Corbethah and Lopitz and Kreigsdorf and I apologize for my lack of German speaking capability But they get They get into one town And one of the lieutenants lieutenant Whitman kind of pushes into the town with a small team and and

And he's in there. He's in one of the buildings. And all of a sudden, like, a massive group of German soldiers comes in. And they're kind of stuck there. So here we go. Back to the book. Lieutenant Whitman called suddenly over the radio. And I knew by the excitement in his voice that something had either happened or was about to happen.

You better get somebody else up here to help us out. Sounds like a whole regiment of crowds coming this way up the highway. So this, he's trying to figure out what's happening. And then the radio sputtered. Hello G6. This is Witt. So G6 is the call sign for McDonald's. Hello, G6.

This is Witt. For God's sake, get someone up there to help. There's Germans all over the goddamn place. I grasped a speaker from West Miller's outstretched hand. Witt, this is Mac, I said. They caught us halfway across them open field. The men have taken off. I'll have to go back and get them to come up over.

For God's sake, get us some help quick. We're completely surrounded. Roger out So now Whitman's in one of these buildings Completely surrounded This continues on The battalion radio was silent I called for Lieutenant Whitman

And his voice came through weekly As though he were speaking In a stage whisper I'm back on the left side of the highway He said in a house I've got nine men with me Germans are running all round All over the place

I lost track of all the other men Heard some of them surrendering Get us some help quicker They'll find out where we are when they start searching the houses. So McDonald tries to, okay, calls battalion,

hey, we need some help, we need some help here. No, you don't get any help. And so he tells Whitman, or Whitman hears it on the radio that he's not going to get any help. He's not going to get any support. And this is what Whitman says.

There's only one thing to do then, he continued. If we have to wait that long, they're sure to find us. We'll go down to the cellar and you start plastering us with artillery fire. We're inside and the crowds are out

in the open. We'll help you direct fire from here. I knew his decision called for a generous amount of fortitude, even though he would be partially protected in the cellar. Lieutenant Reed set up his artillery radio, and artillery gave us a priority mission. Sergeant Barnes arrived with his platoon and the machine gun section. I sent them into position along with a platoon of heavy machine guns from H company.

To hell with the ammunition, I said. We'll get more from somewhere. Spray the hell out of the whole area. The machine guns opened up, and artillery whistled over, head thundering into the open field dangerously close to the paling fence at the end of the garden 300 short lieutenant reed yelled into his radio 300 short the artillery whistled overhead again and plummeted into the houses beyond us with a terrific roar orange flames let the darkness like flashes of lightning that's right on top of us whitman cried delighted let her go again we can hear germans running all over the place outside lieutenant reed called for barrage after barrage and the big shells roared into the objective the Germans made feeble efforts at retaliation with their machine guns, but the shots died away in the explosion of the big artillery shells. A direct hit transformed a house into a massive roaring flames.

Is that your house? I asked Whitman. Half fearfully? No, seems to be on our left, he answered. Give us another volley in the same place. Sounds like a tank or some kind of armored car pulled up. Lieutenant Reed called for a repeat volley. That hit just right, Whitman said. His voice scarcely audible over the radio. I wondered what had happened to his radio. and was afraid that perhaps the batteries were going dead and we would lose our only means of communication. I can't talk loud. He said I've got 15 crowd prisoners down here in the cellar with me and some Germans have come in upstairs. We can hear them walking around if one of these prisoners so much as opens his mouth. I'll plug him. So there's another situation where you're calling in artillery to your position. You just happen to be in the cellar of a house. Crazy. Here they're doing a little assault. and it's set up like a frontal assault but he wants to make a little adjustment here the obvious solution to being unable to advance frontally against the unseen enemy was to send a flanking platoon around to the right having them enter the woods and come out come in on the defenders from the flank and rear but i balked at

the thought of sending one platoon such a great distance when for all i knew the woods beyond the canals might be thick with enemy i decided to cover our front with artillery and have two platoons try to advance frontally and notified second and third platoons to be ready to move forward under a cover of artillery barrage. But the enemy came suddenly to life when the rifleman rose to go forward and repulsed three efforts to advance.

So he wants to flank, but he's weighing it in his head. The flanking positions through the woods. In order to flank, he needs to put his guys through the woods, through an area he doesn't know, doesn't know how well it's defended. So he says, you know what, instead of doing a flank,

which is what I want to do, I'm just going to put down some artillery fire We're going to do a frontal assault They get shut down And eventually he does make the decision You know what? The decision now becomes Okay, frontal assault is not going to work Now I'm going to have to flank

He goes back to that flank I sent Whitman with a spare 300 radio And ordered him across the canal He moved out quickly and far to the right I could see his men emerge from the woods And wait across the first canal The water coming to the necks of the shorter men My fear of a larger enemy force in the woods

overcame my fear for safety of our left flank and I ordered Lieutenant Bagby's platoon to follow the flanking force. We could see the little dots that were Whitman's men emerged from the wood line and double time towards the garden. Lieutenant Reed stopped the artillery fire. The third platoon to my front began to advance and I knew it was only a matter of minutes until the objective would be ours. I signaled the CP group and we moved to the railroad tracks on the and on toward the bridge. past three wounded Germans lying helplessly in the gully beside the tracks where Barnes men had evidently shot them earlier in the day The automatic the enemy automatic weapon suddenly opened up again at the third platoon But the men were close enough now to pick up the bush from which it was firing They fired round after round into the clump of bushes and the weapon was silent

