An Organization Called the heros journey, they help vets tell their story and transition to civilian life. Youre going out there every single life knowing that youre facing an imminent threat. Pete former Army Ranger Mat best who joined the army at just 17 years old. He deployed five times to iraq and ask. After leaving the rangers, he continued working for the cia as a contractor all around the world. Hes the cofounder of article 15 clothing and black rifle cough feet. He works with warriors heart, ptsd and addiction treatment, dedicated to improving the lives of serving members ifs their families. We are one country. Pete former Seal Team Six member, rob oneill. He deployed over a dozen times participating in over 400 combat missions. Hes one of the nations most highly decorated with two silver stars and four bronze tars. His charity, grateful nation, assists vet9s in their next careers. No matter what, you know, the situation i was in the past year, and as frustrating and tragic as it was, its not going to take away if how i feel about being a veteran, how i feel about our military. Whatever it is, i wont back down. Pete navy seal chief eddie gallagher, highly decorated. Chief gallagher also recently found not guilty after being charged with mistreating an isis terrorist. His 19 years in the service, eight combat tours have resulted in dozens of terrorists killed or captured. Tonight were going to discuss the big issues; high stakes raids, the culture of our most elite military teams, the current state of our wars that are not over, divisiveness in our country here at home and what it means to be a veteran in america today. Gentlemen, thanks for being here. Thank you so much. Pete what a fantastic group. I really have been looking forward to this for quite some time. It just is so happens recently guys like you, special operators and we have all special operators here tonight, the navy seals well represented over here, the army rangers and the green berets, guys like you have been a part of missions just like the one that killed albaghdadi. And our country came together and celebrated the fact that he is dead. Id be remiss if i didnt take the opportunity to take our audience inside the room as youre planning for an operation like this. So few people ever do that. Rob, ill start with you for obvious reasons. What are you thinking, what are you preparing for in. Well, obviously, i wasnt there for this one, but i was on one that went into pakistan where we thought the chances of dying were pretty high, and i know these guys went in there knowing a fight is coming and the chance of coming back are pretty good. You know, not all of them, maybe some of them. So its one of those situations where you have the plan, you know what could happen, potentially all the contingencies. But instead of a handshake, you get a hug from your brothers and ready to launch. No ones panicking. To say your not scared youre not scared, youre lying. But what an opportunity to two after this guy, to fly with all your brothers into syria after the head of isis. Im getting goose bumps. They did an outstanding job, everything from the walls to the tunnels, just, you know, i can hear the heavy metal music playing in the team room, a couple hugs and then lets go, boys. Pete is that a what it is . What is the team room like before Something Like that . How are you preparing . Probably very similar to what youre doing, the stakes are a little higher. Essentially, we get to do our job, which is why we signed up for the country. I imagine everyones amped up and ready to get it on, because the success of the mission and how it played out is phenomenal. Those guys are heroes. The a amount of work thats put into it, all the rehearsals you do, i mean, theres days and days of work that go into that op before they, you know, especially an op like that before they actually launch and go do it. You know two things kind of in my mind, one, the absolute humility of these operators. You know, it never ceases to amaze me in all the years i was around these guys just how humble they really are, and just how committed they are to the work. And the second thing is the relationship that they have to practice, the hours and hours and hours that these guys and their brothers put in to work to do this when the time comes. I mean, i dont think people really understand the number of quality reps that goes into that. Yeah. Its something to take into conversation with that. Youve got consideration with that. Those guys go after a terrorist that they know is either going to try to kill them or kill himself. I think the American Public should look at those guys and all those units and be very thankful theyre on our team. Pete absolutely. What is it about the training that allows guys to do that . You know what helped me, i would look at guys that were senior to me that they didnt seem worried. They were portraying calm, and i just remember thinking i want to be as cool as him, so im just going to start doing that. You start learning by doing that. And the guys that come up behind you are watching you. The plans not going to happen, everythings going to go to hell when you get there. So just the preparation to get you through it. Then when you walk off the team room, you can hear the whine of the engines, chicks dig us, man [laughter] pete is there [laughter] especially you, rob. Oh, no. [laughter] pete is this a moment, is it in the helicopter . Is it in the team room before when the switch flips . Yeah. Two minutes out when the door opens. Yeah. Id say once youre on target and you get that that one minute out call and you know youre hitting the exit you cross that Mission Decision line and you know. Yeah, its go time. Pete and whats going through your head . I mean, youre thinking about the mission itself, thats all. I mean, i cant speak for every operator, but i know when i go