Shawn Ryan Show - #295 Samuel Reineberg - First-Hand Account of the Old Dominion Terrorist Attack

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Prior-enlisted in the U.S. Army, he began his military career as an 88K (Watercraft Operator) at Fort Eustis, Virginia, where he served aboard the Logistics Support Vessel (LSV-5) and later became the first Leading Seaman of the Maneuver Support Vessel Light (MSVL). In 2023, he was selected for a Division Commander’s Green to Gold scholarship, transitioning to become an Army Officer candidate. He is currently a Leadership Science major at Old Dominion University and a senior in the Army ROTC program, with plans to commission as an Active Duty Second Lieutenant this May. Most recently, he was recognized by the Secretary of the Army and the Sergeant Major of the Army for the actions he and his peers took in response to the attack at Old Dominion University. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: Get 20% off Rho Nutrition Liposomal NAD+ for clean, sustained energy and sharper focus—visit https://rhonutrition.com/discount/SRS and use code SRS for your discount. Make the switch to Sundays. Go right now to https://sundaysfordogs.com/SRS50 and get 50% off your first order. Or, you can use code SRS50 at checkout. That’s 50% off your first order at sundaysfordogs.com/SRS50. Get firearm security redesigned and save 10% off at StopBoxUSA with code SRS at https://stopboxusa.com/srs #stopboxpod Get 20% off sitewide at https://helixsleep.com/SRS and enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you! Go right now to https://hillsdale.edu/SRS to enroll in Hillsdale College’s free “Classical Logic and Rhetoric” online course. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Sam Rinaberg. Welcome to the show, man. Thanks, Sean. How are you doing? I'm good, really good. Really happy to be here.

Well, it's an honor to have you here. Been through it this month. It's been a month. I'll bet it has. Yeah. I'll bet it has. It's been up and down. But through everything, I'm still grateful.

You seem good. Yeah. Amazing time being here. Even before I got here, been active, doing things, staying outside. Give it yourself busy? Oh, yeah. You have to. You have to.

I mean, when I've not been busy, it's when my mind gets busy. You know. Oh, I do. I do. Let me give you an introduction. her. You ready? Sam Reinhueberg. Prior enlisted U.S. Army Soldier, 88-kilow watercraft operator from Fort Eustace, Virginia, served aboard the logistics support vessel LSV-5. First leading seaman of the maneuver support vessel light MSVL earned a division commander's green-to-gold scholarship in 2023, leadership,

Leadership science major at Old Dominion University, senior in the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps ROTC program. Commissioning is an active duty second lieutenant this May. You're here to talk about what happened on March 12th. You received a meritorious service medal for your actions at Old Dominion University on March 12th, which is being upgraded, correct? It's correct. Soldiers Medal. To a Soldier's Medal. Congratulations.

Thank you. Do you mind if I read your citation? Not at all. Cadet Samuel D. Reinhueberg for exceptionally heroic actions while serving as a cadet at the Old Dominion University while responding to an active shooter incident in life-threatening emergency on 12 March, 2026. In the face of extraordinary danger and with total disregard to his own personal safety, Cadet Reinaberg displayed incredible courage under extreme circumstances. His selfless service and personal

courage are in keeping with the finest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him in the United States Army this day, this 21st day of March 26. Yeah. That was at the funeral. That was at the funeral they gave that to you. Yeah. They had a small. ceremony prior to the beginning of the funeral that day. The Sar major of the Army and the Secretary of the Army put that on me. How'd that feel? It's indifferent. It's great to have them there, to be present, like having those leaders present.

But in the moment, standing there in front of a bunch of people, I know in don't know. And to my right was the family of Colonel Shaw that I never had a feeling like that because of getting a medal put on me, but the end result that I really take some really responsive, a lot of responsibility for Colonel Shaw. didn't make it. You take a responsibility for that? No, but like just how it happened, it was like I was working on him. I don't know how to, if it's survivor's guilt, but yeah.

You were working on him? Trying to revive him? Not revive him. Keep him alive. Stop the bleeding. Yeah, get him out of there. So the family, it's just seeing the family. And then after the star major of the Army and Secretary of the Army

and said their words about that day, the family came up to me. The cousins, the aunts, the uncles, and I'm standing there in my dress uniform. And they're saying thank you to me. They're thanking me. And I am only able to respond with I'm so sorry because that's just how I, you know, it's just I can't even imagine. Because I'm having a hard time. I can't imagine them, you know, giving me hugs telling me thank you.

And it wasn't just me. It was the other five of us, six of us that were up there, them going through the same thing with the team. There was eight of you in total, correct? it will there was one that was shot that had ran on foot after she was shot in the leg um so that that minus that that one uh leaves seven or six six like got awarded The one guy who got awarded, he actually had his awards, his Purple Heart and his Meritorious Service Medal given to him in his hospital room by the secretary of the Army and the sergeant major of the Army. Are you close with the other guys? Oh, yeah, especially now.

I'll bet. Especially now. Yeah, the team. How are they doing? I think they're good for the most part. I'm sure it's pretty similar to my experience. It comes and goes in terms of like thinking about it, not thinking about it. But I've seen all of them.

Yeah, they're in good spirits. Good, good. All of them. That's great to hear. Yeah, even the one that was hit in the stomach. Is he out of the hospital? Out of the hospital. Um, yeah, out of the hospital, completed the surgeries.

He's good. I know he was going to come today, but he can't fly. Yeah, he was going to come. I really wish he could have came. Well, I, uh, I mean, I don't know if it got back to you guys, but you have an open invite. So, yeah, he is able to fly. He, I'm sure.

We will fly you up here and do whatever the fuck you want at the studio. So that was, that was what he, that was. That was, that is what he wanted to do. He just wanted to hang out with you, shoot, shoot the shit, do whatever, you know, just the experience. And when I told him, I was like, hey, there's this opportunity. Like, you want to go? He was in his hospital bed when I told him.

And he was like, it was like night and day, the energy change. Yeah. That's cool, man. Yeah. Yeah. Well, when he's up to speed, up to par, we'll get you guys back up here. Yeah. I don't even, I haven't even asked him about recovery yet.

I just am happy to see him. Right on. Right on, man. Well, look, before we get too heavy here and it's already pretty heavy, got you a gift. Yeah, everybody gets a gift. Yeah. So. Sweet.

Vigilant sleep. Yeah. Gummy bears made in the USA legal in all 50 states, but I actually got you a better gift. What? So, you know, I mean, you told me about your everyday carrier earlier. I do. What is it? It's a Plymelo State Armory Dagger Compact with its green, sniper green.

Nice. It's a pretty big everyday carry. Is it? It's a pretty big everyday carry. Not going to lie. It is pretty, it's pretty fat. Um, but it works. Hey, if it works, that's all that matters, right?

