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#222: Joe Kent's SHOCKING Journey From Green Beret to Political Advocate
In this captivating episode of Security Halt! Podcast, Joe Kent, a former Green Beret, shares his powerful journey from the front lines of military service to the complex world of politics. Hear how Kent's experiences in the Special Forces and his personal life, including navigating family struggles and tragic loss, motivated him to step back into public service and advocate for change.
Together with host Deny Caballero, Kent dives into critical issues facing veterans today, including the challenges of transitioning to civilian life and the pressing need for veterans to take an active role in politics, especially in local governance. The conversation touches on everything from military strategy and foreign policy to the impacts of immigration and defense spending on American communities.
This thought-provoking episode encourages listeners to engage in peace advocacy, understand the complexities of congressional oversight, and push for accountability in government. Joe Kent’s journey inspires action, highlighting how veterans can bring their leadership to the forefront of the political landscape.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Joe Kent's Journey
02:52 The Call to Military Service
05:53 Transitioning from Ranger to Special Forces
09:05 The Impact of 9/11 on Military Careers
12:01 Navigating the Complexities of War
14:57 The Role of Family in Military Life
17:56 The Decision to Re-enter Public Service
24:26 The Call to Action for Veterans
26:41 The Role of Veterans in Politics
28:45 The Complexity of War and Peace
30:39 Evaluating America's Military Strategy
32:54 The Need for Oversight in Defense Spending
36:51 The Consequences of Open Borders
40:49 The Impact of Immigration on American Society
44:33 The Reality of Criminal Elements in Immigration
49:43 The Importance of Local Engagement in Politics
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LinkedIn: Joe Kent
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Website: joekentforcongress.com
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Speaker 2:Let's go with an expert in guerrilla warfare with a man who's the best? With guns with knives with his bare hands a man who's been trained to ignore ignore weather to live off the land job was disposed of enemy personnel to kill period, with my attrition joe kent.
Speaker 1:Welcome security on podcast brother. Thank you for being here today yeah, man, thanks for having me absolutely, man um.
Speaker 1:It's remarkable to see yet another green beret that's willing to go back into the arena to be of service again, this time in what I think is quite possibly one of the most hostile and difficult places to go, and that's our government. So thank you for being willing to again throw your hat in the ring and to be there to represent the people of Washington. I think that it is not just a noble cause, but it's something that a lot of our veterans need to look into. I think that our government historically has had, or used to have, a large representation of veterans within leadership, and now all of a sudden it's become something that we're sort of like kept aside. It's not for us, we're not wanted in, or very few are welcomed in, and today I want to dive into that. But I also want to dive into your story. How did you become somebody of service and how did you find yourself in the military to begin with?
Speaker 2:Man, you know, I think about this all the time because now I have two young sons my boys are nine and seven, and so I try to put myself like back in their shoes. You know, as you educate them and you know, try to figure out what they're going to be. And I try to remember, like when did I decide I was going to, like, join the army and try and be a commando? And I don't remember a time when it was even a question for me. So I guess the GI Joe propaganda worked really well on me and the A-team, and then you know, but honestly it's just something I think I was really born with. Both my grandfathers served, their generation did. But I'm not from a military family. I grew up in Portland, oregon, which is about as non-military as you can get. But really, man, from the time I was, I guess, probably nine, seven, something like that I decided that I was going to go attempt to be GI Joe and then, as I got a little bit older, obviously something like that, I decided that I was going to go attempt to be GI Joe and then, as I got a little bit older, obviously we're probably about the same age.
Speaker 2:This is pre-internet. I couldn't, I couldn't Google specifically how do I could become a Green Beret? I had to, you know, read the old Vietnam books and, you know, read newspaper articles and all that. I think the Black Hawk Down incident, when I was 13, watching the savage combat of the streets of Mogadishu, I think that made it very real and I was like, man, there's guys who were not that much older than me who were out there. Many of them didn't make it home but were involved in some really savage combat, and so I said, hey, this is doable. And so I went and talked to some recruiters. I had big hopes. They were going to tell me that I didn't need to finish high school and I could just join right away. But they, you know, they just spelled that rumor. They're like, yeah, you actually have to finish high school, but you can go become an Army Ranger right off the bat and so that kind of focused me from a young age.
Speaker 2:But no, I think it's just something that was kind of ingrained in my DNA.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. It's funny how media, both print and video and TV, has played a role in so many of our lives, making this decision and those historic moments for guys. I mean I remember 9-11. That was another huge kickoff point for us. So many of us were like okay clear line in the sand.
Speaker 2:This is what we're doing, Um, but you didn't just go into the rank and file Like you went and you wanted to go right into being a Ranger. Like what was that? Like? Uh, yeah, man, it was really the uh. I knew I couldn't go right into being a Green Beret. I did. I'd done a bunch of research, you know, read all the books I could, and the Green Berets to me seemed like they had the most diverse mission, Um, and so they were never kind of without real world action, even in, you know, the 90s and the 80s, and it seemed like we were never going to go to combat like full scale combat, ever again. You know, you'd read there was these training missions and these dirty wars going on.
Speaker 2:There's Green Berets there they were there because they had special skills, they spoke foreign languages, they had a really, you know, diverse portfolio for lack of better term, but you couldn't go right into special forces. When I was, you know, looking at joining the military and then again the Black Hawk Down incident happened and this elite fighting force that was out there, you know it was the, it was the Ranger Battalion. Yeah, there was the Delta Force guys, obviously, but there was, you know, rangers and they took guys essentially right off the street. They had a selection process but you could sign right up for it. So that was what I told the recruiters I wanted to do. The recruiters were like well, that makes you infantry. And I was like that sounds great. And they were like, hey, you know, you can do other things Right. And I was like there is nothing else in the army that I want to do. And they were like, man, we got a live one, like get this kid a contract before he changes his. So it was, it was pretty quick for me.
