Jocko Podcast - 88: The Cost of Unpreparedness and The Importance of Fortitude. "Excursion To Hell"

Episode Date: August 16, 2017

0:00:00 - Opening 0:07:28 - "Excursion To Hell", by Vince Bramley 2:04:40 - Final thoughts and Take-aways. 2:22:14 - Support, Cool Onnit, JockoStore stuff, with Jocko White Tea and Psychological Warfare (on iTunes). Extreme Ownership (book), The Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual. Origin Brand, Origin Jiu Jitsu Immersion Camp.  Origin Brand. Extreme Ownership Muster 004 in San Diego.  2:52:01 - Closing Gratitude.  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is Jocko podcast number 88 with Echo Charles and me Jocko Willink. Good evening, Echo. Good evening. I went into a public house to get a pint of beer. The public innie up and says we serve no redcoats here. The girls behind the bar, they laughed and giggled fit to die. I oust into the streets again and to myself says I, Oh, it's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy go away.

But it's thank you, Mr. Atkins, when the band begins to play. When the band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play. Oh, it's thank you, Mr. Atkins, when the band begins to play. I went into a theater as sober as could be. They gave a drunk civilian room, but they hadn't none for me. They sent me to the gallery around the music halls. But when it comes to fight and Lord, they shove me in the stalls. For it's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy wait outside.

But it's special train for Atkins when the troopers on the tide. The troop ship's on the tide, my boys. The troop ships on the tide. Oh, it's special train for Atkins when the troopers on the tide. Yes, making Maka uniforms that guard you while you sleep is cheaper than them uniforms and their starvation cheap. And hustling drunken soldiers when they're going large a bit is five times better business than parading in full kit. Then it's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy how's your soul. But it's thin red line of eros when the drums begin to roll.

The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll. Oh, it's thin red line of heroes when the drums begin to roll. We aren't no thin red heroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too, but single men in barracks most remarkable like you. And if sometimes our conduct isn't all your fancy paints, why single men in barracks don't grow. to plaster saints while it's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy fall behind but it's please walk in the front sir when there's trouble in the wind when there's trouble in

the wind my boys there's trouble in the wind oh it's please walk to the front sir when there's trouble in the wind you talk a better food for us and schools and fires and all we'll rate for extra rations if you treat us rational don't mess about the cookroom slops but prove it to our face the widow's uniform is not the soldier's man's disgrace for it's tommy this and tommy that and chuck him out the brute but it's savior of his country when the guns begin to shoot and it's Tommy this and Tommy that and anything you please and Tommy ain't a blooming fool You bet that Tommy sees.

And that is another poem from Kipling. It's actually one of my favorites from Kipling. And you can follow it, and you can go back and read through it, look it up online. And it's explaining how, you know, the soldier doesn't get any respect during peacetime. But when it's time to fight, when the troop ship is on the tide, Then it's Tommy, which is slang for the British soldier. Then it's Tommy to the front of the line. But the point that I wanted to focus on is a line in the poem where it says,

and if sometimes our conduct is in all your fancy paints, why single men in barracks don't grow into plaster saints. And what that means is that soldiers and Marines and Sailors and those men that go out into harm's way voluntarily They're not always boy scouts They're not gonna be plaster saints. You know plaster saint like you have the little statue of a saint of a little Christian saint The the soldiers are gonna be a little rough around the edges. They might be a little bit rowdy They might be a little bit brash. They might be a little bit drunk. They might be troublemakers now. They're not all like that I

Obviously, but some of them are and guess what who else is gonna go forward Yeah, who else is gonna go put their life on the line It's these guys and and by the way when you are raised in a barracks a single man in a barracks You're gonna find some trouble from time to time and then once you take these young men and you put them into battle once you subject them to fear and terror and death assume now and expect them to can we somehow expect that their behavior is now going to transition to be coming beyond reproach in the way they carry themselves I don't think that's a realistic outlook now the book that we're going to look at today

is an example of war and it shows once again that war is not just in actions but also in attitude in language and in the way it impacts men both physically and mentally and this book is raw it's graphic it's brutish and it's real and the language that's in it that's offensive, I leave it in. Why? Because war is offensive. And the language used in war is also offensive. And if you don't want to hear offensive language or graphic descriptions or completely politically incorrect statements being made, then don't listen to this podcast. The book is called Excursion in Hell. And it tracks. the experience of its author a guy by the name of Vincent Bramley who's a young

corporal in third battalion of the British armies parachute regiment otherwise known as the three paris now the book starts off kind of with the way the the Falkland Island is starting to escalate and as a starting to escalate they get put on there in England the three pairs get put on to a cruise ship a chartered cruise ship called the SS Canabara and they're sailing south towards the Falkland Islands and now we they're starting to get information started to get in intelligence and start to get briefed on what's happening because these guys didn't even know where where the Falkland Islands were I mean a lot of them they

didn't know where they were it's some random island out in the middle of nowhere they couldn't find it on a map a lot of them well now they're definitely looking at it they're trying to figure out what's going on there so they're starting to get some of these briefs we're going to the book now our lectures were in the early afternoon now the most memorable was by some of the very keen Marines who had been serving in the Falklands at the time of the invasion the Falkland Islands were in a British I guess you call it a colony but not a colony it's a little British it was owned by the British at the time.

Yeah. And the Argentinians invaded it. So here we go. Obviously listening to first-hand experience was better than listening to some officer lecturing us on his personal beliefs at the time. However, an intelligence officer from way up top gave a graphic account of what the RGs, that's what they call the Argentinians, the RGs were up to at the time. The intelligence constantly coming in was essential to all levels.

What I remember most about this lecture was the officer standing proudly in front of us saying, the Argentine Army is the best and strongest in South America. He told us, you will be in for a big scrap if it comes to war, gents. Have no qualms about it. At the last recorded reports, the RGs have about 9,000 men in fortified positions around Stanley, the Capitol. But we also have good reports that they are underfed morale is low and they have taken to eating horses and sheep Which they have been stealing from the inhabitants. That's the local people that lived on the Falkland Islands This tells us that they are very undisciplined and goes to show that conscription is going to be their mistake so they have some of their soldiers are conscripts meaning they're forced into the into the army like a draft like yes

My immediate feelings were 9,000 fucking men and we only have two or three thousand What the fuck is the big brass up to? So what was interesting about this is One of the things that I really this reminded me of is these guys are never been to war before That matter of fact, he doesn't even mention anyone that has any prior combat experience And so this reminds me of when I was on my all my first deployments like you know I talked about being off the coast of Somali I talked about being off the coast of Rwanda

And that's what the position that these guys were in and and and what our mindset was if I was to go into Rwanda when I was a kid when I was you know how old I was 22 years old never been in combat before I would be completely different person than if I went in right now Yeah with my you know all the things that we talk about all the time I mean I'd be I just understand combat I understand war better I'm 45 years old I've been in combat leadership positions been in fire fights I understand these things It my attitude would be completely different Almost completely different than it would be Then it was when I was 22 or 23 years old Sitting there fired up with a million rounds and you know it's like Leif talking about I remember you know getting ready to go into Somalia Rwanda I had like hundreds of pounds of gear grenades we were so loaded out we're too heavy

Yeah, yeah. Because we thought we were going to World War III. And that's the that's what these guys are like. They don't, they're, they just don't, they're never been to combat. Yeah. And I think, you know, for everything. Yeah, they're trying to be ready for everything. And, and just their attitude.

And you can see it actually carries through. This thing is almost like, and this is what he says, too. A lot of times it's almost like they're on this giant, really hard training exercise. Obviously, it turns very. Sour at some points and very much much more beyond that But this is what a lot of this reminds me of these guys now some of these guys had been in I guess the comment experience that these guys would have had and I and I should have remembered this I didn't You know what these guys had combat experience they had combat experience from being in Northern Ireland

So most of them had done deployments over into Northern Ireland But I think that was a a little bit more of Not it's not it's not the full kind of combat they're about to get engaged in here So that's what it reminds me of hearing the way they're talking. All right. So back to the book on 3 May, the submarine HMS conqueror sank the Argentinian ship general Belgrano with a loss of about 300 lives. When this news was first brought to us, we were skeptical thinking, yeah, okay. Once the news was official, it wasn't greedy.

with total enthusiasm in the bar that night most of us were solemn we now knew war was inevitable they have a bar on it's a cruise ship that they're on so they have a bar and they're drinking and they get some allotment of beers in there that's where they're hanging out but all of a sudden this is real you know you don't you don't kill 300 you know enemy sailors and think you're not gonna go to war and it comes back back to the book the night of four May while we were playing bingo in the bar news came that the HMS Sheffield had been hit by an RG Exocet, which is a type of missile, and was sinking. The loss of a Harrier jet was also reported. The news hit the troops on board like a

sledgehammer. Until now, everything we had heard had been in our favor. South Georgia had been retaken, and the RG's submarine patrol boats had all been hit. Even their inland positions had been bombed by the Navy, and now the Belgrano, which was the ship that it sunk, sinking the Sheffield was the first of their strike backs Morale in the bar that night swung from an incredible high to an almost Sickening silence and he talks about this but the waiting these guys are now that it's a long cruise down there I think it takes him about three three weeks to get down Back to the book the day after the Sheffield was hit we knew our weight was coming to an end

The atmosphere was quiet and a morale booster was now much needed the only thing possible for the task force was revenge the sinking of the Sheffield had hit us as if we had lost a personal friend tension mounted frustration showed in everyone's eyes the fitness drills were now carried out in full kit and pounding the decks in the heat was gutty work so the whole time they've been steaming down there they've been out there running laps on the all the deck of the cruise ship trying to get in shape for what what's coming back to the book the main info we picked up suggested a possible move on 20 May so so they're trying to figure out what's going on they're down these this guys

you know pretty low on the totem pole they're trying to figure out what's going on they're hearing all these different rumors and and now they picked up that maybe they're gonna go on 20 May back to the book our nerves now started the move south was steady and without any real complications but further south we went the further we were going in somehow I and many others still didn't quite believe the war was going to happen we were lost in our own thoughts on many different subjects home became secondary now I thought about the ifs and whens of our arrival in the exclusion zone and of the landings and battles to follow Home was not my immediate thoughts survival was

Speculation was now rife as to what the landing procedure would be we were still very much in the dark as to what was happening But the next within the next 24 hours all the bullshit rumors and personal beliefs were corrected by the platoon commander gents he said it's the green light so they know they're now going in and now they're getting into the serious preparations packing and repacking to make our webbing as comfortable as possible we began to psych ourselves up for the days ahead it was nerve-racking beyond belief yet morale seemed remarkably high throughout the ship though the laughing and joking among the lads was partly to cover the fear Not that anyone thought death was going to hit him

That was for the guy you were talking to Getting the common belief that we hear quite a bit which is not gonna happen to me And you know I I will say this as I say it for all these shows that we do I'm skipping a bunch of stuff I'm giving you some of the high points but the the way he lays this out and the tension that he builds He does an outstanding job getting the tension and capturing it and I'm going through it pretty quickly but it's worth reading because and I think it's worth reading because if you're in one of these situations

especially when you're in charge of guys that have never been to combat before this is what you got a it gives you a good lessons about keeping guys informed about preparing them for combat and keeping them with the right mindset going in so now they actually transfer from the cruise ship now they get on to a warship and eventually they end up on a landing craft that's that's heading to shore Because they're going to war again. I covered that what in in six minutes right now? It's it's much more well detailed in the book But right now they're getting ready to do their landing back to the book the area now looked like an overcrowded tube train The troops had pushed so close together that you could count the blackheads on your neighbor's face I sat on my kit observing the order to keep all noise down No talking I looked around I looked around me at the hundreds of cammed faces so they got cam him camouflage paint on at hundreds of canned faces all with big wide eyes

Each face told its own story each each soldier had his own thoughts about the coming battle and the lads as the lads quietly sat about waiting Always waiting the story of all soldiers Myself I couldn't help but think that it was still a joke and that we wouldn't be going to shore my stomach was in knots and the nausea was hard to control the nervousness running through me was the worst of all waiting waiting for that fucking green light doc murdock doc sat next to me pulling faces like a comedian fuck off doc i said i've got the jitters we've all got to go somewhere vince don't worry The frustration of waiting and all the hassles of the last six weeks disappeared as we watched in stunned silence the battle for Fanning Head to our left. Fanning Head was the RGOP near San Carlos. The SAS had mounted an attack there to allow our landings to go ahead without interference.

The tracer rounds and naval bombardment on the tip of the bay brought us abruptly into the real world. Jesus, look at that. It's a fireworks display. shouted a lad at the front of the craft Shut up and face the coming beach We hadn't noticed we were moving towards the beach All heads had been turned to watch the battle So that's a little wake-up call

They're going in to do their beach landing and there's a massive firefight going on where the SAS is doing a hit Now as they They get on they do their landing their landing is on a post and they're starting to patrol movement towards one of their objectives here we go when we passed San Carlos two gazelle helicopters had just been shot down by some of the fleeing enemy word very quickly went around that the crew had been shot in the water while trying to swim ashore our anger brought home the reality of war and introduced us to the type of enemy we would be fighting I would personally felt I

personally felt that if we could have caught those responsible we would have killed them for the cowardly act so there's some well cowardly acts I guess is the is the word used so the guys are trying to swim to safety and they get shot the helicopter pilots they get into a position and they they hold up for a while in a in a security position back to the book guard sat behind the the sF gun for two hours on four off there's no sleep to be had What with the cold rain ponchos flapping all over the place and everyone restlessly changing positions all the time It was a great first night so they're out there they're freezing it's that's one thing they weren't really prepared for they weren't really prepared for this cold weather And but that's how they kick off no enemy contact yet other than what they can see off in the distance

They get gathered up for a little morning meet back to the book Pete Gray gathered the NCOs around him for a daily brief and informed us of the things we weren't interested in But also informed us that a company and C company had had a blue-on-blue some time earlier Apparently both companies had patrols out to look for the RGs who'd escaped on our landing One patrol had spotted the other and asked for mortars on their position scene In turn the other company asked for our artillery on the first company so a battle between a company and C company both firing small arms at each other Within minutes the operations officer in charge realized the arrow error and radioed for a ceasefire

But not before three to four lads had been badly shot up to them suffering head wounds The ops officer was temporarily removed from the task so again we got Relatively unexperienced guys. They're out there and again Obviously I highlight that because blue on blue is a real thing and people don't think it's gonna happen I think Leif was talking about this if you would have asked someone in T.U. Bruiser He said what are the chances that we're gonna have a blue on blue on our deployment?

