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Bubba On the Lake
#55 Iran Conflict Update, Katelyn in DC, Bracket Challenge Winner Tyler Brown
01:26:02
In this episode Bubba sits down with longtime friend Colonel Jason Benefield US Army Retired, to discuss the current conflict in Iran. Bubba also talks with his daughter Katelyn to provide an update on her life in Washington D.C. Bubba also gets to sit-down and talk to the 2026 Bubba On The Lake Bracket Challenge Winner Tyler Brown.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
This podcast is brought to you in part by Russell Lands Coke Buffalo Wild Wings, Southern Immediate Care Guaranteed Labels, Central State bank, Sunrise Docks, Dr. Thomas Dudney and the Green Monster Fishing Light. Now back to Bubba on the Lake.
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Bubba Theme Singer
B U double B A on the lake hey. Wishing I could listen to the show every day hey Gotta hear what Bubba his buddies gotta say on B U double B A on the lake in the mellow yellow studio Putting on a show Betty say what she always on the go we got on a bus sitting at master control don't wanna miss a moment cause Bubba's got the flow roll B U double B A on a lake hey Wishing not to listen to the show every day hey Gotta hear what Bubba and his buddies gotta say on B U double B A on the lake hey B U
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Caitlin Bussey
B
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Bubba Theme Singer
U B B B A B U double B A hey B U double B A on the lake hey.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, hello again, friends, neighbors and associates everywhere. I'm your semi retired, mostly washed up host, formerly the Rick and Bubba show and now your host of Bubba on the Lake, Bill Bubba Bussy. Now, the podcast is also known as the people's Podcast because you are in charge of the podcast. We hear feedback via email Bubba at bubba on the lake.com and also from 308 Big Lake. Folks, we're broadcasting from the Mellow Melayella Studio. Goodness, I need another Melayella here. My tongue's tied this morning. We have a great podcast today. A lot going on. I don't know how much we can fit into it. My daughter Caitlin, our spirited child, as she is known here on the show, was able to sit down with me. She actually was here at the house. We didn't have time to do the podcast because we had to go to a wedding and then she had to fly out, get back to D.C. with her job, which is continually in motion right now. And so we didn't get to sit down and do an interview, but I was able to get with her electronically yesterday and was able to record a segment. So very interesting. I'm very proud of Caitlin. She's. We joke about her being our spirited child, but she. She puts her head down and charges into the wind a lot of times and uses that in a positive way. And I'm glad she can do that. But she's a better person than me to be living in D.C. and messing with, dealing with all of that mess, that's for sure. So anyway, we had a good time and it was a great trip. And we'll tell you a little more about that in just a minute. Also, we want to get updated on what's going on in the conflict with Iran. We've got Colonel Jason Benefield, U.S. army, retired. He has been in the intel business. He has been at the Pentagon. And he's going to share his thoughts on what's going on with that conflict now and the Strait of Hormuz. We hear about the Strait of Hormuz all the time. I mean, it's every day, the Strait of Hormuz this, the Strait of Hormuz that. Well, we want to break it down and look at what that actually is, why it's important and what's happening there. And we have an update. Trump has extended the ceasefire overnight. So we'll get you updated on that and ask the question, why is he doing that and why are we doing what we're doing the way we're doing it? So we'll get to the bottom of all of that for sure. I want to remind you, coming up, it's actually this weekend, April 24th through the 26th. My favorite weekend of the year, by the way, please, nobody rain on my parade. I love the Russell Marine In Water Boat Show. It is this weekend, Friday through Sunday, April 24th through the 26th, at the Ridge Marina on beautiful Lake Martin. It's the largest in water boat show in the Southeast. You can explore over hundreds of boats right in the water, hundreds of others on land. They've got the season's most talked about models from top brands like Bennington, Nautique, Sea Ray and even the test rod brand, the new 2026 Sea Doo lineup. And they have a demo course. So bring your bathing suit and they, you know, you'll probably have to sign a piece of paper, but they're going to let you get out on the water with these and run through their course. And how else can you decide if a boat or a jet ski is right for you unless you test drive it? So this will be a great opportunity. It's a, it's a family event. There'll be live music, food, Chick Fil, a Los Latina kitchen, massive vendor village. Plus you can get big discounts on boats early season deer deals on gear from name brands. And all you have to do is go to the Russell Marine website to find out more about that. So the Ridge Marina this coming weekend, April 24th through the 26th, my favorite weekend of the year here on the lake when they have the in water boat show, it is always awesome.