So eventually he gets his flank on and that's what that's what wins the day Now again A lot is covered as they do this city by city some of the villages some of the towns that they enter There's no resistance some of them there is massive resistance they push through it they fight through it lots of lessons learned lots of incredible heroics And eventually they push through and they make it all the way into Czechoslovakia and we're now approaching the end not only for McDonald's but the end for the war as they go in to liberate Czechoslovakia going back to the book our column continued forward and my company shifted to the lead position on the tanks I rode behind the lead tank in the artillery jeep the little country towns changed into industrial small industrial towns and we began to notice a scattering of red white and blue Czechoslovakian flags

in towns in place of the usual white flags of surrender. Civilians waved at us guardedly from behind closed windows. The scattering of Czech flags should have warned us, but we were totally unprepared for the mad celebration which greeted us in the next town. We had suddenly crossed from the Sudeten land into Czechoslovakia proper. The houses were a riot of color with red, white, and blue. Czechoslovakian flags. Civilians line the streets ten deep, cheering and waving their flags as if their lives depended

on it. Our column was forced to slow down, and the happy civilians pushed into the street and showered us with flowers and cakes and cookies. One old woman thrust a baked chicken to our Jeep. Another old woman stood beside the road, waving both hands in the air, tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. Little children were wild with joy. of them had never known anything but six years of Nazi occupation the young men

wore red white and blue arm bands and carried German weapons a part of the underground movement that was now that was even now struggling against superior German forces in the capital city of Prague everyone was screaming the Czech words Nasdar Nasdar and we wondered what they meant I looked up and down the column at the soldiers in the company brilliant smiles read their faces and they waved cheerfully at the shouting crowds as if they had just won an election campaign and this was a personal triumph hardened stubble-faced veterans had unshamed tears in their eyes the unleashed joy of these oppressed people knew no bounds and it was too much for us suddenly i began to realize what no one thus far had been able in the war to put into work What we were fighting for and I found a lump in my throat which I could not swallow Freedom something we take for granted to the book the news came by radio that the war was over

There was no defining our joy sergeant Quinn brought out a treasured keg of cognac The next day May 8th would be VE day The town's people held a dance for us the next night in the town guest house. One of the artillery men was escorting a young girl whom he had met the night before, and she told him that her friend, Lieb, would like very much to attend with the captain. The small guest house was crowded with dancers, and the older men and women sat with the young children at tables around the sides of the room. male dancers the male dancers were predominantly GIs but if you check young men were present the orchestra reminded me of the circus bands in the US as they played the waltzes the

polkas the checks would join in often to sing the songs enthusiastically even as they danced at the insistence of the band leader Lieb a grant to agree to sing and the notes came forth in a clear sparkling soprano when she had finished she made a brief speech which the Slavic speaking soldier told me said that the people would now sing their national anthem it would be the first time they had sung it in public in six years the people rose as one and every boy girl man and woman joined in the singing with clear lusty voices that made goose pimples rise on my arms some of the older people cried and it was all I could do to keep the tears from my eyes when it was over the soldiers

began to cry speech speech and the civilians caught on and applauded I stood up on a chair in the center of the room trying to think of something to say I mumbled a few words of sincere gratitude for the wonderful reception these wonderful people had given us and a soldier translated for Lieb and she told the people what I had said. They applauded warmly. Leib and I walked outside into the cool night air. In the distance we could see fireworks exploding in the air above Pilsen and we knew that they too were celebrating VE Day.

I looked around me and saw light streaming from the windows and army vehicles driving on the highway with their headlights on and I heard the gay music and laughter from the dance in the background. I suddenly realized that I could light a cigarette once again in the open and not be afraid of drawing enemy fire. And I did. It was a simple thing, but it gave me a wonderful feeling that life was worth living again. I put my arm about Leib's waist,

and she pointed to the multicolored fireworks display and laughed, Dobri, Dobrie. I had learned that Doberie was good. And I said, Dobrie. I looked away in the distance, and I seemed to see the faces of the men from companies I and G who could not see this great day because they had died to obtain it.

And then their faces were gone. And I saw the mud and ice and snow of the Seagfried line, Then the exploding fireworks became bursting artillery shells in the Ardennes and bursting flack at Leapeds. But then the terror was gone. And I saw two companies of men marching by and there was I Company and G Company, tired, dirty, weary, but with smiling faces. And somehow the faces of the men who had been killed were in the background, smiling and waving break. to those who marched on.

Ebe looked up at me as if to ask what I was thinking and I said, Dobri, Dobri. And Lieb squeezed my hand and laughed. Yes, and that is the end of my story. You would like to know that my company moved on five miles north of Pilsen to Tremonza. And there we met another group of dirty, tired infantry men who called them themselves Russians. A month later we were loaded on a big boat at La Harve and on July 20th, 1945 we sailed into New York Harbor and received the cheers of a grateful

America and saw a tall lady with a torch that brought tears to our eyes. The characters in my story were destined to be sent to help to finish another war in another part of the world where another group of American infantrymen were fighting a dirty, miserable war. But a miracle happened, and the other war came to an end. Most of my characters are wearing civilian clothes again now. But I know that wherever they are, they will have a hollow place in their hearts for those who will not be changing into civilian clothes again, ever. who that others may live were cut down for the devil is how this book wraps up

incredible book again it's called company commander by Charles B. McDonald and although that is the end of this book it did not be the end of our memory and let us not forget these lessons and let us not forget the tyranny and the oppression that was forced onto millions and millions of people and let us not forget the millions and millions and millions of innocent people murdered, butchered, frozen human lives to satisfy the twisted ego of a few. Let us never forget these men hunger and let us not forget those that sacrificed their youth and their health for the youth and the health of others. And finally let us never ever forget those men and women in this harvest for the devil to give other human beings

the most precious gift in the world. I think that's all I've got for tonight. Echo Charles, if you want to maybe take a minute here and explain, give me a chance to decompress over here, and maybe you can explain in the meantime if somebody wants to support this particular podcast, how they could do that.