It works, ish. Well, I want to give you a little upgrade. So, you know, I got a buddy over at Sig. His name's Jason. And, uh, I told him you were coming on today. And, oh, my God. I don't think any guest I've ever had deserves a everyday carryout as much as you. Oh, gosh.

Thank you. Let me know what you think. Let me look at it. Oh, God. I'm. it means a lot hey might want to take a look at it first

it might be a downgrade yeah I'm trying to holy crap yeah the flared magwell hold it up what do you think the flared magwell

oh my god with the all metal that's the 365 legion by sigs sour it's got their brand new optics up top it's got the ported

slide there is to help with muzzle flip and recoil. It's got the flared out Magwell, like you had already said. It's all metal, no polymer. Thing is a fucking beast. I'm just glad the barrel's not threaded. Virginia's changing the loss. Oh, yeah, I forgot. They are changing them.

They're changing them. All my guns are threaded besides my shotgun and my bolts action. Well, there you go. Totally legal in Virginia. Yes. I thank God. I also got you a gift. Oh, I love gifts.

This is from the maneuver support vessel light. The newest class of Army vessel first to be developed in 30 years. Oh, shit. Swear to God. This is cool. You know what's crazy? The Army has more boats than the Navy. Did you know that?

Yes. And the Navy has more planes than the Air Force. Yes. But the Navy's got us beat by tonnage. Well, yeah. Yeah, they got some fat, some fat boats. But yeah, that's, that's from the crew over there in Hawaii right now. Is this your old, this is, yeah, I've read this off in your intro.

Yep. This is it. That's it. That was my last assignment before I went to school, back to school. Oh, man. I'll wear it proudly. Yeah, they would, the crew knows some was giving it to you. And they're like, no freaking way.

Perfect. Cool. were for the interview. So we got here. That's. Holy smokes. All right, man. You ready to dive into this?

I'm ready, yeah. Cool. Well, let's start with, so you were in the Army, and then at some point you decided to go officer, which is a huge fucking mistake, but we could talk about that later. Yeah. It's been a wild ride. It's been a wild ride. I see that.

Um, but yeah, I was in the Army. I enlisted out of high school, uh, 18 year old, did an early enlistment, 17 year old, uh, but I didn't ship off until I was 18. Uh, graduated high school, enlisted as a watercraft operator, like you said. And, um, yeah, my dad was in the Army, um, still in the Army. Um, I have had uncle in the Army. it seemed like a good idea at the time.

And the watercraft operator, I mean, 88 kilo, some Army boats, LSP 5. What are you guys doing on that boat? What's the boat for? It's a flat bottom, 274 foot long, flat bottom, 278 feet long. They do logistical support. Okay.

They'll put Abrams, the whole Abrams company on there. They'll put tons of connexes or wheeled vehicles, you name it. They'll put it on there and they're able to go, I mean, into unimproved ports. They have a big ramp on the front, lowers down. You can drive right in, right off and on. Really low, shallow draft. So they can drive right up onto a beach if they have to. and just offload whatever kind of assets that's on board.

Right on. Awesome gig. Like the best. It is, it is, it was a really hard going officer over warrant officer because it's the warrant officers that are in charge over there on those boats. What is, so where would the boat transit from? I imagine there's some of these in the Strait of Hermuz are heading out. Yeah.

To my knowledge, or at Fort Houston's, Virginia that's one is it salt you go in the ocean they are ocean the Lsvs are ocean going same as the same with the LCUs but just like a smaller version of the LSD which you cross the Atlantic with it um they do cross the Atlanta oh shit their ocean can fake they they they cross all the time so this is like a container ship in a way that's a lot more maneuverable and can offload and yes yes yes um they Yeah, they, uh, very versatile, very versatile. Also in Hawaii, in Japan.

And prior to, I guess, a month or two ago, uh, no, no activity in the Middle East. They had all come back to, they had all got, uh, rehomed to different ports stateside. Um, but they were, uh, I think they left in 2020 out of Kuwait. So, and then they came back stateside. So what are you going to do as an officer? The logistics officer, I got branched logistics. You already know before you even graduate? I know.

I know where I'm going afterwards. Are you serious? Yeah, I know my next duty station. Holy shit. I know my next duty station, the exact unit, everything. You want to say where that is, or is that? Yeah, I'm going to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, 25th Infantry. Get the fuck out. You're going to Hawaii?

Nice. I'm really excited. That's been a saving. I found out the day after the attack, actually. The day after the attack? The day after the attack, which was the first day of spring break, I found out that I was getting Hawaii. Holy shit. That was... Yeah. It's like you can't, you can't make it up. That's pretty fucking wild, man.

Yeah, I found out, I was going to Hawaii, found out that I was going to be in the 25th. How the hell do you even take, I mean, what? You kill a terrorist, you guys kill a terrorist as a team. And then the next day the Army's calling you and telling you what your next duty station is? I got an email, hey, you've got orders in your Army account, look at it, look at them. So I was like, gosh, okay, let me look at them.

it's like I can't I was like what is it what could it be that's in there it's like hey here's your here's your report date you're going here after your school wow so I mean it's why I'm so excited it was like it's hard to celebrate it but as time has gone on that's two and a half three weeks since everything it's more and more like at the forefront of my mind like hey I've I've got great things to look forward to. I'm still getting blessed. Good for you, man. So, very excited.

Good for you. Spring is here. The days are getting longer. The weather is getting better. It's important you have the energy to do what you love without crashing. And I'll be honest. With everything I've got going on, if my energy is off, I feel it pretty quick. Ever feel like you just don't have the energy you used to?

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Started the day off at home and woke up early. They had like the PT on campus, on PT on campus that morning. like a scavenger hunt, like a fun game kind of, you know, like camaraderie PT session. And went back home, got freshened up. Had a little breakfast, barely. Barely had any breakfast that day. It really pissed me off because I was like starving the rest of the day. You'll hear why.

And put on some good clothes, nice civilian clothes that day. We had been dressing in civilian clothes for a few weeks due to like the force protection. No shit? Yeah, yeah. Why? What was because of the Iran conflict? I don't know. Probably.

Force protection condition for that had been raised. They just didn't want any ROTC personnel in uniform or? That was like, yeah, I think it was within the local bases as well. Interesting. So it probably was because of the Iran conflict. Maybe. I just know that I was told to wear civilian clothes. So I was, that day in class, I was meant to my two partners and I, we had a combat and command briefs that day.

Each group got to sign a brief or a combatant command a brief on in class. And we had done the first half that Tuesday. Fast forward to Thursday. We're doing mine. Class goes as normal. I had arrived an hour early to prepare. What class is this? This is the military science class, the senior military science class for the Army ROTC.

