Jocko Podcast 72 w/ Col. Tom Manion - Loss of a Son. True Honor & Leadership.

2017-04-26T21:38:30Z

Join the conversation on Twitter: @jockowillink @TMFoundation @echocharles 0:00:00 - Opening 0:09:04 - Col. Tom Manion. 0:09:46 - About Travis Manion. Early Years/Naval Academy/etc. 0:32:04 - Travis After Graduation and Military Service. 0:45:36 - Fallujah. 1:25:01 - Travis's Final Fire Fight. 1:52:54 - Aftermath and Brendan Looney's Journey. 2:09:11 - Brendan's Last Operation. 2:12:02 - Aftermath. What We Can Learn. What We Can Do. TravisManion.org 2:23:52 - Support, Cool Onnit, Amazon, JockoStore stuff, with Jocko White Tea and Psychological Warfare (on iTunes). Extreme Ownership (book), (Jocko's Kids' Book) Way of the Warrior Kid, and The Muster002 , The Travis Manion Foundation 2:39:33 - Final Thoughts. A letter about Travis. 2:49:23 - Closing Gratitude.

AI summary of episode

you know he was stepping in to help out and the guy came back and killed him and his friend was hit everyone hard Brett was a really popular guy and so coach Sharat he and again this is something that that Brian Stanton talked about you know when they were heading to the funeral and there we go let's do an exercise this is this is coach Sharat talking let's do an exercise I'd like you to both close your eyes and picture that you're leaving a building a friend picks you up and takes you to a place where people are somber crying and there seems to be an audience then you realize you're at your own funeral right down a few words about what you'd want a family member a person of faith to say when reflecting on the lives of Travis Manion or Brian Stanton Stanton nodded and after a few minutes of pondering what to write started drawing down a sentence about one day being remembered as a good husband or loving father and a US Marine Travis went through several pieces of paper before settling on one sentence Travis Manion was a man on a phrase to stand for what was right and as I mentioned earlier Travis started helping out Brian with his wrestling and and eventually as Brian started fighting because Brian's a maniac started doing MMA matches and he needed corner man so he needed to have the wrestling corner man and so again this is something that we covered with Brian's stand but for if you didn't hear it that first time there you got Brian's about to fight he's literally you know whatever 20 minutes half an hour from getting in the cage and fighting somebody and Travis gets a phone call and Brian can tell something's going on and Brian said hey tell me what's going on Travis says I'll tell you later Brian Stanton says you tell me now Travis looks away after the fight no give it to me straight Brian demanded what's going on and then Travis tells him JP Blacksmith was killed in Felusal last night so again your point is that these are people you know real close to home and it was tough for for Brian it's tough for anyone that's sitting on the sidelines which is what you feel like you feel like you can't you you want to help and you can't do anything you're back you're literally thousands miles away and that's what these guys are are feeling you a lot of frustration there Travis said but I'm wondering if you might consider leaving a bit later possibly after sunset my concern is that our presence during daylight could endanger neighbors who live near the house we're gonna strike not to mention little children who could be playing in the street respectfully lieutenant I wouldn't want to be the one to tell their parents that their son or daughter might still be alive if we had waited a couple more hours after a pause in a sip of water the Iraqi officer nodded the raid would not start until 8 PM so again real leadership and I talk about this all the time in here you know the real leaders aren't barking orders the real leaders are the ones that are flanking and using indirect approaches sure with the people that they're trying to influence and there's just a phenomenal example of that got some email here email coming from Travis sent it to you you know sent it to the family and and some of his buddies sent to bring in as well here we go all my job is definitely going well after all the horror stories we hear we heard about the Iraqi armoured army and their unwillingness to work with the myths they have been very open and willing to listen to advice creating an initial relationship with my counterparts was the right move and it has allowed me to help them start shaping operations there are many dedicated men in this army and it's been an eye opening experience so far the best IAs that's Iraqi army soldier the best IAs are definitely dedicated to their cause and have a warrior mentality that rivals some Americans however there are still those enemies out there that wish us to fail there's a lot of work left to do but the city is definitely at a different place that it was last year I really feel that is it is at a critical point where if the present situation continues to progress it could have huge positive impact in other areas also I found a good balance between my logistics job and my company advisor role although going on operations definitely requires a good amount of time I'm able to work with the batalion logistics officer on a fairly regular basis I also appreciate all the good food and gear that has been sent workouts and your support have definitely helped keep me going as I said before we're pretty busy if I wanted to take a minute to thank you guys for everything and keep you updated please continue to write and enjoy your updates as well take care and I'll talk to you soon to simplify Travis yeah I always remember that that discussion we had you know down the hallway and so impacted him to be there with those guys and he actually went up there to thank them for all they had done and he said dad they couldn't thank me enough for for my tour and what I was about to do and he was you know he he got real serious about it you know as remember that was one of the last conversations I had with him interesting side note to that story so my wife and I after we lost Travis went up to rescue one talk to the guys we were up there and they sort of remember maybe you know somebody coming through and but it never really clicked for the guys who were with but great guys and you know we end up leaving and never felt like we had the connection that we expected because Travis had talked about it so much and a couple years later I say about two years ago yeah man start looking what you can do on the outside you know why don't you go get a job there's some good jobs you know they got some good jobs you can get you know you can be an executive there's you know you could there's probably a good cubicle that would have a nice computer at it for you and everything I took but I would be not even be sarcastic about I just try and make them start thinking about what regular I mean you want to see all teams it's a ridiculously good life I mean it's it's a ridiculously good life so the minute you start looking at normal jobs in the world you want to get back in the cage so now he comes back and he ends up with a new roommate new roommate at the Naval Academy named Brendan Looney and I'm going to the book here Brendan and Travis who carried the burden of being division one athletes along with their academic and drilling responsibility rarely if ever complained just after the start of the 2001 fall semester Travis and Brendan met up from early morning run the restaurant football player both had practice later on that afternoon but as two varsity athletes who wanted to be the best they were determined to work harder than everyone else after talking about the start the NFL season their mid-job conversation shifted to their backgrounds they had a lot in common including the love of sports and their love of country both midship men had been raised Catholic the tight-knit families although Brendan's was a little larger with Brent Brendan had four a total of five I think total five siblings so they're continuing they're doing a little bit more Travis has continued to direct his troops in this training operation and finally the voice comes on again lieutenant manion this is coyote six he said his dozens of eyes rolled I have a call I have to ask you a question son do you have any idea what the hell you're doing out there radio is dead silent for almost 30 uncomfortable seconds as everyone waited for the young second lieutenant's response no sir Travis said Travis said but I did stay at a holiday and express last night no for those of you that aren't the military when you key up on the radio it's not like I'm just cracking a joke to my boss did just me and him no there's like dozens and dozens if not you know 40 50 maybe even 100 people that just heard you say that so that was a positive comment funny risky but kind of showed in its classic it's great because that tells the guys hey look we're going to get through this we're going to push on we're going to make this happen so I thought yeah guys from first recon shared that story when they came came to our place and it was typical Travis you know but as the hospital he said you know I just felt this this big hand coming and grabbed me and pulled me in and they were surrounded there and you know with the sniper was there firing away I don't know if you're going to share but Chuck Segal was also wounded as he came in actually got an email from Chuck recently just to you know so many years later just to sort of talk about that day and what it was all about but you can imagine that the the cloud of war chaos confusion nobody really knows what's going on as I talked to the guys that were there that day nobody was really sure where things were coming from they just knew they were in big trouble I need to know them he's gonna risk his life just to go and help them back to the book less than 24 hours later Travis's ears were ringing after an IED blew up underneath his vehicle the blast jarring pounding force loudly and abruptly halted his vehicles patrol through the city's volatile eastern industrial sector Travis had encountered IED's during his first deployment and is recently as nine days earlier after ensuring that fellow Americans and irackies were uningered Travis looked down at the sandy street where the crude explosive device was buried see that wire Travis said to another Iraqi lieutenant that's a command wire and it's stretching towards that building gathered your men and follow me he said to the Iraqi before turning to his Marines you and the other guys cover us just in case there's snipers lieutenant why don't we just leave the Iraqi said to Travis because they'll keep planning bombs around here and kill more of my men more of your men and probably kill some kids Travis said so respectfully lieutenant I'm going over there to find out who's responsible with or without you after a brief pause the Iraqi lieutenant got three of his men and followed Travis as he traced the command wires origin rounding a corner Travis saw man in civilian clothes kneeling over what appeared to be a pile of grenades which along with the attached wires appeared to be some sort of booby trap without hesitation Travis squared up to confront the threat the Marines out on the street heard the pop of Travis's M203 grenade launcher and the subsequent explosion several ran toward the sound while others stayed to keep watch over the exterior the tall sweaty insurgent took off running now being chased by a fearless determined Marine Travis had the bad guy in his sights and he wasn't going to let him get away stop Travis shouted an Arabic while pursuing the suspect by the time the US and Iraqi reinforcements arrived Travis was dragging the frightened suspect down off a wall he had tried to scale and an unsuccessful attempt unsuccessful attempt to escape after body slamming him to the ground Travis put the insurgents hands behind his back then made sure he was taken in for questioning the suspect eventually led the mid team to a room not far from the booby trap which contained grenades and many more bomb making materials without losing any lives or ruffling more feathers in the Sunni onklave Travis had helped remove deadly weapons and another terrorist from Felus' streets yeah we had in 2004 it started to come home to us at Navy you know we had J.P. Blixmith with lost in the battle of Felicia around a windchester was lost over there around the same time both football players you know and now Travis has seen your year football teams coming out with the flag and they got Ronnie and J.P.s jerseys draped over the bench you know when it was it was coming home for all of us and he had guys like Doug Zimbeck coming back from the battle of Felicia and talking about what that was all about being in the wrestling room wrestling with Travis you know was was all over and Navy yeah that's a total game changer it was definitely like that in the sealed teams too you know we went from what was it years and years since Vietnam because we had some little you know there was Panama there was Granada there was some allia there were some things that happened but those were little flashes of combat action and all the sudden we were facing what's now turned out to be you know a decade and a half or more worth a war unbelievable these guys so you know as you said they're they're I mean you know you always knew where Travis was coming from very straightforward and and I mean obviously I agree with him that's that's a lot of people don't understand and still don't a lot of people still don't understand the the positive things that were occurring over in Iraq the positive things the the simple haven't lunch with them the simple trying to prevent collateral damage you know that's been mentioned several times you know the Iraqi soldiers they get content somebody shoots at them they shoot 360 degrees they don't care where it hits and they're doing everything they can to train them and and put some discipline on them so that they don't hurt those civilians so and the willingness you know you guys tell us what to do you guys give us give us the mission and we're standing here and we'll get it in the distance one or two rooms deep you just don't know where the where the rounds are coming from and it's just very very confusing a lot of confusion from from all the guys I spoke with going back to the book here Travis and Kubicki dragged Albino out of the kilzone and closer to the vehicles front side where the sniper couldn't deliver a fatal blow to their bleeding gasping corpsmen as they tended to Albino's wounds Travis saw meringue and Seagull running toward him at full speed another piercing crack of gunfire abruptly echoed through the alley in an instant Seagull was somersaulting in midair feeling like Mike Tyson had just punched him in the stomach and landing in the middle of the bullet riddled street all around Seagull who broke his rifle wall collapsing the ground a hectic battle was unfolding in an eerie slow motion silence Seagull's wrist convulsed with tremendous pain the sniper was firing at the wounded marina's delay in the street and the young lads corporal who had just been shot in the wrist and still unbeknownst to him also in the stomach would soon be dead if he didn't get in front of that home v as Seagull laid powerless unable to do anything but wait for the crushing blow of another sniper bullet Travis pulled him out of the sniper's crosshairs moments later Seagull laid next to Albino who was still being worked on by Kubicki so again you know if you got a sniper scenario and there's a guy down the last thing you want to do is run over to try and help get him out of that situation unless you're Travis and then that's the first thing you're going to do. and I actually knew Brendan slightly because when he was a seal he went through the training that I ran out here on the west coast for the west coast seal teams and just a stud you know that's you just a stud and the one thing I one of the things I remember about him was I was not you know the the most caring and affectionate instructor as a as a when I was running that training and he you know and guys would get little you know kind of freaked out sometimes when I'd be talking to him about the decision that they were making during the training and and he would just be smiling at me like yet but you can see I mean he's a glass half full type of guy you know we're getting it done we're working hard we're going to make a difference you know that's sort of how he approached everything and that was what he was trying to share interesting thing also about the logistics role because when I was over there talking to the logistics guy that he worked with sort of in a kidding way he said you know lieutenant man he was a horrible logistics officer and they started laughing he said he's never he was always on patrol he was never there with us when we had to do logistics stuff and and I'll tell you what if you want to get some here in a mid team you know like you said you know you're going to go out patrols of the Iraqis you know you're going to have to there's no doubt about it's nothing but respect for the guys and we work with a bunch of mid teams in a body just outstanding guys doing a really really hard job Yes so when you think about section 60 and all the loss there and you know symbolically there Brendan and Travis great friends and there side by side and armington if you're ever there you know when I'm out talking to people I say you know if you don't if you haven't taken your family the armington put it on the list you're in DC or make a special trip to DC to go see armington and teach your family about that sacrifice and make sure you go to section 60 where all those heroes of today have I reckon Afghanistan or there's always something that's happening in section 60 and after that September when we moved Travis in that following spring the Navy seals found and killed those some have been ladden and then a couple weeks later the president spoke about Travis and Brendan as an example for the country in Arlington and his memorial deadress we were down there with the loonies to hear that but again their their story is a story that could be anybody story there's so many in uniform that do so much and for me writing this book is is telling their story but making sure it's part of that bigger story and the people appreciate arm men when I mean uniform and all they are and what they stand for.

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Episode transcript

[00:00:00] This is Jocco podcast number 72 with echo Charles and me, Jocco Willink. Good evening, I go. Good evening.
[00:00:15] Sir casualties are inbound. One of the myths has been hit hard and we have casualties headed to
[00:00:22] the Folusa surgical. My head snapped up from my work. I quickly strapped on my nine millimeter
[00:00:29] and headed off to Folusa surgical. The level two trauma and surgical facility on Camp
[00:00:34] Folusa servicing the casualties and medical needs of the eastern portion of Alonbar province
[00:00:40] in Iraq. I had made a habit of going to the operating rooms to see and encourage the wounded
[00:00:47] whenever I was in the command post of two Expeditionary Force, MF, forward, at Folusa. My
[00:00:57] aid band and I made our way through the maze of buildings and walls of the camp something
[00:01:02] told me to hurry. I quicken my pace, then began to run. I hadn't done this before and I'm
[00:01:11] sure my aid was wondering what was up. As we rounded the corner of the hospital, I could
[00:01:17] see the up armored humvies of the mid team and the marine themselves standing near the entrance.
[00:01:23] They had their hands on their hips and their heads were down. This is bad, I thought.
[00:01:33] One of the Marines was lifting a set of body armor from the floor of a humvie and it
[00:01:37] was covered with and dripping blood. I quickly cleared my weapon at the clearing barrel
[00:01:45] and stepped into the facility. The medical personnel had become accustomed to my presence
[00:01:51] on these occasions and quickly briefed me on the situation. Several wounded one very
[00:01:56] seriously and the survivors were down the corridor in an office. I hustled down to the
[00:02:03] office and quickly got a situation report from the team leader and others of whom was wounded
[00:02:09] and waiting treatment. It had been a bad ambush and the Marines had fought for their lives
[00:02:15] alongside the Iraqi troops they were advising. Then looking up at me with an anguish you
[00:02:23] can only find in combat. The team leader said to me, in a hush tone, we think Travis
[00:02:31] is dead. I didn't immediately connect the name but I knew I needed to get down the corridor
[00:02:40] right away to the O.R.s with the incredible surgical teams working frantically on the wounded.
[00:02:48] As I stepped into the first O.R. the surgical team was just finishing their work. One
[00:02:55] of the nurses was crying openly. They had been unable to save this Marine and he had just
[00:03:02] died seconds before I stepped into the O.R. As I walked to the end of the gurney I was
[00:03:10] stunned to see Travis Manion. The wonderful youngster I'd known as one of my midshipments
[00:03:15] while I was common-dont at the Naval Academy. I had known his family, his dad, Tom, a
[00:03:23] Marine colonel himself and his mom Janet, a stalwart of the family. Travis had selected
[00:03:31] the core from a nappeless and though I had not seen him during this first this tour in
[00:03:36] Feluca I'd heard repeatedly of his courage and bravery as an advisor. One by one the doctors
[00:03:45] and nurses left the O.R. leaving me alone with Travis. I don't think I had ever prayed
[00:03:52] so hard for anyone or anything in my life as I did while alone with him and that empty
[00:03:58] O.R. His loss was very personal to me. Three years later while I was deputy commander
[00:04:11] at Centcom and headed ultimately to command the U.S. forces in Afghanistan I learned of
[00:04:17] an incident the previous night that had taken the lives of some of our magnificent special
[00:04:24] operators seals from Seal Team 3. They had been operating in the Zabu province south
[00:04:33] of the Hindu Kush and Afghanistan and had generally made the lives of the Taliban miserable
[00:04:39] the entire time they had served there. One of the finest young leaders in this Seal Team
[00:04:45] Brendan Looney looked and lived every aspect of the ethos of being a seal. This now
[00:04:53] legendary strata of American special ops community. That night we lost Brendan Looney.
[00:05:03] As with Travis, Brendan's death was not simply a loss to their respective units and
[00:05:08] missions. Losing them was a terrible blow to America which would now never benefit from the
[00:05:17] extraordinary qualities of these two men. The irony of their relationship and their seemingly
[00:05:26] unrelated deaths was nearly as tragic. They'd been roomates at the United States Naval
[00:05:34] Academy growing up together at this most hollowed institution of our naval service.
[00:05:41] They had faced the challenges of Navy and had emerged committed in ways few can understand
[00:05:48] without experiencing the powerful formative forces of anapolis. And in their intense sense
[00:05:55] of duty and their desire to serve one sought to be a marine the other a seal. Remembering
[00:06:04] the times it didn't take a fortune teller to guess where this would lead them both to
[00:06:11] war in Iraq or Afghanistan or both into war it did lead them. Extracting from them long
[00:06:22] separations from their families as they grew into the full realization of their roles as combat
[00:06:28] leaders. But it also extracted from them their last full measure. Their young lives willingly
[00:06:40] sacrificed for their country than these causes.
[00:06:50] While Manion has done us a great service in initiating the effort to tell this story.
[00:06:57] Yes, it's about war but it's less a history of two wars than it is about the human experience
[00:07:04] of war and what this newest generation of American warriors has experienced. It ties together
[00:07:11] these precious young lives and they're growth together as warriors as leaders and as brothers.