It's crazy, these books don't, like the effect, of and obviously you didn't read the whole book but just what you read like the way it affects you you know it takes you there and just even like at the end when it's like the war was over you feel all you're like oh my gosh thank God that's over kind of thing you have that feeling and it just never wears off it's crazy yeah well I've said before you know when we when we started and I wasn't sure if I would have enough books right yeah But we're gonna have enough books and every single one of these Stories is is its own incredible story and and and because what I what we just talked about how

You get this this war world war two for this guy was this here, but you know you get Someone that's in the Pacific and you take one if you were to take one of his platoon commanders it would be that war it's these little tiny human experiences that are so Incredible and each one of them is as just as incredible as the next one as just as incredible as the previous one and that's why you just I just don't know if we'll ever get to them all and the other thing is that we have to remember is a tiny tiny tiny minuscule percentage of these people actually wrote a book yeah most of these stories they just they

just happened you know and we don't know about it yeah so crazy and each one is like is so unique in their little perspective but at the same time it has so many similarities you know and it all sort of like as you gather you know one story two stories all these different it starts to tell this overall tale you know yeah and it's the tale of humans it's the tale of human nature it's the tale of and it's the tale of overcoming right yeah i mean just the things that these guys are coming you take all these things you know i've been i've been in some miserable places right in my time right I mean every basically everybody has you've been in some hard places in your life and then these guys they do that

And they live that way and then they get attacked and then they lose guys and they get wounded and then they just go right back out right back on to the front The limits of human nature or the limits of human the capacity of human beings to overcome Obstacles is is is unbelievable and if there's nothing else like I know not every one goes to war and not everyone should go to war and I don't want anyone to go to war if you can help it But if at least we learn that whatever we're coming up against man, we can deal with it We can do so much more and be so much more uncomfortable and push yourself so much harder You know that was one thing and I didn't I didn't do a good job today of portraying it But he's getting pushed in a lot of these situations I mean you can kind of hear when he's getting woken up every time he wakes up his and his initial reaction isn't

Isn't cool. I get to go fight now. No, his initial reaction every single time is like I want to go back to bed I want the war to be over I want to hide. I want to that's his reaction every single time and yet every single time He gets up and he does his job. He does his duty and he does what he has to do That's that's the human spirit, right? That's the thing that we should all capture I mean we have a hard time getting out of bed because it's going to be a tough workout or because we're gonna have a hard day at the office You know it's like we're we're we're pathetic we're pathetic we're pathetic we're pathetic I'm pathetic compared to these guys that are, oh, it's, you know what's waking you up? Mortar fire. I know.

Machine gun fire. People screaming that they're being overrun. That's your wake-up call. I think we can get out of bed in the morning because we, you know, because we got, we're facing a tough workout or a hard day. We got to get up early for travel or whatever situation you're in. You can do it. I can do it. We can do it.

Look at what these guys went up against. Day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day. It just doesn't stop. It just doesn't stop. And the whole time, by the way, there's the threat of death. By the way, the whole time. Freezing. You know, I just thought about this.

Like, this is a book where he doesn't even talk about, like, his family. Yeah. He doesn't talk about his love. He's not, no, he's there. He's just, like, detached from everything else. He's got a war to fight. So, thankfully, we get these incredible memoirs. This one here, if you're looking at it on YouTube, holding up the cover.

I got the old school version. It has an illustration. and it got some cool ink drawings of it's all of weapons just to kind of let you know what these things look like but incredible stuff so yeah support right if you're in the mood yeah like for instance how much effort does it take to click through amazon it does take a lot of you can do it if you want to support you yeah yeah if you want to support in that way actually Let me go and explain that. The Amazon thing is cool.

So you do your Amazon shopping like we always do daily for some of us. Instead of going straight to Amazon, just go to joccopodcast.com. A little Amazon banner on the side. You kind of got to scroll down if you want to hit the banner sometimes. But I put it up in the top menu as well. Boom. Click on the Amazon banner. Then do your shopping.

Good way to support. Like Jocco said, just, you know, little action. We can do that. If you want, if that's what you're doing, if you're supporting the podcast, boom, that's a good way. Are we asking them to assault a target? Are we asking them to flank an enemy? Are we asking them to come up against Panzer tanks or Tiger tanks with one bazooka and 10 tanks?

No, no. No, no. Just asking for a little support. Right. Yeah, and it's a good way, too. It's a really good way. It's, well, I was going to make the comparison to the plane that comes in and then leaves you know but meanwhile it's huge support but that's true let's face it though those pilots

that's that's that's a lot of work oh yeah you know for sure so let's i mean i don't know if that's a fair comparison but nonetheless let's stick with sodium on that one yeah yeah yeah it's like sodium you know little piece sodium throw it in the fish you know what we should actually do that yeah we need to do it actually we need to do facebook live we need to get some sodium and put it in a bucket of water So we can give visuals Behind the situation that you're talking about. Yeah, we'll do it at your house. Okay, bring it.

Where do you get sodium? I don't know. Like CVS? You're the logistics guys. Go get some sodium. Look into that one. Anyway, that is a fair, more fair analogy. You're the sodium big reinforcement effects

With the Amazon click-through situation. Also, if you're into supplementation, which I'm going to go ahead and recommend it, now catch me three years ago you're not going to hear me recommending any supplements maybe a pre-workout maybe and even then it's like caffeinated I was thinking you know okay so on it right that's the supplements we're talking about if you didn't know if you did know this is all familiar to you but the pre-workout that we talk about it's called total strength and performance you know weightlifting whatnot it's pre-workout it's not it's stimulant free right

so you know what I was thinking I was like hey stimulant free pre-workout is kind of different than what I'm used to be you know what it's like I don't but I've got to feel I'm gonna learn right this is what it's like it's like you ever watch movies and the good guy like I don't know Clint Eastwood yeah Brooks Willis like he's all calm he's like he's not wired enough he's all calm but when it goes down bro he kills you know kicks ass that's what this pre-workout is kind of like like when you take it you're like oh I'm I'm calm but on the inside so much but And then when you get the work going, it's like, boom.