The Colonel Shaw's teaching. Yes, he is the only teacher. He teaches the military science class for the seniors, because he's the senior guy, senior officer. And, yeah, I got there an hour early, went over my presentation with my group, two partners. And everybody else in the class kind of starts filling in, coming in. we class started around 920 that day it was a little early but not not out of the ordinary uh and uh we're all in the classroom and the way the classroom is set up it's almost like i was telling your team this uh like this room in the way the dimensions where we're i'm

we're all facing this way in my, facing this direction. And Colonel Shaw is standing. He likes to stand behind your chair, right in front of your, like, your chest right there. You're kind of near your engine where that's where his desk would be. And the entrance to the class would be where that door was. And the desks are long without gas. in between and there's a walkway on the right right here and for some reason that day I chose to sit near the back of the class I usually like to sit in the front

sat at the back sat with my one of my partners would be right there for you know visual purposes and we had gotten through our brief the rest of the teams had gotten through their briefs and we're getting into the part of the class where Colonel Shaw was given his critique, critiques, and his, you know, what he thought was good and it's bad. And he like, you know, he complimented me that day, actually. He was like, you know, Reinaberg, one of the most knowledgeable guys. I did my brief on a transportation command, be a logistics officer coming from that as an enlisted guy. I thought, why not? But you didn't have enough knowledge to not stand in front of your battle when she was presenting for your group.

It's like being, I was standing kind of awkwardly in between the desk and the projector screen, covering up this girl. She's just like, probably like, I don't know, four, four 10, four foot 11. So I was like, ah, like, he always had like a good, like, quick humor with the way he did things. He had good humor with it. He's doing the critiques for the rest of the class. and he's about to let us go for the day. He's like, hey, you know,

I might not see you guys after spring break. I didn't know why. And, yeah, so, and then, you know, I was like basically about to be done. And sky walks in the room. Now, what's weird about this is the door lock. door usually locked from the outside you have to be let in from the inside and I don't remember that very specifically but a one student had gotten a little bit later to class that day

maybe 925 and I'm pretty sure that student had to be let in by Colonel Shaw and then the class went through that near to the end and uh this guy walks in didn't have to be let in it's weird, just a weird detail I told that I gave that in my statement

later on so yeah I'm like... The last student just left the door halfway open? Oh no, it was closed it was closed it was closed? The door is closed. The door was closed. The door was closed Now, maybe it was like this much. Then I was towards the back I couldn't see. But, yeah. So the guy, terrorist, walks in the room.

And, uh... Muhammad Jalo. That's his name, right? Is that how he say his last name? I don't know. I've never even seen the guy before. You'd never seen him? Never.

Had anybody in the classroom ever seen him? There were some that thought they had. And some of some other cadets in the junior class had thought they had that they thought they thought they had seen him while during the PT hours early in the morning during like a Ruck March around campus. campus being like, you go, sir, you go, ma'am. Sarcastic. Hmm.

What was he wearing? Dark hoodie, dark pants. He had these gloves on, like wool gloves. Uh, you had a beard. The longer beard. What did he say? say? Well, he walked in a room and he was like kind of like nervous. He's like, is this ROTC or is this seminar? And we're all like, huh? Nobody said anything. He said it again. Like, is this ROTC or is this

seminar? I don't know who it was, but somebody in the front was like, yeah, like that it was ROTC. and uh he soon as that person said yeah he drew his gun uh yelled alahua abbar and started shooting uh my professor

and uh I like I hit the the floor we're not the floor but like under like right kind of ducked under the table like oh shit I ended up apparently like stepping on the girl next to me uh she told me that later

like maybe like a few days. Actually told me that a few days ago. And I'm back up. And the way, I'm not thinking about any of this. This is the weird part. I mean, did you even realize he was shooting? I've been shot out a lot. I've been shot at a point-blank distance.

And it always takes, at least for me, it usually takes a couple of seconds to realize. Holy shit. this is okay, I'm getting fucking shot at. It was like a second or two maybe, tops, and then everybody's on the ground screaming. And I'm like on my feet running now. I have to clear the row of the people that are on the ground, like, trampling them.

Colonel Shaw, he had like, was able to kind of like take step forward, some steps forward and kind of grab and pull them in. bear hug him is the shooter so he while being shot at took steps forward and like bear like bear hugged the shooter while being shot at yeah and i had gotten up and was moving right and hook in the left to make it to the front of the class and i see uh another cadet uh already on top of the shooter with a knife and I had yelled

get them on the way there to the front literally the distance is the same in this room as the classroom

and he there was one cadet on top already with Shaw from Shaw and me and another cadet had arrived at the same time, but he was a row ahead of me,

maybe two rows, a row ahead. And it gets kind of, you know, it kind of slows down on my brain thinking about it. But there was like four of us total that handled this guy. We're immediately trying to, like, go for the gun, right? He's, like, trying to shoot me. He's trying to shoot my friend next to him. to me on my left, he's just trying to keep shooting. And we had our hands on the, as soon,

had our hands on the top of the slide of this Glock. And as soon as we had the, we're like pinned, we got them pinned in the wall in the front of the class. And as soon as we had the gun pointed away from our classmates, I had turned around, like I'm on my knees, I'm turning around while holding the gun, like, still wrestling with the guy. I turned around and, you know, still screaming and stuff. All that shit's going on.

And I turn around. I was like, everyone get the hell out of here. Everybody run and somebody call 911. Somebody call 911, everyone get the hell out. And my classmates, they remember my face being like the last face they saw, apparently, running out of the classroom and it really freaked them out because they were like

I don't even remember them running to be honest because I was it's just so much going on so fast maybe after a minute of wrestling with the dude and taking care of this guy the group of us you finally like let go

Um, I mean, he had been stabbed. He'd been beat. I mean, took an eye out. You took an eye out? I did. How'd you do it? A finger. And then one of the other cadet had taken the gun.

And at this point, after that, after the gun has been, the guy's done, the gun's handled. I go, my attention is just all on a Colonel Shaw. I could care less about the terrorists, to be honest. But going into the aid now with him, he had tried to stand up, like pretty quickly. He tried to stand up. And his, he kind of leaned back into the wall, kind of braced his back into the wall.

and then eyes rolled lights out fell onto the ground and I like grabbed him by his shirt on the way down and fell kind of with him to stop him in a way and at that point I'm going it's like it's

it's still no thinking but it's now it's like and now it's like now it's like real like really really real And, you know, this training, I don't know if it's training or it probably is because I took the shirt up, his shirt up, and I took his pants down. And I'm looking, and I'm searching for blood or wounds. And I've got exit wounds.