out, the missions all im thinking about and what ive got to do to protect my brothers to the right and left of me. Before you even go on a mission, i put everything out of my head, my family, everything. You have to put that in the back of your mind because you cant have anything thats going to distract you and compromise your brothers life, because thats who youre there for. Its like orientation when youre on the ground, which building is my team hitting and you just let the tactics take it. Everything changes. You get droppedded off in the wrong spot, get over it. Pete what about the factor, albaghdadis wearing suicide vests, his wives thats a whole other, how do you plan for people that are rigged to blow themselves . You plan to get injured probably. [laughter] yeah. Yeah, thats part of the courageous part of what these guys do is because youre going out there every single night knowing youre nation an imminent threat, you know . I look at special operations like a sports team because you have a plan, but the plan never goes according, and youve got to call audibles. Really a make that a gamechanging play, and im sure that happened on that night. Pete youre right. I want to go to the sports analogy of the locker room, except when you leave the locker room,ing youre throwing balls and strikes g the stakes are higher. And those are the risks that you accept. Youre talking about the suicide vests, i mean, we train on how to deal with a guy with a suicide vest, but in the end there are definitely risks that are taken, and, yeah, youre going to have to, you know, possibly give your life, you know, to get the job done. Pete the guys who, you know, pound their chest the from the enemy, propaganda videos, when it comes to the barrel of a rifle of an American Special operator, are they cowardly, or do they night . The leaders are really good at sending other guys to their death, and they think if they can send them to marter themselves, they martyr themselves, they get a piece of it. Ive seen it with even midlevel leaders, theyre cowardly at the end. By the same token, a lot of the work that our sf guys did in rural afghanistan going against hard core taliban insurgents, those guys were good. They were good, you know . And they put up a hell of a fight, you know . And had a lot of respect pete so there are elements that that theres hardened fighters out there. In afghanistan mainly. Theyve been fighting forever. Theyre i are have respect for and a more high threat level going after in afghanistan. Pete absolutely. Well, much more to talk about because when we talk about a team and the units that you operate in, theres been some criticism. And on the other side of this break, were going to talk about it. Were going to talk about something these guys know about and i just mentioned, the current culture within our most elite units and what its like to be a warrior when politics gets involved. Eddies laughing. If youre enjoying this conversation, check out the extended version of this over at fox nation, and pay attention, if youre not already a subscriber this veterans day, for every undescription, we subscription, we will donate 5 to families of fallen and disabled troops. Well be right back. All november were celebrating american patriots on fox nation, the streaming service that celebrates america and is a perfect complement to the fox news channel. All month we honor american heroes telling their stories, fighting for our freedom. Want to sign up, foxnation. Com. Celebrate america every day with exclusive shows, indepth documentaries you wont find anywhere else. Take a look. Like to say that we stand on the shoulders of giants. Thats why were marines. Youre defending every american. Pete welcome back. Recently the current culture within the teams of our special operator communities has been under fire, and i want to ask this group right here if its warranted. Ty, ill start with you. In august the commander of naval sperl warfare command says the force has drifted from navy core values of honor. So there have been some accusations at the Field Community saying, hey, you guys just arent that disciplined anymore. What do you say to that criticism . I say thats completely wrong. There is no culture problem or ethics problem in the Seal Community. We are some to have most professional and determined individuals that are, you know, fighting for this nation. I do think that there is certain entities like the New York Times and cnn who report on any little negative thing they can find on the Seal Community and put that out there, and there are people in the community, you know, that mistakes are made. Thats been going on since the beginning of the military. But, no, i dont think theres a culture or ethics problem. Pete so the reports are out there and, of course, the leadership of the navy or, is then pressured, and it rolls yeah. Pete is that a cycle thats happening . I believe so, yeah, at this current time. And then, you know, when you have certain leaders who, you know, come out with that statement saying, you know, we have a problem and then their only solution is to, you know, do uniform and grooming standards, youre not really bringing anything to the table or any solutions. Pete so are haircuts the answer . Yeah. The answer here was like room inspections and haircuts and uniform inspections and things like that. All thats going to do is lower morale and hurt recruiting. I mean, some of the guys were doing bad stuff, and theres i mean, theres no excuse for that. But instead of blasting it out to media, handle it internally. Theres a way to do it, and its a couple bad eggs that are making it look bad. I dont know the culture thats doing it, theres bad i stuff in virginia beach, overseas, maybe people got complacent because seal teams have so many successes pete yeah. They brought an entire seal team home early. And they fired a command master chief who i went to training with. Almost the 30year mark, hes going to retire. What does this do to him personally . Some couple e5s did something and its going to yeah. But putting his name out there to the public oh, yeah, his names out this. That guys a legend. Youre seeing it across the form, and one of the things i always caution is, look, lets not forget weve been at war for 18 years, right . Over three times longer than world war ii. And the preponderance of the effort is being put forth by the special operations community. Pete and 99. 