[00:07:21] This book celebrates what we hear more and more frequently that these young Americans
[00:07:28] on whose broad strong shoulders we have fought two wars and we have kept the wolf from
[00:07:34] the door in a numerical other places are the new greatest generation.
[00:07:43] With less than 1% of our population in uniform fewer and fewer Americans bear the
[00:07:48] brunt of the responsibility for military service and fewer and fewer understand the sacrifices
[00:07:53] made by men like Travis and Brendan and their precious troops.
[00:08:03] All of us who fought in these wars now pray that in the end the outcomes will justify the
[00:08:09] costs to America and its allies. Those of us left behind must ensure these sacrifices
[00:08:17] were not in vain and that these lives lost will have meaning and purpose now and in the
[00:08:28] future. And that is the forward of a book called Brothers Forever and that forward was
[00:08:43] written by John Allen who's a retired four star Marine Corps general and the book which is
[00:08:51] about Travis Manion and Brendan Looney is written by retired Marine Corps Colonel Tom
[00:09:01] Manion. Travis is dead and we are honored today to have Colonel Manion on the podcast
[00:09:13] to give us some insight into the lives of these two amazing men. Colonel Manion.
[00:09:25] Welcome Man thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for having me here guys.
[00:09:29] I'm honored to have you on here and I guess with a story like this we might as well go a little
[00:09:40] bit back to the beginning and a lot of Travis's life and folks that listen to podcast
[00:09:47] or you may remember the name Travis Manion because when Bryan Stan was on he talked quite
[00:09:52] a bit about about Travis and how much Travis helped Bryan try to learn how to wrestle.
[00:10:00] Try. No offense Bryan he did his best to teach you but it was never your best skill set.
[00:10:07] But obviously wrestling was a big part of his life and I'm going to go to the book now and here we go.
[00:10:13] He attended classes, studied and wrote his papers but always thought wrestling would best
[00:10:20] prepare him for being a warrior and leader on the battlefield. This belief was reinforced by the
[00:10:29] qualities he saw in Captain Doug Zembeck, a two-time all-American wrestler of navy who attended
[00:10:37] as many practices and meets as he could and frequently sparred with Travis.
[00:10:42] Be a battle axe Zembeck told him, hurl yourself into your opponent. I think that's good advice
[00:10:52] just generally in life. That's good. Be a battle axe. Zembeck a 1995 naval academy graduate
[00:11:00] had a big impact on Travis. In the young wrestler's eyes the gritty tough seemingly invincible warrior
[00:11:07] embodied everything he wanted to become, a skilled marine officer who used the wrestling mat to develop
[00:11:13] himself into a leader who commanded respect. Travis was a high school in college wrestling star
[00:11:20] after a strong junior year at navy which featured several epic matches against
[00:11:24] nationally ranked opponents he was presented the naval academy's weams award for dedication and
[00:11:29] leadership. As a preseason top 20 wrestler going into a senior season Travis didn't want to
[00:11:36] simply win matches and meets he wanted to dominate and help lead the midshipmen to a championship.
[00:11:45] So we do talk about wrestling a decent amount because we're heavy into grappling.
[00:11:51] So he was just starting wrestling at a kit. Yeah he started really early. He youth wrestling
[00:11:58] up through high school but like a lot of these guys at navy he did a lot of different things he did
[00:12:03] football and and lacrosse as well but wrestling was the sport that he really gravitated towards.
[00:12:11] Yeah well there's something that makes people gravitate towards wrestling and combat sports
[00:12:16] in general especially if you're a guy that's in the combat. You know there's something that's
[00:12:21] beautiful about it. Yeah and so he's going now the Penn State Open it's like the 2004
[00:12:27] tournament is senior year he's got a hurt shoulder that he should hurt his junior year
[00:12:31] I'm going back to the book here the Purdue the Purdue wrestler slammed his struggling opponent
[00:12:36] the ground for a take down with Travis's injured shoulder something squarely on the red and yellow
[00:12:41] mat. His right arm was already numb and this first blow left Travis with almost no strength
[00:12:48] to attempt the scape in a sport built on hand-to-hand combat one hand is almost always no match
[00:12:57] for two the match ended in the 11 to 0 shut out and that's a senior year. Tough day tough year you
[00:13:06] know he had a great junior year and had a shoulder that was given on problems and instead of
[00:13:14] getting a second opinion he went under the knife and it was a disaster. So start out a senior year
[00:13:22] looking for it to a big year and could never get the shoulder going again and actually one the Penn
[00:13:30] State Open with that bed shoulder out and how he did it and the rest of the year. But yeah the
[00:13:39] year just didn't turn out well for him it's very very disappointing for him because he had worked
[00:13:44] so hard towards getting to the nationals and being an all-mark and any had everything going his way
[00:13:50] but you know the injury just just zapped him. And obviously zapped him and I can't I never put
[00:14:00] that much effort into a sport when I was in high school I didn't I didn't do it am I am I kind of
[00:14:06] a loser because of that little bit a little bit but I never was that you know into a sport and so
[00:14:13] but I saw people that I knew and he definitely see it in the once you get in the teams you meet
[00:14:18] guys and they put so much into that sport then something like that happens it's crushing I
[00:14:23] think this was a good little pickup that he got after brief moment of silence the assistant coach
[00:14:30] gave Travis a reason to perk up telling the future military officer that though he's seen senior
[00:14:35] wrestling season was over it was now time for him to devote all his energy to becoming a marine.
[00:14:42] Yeah and it's coach Joel Charities now the back at Navy went to Air Force for a couple of
[00:14:48] years and came back he's now the head coach down there but a great coach great mentor and
[00:14:55] by the way it was a good friend of Doug Zimbax too so it's like comes full circle and I want to say
[00:15:01] that the Joel would have been a warrior in the Marine too he was a national champ at Iowa three time
[00:15:06] finalists for Dan Gable if you know anything about wrestling. Yeah he's he's the real deal
[00:15:11] yeah that's awesome and and it's interesting because in the book here you know you kind of
[00:15:17] start off with that story and you can see some definite strength of character from from Travis
[00:15:24] and then you take a little back step and you talk about early in his academy a career he doesn't
[00:15:31] want to do it and it's he decides I don't want to stay at the academy I want to go to a regular
[00:15:37] college I'm out all right and he leaves and I thought one of the best things about this was
[00:15:43] you know when when when you talk to him about it and I'll go to the book here you know who
[00:15:48] Travis comes to you and says hey I'm leaving the academy and like I said in the beginning your
[00:15:53] marine you could I can't imagine you could have been any prouder than having your son go to the
[00:15:57] naval academy and then the disappointment you must have had when you said oh you don't want to go
[00:16:02] 30 more but this is what you said to him go back to the book look this is your call and your decision
[00:16:10] Tom told his son who he always believed could excel with the naval academy and beyond
[00:16:17] but I think you're making a big mistake how did you know that one of the bad things you could
[00:16:26] done was like force him to stay there which you must have decided in your head like okay if I force
[00:16:31] him stay here he's gonna hate it and he'll be miserable and he won't put any effort into it I mean
[00:16:37] we I get asked all the time what would you do with your kids how much do you pressure him how did
[00:16:40] you come to that conclusion that that was the right move it's sort of how I always work with him you know
[00:16:47] I'm try to treat him you know as a man and let him make his own decisions give him advice coach him
[00:16:54] but at the end of the day he's gonna have to make those decisions and you know this was no different you know
[00:17:01] I was extremely disappointed but you know he I had a buddy there that was a batayan officer at the
[00:17:09] the naval academy and he gave him a hard time about leaving and that a major gardener yeah
[00:17:18] yeah lieutenant Colonel Gardner and in quirky gave him a hard time it's a time I'm not letting
[00:17:22] them leave let him go home for the holidays it changes mine and sure enough he came home and said
[00:17:27] you know I'm I'm going I'm leaving and I still remember quirky called me up and he said you know
[00:17:33] Tom if if he ever he did great here if he ever wants to come back you know he'll probably
[00:17:39] consider it I say quirky there's there's no ways coming back he's he's done and and sure enough
[00:17:47] you know I mean he came back to me later on that that following spring late spring we go to
[00:17:54] some other college yeah get a call from the wrestling coach come on down because I was given him
[00:17:59] so much trouble at home coach today you got a scholarship come on down so he left as soon as you
[00:18:05] could get out of the house and so you let him make his own decision you just made him pay for it on a
[00:18:11] daily basis so that's when when I didn't know that and I could not believe that they let him
[00:18:20] back in I mean that's awesome yes very very unusual and if you're out there and you're at the
[00:18:27] Naval Academy right now and I know I know you got quite quite a few listeners at the at the Naval Academy
[00:18:32] and at the and at West Point as well don't think you're going to get in that kind of treatment you
[00:18:37] need to just stay there trust me it's going to be worth it you ain't going to be fall travel's
[00:18:40] man you know this one now he pulled out the miracle and that one it really was has unbelievable
[00:18:46] and he gets back in I mean I guess with his wrestling skills because he did well
[00:18:50] did well academically did well on the wrestling team as a freshman but you know beyond anything else
[00:18:56] when he quit it's interesting because you know he he quit and he left and it made him really
[00:19:03] realize what he was missing yeah and when he went back into talk to people about going back he had
[00:19:10] the passion he knew exactly what he wanted to do and they could see it and you know I I would have
[00:19:15] conversations with guys that were kind of thinking about their their Navy career and there's a big
[00:19:21] there's a there's a transition that happens mentally with people and that is if they feel trapped
[00:19:25] they want to escape the minute that they don't feel trapped anymore then they're like oh what
[00:19:28] to go back in that cage so you got it if you can get them mentally out of the cage which is
[00:19:33] probably what what Lieutenant Colonel Garno was trying to do take go home for the weekend let
[00:19:37] see what it's like outside the cage and you're going to want to come back into the cage you didn't
[00:19:41] work that time but I'm always not a longer time outside the cage so when the guys would come to
[00:19:46] me and they'd say you know I'm thinking about getting out I'd say I wouldn't go no don't get out
[00:19:50] because then that's that's tightening the cage on them I'd say yeah man start looking what you can
[00:19:54] do on the outside you know why don't you go get a job there's some good jobs you know they got some
[00:19:58] good jobs you can get you know you can be an executive there's you know you could there's probably
[00:20:01] a good cubicle that would have a nice computer at it for you and everything I took but I would
[00:20:05] be not even be sarcastic about I just try and make them start thinking about what regular I mean
[00:20:10] you want to see all teams it's a ridiculously good life I mean it's it's a ridiculously good
[00:20:15] life so the minute you start looking at normal jobs in the world you want to get back in the cage
[00:20:20] so now he comes back and he ends up with a new roommate new roommate at the Naval Academy
[00:20:29] named Brendan Looney and I'm going to the book here Brendan and Travis who carried the burden of
[00:20:34] being division one athletes along with their academic and drilling responsibility rarely if ever
[00:20:39] complained just after the start of the 2001 fall semester Travis and Brendan met up from early morning
[00:20:47] run the restaurant football player both had practice later on that afternoon but as two varsity
[00:20:52] athletes who wanted to be the best they were determined to work harder than everyone else
[00:20:58] after talking about the start the NFL season their mid-job conversation shifted to their
[00:21:03] backgrounds they had a lot in common including the love of sports and their love of country
[00:21:10] both midship men had been raised Catholic the tight-knit families although Brendan's was a
[00:21:15] little larger with Brent Brendan had four a total of five I think total five siblings
[00:21:23] and so now we're introducing you know Brendan Moody into the into the story here and
[00:21:28] I actually knew Brendan slightly because when he was a seal he went through the training that I ran
[00:21:34] out here on the west coast for the west coast seal teams and just a stud you know that's you just
[00:21:40] a stud and the one thing I one of the things I remember about him was I was not you know the
[00:21:50] the most caring and affectionate instructor as a as a when I was running that training and
[00:22:00] he you know and guys would get little you know kind of freaked out sometimes when I'd be talking to him
[00:22:05] about the decision that they were making during the training and and he would just be smiling at me
[00:22:11] like yet hey sir got it makes sense sir you know with this mildest face just a stud just a straight up stud
[00:22:18] and so these guys are now fall 2001 and we know what's coming next September 11th comes
[00:22:25] and you know our country's under attack go into the book here and the entire naval academy student
[00:22:32] body realized that after graduation they would become part of a fighting force that was now at war
[00:22:41] and you know that's the whole military instantly thought that you know we were all thinking
[00:22:46] oh here we go yeah we had in 2004 it started to come home to us at Navy you know we had
[00:22:54] J.P. Blixmith with lost in the battle of Felicia around a windchester was lost over there around
[00:23:02] the same time both football players you know and now Travis has seen your year football teams coming
[00:23:10] out with the flag and they got Ronnie and J.P.s jerseys draped over the bench you know when it was
[00:23:17] it was coming home for all of us and he had guys like Doug Zimbeck coming back from the battle
[00:23:21] of Felicia and talking about what that was all about being in the wrestling room wrestling with Travis
[00:23:27] you know was was all over and Navy yeah that's a total game changer it was definitely like
[00:23:35] that in the sealed teams too you know we went from what was it years and years since Vietnam
[00:23:42] because we had some little you know there was Panama there was Granada there was some allia
[00:23:46] there were some things that happened but those were little flashes of combat action and all the
[00:23:51] sudden we were facing what's now turned out to be you know a decade and a half or more worth a war
[00:23:59] unbelievable these guys so you know as you said they're they're intensity it's just you know
[00:24:07] they might have been intense before but now their intensity is going to be through the roof
[00:24:11] yeah they know what's coming in May of 2004 Brendan and Travis graduated with their naval academy
[00:24:16] classmates and were commissioned as U.S. military officers Brendan would go to serve in the
[00:24:22] naval intelligence community while Travis would head to the basics school from Marine Corps officers
[00:24:28] in Quantico for Virginia so Brendan didn't get picked up for the sealed teams right out of
[00:24:36] right out of the academy which is fairly normal it's a really they only have a very small number of
[00:24:42] openings for guys from the naval academy and you can imagine how competitive it is to have a guy
[00:24:47] like Brendan not get picked up is crazy and so he goes out to go to go to the intel community
[00:24:55] and then Travis heads down to heads down to Quantico for the little bit of the basic school
[00:25:01] and and actually this was interesting and I I wasn't aware of this but the LaCross championships
[00:25:07] that those happen after they graduate they're see after they get commissioned the way it
[00:25:12] read in here it was like it happened after they got commissioned well it was it was actually it was
[00:25:19] the championship was after graduation that weekend the same same weekend he's been a lot
[00:25:24] of the weekend so and and Brendan at some point the naval academy started playing the cross
[00:25:31] yeah Brendan was a football player he went there was recruited for football
[00:25:35] and played football for a couple years dressed and played and decided that he wanted to go out
[00:25:43] for the cross both of his brothers are playing the cross and he went out there and just picked
[00:25:49] up a stick as you said earlier just such a natural athlete so gifted big strong and you know picked
[00:25:57] up a stick and by the time he was a senior in that championship game if you ask anyone who was
[00:26:02] the heart and soul that team it was number 40 Brendan Looney I mean he he led them all the
[00:26:08] way to the championship p and his two brothers were the the heart and soul the team yeah unbelievable
[00:26:14] and so they get to the championship game I'm going back to the book against Syracuse
[00:26:18] though navy followed with a goal Syracuse won its third championship in five years and eighth
[00:26:23] overall title Brendan was absolutely crushed by the 14 to 13 defeat this is supposed to be
[00:26:30] navy's day it would take some time for the loss to sink in but Brendan who had just played
[00:26:35] his final collegiate game and everyone associated with the navy program new deep down
[00:26:41] that the team's improbable final four run had been a truly amazing feat I don't think I've ever
[00:26:48] felt this low man Brendan grumbled we should have won that game I know Travis replied but don't
[00:26:56] do what I did to myself and wrestling what do you mean Brendan asked when I lost that
[00:27:01] match in Texas I thought my whole life was over I hadn't been that miserable since I quit the
[00:27:07] academy but there are bigger things out there think of what we're probably going to be doing
[00:27:13] a year or two from now so same thing you know a little bit of glory getting crushed right
[00:27:21] little glory getting crushed at the end there and you know Travis saying look man and this is
[00:27:29] true and I say this all the time you know sports with a ball and a referee and all that stuff
[00:27:35] it's a game you know and these guys are about to go into something that's no longer a game
[00:27:40] and that's where Travis recognized and and help Brendan see that going back to the book
[00:27:46] now that he was a young second lieutenant training at the basics school in quannico virginia
[00:27:50] was difficult for Travis to imagine that the months after graduation could be even more challenging
[00:27:57] but in fall of 2004 the harsh reality of war became more personal for Travis Brendan
[00:28:03] and their fellow naval academy graduates on September 2nd 2004 marine first lieutenant
[00:28:12] Ronald Winchester a driven popular former Navy football player became the first combat death
[00:28:18] in the naval academy's 2001 class when he was killed in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq's
[00:28:24] Alonbar province. Less than 48 hours later Travis and his fellow Navy wrestling
[00:28:30] alums were hit by another freight train upon learning that marine second lieutenant Brett
[00:28:35] Harmon a friend and teammate who had graduated in 2003 was murdered during a melee at a North
[00:28:41] Carolina State University football tailgate and that's a story that that Brian Stanton told as well
[00:28:50] what a tragedy that was I mean you know he was stepping in to help out and the guy came back and
[00:28:57] killed him and his friend was hit everyone hard Brett was a really popular guy
[00:29:03] and so coach Sharat he and again this is something that that Brian Stanton talked about
[00:29:13] you know when they were heading to the funeral and there we go let's do an exercise this is
[00:29:20] this is coach Sharat talking let's do an exercise I'd like you to both close your eyes and picture
[00:29:25] that you're leaving a building a friend picks you up and takes you to a place where people are
[00:29:29] somber crying and there seems to be an audience then you realize you're at your own funeral
[00:29:36] right down a few words about what you'd want a family member a person of faith to say when
[00:29:42] reflecting on the lives of Travis Manion or Brian Stanton Stanton nodded and after a few minutes
[00:29:48] of pondering what to write started drawing down a sentence about one day being remembered as a good
[00:29:54] husband or loving father and a US Marine Travis went through several pieces of paper before
[00:30:02] settling on one sentence Travis Manion was a man on a phrase to stand for what was right
[00:30:10] and as I mentioned earlier Travis started helping out Brian with his wrestling and
[00:30:27] and eventually as Brian started fighting because Brian's a maniac started doing MMA matches
[00:30:33] and he needed corner man so he needed to have the wrestling corner man and so again this is something
[00:30:40] that we covered with Brian's stand but for if you didn't hear it that first time there you
[00:30:46] got Brian's about to fight he's literally you know whatever 20 minutes half an hour from getting
[00:30:51] in the cage and fighting somebody and Travis gets a phone call and Brian can tell something's going on
[00:30:59] and Brian said hey tell me what's going on Travis says I'll tell you later
[00:31:04] Brian Stanton says you tell me now Travis looks away after the fight no give it to me straight
[00:31:14] Brian demanded what's going on and then Travis tells him JP Blacksmith was killed in
[00:31:22] Felusal last night so again your point is that these are people you know real close to home and
[00:31:33] it was tough for for Brian it's tough for anyone that's sitting on the sidelines which is what you
[00:31:38] feel like you feel like you can't you you want to help and you can't do anything you're back
[00:31:42] you're literally thousands miles away and that's what these guys are are feeling
[00:31:47] you a lot of frustration there but I think also at the same time it it built a lot of
[00:31:55] resolve with those guys I mean they were determined to make sure that they honored them
[00:32:00] in their service and work hard to to do all they could do to make a difference
[00:32:04] now there was a story told in here that I definitely wanted to go over because
[00:32:18] it revealed a little bit about Travis to me that was a little hard to pick up a little earlier
[00:32:25] and that was obviously that he was funny his health and didn't mind taking some risks so
[00:32:31] these guys are in a training situation and you know Travis was on the radio and he's given commands
[00:32:39] and he's given orders and they're being listened to by some higher-up training officer that's kind
[00:32:46] of monitoring what they're doing and so Travis is going back and forth on the radio with his
[00:32:52] guys they're doing some training and then as Travis pressed the button to on his radio to relay
[00:32:57] the final order allowed familiar voice suddenly overtook the frequency lieutenant this is
[00:33:03] coyote six the voice said I'm not really sure what you're trying to do out here but you're not following
[00:33:08] proper radio procedure sir Travis asked puzzle puzzle you need to figure out what you're trying to do
[00:33:15] because I sure as hell can't tell by listening to your orders over this radio the rising voice said
[00:33:21] do things right or do us all favor and just go home so okay Travis thinks about that and he
[00:33:31] just keys his radio and says yes sir so they're continuing they're doing a little bit more
[00:33:38] Travis has continued to direct his troops in this training operation and
[00:33:43] finally the voice comes on again lieutenant manion this is coyote six he said his dozens of