Yeah. And the blood. And he's, he's hitting the leg, upper leg. like high up in the leg for moral yeah i would say so and um just based off just how much blood there was and it was a glock 22 caliber yeah so at all places right it's like one of the the least like the worst place yeah and uh and he's lights out on me But he's opened his mouth and I pulled the tongue, made sure he's breathing, and then one of my battles gave me his belt.

That belt didn't work. It had a weird, like, kind of cinch-smech. It just wasn't working. You're going to use it as a tourniquet. Yeah, we're going into treating. We're trying to stop this blood. It's a lot. And it's like me. it's this other guy, other cadet.

We're pull another belt off of him. His belts, this leather belt, strong, going up, cinching it down. And at this point, I'm having trouble working on him because of being pinned against the wall, and it's on his right leg, and he's, his right leg's kind of as closest to the wall. So I'm like, somebody get out in the hallway and secure the hallway because there's more really wide hallway.

Like there's more room to move, move him and work on him. And, yeah, so we picked them up. I was like, me and this other guy, picked him up, put him in the hallway. And he, like, came back for like a minute maybe. and he's trying to fight me to get up, like stand up, and I'm like, Brandon, no, man. You can't get up. Like, ambulance is coming.

Like, you're going to be all right. We're going to get you out of here, man, but you cannot get up. And he didn't really say anything at all. Who is this? This is Brandon. It's Colonel Sean Shaw, Brandon. Okay. Brandon Shaw.

And so I'm like, you know, I know his first name and trying to use his first name. So we're waiting on the cops to come. Maybe a couple more minutes had passed. I'm not sure, but I'm like... Is he coherent? He couldn't tell. Sort of maybe. His eyes were wide open.

Wide open. Yeah, like he had gone lights out, like unconscious, and then came back after we'd moved him in the hallway and really cinced that tourniquet on, the first belt. And then the first two officers arrive and it's one guy and it's one female, one girl. And she's got a, I see it on her immediately. It's just like, it's this tourniquet. It's like right on her front or her rig.

She kind of just stops. She's like, oh my God. And I'm like over top of Colonel Shaw, like this close, like right here. And I look up and I see her and I'm like, give me your tourniquet. But me and my buddy who was right next to me, who was still looking after him, we put it on above, even higher up at this point, just right, right there. As high as you can get it.

As high as you can get it. That's what you're supposed to do. Sinched it down. And the mail officer came back and Cornwall went lights out again. And I was like, we need to get them the hell out of here. So, me, two other cadets and the male officer, we carried him down two flights of steps out onto the front of the building. This is a regular building.

This isn't the ROTC building. Regular business type classes held in there. Right next, right across the street from the football stadium. and parking garage and we sit him down and like redoing the tourniquet again making even tighter

and he comes back again and this time he's talking talking wow he's like talking he's like he's asking he's like I need my inhaler but like choked up in his throat it's like he needs his inhaler And I'm on top of them. And he says that to me.

And I start screaming at everybody. There's students out at this point. We've got the phones out, recording. There's SWAT running past, you know, guns blazing. And I'm just screaming for this inhaler. And one cadet had tried to go run. run find one and then there's like other cadet another cadet is like going in out of the building making sure that like because we had another one other one that was hit up and still in room

and then the the police finally they like they're with me now with colonel shaw and um i was like brandon we're gonna get you out of man they're right here the ambulance is right here we got you bro we like we're gonna get you out it's gonna be okay like and he just was looking at me, eyes wide. He's awake, he's conscious. He's not talking, though. And, uh, and, uh, told the police, I was like, hey, I'm like,

he's lost a lot of blood. I'm covered in it. Like, my shoes, up, from my shoes up to my chest and my hands to my elbow. So I'm both soaked. Soaked in blood. Yeah. And, uh, the police. took him. And then I was kind of like, okay, now what do I do? Like, I got to get safe.

My phone's gone. I don't know if it was during the fight or when I was treating him initially in the classroom, but my phone came out of my pocket somehow and had landed next to the shooter terrorist. They thought it was his phone. The FBI thought it was his phone and they were going to sees my phone thinking it was his phone um later on uh but yeah uh got off got off the spot and i found some cadets that were like just dazed you know it's like hey we're going to go into this neighborhood and try to like hide out for for a little bit and then they kind of followed me And then I was like, you know what, actually come back. Let's go into the parking garage where we're not in the open.

Roach was across the street from the building where all this took place, but I just thought in my mind it was the best option to take. You just want a breather? Not even. Just like get safe. In a way, I was, I don't know, it was like autopilot. Mm-hmm. Um, on the way back to the parking garage, this, uh, this guy comes up to me, uh, this guy comes up to me. And like I said, I'm covered in blood. Like, there's blood dripping off my fingers.

And this guy comes up to me, he's like, hey, I need you to answer some questions. Like, what? What do you mean? He's like, I'm with ODU. I'm an ODU official. I need to answer, I need you to answer. I need you to answer some questions. I was like, let me see some ID. Let me see some ID. Because I'm like, who could this guy be? He's like wearing like a, you know, a business outfit kind of thing.

He's got some glasses on. I'm like, all right. I take his ID from him and look at it. I couldn't even see what it said because I'm like, my vision's kind of like this, just a tunnel. and I was like throw it back at him I'm like I'm not answering your fucking questions

and I went took the guys and the gals inside to the parking garage at this point the police are all over it and they saw me and they're like you're coming with us like we need to talk to you now like what's going on tell us and I'm like I don't even have a phone

I need to I need to tell my dad I need to tell somebody like hey this is what happened and I'm okay because like and I need to know like everyone else in the actual R2C building's okay I get my dad a quick call off the the detective's phone I was like hey dad like terrorist attack in my classroom I'm okay but I need you to get here right now like I'm covered in blood. And then we got into like the first statements with the officers there. We were in like the locker room of the football team in the stadium. It's like attached to the parking garage. And that's where that parking garage was.

And yeah, I have this female officer. She was really good. calming me down and stuff. I'm like, I'm like, like this. Like, I'm just like everything is after me, but I'm okay. It's like a weird, I don't know how to explain it. It's just a weird state of mind that I was in. And I'm like telling her everything that happened.

And then like, they're like, hey, we're going to get you on a bus. And you're going to come with us to the station, the police station in Norfolk. cover like i'm we get on the bus and we get on yeah we get on the bus and we started driving there and i was using one of my friends's phones i was like to give him my dad updates i was like hey dad like i'm on the way to the police station on i can't remember what what what road it was um but just meet me there and uh he's just like all right son i'll be there and uh and uh Um, we got there and like, I'm sitting, they put me, they sit me down in like one of their office chairs, like, of like the detect, the detectives that work there, the officers that work there.