People would have been like zero percent they were at zero percent because it was that it's that taboo Yeah, and the fact that, you know, there's a blue-on-blue that we talk about in extreme ownership, but there's blue-on-blues all the time in Ramadi. And this is another example of how easy it is to have it happen between two companies in the same battalion. Back to the book, Well, lads, bad news, said Pete, the Atlantic conveyor has been sunk. How the fuck did that get hit? asked someone from the rear. You tell me Pete wasn't a happy man nor were we for the ship had been carrying the Chinooks and luxury kit like tents overboots and so on So there was a a supply ship

Well a ship that had a bunch of supplies on it including helicopters and helicopters is what's supposed to transport the pair is around Falkland That was the plan that that just got sunk and not only get sunk with the helicopters on it it got sunk with the things like tents and sleeping bags that's going to allow them to be you know operate comfortably in this cold environment if you don't know where Falkland Islands is it down by Antarctica back to the book some bastard should fall for this we thought all that kit on one bloody ship bad news of our choppers being sunk hit us sorely and many of us were still thinking about about it when Pete announced the next info no choppers so the big wigs have decided that we start walking ASAP like today Pete gave us a breakdown of what was happening two para was on the

march to goose green 45 commander were were to head north to a settlement called Douglas we of three para were to take teal inlet within an hour all kit was packed tightly away last meals and bruise demolished weapons oiled and ready and bunkers evacuated bruise he's talking about tea and the Brits if you don't know they like their tea

and it's epic and I saw that you know with Brits that I've worked with obviously I'm married to a Brit so I know how much they like tea and drink tea I saw it overseas guys would be

they just would be ready to brew tea at any given time the first people the Sri Lankan when I was working with the Sri Lankan guys back in the Burk in the day they've been heavily influenced by the British army and by the British culture

because that was a British settlement for a long time they got their tea on too they would brew any you need to take a break for 10 minutes these guys would be over there with a little stove little hex lamp brewing up a tea so that's something that you're gonna and I I'm talking about it now I don't highlight it as much as I could in this podcast but that's what they're talking about

having a cup of tea brewing a cup of tea Yeah, doing a brew. When I worked with guys, the SAS guys that would come and stay with us here, those guys were the same way. Get their brew on. Yeah, got to have a couple tea. Solid. Back to the book. We made our way up the prominent part of windy gap where most of the battalion was gathering.

The CSM, that's the Command Sergeant Major, of B Company was organizing which kit we were to carry and which to leave. No tri pods for the SF guns in it SF guns are a sustained fire guns It's basically a big heavy machine gun Yeah That that takes a crew to operate So you have a tripod someone carries the tripod Someone carries the gun someone carries the ammunition

At least I think that's how they break it up No tripods for the SF guns and no sleeping bags No Burgins Burgins is what the Brits call their big backpacks Or big rucksacks All unnecessary weight to be left we repacked our kit the burghans and tripods were centralized for a later pickup They were to be choppered forward if a chopper became available

We all felt pissed off about the conveyor being sunk and the prospect of the coming tab so they call a March or a hump they call it a tab we were we were pissed off about the coming tab we knew that the march would be about 50 kilometers but we were all glad to be moving breaking out across the island on the offensive we set out at about 2.30 in the afternoon on what was to be an epic march for the regiment with the GPMG that's a general purpose machine gun webbing order and ammo slung over every part of our bodies we tabbed or rather hobbled as fast as we could once over the first hill we started to march

around the side of an adjoining hill at this time the Marines were walking alongside us ready to break northwards toward Douglas settlement unlike us they carried full kit burghans and all within 30 minutes we had a short break to let the stragglers catch up a young Marine was propped on his back beside me with his Bergen as a support you lot have the right idea he said no fucking extras we look like donkeys here I couldn't help but agree with him but thought to myself that while we may move faster, we'd be coldest at night. At that time, I didn't know we'd be marching flat out all the way day and night. In less than an hour, our bodies were struggling under the

weight of kit and ammo. The GPMG seemed to weigh a ton. We swapped it on every short break. Within the first two hours of the night march orders were passed slowly back along the length of the battalion that we'd be stopping for 15 minutes in every hour. Some even started clock watching. boots and wet socks were becoming unbearable to march in rubbing badly on the feet most of most if not all of us Blisters and sprained ankles added unexpectedly To the injury toll and I haven't done a good job of describing the terrain It's miserable terrain just rocks slippery rocks big steep hills It's it on you go look at some images of what the terrain and the Falkland Islands is like

Yeah, it's it's it's nightmare to nightmare to patrol on and it's the kind where it's snowing kind it's gonna snow yeah not snowing yet but it's gonna but it's that cold where it's yeah which actually is actually in some ways worse it's some ways it's worse to have because if it's cold enough that it's snowing snow is generally dry oh if that makes sense rain is rain yeah right you get rained on you're wet yeah yeah if you get snowed on you can maintain your your dryness so if you're in a really cold environment where it's where it's snowing that's okay the snow it's it doesn't make you

wet and wet makes you cold yeah it's zap's one of the worst things is right on that borderline yeah between because then you get rained on but then when the sun goes down it turns into freezing so that this is the worst worst worst worst environment you could you could want for this situation that they're in and all their gear they only have what limited gear they they should have got sunk on a boat or it's in their burghans but even the stuff that's in their burghans isn't the full isn't the best winter equipment they they would want all that stuff got sunk so he's got a guy that's

starting to slack a little bit his name is taff taff move up move up I screamed I can't vent some fucked I was losing my rag I could see he was out of it but I couldn't stand the fact that he was gonna let us down before we'd even got there Taff was trying to keep up and mumbling out loud that he could do it if only we were to slow down a little bit But this was impossible. Nobody could tell the lead elements to slow down. The gap got bigger. The swearing got louder. Taff wasn't the only one to feel the strain. Many of the lads were struggling. At last, exhausted, we stopped on the slope of yet another wind-swept hill.

Taft shook uncontrollably. He had a bad cramp and lay there, totally out of the game. I informed the medics. Steve was sitting beside his usual. When the unusual, when the unusual order came from the CO, the commanding officer, brew up a hot cuppa and make a snack. That was the order. This shocked a lot of us. Theoretically, it was a no-no sitting in the middle of an advance in the open and pitch dark. Practically, though, it was the best order yet.

A welcome brew was what we needed. The CO was obviously aware that the lads were suffering from the speed of the march. To me, Taft looked as though he was about to die. his nine stone frame wasn't strong enough for the rest of the march taft could run the British the army's British fitness test in around eight minutes and was considered our best runner this proves as do other accounts I heard after the war that the fitness of troops cannot be determined by how fast they can run the peros always pride themselves on tabbing with kit so that means marching with gear and rightly so but I learned to lesson on our

on our first night's march you must have body fat on you to waste for that kind of long tab that we had embarked on So got a guy that's like you know super thin triathlete King now he's now you put a bunch of weight on him He's hurting and I'll tell you that that was also That's a generalization to that's not always true. I know some guys that were lean and could run fast and they could also hump a rock like it was good like it was their like it was their business Now, they start gathering up kind of the guys that can't continue and they actually leave these guys that can't continue in a perimeter area and then we're going back to the book. We slogged it out for another two or three hours of continuous hills, bogs, rocks, holes in the grounds, everything that we could possibly, everything that could possibly make you trip or get wet.

On top of the bloody, awful terrain, we had the rain, sleet, wind, and freezing, climate to cope with exhausted and nearer the point of collapse we came to the first man-made thing I'd seen apart from the small houses at San Carlos it was a barbed wire fence there right in the middle of nowhere sat the fence stretching far into the darkness on either side orders from above told us to rest up until first light we had been marching for 15 hours across the worst terrain you could imagine Steve and I attached our poncho with bungeys our ponchos with bungies to the fence and skiddy kev and johnny bashed up on the other side creating a tent-like accommodation that's like their term for making shelter we'd call it bivvy up which is where that's where we're going to sleep they call it bashed up we'd say bivvy up hey we're going to biv you up here it rained hard for the remaining four hours of darkness the wind blew the rain in on us as we all lay there trying to rest in the basher but although we were exhausted someone snoring soon broke into my thoughts and outside around the basher little

whispers could be heard and other voices shouting for silence I closed my eyes dreaming of a bath clean sheets and a letter from home I didn't mind the rain as it hit my face the chance to rest was welcome and I eventually managed to sleep I was awoken by a nudge from Skiddy who was already half-packed and ready to move Steve and I crawled from our refuge and quietly packed our kit into our webbing the rain and cold had shrunk the webbing so that it was difficult to fasten cold and numbness had us swearing out loud we tabbed over more hills through more bogs and marshes my legs ached more than I had thought possible Steve was if anything better than me with the weight every time I started to struggle with the gp mrs G he took it without complaining carry that weapon he could so brutal March they get to their next destination where they're going into a layup point or a perimeter where they're gonna stop for a while back to the book my stomach felt

hollow the wind and rain drained me of life lying there feeling near to total exhaustion I couldn't even think of what was to come the battle for teal inlet my feet didn't exist anymore they were just two blocks of numbed I attached to my legs tapping them together brought a pain that felt as if they would shatter and fall off Steve lay next to me lighting up a fag which is a cigarette he looked up through the rain clouds at the darkened sky if we carry on at this rate we'll all drop dead of exhaustion he murmured Steve said that he didn't want to look at his feet because they felt like they were falling off I peeled back my

wet socks saw blood on my right foot and discovered that the nail of my big toe was hanging off numbness had masked what normally would have been agony clenching my teeth I pulled the nail away by its remaining roots soon the shout went out that we were to get ready to move we were moving earlier than expected to catch the last of the daylight when I stood up my body ached from head to foot I was minus one toenail I took up my kit and moved into line with the others ready to go the last 13 kilometers to teal so far to taking us about 14 hours to march 40 odd kilometers that

was still good going we set off very slowly spaced out in one long line we hobbled over the hill in front of us only to see more hills and marshes I began to become conscious of my toe and the more I thought about it the worse it felt however the thought of dropping out at that stage seemed to fate worse than death and so I fought the pain it's funny looking back but the further we went into the campaign the less I thought of my home or family I wasn't thinking of queen and country either I thought of myself and the lads around me letting the side down was my biggest fear that fear kept me walking just doesn't want to let his boys down

that's his driving force not even thinking about his family anymore. Not thinking about God and country. Not thinking about the queen. Here's a little thing that I had to highlight. We were, we were annoyed by the lack of info coming down the marching line to tell us where we were and how far we had left to march. This is, as a lesson I learned a long time ago when I was a young junior guy in a platoon. And if you're in the back of the platoon or you're in the back of the patrol and you don't know where you're going, it is the worst feeling. It's the worst feeling. You have no idea how much longer, where you're going, where you are not only is it a bad feeling for the for the people on your team

it's tactically unsound because they don't know where they are so what happens if you get contacted you get split up where they're supposed to go they don't even know where they are what if they're going the wrong directions they could get go into enemy formation it's it's a horrible scenario and obviously as a leader in any position you got to think does your does the back of your patrol know where you are does your company know where you are I was working with a company recently they had that big transition to make but no one knew what quantified that transition it just seemed like this open-ended prospect and then no one knew where

it ended or what what quantified hey okay we can we can move to the next phase so it and it was a tough phase that they were going through you know cutting costs and being restrictive on expenditures I guess that is cutting costs but getting rid of some people there is a tough time yeah but no one knew when that was gonna end right right they just thought they knew that there was some kind of goal out there but they didn't know what it was and That was really tough for them in the transition so I said you know you need to set clear goals if you know what they are which actually the leadership did know they knew there was a certain line a certain amount of cost that they needed cut a curtain certain operating expense that they needed to get down to but they didn't tell anybody so everyone just thought well we might just be cutting my job next or who you know how long am I gonna be here We're just shutting down. I don't know.