[00:33:51] eyes rolled I have a call I have to ask you a question son do you have any idea what the hell you're
[00:33:57] doing out there radio is dead silent for almost 30 uncomfortable seconds as everyone
[00:34:05] waited for the young second lieutenant's response no sir Travis said Travis said
[00:34:14] but I did stay at a holiday and express last night no for those of you that aren't the military
[00:34:20] when you key up on the radio it's not like I'm just cracking a joke to my boss did just me and him no
[00:34:25] there's like dozens and dozens if not you know 40 50 maybe even 100 people that just heard you say that
[00:34:32] so that was a positive comment funny risky but kind of showed in its classic it's great because
[00:34:41] that tells the guys hey look we're going to get through this we're going to push on we're going
[00:34:45] to make this happen so I thought yeah guys from first recon shared that story when they came
[00:34:51] came to our place and it was typical Travis you know and he said he just like everything got
[00:34:57] silent the coyote shut up and they said when they got back to the headquarters they wanted to meet
[00:35:02] this lieutenant he didn't catch me out from from coyote six on that coyote six got quiet that was it
[00:35:09] yeah he got punk so hard he just he just shut down he probably couldn't help but understand that yeah
[00:35:15] that was that was brazen but that was a good joke you know what you know it too I bet if he's a good
[00:35:21] guy and he's putting pressure on his troops he might have just seen him out of just sat back
[00:35:24] from his radio and just thought himself respect I've received that we got to respect what
[00:35:29] what's coming out from the holiday and express that's awesome so now we fast forward we get to
[00:35:37] Travis's first deployment and he's in alambar province and with first recon battalion and here we go
[00:35:45] as the first reconnaissance battalions maintenance management officer at camp fulusea his
[00:35:50] responsibilities which were focused on making sure vehicles were correctly allocated fuel
[00:35:55] and repaired were undoubtedly important but sitting on the sidelines while others went outside
[00:36:00] the wire to fight was definitely not what the marine had envisioned when he was back training so
[00:36:07] he got assigned as a logistics officer he did yeah he was he actually had
[00:36:15] intel officers his first choice because they have the sniper squads and he had infantry for a while
[00:36:21] and then he said you know what I think I'd like to work with a sniper so he switched it and he
[00:36:25] always thought since he switched it at the end that's how he ended up being a logistician so so he always
[00:36:33] you know was kicking himself for that but you know when he went out there started to work in
[00:36:37] logistics realize how important it was the mission I think he was still a little frustrated for sure
[00:36:44] but he started really integrate with first recon and actually Colonel Higgins the CO said look
[00:36:50] when you come back from this second tour we're gonna give you a recon battalion so he was pretty
[00:36:57] you know jazzed up about that and looking forward to to getting a recon battalion and you know
[00:37:03] it's part of why when he was over there as a mid team member he was doing the logistics
[00:37:08] as an advisor but also he was also taken the battalions out on patrols probably more than
[00:37:14] anyone over there I mean he was that's sort of the way he was I mean he was going to get ready so
[00:37:19] he was like okay another patrol I'm going yeah I got it it's I mean obviously logistics wins wars
[00:37:29] that being said I don't think Travis was a logistics kind of guy and in logistics they truly do I mean if you
[00:37:35] can't get bullets and beans you're not gonna win the war that's the way it is and that's one of the
[00:37:39] great things about the Marine Corps the way they do their spread and they put really high quality
[00:37:43] guys in every aspect of the Marine Corps including logistics but yeah I can imagine he was he was
[00:37:49] a pretty frustrated about that well frustrated and now the Marine Corps gives that an annual award
[00:37:56] to the largest edition of the year and it's the Travis Manion loader's decision of the year
[00:38:01] awards so well there you go okay that's all that's awesome you know and and Shirat Shirat
[00:38:09] is that how you pronounce his name? Oh sharet sharet okay sorry so sharet I thought this was another
[00:38:15] awesome piece of advice from from Sharet you know who you know Travis has reached out said hey you know
[00:38:21] it's it's great to be here I'm doing the best I can you know but I'm definitely getting frustrated I want
[00:38:25] to get outside the wire and Sharet says learn everything you can every second you can
[00:38:33] study the tactics study the people study the culture and know them more importantly know yourself
[00:38:40] and be vigilant not to let up on yourself preparing for the unexpected so that's just
[00:38:48] incredible advice you know and and doesn't matter what situation you're in you try and make yourself
[00:38:54] better you know and actually I work for for one of the senior seal animals that when September 11
[00:39:00] kicked off he was in charge of acquisitions at the Pentagon as a as a captain and you know
[00:39:09] here's everyone going to war and he's you know doing acquisitions which for those you
[00:39:15] don't military that means the limits of high level logistics and and something that he told
[00:39:20] me that always stuck with me was you know he was the same thing as as Travis he was frustrated
[00:39:25] he'll hear I am in the Pentagon every day and what he told me was you know what I said to myself
[00:39:30] Jochael this is my fox or I'm a fight you know so his fox holes in the Pentagon dealing with paper
[00:39:36] and that's what he did and he knew that he that was his that was what he had to do and how he's
[00:39:40] going to do it the best of his ability and and here in this from Shirat Shirat Shirat I want to
[00:39:46] get us now yeah well Jo was a great mentor you know he always had solid advice for Travis and the other
[00:39:52] guys that wrestle in maybe for sure all this being said about you know logistics being inside the
[00:40:03] wire logistics when you're running convoy's all the time those logistics guys army marine corps
[00:40:10] navy sea bees we had sea bees that ran logistics you're doing convoy's and your new
[00:40:14] convoy's do it down heavily laden i.e. deed streets so there was all kinds of logistics as a matter
[00:40:19] fact you know there's a lot of female logistics that deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan
[00:40:24] oh there's supposed to be in a non-combat role well guess what they got after they had to
[00:40:28] write in the middle of it all here in a convoy yeah so speaking that back to the book during one late
[00:40:34] night evening convoy through falusia the deafening thunder of an i.e.de shattered the relative
[00:40:39] tranquility of first reconnaissance battalion patrol the group of marine's have been attacked before
[00:40:43] but this is the first time that Travis was with them during a hostile incident keeping his
[00:40:48] composure while following orders of the more experienced officers Travis his heart pumping
[00:40:53] and ears ringing helped evacuate a marine who's wounded in the attack so again might have been
[00:41:02] in logistics but you're still those guys are out there right in the middle of it yeah exactly
[00:41:11] now he comes home from that deployment I'm going back to the book I rack changed newly promoted
[00:41:16] first lieutenant Travis minion for the better as the Marines mom dad sister and several naval
[00:41:23] academies buddies all noticed he was still the same Travis who had willingly traded doils town
[00:41:28] for one of the world's most dangerous places but after returning to the United States Travis
[00:41:34] carried with him at an aura of seriousness and quiet self confidence that was unfamiliar to some of
[00:41:40] his closest friends and loved ones when Travis talked about life he acknowledged its fragility
[00:41:47] having felt the pulse of an i.e.de blast and seen dead bodies in the streets for young marine
[00:41:54] who had just spent eight months in falusia it was almost impossible not to mature no matter what
[00:42:01] Travis was doing he was acutely aware that every single day Americans, Iraqis and Afghans were
[00:42:09] fighting and often dying I love the fact that that paragraph starts off by saying that
[00:42:22] that deployment to Iraq changed Travis for the better because so often you know we here
[00:42:29] and civilians get told and the public gets told that war does all these horrible things to people
[00:42:34] and and they fail to realize that in many cases war makes you a better person well you could
[00:42:42] you could definitely see the difference with Travis I mean he he went over there and eight
[00:42:47] months later he was a different guy I mean he was so much more focused and mature and and you know
[00:42:54] he had a chance to lead over there in these incredible situations where you have to make
[00:42:59] quick decisions and you know he he got a lot from it I could just sort of see it in the time
[00:43:06] I spent with him and the other thing about it I think is like appreciate what you have
[00:43:11] I mean I saw that so much from him you know when he was back here is just like wow
[00:43:15] this is the greatest place in the world you know there's no doubt about that that's something
[00:43:21] everybody that deploy comes back and you add a minimum you're gonna appreciate what we have in
[00:43:27] America things like bathrooms because over there you're you're only in a porta potty's right
[00:43:36] or you're in the field but you're in porta potty's in the summertime we used to call them the
[00:43:40] blue saunas because they're blue colored plastic right and then inside it's you know it's 120 degrees
[00:43:47] outside so inside the blue sauna it's you know 160 degrees and you don't want to leave the doors open
[00:43:56] because that's just nasty so you just leave the blue sauna shut yeah when you come home from that
[00:44:03] you get to a starter appreciate all things and meanwhile this time
[00:44:10] Brendan he now has gone to on a deployment to South Korea working as an Intel officer
[00:44:18] and doing that and even in doing that he felt like he had you know a lot more to do
[00:44:27] and this is when he focused on you know he wanted to be a seal but now he's going yes I need to be a seal
[00:44:34] he told his girlfriend who he had met while they were going to the Naval Academy Amy
[00:44:39] Amy I've got to do more Brendan said during a late night phone conversation
[00:44:44] Travis is there my other buddies are there and I want to be there with him
[00:44:49] when Amy reminded him of the dangers his friends like Travis were facing
[00:44:54] Brendan was undeterred I should be in the fight he insisted now there's an issue here
[00:45:01] and actually I was I talked about this how surprising it was that Brendan didn't get picked up
[00:45:07] for the seals out of the Naval Academy and I forgot the reason but there's a really distinct
[00:45:12] reason colorblind he was colorblind he was colorblind and you can't be colorblind in the
[00:45:18] seal teams at least you're not he's the first guy to get away from you're not supposed to be
[00:45:23] colorblind in the seal teams and that's why he didn't get picked up I still remember that call
[00:45:28] from Travis he said that got great news Brendan just got selected for the seals
[00:45:34] maybe seals just got one hell of a leader yeah that's that's awesome and before he got picked up
[00:45:41] and this probably helped him in you know back to the book in August 2006 Brendan deployed
[00:45:45] defluxia where he gathered and lies intelligence for combat missions including operations carried out by
[00:45:51] seals so actually I was in Ramadi at this time so Ramadi's I don't know 40 30 miles from
[00:45:56] defluxia and he was working he must have been working at our Intel shop
[00:46:04] and so the Intel he was gathering we would go out and prosecute those targets
[00:46:08] and he's working with working with seals and that that must have helped them out
[00:46:15] back to the book meanwhile Travis was making another visit to the east coast
[00:46:18] for the christening of his niece Maggie Rose so he's christening his daughter and also
[00:46:29] he found out now that he's going back to Iraq and this is another thing that he's sharing
[00:46:35] that news as the as as your granddaughters getting christened
[00:46:39] Travis is telling you hey I'm going back to Iraq and he's going back with the with the
[00:46:46] one is it the third battalion second brigade first Iraqi army division military transition team
[00:46:51] mid team I said that in the opening so little little bit about the mid teams
[00:46:59] I've talked about the various levels of comfort that you have in the military
[00:47:04] or that we had in Iraq and how you know us guys and the seal teams
[00:47:10] generally for the most part high level of comfort you know we would get to a place
[00:47:15] we would bring we would build a gym immediately we would have our CBs constructed gym if we didn't
[00:47:20] have one we would get you know we would get video or internet service we would live pretty good
[00:47:27] we'd get food ship then we would live pretty good now that being said of course there was
[00:47:32] a special ops guys that were way out the middle nowhere living on a fobs somewhere and that's
[00:47:37] living rough there were some people that were even more comfortable there were some headquarters units
[00:47:45] that had swimming pools I'm gonna say that again swimming pools so there's some headquarters
[00:47:51] areas you know if you got into the green zone and Baghdad you're yeah I'm on to pull him in
[00:47:55] Iraq I'm gonna head out to the swimming pool for a few minutes you know there's there's the there's
[00:47:59] those kind of living and then you get you know you got in in Ramadi we had the conventional guys
[00:48:04] that were living in the combat outposts in the city real rough living and then you go one step
[00:48:12] rougher and where you end up with his mid teams and mid teams so the the the stands for military
[00:48:19] transition team and this is when you are the direct advisor to an Iraqi battalion and in this
[00:48:31] case it was the three two one you're gonna hear me said about it's the third battalion second
[00:48:35] brigade first Iraqi army division so this is this is a battalion of Iraqi soldiers supposed to be
[00:48:43] six or seven hundred probably a lot less than that because they were generally highly undermanned
[00:48:49] but the mid teams had a really really hard job or an incredibly hard job it was you know we
[00:48:56] did advising to the Iraqi soldiers and we work with the Iraqi soldiers side by side and
[00:49:01] these guys did it not just on the battlefield but with everything that they did helping them with
[00:49:05] their pay helping them learn how to how to do the logistics side that you mentioned Travis was doing
[00:49:10] the mid teams just nothing but respect for the mid teams and on top of that we go out with the
[00:49:16] sealed teams you know we had great training and then we had other seals with us mid team we'd
[00:49:21] have we'd have a minimum usually of like six to eight seals with us and we got mid teams sometimes
[00:49:25] those guys are going out with one other mid team guy out with forty Iraqi soldiers
[00:49:32] poorly trained poorly motivated yeah they they lived right there with them yeah and they were
[00:49:37] totally embedded with them so yeah eating the same food tough job yeah horror I remember that
[00:49:45] the the call from Travis when it first heard that and I was just like wow you know much more
[00:49:50] comfortable as a dad with Travis with 200 Marines yeah the comfort levels the comfort levels
[00:49:55] incomparable yeah between being with 200 Marines and being with 200 Iraqis it's is completely
[00:50:02] it's the level of risk is so much higher there was a when there was a mid team that came out
[00:50:08] in a Romadi and they were turning over to mid team the ongoing mid leader and the off-going
[00:50:14] mid leader returned over they got attacked both of them got killed one attack that that's how much
[00:50:18] risk they're they're taking with these these mid team situations well the other thing about these
[00:50:23] guys is you know they were they were going out and in patrols with them and you know if they're
[00:50:29] going to train them the right way they were out front me one of the things with Travis last time I
[00:50:36] talked to him one of the last times at home I said Travis you're an advisor make sure you just
[00:50:41] tell the Iraqis what needs to be done and step back and let them execute and there's like okay
[00:50:46] that I got it and I knew I knew exactly you know what he was going to do he was going to lead
[00:50:52] from the front and that that's what he did you know that's what all those guys were doing they were
[00:50:56] you're you're out of patrol you're right out front with everyone else you know when the navy
[00:51:02] seals came back uh Erick Gratins was a navy seal with Travis and he said you know Travis was always
[00:51:09] there every patrol so yeah so that's what he gets tasked with and and I'll tell you what if you want
[00:51:22] to get some here in a mid team you know like you said you know you're going to go out patrols
[00:51:26] of the Iraqis you know you're going to have to there's no doubt about it's nothing but respect for
[00:51:30] the guys and we work with a bunch of mid teams in a body just outstanding guys doing a really
[00:51:36] really hard job yeah tough tough job well you know at the end of the day was strategically
[00:51:42] it was the the search right and they put everything behind the mid teams at that point you remember
[00:51:48] in 2006 2007 before Travis left he actually had a chance to talk to General Mattis came and talked to
[00:51:54] his mid team about how important that mission was so we're putting a lot behind our guys that were
[00:52:01] embedded with the Iraqis yeah and again for those of you that just a day into this strategic piece a
[00:52:06] little bit more our goal was to turn over Iraqis security to the Iraqis and and the only way to do
[00:52:15] that and we realize that's enough one of the things that made people realize the importance of the
[00:52:19] mid teams was you weren't going to do it you weren't going to educate them on how to do a combat
[00:52:24] patrol in the classroom you weren't going to educate them on how to do a combat patrol even
[00:52:29] on a training field you needed to take them out and teach them and and force them to go out
[00:52:37] into these things because the Iraqis if they have the the the the the opportunity to either stay on
[00:52:43] base or go out on patrol a lot of them would do it yeah they're there goal is to stay on base many
[00:52:49] of them and so of course there were some guys that were more motivated but a lot of them were just
[00:52:55] they just want to survive right they just want to survive so strategically that's what we had to
[00:53:00] do is we had to take them out and give them all the job training and simultaneously push them
[00:53:06] to to go out and try and lower some of the level of violence out in the various cities so
[00:53:14] yeah at this time also as you mentioned Brendan got approved for his for his lat transfers
[00:53:22] called a lat transfer and so now he knows that he's going to he knows that he's going to
[00:53:29] go to but's go to but's and and and be a seal or at least trying be a seal but I bet he was pretty
[00:53:34] confident yeah I'm certain of that one of the first things Travis did here he's he's going he's got
[00:53:43] a couple more days left he meets up with marine major Steve Cantrell and assistant navy
[00:53:50] wrestling coach and they go to New York Travis and Cantrell decide to spend a few days in New York
[00:53:56] city where Cantrell had arranged a visit to New York fire departments rescue one headquarters
[00:54:01] located in Hell's Kitchen rescue one had become a revered place over the past five years
[00:54:07] the small Manhattan building which was still fully functioning had been the home base for 11
[00:54:13] firefighters almost half the unit who were killed in the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks
[00:54:21] as they were leaving the firehouse one firefighter in former marine thank Travis for coming out
[00:54:26] Lieutenant Manion I want you to have these hats and shirts said the Marine Corps veteran
[00:54:31] no matter how crazy things get over there you can always put one of these on
[00:54:38] and remember what you're fighting for and he comes home and he's got that
[00:54:46] that rescue one hat with the with the rescue one fire department New York logo on the front
[00:54:53] and night 1101 never forget on the back
[00:54:58] then he says to you dad I want you to have this and please wear it while I'm gone no matter what
[00:55:04] happens always remember that this is what we're fighting for
[00:55:08] yeah I always remember that that discussion we had you know down the hallway
[00:55:14] and so impacted him to be there with those guys and he actually went up there to thank them
[00:55:19] for all they had done and he said dad they couldn't thank me enough for for my tour and
[00:55:25] what I was about to do and he was you know he he got real serious about it you know as
[00:55:32] remember that was one of the last conversations I had with him interesting side note to that story
[00:55:38] so my wife and I after we lost Travis went up to rescue one talk to the guys we were up there
[00:55:44] and they sort of remember maybe you know somebody coming through and but it never really clicked
[00:55:52] for the guys who were with but great guys and you know we end up leaving and never felt like
[00:55:57] we had the connection that we expected because Travis had talked about it so much and a couple
[00:56:03] years later I say about two years ago so what are you talking about like 7-6-7 years later
[00:56:12] well the books out and there's a New York City firefighter that gives his buddy the book and says
[00:56:17] hey read this book said mentions rescue one so the guys on the treadmill he almost falls off the
[00:56:23] treadmill says that that was me he had since been transferred so Tim Sullivan calls me up and says
[00:56:29] I'm the guy in the book I want to come up a beer with you yeah that's outstanding and that's also
[00:56:39] the same conversation where you told Travis you know hey you're an advisor advise and let the
[00:56:47] Iraq is execute which can be really hard it's you know can be hard because they won't execute
[00:56:53] it can be hard because you want to show them how to do it right and oftentimes if you don't
[00:56:58] lead from the front not gonna happen so I'm gonna have them there no so now your son and all Dave
[00:57:10] and Travis go to a football game and here we go back to the book as they reach a flight of stairs
[00:57:17] near the Lincoln Financial Field exit Dave with a clear hint of humor finally conveyed his
[00:57:23] concerns he was concerned you know he's concerned about him going overseas and he's just hey
[00:57:27] Travis I trip you right now and you fell down and broke your ankle do you think they let you
[00:57:31] sit this deployment out he asked Travis chuckle the Dave's joke but didn't say much in response
[00:57:38] a brief moment of slightly awkward silence followed while drunk and eagles fans shouted and
[00:57:44] chanted all around them suddenly Travis spoke up you know what though Dave Travis said with an
[00:57:53] honest day could we serious look on his face if I don't go they're gonna send another marina my
[00:57:59] place who doesn't have my training if not me Ben who you know what I mean he continued it's
[00:58:09] either me or that other guy who isn't ready so I'm the one who has to get the job done
[00:58:20] so think about that because you know you think back to the the time with coach Sharon
[00:58:25] and Brian stand and then they're in the plane and Travis says I want to be known as the guy that
[00:58:31] always you know step forward and did what was right if not me then who is another way to say it right
[00:58:40] and it's you know it's not I don't share that because it's unique to Travis you know I
[00:58:45] share that because it's and this whole story is really a representation is so many men and women
[00:58:51] in uniform you know it's their story but it's a story that can be told about so many
[00:58:57] and that if not me then who you know we we use that now at the foundation it's sort of drive
[00:59:05] momentum around you know what we all need to be thinking about as Americans stepping up and doing the
[00:59:10] right thing you know I'll agree with you 100% that there's a lot of people that say things like that
[00:59:17] but you know to have an example that someone that's so clearly live that is awesome to look at.