Speaker 2:And then, uh, man, going to basic training and airborne school and rip and all that. I was just really impressed with number one, just the caliber of guys I felt like going, and you know basic training. You know you had a diversity of guys, but there was a lot of us there that wanted to either be rangers or green berets, um, and so I was like man, I'm finally around my people. This is this really cool. I actually really enjoyed it. Obviously there's challenges and stuff. And then you know airborne school is anticlimactic. But at the end they let you jump out of an airplane. So I was like, all right, this is progressively getting cooler and cooler.
Speaker 2:And then RIP, as it was called then the Ranger Indoctrination Process. They came and picked us up from airborne school. You know that was that was the first time I saw real-life Army Rangers. I was like this is very intimidating. This shit just got real. It's not a warm welcome, not a warm welcome. You got to run down to the barracks and all that stuff. But I was like, hey, I'm in the right spot, these are the guys that I want to be around. The same thing was showing up at Ranger Battalion. It was like, hey, we're training for war, the rest of the army's not cause. This is the late nineties and they were really clear about it. They were like the rest of the army is not training for war right now, but we are because we could be called at a moment's notice and this has happened in recent history between that Black Hawk down incident or Panama, grenada, those types of things.
Speaker 1:So it was a man, it was just an awesome experience and I was just around great people yeah, and then being able to move right into going into uh, you know, selection, going into and just saying, punch it.
Speaker 1:I think when you look at your, your history and the way you transitioned from ranger regiment, going in, that you were a man on a mission, you were constantly moving and going, like what was the big driving force behind that? A lot of guys, like myself included, like I started out in 82nd love my time there but it was like okay, a couple deployments in. You realize, hey, you guys don't have it all figured out. Like I want to be around like the best of the best, that like there's no doubt that the guys to my left and to my right know what the fuck they're doing. And that was a catalyst for me. But in ranger, you know, the guys to your left and right are the absolute best. Like what was the driving force to continue pursuing that next phase and that growth mindset of like this, I can be better, I can advance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, ranger Regiment is awesome. It's a great place, especially to start out, because your job it's very, very simple and you actually have to focus on your job. I mean it's shoot, move, communicate, be physically fit, be tactically proficient, um. But in the late 90s it was kind of like if you had been there for a year, a year and a half, you'd kind of seen the full cycle, you know, and you obviously got a chance to continue to step up your game and move up in leadership positions, um. But it was uh, it was a I don't want to like say it was a simple mission, like to put it down, but it was just like, hey, direct action, strategic strike, airfield seizure, and by no means that master any of these things. But it was just like, okay, this is our mission, portfolio and if these things don't come up, we will be training forever.
Speaker 1:And again.
Speaker 2:this sounds weird after you know we've been at war now for 20 plus years. But in the late 90s I was like man this potentially could be, you know just all we do and there's nothing wrong with that but I was just like man down the street, because 1st Special Forces Group was right down the street, no-transcript. See these guys who look to me, uh, to be way older.
Speaker 2:obviously I'm like 18 or 19 and so they're in their mid-20s and I'm like wow, it's much older they've got long hair because at the time, ranger regiment didn't have long hair, we had high and tights or shaved heads, and they were still training on, you know, advanced weapon systems. They were doing all the stuff that we were doing plus a little more, but they were deploying, you know, all over the world.
Speaker 2:Those guys were focused on the pacific, um, and so I just kind of saw that these guys were actively engaged they had real world missions that they were doing, and so I was like, okay, once I've been at the time for like three years, let's, uh, let's go ahead and make the transition, cause also, you know, um, guys in groups seem to have more longevity. There was guys who looked to me to be to be very much older um, who were still at the range, shoot, move, communicate. Uh, they were E6s, e7s, e8s. There was like these crazy warrant officer things that I saw like once in a while when I was like what is that? That's kind of cool, but it just seemed to be a place where you can mature as a warrior, and so to me it was just like let's go take that next step.
Speaker 2:That culturally wasn't very popular at Ranger Battalion. I think the only acceptable reasons to leave Battalion were either death or going to Delta Force. That was it. So, you know, saying you wanted to go to Special Forces, selection was not popular, but it was something that happened, I mean because the infantry you know there's only so many guys that can be a squad leader in a company, right, or in a platoon Same thing, platoon sergeants so you would see E6s and E7s kind of disappear and not all of them were going to Delta Force.
Speaker 2:Obviously None of them wanted to go to the Rape Army, so a lot of them weren't going to group. So I just figured kind of after being there for a bit. And then, you know, I got there at the tail end of the crisis in Kosovo and we had gotten spun up for some of that when some American soldiers got held hostage, spun up and spun down, and then same thing after uh, the coal bombing, um, and so it was just like you know, unless the balloon goes up for the exact right mission, I don't think I'm going to get a shot at going.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to go somewhere else. That's going to give me a little bit better of a chance of guys that find themselves in that same predicament at ranger regiment you do have. I mean you, you're going to be masters of the same thing and anybody that has done the same job over and over will tell you like man at one point. You just get to that, that that definitive line where you're like man, I gotta try something new. That's the beauty of sf. That's, that's what I fell in love with the fact that there were so many different things you could do and you're constantly going. And in the GWAT era, guys were getting it. They were getting it, especially where you ended up in fifth group.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I really lucked out, man. I mean, I knew that the Middle East was a hot spot, especially after I was in basic training when the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya got hit, and then in battalion when the coal happened and Bin Laden had declared war on America. So I was like I'm going to go to fifth group because that's again, let's stack the deck as much as we can in favor Getting to get in the fight. And then September 11th, the attacks of September 11th happened when I was actually in SFAS. Oh wow. And so the whole military changed.
Speaker 2:While I was out there trying to pass land nav, I had about a month-long delay. I didn't realize the entire world changed. They told us while we were in selection. I was just like, okay, so do we still do land nav? Did I make it? Yeah, going to fifth group, I think was a great opportunity. And at the time again think was a great opportunity. And at the time again, like not. There was a fair amount of us that wanted to go to fifth group because, like the the men on horseback thing happened when I was in the q quarters, um, and I was just afraid I was gonna miss the war. But you know, by the time I got to fifth group, you know, fearful that I had missed the whole thing. One of the first things they told us when we checked in was like these wars aren't going anywhere and most of you guys in the next like 60 days will be in combat yeah, it's funny looking back now.