So keep your people informed. The people that are in the back end of your patrol, you've got to keep them informed. Back to the book, we came to a fourth river, smaller than the rest, and stumbled across it in the dark. The cold water mixed with our sweat to cause yet more sores on our feet. We were now about one and a half kilometers from the settlement of teal inlet. The agony of the marching disappeared quickly as it became clear that the task of the battle, would soon confront us and how does that go one and a half hours of lying in the cold with the winds shooting through us was all the action they had that night so they get to teal inlet and really nothing

really happens because the argies had left they do get some updates back to the book we found out that some of the platoon had dropped out on the march more importantly though Mick Coleman one of our gunners had just been shot in the leg not by the enemy but by a knob in a company so their first you know casualty besides someone getting hurt from marching is somebody that gets shot one by one of their own people it's a knob just a derogatory term for a tool right a nerd right it's not it's not a it's not a military right it's not official it's not official military doctrinal term knob just saying a turd

The CEO and his back to the book the CEO and his band of followers inspected the lines later that morning So now they're dug in in another position We thought they might instruct us to move our trench or something the usual thing But we were still thinking as though we were on exercise So classic point right there the commanding officer comes around and they think oh he's gonna tell us to redig these trenches because that's what we'd be doing if we're on exercise Hey you need to move this over here. That could be a little bit better He doesn't do any of that the CEO looked grim as he approached the six of us taking a tea break Listen in lads said the RSM that's the regimental sergeant major

We looked at him wondering what was coming during the March two para so that's their sister battalion two para attacked goose green and Darwin settlements After a long battle the regiment liberated the settlement with a loss of 18 lives including their commanding officer Colonel H Jones Many have been wounded and a casualty list is being drawn up. They captured hundreds of Arjys. The war is now a different concept for the enemy are believed to have shot down members of two para showing a white flag. More information will be given once known. The CEO half smiled and proceeded to the next line of partly dove trenches. Skiddy Kev John and I looked at each other with open mouths the thought of 18 members of two

pair of dead outweighed the victory for us I for one couldn't have given a shit about Goose Green or anywhere else on the island at that time it was a thought of losing our mates in the sister battalion that worried me so they think they've got it bad but this other battalion had been in a serious gunfight and taken some pretty significant casualties including losing their leader the leader of the battalion back to the book the condition of our feet was becoming a major problem for the battalion an old complaint suffered by troops during many wars was afflicting us in modern war trench foot our boots badly and cheaply made coupled with our old-fashioned socks

and puttees caused this condition and and puttees are like I don't have you ever seen those old kind of school World War I they're like leggings or like gaiters you know what gators are they kind of cover your shoes they kind of cover your boots it was character this trench foot it was characterized by a dull thumping ache all over the foot with blueness at the edges some say it's similar to frostbite which some lads also got Now they hold up for the night and then as he's sleeping We get this corporal B corporal B that's that's that's that's who we're talking about right now. That's Vince Vince Bramley court he's they call him corporal B a bunch Corporal B corporal B a voice whispered into the trench Steve and I came around together I looked up to see four platoons officer looking down at me

Yes sir. I replied Vince isn't it? Yes sir being asked your first name wasn't unusual between officers and men in the field Sorry old boy bad news for you in my half sleep I couldn't think of anything worse than being woken up Orders from the boss were pulling out at first light and marching to Estancia He said Astancia where the fuck is that I asked It was another 30 to 50 kilometers away towards Stanley we learned Stanley again is the capital Steve and I looked at each other as we sat the bottom of our trench too numb to speak I broke the silence first this is getting fucking stupid Steve march here dig there we're dropping down like flies and now more do or die

marching without resting Steve started laughing at my moaning his teeth shining in the dark what are you so happy about I said just thought of more pain for the cause pain Jesus he was right my feet would die before me I thought as I drifted back to sleep I thought of my old corporal who trained me corporal deering we hated him for his hard methods he used to say pain doesn't matter the mind does the work he was right so right his voice was screaming in my years now four years later it was going to be mind over matter there is wisdom in the para's training method methods i thought briefly of my parents who over the years had had a rough time with my slobbish attitude. I had been in and out of all sorts of trouble before joining the army. I said to myself

that if I died with a bullet in the head, at least it would be better than warring them into an early grave with my attitude. But to drop out now and be branded a wanker would be unbearable. I owed a lot to everyone, my old NCO, my parents, and above all to the lads around me. A parateeam cannot work without everyone giving their best it's the lads you fight and work for you come second so obviously more patrolling more boots boots boots over the Falkland Islands another 30 kilometers up and down crappy terrain back to the book we are now within the enemy's artillery range the CEO has ordered that we will dig shell scraps for protection no movement like walking around etc until ordered tomorrow so now they're

within enemy artillery range which we don't like artillery around here not when it's coming towards us at least he they they're taking a look at each other seeing where they're at at steve and Toma looked at my feet wondering if I would be able to carry on I found a bandage hidden in my webbing and cut it up to make small dressings for my blisters and toes I thought the fresh air would them help leaving my boots off that night was by what leaving my boots off that night was to be my worst mistake so far after a freezing cold and sleepless night the morning light showed me two swollen feet and the hardest frozen pair of boots

imaginable putting those boots back on was agony we marched for about four hours until the whole battalion had rendezvoused by the time we reached this point I was nearly crying in pain my hips had bad webbing burns and my feet were two raw blobs as I slumped against a peak a peat bank Jimmy Morum murmured that I look like death warmed up I felt like it too within two weeks we look like a rag and bone army our faces were drawn with a loss of weight our uniforms matted and soaked our boots were damaged and we were hungry for solid food Despite all this morale was very high in the reassuring knowledge that we had marched and taken most of the island

Without a bought battle or a loss of life so far so they they're making rapid progress and they're not really coming up against any enemy that the enemy's retreating Every time they roll into a place they find remnants of where the enemy was or they have intelligence that was the enemy was there But the enemy's just leaving so it's just them against nature That's where it's been for the most part at this point They keep they keep pumping we shuffled together We were informed that we would be marching straight onto Mount Longdon that night The battle was about to begin so this is a prominent piece of terrain called Mount Mount longdon We had no time for last letters or anything else

We packed our kit and were briefed and ready to go within two hours The battalion formed up and marched uphill again spilling out of the settlement towards the summit of Estancia The route we took was atrocious We crossed a rock field of some sort. The rocks were sharp and jagged. In four hours, we only covered three kilometers. Sweat ran down us like water. I stopped at one stage to take off my soaking long johns.

We came to halt as the order, turn back, turn back, hit our ears. What's the fucking matter now? Someone shouted. Just turn back and do as you're told, screamed an officer. Just on the other side of the hill, out of the view of Stanley, which is the capital, The lads had been ordered back. Why? Shortly after we learned that the cabbage heads,

so they call, that's the Marines, and there's Marines, Royal Marines are down there working and running some of the major operations, and they call them cabbage heads. Shortly after we learned that the cabbage heads running the show hadn't agreed to our advance, they didn't think we should take the risk

of going into battle on our own. So the Marines wanted to be there with them, so they said, don't go too long to, yet back to the book as we were milling around a peep fire with nine squadron a chopper came down from one of the mountains some nosy lat lads ran towards it and quickly brought back a report that some Marines had been in a blue-on-blue contact that night so another blue on blue a returning patrol had stumbled upon a mortar base team asleep and it shot them as they lay in their sleeping bags there

were three to four dead whatever we felt about the Marines we were for them on that day if if you're out there and you use a gun for part of your job whether you're in in the police department whether you're in a SWAT team whether you're in the military I'm telling you the blue-on-blue happens and you've got to do all you can to train for situations and always be aware that it can't happen people don't think it can happen that's why it happens back to the book on 10 June we had orders that something was going down soon We stripped our weapons thoroughly and oiled and greased them the PC issued 50 rounds per gun for for

balancing that's that's like basically test firing and probably doing some kind of a timing drill on your weapon to make sure that it's good to go Bob Geddes immediately balanced his gun by firing across the water inlet into the sea Tony Jones was just setting up his when the QM that's a quartermaster guy in charge of supplies and logistics came screaming over an ordered us not to waste ammo we pointed out that the guns needed balancing but his narrow mind wouldn't have it he walked away pleased by the thought of saving ammo in fact he caused a major fuck up with all the guns in the battle only two of the six worked 50 rounds through each might have saved lives and would have at least provided better firepower for

the battalion so you got a guy the the supply guy hey don't don't test fire your weapons don't do that right now save the ammunition now they did realize that they were gonna have an ammunition shortage that was gonna be a problem but you're not gonna have an ammunition shortage if your guns don't work yeah back to the book the PC came down and we gathered round him eagerly he stood faintly grinning at us spit it out sir said Johnny Cook orders in a half an hour tonight lads green light see you by the model and a half an hour so the model he's talking about they built a little you know terrain model so that they could kind of

draw out where everyone's going kind of go through the plan and this is what they're talking about now is the assault on Mount Longdon which is about to begin begins with getting into position and finally they are in position the assault is getting started things start going sideways pretty damn quickly back to the book lieutenant Oliver rushed over to our position Right listen in he said I felt like saying I was anyway but for the time joking was over B company have had to change their tactics a bit Corporals Bramley's and Cook's teams will follow myself and captain Mason into a company positions

while corporal Tommel Tomo Rawlings and peers will go to another task okay so things are going crazy They start to move he starts to move with with lieutenant Oliver Towards this other position back to the book we'd run about 200 meters we were all still together but now the run had become a fast stumbling walk the noise of battle continued to grow continued to our right now as we moved around the slope suddenly a zipping sound whipped across my face I didn't think anything of it as I walked and stumbled to keep up then three or four more zips hit the ground in front of at in front and at my feet I still carried

on I was walking behind lieutenant Oliver as I was walking behind lieutenant Oliver we saw bodies lying all over the place I thought what the fuck are they doing lying there Jesus Christ fucking lying there and we're struggling I saw a lad kneeling over a guy in a sleeping bag I remember as I got to them just watching him a low moaning was coming from the sleeping bag I'd gone about 20 paces when several more zips hit the ground sending a small shockwave all around me for fuck sake are you completely nuts or what some guy's shouted what asked lieutenant oliver do you know a sniper's picking at us we stopped frozen solid in our trucks then fell to the ground our small column now joining the

bodies lying all over the place we'd walked into a company's form-up where they had been stopped by a sniper lying there it hit me like a sledgehammer the zips had been that had been missing me by inches they were sniper fire I lay there thinking you fucking idiot Vince I cursed myself all the time we lay there blaming myself for an unprofessional act but then I'd never been shot at before and my mind had been so occupied with moving that the zipping sound seemed unconnected with the battle so like I said first time being shot at and he didn't know what it was and I've told this story on here before but the first time I got shot at or the first time I was receiving fire

was in the Humvees and I thought someone was throwing cigarettes out on the road and I was like who the hell's smoking in that Humvee ahead of me but it was round hitting the Humvee so and I was the same way I was just like didn't it didn't occur to me When it hits you that that their bullets are you like in shock or or do you just kind of shift into you know? Yeah I shifted into game time, but it took me not it wasn't it was a pretty slow transition Yeah, you know It took me it took me to think through the whole process of Who's smoking a cigarette wait why are they throwing cigarettes? Wait, why do they have so many cigarettes?

Is the entire Humvee smoking? Is the entire Humvee smoking? A cigarette and putting them all out right now and it wasn't like a massive volume of fire But it was rounds hitting well yeah can be one yeah, yeah that's the wait so you saw it on on another Humvee in front of you kind You saw the sparks I saw a spark got you got off of it and I thought hmm some Don't see yeah so it's throwing a cigarette out Holy go same same thing I will say this though we were the first time I got shot at when I wasn't in a vehicle You I heard the rounds going over and I knew what it was because I was used to it from when We do butts I don't know how I'll explain it when you shoot on a range like when you go sight in your rifle

You shoot on the range and and some of us guys You go down and you work the targets for the other guys so you're in basically in a bunker kind of okay or you're behind a big berm Yeah yeah and you put the target up for your guys and then when they shoot at you pull it back down You mark it with these discs so that they know where their shots it so they can make adjustments then you put it back up again So when you're doing that and you do it at different distances and you do it at different distances and They shoot from different distances They shoot from 100 yards and they shoot from 300 yards And they shoot from 300 yards and they shoot from 800 yards

So you could just hear all these different ones And the further out they get The more you hear the actual sound of the round going over you Right and at certain ranges you can hear it breaking the sound barrier And it's pretty loud it's a it's a crack more than but then when they get far enough away It did you don't hear that anymore and it just sounds like he's talking about like a little zip like a little you know It's a but I knew it was the first time I ever got shot at I knew exactly what it was yeah Yeah, yeah, it's crazy I knew what was well that's the first time I got shot at not in a Humve right and in the Humve

Which by the way I got shot at first that was the first time I ever got shot at was it was in the Humvee yeah All right going back to the book the battle was raging on the hill Artillery shells were landing there adding to the ricochet of bullets if you slowly raised your head you could watch the free firework display Because that's what it looked like the odd shout could be heard and the odd scream But it was the sound of rifle machine gun and artillery that dominated the night So we've gone from hey we're out on patrol and we're looking now they're in full there's a full battle going on After about an hour we were all getting pissed off with this fucking sniper Something had to be done and quick he was holding up a hundred and thirty mine so these guys are pinned down

They're pinned down and the idea was that finally the plan that they come up with is they're gonna use us Milan called them the Milan it's like a short range kind of it's like a bazooka but it's wire guided so you can actually steer it a little bit it's a missile a little hand carried missile and that's the plan is to use that to shoot from where they think this sniper shooting from so they get in position they get the Milan in position and then they're gonna once they shoot with a Milan they're gonna shoot their machine guns at it standby shouted captain Mason my feet were forgotten my mind emptied of any thoughts but my eyes were completely live staring at the area of the fin he's talking about this

terrain feature that looked like a shark fin and possible target fire Ginge let off the Milan the rocket washed off the small portable frame and picked up its deadly speed after 120 meters it was at its deadliest we were only about 90 meters from the target by the way if you're a sniper shooting at you from 90 meters that is scary he's not missing Ginge managed to guide the wire missile to wire guide the missile on target the explosion ripped into the night sending sparks everywhere Bob pressed the trigger and our gun burst to life for a few seconds then stopped Stoppage screamed Bob I tried to lift the feet the cover off the top of the GPMG But the night site was in the way I ripped off the night site from the weapon and threw it into sass his hands it's another guy's sass