So they do studies on it. That's actually one of the good parts about it. It's like they do real, like placebo tested. Like, it's studies. Double blind placebo tested and stuff like that. Yeah. Sounds cool, but it is cool. So with this pre-workout one, it's like over, I think it was like a four-week period.

It's like, I want to say 6% improvement. Like on air, about there. And I'm thinking, oh, yeah, 6%? I'll say, okay, cool, single digit percent. Sometimes that can mean a lot. So I'm like thinking, okay, what's 6%? What does that look like? You know, so I'm thinking.

Add that to your bench press number or whatever. Add that to your deadlift number. How about this? Subtract it. So this is how it really is. Why you got to be negative? I know, because I'm trying to prove a legitimate point. Okay, so let's say I'm doing some dumbbells, right?

I'm like, okay, I'm going to do a set of tan. I don't know. I'm not saying me. I'm just saying anyone. And I'm going to use the 100 pound dumbbells. I'm going to do 10 of them. Correct. We'll do. How about this? We'll do a bench press dumbbells.

I'm going to do hundreds. And one week I do, you know, set of 10. Boom, solid, right? And then whatever, I finish my workout. The next week, if I can do 6% less, like that's my limit. You know, I'm feeling 6% weaker. Yeah. I can't do those hundreds 10 times.

No. I got to go to the 95s. Bro, you know how whack that is? It's real whack. So I'm saying, if you don't take this pre-workout over a month period of time, this is just on average. If you don't take this pre-workout, you're the guy who did the 95s. If you do, you're the guy who did the hundreds. Actually, it's less than 95s, really.

It's like 94's. Really? On average, dang. See, so that's what, if you're not taking the pre-workout, which I do now, by the way. If you're not taking it, you're that guy. No, I mean, that's cool, but I'm just saying you're missing out on gains galore, you know? You don't see what I'm saying? Yeah.

Anyway, and this is all proven stuff. This is just me making it up. It's like, prove it. They did it. Florida State University. And you, you prove it yourself. Yeah, that part is up to you. I mean, it's, it's up to you to go get after it.

What about you personally? Yeah, I'm all up on it. I didn't measure my results or nothing like that. I didn't just do a double blind. Yeah, the pop, remember? Oh, that's right. Pop is real. How they did it is, you know, even the word double blind placebo situation, whatever,

like a lot of people, they don't know what that is. What it is is they get a bunch of group of people who are going to work out hard going for gain straight up. They're going to give them all the supplement, all of them, all the people they're going to give the supplement. But half of those people, it's actually not the supplement. It's like nothing. But they don't know that. Everyone thinks they're taking the supplements. So they're all getting after it.

They're all, you know what I mean? Yeah. And then they say, okay, who's going to, whose gains are better? And they monitor and all the people with the supplements, their gains were, you know, on average. And it's all these different list, bad squat, all this stuff. So boom, proven, boom. Anyway. It tastes good.

That much I can actually attest to. It does. I was thinking about that. I can't, I, I haven't done a double blind placebo on myself. I mean it. Because I would have to, like, mix it up and fake myself out. I'm pretty hard to trick. So, but like I said, I, when I feel the need,

I take not only Shroom Tech sport, but also the pre. Yeah. And get after it. Yeah. If I know that the boys are waiting for me for the jih Tzu training. Yeah. And I know it's going down. I will.

If I'm not, if I'm feeling any sort of hesitation, I'll get after that. Default aggressive, when in doubt. Yeah. Do that. And it makes sense. too because obviously jiu-jitsu especially when you're going hard that's a workout that you need to recover from and you'll be you know so you'll get better results from recovering from even a jiu-jitsu workout yeah you know I just

worry about performance yeah performance I'm not doing it for recovery to be honest with you yeah with the jihitsu workout but like it or not that's what you're getting it's a bonus yeah fully fully is oh but yeah so good yeah you say it tastes good it does taste good it was weird because um As far as pre-workouts go, like if you get a regular quote-unquote regular pre-workout They try to make it taste like candy and Kool-Aid and Lemonade and all this stuff and I'm not mad at it it tastes good or whatever I'm mad at it but yeah man let's face it and this style it's not good so when I took this one it was kind of it had more of like

You know like if you take like natural greens or it kind of has that yeah Earthy it's earthy earthy there's an earthy flavor to it which I was like oh this is different it's not like candy and I was like okay and And then after a while, you kind of get used to it. And then you have that, you know, you have that association to certain tastes from like, then you go work out, you get the pop and it's like kind of part of the routine. So it's like tastes all good now. You know what I mean? It's like the association.

Yeah, yeah, it's good. Anyway, it doesn't taste like krill oil. Like if you're chopping, chomping krill oil tablets, yeah, you got to just swallow those. Don't chomp those. Those do not taste good. Yeah. So cruel oil, speaking of which is the go-to, in my opinion. It's the go-to.

I was talking to Greg Train about this. What's it today? It was yesterday. I was talking about. And of course, like, okay, if you're working out and you're like, hey, my joints are less sore, that's good. Of course. But, you know when you do notice it, and in my experience, even more, if you pay attention, is like, for example, like a few days ago, I'm sitting down in the living room with, like, the kids, you know.

We're sitting there for a long time. Same position, like, for 45 minutes. usually after 45 minutes and then say okay it's time to get up whatever you get up you get up you know you get up you know you make that noise me no but if I didn't take krill oil I probably would have that and I have had that especially if you've worked out that day or something like that you know you just stiffen up I'm just saying and you feel it with the krill oil it's almost like you're always warm you know not warm physically but you know like you've already warmed up that's kind of what you feel like

it's good I'm a supporter yeah so I'm saying get on the krill oil yeah like I said I had injuries and cruel oil that was a long time ago that I started taking curle oil and I haven't stopped them I'm not going to yeah yeah because even like like you say injuries which yeah of course legitimate but I never I mean I've had injuries but it more helps like the pre-injury you know like yeah something that's not an injury yeah yeah something that's just kind of just nagging you, you know, stuff you got to like battle through or something like that. You don't have to battle through that anymore.