[00:59:27] Now we're getting ready for deployment back to the book more than 100 American troops were
[00:59:32] killed in Iraq in December 2006 including Major Megan McClung the highest ranking female officer
[00:59:39] to die in Iraq war in the Iraq war and the first female naval academy graduate to be killed in combat
[00:59:50] by the way that she was stationed in Ramadi I knew her and she was killed along with a
[00:59:58] another army specialist named Vincent Pumante their killed by big ID on routes sunset I think it was
[01:00:07] and also another guy was with her her guy named Travis Patrickwin who was just an unbelievable guy
[01:00:18] and this was a huge loss to lose to lose Travis and Megan in that ID
[01:00:29] any both of them and it was just just a huge loss never never knew her but I certainly meant her parents
[01:00:36] you know she's buried down in on in 10 sections 60 she was she was just like really
[01:00:45] just a huge smile all the time a real go get her just making things happen I didn't work with
[01:00:50] her you know I mean we'd see I'd see her at brigade meetings because we were both you know
[01:00:53] working with the one one AD and you know she was just yeah I got that and she was just really positive
[01:01:00] and and she was the thing I remember most about her was just her smiling you know she just
[01:01:05] always had a big smile on her face and and and Travis you know and I'm gonna do Travis story on
[01:01:11] here some day you know Travis was the guy he made this this PowerPoint brief for how to win the
[01:01:17] war in Iraq and it was stick figures and it explained like hey here's you you're an American here's
[01:01:23] this Iraqi and you don't know if this Iraq is good or bad but you know who does know these other
[01:01:28] Iraqis and it was just all these stick figures and it got published it got circulated that was
[01:01:33] Travis that was Travis Patrick and he spoke Arabic just a fantastic guy and I'll definitely
[01:01:38] cover there's that there was a book written about him as well so incredible people on on her
[01:01:47] at her grave site in section 60 it says be bold be brief be gone well she was indeed all those three things
[01:01:55] yeah going on here now major dug Zembeck the Naval Academy wrestler turned warrior whom
[01:02:06] Travis admired he was killed as well yeah there was shortly after we lost Travis a couple weeks
[01:02:16] later dug was over there and bagged in was killed yeah okay he was he I don't know if you knew him
[01:02:27] I didn't it's kind of a big personality at the Naval Academy and had the Marines in
[01:02:33] Foulouja yeah came back into the plane of Foulouja yeah yeah quite quite a leader and I really didn't
[01:02:40] know me there and Travis his junior year he was back wrestling with Travis at Navy they were
[01:02:47] about the same size dug was a big guy and and it's a guy behind the bench yelling and screaming
[01:02:54] like crazy as Travis is out there wrestling had a really tough match he ends up winning like
[01:02:59] one nothing against this kid from North Carolina I said Travis who is that guy behind the bench
[01:03:05] said that that's dug Zembeck you know who dug Zembeck so yeah that's when I first ended up at this point
[01:03:11] he hadn't been killed yet he was he was but the point that they were making here that I I kind of
[01:03:18] misworded was that he was a classmate of of Megamoclons apparently so that was the connection there
[01:03:28] yeah that was a couple that was what a couple weeks a couple weeks before before Travis arrives
[01:03:37] that you know he's getting this news yeah now Travis is back in Foulouja back to the book
[01:03:46] Travis had seen his share of blood but never needed to wash any from his hands that all
[01:03:50] chained and changed and January less than a month after he turned to Foulouja for his second
[01:03:55] deployment Travis and his fellow mid members went on combat patrols virtually every day
[01:04:04] sometimes running as many as three missions over punishing 18 hour span in Foulouja throughout
[01:04:10] Iraq marine soldiers sailors airmen and Iraqi troops did everything from hunting
[01:04:14] insurgents and weapons caches to disposing of dead bodies adding to three two one
[01:04:20] mitts challenges were joint patrols with the Iraqis through some of Foulouja's most dangerous sectors
[01:04:26] the Iraqi soldiers would sometimes respond to the slightest sign of violence with what some
[01:04:31] us team members nicknamed the Iraqi death blossom when a shot was fired in their direction the
[01:04:37] Iraqis would sometimes form a circle and fire in every direction with little regard for consequences
[01:04:42] including tragically catching innocent civilians in a crossfire civilian casualties were
[01:04:48] sometimes unavoidable reality of war but Travis and his fellow Marines were determined to use
[01:04:54] every means at their disposal to prevent them. While some mitt team members
[01:05:01] understandably became frustrated with the often untrained underpaid Iraqi soldiers
[01:05:07] Travis positioned himself as a mentor during lunch he would bring his child to their
[01:05:13] mess hall and sit with nick and Iraqi translator who helped bridge the gap between US and Iraqi
[01:05:19] armies they not only talked about combat strategy but also simple things like soccer
[01:05:28] so this is just pure professionalism that's what that is pure professionalism.
[01:05:32] I had a chance to go over to Iraq in 2010 and I met with the Iraqis that Travis served with
[01:05:37] and they said that Lieutenant Manu would always come over and sit down and eat with us and talk
[01:05:46] with us and it was part of what you needed to do right if you're going to be there and be
[01:05:52] there brother and help them with the mission they had you got to be part of what they're doing
[01:05:58] and he understood that I mean it's not like unlike Brennan would you know I mean when
[01:06:05] you're playing athletics you sort of get that teamwork piece you know you know if you're
[01:06:09] going to make it work you got to all be together. Yeah and it's the book makes it sound like
[01:06:16] fairly easy to do that it's not man it's hard there's a huge cultural difference between
[01:06:22] Iraqis and American and you know it's not that big of a deal but I'll tell you what going you know
[01:06:31] your your overseas the one time you can kind of relax when you get to sit down and eat your
[01:06:35] child and you're in the childhood and you're actually fairly well protected most of the time you don't
[01:06:39] have to worry about anything you you clear your weapon before you go in the childhood I mean it's
[01:06:44] it's usually a relatively safe place and you get to relax you get to be around all your
[01:06:48] American friends and it's good to to deny yourself that and now you're going into because you know
[01:06:54] at this time you don't you you can't give full trust to the Iraqis you're you're going to you know
[01:07:01] eating with them the conversations are still did it's just not this little thing it's a big deal
[01:07:08] it's it's it's it's a it's a big deal to make that extra effort and and clearly you know
[01:07:14] many times you know I'm I'm pretty engaged in my job you know many times I ate with Iraqis
[01:07:18] when I was in Iraq in my last appointment maybe twice maybe twice yeah maybe twice you know
[01:07:29] because you know when I was in a little bit I was in a different position but maybe twice yeah and
[01:07:35] you know at the end of the day they recognized that oh first when I went over they talked about that
[01:07:40] quite a bit with me and how they recognized that and how it was important to them and he knew that
[01:07:46] he absolutely did that's the point is that he he knew it he knew that making that sacrifice building
[01:07:52] those relationships that was his primary mission or at least one of his primary missions was to build
[01:07:58] relationships with these Iraqi soldiers so that they could get to know them so they could build trust
[01:08:03] and so that they would go out there and do their job so professional at all times and this is another
[01:08:09] really good example of of Travis Travis's leadership back to the book just as some US
[01:08:15] Marines became frustrated by the raw battlefield tactics of the Iraqis which could put all their
[01:08:21] lives at risks some Iraqi soldiers rolled their eyes when Americans gave them orders whereas previous
[01:08:28] Marine lieutenants had barked instructions that they Iraqi army leadership Travis took a different approach
[01:08:35] starting with a knock on the door of the Iraqi lieutenant Jallal good day lieutenant I was wondering
[01:08:42] if I could speak with you about the upcoming raid on the high value target in the industrial sector
[01:08:47] Travis said through the interpreter I was wondering what time you think you would like to execute
[01:08:53] our mission I think five PM would be a good time to leave Jallal replied my men had a long day
[01:09:00] and I don't want to keep them up too late okay Travis said but I'm wondering if you might consider
[01:09:05] leaving a bit later possibly after sunset my concern is that our presence during daylight could
[01:09:11] endanger neighbors who live near the house we're gonna strike not to mention little children
[01:09:16] who could be playing in the street respectfully lieutenant I wouldn't want to be the one to tell
[01:09:21] their parents that their son or daughter might still be alive if we had waited a couple more hours
[01:09:28] after a pause in a sip of water the Iraqi officer nodded the raid would not start until 8 PM
[01:09:36] so again real leadership and I talk about this all the time in here you know the real leaders
[01:09:42] aren't barking orders the real leaders are the ones that are flanking and using indirect approaches
[01:09:48] sure with the people that they're trying to influence and there's just a phenomenal example of that
[01:09:53] got some email here email coming from Travis sent it to you you know sent it to the family
[01:10:07] and and some of his buddies sent to bring in as well here we go all my job is definitely going well
[01:10:14] after all the horror stories we hear we heard about the Iraqi armoured army and their unwillingness
[01:10:19] to work with the myths they have been very open and willing to listen to advice creating an initial
[01:10:27] relationship with my counterparts was the right move and it has allowed me to help them start shaping
[01:10:33] operations there are many dedicated men in this army and it's been an eye opening experience so far
[01:10:40] the best IAs that's Iraqi army soldier the best IAs are definitely dedicated to their cause and
[01:10:46] have a warrior mentality that rivals some Americans however there are still those enemies out there
[01:10:53] that wish us to fail there's a lot of work left to do but the city is definitely at a different place
[01:10:59] that it was last year I really feel that is it is at a critical point where if the present situation
[01:11:06] continues to progress it could have huge positive impact in other areas also I found a good balance
[01:11:13] between my logistics job and my company advisor role although going on operations definitely requires
[01:11:19] a good amount of time I'm able to work with the batalion logistics officer on a fairly regular basis
[01:11:26] I also appreciate all the good food and gear that has been sent workouts and your support have
[01:11:32] definitely helped keep me going as I said before we're pretty busy if I wanted to take a
[01:11:38] minute to thank you guys for everything and keep you updated please continue to write and
[01:11:43] enjoy your updates as well take care and I'll talk to you soon to simplify Travis
[01:11:50] yeah I was one of his last notes home but you can see I mean he's a glass half full type of guy you know
[01:11:57] we're getting it done we're working hard we're going to make a difference you know that's
[01:12:01] sort of how he approached everything and that was what he was trying to share interesting thing also
[01:12:08] about the logistics role because when I was over there talking to the logistics guy that he
[01:12:14] worked with sort of in a kidding way he said you know lieutenant man he was a horrible logistics
[01:12:19] officer and they started laughing he said he's never he was always on patrol he was never there
[01:12:25] with us when we had to do logistics stuff so that's I guess that's expected
[01:12:37] now we're going back to the book the next morning Travis and his teammates are woke around 530 a
[01:12:43] m to a huge explosion a few minutes later they learned that observation post back dad a new
[01:12:49] makeshift base they had been working to set up in flusha was a pile of rubble they'd go to that
[01:12:55] location with gunfire initially surrounding them before a secure permanent was established
[01:13:00] Travis albino my saying that right albino albino and others spent the next eight hours
[01:13:07] entering and re-enering the rubble while their team members controlled the crowd outside
[01:13:12] for all they knew the rest of the bombed out complex could have crumbled or there could have been
[01:13:16] other bombs tied time to go off when the quick reaction forced arrived they went into the ruins
[01:13:22] anyway carrying a large flashlight Travis crawled into the rubble sweating profusely due to the heat
[01:13:29] which is exact exacerbated by small fires burning throughout the compound Travis dug through dirt sand
[01:13:36] and remnants of brick searching for trapped arackies Travis albino and their teammates recovered
[01:13:43] two injured irackies and two dead bodies from the attack site their selfless actions
[01:13:49] had an enduring impact on many of the irackies who bore witness so you know this is even in
[01:13:55] America when there's something when a bomb when a building is collapsing they don't you know
[01:13:59] it's really really risky to go in there and Travis is like no we're going in there might be survivors
[01:14:05] iracky civilians he has no idea or maybe they were military guys he has no idea he's no
[01:14:08] I need to know them he's gonna risk his life just to go and help them back to the book less than
[01:14:16] 24 hours later Travis's ears were ringing after an IED blew up underneath his vehicle the blast
[01:14:23] jarring pounding force loudly and abruptly halted his vehicles patrol through the city's volatile
[01:14:29] eastern industrial sector Travis had encountered IED's during his first deployment and is recently
[01:14:35] as nine days earlier after ensuring that fellow Americans and irackies were uningered Travis looked
[01:14:42] down at the sandy street where the crude explosive device was buried see that wire Travis said to
[01:14:48] another Iraqi lieutenant that's a command wire and it's stretching towards that building
[01:14:54] gathered your men and follow me he said to the Iraqi before turning to his Marines you and the
[01:14:58] other guys cover us just in case there's snipers lieutenant why don't we just leave the Iraqi said
[01:15:06] to Travis because they'll keep planning bombs around here and kill more of my men more of your
[01:15:12] men and probably kill some kids Travis said so respectfully lieutenant I'm going over there to find
[01:15:18] out who's responsible with or without you after a brief pause the Iraqi lieutenant got three of
[01:15:24] his men and followed Travis as he traced the command wires origin rounding a corner Travis saw
[01:15:29] man in civilian clothes kneeling over what appeared to be a pile of grenades which along with
[01:15:35] the attached wires appeared to be some sort of booby trap without hesitation Travis squared up to
[01:15:40] confront the threat the Marines out on the street heard the pop of Travis's M203 grenade launcher
[01:15:47] and the subsequent explosion several ran toward the sound while others stayed to keep watch over
[01:15:53] the exterior the tall sweaty insurgent took off running now being chased by a fearless determined
[01:15:59] Marine Travis had the bad guy in his sights and he wasn't going to let him get away stop Travis
[01:16:05] shouted an Arabic while pursuing the suspect by the time the US and Iraqi reinforcements arrived
[01:16:12] Travis was dragging the frightened suspect down off a wall he had tried to scale and an unsuccessful
[01:16:17] attempt unsuccessful attempt to escape after body slamming him to the ground Travis put the
[01:16:23] insurgents hands behind his back then made sure he was taken in for questioning the suspect
[01:16:30] eventually led the mid team to a room not far from the booby trap which contained grenades and many
[01:16:35] more bomb making materials without losing any lives or ruffling more feathers in the Sunni onklave
[01:16:42] Travis had helped remove deadly weapons and another terrorist from Felus' streets
[01:16:51] yeah so when I heard that story when it was shared with me one of the other parts of it is that
[01:16:59] when Travis ended up catching this guy put a I guess a good rest of the move on put him down to ground
[01:17:06] the Iraqis actually wanted to take this guy out you know and he's like no you're not doing that
[01:17:11] okay we're taking him back you know and they figured we'll just take care of this guy right here right now
[01:17:18] yeah and they just he just got Travis got just got hit with an IED by the way
[01:17:25] it must have gone low order which means it must not have detonated properly
[01:17:29] because if you're in a humveen you can hit with a legitimate IED it hit your vehicle under your vehicle
[01:17:34] your chances to survival isn't great and and so to have this guy actually hit you with an IED that you're
[01:17:41] lucky enough to survive and then you catch him and then you know I bet you that I'm going to
[01:17:48] we could I wish we could find out if the if the Iraqis that saw this if we could find out what
[01:17:53] wrestling move here used to put this insurance on his back thinking superex. Yeah superex yeah
[01:17:58] hey you had a good headlock yeah I bet that was not a happy insertion at that point but you know
[01:18:06] this also the other thing I was good about this is it shows you how Travis had to lead from the front
[01:18:11] because like I said the Iraqis are just content to say hey let's just go back to base you know
[01:18:17] let's just leave that's that's very common for them and Travis has to lead from the front has to
[01:18:24] say no we're gonna stay you can stay here but I'm gonna go get these guys and you know kind of
[01:18:28] shame them and help them out yeah you know and he was doing that but he was also seeing that
[01:18:35] the result of that was progress that these guys were starting to take on more and more and that was
[01:18:41] important to even just the fact that they followed it you know but that's that's what they're doing
[01:18:45] and then what they do is they gain confidence and they say yeah you know we can do this too and and that's
[01:18:49] how you eventually turn over battle space to them yeah going back to the book half of world away in
[01:18:56] California Brendan was about to embark on his most difficult challenge since 9-11, Buds training
[01:19:06] so you know I just wanted to point out that while Travis is now back in Flusia
[01:19:12] Brendan has got his orders and he shows up at Buds and you know he trained super hard to get ready for it
[01:19:17] and and there we go