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All right.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
A lot to talk about, a lot to get done. It's going to be a great podcast. I think you'll enjoy it. If I can get it all together, me and Hunter buss here in a timely fashion. So we will take a break right here and we'll be right back as we get started on a very busy and very informative podcast. You're listening to Bubba on the Lake.
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We'll be right back
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Bill Bubba Bussy
on the water or off. Experience lake life to the fullest at Russell Lands on Lake Martin. Grab a latte at Bruce 63, linger over lunch at Fanny's or take in a Lake Martin sunset at Kalija Restaurant. Whether you're here for the weekend or you've made your home at the lake, Russell Lands is where community and the land come. To learn more about upcoming events, visit Russelllands.com come see what Lake life is all about.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
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Tyler Brown
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Bill Bubba Bussy
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Bill Bubba Bussy
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Tyler Brown
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- [07:22]
Bill Bubba Bussy
online at bicemotors.com buy it at bice Bice Motors. Hey folks, we are back and we have a very special guest with us to give us a little insight on current events. Colonel Jason Benefield, U.S. army retired. He has been in the intel business, he's worked at the Pentagon, he's done all kind of things and he's going to help try to clarify what is going on in Iran and why we have a ceasefire. Now Colonel, before we get started, I want to give you a quick update on what we have had happen overnight. The very latest on this conflict. Iran has attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz which is something we're going to talk about a lot saying the Revolutionary Guard seized two of them and further inflamed tensions over the key waterway. It comes after the US Forces seized an Iranian ship and boarded a tanker linked to Tehran's oil trade. Now, overnight, President Donald J. Trump has extended the ceasefire indefinitely so its leaders can come up with a unified proposal. Now he's talking about the Iranian leaders and I think we can read into that what the problem is. He said that the US Naval blockade will continue. The truce was set to expire today and Trump vowed not to extend it, although he has now changed his mind and has done so. Trump said he was prolonging the ceasefire until peace talks could reach a conclusion one way or another. Vice President J.D. vance had been expected to lead a delegation to Pakistan, but a second round of negotiations is now uncertain. So far, Iran is reporting that they have had 3,400 people who have been killed in the country since the US Israeli strikes began on February 28th. More than 2,200 people have been killed in Lebanon, 32 have been killed in Gulf states and 23 have died in Israel. Thirteen US service members have been killed and two more died in non combat issues. So that's kind of the latest. Colonel, welcome to the Bubba on the Lake.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
Thank you, Bubba. Proud to be here.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
We, I met you several years ago and I knew you were going to be a great contact down the road for these kind of things because of everything you were involved in. But talk to us a little about a little bit about the whole conflict and then we'll narrow down on the straight, which seems to be the, the linchpin of everything always going on in the world. The Strait of Hormuz.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
Yes, sir. I'll walk us through sort of the history of what Iran has been doing to us over the years and what leverage we think we have currently in the way that we're approaching this conflict and what negotiations may look like, what the challenges may be, and then specifically what's going on in the straits. But their history of malign actions against the United States began in November of 1979. And you and I are old enough to remember that some people are not.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
I really do. I remember being in school when it all when the Shah was overthrown.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
So they took 66American hostages in our embassy. 52 of them they held for 444 days until January 20th of 1981.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
That was an important day because Ronald Reagan was sworn in and he said, it will come to an end.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
Boys, you, you, you hit my next bullet there. I was going to ask you if you remember what else happened that day. So 1984 we designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism. And they've used their Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and primarily the Quds Force and their proxies to conduct or enable attacks against us over the years. So they've got a pattern of attacking us, but doing it through proxy so they can deny attack and deny has been their pattern for years. The IRGC was actually established as a counter to the army just in case there were any loyalists to the Shah left in the army. The Ayatollahs wanted their own force that were true believers and committed to them and committed to the Islamic cause. So they are a little different than a lot of militaries we see in other countries. They are very much ideologues and not just professional soldiers. So that led us on into the 1980s. They actually founded and supported, at least they helped found and support Hezbollah. And it began targeting US targets in Lebanon during that country's civil war. So in 1983, and this did precede us. If you're wondering why we designate him as state sponsor of terrorism, you'll see. In 1983, a suicide truck bomb destroyed U.S. embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people, including 17Americans. Then October of 1983, there was a truck bombing of the U.S. marine barracks that killed 241 U.S. service members, including 220 Marines. And this still remains one of the deadliest single day attacks on U.S. forces since World War II. In September of 1984, there was a follow on bombing at the U.S. embassy annex in Beirut, killing two more Americans. There were 22 total killed in that attack. In December 1983, there was a bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kuwait. And that was part of coordinated strikes throughout the region. So that's how the the 80s looked. And when we get into the 90s, in 1996, they bombed the Khobar Towers, another truck bomb, killing 19 US airmen, injuring hundreds. And the US investigated that attack and linked that back to a group that had ties to Iranian Hezbollah and irgc. And further investigation by US authorities determined that senior IRGC leadership planned, funded and approved this attack. And they were actually ordered to pay damages to the family. So they're directly linked to that attack. When we get into the 2000s and Operation Iraqi Freedom kicked off, they began to train, fund and equip all of our adversaries, especially starting with the Shia militias that were operating in Iraq. And they began to find very effective ways to target us, including the electronic force penetrators that kill many of our soldiers. There's actually 603 to 608 deaths directly attributed to Iraq, I mean, to Iran during the Iraq conflict. So that's 17% of the people we lost Iran was responsible for in that conflict. So we have been continuously fighting them.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