Speaker 1:As young men, we just thought like we didn't question anything, that you're just you're, you're sitting there like of course we're going to war, of course we're going to afghanistan, of course you're going to iraq. These, these are the bad guys, this is the enemy. And now, on the backside, as an adult, as somebody that in that awareness kicks in once you become a warrant officer and you start understanding the complexities of these situations. You're like, wait a second, like what have we done here in the past 20 years?
Speaker 1:Yeah here in the past 20 years. Yeah, and I think for me, the biggest moral injury, the biggest issue, was the downfall of afghanistan. Um, and, looking in your journey, looking in your life, you make it through. You're a season 18, bravo. Then you choose to go to an 18 fox. You're, you're following this pathway of like, how can I stay on the team for as long as possible? Yep, then becoming a warrant.
Speaker 1:And then the biggest thing is a lot of us don't experience, you know, father, a lot of us wait, but you dive in, you marry another service member, you're having a family, like in those discussions between you and Shannon, were you guys ever thinking of like hey, like this thing is, you know we're going 20 plus years. At what point are we going to, like, you know, pull the ejection seat and start moving on with our lives? That's one thing that I realized. Now it's like Holy cow, like there was so many moments where I was like man, like is it time to leave? And it was like, well, no, because you fall in love with the mission, you fall in love with being on a team, fall in love doing the job, and that kind of keeps you at bay from thinking deeper and you're like wait a second 20 years of war.
Speaker 2:What are we getting out of this? Yeah, you know it was a progression for me. For the most part, though, I always viewed myself like as a as a warrior. This is like my country needs warriors. I'm one of them. I, I like it. Even like my worst deployments, I still I still liked it. And that that might sound weird to some people, I know you guys, you can relate.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, a hundred percent. Um, and so I just felt like, hey, for whatever reason, god you know, gave me this ability Um, not that I'm like God's gift of warfare or anything, but he made it so that this was tolerable for me. So I feel like, if my country is going to be involved in combat, why would I be okay with letting other people go? Why would I go? And then I really gravitated heavily towards the Intel side after my first couple deployments. Number one I'm seeing that, like hey, special forces are really unique, like all these other soft units that are out here. They need like this massive package of enablers, whereas, like, we are home growing this. And so I went from being a guy who was enamored with whoever could shoot the best on the range and kick in the doors to, like man, who are the guys that are putting together the intel. Like I had some really good foxes and really good warrants that were right there at the ground level with me, that were mapping out, you know, better than any of the Intel agencies, like we're all the key players. And Jay Shalmati, where we were moving and trying to recover hostages, like, and that's because we were just on the ground level. And so, seeing that, that moved me towards Intel.
Speaker 2:But then, after my first couple of deployments I did, especially really early on, after we like caught Saddam, uh, in iraq. And then I was, I was like, so we caught saddam, we've caught most of the guys in the deck of cards, like are we gonna leave? But then I was like you know, a 23, 24 year old me, I'm like why are we building more bases? This doesn't make any sense. Why are we making everything permanent over here? And then you know, you fast forward a couple of appointments later I'm like, oh, because this shit's actually never supposed to end. The purpose is for it to continue to go on and on. And then you do your research and so I I was pretty and that like motivated me more to be on the intel side and eventually go over the agency. Because I was like I want to be somewhere where I have the, the credentials and the ability to go speak to decision makers and be like, hey, you're being lied to or hey, this is the long track, um, so this doesn't happen again in future generations.
Speaker 2:Um, but you know, once I met Shannon and we started our family, I mean she had multiple conversations with me, um, where you know, she was a professional too. She joined her after nine, 11. Um, she felt the same way. I did that. This was, you know, her role, um. But after a while she was like, look we, especially once we started having kids. She was like, hey, we've done our part. Like we, we got to pull the ejection seat. And it was like Charlie Brown, you know, talking like the teacher when, when Charlie Brown's like I'm going to ground branch today, I retire because this is what I do for a living, and she was like, yeah, I mean, I get it, but you do need to think about life after the military. And I was like, well, think about that after, like, my next deployment or two, about that, you know. So I was constantly, uh, I think, bargaining um with that just had so much more foresight than I did in that regard.
Speaker 2:I think women are a lot more mature than men are. Uh, especially about, you know, timelines of families and all that, but, uh, but yeah, I mean, I mean some of it was like I feel like this is my duty, uh, but a lot of it was just like selfish, Like I, this is what I do, this is my, this is my entire identity, you know, and that that's a hard thing for a lot of guys to move away from. It's like I don't know who me is, if I'm not like some kind of elite commando on the next secret mission that's totally going to save america. You know, I say that halfway jokingly because it's you can always justify it to yourself, but like no, no, just one more, because this one's so important and I'm so important, I have to go absolutely.
Speaker 1:You just did it, man. You just hit it around the head. The it's we're good at something, but not just good like we're great. We have I have fucking a stack of records to say I'm really good at this. People, people look up to me and they tell me that I'm doing great. Like why would I want to give that up? Why would I want to give up something that I've become an expert at? I have this funny hat on that says I'm the fucking best in the world at doing this. And guys have such a hard time with the identity piece. And then that purpose piece because, like, if I'm not this, then what the hell am I?
Speaker 1:yeah and then like it's no, no wonder why we fall apart when we transition and and in your case there wasn't a transition that was gently, you know, slid into place. It wasn't. You know, you're meeting with a career counselor, you're meeting with the TAPS individuals and saying, hey, you know, hey, joe, you're going to start your transition process. You got 24 months, no, like it was the worst thing that you could ever imagine happening. And then everything else that comes with that transition hitting you in the face. How did you navigate that? I think about transition as a beast and how difficult it is for a normal, everyday Green Beret or Ranger or SEAL to go through. And it's difficult. But when you add in the complexities of grief, add in the complexities of now you're a single father, how did you navigate that brother?