[01:19:19] while helping turn the tide in Flusia first lieutenant Travis manion wrote a letter to the
[01:19:26] intelligenceer one of his hometown newspapers in Bucks County Pennsylvania and here's that letter
[01:19:34] there are many views on our mission here however all I can say with certainty is that there are
[01:19:40] thousands of Americans over here working hard towards a positive outcome in Iraq
[01:19:45] every day I'm here I see great things being accomplished under harsh circumstances from young Americans
[01:19:52] I'm truly honored to serve the side these marine sailors soldiers in airmen
[01:19:58] I'm not sure the average American sees the positives these service men and women accomplish
[01:20:03] or even understands the sacrifices of their efforts however whatever course of action our leadership
[01:20:09] decides upon there are those in waiting ready to carry out the mission in support of our country
[01:20:16] and in defense of its people and their freedoms
[01:20:21] respectfully Travis manion first lieutenant united states marine corps
[01:20:28] yeah that sums sums it up totally for him I mean you know you always knew where Travis was coming from
[01:20:34] very straightforward and and I mean obviously I agree with him that's that's a lot of people don't
[01:20:41] understand and still don't a lot of people still don't understand the the positive things that
[01:20:47] were occurring over in Iraq the positive things the the simple
[01:20:52] haven't lunch with them the simple trying to prevent collateral damage you know that's been
[01:20:58] mentioned several times you know the Iraqi soldiers they get content somebody shoots at them they shoot
[01:21:03] 360 degrees they don't care where it hits and they're doing everything they can to train them
[01:21:07] and and put some discipline on them so that they don't hurt those civilians so
[01:21:13] and the willingness you know you guys tell us what to do you guys give us give us the mission
[01:21:18] and we're standing here and we'll get it in the distance yeah yep so now we're looking at
[01:21:25] a mission in an area of fluja which is called the pizza slice and if you go look at a map of
[01:21:34] fluja it's really obvious to figure out where the pizza slice is I did I did actually
[01:21:38] did one operation my first deployment to Iraq in the pizza slice and they're looking at doing
[01:21:43] an operation there they got some intelligence that there's a bad guy there that they want to go
[01:21:48] and get and we're going back to the book after discussing the idea with several fellow officers
[01:21:54] including Travis major Kubicki let's say that right Kubicki yeah major Kubicki announced that a team
[01:22:01] would head into the pizza slice to follow up on new intelligence about the snipers where about so
[01:22:06] it's a sniper that they're going after an enemy sniper hopefully they could find the terrorist sniper
[01:22:14] who is shooting at US Marines Iraqi soldiers and civilians to American humvies would accompany
[01:22:19] two full vehicles of Iraqi army troops in one home v would be Kubicki albino and Kim
[01:22:29] they would be joined by the driver staff sergeant Paul Petty and the turret gunner
[01:22:35] staff sergeant Josh Wilson meringue and sagal seagull meringue and seagull seagull
[01:22:42] would ride in the second home v the driver would be staff sergeant Chad Marquette
[01:22:50] turret gunner corporal briner and Muhammad and Iraqi interpreter Travis and second lieutenant
[01:22:59] Scott Alexander a friend and fellow mid team member were supposed to go to a nearby school with
[01:23:05] Iraqi soldiers and hand out candy crans and coloring books to local kids Travis was excited about
[01:23:12] the mission because he cared about the Iraqis and loved to see the smiles on the faces of the
[01:23:16] kids so they got two operations that they're about to execute one of them is to go and hunt down
[01:23:22] this sniper and the other one is to go do some build some wind some hearts and minds hand it out
[01:23:27] candy the kids now Kim is one of the other nitt team officers he's the ops the ops officer
[01:23:36] that's that's who Kim is and we're going back to the book Kim who had smelled the ugly
[01:23:41] niss in the air when he woke up that morning had and had reed reed reed reed it his unneasiness
[01:23:47] just minutes earlier told Travis at the smiles of Iraqi school children would be a welcome site
[01:23:53] Kim was a brave marine who repeatedly distinguished himself on the battlefield but on this day
[01:23:58] he felt worn down fortunately he and Travis were close enough that he felt confident asking
[01:24:05] his friend to take his place on major kubikis pizza slice patrol team is it cool if I had over
[01:24:13] the school instead Kim asked no problem Travis replied his eyes lighting up because he knew
[01:24:20] this man he could help go find the sniper are you sure Kim insisted go ahead with Scott to the
[01:24:26] school Travis said we're all good thanks Travis Kim said I'll see you in a bit see you back here
[01:24:33] Travis said with a nod yes so never knew that story and when right in the book
[01:24:40] started to talk to Chris about that day and you know he said hey I've got something I want to share
[01:24:46] did I never has shared before and he mentioned that you know it was supposed to be meal in that
[01:24:50] patrol as you would take for him this would have come forward with that story but he and in
[01:24:57] Travis and Scott were really close and I know it had to be bothering him for a while and he
[01:25:03] he shared that so so they roll into the pizza slice which again this is just a dude's a picture in
[01:25:16] your mind what it looks like it's kind of your stereotypical combat Iraq city small narrow streets
[01:25:24] you know trash in the streets buildings really close together threats everywhere dirty run down
[01:25:32] wires everywhere it's just a it's kind of your stereotypical Iraqi combat city that's exactly what
[01:25:41] what it is in the pizza slice in Fouloujia they're in their perimeter and boom here we go to the
[01:25:48] book the enemy sniper pulled the trigger blasting what felt like a metal pipe throughout
[01:25:53] Bino's lower left album abdomen the bullet which ricochet off the corpsman's radio
[01:25:58] then tore through his left lung how Bino fell to his knees dropping his weapon and landing
[01:26:04] flat on his face in the sword trash filled streets mother fucker yelled petty who had gotten a thumbs
[01:26:11] up from the dock a split second before in an instant Travis and Kubicki started running toward
[01:26:17] the wounded corpsman casualty scream the court deterret gunner of the other American home v he was
[01:26:23] the only one in the vehicle that to see Albino go down everyone in the home v froze
[01:26:30] Iraqi a stun meringue yelled out response despite the sudden jolt of adrenaline their heart sank
[01:26:37] when they heard the gunners response it's dock he yelled opening fire ambush
[01:26:44] Travis reacted as soon as the first shot rang out he took off running towards wounded
[01:26:49] comrade as the thunder sound of American turret gunfire rang out the once quiet alleyway
[01:26:55] even with the enemy shooting above from above Travis didn't care about his own safety
[01:27:00] he knew he this could be his only chance to save dock
[01:27:05] at the other American home v rang and seagull also took off in Albino's direction
[01:27:11] though they were trained to never run towards a sniper's victim the warrior ethos have never
[01:27:17] leaving a fallen comrade behind had overridden their sensibilities
[01:27:22] Travis who reached dock first grabbed him by the left shoulder and Kubicki
[01:27:27] who was running close behind clutched Albino's right arm a few seconds later
[01:27:32] come on dock Travis yelled as he as he in the major pulled Albino closer to the home v
[01:27:38] bullets were now raining down from multiple rooftops which meant that more
[01:27:44] insurgents had been waiting with the sniper to ambush the American Iraqi and Iraqi troops
[01:27:50] the mid team was encircled by insurgents and without a fierce counter intact the entire patrol
[01:27:56] was almost certainly doomed as bedlim ensued the marines realized that both Iraqi vehicles in
[01:28:05] their patrol were gone after the Iraqi soldiers heard the gunfire the front vehicle subsequently hit
[01:28:12] an i.e. while trying to loop around towards a better fighting position the Iraqis were stranded
[01:28:18] which meant nine Americans and their interpreter were left outnumbered in a confined chaotic space
[01:28:25] yeah so you know with Travis that day you know he helped pull dock in docks said when I
[01:28:38] went to see dock at the but as the hospital he said you know I just felt this this big hand
[01:28:44] coming and grabbed me and pulled me in and they were surrounded there and you know with the
[01:28:51] sniper was there firing away I don't know if you're going to share but Chuck Segal was also wounded
[01:28:59] as he came in actually got an email from Chuck recently just to you know so many years later
[01:29:07] just to sort of talk about that day and what it was all about but you can imagine that the
[01:29:14] the cloud of war chaos confusion nobody really knows what's going on
[01:29:19] as I talked to the guys that were there that day nobody was really sure where things were
[01:29:25] coming from they just knew they were in big trouble yeah that's one of the hardest things about
[01:29:30] the urban environment it happened in all environments but in the urban environment you hear shots
[01:29:35] coming in you don't know where they're coming from it's very difficult to tell because the sound
[01:29:39] reflects and refracts off the different buildings and you know the sniper or the the shooters can
[01:29:44] be one or two rooms deep you just don't know where the where the rounds are coming from and it's
[01:29:51] just very very confusing a lot of confusion from from all the guys I spoke with
[01:30:00] going back to the book here Travis and Kubicki dragged Albino out of the kilzone
[01:30:05] and closer to the vehicles front side where the sniper couldn't deliver a fatal blow to their
[01:30:09] bleeding gasping corpsmen as they tended to Albino's wounds Travis saw meringue and Seagull
[01:30:16] running toward him at full speed another piercing crack of gunfire abruptly echoed through the alley
[01:30:24] in an instant Seagull was somersaulting in midair feeling like Mike Tyson had just punched him in the
[01:30:30] stomach and landing in the middle of the bullet riddled street all around Seagull who broke his rifle
[01:30:37] wall collapsing the ground a hectic battle was unfolding in an eerie slow motion silence
[01:30:45] Seagull's wrist convulsed with tremendous pain the sniper was firing at the wounded marina's
[01:30:49] delay in the street and the young lads corporal who had just been shot in the wrist and still
[01:30:54] unbeknownst to him also in the stomach would soon be dead if he didn't get in front of that home v
[01:31:00] as Seagull laid powerless unable to do anything but wait for the crushing blow of another sniper bullet
[01:31:06] Travis pulled him out of the sniper's crosshairs moments later Seagull laid next to Albino
[01:31:14] who was still being worked on by Kubicki so again you know if you got a sniper scenario
[01:31:23] and there's a guy down the last thing you want to do is run over to try and help get him out of that
[01:31:30] situation unless you're Travis and then that's the first thing you're going to do.
[01:31:39] By the time the confused lands corporal looked up into the dust Travis was gone he'd already run
[01:31:46] back into a cloud of bullets Travis dashed across the street not far from where Seagull had been hit
[01:31:52] twice in meringue had barely escaped death without blinking he blasted her grenade onto the
[01:31:58] one of the rooftops buildings sending chunks of concrete tunneling of ground.
[01:32:02] When Travis switched to M4 rounds his suppressing fire was equally relentless which gave Kubicki
[01:32:08] and meringue enough time to help ballooned it. With one rooftop silent after stunned
[01:32:13] insurgents had experienced the crushing power of Travis's grenades and countless M4 rounds
[01:32:18] the battles tied begin to turn. Seagull and Albino couldn't see Travis firing but they could
[01:32:24] hear the welcome sounds of the American counter attack which only paused when Travis needed to reload.
[01:32:33] Go! Travis screamed to his fellow officers who moved into new positions so they could join him in the
[01:32:38] fire in firing at the enemy. Travis moving east in the alleyway from the homevee's
[01:32:43] pastor side to the driver side as he blasted away at another rooftop was now causing the same kind of
[01:32:49] pandemonium among the enemy that the sniper had initially brought on the Americans. Justin front of
[01:32:54] Seagull, the corpsman initially pulled to safety by Travis and Kubicki dragged himself
[01:33:00] almost completely under the vehicle with only his legs sticking out. Desperately trying to breathe
[01:33:05] while tasting a mixture of sand and his own blood Albino was almost certain he was going to die.
[01:33:12] A middysiness, extreme thirst and the crashing sounds of concrete, the wounded corpsman pictured
[01:33:18] his mother when he didn't want to suffer in the wake of his death. But at the same time Albino
[01:33:25] could see Travis boots, Travis's boots firmly planted in the sand while he fired at enemy positions.
[01:33:32] The situation was bleak but maybe there was still a chance to survive.
[01:33:39] So you got Travis, it's interesting they use the word counter attack.
[01:33:44] And usually when you think of a counter attack you think of a platoon or at least a squad
[01:33:51] that's maneuvering to counter attack an enemy. And in this situation we got a one man counter attack
[01:33:58] that's the initiative. This Travis stepping up, putting down suppressive fire, putting down grenade fire,
[01:34:06] exposing himself to the enemy to make that happen.
[01:34:08] Well, trying to build them will manage the other way because the momentum is coming in.
[01:34:15] So much so on the other side that you got to sort of get out and get it on them, get the rounds on
[01:34:23] them to have them lose that momentum. Yeah and just like any military unit, the insurgents,
[01:34:31] if they have the upper hand they're going to press but the minute you can press them back and
[01:34:35] you get the upper hand the chances are they're going to retreat because they're not holding the
[01:34:39] ground. They don't care if they lose ground. They'll run away. They want to live their cowards.
[01:34:45] And so they'll back away but if you don't do that, if you don't step up and you don't take
[01:34:52] the initiative they will absolutely overrun them and they'll overrun you. And so Travis, one man counter
[01:34:58] attack here and then he's yelling to his teammates, hey go help out. Let's go. Let's make this happen.
[01:35:05] Back to the book. Although the sniper would usually have been long gone by now. The AK47
[01:35:11] fire from other buildings caused so much initial confusion that the mid team still wasn't sure
[01:35:17] which building he had fired from. Like a vulture circling is prey. The enemy marksman continued
[01:35:23] scanning the alley before spotting Travis who's firing away on another rooftop. So this is a
[01:35:29] cover and move situation too where the sniper's taking precision shots but the guys can't really
[01:35:35] identify because they're getting shot at from a bunch of different locations as well.
[01:35:42] Back to the book. Across the city, first lieutenant Kim was handing crayons to smiling Iraqi kids
[01:35:49] with second lieutenant Alexander. Though Kim wondered how Travis and the guys were faring inside
[01:35:54] the pizza slice, they had been through so many battles in the last five months without a casualty
[01:35:59] that the mid team seemed indestructible. As Kim knelt with a happy child, he suddenly heard
[01:36:06] unintelligible screaming from the radio inside his vehicle, contact yelled a voice, possibly
[01:36:12] staff sergeant Perry, the driver of the Humvee Kim was originally supposed to be in.
[01:36:17] Kim looked straight at Alexander who had heard the same front exams and both men motioned to
[01:36:23] their Iraqi counterparts to sit with the kids while they check things out.
[01:36:27] The transmission, the transmissions were broken but now the sound of petty's voice screaming
[01:36:32] contact came through crystal clear. About saying a single word about what to do next,
[01:36:38] Kim and Alexander jumped in a separate vehicles with their respective drivers told the
[01:36:42] Iraqis to handle the rest of the school supply drop and spread towards the pizza slice and its
[01:36:48] unknown turmoil. As they listened to broken radio transmission and tried to communicate with Perry,
[01:36:54] who was frantically trying to contact camp solution, requested quick reaction force. The
[01:36:59] marine silently navigated through the pizza slice's narrow confusing streets, not completely
[01:37:05] sure of where their mid team brothers were pinned down. They knew a battle was raging but neither
[01:37:11] marine had any idea how serious it was nor did they realize Albino and Seagull had been hit.
[01:37:18] After looping around the pizza slice, the two vehicles turned right onto route Elizabeth near
[01:37:23] the blackwater bridge, heading east and the seriousness of the situation slapped Kim and Alexander
[01:37:29] in the face. The normally bust bustling, packed marketplace was completely empty.
[01:37:37] If tumble weeds had blown across the street, this section of Felicia would have looked exactly
[01:37:40] like a deserted town in an old western spaghetti. Jesus Christ Alexander said,
[01:37:45] where the fuck are they Kim yelled in frustration? Suddenly they heard gunfire. There,
[01:37:49] Alexander said pointing at the besieged alleyway where the two American homies were still being
[01:37:54] riddled by bullets. As both marine stopped on route Elizabeth facing east, the marine's
[01:38:02] jumped out and ran as quickly as they could, ducking rifles, ducking as rifles continued to crack
[01:38:07] towards their comrades. Kim then confronted an image that would stay with him for the rest of his life.
[01:38:15] Travis was lying near the back of the driver's side tire of the humvee he had been riding in
[01:38:20] his eyes wide open but glazed over with emptiness. Kim saw no blood but it was obvious that
[01:38:27] something horrible had occurred in that rich, violent alley. For the first time in the entire deployment
[01:38:35] sheer panic seized Kim as he ran with Alexander up to Kabiki who is kneeling by Travis while
[01:38:40] filing firing his nine millimeter handgun at one of the buildings after running out of rifle ammunition.
[01:38:48] Kim asked firing his own rifle where do you need us to go? Get the wounded Kabiki said,
[01:38:55] get them out of here. Who else has hit Alexander said, see go and dock. Kabiki said before moving
[01:39:02] to another position to continue firing. Swinging open the passenger side, back door for cover as he
[01:39:09] fired Kim saw a seagull who had avoided being shot again but was still in great pain lying in the
[01:39:14] back seat. Despite being on his back he was reaching down to the floor trying to find more ammunition
[01:39:21] for the turret gunner. His left wrist was breathing profusely. The major order is out.