I cleared the gun and reloaded Bob was just about to fire again when a zipping sound ripped into the ground right in front of our tripod We both ducked behind the bank the enemies bullets whizzed over our heads and all around us Ginge was laughing and shouted they've seen you all right Fucking brilliant isn't it my night and the bloody guns packed up Captain Mason shouted over from behind us reload reload CS 9 wants another one up there so they want him to hit it again we'll hit that sniper position again with the Milan which they do and they eventually take care of that problem and and are able to move on now they start coming back down from

that from that supporting position because that's what they're doing is the most part they're assigned into supporting positions to get the high ground and support the assault as they're happening they come back down from that we reach the bottom of the hill at about zero zero three zero hours the battle had been going for some three and a half hours we came up to the FAP that's their first aid post and walked past the line of guys lying there moaning in half silence the medics were busy with all the wounded there seemed to be about 25 guys working and wounded in the group we were sitting some 20 meters from them in the darkness

and we could only just see the scene by the light of the moon a sergeant from battalion HQ came over and told came over to us and Lieutenant Oliver and Captain Mason stood up to meet him. We have three confirmed dead at this moment, he said. Murdoch, Scott, and Greenwood. We know there are more, but we can't get to them as yet. So Murdoch, if you remember the guy that was making fun of, making funny faces when they were on the boat coming in,

confirmed dead. Their conversation continued around our coming task and that the RSM was coming to meet us. I sat in a trance. I couldn't believe that we had lost. guys today it seems crazy that I should think like this why I can only put it down to the fact that I was still in my own little world of make-believe we would win the war without getting anyone killed the death of those three guys hit me like a brick total shock

Murdoch or simply doc doc who I'd been chatting with on the way to our start line after we bumped into B company now dead Scotty from the mt platoon that's not the motor transport platoon like Greenwood recently nicknamed Fester because of his sleeping habits My mind was blank to the conversation around me Johnny nudged me Vince were moving mate This woke me to the reality of it all I was now fully alert for surely there was more to come So now they're getting to another like I said their job has been doing supporting supporting arms which is basically cover and move on a big scale That's what they're doing. You've got a group this this machine gun platoon With the Milan with the heavy machine guns they're getting into elevated positions to cover for

Another element of another company or another battalion to go in an assault a target This is classic cover move situation and they're in the cover position In most of these situations and that's what's going on where we come back to the book they're in another Elevated firing position back to the book Corporal B get ready I waited for the command sergeant major to give the order to fire the weight was longer than I expected and my fingers stayed on the trigger frozen waiting as I sat waiting for the command other voices came to my ears from among the sounds of battle the voices of the wounded everywhere their cries

pitched in with those survivors still struggling and screaming frantically at each other to move there move here but the wounded were unlike anything else their cries could be heard above the uninjured their shouts were desperate my mind went blank my eyes were wide open with fright for them my mouth dried as I lay there the second seemed like ours their anguished moaning and crying is here in my ears now as I write no matter what I or others did to try and ignore them they somehow grew seemed to grow louder and louder I burned with frustration one victim who I later found out was Baz Barrett seemed so near groaning and shouting help me please don't

leave me for fuck's sake help I can't move someone further along to our left called out for Christ's sake I'm dying don't let them bury me here please please I shouted out hang on Don't move don't move for fuck sake keep quiet I started to crawl for my position I wanted to help them But platoon commander grabbed my arm Leave it corporal B Leave it I looked at him why

Because a sniper has already picked off about five or six guys that have tried to help The top says no more okay? I slumped to the ground with a feeling of total helplessness it was the worst feeling that anyone can imagine as I tried not to think it was real the cries continued oh God I'm hitting the chest I'm all wet please help the crying went on and on some wounded guys had been dragged or had crawled away from the main impact area only to be pinned down elsewhere my mind seethed with anger Corporal B, stand by, the CSM screamed.

The command to follow killed off all the cries and moaning. The weapon broke a stream of fire at the Argentinian positions, three to five rounds bursting across the summit. The steady rate of fire continued as the CSM shouted across to change direction using our tracer rounds as indicators. All six guns opened up. Our tracers ripped across the summit to the-exam. other end of the mountain the bullets bouncing and ricocheting in all directions so

hammering the target they're hammering the the enemy from where the enemy is shooting and and obviously I mean what a what a wretched description of being within the sound of the voices of your wounded men who you cannot help because they're pinned down by snipers eventually they this I mean this goes on for a long time they're in this supporting position they're laying down fire they're shooting thousands and thousands and thousands of rounds back to the book the CSM shouted stop stop Worn out we rested our heads on the ground the battle had now been going on for some 11 hours How long we had laid in their firing I did not know the CSM came over well done a company are moving through to our left now we've covered

them and given them all the help we could give the rest is up to them we can't fire anymore it get to them it's too close now it'll be light in an hour or so pull the gun back and dismount it sir did we get any asked Bob more than enough he replied and walked away had we killed we must have I felt nothing afterwards just relaxed I hadn't seen our targets they had been hidden in darkness we hadn't killed at the end of a bayonet or through a rifle site we had killed with a spray of machine gun bullets it didn't seem personal it was as if the enemy hadn't existed at all

complete that mission and then yes they crawl back to a little bit of a covered position away from where they had been supporting and then here we go back to the book about 70 meters away the ground exploded in a massive earth shrapnel and rock then another shell came over this time further to our right

I looked down the hill as the shell exploded and saw an unbelievable display of flying red sparks deadly shrapnel the ground shook as shell after shell fell behind us the first minutes of shelling were terrifying

so they've been this is it now now they started we mentioned that they were our artillery range and we all know What an whole absolute horror show artillery is Back to the book in the distance a booming sound began that carried over the area someone screened incoming incoming Sure enough the air disappeared there was a woosh and the explosion killed any remaining piece The shells came in thick and fast I lay watching the red glowing shrap-n-n-up flying by Now the shrapnel is creeping up towards me. The explosions getting so loud I thought they would deafen me.

The shells were landing about 50 meters away. Four or five shells would hit an area in a salvo, then the next batch would hit about 10 meters nearer. The booming from Stanley could still be heard in the gaps between explosions in our areas. As I lay there watching the shrapnel getting closer, I found myself shaking. Was it from cold or fright? My legs shook and I couldn't control them at all. The next salvo landed 30 meters away.

I curled up into a ball as the shrapnel splintered the rocks around me. A piece of shrapnel landed in my little alcove, still burning with fury, sizzling into the dirt by my waist. Four or five more shells landed around us and then it stopped as if it had never begun. The air was misty as though a fog had swept over us. I lay back praying it was over. In the half-light of the false dawn I could now hear shouting all down the hill. Some guys were screaming like mad.

One voice went right through me, the scream of a man who knows he's about to die. All over the hill, people were shouting, medic, medic. I was about to crawl from my hole when another shell hit the ground. I hadn't even heard it coming. I fell on my face and stayed there for a few seconds. another shell landed nearby this time a shower of dirt fell on my back I crawled back into my hole and curled up again waiting my body shook uncontrollably the shells landed in thick salvos the noise and explosions around me making my head spin as if someone were banging it against a wall I willed to stop but the shells carried on landing around me then this

second bombardment within minutes ended as suddenly as it had begun so horrible horrible situation that they're in and much like we talked about the Germans having their mortars dialed in and their artillery dialed in it's the same thing you're in the Falkland Islands there's obvious terrain features so when you're holding a city like they're the the Argentinians military is in the city of Stanley well they know where they're gonna get attacked from and they know what a good firing position so they have those positions dialed into their artillery and they can just start hammering them back to the book I can remember the OC shouting behind me move move

their artillery will be here soon again so now they're trying to move sergeant P waited only for me to squeeze myself through the gap before he took off again after we had gone about four or five steps a hand dropped out of the rocks grabbing at my ankle and denims the shock it made us jump instantly sergeant p was back with me we both looked at my feet still holding my denims was a wounded argy his eyes were staring at me pleading perhaps full of sorrow sergeant p shouted step back brammer's i tried to step back but the wounded soldier tightened his grip on me i leaned back as sergeant p pointed his weapon and fired two

bullets into the man's head the noise of his weapon echoing around the small gap Tomo and Johnny were behind me now the Argy's head bounced quickly as the two rounds entered him his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his mouth open to the release a trickle of blood and saliva which ran down his chin onto his shirt collar at the same time his hand gave up its grasp on my denims and dropped onto my boot I flicked my boot as if I was playing football his hand and arm dropped across his body and from his mouth came a low whistle of air mixed with blood. All this took seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime to me.

Each detail remains with me today. The sight of this guy dying at my feet shocked me, but I was growing harder. Although shaken, I felt no remorse at the time. The deadly game of war lay at my feet. Only I mattered. The rights of wrongs, the rights and wrongs of war, can never be argued. from the armchair decisions are made on the spot questions asked afterwards that lone RG could have been rigged to a booby trap or even armed the kill was done

quickly and professionally I felt that I should have acted as quickly as sergeant P come on move he shouted sergeant P screamed in order for me to follow him as we trotted further into the clearing we had to jump over the twisted pile of corpses my mind was never nor has since been so alert adrenaline was rushing through my body so quickly that I felt I was floating with excitement mingled with fear a little further into the clearing lay three or four Argentinians visibly shaken shaking visibly close together on the ground we ran half walked through a deadly sickening area of death they looked up as we

arrived all had been seriously wounded and were moaning and crying one held up his hands across his eyes and shouted mama I felt he thought that we were or I was about to shoot him he were known calling for his mama in a low wail one Argentinian sat in a trance his eyes wide and staring at nothing tears ran down his face the only sign that he was alive none of them moved all look like they expected to be shot by us but we ran past the whole area was littered with weapons helmets clothing and food and ammo a few bullets whizzed overhead and smashed into the rocks a corporal shouted that tumble down this is another another prominent terrain feature tumble down was firing at us we

ran into a tight gap in the path and all came to an abrupt halt as it was a dead end four or five bodies lay sprawled there close together this time they were our own men the camouflaged para smocks hit my eyes immediately CSM wicks was standing over them like a guardian screaming at some of his men to cover the further end of the path and a small crest the CSM and sergeant P exchanged quick work I wasn't listening my mind was totally occupied with looking into the crags for the enemy I turned to look at her own lads dead on the ground mowed down when they tried to rush through this gap I felt both anger and sadness the CSM's face showed the strain of having seen most of his

company either wounded or shot dead that night's fighting was written in every line of his face we all doubled back into the clearing we had just run through we spread out and waited for our next move a wounded Argentinian lay right next to me 10 meters away he'd been hit in the chest and screamed as he held the wound a lad from B company ran across the clearing at him and ran his bayonet through him the screaming Argentinian tried to grab the bayonet from him before it took his life our lad screamed shut up shut up you cunt the enemy soldier died as the bayonet was withdrawn the lad walked back to his seat among the rocks as if nothing had happened to my right three Argentinians were crying with their heads in their hands

were they the dead men's friends at their feet lay one of our lads moaning in pain as a medic attended to him I could see his back was peppered with shrapnel I swung to my left and fell against some rocks I now felt the shock of it all coursing through my body I wailed softly my throat feeling like I wanted to choke my eyes watered and I shook my head to force myself into reality but this was reality I looked for Bob and Johnny I couldn't see Bob, but Johnny was there staring right at me. Our eyes met telling each other that we felt the end had come. A lad resting with his rifle pointed towards Tumbledown, turned, fell into a tight ball,

curling himself up as he hit the ground screaming, incoming, incoming. We all dropped to the ground, crawling behind rocks wherever we could. The first shell went over us onto the west side of the mountain. Then the shells started to creep up towards us and one thump into the clearing hitting a rock about 30 meters away The ground shook as if we'd been hit by an earthquake Shrapnel pried pierced the ground or bounced off of rocks all around us Grant Grinam screamed out shrapnel had hit his leg two of his mates were pulling him into better cover as the shells rained down us around us again soon after Corporal Stewart McLaughlin McLaughlin was hit in the back by shrapnel

He was later killed by a direct mortar hit as he was being taken to a first aid post I lay there trembling as shells roared over us each explosion shook more fear into us We had centered our group about halfway along the mountain The O.C shouted us to split up a bit otherwise a direct hit would cause a heavy loss three or four anti-tank lads got up and ran to a bunker on the other side of the hill as another salvo came rushing in on us a shell crashed into the rock above the OC sending shrapnel and rock in the opposite direction to us he looked up at all of us as we looked at him expecting him to be dead since the shell had only landed a few meters from us all he shouted across well that was a naughty one wasn't it We laughed, unanimous in appreciation of his complete calm. The shells came in for over an hour.