Speaker 2:One step at a time. I think had Shannon not gotten killed overseas, I know for a fact, I'd still be in this line of work, in that line of work in some capacity. I was already in the agency, Um, and I planned on making that a second career. Um, we, we had a plan to kind of move away from, you know, deploying constantly. I mean we were going to basically Shannon was making a job at the agency as well, She'd already started that process and we were going to go work, you know, overseas together. Just, you know, you can do that over there.
Speaker 2:That was sort of our goofy transition plan was just to take everybody overseas, as much sense as that made. But so that was our plan. That's the way it was going to work out in my head. So I literally had never thought about rejoining regular for me regular society. Talking to you, you understand, because you're a great, brave boy I say to other people I retired on a Friday and I sworn at the agency on a Monday. They're like, wow, that's like some cloak and dagger stuff. I'm like actually that's probably the most normal thing a guy with my background can do.
Speaker 2:I'm like the guys that got out clean break, like my buddies that just got out and went back home and got like a regular job. They're the guys I'm like how the hell did you do that? And I had no. It was like a different planet for me and so that's why I took the path I did. But then when Shannon got killed, I was overseas as well Because selfishly I had done a real quick deployment.
Speaker 2:My kids were one and three there with my parents and when she was killed I was just like I am not supposed to be here. I have kids. It was like a lot of reality all at once. It was the grief. But then also I just felt really guilty for putting my kids in a position where they could have become orphans.
Speaker 2:Essentially, on a day I wasn't doing anything super dangerous, but I was still, you know, in harm's way and the enemy gets a vote.
Speaker 2:So I kind of had a moment of clarity where I was like I gotta just I gotta get away from this lock, stock and barrel, and so I made a decision pretty quickly that I was going to figure out the rest later and just kind of cut myself off, you know, resign from the agency, kind of get out of the D, the DC area, uh, and come back home.
Speaker 2:And so really it was. You know, had I not had the kids, I think I probably would have been a mess. Um, but you know, I think being a father, especially then automatically being a single father, you, you, you have to step up. And so it was like, all right, let's just triage. And you know, I got to take care of the kids and make sure they're good, but they can get out of this line of work a hundred percent. And then really, since then, it's really just kind of been one step at a time. I, like you said, I never had a clear transition path laid out and I'm still kind of trying to work on what I want to be when I grow up but it is what it is and really just trying to make sure my kids are good and in a stable environment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and anybody that has followed you and is keeping up with you. We see somebody that has dedicated their life to being a warrior, to putting on that flag, going into danger and taking care of business. And now you're having to deal with the complexities, like I said, of taking care of a family, raising boys, two boys. Anybody would have said, hey, Joe, go off into the sunset, enjoy being a dad. And nobody would say, hey, say anything negative about that. But why would you be willing to step into the next arena? That's, I would say, even just as dangerous and more complex as going into government, Like what drove that decision, what made you say you know what I need? I need to get back in, I need to be of service again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean really it was you know politics kind of got injected into it kind of right away. I was a pretty early supporter, and so was Shannon, of Trump because of his foreign policy. When Trump was on the debate stage back in you know, 2015, 2016. On terror and our strategy in the war on terror, especially the iraq war, and trump like went right to the throat of that and said like no, it was a, it was a mistake, we screwed up, we need to get out. I was like holy crap, like how does the how does the game show host apprentice guy understand foreign policy better than like all these so-called like? He's saying the same things that me and all my friends have been saying now for for quite a while. Uh, and then shannon was killed a month after trump tried to get our troops out of Syria.
Speaker 2:The first time and one of the last conversations I had with Shannon because we could talk on secure systems, it was right after the order came down and she was like we're not leaving and I was watching the chaos at the agency, I was tracking the chaos in the DOD. Last things I said to her was like please do not be one of the last people to die in a war that our country's already forgotten about, like, just stay safe. Because I could just see the friction and you understand this when you've got conflicting guidance coming down and you've got like an overall command, the president and everyone below him saying, okay, we need to get troops out, and then you have these other supportive commanders who are like no, no, no, we need to justify our existence while we need to stay here. That's going to create just I mean, regardless of how you feel about the politics of it that creates a very chaotic environment, and a lot of that happened, I think, in the Afghan withdrawal as well, and a lot of that happened before under Obama, and so it was just like something bad is going to happen.
Speaker 2:I had that feeling, and so, after Shannon was killed, I started speaking out on behalf of Trump's foreign policy, just throwing out my credentials, you know, saying, hey, this is me, like people are criticizing Trump. And there was a lot of, you know, generals and ambassadors and these guys who had made, who had gotten rewarded for making bad decisions the last 20 years, who were saying like, oh, the one guy who's calling BS on it, who the people chose, by the way, he doesn't understand what's going on, and so I kind of wanted to serve as a counter measure for that. So I did some work on the Trump campaign and I just felt, you know, hey, I'm going to speak truth right now, and who cares? Then I am going to ride off into the sunset with my kids and just not worry about it.
Speaker 2:And then the country imploded. I mean the COVID lockdowns, we had a bunch of riots here in the Pacific Northwest and so ultimately, like my, my Congresswoman voted for Trump's impeachment and, like, at the end of the day, a lot of people were really mad at my district about it, but nobody was doing anything and I thought I was like someone who's like actually an established politician, they're going to step forward and they're going to go after her and I'm going to be able just to support them. But that just didn't happen, and so it was kind of like that you know that old, like hey, if you're looking around to figure out who's in charge, congratulations, it's you. You know, yep, I just had that moment and I remarried last year, but I'd been with my girlfriend at the time, fiance at the time, heather, who was also in the military, and we just had this conversation and it was just like nobody here is stepping up because they're not seeing this.