You got omega-3s. Next time I'll go into the whole white fish oil or krill oil is better than fish oil because we talked about it'll take too long. It's kind of technical. I'll put it into like letting this term some other time. Anyway, krill oil's dope.

Pre-workouts dope. Everything on it is good. Actually, just depends on what kind of workout program, what kind of lifestyle. you know, but they have something for everybody, like regardless of what you do. Even the krill oil, even if you're not that active, it's just good for your joints, you know?

As like, because over time you degenerate, you know, whatever. Crill oil, regenerate. Also, another way to support is subscribe on iTunes or the various podcast platforms, Stitcher, Google Play, all these things. If you subscribe, you haven't already, you know, that's a good support,

you know. Get updates when new episodes come out. also on YouTube We have a YouTube channel excerpts on there Along with the video version of this podcast Which helps If you need to know what echo looks like

Because apparently echo does not look like What he sounds like Yeah I've been told Actually how this is So Paul A new friend Paul

Came in from Arizona Visited came to the V Victory Looked into some jujit All that I was out of town You were out of town you're out of town. Yeah, it's too bad.

So he goes, he says, when I walked, he's like, hey, echo. I was like, cool. I was like, hey, you know, what's up? And he goes, oh, you're, for some reason I thought you'd be bigger, he said. I was like, oh, interesting. I was like, because typically people, if they haven't seen me or whatever, they think I'm smaller. And you think I'm bigger. So it's kind of, it's just different.

You probably got that impression from reading on social media that echoes jacked. Maybe people go echoes jacked or yeah or maybe you know maybe thought I was just tall like super tall or something Oh yeah well maybe but you what are you 511 6 11 super tall I'm normal height I don't know I don't know either way What was the point there? Oh yeah if you want to watch YouTube videos of Jocko Yeah, it's less about me I think. Oh, it's about me a little bit. It's about me a little bit Yeah, so either of us.

And you want to watch a video version? Go ahead, watch that, man. It's good. It's on YouTube. And also, I'll put some excerpts on there. Just in case you don't want to watch the whole, because to sit in front of the computer and watch, like, for two hours, three hours sometimes. I mean, that's kind of unrealistic.

Unless you're playing it. Yeah, well, no, what, what, and I've done this before, too, you just put it on like your TV, your smart TV. But sometimes I want to see what is going on in the podcast. I want to see the, you know, look on my own face or on your face when I say something I'm gonna see what that looks like yeah yeah and that makes sense because when you figure I mean I don't I feel like a lot of people watch less TV but that could be just my little bubble but no one watches TV oh yeah no one at all

no but think about this Hawaii 5-0 yeah that's a good for sure but let's say you watch I don't know Dr. Phil not that I watch Dr. Phil but if you watch that I watch Dr. Phil but if you watch that's all they're doing they're sitting this guy's talking to this person and you're just watching it you know you could listen to that you're saying I'm just saying if you're into Dr. Phil the difference between looking and and watching it and just listening to it like you understand that people actually do watch two people talk about stuff makes sense it you kind of feel like you'd be more in the conversation in a way I don't know either way YouTube that's the that's the point there if you if you want to watch this podcast or just the excerpts and you don't want to watch the whole podcast there's little excerpts of little lessons that I kind of separate from the podcast put them on there shareable little nuggets also we have a store jocco store.com if you like shirts and whatnot new designs I don't know a week next week we'll have them I think new designs yeah that's cool yeah kind of listen to the crowd a little bit you know people throughout

suggestions all the time which you know you listen to for sure and um kind of the ones that what do you can hate you want to percolate percolate i like the word percolate better than resonate the ones that resonate with my soul you know that feeling that's what the feeling i get when okay so you need when i say it when other people say it sounds cool i just say the ones that are good yeah that makes more sense for sure all right yeah the ones that we thought are good we're starting to develop more and more designs and have them. So yeah, joccolstar.com.

And, you know, women's stuff is on there. Some patches, some shirts, of course. Rashgarts. See, this is what, this is the thing. See, I'm not good at recognizing, like, hey, we should make more stuff. Right. Because I, it's hard for me to recognize what's good and what's bad because my mind is different than some people's.

Yeah. So, but what's cool is when I do see something and I do think it's good, it's pretty good yeah it's pretty good and by the way I'm almost done with the echo Charles

t-shirt design by the way yeah which I think people are gonna like you know why they're gonna like it because you designed it

well yeah but but that's not why they're gonna like it because it's not just straightforward right let me guess some layers

there's some layers there about one yeah no I believe bray you're the you're the original layer creator when it comes down to it

And no I think that is It was funny So speaking of layers The day that Echo Asked me What font it was That I used to write Jocko podcast And I was like yeah

It's OCR standard And then he kind of looked at me And I said it's because it's a machine Can read it And you know This is like part machine here And he was all excited With the layers right there

I'm telling you the layers are real And I respect them good so yeah there it is jocco store um also oh yeah sorry right this rash guards on there alleged 19% straight up 19% increase improvement performance um results all that stuff hoodies on there too and you know like i said more stuff that we have a travel mug coming out that one's going to be good um we'll let you know when that's up uh a little a psychological warfare i feel like i should should talk about that right now. I feel like we can't stop you. So you must have

go for it. You can't stop me. So psychological warfare on iTunes is an album with tracks. And this is what it's for. It's not music. This is what it's for. Technically it's considered spoken word. This is what it is. If you're feeling a moment of weakness in your discourse, that I use that word right. Your discourse. Yeah, so in your course, I don't know. It's better, closer, in your journey, in your ambitious goals to stay on the program in whatever capacity. Right. Wake up early, get the workout in, hard workout in, you know, create, you know, write your book, your blog, your, anything you're doing, right?