I mean, it's safe to say, Colonel, for the past 47 years, they have been probably, you know, while we've had our conflicts with Russia and obviously we have some with China. But they have been the guys who are funding these car bombers. They, they are the terrorist group. They're not the military threat, you know, with the, the big army or the ballistic missiles, thank God, because if they had them, they would have used them. I don't think there's any doubt about that. You know, in their, in their religion, they're looking for this, the, the, if I hate to use this term, but their savior, the next imam or whatever they call it to come along who's supposed to, you know, bring their religion worldwide to everybody. And this is all part of how they think that this is supposed to come about. So they're fanatics, they're, they're crazy. They're killing people. And they had to be stopped. And obviously I think they should have been stopped 47 years ago. But Donald J. Trump has decided he is not gonna let this continue. He loves commerce and he knows that terrorism is a major thorn in free enterprise and commerce, and he's trying to do something about it.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
You're absolutely right. They are a suicide bomber country and they have that culture throughout the IRGC and throughout their leadership. And just I want to say on the record right now that I did not send you my notes before we discussed this, Boba, because you hit a lot of my points there, but that's great. Continuing on, going through some of the history, they were also involved in Afghanistan and supporting the folks we were fighting against there, but not necessarily to the same scale. And what we saw them evolve to was a more asymmetric approach. When we get into 2000 and tens on to the present time, you would see them building their cyber capabilities and trying to attack us through cyber attacks and ransom attacks. You would also see them plotting assassination and kidnappings. There was actually a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington in 2011. So they continued to sponsor cyber attacks, assassinations and kidnappings and anything to harass and disrupt us. But when we killed Soleimani in 2020, that began again with kinetic attacks against US bases in Iraq, and they wounded over 100 soldiers in those attacks. So they've continued to back all these militias that have been attacking us and they've continued to explore asymmetric approaches, including drones. They got really big into the drone technology. When I was in OIR in 2016 and 17, ISIS was effectively using drones against a lot of the Iraqi partner forces that were there. And Iran was playing a large role in training them to do that. They've had some strikes against US forces in Iraq and Syria and Jordan, killing three US soldiers in 2023.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
Oh, it's a, it's a long and distinguished list of their terrorism, Colonel, and there's no, no doubt about it. Let me ask you this. Why do you think that President Trump chose this time to do something about it?
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Colonel Jason Benefield
Well, he had enough. There's over a thousand deaths linked to Iran. They were a pain in his side in the first term. So we saw from the outset of his second term that he began to set the conditions for this. So they're a challenge to deal with. So he realized that looking at all the challenges, he had to take a little different approach. So because Iraq, Iran knows they are overmatched militarily, they built a very layered and decentralized command structure and it is designed to absorb attacks from the United States. So that makes it difficult to negotiate with them and to use just one instrument of power against them. If you attack them militarily, they can, you know, there's no saying you can't out suffer Russia. Iran is giving them a run for their money in that regard. But their layers of command make it difficult to just go in and deal with them the way we would deal with a normal nation state. So it also, when you start wiping out their leadership, you end up with the Japanese soldier on Gilligan's island effect.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
Right.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
Have guys out there still fighting.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
Right.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
Don't know there's been a deal reach and you don't know if you're dealing with Baghdad Bob on yet a negotiating table or some authority that the rest of the IRGC will recognize.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
I think you, you can read that in Trump's statement when he says, and let me give you the exact quote here again, he says that he has extended the ceasefire indefinitely so its leaders. He's talking about Iran can come up with a unified proposal. It sounds like he's having problems finding who to talk to.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
That's right. He's giving them a chance to get control of their people. All these layers of command create that, you know, even if they do recognize the people at the negotiating table, it takes a time to get the word out. The other effect is who died and left you in charge effect, do they even recognize the people at the negotiating table? So they need time to get control of their people. You know, and looking at it from a little different perspective, all these folks who are out there fighting don't want to stop fighting too early before they're authorized or ordered to do so, or they'll end up hanging from a crane in Tehran. The same with the people negotiating tables. If they appear to surrender too early, they're going to end up hanging from a crane in Tehran. So, and these guys look at things from very long time horizon too. As you mentioned, too, they're waiting for the 12th Imam to come back. So they're trying to get to that point in history. They look at presidential administrations almost the way Alabama or Auburn would look at an SEC schedule. They say we just need to have a winning year and survive this year. So we get blown out by the Trump administration, we just need to blow out the Biden and Obama administrations and we're still winning. And as long as we survive, we are winning. And that's their attitude.