Speaker 2:Not that I have like, not that I'm anything special, but I was like it's never the guy who's the best qualified, it's always the guy who has like the grit and the determination to step forward. So I was like what the hell? I'm going to give it a whirl. And I just really feel like the moment that we were at then and right now because things have only gotten worse since then the moment that we're in right now as a country, like everybody has to do something and I know most veterans probably don't want to hear that because I believe we kind of felt like, hey, we are fighting our generation's greatest war and I think we were. We fought a 20 year war for all volunteer force, and so I really thought that we were all going to get to relax once that was over. But unfortunately that's just not the case and, especially if you look at just how complex the environment is right now, I think it's on us to continue to serve.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, joe. You said it perfectly. Man, like I said before we started recording, I champion this idea of people getting veterans getting involved in our government, being willing to serve again within your community. It's not just thinking about federal government that's important too but you can get involved in your local policies. You can get involved in your local government. You can be of service again, and we need to.
Speaker 1:Once you get older and you realize what we just did for the past 20 years, you realize that we developed a huge system that was dependent on those wars and if you don't think that that system will do everything it can to continue generating income and making policies that benefit them, then I am sorry, you're very disillusioned. It's very real. It's right in your face. We're not 18 anymore, we're not 19. We were lucky, we survived, we made it through it. We owe it to our brothers and sisters that did not to stand up and say enough's enough.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I cannot get over is seeing the pushback from people that you know I would say the oligarchies in our government that have this idea that veterans don't belong in this space. There's a lot of pushback when somebody decides from our class of individuals and they decide they want to run, that they want to be able to be there. And who better to run, who better to be in our government than our veterans, the people that were in these wars for the last 20 years? You've seen what it really costs the human lives on both sides of whatever conflict you look at. You can't just sit here and be like russia's bad and putin's bad and all towards ukraine is like stop. Human lives are on the line. That's what really matters. Like and you said it perfectly in an interview, you said exactly that like we need to stop the killing on both sides.
Speaker 1:People are dying yeah um, it's ridiculous that people don't understand that. Why is it so hard to rally around the idea of peace?
Speaker 2:because there's no money. In peace, I mean, there's very little money, that's it.
Speaker 2:I mean you know, like you and I are both warriors and so we'd be the last guys to tell you that we can, just, like you know, turn all of our, our swords, into plowshares and, you know, have kumbaya. However, like we get sold this false binary all the time that, hey, you are either like a total hippie. That is delusional and you think that like there's going to be no more conflict and you have a child's view, or we need to constantly be at war with basically the entire world and if anybody steps out of line from our view that we need to be ready to fund a proxy war, we need to be ready to deploy the troops, um, and there's like nothing in between, whereas you know, anybody else would say like wait, don't, we have other options here, but you're never given those options. I mean, you're like the question I've been asked and basically we're in debate season right now because the election is less than two weeks away. So I've done four or five debates with my opponent and every single like media talking head has literally asked me like, almost like, what sports team I like, joe, do you want the Ukrainians or the Russians to win in Ukraine? And it's just like, I'm sorry, are we in like a Marvel comic book, like do I have to pick Superman or Lex Luthor here? Like this is a ridiculous way to view something as complex as war and peace and foreign policy. And look, I like to say hey, I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I understand pattern recognition.
Speaker 2:For the last 20 plus years we have I mean really actually since the end of World War II America has been told that we have to be deeply invested in the security for the rest of the world. We have to provide security for the rest of the world and at a moment's notice, we have to be ready to get involved in all kinds of conflicts. For very nebulous reasons. In Vietnam it was the domino theory, war on Terror. Initially it was very clear cut, we got attacked, we're going to go hit those guys back. But the second that bin Laden scooted across the mountains into Pakistan, it was like, actually we're not going to go after that guy anymore. We need to build some nations. And, by the way, there's this Iraq place over here. That needs to become your focus. And so for me it's just pattern recognition. I'm just like we've tried this now for quite some time and I would love to say that it's paid off. I wish, like hell man I'm sure you probably feel the same way I wish I could go on the news right now and be like actually our strategy it's really solid. I know that because I deployed, and we should continue to deploy, troops to these places, because I can quantify what America has gained, but by any metric that's measurable.
Speaker 2:America has not gained from the strategy. As a matter of fact, we've only lost, I mean in terms of lives, obviously. Obviously 8,000 in the war on terror, 60,000 in Vietnam. It is America's safer, like the war on terror. The estimates vary, but it's like six to nine trillion is what it cost us and I'm sorry with that investment, what was America's ROI Like? We can't even secure our own border right now. Drive through any major city and there's there's american citizens. Yeah, maybe, maybe some of them made some bad decisions, but they're living like in squalor under bridges, like.
Speaker 2:I am not okay with that, you know, and especially when washington dc wants to continue justifying sending hundreds of billions of dollars overseas, and I think a big reason why they don't want guys like us there is because we can call them out. We can be like no, no, everything that you just said, guy. You just said guy in an impressive military uniform from the Pentagon who wants a $1 trillion budget. It didn't pay off. I'm not saying that obviously we need to defund the defense apparatus. We need a defense apparatus.
Speaker 2:But what you're asking me for more money for? I'm going to ask you some very specific questions, and they don't want us asking specific questions. They want somebody with no background in national security to ask them questions so they can say look, this is very complicated. If you're good, I'll entrust you some secret information and then we're on the same team and then I can trust you to help us. Whatever preserve democracy. So it just works out much better for them and they can continue running these massive deficits that don't benefit america. They benefit them if they don't have people who understand how it actually works. So yeah, and that's why I really think, especially with the federal government, running for Congress is no fun, but I do think having veterans in a place that has oversight over the defense apparatus, I think it's absolutely critical.
Speaker 1:It's a no-brainer, joe. It's an absolute no-brainer. You're not somebody that is a complete idiot. You understand the importance of the middle ground. You understand that things aren't black or white, yeah, but the most important thing is, you know the, the realities and the consequences of what going into another conflict and and and people I talk about all the time, like if you don't realize how close we are to a major conflict right now. Yeah, you need to wake up.