More or less. And you're feeling moments of weakness. You're slipping from the path. You're taking a break when you shouldn't be taking a break. scheduling unscheduled rest days. Yeah, when you're feeling like that. Straying from the warpath. Yeah.

You listen to one of these designated tracks, and it'll help you get past that weakness in that moment. I would say, and I've said this before, it is, this is my guess, 100% chance that it'll get you through your weakness. 100% chance. And this is why I say that, and I've said this before, but I think it's worth saying again

because if you let's say you know let's do the the workout one that's the most common one to me and I'm like okay I'm gonna work I don't feel like working out and I'm saying okay well I'm gonna put it in workout and track whatever the one I listen to it and after I'm done listening to

it's like two minutes so and I still skip the workout that's like a shame that's an unbearable shame and it's all personal so that means it's not 100% if you still skip the workout I'm just trying to imagine if that were to happen I've never done it and the shame the unbearable shame is so unbearable that it just simply wouldn't happen you know So that that's why I say 100% chance I don't think I can't imagine a person

That would actually let that happen nonetheless So whatever you would think your weakness is waking up early all this stuff if you do the wake up early If you do the wake up early one and you set it as your alarm which is a good idea by the way. Yeah, it's actually that's the perfect idea Yeah Just clear it with your your spouse significant other significant other yeah if they're sleeping in the same bed or whatever and they have the potential to hear it there's some dude in the bedroom yeah yeah just like all of a sudden starts talking and it's jaco it's like a spot you know it's good psychological warfare

it's jacchukkah willing it's also on amazon music and all these other things so yeah it's there it's a good way to support and support yourself that one's a support yourself situation for sure for sure um and actually what's cool now right now we're getting requests for psychological warfare to what topics need to be covered. Yeah. That I didn't cover on the first one. Yeah. There's more weaknesses out there in the world. Weaknesses that are creeping around and they're trying to get people, but yeah, we're

gonna drink in and we're gonna. We're gonna find some of them weaknesses and we're gonna smash them. So yeah, if you got any more suggestions, just hit it up, you know, through that, do that smoking. How about that one? Right? That's a good one. Do people still smoke? Bro, I, that, you know what's what I was thinking about that too? You know, we live in California. That's one of the things. Yeah, we live in a bubble. In California, a lot of people don't smoke anymore.

Yeah. It's not real popular out here anymore. Yeah, so just like, bro, I'm telling you, we live in a bubble, not only being in California, but just think about the people you hang around with. You know, it's like all. Yeah, Navy Shields, jujit, guys who at the very least have like. Some level of health consciousness. Yes, exactly.

So, yeah, it's weird. I saw a guy smoking in his car and I was like, ask the same thing. I was like, dang, I didn't know really people smoked anymore, really. Well, I realized. When I go to another state, and you go into a restaurant or something because it's illegal here. You can't smoke in a restaurant. You can't smoke in a bar here. You can't do it.

It's illegal. It's literally illegal. Yeah. So, yeah, you go to another state and you smell cigarettes. You go, yeah, I remember that. Back in. But, yeah, that'd be a good one, I think. Yeah.

Okay. Well, we'll think about that one. Yeah. I don't know if I could legally do it, though, because I didn't smoke and I don't know what it takes. I don't know if it's proper for me to do that. that. I mean, I guess I could just get nuts. I'm smoking. Because, I mean, it's a horrible thing that kills you. We shouldn't be doing it. Man, I used to. There's actually no benefit from it, right? There's no, I mean, if you're doing steroids, there's some benefit to it, right? You're going to get

stronger. If you're doing caffeine, you're going to be more awake. So there's certain benefits. Is there any benefits to smoking? It depends on what you mean by benefits. Did you ever smoke before? I've never even tried a puff of a cigarette before. Because you're from Hawaii. Well, that's not the reason. You're an athlete. No, it was the thing. It was the thing with my dad. He'd literally refer to it as the devil.

Like, he'd be like, smoke is the devil. And it was a shame thing, too. So the way he would talk about smoking, not necessarily the people that smoke, but just smoking. Yeah, it's just so, it just to me in my mind, according to his little message. So your dad done a good job there. Yeah. Yeah, I never tried. Yeah.

Anyway. He should have told you sleep. Was the devil too? Get you out of the bed in the morning? But sleep's not the devil. That's the thing. I know. I know.

I know. Well, yeah, the smart. It's, I think it's, um, there is benefits though. Depends on what you mean by benefits. Depends on what you mean by benefits. Health benefits of any kind? It gives you like this, this like buzz and alertness. But here's the thing about, it's weird because you, if you say smoking, smoking cigarettes, there's

nicotine in it and there's benefits in nicotine. But smoking also has all the carbon monoxide, like, TAR all these like carcinogens and stuff like that. Yeah, so smoking, maybe not so much benefits. Nicotine, there are benefits. Okay, well, let's just say no. I say no. There are no benefits.

So that's psychological. Net benefit? No, negative. All right. And let's see. Also, speaking of net benefit, you can get some net benefit. If you want to try something called jocco white tea, if you're worried, if you're not a tea drinker,

don't worry because it doesn't taste like tea. It tastes like victory. Here. And you know, don't take my word for it. I got some reviews. We got some, we got a bunch of reviews on Amazon.