And I'm just sitting there in this like, uh, like this cubicle area. And I'm sitting there. And I am just like, I don't even know what is going on. I'm like, just completely out of my mind in terms of like, I don't know how to feel, I don't know what to think, I'm just there, I'm just there. And they start trying to bring in like chaplains and stuff like that and the Navy chaplain, she took one look at me and literally kept going, just kept going. Wow.

She could see it. They didn't clean you up. Huh? That didn't clean you up? No. Not at all. Just my hand. They took pictures of my hands.

I got to wash my hands. That was it. Uh, geez. They kept trying to offer me, like, candy and soda. They brought in some chick filet. I like chick filet. That was acceptable. You're like, can I get the fucking blood off of me for...

No, literally. And it's... And it started... I was there at the station for seven hours. It was starting to stink. you were there for seven hours before you got to clean up yeah seven a half seven hours yeah they did one interrogation with me an interrogation or not interrogation but like you know they brought you brought me in a room small room with single desk two chairs on one end me on the other what are they

asking you asking me what happened was there cameras in the classroom i don't know I don't think so. But I think there's cameras in the hallway, maybe, in the stairwells. So, but yeah, they're, like, trying to offer me candy and soda, and I'm like, I'm like, I don't even care. The one officer, he was doing a good job, though, talking to me. He was. He's talking me through it, like, just getting my mind off of it, like, hey, man, like, where do you like to travel, this kind of. kind of stuff. It got my mind off it for a second and then I'm like right there. I'm right back

to, right back in it mentally. I'm sitting there hours and they're like, what can we get for you? And I'm like, you know what? Like you guys are cops, right? And you're like, yeah. I was like, can you guys get me some zins or something? Like some kind of nicotine and something? And I'm like, yo, get this guy some zins, like get us some zins. And then they're all like, all the guys that have zins are on the, you know, at the scene right now. The one officer went down to like the Wawa or something nearby and got me a whole, whole can. That helped. It really did.

And some hours, more hours go by. And then they finally, my leadership finally brings us into this small, room with the rest of the cadets there from my class and they're like they said that they had some news and I was like oh no because I could see the faces of the rest of my leadership behind the one officer that told us what was that Colonel Shaw had passed like at the hospital and I just couldn't believe it because the last time I had seen him

he was alive and talking yeah so they broke that news it was pretty traumatic being there just been hearing that man I'm sorry

but you know maybe an hour or two more passed and was able to get to the Portis Naval Hospital. My dad had arranged for treatment for blood exposure there for the me and the rest of the guys that had some blood on them. And yeah, we got there and a full like blood panel. and iodine shower, change your clothes, chaps came and saw me, good chaplain too, good guy. I didn't get home that night.

What did he say? Chaplain? Yeah, I'm just curious. What does a chaplain say to somebody after event like that? He was like, hey, like kind of like, you know, how are you feeling? Like, really, tell me. Or don't. You don't have to.

tell me like talk to me what are you thinking right now what's in going to your head you're like you know these are you know that what you're feeling is normal um god god saw saw you saw you today kept you safe what you you know what you did and the what those guys did what you guys did you know, that was that was the right thing to do. You had to do it. It's okay to feel what you're feeling. You know. I've talked about this before, but if you own a firearm,

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That's helixleaksleep.com slash SR for 20% off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know who sent you. Helixleep.com slash SRS. What were you feeling? In the hospital, I was really anxious, really stressed out and just really like on high alert. There was a like a kid or like a boy in the room next to me. they like let out a scream as I was getting looked at and I seized up in the bed right before they were literally about to do a blood draw on me thank God before so that would have been

like really shitty um yeah give you know gives you give some resources personal phone number hey like talk you know if you feel comfortable talk with me if it's not you know if it's not tomorrow can be a week from now a month from now you're from now you know whenever you're ready if you want to talk call me I'll he's like I'll answer I thought that was solid because it's like what do you say really what like what can you say what do you say Yeah, didn't get home that night until like 11 o'clock at night. And that was from 10.30 something when the whole thing kicked off. Did not really sleep that night or some nights after.

Did not sleep, hardly. Didn't get to eat really. My appetite was really messed up, like the stress or something. I don't know. like this tightness in here. And, yeah. When did you get to talk to your dad for the first time? In person, it was at the police station.

What about in private? When's the first time you got a lone time with your dad? In the alone time. Just him and I. He's a really busy guy. I mean, on the phone. I had gotten my phone back. Maybe the next day, the next day.

And my mom too. My mom. She was like a wreck. I'd gotten to talk to her on the phone. It was just too much to kind of like go anywhere or like try to like, hey, like see everybody. Like, hey, I'm okay. Like I just couldn't, I couldn't like handle just being in the car

going around, like, trying to, like, kind of see people like my mom or my dad. But yeah, I mean like some days after that, I mean, the days that followed were really hard. Just like the stress, the not really sleeping, bad dreams, kind of. Just like seeing, just like hearing, like hearing the classroom and seeing Colonel Shaw's eyes

when he was on the ground, they were really big. At a part of, like right before he had gone unconscious, his eyes got really big. And when I said, I got really freaked out and really started to get that moment. That set of eyes. It's like a... That's where we plays in your head.

That, yeah, that. that and doing the first leather belt on this a tourniquet um yeah um didn't have my phone uh I was getting like

uh I was having to communicate like through people uh like through their phones uh that's that was rough um and uh

I had my I had an iPad I have an iPad. I was able to like kind of I message call, FaceTime audio call through that. How many people were in the classroom? 28. 28 people? Yeah. And four of you guys took him out? Yeah, like the four of us that were hands on with the terrorists, yes.

But then there's another three that helped with aid and stuff like that. How long after he yelled Allaha up or did he start shooting? Immediately while he was doing it while he was shooting. So there was, you didn't have time to, nobody had time to process. No, not at all. Zero. Like, no time. It was, it was instantaneous, damn near from the confirmation that, yes, this was the ROTC classroom.

Shit. And, uh... Did he shoot at Colonel Shaw first? Yeah, he was a... Colonel Shaw is the closest guy to him. How far? Point blank? Six, seven feet.

That's it. I mean, first, like, I'm telling you, the dimensions of this room is, like, the same. Like, the door, he, shooter is, like, the right edge of the American flag. And Colonel Shaw is standing where your portrait is of you in the helicopter. Wow. It's about five, five, six feet. How many shots did he fire? Four, four, like I said, Colonel Shaw was, he closed the distance, like, immediately, damn near, and was able to kind of bear hug him to the ground after he had been shot.

Did he hit him four times? Colonel Shaw was only hit once. That's, I checked the whole, his whole body. I only saw, found one. gunshot to his leg. But a girl got shot. She did. She did get shot.