We just lay there, hoping, praying that it would end soon. I lay looking straight into Johnny's face, who at times would poke out his tongue or do his grin again. The shelling stopped, as usual, as suddenly as it had began. I stood up and saw Kev Connery crouched by a rock. kev i screamed he looked over and smiled get your arse over here you twop he had started to walk towards us when two or three more shells hit home we all flopped the ground once more the vibration of the explosion shook us and the earth landed on our backs we jumped up to see kev running towards us he jumped into our little opening jesus fuck me he said i've had a right night of it too where's johnny crow and skis kiddie mate I asked kev looked into my face and said johnny's dead he's dead Vince killed outright skiddy's been wounded only me left oh for fuck sake how in the

attack of burst around hit Johnny square in the chest I reckon he was dead before he hit the ground kev explained we carried on chatting about the situation in general Rick Westy was brewing up for us when we heard the booming sound again from Stanley Incoming someone screamed not again Johnny shouted We were getting more scared with each bombardment We hit the ground and fought to get legs arms and bodies more comfy and secure than each others At this rate they'll get us we can't have luck on our side forever you know I shouted as the shells exploded around us I lay next to keb

we both faced the mess tin where a cup of was brewing a shell landed not three meters away sending shrapnel and dirt in our direction rocks and earth fell around us then over us as if we were about to be buried alive both kevin and i automatically reached out to cover the mess tin and the water that was coming to a boil the dirt landed on our hands and the brew was saved everyone burst out laughing talk about a time of crisis to all let's have a cup of tea Johnny shouted you know great account and I know we've we've been done gone through a lot of accounts of being shelled with artillery that's a that's a very descriptive and granular one and it's not over back to the book Kevin I walked up and over

the hill Ricky followed us armed with a smock order with every pocket filled with mags for SLRs we came to a clearing Ricky was busy looking to one side of us when suddenly kevin I heard moaning we stepped up on a ledge and came face to face with a wounded argy sitting beside him was his friend who obviously wouldn't leave him the wounded soldier had been shot in both knees and in his chest and arms blood showed on all the wounds his face showed no pain merely pleading his mate stood up and put his hands up no one had seen these two until now I pointed my rifle and bayonet and nodded towards the wounded guy he started wailing and moaning and put both hands together as if praying to me kev pulled a pistol from his

belt well Vince we either shoot them or help them what will it be Kev low his pistol and looked at me I raised my rifle and framed the wounded Argy's head right in the sight the man looked down as if he was expecting death knowing that he could do nothing about it he wailed louder I lowered my rifle kev he looks like my neighbor I'll help them okay yeah okay I'm off to find some goodies he walked off I motioned to his mate to sit on the other side of the wounded guy while I placed my weapon to one side of me and went down to help. The wounded Argy's mate shook his head, looking at my rifle.

Me, friend, me friend, you friend. You help my friend. We all friends now, he pleaded. I looked at him and gave him a small grin. He grinned back. I didn't trust him one bit. The wounded guy started to cry. It was then that I felt sad.

sad that I had thought of killing them and that we were all in this mess together we had different views and different homes but there we were all together I still hated the enemy but just then when that guy started to cry I felt different we all had to be hard hard to the facts of what was happening to all of us kill or be killed I made my way back to where our team was stationed I got got there as Rick was sitting down the OC was busy with orders Vince were out of water got any johnny asked no reply I replied just then captain Mason shouted had any of you seen Peter Hedeker around I saw him last night with git with gin

with gins and west sir I shouted perhaps Westie'll know captain Mason looked at me with serious eyes all the support team who were sitting there looked at Captain Mason in me I felt something was wrong the OC motioned me over I got to him and crouched down corporal B Ginge McCarthy was killed and so was Philip West the shell was meant for your gun team a flashback of what had happened filled my mind the smock pulled from my back the spinning head the deafness it must have missed you by inches corporal B you okay Yeah. I'm okay. I'll go find Hedeker then. Captain Mason came over.

Sir, he said to the O.C. Pete Hedeker was killed also. The bears have now found his body. I stood up and walked back to my spot. I was gutted beyond belief. Pete had always been my mate. We'd spent many times together drinking in the shop. I met his family too.

Now he was dead. Only a short while ago I'd been sitting beside him He'd said what a good spot he had Now he was dead killed by a shell that was meant for me I'll never forget that I survived while he was killed So they they do some movement They actually get back up into their Positions to where they were actually to where Jinge had been when he had been killed

Going back to the book we turned around to wear ginger lane and walked back from the skyline to find a gap through which to find the gap through which Sergeant P. had led us. In this way we avoided being seen from Tumbledown. On the ground, I saw bits of clothing and flesh. Everywhere resembled a slaughter yard. We walked down 10 meters or so, and there was more and more. Stuck on the side of a rock was clearly a large peace. Johnny and I moved closer to it and my stomach churned as I saw the nose and cheek of a face. We looked at each other our eyes wide. I put my bayonet under the flesh and flicked it to the ground before bearing it quickly. Neither of us spoke. I had no doubts and Pete M confirmed to me that this was

the remains of a mate. Pete told me later that he had died instantly for only the way. waist down remained I felt gutted beyond belief I had been told of the direct hit that it also killed two others to see it with my own eyes the body and remains was another story over walking over the crest we bumped into Pat Harley with him were one or two others although I no longer remember who they were as I was talking to Pat I noticed a helmet on the end of an SLR planted in the rock face Notting towards this, Pat mentioned that he had come up and found Jordy laying dead. We rounded the rock face and at our feet lay Doc and Jordy, both on their backs.

They had died in an open space with the infamous tumble-down looking down on them. Jordy had died trying to save Doc. The bastard sniper had caught him in the open as he reached him. Jordie lay with his mouth slightly open gunshot wounds to his chest and stomach meant he died quickly evidence around him showed that he had tried to reach Doc he had been had he been calling for him help himself Pat looking cut up took jordy's fags saying he'd want us to have these rather than the rear echelon returned our attention to Doc who is more depressing

Doc hadn't died quickly quickly he must in fact have been fully aware of his injuries the top part of his skull was blown away the brain visible smashed by a sniper's bullet only the fragmented skull had prevented the complete collapse of the side of his head how he survived the impact god knows laying beside him were items from the first aid kit he He'd been carrying. A field dressing, half open, safety pins in his right hand fingers near the ground. His left hand held a morphine syringe. This had been used.

The thin needle pointed towards him. It must have been his dying act. His radio mic was still attached to his throat. The close friend told me many months later, Doc fell on his radio. The sending switch was stuck and he was on. it send to all of us we could hear him gurgling and moaning as he became aware that he had been shot badly Vince and sent the Sigler's nuts but we were all helpless the sniper picked at anyone that moved Jordi tried and lost his life for it we

eventually had to turn on to the emergency frequency to establish communications again doc had remained conscious and eventually died on a part of that mountain alone with a lad who had bravely tried to rescue him so just to explain that you know on your you have what's called a push-to-talk button on your radio and however he fell he fell and and landed on that push-to-talk so that he was broad-gardeau His you know his death and his dying was broadcast over the network for everyone to hear These guys um They still have to fight and they start gather they get some intelligence. They think there's a counter attack coming and by the way this

This intense fighting is is a matter of days So everything that we're talking about is happening in a couple days and now they think that there is a counter attack coming So they dig in they get in position they set their machine guns up from where they think the counterattack from the Argentinians is going to come from and then they start getting mortared again hit with artillery here we go back to the book we all hit the ground again as the shell landed no sooner had I started to pick myself up when a high-pitched scream rushed into my ears a deadly sound I can still hear it today I look down to where the shell had hit in the

same area as before the ground was smoldering smoke lifting and evaporating five meters away from the hole lay two bodies the site of one of them will stay with me until I die his paris mock was riddled with smoke escaping from every corner the arms bottom and collar the lad turned on to his back screaming oh god help me help me please I ran down the hill in fright and concern I dropped to my knees by the screaming soldier his eyes met mine did he register me I only saw Denzel Denzel the character we all loved I wrenched my eyes to his legs one was hanging off ripped to shreds the bone clearly visible his screaming churned my stomach it was like nothing I'd ever

heard he tried to look down at his leg don't fucking look this way I barked Lay back down, hear me? He dropped to his back, holding his thigh. Jonah Jones, a nine squadron lad, came to my side. Vince, I'll deal with him. You see to him, he said, pointing to Craig Jones. Craig lay very close to Denzel. Clive rushed to help me.

Craig hadn't any visible wounds. He lay quietly as Clive tried to talk to him. I tried to pull his smock open and pull his trousers down to check for a wound denzil screamed and moaned behind me help me help me Jonah was busy seeing to his leg I pulled out my knife and started to cut through Craig's denims and quilted arctic clothing my frantic cutting was too slow and I knew it the doctor skidded him beside me pulled out his scissors and started to cut through Craig's leggings I pulled the ripped material to one side we had reached the skin his legs had massive lacerations

in all directions, spilling muscle and bone, but there wasn't hardly any blood. The doctor shouted to me to tie his muscles together. I pulled out my field dressings and tied the lacerations together. The doctor was joined by a medic who went to Denzel. I was half conscious of cries of medic, medic, stretcher-bearer all down the hill. Craig was lying still. I slid up beside him and looked into his face. It was pale with no color at all.

stared into my face you'll be okay Craig just hang on mate hang on clive held his head stroking his forehead repeating my words Craig can you hear me I shouted the doctor pulled and tugged frantically at Craig's clothing trying to reach more obvious wounds Craig you'll be okay hang on he looked at me and a slight smile came across his face his eyes laughed at me Bright and wild. His grin spread. Then all expression faded. He faded away.

Craig. Craig, don't. Keep in there. His eyes closed. He died then and there. He was a young soldier. Twenty years of age. The records will say, Private Craig Jones.

The doctor motioned to bear. get him on and away Denzel was also lifted and carried away. I fell onto my bottom. Jonah and Clive patted me on the shoulder. I tried to get up but fell to my knees again. I hadn't realized until then that I was crying, crying without knowing it. I cried with all the pain and sadness. It didn't seem fair. Johnny came to my side and picked me up. He picked up my weapon and started to guide me to our bunker again. I glanced at Steve and Sass. Sass was crying as well and Steve had his head buried in his hands. I stumbled to our bunker weeping. When I sat down, Steve Wake put around his arm around me and whispered, you done a brave thing, Vince. I couldn't

have gone down there after those shells landed in the same spot. You done all right, mate. His gesture didn't register. I cried with exhaustion, hatred, and pity. Craig and Denzel remain with me today, Craig who died, and Denzo who lost a leg in so nearly his life. When people write or tell of experiences of this kind, I know now that they can never really tell the facts for anyone to totally understand. For often, the reader is wrapped in his own make-believe game of war. For me personally, this five-minute experience changed my whole life. and attitude towards war wars will always be fought and I would go again for my beliefs but I hope never again to see a face fade from me it took nearly a year

after this war for Craig's face to go before I slept nearly a year to wipe out Denzel's smock on fire and a scream until I die it will remain a part of me because it is war there is and soon after that they are marching for their final assault on Stanley which is the capital city going back to the book after we had tabbed about 1,000 meters with wireless ridge clearly visible above us the absence of troops and the silence of guns and Stanley began to produce some puzzle looks along the line of support company our OC shouted for a halt We collapsed on the frosty ground to wait for orders.

I looked up at the sky thinking, what now? Who's fucked up this time? Let's just get this part started. A few shouts came down the line. I leant forward and saw that the line was breaking up and the men laughing. Sergeant Mick Matthews was sitting beside me. What's going on, Mick? I asked.

Fuck knows, Vince. The shouting continued as messages passed down towards us. a guy three or four positions down from us suddenly turned round and shouted the wankers have surrendered a white flag is flying over stanley put your braise on index index the last part of the message had an ironic ring because for some of the task force the whole thing had seemed like an exercise so index is a term we say it all the time in training when you want to stop the exercise you say index it's short for end exercise So that's one of those things where it seemed like for some of the guys they were just on this big exercise And so they've literally said hey it's end X end of the exercise right now Mick and I looked each other bullocks I said we stood up to see the remains of three pair coming off Longdon in their red berets Joy washed through my body

Mick and I hugged each other nothing more was said the message had reached everyone I slipped off my helmet and put on my beret which had stayed close to hand throughout As I stood looking down at Moody Brook The red berets stuck out like sore thumbs against the grass I felt proud The beret on my head meant more than any task the army had ever thrown at me It meant victory the feeling is Indescribable

Now that's that and they spend obviously it's over but it's not like you just get to step and and it's Instantly over they spend time there they go through some pretty significant Looting and he talks about that a bunch and and he kind of kind of comes to goes kind of berserk and looting and they're all just gathering up war trophies and whatever they can find a value and they go into this one sort of a bunkered position and To loot and they on one side of the bunker. It's all a bunch of weapons and the other side is other kind of more Personal type items and they they have so many weapons that they don't need anymore so they go and they start taking stuff from the other side Little like I said personal items. I think it was and

They walk out of there and then the next day they find out that the side with the weapons on it was all booby-troped with 70 pounds of explosive so they went in there for If they would have picked up like two or three things off of that, it was a pressure plate, a pressure release. So if they would have picked up two or three things, they would have gotten killed. His, him and his crew would have gotten killed. And that's when he realizes, you know, when he talks about, he's like, I was so greedy.

I wasn't even thinking anymore. They go through that, they eventually, they get done. They ship away and eventually end up to an island. And then from a different island, they fly back to England. And here we're going back to the book. We stepped off the plane at RAF Brise Norton the next morning. We were hit by the English summer in full blaze. As we entered the airport lounge, the doors were slung open to a screaming crowd of relatives who charged towards us.

My mother climbed over chairs to hug me with all the rest of my family in close pursuit. My wife came up to me. I was tense and made unsure by all the noise and shouting. It made me scared in a peculiar way Karen looked hard and almost angry Hello Vince was all I got from her So he's home Obviously his wife was a little bit tense about some things back to the book

Actually before we go back to the key they do a little quick greeting with their family, but then they get back on a bus with the rest of the The people the battalion members and they start driving back to their compound back the book always very quiet on the journey the English countryside made me feel like an alien Johnny tapped my shoulder from behind Vince the trees man look at them I looked at the trees they were part of what was making me feel like an alien they were all in full bloom bright green leaves in the wind there was traffic on the roads shops people walking about doing their own thing it all seemed unreal after

After only three months away, it was a shock to see civilization again. The odd thing was, I felt anger. Anger at everyone for doing their own thing. It was as if something in my head was urging me to shout at them as they walked along the streets. Hey, you, licking your fucking ice creams. There's a fucking lot of injured guys over there. Friends have been killed, but all you're interested in is yourselves. Just frustration.