And you know what? They're all awesome. They're all 12 star, right? So here's one. After drinking one cup of this balanced and delicious tea, I was able to execute a flying triangle on my black belt jujitsu instructor

while discovering the mystery behind dark matter in the universe. It actually isn't dark matter. It's a combination of Jocco's chin and Echo Charles's biceps, altering the gravitational field from random celestial bodies. So, you know, there's some good stuff here. I can't speak to deadlift performance, but what I can comment is a significant increase in production while performing farm work.

Most noticeably, I can dig post holes in hard southern clay in half the normal time while under the influence of Jocco White Tea. tastes great and I highly recommend it for farmers, landscapers, construction workers, or anyone who wants to get out. After it. So I didn't you know I wasn't familiar with that but you do notice right now like the economy's improving a lot We're like you know everything's getting better. I think it's a lot of people are drinking jockey white either working harder Yeah, well yeah, so that you're saying corally you're not necessarily saying I'm not saying it's a fact I'm just saying it's factual

Yeah And you know this guy here bought this for my wife. She's five two hundred and twenty pounds She was dead lifting two hundred and fifty pounds by the way. That's double body weight really already impressed I said after a week of imbibing this fine product, her deadlift suddenly increased to 1,250 pounds. Now, that might seem like a lot. But it's, it happened, right? It's right there.

I mean, this has been documented on Amazon reviews. You can't lie on those things. It's got to be true. We started throwing Jocko White tea bags in 500-gallon water tank on the fire truck. Dang. Little known fact, Jocco. a white tea is three times wetter than water. We're now extinguishing fires three times faster,

and in the process, anyone on scene who gets sprayed immediately starts getting after it, so there's a little side effect, but it's a positive side effect. It's not negative. Like you're putting out the fire, someone gets hit with some water by accident. They're not going to complain.

They're going to start doing burpees. We've got a warning here, too aggressive, do not drink at work. Literally ripped the door trim off the wall after consuming this victory in a glass Luckily since getting after it is my new default mode I was able to repair the damage before the boss noticed Replaced pathetic this is my best part or the best part of this one replaced pathetic screws with lag bolts You know what lag bolts are they're like instead of a screw which is like a little tiny pencil thing a lag bolt is a big bolt that you like

The real deal. Yeah, that's a that's your mind default. Yeah Now I mentioned this before And I don't know if I should necessarily do this, but I kind of think I should. Got it. There's a poem that someone wrote about Jocka White Tea, and it's based on the poem Infantry Column's by Kipling. This one is talking about Jocka White Tea, probably worth talking about here. Yes. So we'll go.

Here we go. Jocka white tea. I'm hot brew, brewing up some Jocko tea. Hot, hot, hot, hot. Hot brewing up some jaco tea drink Drink drink drink drink drink it down and brew again There's no tea leaves in the pour Three two four five tasty cup of D a day seven three five Cups the day before drink drink drink drink it down and brew again. There's no tea leaves in the poor

Do do do do do do do Crush what is in front of you. Drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink it down and brew again. Good, good, good, good, will answer everything. There's no tea leaves in the poor. I've drank whole box and getting after it, press, lift, squat, roll, then right back to it again. Drink, drink, drink, drink, drink it down and brew again. And there's no tea leaves in the poor.

So just when someone writes a review like that, I think that might be the best. In a matter of fact, let's just face it, that's the best review that's ever been written on Amazon. So good on you. That's the best review. That was very impressive. It was very impressive. And so that's that. Also, if you want to pre-order a little book coming out called Way of the War, your kid.

And you can order it. And I'll tell you why. This book, you might be wondering what this book is about. This book is about everything. So I want to read a little excerpt to you. Young Mark, remember at the beginning of the book, he could do zero pull-ups. Doesn't know how to do any pull-ups. Wasn't strong enough.

Now he works through the summer. His uncle Jake has shown him some good workout programs. And finally, he's built up over the summer, goes through some plateaus, gets through them, getting after it, training hard. Finally, towards the end of summer, he gets his first. day of doing 10 pull-ups right and so here's what happens we're going back to the book and that was it I was now officially a kid who can do 10 pull-ups no more hiding from the pull-up bar in school no more being embarrassed about being weak this was real as I thought about this I looked at uncle Jake and said

thanks no problem mark and I want you to remember something this isn't just about pull-ups you know what else this is about right I wasn't quite sure. I don't know. Uncle Jake grabbed me by both shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes and said gravely, this is about everything. Everything. Just think two months ago, you couldn't do any pull-ups at all.

Zero. Now you can do ten. All it took was a good plan and the discipline to execute that plan to do it. That's what it takes, and you can apply that to just about anything. If you are willing to do the work, you can make things happen. And like I told you, no one else is going to do the work for you. Sure, you might get some help along the way, but you might not. Who knows?

What we do know is this. Hard work and discipline are how you achieve things. You have to make things happen. And that is exactly what you did here. And you can do that with almost anything in life. Remember that. Uncle Jake's putting out some word to young Mark. So there's all kinds of good lessons for you know I'd love to say it's a kid's book

It's a kid's book basically I'm gonna tell you what you might want to order it for yourself Yeah, it's a everybody book it's an everybody book. It just it's an everybody book so that's that Check out that book also just released Discipline equals freedom field manual Sometimes we need to refer to the manual on how to do things right We need the manual if we're gonna refer to it It's true. Manual's coming. You can pre-order that one too.

It's about everything. You know, that one's more aimed at an adult audience. Yeah. It is adult. Yeah. Digging. Not that there's, like, bad words in it. Right.