When did she get shot? It must have been in that volley of shots. So he wasn't just aiming at Colonel Shaw? Well, um. Or somebody ran in front of him. No. She was sitting in the general line of fire that hit Colonel Shaw, she was sitting,

would have been sitting in the general line of fire of where he was standing because she was in the front row, I think in the front row to my left, it wouldn't have been that much of a gap if you were shooting quickly to maybe have a stray. I don't know.

She was hitting the leg. Was anybody else hit? Yeah. Who else? Another cadet, a guy. The one with the knife. It was, uh, I don't know if he must have been shot.

He was shot and kept stabbing. Where was he shot? That's belly. And the belly? The belly. Yeah. And he kept going. Kept going.

Freaking insane. Where did you do? tackle this guy? He was on the ground. Like Colonel Shaw was able to bear hug, kind of bring him to the ground. Colonel Shaw, way more sizable guy than the shooter was. Shooter was not a big guy. Maybe like 5-8, 5-9, but not like muscular either.

Pretty like, like, no, not strong. Um, he was on the ground when we had gotten there already and it was just kind of like a beat, beat down. Just punches and elbows and people with knives and some even had a water bottle, like a metal thermos. Mm-hmm. It was just... Who was heads up enough to put their hand on the slide so that he couldn't shoot anymore. What was that? Who was heads up enough to put their hand on the top of his what?

It was- It was me and another cadet on my left. Did you know what you were doing? You knew the firearm wouldn't function if you did that? Yeah. It's pretty fucking heads-up, man. I mean, it's just, I feel like it's kind of like, you know, I've done a fair amount of shooting, and it's like, if that's the main action of the gun, of the pistol.

So it's like, and he was trying to, you kept trying to pull the trigger, like at, at, you He's starting to swing his arm around at me and the guy to my left. What do you do him while he is trying to shoot you in the face? We're trying, like, pushing the gun as a team back away and forcing the muzzle away from our classmates behind us into the wall. Is he yelling? No. No, he was, he yelled, shot, you know, and like he did not say a word while getting. beaten like at all he just kind of let out a couple grunts and maybe after a minute

minute and a half he was gone how many times did you guys stab him uh do you have any idea a lot it was a lot it was a lot and it was everywhere it was everywhere oh yeah it was a lot it was everywhere how big of a knife was it do you know it's two three three three A little bity knife. Yeah, two, three inch knife. Like, you know, it's a college campus. Can't carry like a knife or guns on campus. Really?

They just, you know, a couple of them happened to have one on them. All I had on me that day was my cell phone until I didn't have it on me. I was there to just give my brief. I was just there to give my brief and go on my spring break. I mean, you guys eliminated that threat in four fucking minutes with no firearm. Yeah. It was... When everyone else ran.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, telling them to run, made them run, I don't know. Here's the timeline. 940, Muhammad Jala parks his vehicle on campus with a legally obtained Glock 4422 caliber firearm. 1040, an hour later, Jala enters, Constant Hall,

navigates to the ROTC classroom. 1043, Jala enters the classroom, asks, is this the ROTC class? Upon confirmation, shouts Allah Akbar in OECC, and opens fire. That's at 1043. 1043 to 1047. Jala fires multiple rounds, fatally wounding Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shaw and injuring two ROTC candidates. ROTC cadets immediately engage, overcome shooter through physical force. 1043, first emergency call placed reporting active shooter

1047 police arrive on campus. Four minutes after the first call to determine the shooter is deceased. Yeah. That means he died well before 1047. Shot started at 1043. 1048 run, hide fight alert issued to campus. Lockdown protocols initiated 1210, all clear issued campus declared safe. That is unfucking real that you guys, in less than four minutes were able to kill that, dude.

that was the team the guys the team it was unbelievable uh how fluid and cohesive uh we worked on on on in doing this was that instinct see i don't know maybe um probably most probably mostly and maybe some training, I'm not sure. Like, there was no thinking involved. I don't recall ever. I don't think there was any, like, time during the course of, you know, those few minutes where I was like deliberating over what I should do.

It was just doing. And I think the rest, I think that goes for the rest. that goes for the rest of those guys. And, yeah, they, I mean, the team, it really is like, I, there's, do you know how heroic that is? Is that even registering yet? It's partially-ish. It comes and goes kind of like with the incident in a way, kind of still, you know,

Some days I'm like, okay, I thought I've come to, maybe I've come to terms with it. And then other days I'm like, like, what the, I still am like, what the heck is even going on? What even happened? And I think that, you know, I think that... You charged a terrorist that was killing people with... You charged him with no weapon. All of us, or most of us with no weapon, yeah. Not even a knife.

And eliminated him in less than four minutes. I like I said it's you know how many people would have been killed if it wasn't for you for uh they say you know it's it would have been more did he have more magazines on them maybe one other I know the one cadet he did he uh cleared this cleared the it was fully loaded at least the one mag was fully loaded I don't know how much uh was in how many rounds were in that mag but uh yeah the university president He said this, the university president, Hemphill. He had called me personally after I'd gotten this really weird email from some like

associate assistant to the vice president of like the student conduct committee. What did that email say? Along the lines of, hey, Samuel, just want to let you know, ODAU doesn't have any intention of pressing charges against you in accordance with like the student code of conduct. Pressing charges against you? The ODA doesn't have any intentions of pressing charges against you after you killed a fucking terrorist that killed a professor? It's what the email said. I woke up one morning. What the fuck does that even mean?

This is, yeah, I don't know. And it was like, you know, no intention of pressing charges in accordance with the student code of conduct for the actions you took personally that day. Oh, gee, thank you. Yeah, I woke up that one morning at like 8.30 in the morning. I slept on the couch. You know, maybe it's been four or five days since the shooting.

Look at my phone, immediately screenshot it. I sent it out. to my dad and some of my like mentors from like when I was active duty and they were like what in the hell is that and I have that screenshot yeah you can thank you I'll give it to you yeah I think it was like a like a rogue it was a rogue email like a we know what you did kind of thing I don't know we know what you did the my phone the other I saved an entire fucking classroom. This is so the university president was alerted of this that this happened and

within a couple hours he called me personally and was like I'm so sorry that ever that ever got sent to you don't even like no words but I'm sorry and what you and those guys did you guys are warriors your heroes and then he shared a personal anecdote with me about his time when he was at Illinois University or, yeah, like Southern Illinois University in 2008. There was a shooting there, apparently. I didn't know this until he told me. He was there as like a dean or something or vice president of the university.

and in a classroom of 150 their alone gunman came in and shot or killed like 19 or 24 and nobody stood up to this guy so he called me to tell me thank you and God bless you and keep in touch

and he wants to make it right you want to make it right And his number two, her and I started corresponding. This is where I made this group chat for the guys that us guys that stayed back in the room just to talk about, hey, how's everyone doing? How's everyone feeling? I named it fucking Warriors. That's the name of the group chat.