[01:39:28] Kim said, do you need help? I can make it Seagull said, you got to get Lieutenant Manion.
[01:39:34] I think he's dead. My vehicle is right over there. Kim said pointing toward
[01:39:40] rattle is a bit go. Now that reinforcements had arrived the sniper was gone and the insurgents
[01:39:47] were pulling back. Seagull mustering all his strength, exited the humvee on the passenger side
[01:39:53] and hurried to Kim's vehicle where he collapsed in the back seat. He knew he had been shot in the
[01:39:58] stomach by this point and wasn't sure if you would make it. But even Seagull ran to the intersection.
[01:40:05] Even as Seagull ran to the intersection the wounded Marines thought were focused on the unforgettable
[01:40:10] scene he had just witnessed. Seagull didn't see Travis get shot by the sniper. But after dragging
[01:40:17] himself to the driver's side of the vehicle the Lance Corpel was shocked to see the first lieutenant
[01:40:22] lying face down in motionless. His arms stretched toward the curb with his feet facing toward
[01:40:28] the bullet riddled vehicle. When Seagull pulled himself towards Travis and asked him where he'd
[01:40:34] been hit he got no response. He realized Travis was seriously wounded and started feeling underneath
[01:40:42] his fellow Marines body armor with his left hand despite the hole in his own aching wrist.
[01:40:47] He found a bullet wound on the left side of Travis's rib gauge. He whispered in Travis's ear.
[01:40:56] Hey Travis said Seagull, Seagull, who normally would have addressed him as lieutenant or Sir.
[01:41:03] I'm here for you. Travis didn't respond. Even without realizing that the sniper's bullet had
[01:41:12] struck the first lieutenant from the right side and had exited at the spot he was covering with his left
[01:41:17] hand. Seagull knew the situation was grave. When Travis began jerking with convulsions.
[01:41:26] Is he dead? Kabiki yelled over to Seagull while continuing to fire at enemy positions?
[01:41:32] Not yet but he will be if we don't do something. The Lance Corpel said his voice shaking.
[01:41:39] Seagull turned to Travis. Whose eyes were still wide open.
[01:41:46] I'm here for you Seagull, repeated over and over again into his ear.
[01:41:52] As soon as Kim and Alexander had carried their unresponsive friend into the vehicle,
[01:41:57] Kabiki ran over and dove into the smoke-filled home-view where he clutched Travis and began trying
[01:42:01] to identify his wounds, stopping the bleeding, and performed CPR.
[01:42:05] He ordered petty to start driving towards Camp Felicia while Wilson
[01:42:10] Wilson fired the last rounds from the turret. This was probably Kabiki's last chance to save his fellow
[01:42:18] Marine. As four vehicles, spread toward Camp Felicia, Father John Gaten,
[01:42:26] a Marine Corps chaplain from Pennsylvania, sat in his tiny office on the make-ship
[01:42:31] American base. He was reading emails from home while sipping from a large water bottle to keep
[01:42:37] hydrated on the steamy Sunday afternoon. A few minutes later, his phone rang. We got two wounded
[01:42:44] in action, and one possible killed in action arriving at the field hospital, a North Roo
[01:42:48] Unnurs reported. As the Marines ran over to the wooden complex, he saw a group of Marines.
[01:42:56] Kim, Alexander, Kabiki, Morang, Petty, Marquette, Wilson, and Brianer
[01:43:03] huddled like a team on a football field. As he jogged by one of them turned around and looked at him.
[01:43:11] Father John saw the redness in the eyes of this Marine who had obviously been crying.
[01:43:18] It was clear that something terrible had happened.
[01:43:21] Any Marines with typo positive blood reported immediately to field hospital room four,
[01:43:27] a voice set over the loudspeaker.
[01:43:35] As they tore off, as they tore off his bloody fatigues before finding the wounds on each side of
[01:43:44] his rib cage and trying to resuscitate him, crowds began to form in the hallway outside the operating room.
[01:43:51] Word was quickly spreading. That first lieutenant Travis Manion, the heart and soul of the
[01:43:57] mid team was badly wounded. Yeah, he gave it all. He gave it all that day. He gave it all
[01:44:15] every moment he was over there and working with the Marines, working with the Iraqis and
[01:44:21] and that last event. He ran out of ammo. I was talking to the gunner and
[01:44:36] start to ask him about what he saw, trying to figure out, you know, the, we've got what was
[01:44:41] written up and as a warden, just trying to get some insights and the gunner said, you know,
[01:44:46] lieutenant was calling for more ammo. So I'm thinking that Travis, I saw when he was over there,
[01:44:53] he had all sorts of magazines. So I don't know how many rounds that I'm guessing around
[01:44:59] maybe 90 to 100 rounds he had on himself and he'd actually laid down a lot of fire to change the
[01:45:06] moment. But I, you know, he knew what he was doing. He exposed himself. He had to do that to
[01:45:13] get out there and laid down the fire. And when I spoke to the gunner, Wilson, he said, you know,
[01:45:21] we threw out a magazine. I turned around when I turned back Travis's land on the ground.
[01:45:26] So maybe he was trying to get that magazine and, and load it into his weapon. He'd run out of
[01:45:33] all of his ammunition and laying cover for these guys. Yeah, and like you said, I mean, just,
[01:45:41] somebody had to turn the momentum. Yeah. Otherwise they were going to get overrun. Yeah, and he knew
[01:45:46] that. He knew that. If not me, then who? You know, he knew what he had to do. I know that
[01:45:57] because they had lost, I got to let her from Kibicki shortly afterwards and he said, you know,
[01:46:04] we're using Travis's words to go on because he, they had lost some guys and he had pulled the
[01:46:08] team and it said, look, we got to, they'd want us to go on. We got to keep working. We got to
[01:46:13] turn the tide here. And so he used that session that Travis had with the team and said, look,
[01:46:19] you know what Travis would think? You know what we got to do? We got to keep fighting on.
[01:46:24] And that's what they did.
[01:46:25] Father John, anointed Travis's feet and said a prayer has the medical staff tried feverously
[01:46:43] to revive him.
[01:46:45] The phone number the Marine could show the doctors some sign any sign of life soon after the
[01:46:59] physician in charge announced a time of death. For the next minute, the only sounds heard in the
[01:47:07] operating room came from the hallway outside as doctors and nurses watched in silence,
[01:47:14] Father John standing above the fallen US Marine broke the silence.
[01:47:21] God, the Father of Mercy's through the death and resurrection of your son,
[01:47:26] you have reconciled the world to yourself and sent a Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of
[01:47:33] sins. He said, looking down at Travis through the ministry of the church,
[01:47:39] May God grant you pardon and peace. And I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father,
[01:47:52] kind of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. One by one, Marines filed past their fallen brother,
[01:48:12] Kabiki, the senior officer who desperately administered CPR in the humvee was the first to walk by,
[01:48:17] Marine was next then Wilson, Marquette, and Breiner. When Petty looked at the fallen first
[01:48:26] lieutenant's face, he saw an officer who had given everything to the Marine Corps.
[01:48:35] When Alexander approached the operating table with tears streaming down his face,
[01:48:39] he put his hand on his friend's head. He didn't know how the mission could carry on without him.
[01:48:49] Kim approached the table with weak knees and a broken heart. He paused to take one last look at
[01:48:56] his friend who had saved his life by volunteering to go on a patrol. He knew would be far more dangerous
[01:49:03] than a school supply drop. Pauzing for a moment, Kim pondered the story that was already
[01:49:14] spreading throughout the hospital complex without thinking twice. Travis had left squarely
[01:49:21] into enemy crosshairs to direct gunfire away from his patrol.
[01:49:25] On April 29, 2007, a line of the Iraq war was struck down by a single bullet.
[01:49:39] Cut through Travis's Aorta, causing massive internal bleeding that couldn't be controlled.
[01:49:47] Though the fallen Marines loved ones, would undoubtedly suffer everyone else on the pizza slice
[01:49:54] patrol was still alive. Indeed, by fearlessly protecting his Marines and the Iraqi serving beside them.
[01:50:07] First Lieutenant Travis Manion had done his part.
[01:50:10] Yes, so clearly in writing this, it's sort of as a father obviously really tough to
[01:50:27] to go through and talk to the guys that were with them and relive that.
[01:50:32] But the other side of it is it's a little healing, did this sort of no exactly what was going on
[01:50:42] with the guys that were there with him, felt about his actions that day.
[01:50:48] And so as I went through the struggle of times, when I realized that unless we tell these stories
[01:51:02] the rest of the country is not going to know what these guys are doing.
[01:51:07] So we got to make sure that we get the word out there and there was a big part of it
[01:51:11] is sitting down and talking through that day, a big part of the struggle for me and putting this book together.
[01:51:21] And you just, I mean, it's a, I would say it's a miracle that everyone else lived.
[01:51:26] But it's actually just Travis that everyone lived in a situation like that, surrounded by enemy,
[01:51:32] a sniper, multiple enemy positions firing on you. You got nine guys and two on these.
[01:51:38] That is not a good situation to be in and it's going to take a miracle to get out of it.
[01:51:42] And the fact that he's the only guy that was killed is incredible and it's clearly, you know,
[01:51:49] due to his actions. Clearly, I mean, again, you have, the enemy has elevated positions too.
[01:51:58] Yeah, this is on the rooftops and so yeah, I mean it's important.
[01:52:04] And obviously to tell the story and people to know this sacrifice and I mean a lot of people
[01:52:10] listen to this that are active duty in the military and that sort of aggressiveness on the battlefield
[01:52:19] when things are going bad is going to keep people alive. And obviously you've got to be a courageous
[01:52:25] courageous human being to do that. But the alternative, you know, in this case, would have been
[01:52:31] incredibly horrible. I got to several of the guys were there, whether it was the dock when I
[01:52:40] went to see him, but that is to talk about the impact of what Travis did or Lieutenant Morang was
[01:52:47] there and he sent me a message and said, hey, you know, there's no doubt in my mind that Travis
[01:52:51] saved my life in the life of the entire patrol that day. So I mean the guys that were there were
[01:52:57] with them, they know what I'm. How much longer after this did you start writing this book?
[01:53:12] Wow, about five years afterwards, just started to get down to writing it.
[01:53:20] And I, you know, there's a story behind that too, right? I mean, the last time I talked to Travis
[01:53:28] was a week before we lost him. And it was an unusual call because normally I was with my wife and this
[01:53:36] time I wasn't, it was about by myself. And I guess he felt a little bit more open to share with me
[01:53:42] what was going on and he was, you could sense that there was a lot of happening. And he had a message
[01:53:49] for me, kept sharing that he said that it's incredible what I'm seeing over here. It's incredible
[01:53:54] what these young Marines are doing, what I'm seeing every day they're fighting in the streets.
[01:54:01] They're putting it on the line. I don't think the rest of the country knows what's going on.
[01:54:05] And he knew that because he could back to Camp Feluse, the turn on the TV and see what we were
[01:54:09] watching back here. And then he'd be on patrol and just sort of see the incredible things that
[01:54:14] were going on and it was a huge disconnect for him. And he got cut off several times in that phone
[01:54:21] call and he kept calling me back and he'd start all over again. Dad, you really, you really got to
[01:54:29] get the message back to people. It's incredible what's happening here. You know, the American
[01:54:35] people don't know the incredible things these guys are doing. And so I got cut off of them the
[01:54:42] last time. And I always signed off to tell how much the love them and it was the first time
[01:54:49] that I missed them. I figured okay, I'll hear from them next weekend. And we got to knock on the door
[01:54:56] that next weekend that we lost Travis. You know, your worst nightmare, your only son, so proud of them
[01:55:04] and figured okay, most natural thing for us is the roll down the shades, lock the doors and just tell
[01:55:10] everyone to go away. And it was because that last conversation I had with him, we knew there was
[01:55:17] going to be media and sure enough there was. I pulled my wife and daughter together, I said, you know what?
[01:55:24] When they call us, we're going to talk. And really this book is about talking about sharing the
[01:55:31] stories. I've been on that mission since the last time I talked to Travis and he gave me that
[01:55:36] mission to do this. And so I was pretty certain early on that was going to do something. And
[01:55:42] initially I thought, okay, I heard about Travis and his Marines and his Influcian, how they turned
[01:55:48] to Ty. So maybe that would be the story. We could talk about how these brave Marines and
[01:55:54] work together with the Iraqis to make that happen. And then we lost Brendan. You know, when I
[01:56:02] realize, you know, maybe it's not that story. Maybe it's the bigger story of our Navy SEALs and
[01:56:07] our Marines and everyone that's putting on the uniform and the sacrifices they're making.
[01:56:13] And so that's why it sort of took me a little while. I mean, we had with us Travis, you know,
[01:56:19] seven, we lost Brendan in 2010 and I had just come back from doing some of the stuff over in
[01:56:25] Iraq. I started to think, well, maybe it's a different story. And when you do a really, you know,
[01:56:35] an amazing job in the book of talking about how you how your family, how you, you and your family,
[01:56:42] you know, dealt with the loss. And but is there anything that you find? I mean, did you find it
[01:56:51] to be sort of therapeutic to say, look, we have a new mission now. Our mission is to get the
[01:56:56] word out and tell the story and learn as much as we can about it and let other people know what's
[01:57:00] going on? I think it was, it definitely helped, you know, to know that we could do something with
[01:57:08] his loss, you know, get out there. And if we could do something to bridge the gap between
[01:57:15] the country and our military and our guys and men and women serving in uniform,
[01:57:19] you know, it's certainly gave us something to get up every morning and have a reason.
[01:57:27] And when we started thinking about his message, you know, part of that, if not me, then who message?
[01:57:31] That goes back to that last conversation I have with him because when we started telling the
[01:57:35] stories, my son-in-law shared that story with a newspaper and all of a sudden, that if not me,
[01:57:41] then who sort of caught on and people started to say, you know what? I like that. It was five
[01:57:48] simple but really, really powerful words and that's what we use now as our sort of rally
[01:57:54] cry for our foundation. If not me, then who? You went through this, you know, you went through
[01:58:02] your loss of Travis and did you get closer with Brendan after that or did it maintain or?
[01:58:11] Yeah, we got a lot closer with Brendan. I mean, absolutely. Brendan was in seal training when
[01:58:19] we lost Travis and I still remember that call with with my wife. But yeah, he would come and
[01:58:26] in visit us and still remember when he came back and he came right up to our place and
[01:58:34] mostly people felt uncomfortable coming to visit the parents by themselves so they'd come and
[01:58:39] groups. But when Brendan called up, shortly after he got back and I said, okay, will you come
[01:58:44] up with Brendan? He says, I'm coming by myself and we spent the night doing shots of the
[01:58:49] drone and our bar and talking about stories of he and Travis and their friendship.
[01:58:54] Well, another thing was Travis or Brendan had just started buds and you know, he was saying,
[01:59:02] hey, I'm going to come home for the funeral and you and your wife said, no, you do what you
[01:59:06] got to do, you got to get through this training, you know, you can come later. Yeah, which is,
[01:59:11] well, we knew he was just sort of struggling with the loss in a big, big way and he wanted to
[01:59:18] be there and you know, he was sharing that with my wife, real strong and, you know, he knew what
[01:59:26] Travis wanted him to do is to carry on and and so he did that, you know, and he sure did that
[01:59:34] in a big way out there and San Diego. Yeah, and Brendan crushed crushed buds and you don't throw
[01:59:42] that around, bite me. You don't throw around someone crushing buds lately. And one of the things
[01:59:48] one of the quotes that they pulled out in here that he applied during buds was, one of Brendan's
[01:59:55] favorite quotes was one he rarely spoke out loud, but always kept in the back of his mind.
[02:00:00] Be strong, be accountable, never complain. Yeah, that's Brendan. Absolutely. And that attitude
[02:00:10] going in, he ended up being the honor man of his buds class and so the honor man is the guy
[02:00:17] that's basically the best performer in everything. And again, you're going to buds, you got some
[02:00:24] competitive high level athletes in there and to be the honor man, you got to be a bit of a bad
[02:00:32] ass. Yeah. Well, some of the guys who were there with him share with me that it wasn't even close,
[02:00:37] even, you know, I mean, like he was blowing everything away. So he was, he was possessed as they,
[02:00:45] they share with me. That's, that sounds like, that sounds like he was definitely getting after it.
[02:00:51] And, and, and, you know, I, I won't even say I imagine I actually know for a fact that
[02:01:00] losing Travis must have fueled his fire beyond anyone could be probably had, you're right. There
[02:01:05] was no, I was going to compete with that, you know, he knew he had a job to do. And so much so that when
[02:01:13] when he got done and graduated in my wife, Janet and I were at the wedding
[02:01:18] meeting with Amy and Brendan that he called Janet over and gave Janet his Navy seal
[02:01:26] tried and, and, you know, he just did it privately. It was the way Brendan was gave it to her
[02:01:34] and said you know, I couldn't have gotten this without Travis being there with me every step
[02:01:38] of a way. And I want you to have this. And I was at the other end of the room and I still remember
[02:01:46] Janet coming up with tears in her eyes and sharing that story with me. It was just sort of the
[02:01:51] type of guy Brendan was, you know. Yeah, that's just, I mean, that was another thing that
[02:01:55] that, that, in the book you talk about is he got the honor man plaque and, like, he like mailed it to
[02:02:01] his parents. Yeah. And his attitude was, hey, this isn't on me, you know, this is on you. Thanks
[02:02:05] for support over the years. Yeah. And then given the tried to, to your wife, Janet, I mean,
[02:02:10] just a humble humble guy that always gave credit to everyone else and, and your wife gave him
[02:02:17] the black bracelet that said, first lieutenant Travis man in USMC, Spartan hero leader,
[02:02:28] killed an Iraq Iraqi freedom, 29 April of 07. And then this had to be hard for you.
[02:02:39] You can now you're even closer with Brendan, with Brendan, you're even closer with Brendan.
[02:02:44] And he tells you guys at his wedding. So you're there celebrating the wedding and all of a
[02:02:51] sudden he says, I don't know something to tell you. Going to Iraq in 48 hours. Yeah.
[02:02:57] Was, and by the way, he's going to fallusia. Did he tell you guys he was going to fallusia?
[02:03:01] Yeah, he told us where he's headed. You know, hard to believe, you know, he's there,
[02:03:06] celebrating such a great day. And then to find out that his honeymoon's in fluency.