Speaker 1:Everything that's going on in israel, everything that's going on in in ukraine and with russia and the in iran, the set pieces are moving and our own administration has walked things back. They first said well, the one thing we're not going to do is we're not going to put long-range missiles in ukraine. We're not going to do this. This is one thing we're not going to do is we're not going to put long range missiles in Ukraine. We're not going to do this. This is one thing we're not going to do. Yeah, and you can bet on me, america, I won't do this. Yeah, and enter the SpongeBob, mean let two weeks later. Exactly, we have them. They're there. What do you expect? What do you expect? And now we're doing the same thing, and I understand the importance of Israel, but when you say you're going to put boots on the ground with weapon systems in Israel, what happens when there's a retaliation attack and we lose American lives?
Speaker 2:What happens. And the thing is our founders were absolute geniuses. I mean, they said that, hey, whoever sits in the executive branch, they're the president. They said that, hey, whoever sits in the executive branch, they're the president, they're not a king. So they can't take us off the war. They said the only people that can take us off the war is the ones that are close enough to the people that are going to have to fight the war. Send their sons and daughters off to fight the war and fund the war. That's Congress right.
Speaker 2:But basically since the end of World War II, again we've had Congress that just says our job is just to sign the checks. So we'll be like the money, guys, but don't really put my name on it, we'll let the president do it. And the president's been like well, you know, if the American people aren't paying attention, we can slip in some long range missiles and some more proxy wars here and there. So I would have a lot more respect for congressmen and senators who might like disagree with me, but if they were willing to actually go before Congress and say, hey, this is a war powers resolution, we're going to start funding the Ukrainians with long range missiles that could hit inside Russia. We're going to provide them the intelligence. We might even put some advisors boots on the ground, and here's my plan. Here's what success looks like and here's the strategy.
Speaker 2:I would disagree with it, I would vote against it, but I would actually respect that, because that's following the Constitution and that's actually treating the American people like adults. But we don't get that at all. We just get like you're all in or you hate democracy and you might be sympathetic to Vladimir Putin, so just let billions of dollars go over there, and especially with the case of Russia, ukraine, I mean, this has been going on now for almost February will be three years. This has been going on for two and a half years. So I mean, people disagreed with me back in two years ago when I said this is a really bad idea, but it was abstract. Someone had an idea, I had a counter idea. We didn't see how it would play out. This has been going on. We have two and a half years of data, and so this has been my question.
Speaker 2:I'm like ask yourself what has our strategy gotten us? Russia controls more ground now in ukraine. They did the beginning of the war. A generation of ukrainians are dead, uh, so ukraine's actually out of manpower. That's a human tragedy. But also so like now, what? Now you have the french and the canadians and some other nato countries who don't have enough troops, that are advocating to put advisors advisors which is hilarious. A bunch of green berets can tell you exactly what advisors are. They want to put advisors boots on the ground because the Ukrainians have ran out of people. So it's like again, we go back to like, quantifiable metrics by any quantifiable metric.
Speaker 2:The current strategy has failed. Like you can't sell that this has been a success. But DC, they sell this very well. They always say, hey, we know everything that we've done so far has totally failed, but we're going to keep trying it and it's eventually going to work. It's literally like how casinos are built in Las Vegas. It's the gambler's fallacy. I've invested so much. This next one man, I'm going to hit it big. We're going to hit jackpot. Baby, I'm going to hit jackpot. I can see it. I'm going to get lucky. One more surge. We're turning the corner in Afghanistan. We're turning the corner in Iraq. It's the same thing. And so for me, you just you need to have honest conversations and say, hey, if something's not working, why are we continuing to do it? And I just feel like the actual policy it's never really laid out for the American people what success looks like and when it will actually end, because at the end of the day, it's not supposed to end.
Speaker 2:That's what they don't tell you, that's the thing right there, kid, it ain't supposed to end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's. That's a brutal part that didn't uh kick in until, uh, it was a chief caballero and I realized, like we're gonna, we're, we're just gonna quickly pull out of afghanistan, let it turn into a shithole, and then we're gonna pivot somewhere else. And we did. And that's a heartbreaking thing, just because people think that we don't have troops there and we don't have people there. It's like you, you gotta wake up people like this happening again. And it used to be that. It was the mean old, bad Republicans that are warmongering. Right now it's in the shift. It's so crazy. People aren't like aren't willing to revisit history and look at the situation we're in, like we need to be able to advocate for peace, we need to be able to advocate for putting America first. We've seen the tragedies happening here in the United States and in Hawaii and the response from the federal government is here's $750, but you'll have to fill out the application online. We don't have any internet. Elon will take care of it. Make it make sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, at the same time, they'll send out press releases saying that we just sent hundreds of billions, millions of dollars, billions of dollars to I don't know pick a country, like when the tornado, when the hurricanes hit north carolina and tennessee. They were just like and, by the way, we just sent millions of dollars to lebanon. It's like are you really, are you trying to provoke people right now, or are you just that tone deaf and I don't know which one's worse, like they're both incredibly bad right now. But yeah, I mean, that's the priority of the government. You know, and this is something that I really appreciated about president Trump, was that his starting premise was make America strong at home first, and a lot of that because he understands, like, how things move in world markets. He made us energy independent, which was good for everybody, at the palm price, the grocery store, but also he took away a lot of leverage from, like, the world markets. He made us energy independent, which was good for everybody, at the farm price, the grocery store, but also he took away a lot of leverage from, like, the world's worst actors. Like Putin didn't invade Russia, and some people will say that's because Trump was so hyperbolic, and that might, you know, play into it. But at the end of the day, trump was cutting into Putin's bottom line and that was good for Americans.
Speaker 2:He negotiated the Abraham Accords in the Middle East because he was able it's not because he was super persuasive. And he was like hey, I think all you Sunni golf states should just sit down with your friends the Israelis. And they were like oh, you're right, donald, I should do that. No, he was like hey, guys, you know we have more oil and energy than you, and if you don't get to the negotiating table, I'm going to drive the price of a barrel of oil so far down. So how do you feel about sitting down with my Israeli friends? And they were like okay, you know he was like what's Iran doing?