But the university president wanted to take us out to dinner. He said, anywhere you want, anywhere you guys want to agree on a spot, let's go. So we chose a really, really, like, expensive steakhouse. And that the Monday, it was the day after the funeral we all went. And we, like, broke Brad Fellowship together. He wanted to get eyes on every single one of us. But, yeah. So it should be.

Good, amazing leader. I mean, amazing. And it wasn't even like bureaucratic or anything. It was just real. Good. Like, you know, it wasn't like a check the box. Like, hey, I saw these guys. It was like, it was like person to person.

And he heard our, I mean, he even heard our complaints or suggestions. What were your suggestions? Oh man you know increasing security uh Colonel Shaw he had been there a few couple years or three two or three years at this point and uh

he had grown like the the RTC population from I don't know what amount but to over a hundred some and I had been corresponding with his aid or maybe she's the vice president I'm not sure but I said to him I was like you know if you know what kind of security measures are we going to put in place

for our ROTC populations clear you know after this clearly you know targeted, what are we going to do? Because if you don't, and if you don't help people will feel safe, then the growth that Colonel Shaw did for the program will be cut in half because people are not going to feel safe and want to show up and they will just disenroll. He had already was like, hey, Virginia State Police, ODUPD, they're going to be out in force. Every training event there before you guys show up to after they'll be there watching. So, all right. The first football game this coming fall semester home game, everybody, every football player

on OdeU's team is going to be wearing camouflage with Colonel Shaw's name on the back. They're going to do an Apache flyover prior to the kickoff. Colonel Shaw was Apache pilot. He loved Apaches and Army Aviation. And, you know, renaming a building, commemorating the part of the stadium where Colonel Shaw always liked to stand and hang out next to his 105 howitzer that we got to shoot off for the games. Nice. Commemorating it as like Shaw's Corner, stuff like that. Do you think this could have been prevented?

I think so. How so? I think, you know, I think that the law maybe isn't as strict as it needs to be on individuals who have prior convictions and associations with terrorist organizations. organizations for sure. One way it could have been preventative is if they wouldn't have released him from fucking prison two and a half years early. Yeah.

What do you think this guy's motivation was, Mohammed? What do you think his motivation was? Just hate. Hate. Hate and hate and evil. Let me give you a radicalization timeline. Do you mind if I do that?

Sure. I'm not familiar. but sure. Here's a radicalization timeline for Mohammed Jalop. 2009 to 2015 serves honorably in the Army National Guard, becomes troubled personal life relationship, breakup, substance abuse, things like that. In 2015, he quits the National Guard after listening to online lectures from deceased, al-Qaeda, clergy, Anwar,

Al-Kawali, July 2015 to January 2016, travels to Sierra Leone in Nigeria, makes contact with Islamic State members, views extremist propaganda. Early 2016, contacted by ISIS, a virtual plotter, online operative who encouraged attack planning, told the FBI he wanted to conduct an attack similar to the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. July 3rd, 2016. Arrested after a three-month FBI sting operation, attempted to purchase an AR-15 rifle and tried to donate $500 to ISIS. October 2016 pleads guilty to a time. attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

Yeah. I didn't know you couldn't donate to ISIS. The U.S. government sends $40 to $87 million every fucking week to the Taliban. Did you know that? I've heard about this. It's where that flags from. We've read about... The Taliban was burning that flag in Afghanistan.

And the man that uncovered the fact that the U.S. U.S. government is sending 40 to 87 million fucking dollars a week to the Taliban, which is going to training people like Mohammed Jala to come here and fucking kill our people. Our U.S. government's funding that. I just want everybody to know that the U.S. government is funding fucking terrorism. Okay, so let me go down this timeline a little bit more. Prison record in early release. Sentenced February 10th, 2017 to 11 years in a federal prison plus five years supervised release. Prosecutors recommended 20 years.

He only served eight and a half years. Transferred to a halfway house. Og, a halfway house. He's in prison for pleads. guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS. So they send them to a fucking halfway house. Honestly, I don't even know what a halfway house is. A halfway house is for addicts.

Oh. That's what a halfway house is. Okay. So they send them to a fucking halfway house. Released on December 23rd, 2024, approximately two and a half years early. Reason for early release? completed a R-DAP, a residential

drug abuse program. Despite having no drug convictions, only terrorism convictions, federal law prohibits violent offenders from early release via R-DAP. This was a legal loophole.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has since closed the loophole in 2025. It's just to see. So it was preventable. I mean, had they not let a fucking terrorist out of prison two and a half years early on a fucking RDAP residential drug abuse program? Why the fuck would you release a terrorist, a fucking terrorist, two and a half years early

on a residential drug abuse program? Whoever the fuck did that needs to go to prison. Yeah. Along with every member of the U.S. government that's sending 40 to 87 million fucking dollars a week to terrorists to train Mohammed Jala to come to O'DU and fucking kill your professor. God rest his soul. It's rough.

That's the reality of this. Thank God for people like you and your fucking comrades. Yeah. Still some real Americans left in this country. We just want to, we just want to do our best. I know, man. And, uh, this shit just pisses me off because it is fucking preventable. Yeah.

That piece of shit not been released two and a half years early on a fucking drug rehab program, this wouldn't have happened. If they would have taken the fucking shit seriously that this guy was actively helping ISIS, wanted to be, wanted to be an ISIS, was an ISIS member, went overseas to train, to look at whatever kind of material. to... And we fund it. We fund this shit.

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You know, it's hard to conceptualize that, especially because, you know, being a soldier, wanting to defend. The country, it's hard, difficult. The country's still worth defending, Sam. I believe that. Politicians are not. They are not worth defending. Yeah. Politics isn't really, it's hard to keep up for me.

You know, I stay in my lane. I just want to take care of the people around me, get care of my soldiers. You're a good man. Yeah, lawmakers. You don't have to say anything, man. It's hard to talk about, it's hard to talk about, even though I'm not representing the Army

in an official capacity. It's hard to talk about those facts about what the government funds. It's not the Army's fault, man. I know it's not. That's our politics. You know what they want to do? They want to sit on X and bat this shit back and forth like it's some fucking political campaign and not do a fucking thing about it. And now we have terrorist attacks happening in our fucking country that we're funding.

And I've been saying this shit was going to happen for fucking years, along with the whole slew of other people. I was in the police station and I saw on the TV that day that the, uh, the, the, uh, the, It's like a church or something in Michigan. I'd gotten attacked that day too. And then there was another one in Belgium, I think. Yep. That same day. I think that was all the same day.