[02:03:13] You know, I think, you know, you hear about, we hear so much about our guys in uniform and
[02:03:19] what they're doing, but just sort of think about those types of sacrifices. You know, we don't
[02:03:23] hear enough of that stuff, you know, what the families are going through and missing those special
[02:03:29] times, you know, it's a big, big impact all the way around. Well, I was trying to remind people
[02:03:36] that the heroes that we talk about, their heroes and their people, their people like everyone else
[02:03:42] with wives and families and they miss their home, they miss their family. They want to be at the
[02:03:50] dance recital and the basketball game and the wrestling match. They're not just these, you know,
[02:03:58] foreign objects that just do nothing to fight man, their people. And I always trying to remind
[02:04:03] everyone of that. And this is a classic example. Here he is, Marion is sweetheart who had met
[02:04:09] at the Naval Academy, spending time with you, spending time with his family and he's leaving for
[02:04:15] Iraq, 48 hours later, honeymoon in fluency. Yeah, big, big sacrifice for these guys.
[02:04:23] And he does that deployment to fluency. And kind of, you know, here's a letter that he wrote home on
[02:04:32] that Miss Manion, it was great to see you guys at the wedding. I'm glad you guys were able to make it
[02:04:37] mental out to both me and Amy to see you both there. I'm doing okay over here. Since since arriving,
[02:04:43] I've been tasked with reviewing all the e-vals. It's evaluation in awards for the command
[02:04:48] as well as work in the Tactical Operations Center. I'm sure you've heard about the decreased violence
[02:04:53] out here and provincial Iraqi control taking place in Alambar to see how much different it is over here
[02:05:00] since last time as a true testament to the work that everyone over here has done. I've not had the
[02:05:06] opportunity to get out to combat outpost Manion on a trip out west to Alassad,
[02:05:14] while myself and Rob Sarver, another US Naval Academy, O4 guy who knew Travis, we're waiting
[02:05:21] for our he-load of show up. We struck up a conversation with a young Lance Corporal. This young
[02:05:25] Marine was a mid-team member and had mentioned that he'd just come from cop Manion. When we heard
[02:05:31] that, I let him know that Travis was a good friend of mine in a college and a roommate during
[02:05:35] college. He said that he did not know him, but he'd heard great things about Travis. He also said
[02:05:42] that there was a room at the cop dedicated to him with pictures. I just thought you would like that
[02:05:47] story since Travis is still influencing the men and women over here. Love Brendan.
[02:05:53] Yeah, he eventually made it out there. Rob shared with me. Oh, he made it out to cop Manion.
[02:05:59] Was the cop Manion in Fludja? It was Northearch. It was Northearch.
[02:06:03] If you've ever been through karma, I didn't go through karma.
[02:06:07] Yeah, so karma is when I was over there, they flew me out to Camp Fludja and then
[02:06:14] karma's not too far away from Camp Fludja and it's a little Northearch of karma. So the
[02:06:19] Iraqis said that one of the name of the outpost after Travis, which was again for their
[02:06:27] recognition of what he put on the line for them. Awesome. But you could see from that note that
[02:06:40] what Brendan was facing in Fludja at that time, even over what a bit of a six-month period
[02:06:46] or something maybe longer than that, but it was completely mellow compared to what Travis was
[02:06:51] in Durn. We were just way ahead at that time. Yeah, it changed dramatically at that point for sure.
[02:06:58] And so Brendan had a fairly mellow deployment comes home and then goes back on deployment.
[02:07:06] Again, like you just said, new wife, you just went on deployment, doesn't matter. We're sending
[02:07:10] you back on deployment. That's the way it works. Two, three, four deployments? Yep.
[02:07:14] Yeah. So now we're talking, he goes back this time and goes to Afghanistan.
[02:07:22] You know, just a little bit about Brendan's leadership with a Taliban launching. It's annual
[02:07:27] spring offensive. Brendan and his platoon started to see more action in May. Just as he had
[02:07:32] predicted in his email to Tom and Janet surrounded by jagged cliffs, extreme poverty and acute
[02:07:39] desolation, which many of the younger seals had never experienced. It was Brendan's responsibility
[02:07:43] to keep them optimistic, focused and sharp considering that the seals were sleeping on a
[02:07:49] fob in the middle of nowhere, thousands of miles away from home, setting a positive tone was never
[02:07:53] an easy task. Rather than barking out orders to the seals under his command, Brendan was loom dog.
[02:08:01] They enlisted seals as they loved working for the 29 year old lieutenant because even though
[02:08:08] Brendan was an officer, he still fought of himself as one of the boys. So, you know, you see a very
[02:08:12] similar type of attitude. Yeah, his guys, you know, having a chance to talk to them, they, you know,
[02:08:19] everybody loved Brendan. And he was just a great, great leader, right? Yeah. No doubt. Like I said,
[02:08:26] the biggest thing I remember about him, you know, was no matter what I was saying to him, not not an
[02:08:32] attitude, but just like a positive attitude. I'll say that. Yeah. He's getting towards the end of
[02:08:38] that deployment, like right towards the end of that deployment. And goes back and forth,
[02:08:47] emails with Amy on Monday, Amy and Brendan exchanged emails, six months that Amy dreaded
[02:08:55] were coming to a close and finally they would be living together again as husband and wife.
[02:09:00] Brendan could barely contain himself during his last reply before his last mission.
[02:09:04] Can't wait to get home and go on a long overdue vacation with you. I call you when I get back
[02:09:10] from my office. Love you, Missia. Me. So, they were allowed on this operation. Brendan
[02:09:22] assignment in support of Operation C. Serpent and ongoing joint anti-terror assault was to watch over
[02:09:28] the village of Ayatala in the mountains in southeastern Afghanistan province of Zabul.
[02:09:37] As on other tactical Overwatch missions on this one, Brendan and his team would serve as guardian
[02:09:43] angels, much like when Travis held the roof during after a chlorine attack in Follugia.
[02:09:50] No matter what transpired in the darkness below, Brendan and his seals equipped with
[02:09:54] night vision equipment would be watching. Quiet and focused, we tend to Brendan Looney flew
[02:10:00] above the skies of Afghanistan on the 59th combat mission of his fourth overseas deployment.
[02:10:06] As bright moonlight shined into the chopper through the war zone, soaring mountains,
[02:10:11] the words Spartan, Hero, Leader reflected from the bracelet, Brendan always wore on his right
[02:10:20] wrist. Moments from landing on top of a mountain, the seals and soldiers aboard the chopper
[02:10:27] on hook their safety belts and prepared to dismount. Suddenly a terrible piercing sound
[02:10:33] stunned everyone aboard the helicopter which rapidly tumbled down a jagged steep cliff
[02:10:39] before plunging into the darkness. The frantic moments then ensued were harrowing, dreadful,
[02:10:46] and tragic. So that's Brendan's just think about it. His 59th combat mission
[02:10:57] and he's two weeks from coming home and the new group comes in and who's the one guy that says,
[02:11:04] you know what I'll go with the new guys and show him around. We've been out here the whole time.
[02:11:09] I don't want them going out there without anyone and that's Brendan Looney.
[02:11:13] Yeah. And he jumps in and held a cop to win down and only once survived.
[02:11:22] Yeah, it's a turnover operation as what we call it. That's when you're taking the new guys as you
[02:11:28] said, I think these guys were from team four, taking them out, you know, you're just one guy
[02:11:33] that's hey we've done this before. We'll just do a turnover and make sure you guys know what's
[02:11:37] happening and give any advice we can. And like you said, you're ready to go home. Yeah. And
[02:11:46] somebody's got to step up and do that. And like you said, who's going to do it? Well,
[02:11:52] Brendan's going to do it. Yeah. And you know after Brendan was killed and you guys,
[02:12:00] you know, Amy had said she wanted Brendan to be buried next to Travis.
[02:12:10] Yeah, you know, you, yes, you know, wonder why things happen the way they do. But we never had
[02:12:16] that talk with Travis like what happens if you don't come back. And when we lost him, my wife and I were
[02:12:23] like, well, we should have him near us here at home. So we've buried him close by us and outside of
[02:12:29] Philadelphia. And then shortly after that, we heard from some family and friends that, hey,
[02:12:34] they had a serious conversation with Travis and he said he wanted to be in Arlington if anything.
[02:12:38] I'm told. So I called down the Arlington. They said, yeah, we can we've re-interred, we can do that.
[02:12:45] Just let us know if you want that to happen and we'll make an happen. So we never got
[02:12:51] Travis situated and never had a headstone, had a wooden cross there and we kept talking about it.
[02:12:59] You know, and it's almost three years later and my wife was the one that was most reluctant
[02:13:05] because she was visiting Travis every day and she just couldn't come to grips with making that decision.
[02:13:11] And then we get to call the first person that did Brendan's mom called was my wife,
[02:13:16] Janet, when she got the news and we were just devastated. And we got down there and Amy came
[02:13:23] in the town and she said, you know, I want I went Brendan next to Travis and Arlington.
[02:13:29] Now she knew she was at Travis's service. She knew Travis wasn't in Arlington but maybe she
[02:13:34] had forgotten in the shock. And I know how that goes. You're just in total shock.
[02:13:38] And at that point I could just see it in my wife's eyes. She said this is it. This is
[02:13:46] now we need to do this. She was ready to do it. And they moved mountains to make it happen.
[02:13:51] I mean they departmented the army and Arlington moved, helped us move Travis down there in two
[02:13:59] weeks and then we laid Brendan that following Monday.
[02:14:05] We're just, originally said let's do this the same day. And I was like well no this is
[02:14:11] Brendan's day. We're just like a quiet ceremony. So we did it the Friday before and this quiet
[02:14:16] ceremony. We had, we had all the Marines from, from Manion Hall down at where the officer school was
[02:14:26] they have a hall named after Travis. They all showed up and of course the loonies you think about
[02:14:31] our service members but the strength of the families they insisted with all that we're going
[02:14:36] through that they were going to be over there and they were there with us. So we laid Travis down
[02:14:42] on that Friday and then Brendan the following Monday and Secretary Gates was there and all his
[02:14:49] Navy seals were there to pay him respects and they put their tridents in his, you know, his
[02:14:57] coffin and it was a real emotional time obviously you know just like such a such a tough time.
[02:15:09] I'm going to close out the book here with the words that you spoke on the day that you
[02:15:17] in turn Travis Adderlington. I want to thank the looney family for their presence here today.
[02:15:29] Our hearts go out to you as you deal with us incredible loss. Brendan represents the best
[02:15:37] this country has to offer. We mourn him now and we will forever the passing of this American hero.
[02:15:51] There are so many mixed emotions for us as we move Travis to this place of honor.
[02:15:59] Brendan's loss fills all our waking hours yet we're moving Travis to be next to his great friend
[02:16:05] and together with all their warrior brothers and sisters who've paid their full measure
[02:16:15] defending freedom. This solemn place leaves us with a sadness for the sacrifices but also
[02:16:24] extremely proud of these brave Americans who so unselfishly and courageously step forward to
[02:16:31] confront the evil that faces our world. We the families of these defenders of freedom can't
[02:16:40] begin to describe the void that fills our hearts but we can tell you how much our sons and daughters
[02:16:48] love this country and all that it stands for. We are now their voice.
[02:16:56] So Travis as we lay you here today beside your brother Brendan and with all your fellow patriots
[02:17:10] we will always remember the selfless service and sacrifice and we will continue to rally in
[02:17:19] your honor with the call if not me then who to make a difference for others and to always
[02:17:29] step forward to do what's right no matter what the cost. God bless you my son and
[02:17:41] rest in peace with your warrior brothers and sisters. First lieutenant Travis Manion United States Marine
[02:17:51] Corps Lieutenant Brendan Looney United States Navy Warriors for freedom brothers forever.
[02:18:12] Yes so when you think about section 60 and all the loss there and
[02:18:17] you know symbolically there Brendan and Travis great friends and there side by side and
[02:18:27] armington if you're ever there you know when I'm out talking to people I say you know if you don't
[02:18:31] if you haven't taken your family the armington put it on the list you're in DC or make a special trip to DC
[02:18:39] to go see armington and teach your family about that sacrifice and make sure you go to section 60 where
[02:18:45] all those heroes of today have I reckon Afghanistan or there's always something that's happening
[02:18:52] in section 60 and after that September when we moved Travis in that following spring the Navy
[02:19:03] seals found and killed those some have been ladden and then a couple weeks later the
[02:19:09] president spoke about Travis and Brendan as an example for the country in Arlington and his
[02:19:14] memorial deadress we were down there with the loonies to hear that but again their their story is a
[02:19:22] story that could be anybody story there's so many in uniform that do so much and for me writing this
[02:19:30] book is is telling their story but making sure it's part of that bigger story and the people
[02:19:36] appreciate arm men when I mean uniform and all they are and what they stand for.
[02:19:41] Well it's an amazing story and Travis is still doing good right now with his name and you
[02:19:52] guys started the Travis Canyon foundation tell us a little bit about that.
[02:19:58] Well you know as I shared earlier you know we wanted to make sure we made an impact and we got the
[02:20:05] word out and and part of that was my wife said you know I'm going to start a foundation and I
[02:20:10] wanted to be there for our veterans make sure I'm supporting the families of the fallen and the last
[02:20:16] part of it was was making sure that we do something to support that next generation of leaders.
[02:20:23] So she started a character program character does matter where we get veterans in front of young
[02:20:28] kids and talk about character and service and integrity and leadership and you know my wife started
[02:20:38] that we we had good friends that were there when we lost Travis they said you know what you
[02:20:42] guys should set up a memorial fund and a little flowers and we did that and before we knew it when
[02:20:49] we turned around and looked at the bank account we had money coming in from all over the country and we
[02:20:55] had $200,000 my wife had $200,000 and she had those five words from Travis if not me than who
[02:21:03] and she got going with that with those two things and she came in every day first started right
[02:21:10] in our kitchen and started working it and you know she worked it to when we lost her most
[02:21:17] Janet five years almost five years to the day after Travis we lost my wife to cancer and I
[02:21:23] guess you know you think about that that sacrifice and the impact on the families and
[02:21:28] I remember doing some research after we found out she had cancer and said as she had a significant
[02:21:33] stressful event in the last four to five years yeah you know she lost her son and we think about
[02:21:40] that and then you think about Brendan's mom who recently died of cancer or JP Blacks Miss
[02:21:47] Mom who died of cancer you know so the impact is significant across the board for our families
[02:21:54] and our our guys and gals and uniform so we got going on that and in my daughter's picked it up
[02:22:01] since and she's doing a great job with it she's working with a lot of a lot of great young people
[02:22:07] Amy Looney's another one of the leaders of the foundation and she heads up operations in Washington
[02:22:13] DC we've got an office here in San Diego we've got one we just opened up in Atlanta we're outside
[02:22:20] of Philadelphia Washington we're getting ready to open up an office in Chicago and we've got an
[02:22:24] office in Houston Texas and we're working with our veterans and helping them through transition
[02:22:30] we're working with the families and you know you asked before is this was this somewhat
[02:22:36] telling this story a little bit therapeutic and you know doing this foundation and pushing that
[02:22:43] forward was that therapeutic and you know we really believe it is you know and we believe you know
[02:22:48] there's a grieving period but we know that Travis would not want us to keep grieving
[02:22:55] it wants us to say hey let's go you know pick it up and get out there and and do something
[02:23:02] and make a difference and so we do that you know that's what we do every day and we give some of the
[02:23:07] families chance to do that too we get families to go out and go on expeditions and help
[02:23:13] those that are in need build houses and it's really great for them you know it's great to see them
[02:23:20] out there doing something in honor of the lost one loved one and making an impact for others
[02:23:26] what's the best way for people to support where can they find out information about the Travis
[02:23:32] Manion Foundation yeah then go on our website Travismanion.org okay got a lot of information
[02:23:38] there were around the country doing different things we've got offices in some locations but we've
[02:23:43] got activities almost everywhere and for us it's about joining they if not me then who movement
[02:23:51] you know making a difference wherever you can and you can do that in a lot of different ways
[02:23:56] that's awesome um
[02:24:01] echo speaking of supporting things sure if someone wanted to support let's say for instance
[02:24:08] this podcast how would they do that well few weeks obviously I'm gonna make this one a whole long
[02:24:17] speel but you know we'll start with on it that's a good way that's a good way to support yourself
[02:24:22] too by the way which I think we already know but get on it these are supplements
[02:24:30] there's other other stuff to work out stuff and whatnot but um anyway go to onit.com slash
[02:24:37] jockels 10% off kghan twitter was asking me oh what I think he was asking both of us
[02:24:43] what are like some supplements to
[02:24:47] game muscle lose fat
[02:24:50] burpees yeah see see we'll see that answer though it wasn't a supplement you know he was like what
[02:24:56] is the best of a and that's what I thought too it's not the supplements it's like you got to get
[02:25:00] on the correct work out to do that supplement help though and it's gonna take certain supplements
[02:25:06] for whatever results all anyway transfer that question get on a muscle building
[02:25:14] fat read loss work up metcons and I hate to say it like a body building routine you love
[02:25:21] saying that you don't hate to say yeah well in front of you like kind of hate to say because the
[02:25:25] little you mean but you know yeah see Tom knows I know yeah but the supplements will help
[02:25:33] and like we always say the krill like you get on the krill oil read it
[02:25:38] krill was good yeah you know so long time ago my father-in-law
[02:25:42] he would always tell my wife no krill oil it's good for your joint to maintain your
[02:25:47] and you know I'm lifting like krill oil where's the you know where's the protein
[02:25:52] biotic type right? even actually I never really was into supplements but I was like why
[02:25:56] would I need the krill oil I'm looking for for games the case it muscle
[02:26:00] right exactly right you know I mean respect on the krill oil you know this obviously my
[02:26:06] father-in-law's older than me and so I get it but you know you don't have to
[02:26:10] indirectly tell me about it man I wish I just would have listened to him you know it keeps you
[02:26:15] in the game way longer we better you know I get on the krill oil advice yeah gotta get on it too
[02:26:21] yeah yeah right how can you not really I said do it yeah get on that part of the pun on it
[02:26:27] get on that on it on it dot-con slash jockel get 10% off of anything you get on there there's
[02:26:33] some good stuff on there by the way you can get addicted to the website itself because it's so
[02:26:37] interesting and informative if you like um interesting and informative I didn't say like this you
[02:26:44] didn't know I didn't pretty much you did no comment anyway there's some good stuff on there also
[02:26:53] Amazon click through what that does is it'd be free to your Amazon shopping go to the website
[02:26:59] jockelpodcast.com click on the Amazon link there's a few of them there on the front page you can find them
[02:27:05] click on there before you do shopping do you shopping as normal whether you're getting the book
[02:27:10] any book or anything else duct tape whatever click through that link and it supports this podcast a
[02:27:17] little bit also subscribe iTunes Google Play Stitcher all these podcast platforms that's a good
[02:27:27] way to support leave a review if you're in the mood right I say affirmative yeah approved
[02:27:33] Proof by jockel reviews also on YouTube we are putting excerpts I think now on a regular basis
[02:27:41] right would you would you give you like a out of 10 like a 3.2
[02:27:47] I'd see that's better than zero see so boom subscribe to YouTube you'll get some excerpts along with
[02:27:53] the video version of this podcast if you're into looking at what jockel looks like what Tom looks like