- [21:01]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, and we've had different approach. I mean, President Obama tried to build a bridge with them by unfreezing all their assets that had been frozen in the US Basically giving them hundreds of millions of dollars, thinking we could buy friendship with them. Of course, they took that and just sponsored more terrorism with it. But I guess if you're sitting in their chair, we look like the Christmas help coming in. You know, you've got Obama that gave us money. Then you have Biden that didn't know what was going on. Now you got Trump that's bombing us. And if we just wait till the next guy, we don't know what we're going to get. We may get a handshake guy or we may get a guy that wants to bomb us. We just don't know. So I guess if I'm, if I'm on their side, you know, I just try to down the ball and get to the next election.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
That's exactly right. And in the back of their minds, everything that happens, they are trying to look at where they are and how they get back to becoming a nuclear power so that they can exert more influence, control and wreak more havoc, to be honest, across the region and across the world. So I know that when you're a president whose people are getting restless and act like it's end of the world when dollar goes or gas goes up a dollar a gallon, it's hard to deal with people that do not care how much Their people suffer. I know one of the, if we get the best possible outcome from this conflict, it will have to involve the Iranian people taking a different direction in their government. And people keep saying, when are they going to rise up? Well, I remind folks that 40,000 or so of them have risen up and they've been executed so far. You mentioned earlier that there were about 3,300 or so who have been killed by our military actions, but they killed 40,000 of their own people. So it's hard to negotiate with people that hold their own people hostage that way. But I will tell you that the current administration has figured out, and I think this gets back to the question you asked me a minute ago, and I sort of took the long road there. But the current administration has figured out how to use the economic instrument of power more effectively than predecessors, and they may be able to reach that unacceptable level of suffering that military operations alone can't. He set the conditions for the actions against Iran by the actions against Venezuela. Maduro was laundering Iranian oil for Iran, keeping their economy afloat and keeping them going. So taking Maduro off the board made it harder for Iran to sell oil and keep their economy going and fund what was going on inside the country. Cuba.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
Yeah, I saw a report today that said Iran is losing $500 million a day right now.
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Colonel Jason Benefield
That's different than what has happened in the past, and that's exerting a different kind of pressure. So. And now Cuba, Russia and China also can't buy Iranian oil cheap on the black market. So the blockade of Cuba has kept Iranian oil out of there. And we're seeing a lot of second and third order effects of that blockade in Cuba where there may be a change in government. And we're hoping that that. Not just hoping, but we are predicting, I think, strategically, and this is just Jason Benefield's opinion, I think we're hoping that they'll translate to Iran and the economic blockade there will have similar effects where the people finally get enough and the IRGC cannot retain power the way that they have previously because everything is sort of collapsing. We're choking off their economy. And the military strikes are continuing to weaken their military capabilities. So their grasp on power is loosening.
- [24:50]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So let me, let me ask you this. You said Cuban blockade. Are we blockading Cuba, too?
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Colonel Jason Benefield
Right now there is a, an energy blockade on Cuba where I believe they, we are not allowing any oil or energy into Cuba at this point.
- [25:07]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I think, you know, really the bottom line in a lot of this is because the Iranians have said publicly over and over and over, they get a nuclear weapon, they're going to wipe Israel off the map. They think this brings on the 12th Imam or whatever you call it. And we just can't let them do that. We can't let them have that weapon. A lot of this operation was focused on that. And we don't want to see Iran become what North Korea became in that they had. North Korea now has crude nuclear weapons. So we can't deal with them the way we used to deal with them. We have to respect that. Sadly, if they use that, we have the power to wipe them off the map. One B2 can make that country a sandbox from shore to shore. Don't want to do that. Don't want to have to do that. But we can't negotiate with them like we used to on a conventional level because they do have crude nuclear weapons now. And we did not want to see that happen in the Middle East.