I know. The general public was concerned, but it just didn't seem like it then. I wasn't expecting a medal or even a pat on the back. I really didn't know what to expect. Even so, I found it hard to be calm. There was no way I could relax. If I had been asked to go do a tour in Ireland, I would have gone. More than anything, I felt the pinch of no longer having my friends around me.

We had been together so tightly over the last few months. that it was as if now I had had a set an arm severed the buddy buddy system that we had needed to literally survive wasn't there anymore and the sheltered life now seemed too far now seemed to me far too boring to endure I made a point of not talking about my experiences to any member of my family including my wife but I do remember sitting up in bed one evening turning my wife and giving her a very mild insight into what had really happened. I was sick to death of the press's views and of the publicity of a country still high on war. I told Karen what had happened to Denzel and Jones. The blank look she gave me with a half smile

told me she wasn't interested and couldn't understand me at all. I never said anything again. I tried to look at it from her point of view instead. She was sick of the war of the army and of me going away. Whenever I bumped into one of the lads I see more at home and relaxed talking our private language with him than I did with Civis and my own family If I had had my own way, I would have gone out on the biggest bender ever But I knew that was the easy way out

These these remind me of one soldier's war You know you come back and There's no doubt when you come back from war you're gonna feel some of this I'm gonna tell you right now you're gonna feel some of this. I'm gonna tell you right now you're gonna feel some of this You see civilians walking around licking their ice cream cones It's gonna it's good it's it's a it's a it's a rough transition Back to the book there's no doubt that I was slowly unwinding over the long leave But the boredom also gave me more time to think about my experiences

Worst of all were my nightmares about the war At first they came nightly later they faded and returned intermittently I always had the same dream of Denzel's smock and Jones's face passing before me. I would wake up in a bed so wet that a bucket of water might have been thrown over me. The nightmares lasted about six months or so. Today I can see and understand everything that has happened to me. I know now that I wasn't alone. The most comforting words I ever had to help me did not come from any of my family.

My family were concerned but could never really understand what I was going through. Those words came from my friends in the pub as we drank during leave. Johnny turned to me and said, Vince, I've had a few turns in the night, you know. That made me sit up and see clearly that I wasn't alone. And when you're not alone, you're stronger. So that's something that I hear from a lot of vets and maybe you're thinking that this is something you're experiencing that no one else is not true Not only are other guys going through it other guys have always gone through it

You're not alone back to the book I fully believe that we as a nation performed the most excellent of tasks I'm fully behind the decision to send the task force and I wouldn't have to fight again for our country and its beliefs people who whinge about the decisions taken in war they weren't involved in to me are the most misguided of all the most striking events to affect me throughout the war were obviously the deaths of my friends eight years ago I regarded those friends as those in two and three pairs only now after learning others experiences and after watching and reading others accounts I see that the whole task force was my friend I watched a Marine sergeant in a TV documentary his eyes

showing the emotion of his story and the sight told me we were all the same I still feel a bit angry that the wounded when unnoticed a propaganda film on the task force's arrival home showed only the paras and the Marines and the Navy homecoming Can you remember seeing the badly wounded coming through the gates? I think not. Nobody wants to see the effects of carnage. Never again will I think that war is just a game. Like they show it on TV, it is very different from how it is portrayed in books and films.

We call on ourselves into the killing game, don't we? I remember very clearly watching from a window of my quarters five or six kids playing a war game. Some were even dressed in combat gear and carrying small toy machine guns. I watched with interest in their tactics and attacking a cardboard box that was meant to be an enemy-held position. The two kids defending rolled over and pretended to die when overrun by the goodies. After being tigged by their friends, they got up to resume the game. From knee-high, we start to practice what is in here. human nature to defend and kill the one big difference between their game and the real one

is that you don't get up after really being shot war is the legal killing of people and can be very scary war is kill or be killed we also must remember that a lot of the command structure at junior rank level can almost be too difficult to maintain in the heat of battle then what becomes a winning factor is the determination of the private soldier his loan get up and go and do attitude we must take our hats off to the junior ranks of all services for they are the backbone of the war machine in that they have to kill at close range we are lucky to have what is perhaps one of the best fighting forces in the world thanks to our system of training and to our discipline even today I feel

frustration about the war I was so psyched up to carry on with the fight into Stanley that the Argentinian surrender made me disappointed as well as happy I tried very hard to keep out of fist fights now as I wouldn't like to lose myself control Am I alone in feeling this or are there hundreds or thousands of other time bombs out there? Other experienced veterans may be sympathetic to all I've said We can only wait for the next war now to practice the art of killing again I hope I'm there to help Finally I must quote a first world war veteran who told me so many years before I joined the army You'll like the army Vince but not war

It's horrible boy he was right I didn't like it then again I did and I'm gonna close this book out with the beginning of this book and it reads this book is dedicated to the soldiers of three para whose comradeship and determination throughout the campaign make the author proud to have served with them so that the members of three para who never returned are not forgotten their names and ages at death in action are listed below private richard absalom military medal 19 years old private gerald bull 18 private jason bert 17 private john crow 21 private mark dodsworth 24 Private Anthony Greenwood, 22.

Private Neil Grows, 18. Private Peter Hedeker, 22. Lance Corporal Peter Higgs, 23. Corporal Stephen Hope, 27. Private Timothy Jenkins, 19. Private Craig Jones, 20. Private Stuart Lang, 20. Lance Corporal Christopher Lovett 24

Corporal Keith McCarthy 27 Sergeant Ian McKay Victoria Cross 29 Corporal Stuart McLaughlin 27 Lance Corporal James Murdoch 25

Lance Corporal David Scott 24 Private Ian Scrivens 17 Shaw 25 left 19 you notice those names those men their ages and their ranks they're all they're all junior ranks the one sergeant sergeant Ian McKay who was awarded the Victoria Cross for storming of 50 caliber machine gun mid position but the rest of those men are privates and Lance corporals and

and corporals young men and pointed out plaster saints by any stretch they might not be saints known men like these seen them with my eyes as I have said and as this tale of the Falklands confirms once again war is hell and it's a hell that can bring out the worst in men but it can also bring out the best like so many others answered the call died in that awful place to protect their brothers and if you read this book you will realize that we all have a little bit more to give mentally and physically you can go further you can push harder you can be more ruthless if you have to be and you can also show more mercy you can be I can be better we can all be better and we most often get better not from the easy things

and not from the good times but from the hard times and the challenges and the suffering in life that pushes you to your breaking point and demands that you that you You give absolutely everything you have, but you have to keep it. I've gotten for tonight. Yeah. It's crazy how it got that crazy, that vicious in like that short period of time.

It is. And we gotta remember that that's what we have one perspective from one squad in one platoon. And there was the story of two pair the one where the battalion commander Yeah H Jones won the Victoria Cross by the way What about that what about that story? Yeah And not to mention the Royal Marines that were down there as well what about their stories? Yeah And that's the thing that just it's I still can't wrap my head around the amount of

untold stories that there are and not just not just the fact of the stories Hmm, but to think that these because this is this battle was a very short time compared to Vietnam or World War II or World War I or even the wars that we've been fighting today that have been going on for years and years and years But it's not so much that the story that that that like we're missing the story But these people existed ever Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they exist everywhere. And, and, yeah, it's, it's an incredible,

take a look at the book, buy the book, and read it. And it's, I actually, I got into some of the graphic stuff. Some of the, some of the interaction to them when they're not in combat is actually, it's real crude. And I didn't, you know, I didn't cover much of it. Not that, you know, I wanted to get to more of the combat concentration that's kind of I didn't realize that I had I didn't cover as much as sort of just the straight up crude behavior that they that they I

mean they're on the boat for a while they're drinking they're getting drunk when they're coming home it's there's some there's some crude behavior and and things that are taking place and that's kind of why I I jumped on the opportunity to read Tommy by by Kipling because that's totally true then you know what they say in It kind of our way of saying that in the SEAL teams we would say this we that guy is a in case of war break glass kind of guy Oh yeah meaning we don't want them around all time. We want to keep him over here in the side in the glass But yeah if something happens yeah break glass and we'll get this this frog man out Now what's what's jacked up about that is

That's that played more of a role when I was first in the SEAL teams and the more The older I got the more mature I got the more I realized like that's that's okay, but it doesn't really work What you need is to have someone that you can have out of the glass Yeah, yeah and that learns and what you have to do as a leader is you take those guys that Instead of putting those guys in a glass jar or behind a in a glass Box somewhere and keep them there in case of war what you do is you do what you do with a freaking wild dog You have to train them you have to bring them out you have to socialize them among the humans so that they can so that they can interact because a guy that you have to keep in you know in behind a glass barrier from the rest of the world

The chances of you needing him for that type of situation are pretty minimal So what about all the other situations that he'd be beneficial for? So what you have to do as a leader is teach those guys that have the attitude of you know I'm just I'm just a nothing but a straight warrior don't care about anything else I'm here to go to war otherwise leave me alone what you want to do is you want to get those guys out into the world socialize them like a good attack dog that that's not gonna bite anything in front of it's gonna actually bite what you want it to bite and then you have something that's a much more valuable not only for you as a leader but for them yeah because

they have a much better opportunity so there's still a few guys left in the old mold of in case of war break glass but most of the guys now are are actually more Versatile than that and I'll tell you when I was young I was probably falling in that category I wasn't exactly the guy you wanted to Throw out in front of the Admiral to look at right and say oh this is our model guy right here It's you know it wouldn't have been that way now at the older I got the more I recognized how important Having that both sides of the of the coin covered and you couldn't just be of freaking rampaging berserker all the time you had to actually be a professional you had to be a professional yeah and so I

definitely had my share of time spent in that zone mm-hmm back in the day but what's good is I think guys knew that about me and that therefore when I came up to and said hey man look we got we got to do better than that or hey we we can't be acting like that they knew that I wasn't coming to them from a from a what's that We're from the ivory tower. I wasn't looking down on them like oh, I can't believe you'd act that way right We don't act that way we're naval representatives. I wasn't coming to it like that I was coming to and hey we're professionals we got to get we want to get hired to do jobs We want to kill bad guys we got to get missions we got to get mission approval those were the things that

That you know I kind of passed on to to my guys was hey that's cool be a frog man, but be a discipline Frogman yeah be a frogman that can represent and I think that's another thing in the book when There's no war going on how they you know they're they're they're they're kind of maniacs you know Yeah and and then when the war breaks out they go even more maniac style and It's almost like they get into that mode of like oh who cares anyways We're gonna die we're gonna die we just you know who cares but after you go to war for all like any period of time You're like actually you're not gonna die Actually, there's a decent chance you're gonna live and there's a decent chance that you need to continue to build

You know the the reputation of the seal teams not just as We're killers, but we're professionals yeah so and we should have a reputation of both and we do by the way I think so professional killers is right But yeah, it's a great book. There's a lot to learn from it. There's a lot to learn again I That that the way that they're going from peacetime and again I know that they were doing tours in Ireland at the time And that was no joke and they took casualties in Ireland and there was many

Soldiers killed in Northern Ireland But that wasn't comparable to what they went through in the Falklands So it was interesting to see how they handled approaching combat for the first time Yeah another part that I think these books really bring to light is just the physical conditions that that they go into even talking talking to you guys when you guys talk about how hot it is then every once in all you'll add a detail like yeah oh yeah so I'm like you know all my clothes are all wet from my sweat and usually that's not part of the movie when you watch the movie you know or like these guys

these feet are falling off you know because it's cold and I was sitting in a combat outpost in Ramadi and it was nighttime right the coolest part of the day and I I wasn't doing anything and I hadn't been doing anything a while I was literally sitting in a combat outpost you know the boys were out in a Overwatch position and I was back there I'd been coordinating but I did it it wasn't that it wasn't that established of a comment outpost yet so I still had all my gear on but I was just sitting there I've been sitting there for let's call it two three four hours and I was sitting there and I just kind of put my I was sitting

down and I angled my back to like a 45 degree angle and I was kind of looking at the ground kind of resting a little bit and as I looked down I was full athletic sweat dripping off me like that fast and I wasn't doing anything yeah yeah that's just that's the bait that's what you start yeah that's where you start not to mention guys legs getting blown off all this stuff all these yeah man yeah it's crazy yeah it's um the physical and the other big thing is the physical conditioning that you need to be prepared for is is humping with a rucksack on yeah that's a big deal that you know that you know they don't show a lot of that no In any kind of military training, they don't just show it.

They don't show it enough. They should. Yeah. They should. I mean, we just did another trip up to Yosemite. And we got our boots, boots, boots, boots on. Sure. And it's, it's, if you're not conditioned for that, it's going to be hard.