[02:28:00] or what I look like if you're watching on YouTube there's a lot of controversy when we first put
[02:28:05] on YouTube because echo doesn't look like what he sounds like apparently he sounds like a hipster 15-year-old
[02:28:13] hipster hipster oh something yeah yeah something more long okay little did they know that I mean
[02:28:20] they and totally saw them then they figured out you should 20 year old head yeah I know about
[02:28:28] dang but yeah you know if you're interested in that kind of stuff about the excerpts really are
[02:28:33] helpful because you can share them and people will actually watch them like my brother sends me this
[02:28:37] actually you know what I was about to say this like maybe two three times ago but I ended up for
[02:28:41] whatever reason that's it jaddle send me a video and be like hey watch this and then I'll be like
[02:28:47] bro I'm not gonna watch this video right now it's like five ten minutes long actually it was like nine
[02:28:52] minutes something too much for you too much for me and the thing is nine minutes that's not that long
[02:28:57] but the point still stands you can't just send somebody episode 72 of this podcast that's
[02:29:05] almost three hours long as hey watch this real quick you can't do that right I'm trying to quick one
[02:29:10] exactly right especially if it's you know especially if it's just that one little part of the
[02:29:13] one I like yeah yeah extra usually you highlight himself yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
[02:29:21] yeah echo with another amazing point yeah yeah yeah you know so yeah all that's on youtube I even
[02:29:28] put them in little playlists too so you know some people are like hey I like this point and then
[02:29:32] lead you to the next point and you know you can kind of keep it going yeah that's cool I think it's cool
[02:29:37] you know also joc was a store it's called joclostore joclostore dot com and for for this website
[02:29:45] really to website with a store and I put those wallpapers back on there for your phone
[02:29:52] I just think as I didn't technically didn't take them off is when we switch platforms they just failed to
[02:29:59] translate so it was the platform's fault not yours yeah nope no extreme disjoinership on that one
[02:30:05] and you know I blame tech on that you know joc go away too over there dig it oh we're gonna get
[02:30:11] yeah that's on the on that joclostore dot com yeah you can get the joc away te on there
[02:30:16] through there um if you like t-shirts those are on there discipline equals freedom
[02:30:26] the reason I think that that's a good shirt my opinion is because of course the layers I get it
[02:30:34] but it is one of those simple little things like it's not and it's not like too extreme either it's not like
[02:30:41] echo when we designed the shirt echo wanted to put a flying tank with dragon fire coming out of
[02:30:47] its mouth yeah and a skull yeah so let's put all over the whole face all over yeah see and I
[02:30:54] feel like too much yeah yeah so or you know like it I was the same like all eat your kids for breakfast
[02:31:02] if you mess with me you know those times the crazy sayings that will only hit maybe like one out of
[02:31:07] a hundred times you know when someone reads it it's not that really cannibal's a pair of
[02:31:13] you know not many of them last right I don't think so but this one equals it it's it's
[02:31:21] for lack of a better term understated yet powerful that's my opinion anyway other shirts on there
[02:31:27] you know various messages and with those messages come layers and what that means is
[02:31:35] you can look at it and be like okay that's a cool shirt but there's more to it so if you listen to
[02:31:39] this podcast for listening to jocca you'll be like oh I get it I mean yeah okay there's more than just
[02:31:45] what's on the surface there's another layer to say yeah that's exactly right if you listen you know
[02:31:50] some rashcards on there new rashcards gonna come out in less than one week also
[02:31:58] good way to support this podcast very good way to support yourself in your journey
[02:32:06] journey or we do do people still use word journey to your word man go with it I never felt comfortable
[02:32:11] using the word journey it's you weren't going anywhere right I don't think I'm gonna have an actual
[02:32:18] journey but you know it's one of those things that you kind of hear people saying it kind of sounds epic
[02:32:24] but then when you say it it sounds real stupid I felt like the word journey is kind of like
[02:32:29] anyway yeah all right if you're on your journey to what get up early be more discipline get a better
[02:32:37] diet just get your health together get your whole thing together this is what will help you there
[02:32:43] okay so on this journey it's not gonna be you're not gonna be hitting every day like killing
[02:32:49] every day you're gonna have some days gonna be harder than others so if you're having trouble for
[02:32:55] example waking up early one day this is what you're gonna do you're gonna search psychological warfare
[02:33:03] jocco welling on iTunes or Amazon music okay so it's this album with tracks and you put on your
[02:33:09] phone whatever you listen to the track that's gonna help you get out of bed that one's called wake up
[02:33:17] wake up wake up and get after it boom so instead of instead of hitting the snooze you hit
[02:33:25] or put it as your ringtone clear it with your wife or whoever you sleep with but put it as your ringtone
[02:33:30] it's jockel's voice he'll tell you why you should wake up and get after it and you that's
[02:33:35] convincing it is you'd be so I mean wait who's there was like one we've had a year
[02:33:41] I don't want 100% success rate there's one guy because there's actually three tracks to wake up
[02:33:47] the first one to wake up the second time what did you just do you didn't get out of bed there's one guy
[02:33:53] out of a lot of people that have has made it to the second track everyone else's first track we're
[02:33:57] yeah yeah you can't you can't not get up and again that's a rare case you know that guy he
[02:34:05] probably had a really hard night the night before looking into or looking forward to really really
[02:34:11] hard day and that's why he was considering training wheels right yeah in a way all's at a
[02:34:16] spa spot like you like spot yeah it's better yeah training wheels kind of seems like without it you
[02:34:23] fall down you know this is just for you know if I'm trying to get that max on bench this is a
[02:34:28] this is a big goal I got now on a wake up for one year I'm gonna wake up earlier something like
[02:34:32] it's just like if I have a huge goal with a bench all I'm gonna get it I'll probably get it
[02:34:38] but in the small case that let's say I'm not strong enough today I need to sleep with it
[02:34:43] right I got to spot their boom yeah don't get it same good same exact thing so yeah there it is
[02:34:48] psychological warfare and this goes for for waking up early uh skipping workouts that's a big one
[02:34:54] in my opinion skipping workouts but that's just in my experience so many asked me on time here today
[02:34:58] what was it what what do you say to yourself when you get tired and you want to quit you don't want
[02:35:06] to do anything anymore and I said I don't say anything to myself I just keep doing it
[02:35:11] next question see what that is that's that manual set you know if you're on auto you're like
[02:35:17] what are I feel like if you like not doing if I feel like I want to quit but you're just going to
[02:35:21] sort of quit automatically no no no no no no yeah take control yeah exactly right so yeah
[02:35:28] boom there's a good psychological warfare joccal will link it's good for waking up early if you
[02:35:34] have a day that you don't want to wake up earth you're gonna slip on your diet it's face it we
[02:35:37] come home for hungry nothing's in the house except for some donuts oh snap the chance of you
[02:35:43] even the donuts goes up little bit let's just face it actually a lot so boy what do you do there
[02:35:49] exactly right that's what you shouldn't have done it in your house but if you do in the event
[02:35:52] of you having donuts yes listen a psychological warfare sugar coated lies that's the name snack time
[02:35:58] and and the psychological warfare album number two is being slowly prepared at this point it's
[02:36:06] it's blue people are asking me for specific tracks little areas of weakness in life you know
[02:36:13] also jocco it you can get on amazon dot com after you click through if you don't want to dead
[02:36:22] lift in excess of 8000 pounds don't get it get a different kind of tea if you want to dead
[02:36:29] lift 8000 pounds guaranteed good jocco like to yeah because that is what it does it does taste good though yeah
[02:36:36] it all serious I gotta get some of that I don't think we have any here it was a give you some sorry
[02:36:42] age limit on that or what no no we are I do have to give you heads up there is we haven't done
[02:36:48] it yet but we're gonna have to put some kind of a fertility warning on there as well because apparently
[02:36:53] several drinkers have impregnated their wives sure after drinking jocco like tea okay from unplanned
[02:37:00] just gotta be careful is that when it says discipline equals freedom on the other side or sort of yeah
[02:37:06] you kind of got to come back yeah let me you got to yeah yeah exactly you need to heat that with with you with your
[02:37:14] loved one uh way of the warrior kid guess when it's available now now you know come so
[02:37:21] order it Amazon's gonna start appreciating it in a day or two so get ahead of the rush get it while
[02:37:30] you can because otherwise it's you're not gonna get it and all the other kids are gonna be destroying
[02:37:38] your dreams with their strength and power you can also pre-order discipline equals freedom
[02:37:45] field manual that comes out knocked over of course extreme ownership you get that one if you
[02:37:50] want to lead and win you can get a copy that for you and your team also while you're on Amazon
[02:37:57] you can get this book right here that we reviewed today brothers forever it's read it get it read it
[02:38:07] you know written by written by the kernel here and again we went over a fraction of it today
[02:38:13] there's so many lessons learned in it pick it up if you need leadership training beyond books
[02:38:18] you can contact echelon front leadership and management consultants applying combat leadership
[02:38:24] principles to business and life email info at echelonfront.com also the muster coming up
[02:38:33] round the corner Mary-Out-Gran Markey New York City May 4th and 5th leadership strategy tactics
[02:38:41] and winning going to extreme ownership.com and sign up for that can also sign up for the one
[02:38:46] that we're having in Texas by the way so you get that's available now where in Texas Austin Texas
[02:38:52] on it is happening over there we will be having little sessions a session at least there
[02:39:00] it's been discussed with the folks it on it we're also hanging around on the interwebs by the way
[02:39:06] on Twitter on Instagram and on the Facy book echo is at echelotrol's iamat jockel willink
[02:39:13] and for the Travis minion foundation on Facebook and Instagram you can search Travis minion
[02:39:20] Travis minion foundation on Twitter it's at tm foundation at tm foundation
[02:39:30] if you want to check out the Travis minion foundation and on the interweb itself
[02:39:36] it's Travis minion dot org echo you got anything else what we did Travis
[02:39:46] Russell had he's 184 that navy so what do you walk around it like to 15 you know like
[02:39:54] guys get a breathless cut weight that's cutting a lot of weight there but he's probably
[02:39:59] about 210 250 that's still a lot of leap that's a house right there yeah yeah yeah the big guys
[02:40:07] at one eighty four college rest oh yeah for sure for sure like a all-out battle yeah like injuries
[02:40:13] yeah tough tough that it seems like the most I don't want to say dynamic but the most like the
[02:40:20] main all you get heavy weights huge power but they start to slow down lightweight they're flying
[02:40:26] around super technical but they don't have that you know I mean that part then the 180 fours
[02:40:32] the middle weights are tough they're tall really tough yeah they got yeah they got both battles
[02:40:38] some people in there respect thank you sir Q echo do you have any any any clothing closing
[02:40:45] comments yeah well I just I want to thank you guys thanks jocco and I go for having me here and
[02:40:52] give me the opportunity to talk about the story a little bit and thanks for what you guys do
[02:40:57] to to talk about leadership and the lessons that you've learned jocco and in the navy seals
[02:41:05] and sharing that with others and bringing new insights about our men and women in uniform I mean
[02:41:12] you hear so much these days about the troubles that our service members have you know whether
[02:41:19] they're missing a limb they don't have a job they've got PTSD but you know we you also should
[02:41:26] be talking about is what an inspiration they are the guys they put on the uniform the men and
[02:41:30] women are put on the uniform are an inspiration for this country and and thanks for what you're
[02:41:36] doing to get the word out there thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about this book but
[02:41:40] but more broadly the the story of our men and women in uniform and how they live every day with
[02:41:47] that if not me then who motto thanks absolutely honest or and you know sir one more thing before
[02:41:55] we close out I know you you you you were talking about a letter that you had that kind of
[02:42:00] talked about some of the leadership principles that we really learn in the military and really
[02:42:09] make military leaders excel and it's a letter that you got from one of the Marines that that
[02:42:15] worked for your son yeah you know it's sort of interesting that I you know here I am coming
[02:42:21] out to talk to you and I've had the book published for a couple years now but I just I just got this letter
[02:42:29] through coach Garrett you talked about coach Garrett and now this this Marine that was with my
[02:42:35] son sir with my son hooked up with coach Garrett had one of the wrestling events and said hey
[02:42:40] you know Colonel Man you give him this letter and you know here he is checking in after 10 years
[02:42:52] and he says things he'd like to share with me a couple things things they're not well known by
[02:43:01] people other than those and my myself that served with Travis in Follugia those memories of
[02:43:06] things I'm able to hold on to but have been wanting to share with his family as well I apologize for
[02:43:13] such a long silence it seems to be the best opportunity for me to share them with you by passing
[02:43:21] along this letter any hey actually passed along the bracelet he had Travis's name on the bracelet
[02:43:27] he'd worn for the past 10 years especially as he says with 10 year anniversary coming up
[02:43:32] hey talked about you know the backstory is from Columbus Ohio he joined Lima Company
[02:43:41] then meant Travis and the rest of the Marines in January 2007 as they rotated in to work with
[02:43:47] the Iraqi Army counterparts at the time I hit my two-year mark in the core but it not yet
[02:43:55] have an opportunity to work with a true leader with so many with so few Marines assigned to the
[02:44:02] mid team Travis's my team leader Travis was a true leader and someone that was easy for me to look
[02:44:07] up to and respect he had the perfect balance of caring for his Marines without babying them
[02:44:13] discipline without being too harsh being laid back we're not involved in missions
[02:44:19] while standing while still leading from the front once it got time to get to work done and we talked
[02:44:25] about that as I progressed through my military career Travis was a leader that strived to be
[02:44:35] your son said the example of how a leader should be I read the book and enjoyed learning
[02:44:42] more about him as a man not just the Marine I also enjoyed getting to know Brendan
[02:44:46] and they're incredibly rare friendship it made it easy for me to connect how he was as a person
[02:44:52] back home and how he was raised so he said I wanted to share two stories so I hit the highlights of this
[02:44:59] but first story he found Connie humorous and he talked about Travis having to sense humor so
[02:45:07] here you go it's February they're out the patrol turn out to be un-eventsful for the most part
[02:45:14] until they started return to the alpose as they were returning an idea it was initiated and
[02:45:23] ambush started thankfully the idea did not detonate the artillery show it was attached to
[02:45:29] but only the blasting cap and nose of the shell blue this injured his soldier
[02:45:37] and another Iraqi soldier was shot while rushing to the aid
[02:45:41] both were non life threatening once the ambush started I began to radio and back to request QFR
[02:45:49] although Travis was not on the patrol he managed to find a way to get on the QFR to QRF team
[02:45:56] as a short ambush subsided the QRF showed up Travis's presence comma any nerves that I had
[02:46:03] the injured Iraqi had already taken back to receive treatment would I remember most about the situation
[02:46:11] was that Travis always about Travis that brings a smile on my face I was standing on the north side
[02:46:17] of the road and Travis was on the south I remember he began to cross the road in a jog just as an
[02:46:22] Iraqi soldier let about a burst of his AK to the east to stop a vehicle from approaching
[02:46:28] as soon as the burst went off Travis trip across the road doing a barrel roll and coming back to his feet
[02:46:35] with his helmet push back on his head as soon as he reached me on the north side of the road he said
[02:46:40] is everybody okay over here I replied yes sir everyone is okay are you okay sir
[02:46:47] to which he responded yeah but somebody should get that pod hole fix
[02:46:51] and a near death experience for me this part of a laughter as my leader had just
[02:46:59] stopped been startled by an Iraqi army warning shot causing the fall and barrel roll in the middle
[02:47:03] of Iraq history so having that sense of humor right they were left at yourself and then the other
[02:47:09] story shared is is about this guy's birthday my second story of Travis is more sentimental
[02:47:15] my birthday is April 3rd and turning 21 that night we all slated we're slated for overnight
[02:47:23] observation searching for posby dees but I've been pulled from the mission to remain behind
[02:47:28] I thought nothing of it went to bed on the second ready to be on the QQRF in case anything
[02:47:35] were to happen admit night I was woken up and told I needed to go to the COC because they were
[02:47:41] requesting me over the radio I shook the cobwebs from my head and walked to the COC after
[02:47:46] calling to the patrol on the radio I was greeted with Travis Travis's voice in a whisper
[02:47:51] simply to wish me a happy birthday throughout the madness of the trolling stand week all night
[02:47:57] and searching for IDs he had kept me in mind and as soon as the day transition from the second
[02:48:02] to the third he called over the radio to wish me a happy birthday a week later I left Iraq
[02:48:08] the mid team and Travis I will never forget that I'll never forget him yeah so
[02:48:16] you know I just received this the other day and you know still hear from guys that he served with
[02:48:21] and just little things that you know caring about your people having a good sense of humor
[02:48:28] leadership traits that we can all use
[02:48:32] crazy hell these themes they just they're coming you hear everywhere as far as good leaders you
[02:48:41] know like all the good leaders they have these themes that dichotomy like you got to be strict
[02:48:46] but you can't be like a slave driver you know it's that balancing act I guess that's why
[02:48:51] there's just a few leaders because it's so hard to do you know it's like some people think
[02:48:56] I'm just gonna go I'm an extreme guy you know I'm gonna go extreme but it's not like that
[02:49:00] even a guy with an extreme personality like Travis who can push himself that hard to be a
[02:49:06] national level wrestler understands leadership to a point where he knows what it means to call back
[02:49:12] to base while you're out on patrol and wish a happy birthday to one of your men yeah yeah
[02:49:18] it's just awesome it's a good way to put it to echo it's a it's a balancing act you know for
[02:49:23] for everyone it's sort of figured out you know it's not one one situation for everyone you know
[02:49:31] well sir thanks again for for coming on the show and ensuring this story
[02:49:40] thank you for your service in the Marine Corps and of course thank you for raising such
[02:49:47] an incredible man and marine and hero and son and once again we see another another
[02:50:06] another tale another legend of bravery and of sacrifice from these two heroic leaders
[02:50:20] but I still want to remind everyone as always that these are not
[02:50:24] imagined legends or myths then these aren't symbolic stories that were made up
[02:50:37] to reinforce some ancient parable these are the lives of men
[02:50:46] real men who stepped up and stepped forward and gave everything for us and in that sacrifice
[02:51:07] we see the unmeasurable suffering of the families rock with pain and yet filled with pride
[02:51:23] to have known and to have absorbed the light and the love that these men emanated
[02:51:37] in life a light that will not fade and will not grow old like the flesh
[02:51:50] a light that will guide us all down the righteous path toward the good regardless of the cost
[02:52:06] for them we hold our heads higher and do our best to make the world a better place
[02:52:24] like they did
[02:52:25] we will do our utmost to emulate Brendan Looney we will be strong we will be accountable
[02:52:41] we will not complain and in the most trying of times we will ask ourselves a simple question
[02:52:52] the same one the Travis manion asked when he faced the darkness of the world
[02:53:05] if not me then who
[02:53:18] can
[02:53:32] out.