9 of it is good. Oh, yeah. And for our congress to opine theres a morality problem, that is laughable, you know, to me. That that accusation would even be leveled. I think what we need to do is taken a deeper look at the operational tempo that were running these folks and take each case individually. But to put out there that theres a morality problem in the special operations formation, i think, is ludicrous. Everything, theyre all immoral pete theyre talking about honor too. I mean, theyre basically saying honor is gone. Yeah, its ridiculous. If theres one bad apple in the bunch, it doesnt mean everybodys bad. These are men and women that raise their right hand to serve our country in the hard capacity possible. Ridiculous statement, absolutely ridiculous. And some of these people treat it like a talking point. Pete politics always comes into play here. You mentioned the New York Times. New york times said you had a reputation as a pirate, more interested in fighting terrorists than adhering to the rules. Is that a, is that would you take that almost as a compliment . Yeah. I mean, i am interested in fighting terrorists, and i enjoy doing it. I definitely adhere to the rules though. I wouldnt consider myself some off the wall pirate that does whatever i want. But, yes, do i enjoy going overseas and fighting the nations enemies . Yes, hes correct. If thats his version of a pirate, then ill take it, you know . Which is crazy. I just met eddie today, but im thankful that a guy enjoys going over protecting his country at the highest level possible. How phenomenal is it that we have individuals in this country that are willing to step up, risk, you know, life, limb, eyesight to go defend their homeland . Brilliant. If i can get called a pirate, ill go back now. [laughter] the ranger regiment. There you go. Pete youve been in the middle of, youve effectively had guys on your own team at some level turn on you. Is there a culture inside the seals of the way they view the battlefield thats different . No. You know, and i know thats been thrown out there a lot with the whole millennial issue. I do believe that these guys are joining now knowing full well that theyre going into battle. I mean, you know, i joined back in 99. There really wasnt a war going on back then. These guys are, you know, joining when were actually in a war. So i think that says a lot about them. As far as, you know, these small group of individuals that decide to concoct this story that, you know, when you live with individuals for two years, you know, theres certain personalities that do not get along, and thats happened every deployment ive been on, you know . And theres always personality issues. These guys took it a little too far. Made up a story, you know, to try and ruin my reputation, and when ncis got involved, it just went off the rails pete ncis is not like the tv show. Not at all. Thats part of the problem. The tv show makes them look cool. Yeah. Theyre not. Pete what does it do to morale when the idea is youve spent 17 years or 19 years fighting for your country, and then at a moments notice either your command or someone else can turn on you, and now youre in the brig. I think the scariest thing to me about the situation is the effect it has on the actual operators out there right now serving overseas. You know, theyre watching what happened to me, the whole kneejerk reaction, guilty until proven innocent. I mean, i dont want them second guesting themselves to pull that trigger when they need to. Yeah. The rules of engagement get so strict that you have a marine out there whos worried about stepping on a land mine but gets in a gunfight and his whole thought is am i going to be in trouble if i shoot back . Rules of engagement, for the person typing them up, there should be someone in the room actively shooting at them. [laughter] itll give them a sense of bullets are scary. Thats a great point. I think a lot of times politics gets involved whether its rules of engagement or whatever. People making those policies arent actually in gunfights every single night, and ive seen Young Rangers get killed because of that. Oh, we wont drop ordnance because we dont want to be loud in this neighborhood, and were sending young men to knock down that door, and they get shot. Its insanely unfortunate. Politics in war is a very, very scary thing. Pete thats a great way to end it, because on the other side of this break, were going to talk about the wars were in right now. Are we winning, are we losing, should we stay, should we go. Because the president has faced criticism for pulling out of syria, yet he makes the same statement that, ultimately, what is the mission. So were going to bring the current state of the war to you. And if you love this conversation and want more of it, go to foxnation. Com. Trust me, theres more unedited and uncut. [laughter] foxnation. Com. And with these guys [laughter] you can download the app to watch more. I wanted to take time to highlight the Great Organization that continues to benefit our nations veterans. Folds of honor provides scholarships to the children and families of fallen and disabled soldiers, and to every subscription through veterans day, fox nation will donate 5 to folds of honor to help give back. 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