And you can make it through a day. Yeah. Maybe you can make it through two days. But also, you're not carrying. I was telling my kids up there, up in the mountains. You're not carrying any weight compared to. to what you carry with a when you have gear when you have the when you go tactical yeah you don't have it you probably have 30 pounds maybe if you're just if you're just camping or

whatever got a couple you got a couple liters of water you got a sleeping bag in a ground pad you got some trail mix maybe a little bit more food but you're talking 30 40 pounds tops yeah you get geared up bro I would weigh guys with before we'd send them out on training operations I'd weigh him training operations they there their rocks would weigh like a hundred and ten pounds Your gear alone your your your body armor helmet What ammo magazines you know magazines and ammo? Yeah grenades your your 60 70 pounds then you put water in that you you're talking I think I think I weighed like 310 or something with like you're on Seriously like robo cop

Yeah, I don't know about that on on rogue I think he was part two where he shocks himself because he wants to get rid of the messed up directives he got given he falls down right he's unconscious and then they're like hey we got to help him they try to pick him on oh he's too heavy to move yeah yeah that that actually happened to uh we were on a training exercise in t u bruiser and i got put down they said hey jaco you're dead so i made down and i just laid there and lief came over to throw me in the back of the Humvee. I was like Robocop down there. So they've got a couple buddies and he's like hey guys help me move jaco Still not moving dead weight and they're like okay yep you know you were like making that extra effort to be dead weight

Oh yeah for sure like you're like I know you do that fully participating in the training exercise I wanted those guys to be prepared to put a grenade in my mouth and leave me there So you get some awesome well speaking of lots of stories sure um maybe you could tell some stories about how to support this sure i'd be happy to no no short stories hey hey did did you get into drinking pomegranate white tea and subsequently jaco white tea because your wife is a Brit no she's into tea she turned you on to tea she didn't really because they drink tea with milk and I don't yeah but you know hey you can give her credit but she doesn't

get credit for that one does she drink a lot of tea She drinks tea, yeah, she, tea drink her. Put the cat on. She says, she says, a couple tea, a cup of tea cure anything, she says. Oh, a couple of tea. Who said, I just said robitussin cured everything. It's the same thing like that. I don't know who that was.

Yeah, I think it's like, I know, Chris Rock. I don't remember specifically where I got the first cup of Jocko white tea from, but I do remember that it was in the desert when I was, I was at the training command, and I was, would be giving the debriefs or sitting through the guys briefs. And we'd be going on like two, three, four hours asleep so you needed a little bit of kick yeah somebody as somewhere I got some some tea yeah it wasn't yet jaco white tea just pome a regular pomegranate white tea yeah and yeah that's where I for and if I drank it I was like hmm this nice yeah this is nice the cold

wait was it cold yeah yeah yeah well definitely had it cold because you're at the desert you don't want to drink hot tea unless you're British yeah yeah kind of productive they'd be drinking hot tea no matter what they don't even drink ice tea I don't really like hot tea that much the that whole island they don't really like ice tea like you like you can't go to restaurant all for some ice tea they look at you like you're weird yeah yeah which I've been looked at many times there yeah for being weird let's face it you you're kind of weird bro sorry anyway what you got you got you got if we want to support ourselves first off I'm gonna talk about my little story it's not

short story long one no please kidding remember I told you I got into kettlebells I got the on it kettlebells right so if the first ones I got Get all the designer ones. They're cooler. My opinion. I think I've ever, yeah, I used the regular ones before at other gyms. But anyway, I get the cool ones.

Right. The ones that someone takes a picture of me and I have them I look like extra cool with the primal. You can see how different our thought patterns are. Yeah, yeah, you're here to win. I get it. And I can dig it fully. But I got the chimp ones.

Those are, what, one pooed. Okay. Whatever, the 16, killer amps. Went up to the, the werewolf just the other day I ordered the gorilla hmm what's that one 70 something pounds oh good one so I got a pair and incorporate that in I'm getting stronger man I'm getting good at the kettle bells you're gonna need them 88s like I got yeah wait what is

the one that that that it's big foot right I don't know what that is but my the biggest kettle bells that I currently have yeah are 40 kilograms yeah that's like yeah 88 pounds well it's 90 something because 2.2 pounds per Kilogram okay so it's like We can do the math if you want but nonetheless that's heavy. I don't know Hmm I'm not I don't know if I'm ready for that one given my current Exercise program with them I see you can do maybe we should start doing math exercise Yeah maybe or bring a calculator or whichever either way that's the one I got and so

So look yeah I'm gonna recommend it if you're into kettlebells you want to you know get your kettlebells on Get the on it ones. They're cooler. That's my opinion. Anyway, a lot of cool stuff on there. I got a jump rope and stuff like that too. You know what else I did? 100 burpees in 10 minutes.

Oh, Brandon Pickworth, where you at? Yeah, yeah. So you remember last time you mentioned it? Yeah, I did it. Brandon, just so you know, Echo is now he notoriously bad cardio. Now they're not like that anymore. I'm giving you credit. I'm giving you credit.

But still, we could use that as sort of a. statement to say if echo could do it come on Brandon yeah actually I think the statement is look how far echo has come look how far echo is come we'll make I just made it there you go how far echo is it come said he can do a hundred burpees in 10 minutes is a joke actually yeah I could I could dig it I mean I've been doing burpees for for a while not that kind you know not the kind my they're just in my routine I do that many but I'm familiar with them so I'm like okay you can you know how you can kind of gauge like okay I do this many So what would a hundred take out of me?

Yeah. Can I do that? 40, 30, 20, 10. Yeah. So how I did it was 25, one minute rest, 25, one minute rest, 25, one minute rest, 25, one minute rest, 15, and then like two minute, minute a half maybe. I don't know, something like that, give or take, and then 10. And actually, sorry, 11. I did 101 burpees, and it was nine minutes flat.

That's good. Yeah. Brandon, what you got? Here's what I found. Here's, I don't know if my cardio is good or bad is better than it has been. It's better than a long time. Just in general, even jiu-jitsu and other stuff. What's the other stuff all of a sudden?

You know, you know, when you run and I don't know. You know, get nuts. Yeah, whatever. A life, man. Sometimes life throws physical challenges at you. Either way. So, yeah, I did 101 in nine minutes flat. What it was was, was, I wasn't breathing as hard as maybe.

you might think like that wasn't the the issue wasn't the breathing was like just boom push up and squat and push up and jump and the lactic acid oh okay yeah yeah yeah but did you feel it legs weird yeah legs fully shoulders not chest like i think you know doing a push up one every you know second isn't that much for me but strangely my shoulders and this part that like what you call these the sarats they were like sore the next day in a weird way it was weird man nonetheless Yeah, it proves that burpees are a good exercise. Yes, fully. Got you some funky workout there.

Yeah, it's good. And then so I go on YouTube, I see this one, a guy does a hundred in a row. I'm like, dang. Because 25 was, I didn't know. I was going to be like, hey, I'm going to do as many as I can. How long do it take him to do 100 in a row? Three minutes and 33 seconds, if I'm not mistaken.

That's credit. Yeah. Here's the thing, though. Here's a thing. I think it's a thing. I don't know if it's thing or not. That's why I'm asking the question. Okay, so what really is the thing.

Burpee I mean as far as like okay so when I first started doing burpees I wouldn't do a burpee is you your chest touched the ground and jump up in the air Okay, so what about my hands do they have to go about my head or can they be here? Yes, technically it's a little clap over the head oh a clap so what I mean over the head like Technically has to be above the head so if I go like this or does it have to be because I think it's doing this I do a little bit of everything and depending how tired I am okay you see when I'm really tired Yeah, my clap is barely happening and it's happening like six inches in front of my belly Yeah, okay, so here, let me, but if you want to be like technical, yeah, I mean, a really technical perfect burpee would be like both hands clapping up above your head as you're six inches in the air. Yeah, you can't do too many of those. You can't do as many of those though. No, I'm here to tell you. Not at all. And that's kind of the point. The difference between the dynamic jump, like a high jump and not a dynamic jump is real big. Huge. Huge. Huge. And so where's the line? So for me, here's the line. Get your hands above. your head get your feet off the ground that's it right I think that's yeah I did it I

always otherwise you're like hey you didn't jump three inches yeah but what if you know because if you want to do that what you do is you put your your your four you put your you put your 135 on the ground a barbell with 135 on it and you hop over that thing each time chest to the ground on one side chest the ground on the other side chest the ground that's another way if you're gonna require I like it when you can't cheat but you can't cheat that right you have to jump over it yeah I know that that that That's what's cool about like burpee pull-ups. You gotta get chest to the ground.

I don't care how you do it, chest to the ground and get your chin over the bar. I don't care what you do in between those two. Yeah, that's a burpee pull-up pretty much. All right, well, then I have to be honest then. Here's my disclaimer. The push-up, I didn't touch my chest to the ground. You need, like any of them. I mean, was it like an incomplete?

Probably some of them were like a half. I mean, I guess I don't do. not like every single time. Yeah. Here's the thing. It's to your discretion, right? It's like, you know when you didn't do a burpee. Let's face it, if we wanted to, you know, get some Guinness Book of World's record scenario, then sure.

Yeah. But we, we, I think you're right. You know what a burpee is. Yeah. I know what a burpee is. Yeah. Get it right. Yeah.

So mine and just to kind of in the spirit of honesty. So I didn't touch my. Because here's the thing. If I was to, if on the push-up part, if you touch your chest over it every time, you actually slow down enough that it's not hitting your cardio as much.

Yeah, in my opinion. Yeah, maybe. I mean, I guess added up. Yeah, I guess. And you know what I saw, though? When I saw the guy doing the burpees, he was on a, I think it was just a regular gym floor or maybe a mat or something.

And he was doing it. And after a while, he starts banging his chest. Oh, he's cheating. So I'm like, oh, you're getting a bounce on the bench. Same thing. Yeah, getting a little bounce. So I'm thinking, you know what? That could be easier.

For me, if I did on a mat, I think it'd be easier than having to stop your body weight and not touch, you know. But it's going to be what you're used to for sure. But I didn't touch my chest. And there were like four of them that I didn't put like four because when I started the set, I'm like, oh, shoot, those, you know, two or three, I didn't put my hands above my head. So I'm going to restart. Yeah, you know, so maybe like four or five of them didn't technically count. But I feel like if I would have put my hands above my head on those four, it wouldn't have made a difference. What's what I think but if I'm like you know the kind where I'm filming at the muster

You know I'm filming this girl. She's doing the perfect burpee while I'm filming her chest to the ground in fact when she went chest to ground her hands came up off the ground Oh just for like a second I'm like dang this girl's in the what do they call those I think they call this game day push-ups. I don't know okay and I don't think maybe I'm wrong yeah I just called that yeah which is weird because I don't even have game day every day so that's why you call them to do that every day but either way she's doing that and then she's doing that and then she She's going into the the and her hands are straight in the air like she's straight up Was this is the San Diego cross? San Diego muster not in Texas I put the clip in Oh okay okay slow much I'll check it out yeah and she had the perfect form full beast mode full on and I'm thinking When I see that compared to the 101 that I did no night and day man they're gonna be like hey he's not doing this whole part Yeah, my hands are going like this they're going like this so they're above my head know what I'm going like maybe Brandon

Pickworth is doing eight inch Or 12 inch vertical leap on each one like a beast and we're calling him out and he's actually I know he's doing it the correct way. Sorry Brandon if that's the case. All right. Good. Well the goal is now 100. I'm gonna follow the protocol.

I know when I do 100. Yeah, like in a row in a row. Yeah, yeah, that'd be good. Yeah, I'm gonna follow the protocol for sure. I'll report back. Anyway, back to the kettlebells, that's a good one. The jump rope stuff, that's a good one. The Onit ones, that's the cool ones, my opinion.

Just go on there, check it out. Go on it.com slash jaco. Boom. Support yourself and the podcast. Also, good way to support. When you buy these books, the Jocker reviews, did I chime into every once in a while?

Go to the website, jacopodcast.com. You chime in much today. Yeah, man, I was all listening to it. Kind of a heavy one. Yeah, heavy, and I don't have nothing to. So, you know what part I was going to chime in? What? I respect your decision, but I respect your decision

not to you, got it. I got it. Well, you know how you're like, it was at the end anyway, where you're like, this is just one story. Yeah. You know, and it's literally a sliver, really. It's a sliver. It's one guy and one story. It's one guy. There was four or five thousand British servicemen down there. Yeah. It's one five, one four thousandth. So this, this was my comparison. You know, when you're driving in traffic on the street, whatever, the freeway. And all you see is cars. Oh my God, infinite cars. Traffic is everywhere. Just cars and cars and cars. And that's nothing new. And fact, it's kind of irritating, really.

But if you just take one little step, like in your mind and look in the car, and look, that's a person in there. And sometimes two people in there, sometimes little family. Each one of those people has their whole life story, all the little ups and downs and special things and, you know, challenges, struggles, triumphs, all that stuff. Each one of those little things is a little guy in there. And even then, that's nobody compared to everybody. So that's the analogy I was going to make. But it seems kind of trivial, you know, compared to like guys on the freeway. I like how you're starting to self-police.

Yeah, I got a self-police, man. Anyway, back to these books. If you want to get any of these books, one or more or whatever, they're listed by episode on the website, joccopodcast.com. And by the way, we started off today before we hit record, record. Sure. I said to echo, you know how you heard the book, the, the, what's that, saying, don't judge a book by its cover. The cover of this book, you can judge it by, it's called Excursion to Hell by Lance Corporal Vincent Bramley.

