0:00:00 – Opening
0:02:50 – Master Chief, Jason Gardner. War, Life, and Leadership.
2:12:00 – Support: How to stay on THE PATH.
2:47:46 – Closing Gratitude.
167: Lessons on War, Leadership, and Life, w/ SEAL Master Chief, Jason Gardner, Pt.1
March 6, 2019
|In Podcast Episodes
Hi guys! For some reason, episodes 167 and 168 disappeared from Google play music. Can you upload them again?
Just wanted to leave a comment and confirm the “rumor” Jocko mentioned about a slaughterhouse in Mogadishu. I served in the Marine Corps as an Arabic Linguist from 1990-1994. I was deployed with the 13th MEU on the LPH-11 USS New Orleans. We arrived off the coast of Somalia two weeks after the Blackhawk down incident. We conducted a show of force off the coast with the 26th MEU and their ARG. Yes, we had two ARG’s consisting of about 8 warships with approximately 4500 Marines ready to get some. We had reports and images of what happened to our Army brothers and I can tell you we were all really pissed off. I believe the USS Abraham Lincoln also participated in the first few days, sending F-18’s screaming over the city to let the Somalis know they’d better standby. Myself and five other Marines spent 45 days ashore embedded with a company of Pakistani infantry at Lido Beach in Northern Mogadishu. We had just been issued our first desert boots and were eager to put this new gear to use, however, our CO had different ideas. Colonel Outlaw ( yes, his name was really Outlaw ) passed the word for all Marines going ashore to wear our black combat boots. He wanted to make sure the Somalis knew that the “Black Boots” were back. In the first few years of the war Somali fighters learned to distinguish Marines and Army soldiers based on the color of their boots. As usual, Marines always get the cool stuff last. So, the slaughterhouse. A few days after being embedded with the Paki’s we observed a herd of camel’s being driven down the beach heading to the North. About three days later an awful stench developed, followed the next day by the thickest swarm of flies I’ve ever seen. We hung up fly paper in our comm’s tent and within an hour it was covered in flies. We started giving the different fly species helicopter designations based on their size ( CH-47, CH-53, etc…. ). Colonel Outlaw flew in one afternoon from the ship to check on us and commented on the awful stench and the flies. He asked how we could stand it, and we shrugged and said we couldn’t smell it anymore. He said he’d see what he could do to fix it. The next day a Somali on a bulldozer drove down the beach and within a few days the smell was gone as well as the flies. Our CO took care of his Marines. So, there was definitely a “slaughterhouse” right on the beach in Northern Mog. I was one of the fortunate few who got to go ashore. The 26th MEU went back to the Med after a few days and we sat off the coast of Somalia for almost three months and did NOTHING. I’m still angry that we were not allowed to get some payback!
Amphibious Squadron 5 (USS New Orleans LPH-11, USS Denver LPD-9, USS Comstock LSD-45, USS Cayuga LST-1186)
BLT 1/9 (Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion/ 9th Marines/ 13th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit/ USS New Orleans LPH-11 ARG (Amphibious Ready Group)
” Warriors, ….So many experiences, so many lessons, so many stomp your guts, burn your face, internal strength training, …….” The mid-Jet Snapper, ?? Bahgidaddy-04-06. SEC#47, 26, 3 & OP-Red: TM-2,7 & 1: “You guys owe me Beer, lots of beer, …you know who you are…I still have the Field & Stream mag, good trade Chief”.
I do miss that job, the Course Trainings, the Instructor/Trainer opportunities opened with Joint Force Professional Folks, Ownership….Accountability…..Usurping of efforts….Honestly, shit has not been easy w/ my personal Transition to Civilian life. There is still a War, its insidious, relevant and silent, its here, its Obvious…..If your AWAKE.
Thanks guys….Good show, keep it up.
Jason: Next time we meet up, lets do the “Unchaperoned” version, ( except for Ben, he’s cool).
v/r,
Rogue-07
Sir,
First, thank you and your brothers for your service, sacrifice, and defending what is free and right in this world! It does NOT go unnoticed.
Second, keep the podcasts coming! I really enjoy the Team stories, especially with Master Chief Gardner but equally important, I get so much from the positive vibe and leadership nuggets you guys discuss. I have your Field Manual by the bed and refer to it every morning at 5am before I head to the gym!
Thank you for enforcing the Do Not Quit in me.
All the best,
Beech McConnell
Hey, what’s the story of the midget sniper in Irak ?