Speaker 2:And they were like well, they're funding proxies. He's like how about we just cut off their funding? You know he understood leverage and we weren't just using the military. I mean, the State Department guys crack me up because they'll send these guys off to go get master's degrees and PhDs and think big thoughts in Paris and they'll speak foreign languages, but at the end of the day they're a one-trick pony. Their one trick is always like well, we could just deploy the military. And it's like whatever happened to actual diplomacy here? You criticize the one guy oh, there's my cat, who's?
Speaker 2:you criticize the one guy who's actually using diplomacy and leverage, and I think we've just got to get back to at least attempting an option that's not either war or complete and total isolationism, just to be realistic.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and then we can also turn and face the real things that are really affecting Americans. Right now. Inflation's through the roof you mentioned it earlier the southern border and I want to throw this out there. I'm not an American by birth. I'm a first generation American. I was born in Panama. I came here. I have my citizenship. I served, I earned the right to say that I'm an American. I'm proud of it. I believe in having a pathway to citizenship. What I don't believe in is open borders. There's no nation on earth that can sustain this and can continue to thrive by just having an open immigration policy. It doesn't work, and we're seeing cities and states that are choking to death with the amount of influx of people that can't support anybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's insane. I mean it's just, it's national suicide, is what it is. I mean, the very definition of a nation is that you actually have borders. And again, like, what is the country's priority? Like we're a generous country, we've always let immigrants in and we've always let people come here and claim asylum Like our country does do that. But at no point did any country that hopes to survive or actually cares about its own people say we're just going to open up the borders to anybody and everybody.
Speaker 2:And there's just so many bad factors that come from that. I'd say the most glaring is the fentanyl. I mean because, like, when you open your border up, your enemies are going to exploit it and the Chinese are not done. The Chinese were just like, are you guys going to open the borders? Let's give the Mexican drug cartels access to fentanyl. It's the fentanyl. It's going to kill American citizens and the cartels. They're a business operation. They're pretty sinister and evil, but they're a business operation. They're making billions of dollars off of it and we have somewhere between 70,000 and 100,000 Americans per year that are dying from fentanyl abuses.
Speaker 2:I mean, our country went to war for 20 plus years because nearly 3,000 Americans were killed on one day We've got 70,000 to 100,000 being killed because our government refused to shut down the border. I mean absolute insanity. And then, obviously, the national security risk. We don't know who's coming to our country. But also, just when you take in that many people, they're going to require services, they're going to get jobs, they're basically going to put American citizens last, which I just have a real problem with especially. You know, we went over, we fought for our country, we thought we were serving our country and now our country is prioritizing people who came here illegally in terms of services, in terms of jobs. I mean it's just, it's absolute insanity and it's just not sustainable. I mean this is like I always use the tourniquet analogy Like our country is bleeding out. If we don't put a tourniquet on this, stop the flow of fentanyl and people from coming into our nation, I don't know how much longer we can sustain this, and I don't think anyone does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and it's important to point out that the facts are out there, the information's out there. These aren't we're not paranoid individuals. We're not making false claims. You can look up the amount of benefits and resources are being given to people that are coming here illegally. That aren't being. We can't make. We can't have policies that make sense. But you have to be willing to look outside the emotional piece of thinking that everybody that's flooding through the gates is somebody that's here wanting to do an honest day's work and wanting to become an American because I'm. I'm sorry to tell you that's not the reality. There are some bad people getting through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there, there really is man, there are some bad people getting through. Yeah, there really is man. I've been down to the border twice. I went once in 2021, when the invasion first started, and then I went again in February of 24. I went in 21.
Speaker 2:It was disturbing to see that we didn't have a border in the was just like, okay, while I'm on the Mexican border. Most of these people appear to be Hispanic, they're our neighbors, I get it. We offered them a good deal, so there was a lot of them that were coming over to receive the benefits. They were coming to work in jobs that probably paid more here than they did in their home country. So that kind of made sense to me. It was disturbing to see that we didn't have a border, but I was like, all right, this makes sense.
Speaker 2:When I went back in 2024, down in the San Ysidro area, down by San Diego, I can probably count, on one hand, the number of like Hispanics, people that look to be our neighbors, that I saw. On one hand, vast majority were Chinese nationals and guys from the Middle East and I say guys, it was all guys, it was all military, military age males, I mean man, these guys, especially the Chinese nationals and the guys from the Middle East. I mean, they looked like spitting images of special forces teams in civilian clothes, like none of them. Looked like they had just like fled their country destitute and you know, taking everything they could carry on their backs with them. No, they looked like they had just stepped out of a freaking REI with their civilian clothing allowance. They were in like the same action tactical stuff that we wear and they were young, physically fit and it's just like you guys are not here to go work on a construction site. You can't convince me of that. But yet they were coming into the country.
Speaker 2:They knew to claim asylum. That's one of the big things the Biden administration did was they stopped making people claim asylum or ask for amnesty in Mexico or in the first safe third country. It used to be the policy. That was even the policy under the Obama administration. I know this personally because I actually sponsored the visas of a couple of our Iraqi allies in 2011. We left Iraq.
Speaker 2:These were guys that fought alongside us, that were very well vetted. We still couldn't bring them right to America. They actually had to go for about a year. It was almost a year. Eight months was about the shortest one. We got into the States.
Speaker 2:They all had to go to countries in the region first to be vetted by the consulate there. So Biden killed that off and that's why when you look at the footage from the border, you don't see the illegals running away from the border patrol. They're running to border patrol. So all of them know, hey, if I claim asylum, I'm going to be given a legal status in america. And you're 100 right.
Speaker 2:Like these countries in south america, like they're not like sending us their scholars, like they're not sending us their best. I mean literally they're not sending their best. They're emptying their prisons again, because we basically said we're going to take whoever. These countries are pragmatic, and if they're like're like, hey, if America wants to kill themselves, like why don't I just assist and give them some of my bad actors? I think there's a lot that we could do to cut off the incentives, and a lot of these people would simply self-deport if we take away the benefits they're getting. If we start cracking down on American employers that are hiring these guys that should be giving Americans those jobs and paying Americans American wages wages I think a lot of them will self-support and that's going to let law enforcement actually focus on the real bad actors, the guys who are security threats, the guys I saw the last time I was down there.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and it's study history. Cuba did the same thing to us, doing the prisoner flotillas. They didn't send their. This wasn't an exodus, no, fidel Castro said you know what? I'm getting rid of all you degenerates. I'm getting rid of all everybody that I don't want. I'm getting rid of the prisons. Go to the America. Now, the reality is like. This is an old tactic. It's been done before. Now they're doing it in masses from different countries.