Yeah. I love my country. I love the people in it. I love the Army. Good. Even though it has its ups and downs, like anything. enacting change in acting change within the organizations that I'm a part of is what I want to do. What are you doing for yourself right now?

The shit can creep up on you. Yeah. Staying active. to my mentors, my friends, my leadership from when I was at prior service. Have any of them killed anyone before? They have. They have. Um, yeah.

And, uh. Are they walking you through that? Yeah, they are. Uh, honestly, the terrorist is not, that whole part of the sequence. It doesn't really bother me at all. Good. Like at all. It's the, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that part of it is, uh, that's, uh, that's the hard part for me is, is that part.

Um, um, do you think you could have done something differently? Who me? Yeah. There was nothing to do different. You did everything you could, man. We all did. Like, the team, there was nothing else better. I don't think we could have done.

We had what we had, and we made use of it. So what is tripping you up about that? The experience itself? Or what do you feel guilt about? No, it's not so much. It was guilt in the beginning, but now it's more, it's just the sadness like in the funeral

I had seen him before they shut the casket they did like a final viewing that day and just like seeing somebody you were taking care of alive and

talking to the opposite and laying in uniform in a casket and that's it's just just getting through that mentally that's that's the thing that's the hard part for me and the family uh his wife and his son he loved his son and he holds his son i think he's like 10 fuck uh he was an amazing father i know that amazing father amazing husband very big leadership void without him there. Really good representative of the army to the university.

Yeah, that's the hard part. In the funeral, the flag, the flag pass, you know, to the spouse and watching her carry it out. and when it was being handed to her, I guess the coordinating officer who, like, I guess, you know, was in charge of the funeral who passed, gives the flag. He, like, leaned over

and his hat fell off, his cap onto the ground, and that was a lot, seeing that. It's hard, man. I've been to a lot of those, especially where you see their kids running around. The kid. And they just want to know what the hell is going on and when is my dad coming home? Mm-hmm.

He's not. No. And, yeah, I saw like a tweet. It was like, I don't know how many months spent overseas, but many, many months overseas to just die at home. that was uh that was something that stuck with me just seeing that it's like a tweet or something sam you got to stay ahead of this man this stuff it can creep up on you yeah it takes a long time to cycle through all the emotions trying my best uh this is my first time going through something like this hopefully it's their last last time yeah um are you in therapy no

Not therapy. Are you going to start? Uh, probably not, no. Hmm? Why? Um, because I think like there's like other ways of like therapy, like, doing kind of like self-therapy, like, I like going onto the garden. Uh, I find it therapeutic to talk with my friends or like mentors that I really trust.

Good. about it. Therapeutic for sure to do that. And, you know, a chaplain eventually. I think I see that. But right now, no. Well, as long as you're not internalizing at all, that's a good thing.

No, definitely not internalizing it. I'm not bottling it up. I was one of those people back when I was like a little young teenager. I know it's not the right way. So. Well, when we wrap this up, I'm going to give you my contact info. If you need anything, anything. I appreciate it, Sean. Hit me up. I've been through just about every fucking healing avenue you can imagine. So, yeah. I can at least point you in a couple directions. Yeah. I really appreciate that. You listen to the show. I do. A lot of

lot like hours and hours of avenues and a lot of mentors that would love to help you out man and your comrades which i can't wait to meet them i hope i do yeah um they would love to meet you open invite anytime you guys want to come out we'll fly you up here we'll put you up we'll set it up Thank you, Sean. My pleasure. But yeah, through all of this, through all of this, I got called by somebody. It's like somebody just trying to reach out,

and they were like, hey, like, you know, you're thinking about getting out now or, like, you know, trying to get some disability? It's like, no. Good for you. No, I want to be, I want to serve even more. Even more. Good for you, man.

So. Is there anything you want to say to your comrades, your fellow cadets, that you haven't yet? Maybe if I forgot to, but I'm proud of them. I'm proud and thankful for every single one of them. If I didn't, there it is. Is there anything you want to say to the colonel? Colonel Shaw. I miss you, man.

I do. You know, even through everything, like, not seeing that eye, I miss you. And I hope, you know, I tried my best. We tried our best. The team. Do you want to tell a son what kind of man he was?

What was that? Do you want to tell his 10-year-old son what kind of man he was? Yeah. His dad, your dad. He loved you so much. We all knew that as a class, and we never even met him. And I met his son.

And everything, I think, I think everything he did was for his son. And same for his wife. Well, man, we're wrapping up the interview, but, uh, got you one last present. What's just that? You're a Catholic. You'll know what that is. Is Rosary? Thank you. Pull it out.

You know who Dom Raza was? Yeah. I met him. You met Dom? Yeah. Yeah. When I was a high schooler, I worked at this restaurant down in Portsmouth, Virginia,

beer garden. He frequented there a lot with his family. I'm like, I'm not like, like, short kind of big beard that's dumb yeah yeah i've met him when i was i was like 16 he's got uh the knives the knives oh yeah the stuff yeah this is sweet is this from him well yes dom has those made those those rosaries and he calls them the warrior rosary and so I thought when you told me you're a Catholic earlier off camera I thought oh man I've got to give him one of these things yeah like I'm not even kidding like I've served his family as like a like a teenager wow small world yeah that's crazy small world yeah he's awesome guy I met him he was it was a Sunday I think and he had taken his family to church and he was getting his family to church and he was getting a meal after church and he was just talking he was just talking to me i was just a teen like a teenager i

wasn't even joining the army or anything at that point right oh man that mom's a great dude yeah well i thought you might like that i do i really i carry one with me everywhere i go i think that rosary brings a lot of protection and uh maybe you'll carry it too yeah and so i thought maybe we could end this with a prayer that you lead for Colonel Sean his family. God, thank you for bringing us here today. Keeping us safe.

You know, that day on March 12th. It's a really bad day. And, you know, I pray that. that you see Colonel Shaw's family and protect them and bring them as many blessings as you can. And that you bring his son into your arms and keep him safe. Amen. Might if I add a little bit? Of course. And Jesus, I just would like to add that I just want to say thank you for Sam and his comrades for standing up in the face of fear that day.

Because if they hadn't, who knows how many lives would be gone with Colonel Shaw. It's been like that that make this a great country. And I also just want to say, please be with Colonel Shaw. Shaw's family, they're going to need you more than anyone right now in these times. And never forget. Amen. Amen. Yeah.

Sam. Sean, thank you, man. Like I said, man. Anything you need, reach out. I really appreciate you. I really appreciate me, Sean. Thank you. It's an honor.

It's a real honor, man. It's a nice of yours. No matter where you're watching the Sean Ryan show from, if you get anything out of this at all, anything, please like, comment, and subscribe. And most importantly, share this everywhere you possibly can. And if you're feeling extra generous, head to Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review.