And the picture on the cover looks like hell. It looks like it's a picture of him. It's blown up real big, but yeah, you can judge a book by its cover. You can tell it's going to be a rough story. Yeah, it looks like he took a straight up excursion to hell. On that cover but if you want this book go to joccalpodcast.com set a little tab on the top the top menu whatever books from Podcasts jocco podcast books whatever it's called boom they're listed there by episode click through there Get it through there good way to support yourself of course and

In the podcast takes you to Amazon also or if you do other shopping any other shopping Oh that's a bonus bonus if you buy something massive Good that still supports sports more big time. Yeah, that's you do other shopping. Yeah, that's a lot of Like what like a like a 100 terabyte hard drive? How much does that cost like four to five grand? Oh Not 45 grand four to five so like 40 depends which one you get or like a lawnmore can you buy a lawnmore from Amazon? I think you can buy anything on Amazon you can now huh?

Yeah, what do they do they come with a big forklift truck and be like hey? Well no no no I'm sorry I'm thinking driving lawnmower Oh, so what do they do back it up or is your lawnmower? I don't know you probably can maybe Okay, treadmill. I know you can get a treadmill for me. Yeah, treadmill's a pretty big Well, either way you can do your shopping boom click through there takes like two seconds So small action really big reaction by way of support I actually have been thinking that that is actually not the best Analogy that you've been using for like you would you would think that but you'd be wrong

I think a better you ever heard the expression death by a thousand cuts yes it's more like that even though life by a thousand clicks clicks sure support best thousand clicks um yeah man I dig it because they all add up together yeah because the sodium's little but it's big but you have to join it with all the other ones yeah so now you have a bunch of little sodiums boom huge reaction huge support widespread huge support by this little action from this you know what it is actually the sodium is better because look if I'm clicking through I'm a listen I'm listening to this podcast and I'm like you know what I'm going to support I'm buy one of these books I'm going to you know buy lawnmores treadmill Whatever I click through the website

Just that two seconds of going to the website first Clicking through that's like so much potential in my click just like the the sodium so much potential energy in there Especially when you mix it with the water you mix it with the Amazon the click boom Support you follow we can move on fuck yeah there you go see back's up my point I apologize to everyone for egging that on in some manner Yeah well I respect your extreme ownership In the situation Just know what you're gonna do to fix it next time

Or you could subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play If you haven't already. I think it seems Well, I don't want to say it seems obvious, but Yeah, if you don't, you shouldn't. If you haven't, yeah, that's the good way to support. Yeah, cool Stay updated, all that stuff also on YouTube Subscribe to that one I've been putting some stuff this is kind of weird to me because we don't have that many YouTube I forget, I look, but.

It's not a ton. It's not as many people as listen to the podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. But not a lot of people are like on YouTube, you know. Oh, okay. I'm gonna watch, you know, Jocco on YouTube. Yeah. Like that, you're less compelled to do that,

especially if you're not on YouTube just to be in it. But what if you miss some of them deleted scenes? Yeah, you know, that's something, but consider like if you never go on YouTube anyway. I was working with a group this last week and they're full on, caught up on the podcast. every single episode legit dudes getting after it and I mentioned the deleted scene that came out and they there was three of them none of them had seen it oh see there none of them had seen it and that's that's a good scene it's funny anyways yeah I know I use bad language it's got a refreshing bro you know how

you like you can cut loose you're like oh for Jack was always on you were off no you were on you were in a different way I was on I was going off yeah So subscribe to the YouTube chant if you're on YouTube or if you if you're thinking about getting on YouTube Good start there subscribe you I can be your first subscription and don't think that it's a How much subscription to nothing one click oh man one click no no money just click one click and here's the thing it's a whole total non-commitment situation You can literally subscribe and 10 seconds later you can unsubscribe then you can do that again you can do that as makes why it's like so easy So it's really that's a small action reaction situation another one also jaco as a store see that time I stayed quiet

I was it's lowered into your trap just moved on huh but actually back to the YouTube real quick there's other stuff other stuff other than just a video version of the podcast that's kind of the point okay yeah yeah one of the points there's other little videos that you put together excerpts we like to call them sure some people call them McNuggets sure jaco McNuggets yeah they're on there too anyway draco store it's called jaco store Jocco store.com

There's some shirts on there There's some Travel mugs on there Some bumper stickers on there I reaped there We were out of bumper stickers I didn't know that Anyway we got some more on there

There are some Rashguards on there Yeah And there are some hats on there Are they there They should be You said that last time I know bro

And I still have I think a day No no today They should be on You owe me nine hats By the way you got it check Yeah, so yeah there it is and I'm not saying to support this podcast by our stuff. I'm not saying that I'm saying go on the website check out the stuff on there Canadian yarn art This stuff sells itself. Yeah, see now you're not getting my references no and and I was born in Canada too so that can kind of kind of off

But you're not a tenacious D fan. Yeah, yeah, hey man all good Canadian Yarn art oh wait we don't sell that No, we excel itself. It sells itself and so does this stuff potentially some Canadian yarn art. Yeah, maybe But yeah, go on there. Check it out if you like something. Get something good way to support also Psychological Warfare what psychological warfare is if you don't know it is an album with tracks Jocko tracks and what he does is on the tracks. He's talking to you each track and he's to each track He's talking to you about different stuff weaknesses different weaknesses there you so

Really, this is what you need. This is the album. Different stuff doesn't cut it. Yeah. Yeah, because Jack was talking about you about the type of toothpaste that he uses. Right, right. No, I didn't say it was.

Well, maybe. True. Depends. You know how there's a controversy about fluoride being in the toothpaste. You know? I'm just saying if that's important. I'm really egging you on today.

I'm just saying. I apologize everyone. You brought it up, bro. Anyway, what it's really for this album is in your campaign against weakness. Yeah That's the new phrase It's not Journey anymore

It's campaign against Reef Yeah, weakness Andy good bread He gave me that one Because I don't like saying Journey That much remember Messaged you and said hey quit saying journey Say campaign against weakness

Which is actually from the podcast Which is legit. Layers Big time Anyway thanks Andy for that one But that's the one I'm using for right now Until like a better one comes up If that's even possible

So in your campaign against weakness every single day for the rest of your life now that's you're in the game right now it's for the rest of your life yeah the campaign lasts forever yeah there's no discharge from the war yeah man dang there's coming out big time anyway so if you're trying to wake up you know early every day or you know five days a week however long you know however much and you got that day where you supposed to wake up early and you don't want to you just don't feel like it that's really the thing you don't feel like it you know so jacca's there for you with a little spot.

Diet stuff, procrastination stuff, workout stuff, creativity stuff. That's a big one. And I don't listen to the creativity one. That's because you feel like you're all creative. No, but here's the thing. I'm like one of those things, you know how like, you know how like let's say you had a pimple or something?

A Zit, I know. I'm going deep. But if you have a Zit, some people, they're like, I'm going to pop the Zit. Some people, they're like, no, leave it alone. Let it go away. You see what I'm saying? So I'm like,

I'm the ladder when it comes to creativity. I'm like, man, I'm not creative. I'm at a creative block. Don't, don't force it. Don't like get Jock on here telling me, pragmatically by the way, but still- Jocco- Just get creative to it now.

Think of a good idea. Thankfully it's a little bit more than that, but you know, that's kind of the philosophy. I'm not saying that's the best way. In fact, I should- Manufacture, Inspirato. You're missing another good tenacious D reference that I just made. But that's kind of the good thing about this,

is that that's not what it is. is you know how like you'll explain like you know part of it and this is a total paraphrasing situation but you said it in a really good way before when you're like memorize the feeling after your workout or something like that see that's like that's not you're not inspiring me to go work out you're kind of pragmatically telling me like this is how you mentally wage an effective war on that little weakness there that's what it is anyway tracks doing this for all kinds of situations called psychological warfare jaco willing That's a good one.

Also, I have some other options now if you want to kind of support this podcast. You can check out origin, main.com for your jiu-jitsu needs. We are now unified fully with origin. Made in America, like me. I would say like Echo, but Echo is actually made in Canada. No, I was technically made in America. Oh, okay, cool. I was just delivered.

Made in America, like Echo. like Echo and me and delivered wait I was delivered in Canada can they get stuff from origin in Canada Yeah, well there it is just like me then okay so there you go origin main.com for your jihitsu needs and Check them out also if you want to check us out live if you want to check out origin live now What kind of company is telling you hey come to our factory and see what we're all about you know what kind of company? Our company We're gonna be up there in Farmington, Maine, August 23rd. Come on up.

It's too late to enter into the origin camp, the immersion camp. If you haven't signed up for that, you missed it. You'll have to do it next year. But on August 23rd, we're gonna be up there. We're gonna be cruising. We're gonna be hanging out. We're gonna be getting after it up at the factory. You can come to see what that's all about.

Also, and I'll, I'll just put this out. I was kind of hesitating but listen we have some supplements coming for you as soon as we as soon as as as soon as as as soon as I started with Pete Who is my partner at Origin as soon as we kind of started talking as soon as we soon as it looked like we were gonna solidify a deal We started we started He's got he's got a little supplement line Which gives the opportunity gave the opportunity gives the opportunity for me design the supplements so a little while back we had that opportunity designed them made them

went on them legit and we got the formulas down and we're gonna ramp up production now so in a little while you're gonna see you see the joccolon of supplements coming out interesting so echoes had his little bit coming in we're on them Yeah, and yeah, they're good to go. So anyways, well, I'm gonna let, what I need to do, what we need to watch out for is the demand. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna put them up so you can order them.

They won't be out until mid-September, but if you order them earlier, you order them, the better we can support you for supporting us. Yeah, kind of like the book situation. Yes, yes. So that's that. Also Jocko white tea if you want to support the podcast and support yourself and if you want to Deadlift in the neighborhood of 8,000 pounds

You can get Jocka white tea if you don't want to deadlift 8,000 pounds. That's cool drink something else Yeah, yeah drink something else. That's that's fine if you want to support your brain we got books If you want to support your kids brain Get them the and their body and their life get away the warrior kid I get kids cool now kids come up to me and I sign their books they're all fired up so they're changing yeah you change your kid will get on the path no kidding yeah and it's good for the parent too because you can reference that book in little situations you know it's legit yeah that's good

even my youngest daughter her friends are reading it and so they come over and they're like they're excited yeah so that's cool too yeah give it to your kids whoever your neighborhood's kids Whatever, give you talk of all the kids you know so they can get stronger and faster and smarter and better Which is a really big thing to give a kid Yes, everything pretty much you know what I'm gonna give you I'm gonna make you stronger Faster stronger and better smarter smarter you human being. Is that a good thing to give someone? Yes, it is to do it Also if you want the first edition of discipline equals freedom field manual You gotta order it soon and there's so many questions that I get asked all the time are in this book

They're answered in this book of food intake Workouts They're in there A lot of them They're in there All everyone that asks me about All different martial arts It's all in there

Sleep, what about sleep? It's in there How do you wake up so early? It's in there Rest and recovery, it's in there All this stuff is in there It's all in there And there's a A whole section of like What I'm thinking about

On a daily basis So check that out That's a big one Well, like what you're thinking. Yeah, people want to know what I'm thinking about. That's a big deal. For some reason, they ask me, like, what are you thinking here? I answer it.

That's why I wrote that book. Yeah. Well, like any situation where it's like you're faced with a decision to do this thing, and it's hard, but you know it has to be done or should be done or whatever. And there's so many times where you just, when you shift or someone tells you something, hey, look at it, look at it this way. And, you know, like my dad would always say, do it and it'll be done. And it's like, dang, all it took was really thinking a certain way compared to your net. Yeah. BC BC says do it and it's done be done yeah it's true you get that book from

Amazon from Barnes and Noble whatever a little bookstore is around you go and tell them to get it or you can sit around and watch life pass you by it's up to you also extreme ownership it's still going strong why is extreme ownership so going strong is it because the massive advertising campaign that we put on to the the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal no actually we didn't do that you know why it's going strong because a word of mouth That's what it's going strong for because one person gets it they buy it for this person that person buys it for someone else That person buys it for their team. That's why we're still selling that thing like crazy why and why was it going through word of mouth because it works

Functionally works. It's not theoretical. It is pragmatic. It's functional It'll make you a better leader and it'll make your team better Period we've seen this over and over and over again. That's why it's so get yourself and your team so you can implement that and you can win then for your business if your business needs some leadership assistance or guidance or wants to improve and wants to go from doing well to doing awesome echelon front that's our leadership consulting me Laif Babin jp. d'nell d'ave burke will come put your team into full attack mode you can email info at echelonfront.com now we have the muster coming this is important September 14th and 15th in San Diego I think it's 70 maybe 75% sold out at this time in fact the hotel is sold out so we've got rooms at another hotel you'll get it when you register it's a block or two away so if you want to come it's gonna sell out so register fast you can do that at extreme ownership dot com while you're waiting for the muster or while you're waiting to see us up in main at the origin factory grand opening where we make stuff in America while you're waiting for that if you want to link up with us and and maybe just cruise a little bit you can find us we're actually

on the interwebs the Twitter the Instagram that Facebook yboa ha echo is at Echo Charles and I am at jaco Willink I talked about the snap chat last time didn't get around to it I mean there I'm going to Of course. It's coming. Provesty. And plus, I wasn't around my kids, so they have to instruct me. That's cool.

That's good. I was around, yeah, or Jade Charles. Sure. Maybe Jade Charles could instruct me. Yeah, you can probably charge you for that, though. So you'd probably stick with the kids. Yeah, I'll stick with the kids. Or not, whatever.

And finally, A, to all the servicemen and women around the world from our military and from our proud allies, thank you for going forward and protecting our way of life to the firefighters and the police and to the other law enforcement and to EMTs and first responders thank you for protecting us here at home and the rest of you that are out there listening that are facing challenges of your own struggling with your own battles large and small and small Whatever those battles might be fight hard keep going and keep getting after it So until next time this is echo and jaco out