Speaker 1:And when we point out that there's a considerable threat, when you look at the and I have to give a shout out to Doc, doc Pete Chambers, he's out there doing great work and giving people insight to what's really going on you look at military age. Males are lining up or tearing up their ID cards. They know what they're doing. They want to be identified. They don't want to be identified and they're smart enough that as soon as people that are documenting bring those cameras around, they all look down. They try to hide because the vast majority of them are coming here and they they don't have a great intent to just live the american dream.
Speaker 1:And that's the scary part. That's the you know when, when I sit up at night. That's the analytical chief caballero part. That's like what the hell is going to happen in the next 10 to 15 years, or maybe not even that long, the next five years and I think it's important for all of us to get rid of the emotion for a moment, think logically and be willing to say, like there's some real issues going on. How am I going to, how's my vote going to impact the next couple of years? Yeah, and that's all of us. We all need to do this work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and again, pattern recognition. I mean, look, were things perfect under President Trump? They were not perfect. However, we had the border relatively under control. Again, trump used diplomacy like that. The Congress blocked him from building the wall. I believe we do need to build the wall, but even when we couldn't build the wall, trump went to Mexico and all the South American countries and he was like if you guys don't cut this crap off, I'm going to tariff all your goods at 30%. And they were like whoa, hang on, wait a sec. That's maybe there's some things that we could do. And like the massive caravan stopped, not, not not all illegal immigration stopped by any means, but we did have, you know, much better results. We didn't have an invasion.
Speaker 2:So I think none of these things are abstract anymore. You have Kamala Harris, and most Democrats right now are doing this weird thing where they're saying like, hey, the country's really hurting right now and boy do we sure need change. Pretending that like if they don't say it out loud, we won't notice that they've been charged for the last four years. My opponent does this all the time. She's been there for like two years and she's like the border's a real problem. I'm like lady, here's your roll call vote. You voted to leave it open, you know.
Speaker 2:But they, what they do is they. They flood the market, they flood the media with so many ads and so many lies because they have. They have money, they have control of the media. But it's like the American people. You've got to wake up and you've got to at least look at pattern recognition. Like, regardless of how you feel about the person, the politics, whatever, these guys have been in charge for four years, and like, deep within all of us, there is like a survival instinct and everyone right now they can feel that something's not right. And like the people in charge of our economy, the people in charge of, like, our security they need to be fired. I mean, that's just. That should be evident to everybody.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh my gosh, I have so much. I'll wait to say it offline, just because I have a lot of strong feelings and opinions about the people in our defense and who's running it. It's just not a big fan, but before I know you probably got a lot going on today and before I let you go, if you could just tell us some of the things that you're running on, and if anybody's listening from your district, what's a message that you want to share with them today?
Speaker 2:You know a big thing if you're, if you're in the district and you're still kind of on the fence, go to my website. I am joecampforcongresscom is the website. There's a schedule of all my town halls. I'm doing multiple, multiple events per day and I stay and I talk to everybody. I answer questions. I answer public questions. You can film whatever. I'm a pretty open candidate. So if you have questions, come ask and do some research on your own. If you're watching the podcast, you obviously are. So, yeah, come on out to an event, ask me any questions.
Speaker 2:But really, the inflation and the border, I think, are probably the two biggest issues right now and they're deeply intertwined. But look, congress is spending money at an exorbitant rate. That's what's driving inflation. They don't want you to know that, but they're printing more money and that's what's driving inflation. And where's the money going? The vast majority of it's going either to special interest groups or it's going overseas for more foreign war and more foreign adventures.
Speaker 2:I was at a camp forum last night and there was a young lady in one of our rural communities talking about how there's no like actual rural healthcare and I was just like, and she was like why isn't this a priority in DC and I'm like, well, let me tell you what Washington DC's priorities are. I'm like, just look at the budget. I'm like most of it's going overseas. I'd much rather be having a conversation with you right now about how we're going to take care of you here in the community. Not the federal government should be doing absolutely everything. I am kind of a limited government guy, I'm like, but I would much rather be working to meeting your needs and giving you a better life than printing money to fund the next war. So that's kind of like.
Speaker 2:The statement I give to people is I actually want to put the people here in the district first and get DC's priorities straight secure the border, get the inflation under control those are the big ones. But if people have questions, just come on out to an event and I'd love to have a conversation with them. My website's got a ton of media that I've done, so basically any question they have. Somebody else has probably already asked me about it, probably already grilled me on it. We've done some debates, so I'd encourage people to check those out too. My opponent's voting record's on there too, so people can check that out as well.
Speaker 1:Awesome man. I can't thank you enough for being here. I'll drop this episode this Friday, so go to the episode description. I'll wait, just pause. All right, scroll down there. You'll see the link to go directly to his website. Support Joe. And remember, like this is not about voting for identity politics, it's about voting for the what's best for the nation, what's best for Washington, and understanding that who better to represent you than somebody that's been there and done it and has, literally his family's paid the ultimate sacrifice? So you're not getting somebody that's just a frigging warmonger goon that just wants to vote yes on everything that's going to send us off to the next cataclysmic world war. This is someone with common sense that's passionate about being a service. Joe, thanks again for being here, being a role model to not just every other guy out there, but our veterans who are looking to get in this arena. I am absolutely thrilled for you to come on and spend some time with us. So thank you, brother.
Speaker 2:Absolutely man, Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me Awesome and we'll see you all next time. So then, take care. If you like what we're doing and you enjoying the show, don't forget to share us, like us, subscribe.