Anything like that. There's no obscene topics. Yeah. Unless you think donuts are a bad word. Because they're in there. We talk about them a little bit and their evilness. So, yeah, you can get that one too. Of course, you, you know,

get extreme ownership it's about leadership in combat in business and it's about life and you know from what we learned in combat the lessons that we learned in combat they will help you in your business and they will help you in life so get a copy get a copy for your team and you know get up and down the chain of command up and down the chain of command they need it also I wanted to mention this Eschelon front right this is the company Laef Babin and I who wrote the book Extreme Ownership with me This is our company leadership and management consulting That's what we do we've also got JP Danelle on board. We got Dave Burke on board And we work with companies help them align their leadership

Around the principles from the book extreme ownership the things we learned in combat if you need this and this is the reason I'm saying this right now I don't talk about or I haven't talked about this much but people sometimes have a hard time figuring out how to get information echelonfront.com that's the business website if you want to bring us on board info at echelonfront com you can email that address and then people can get there you don't need to go to a speaker's bureau if you want to hear me speak or if you want to hear lay speak or if you want to hear what is that a speakers bureau is they're there are companies that that facilitate speakers coming agent oh yeah they're like an agent so if you don't know how to contact

if you want to hear jaco talk you want to have jaco come and talk at your company you type speaker jaco willing there's a good chance echelon front will come up and say oh yeah you can call this number you can email here and you know what that'll hook it up or there'll be someone else that says you know bills speakers right and they're advertising me they're advertising everybody people live and they say hey if you want then they contact us right right but you got to you got yourself a middleman in that scenario so yeah actually that's good because like people still email me yeah like hey you know echo can you come and talk at our company no can you tell us about let me think yeah yeah yeah i think yeah yeah no i think yeah yeah no you

forward those those things to me too yeah and and i didn't know the info i'd i'll send them to like jamie or something oh yeah yeah yeah that's a that's but yeah so that's what you do yeah info National Enchonfront.com and you know between me between Leif, J.P., Dave Burke, and we do we do programs like full programs at your company to get everybody aligned and on the same page. So that's what we do if you want to get some of that. And also you can come to the muster in New York City. New York City, right? Can't be mad at that. New York City. That's the place where we're going to be May 4th and May 5th doing at the Marriott Grand Marquis. Now, a couple things about the muster.

Okay, this is, this is different. Okay, this isn't a feel good seminar to like pump you up. That is not what's happened to at the muster. If you want that, don't come. Yeah. I'm not saying you won't be pumped up. I'm not saying you won't be motivated, but don't come if that's what you're looking for. There's not going to be any chanting, okay?

Yeah. There's not going to be any like communal promises and that kind of stuff. That's not happening there. You're not going to fill out a dream board. Okay, that's not happening. Don't come to the muster if that's what you want. That's not what the muster is. This is practical tactics, tactics and strategies.

Practical things that will help you lead your team and will help you lead yourself. So if that's what you want, then come to the muster. If you want to chance and promise and stuff like this, don't come. Because that's not what it is. If you want to learn how to lead, come. Yeah. Yeah, they're, I mean, I'm just obviously going on the last one, but like you learn like scenarios.

You know, like the Q&A part is straight up golden. Because everyone comes like, hey, I had this scenario that's been basically plaguing me for the year and it's just causing problems here and you know and everyone has their own one and while they're all unique they all kind of overlap with each other and and you guys are like okay this what you do this what you do this is the answer and it's like dang we now we have an answer we go back to the work and it like a lot of times it'll just solve like this one problem that affects all this other stuff man it's it's so effective it is and when people come and they hear those questions get asked and and again there are there's always an overlap on the questions right and and

there's overlap on the principles as well you know cover and move simple prioritize next execute decentralized command those the explanations can stand alone on themselves but you start getting into real world application there's gonna be other they're gonna overlap you need all four of them right you need all four of them to solve your problem you can't just solve a problem with decentralized command because if you try and do that you'll make something too common You got to keep it simple and by the way there's gonna be multiple problems that you're gonna be trying to solve with your decentralized command so you got to prioritize and execute So that's the way it is for every every problem that you're you're suffering and then there's you know there's obviously other other principles that we build upon that aren't just the four

Laws of combat So you got to get you got to that's what's good is when people hear the way that you utilize these tools They learn to utilize them themselves right that's that's what you're trying to do it's like trying to teach someone to take pictures, right? You don't just, and I'm saying this because you know I've been talking about cameras. You don't just say, okay, here, point this and point this,

set the setting to this, set the light over here, set this up, press this button and there's your picture. That's cool. It works that one time. What happens when I step outside? And there's different lighting. What happens when the subject is moving? You got to teach me how to do the job.

You've got to teach me the intricacies of it. You've got to show me all those things. I got to learn how to use that tool. And that's what we do at the muster. You get these various tools. You don't just read about them and see what they are and say, okay, I understand what this tool is. Here, I'm holding this tool in my hand. It's sharp.

I can cut with it. Well, guess what else you can do with this? There's a lot of things you can do with these tools that we put out at the muster. We take it to the next level. So if that's what you're looking for, come to the muster. Come to the muster. And we've got great feedback across the board. So, yeah, come and get that.

In the meantime, also, if there's something that you want to ask or you have a question, or you want to give some feedback or comment about what we're doing here or if you know if you just want to cruise with you know with echo charles primarily he's kind of a primary cruiser here uh we're on the interwebs right now today yesterday we'll be there tomorrow twitter instagram and you know that we also we got to be on that facebook and you can get us there echo is at echo Charles and I am at jocco Willink and to close this out for the day thanks first of all to all the people in uniform that are out there holding the line against terror against extremism against criminals against fire and disaster against accidents and against the

unexpected all of you thank you for keeping us safe and everyone else out there thank you for listening and I would also ask that you be thankful be thankful for your freedom your precious and costly freedom because sometimes when something is given to us just given to us we forget what the cost was we forget the price that was paid And there was a price paid for our freedom, a massive price for those that paid everything they had for our freedom. So don't waste it, don't abuse it, don't squander it. Our time here is limited.

Your time here is limited. And you have this freedom. You have this gift. So what are you going to do with it right now? Yourself that question. Until next time, this is Echo and Jocko.