- [26:06]
Colonel Jason Benefield
You're exactly right. And that's where we are now, using that economic instrument of power, where you've isolated them to the point where they're having a hard time keeping their economy afloat. And Trump threat, the administration's threat to level all the bridges and power stations and all that infrastructure take on a new relevance now because they can't get help from Russia or China or even North Korea to rebuild. And they know it will be catastrophic. So we have a lot of leverage. Iran recognizes they're militarily overmatched, so they have invested in cyber capabilities, and I think we've handled those okay. They've addressed, invested in the drone capabilities, too. So right now they can disrupt, they can't control the straight. I'm getting to the straits here. Well, they don't really have the power to control them, but they can disrupt them. But they're losing their leverage on that because of the naval blockade and the approach we've taken.
- [27:02]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Let me. Jason, let's do this. Let me take a quick break. We're talking to Colonel Jason Benefield, US army, retired, and we're going to move to our discussion to the Strait of Hormuz, where everything is happening right now. And we will be right back with more of that in just a minute. You're listening to Bubba on the Lake. Hit me bad.
- [27:23]
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- [27:27]
Colonel Jason Benefield
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Bill Bubba Bussy
You know one thing I love about Buffalo Wild Wings?
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Bill Bubba Bussy
I tried.
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I've knocked down so many walls only
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Bill Bubba Bussy
to then be told to halt construction because I'm not zoned to be a sports bar. Kind of just looks like a big pergola or something.
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Bill Bubba Bussy
let's go Sports bar.
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- [29:17]
Bill Bubba Bussy
We're back with Colonel Jason Benefield, U.S. army, retired. He has quite a bit of experience in the intel business. He's worked in the Pentagon and he's joined us today to help us try to understand the conflict in Iran and what we're going to do, how we're trying to do it. And Colonel, I want to talk about the Strait of Hormuz. We hear about it all the time. This is the big linchpin to the oil industry. And I was just looking here at a map. I don't know, some of you can probably see that here. If you look at where the Strait is, you see that it's a real pinch point right there. And Iran is all the country to the north of the Persian Gulf. And then you have Saudi Arabia over here, you have uae, you have other countries in the area. But this small little pinch point is where a large majority of all the oil in the world goes through there in these big supertankers. And Iran causes constant problems with that. And that's what they're doing right now. They're causing disruption in that. I know President Trump said he was going to start escorting the tankers with US ships, but we're still having problems there. What, Colonel, what's going on and why can't we just unload on the Iranian military assets in that area and leave them no toys to play with? What is the holdup? Why are we, why are we in a ceasefire and letting them do this right now?
- [30:48]
Colonel Jason Benefield
Well, conventional military wise, we have every advantage, but they are a suicide bomber society. So it does not take nearly as much capability, ability to disrupt the straits as it does to control it. So we're going to have to exert extreme control. And we're capable of doing that. Our navy is capable of doing that. As you showed on the map there, the strait is extremely narrow. It's only about 21 miles at its narrowest and it's connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. And I know some people probably believe it's international waters and all that, but that's not really, it's a little more nuanced than that. These are Oman's waters and Iran's waters and they do have the authority to exercise their sovereignty over those waters. But that doesn't mean they can disrupt passage through there. Sovereignty means they can regulate safety of navigation schemes, they can determine the lanes that people go through, they can set environmental rules, they can tell you how many tuna or salt and fish you can catch when you go fishing there. But according to international law, they can't prevent people from passing through the straits. So right now the sort of are exercising a hostage mentality over the strait with the unsaid threat that what they can do is blow up one of the tankers that's going through there as their final act of leverage. Now if they do that, I think then all bets are off. But we will do what you mentioned and we will level everything within range of the straits and make it safe for passage and make sure that they can't even leverage any of their asymmetric capabilities like a boat loaded with explosives or a drone loaded with explosives trying to blow up one of the ships. So the Iran has always over claimed its territory and harassed commercial and other traffic in these water. So this is nothing new, it's just going to a new level because of the current military situation. When I was flying on air crew flying through that area, Iranian military air traffic controllers would come on the radio and challenge us and claim we were in Iranian airspace even though we never were. They these verbal challenges were always answered by our navy reminding them that it was not their airspace. And the ussr, whoever was in town would answer any hostilities or any further threats. So they're doing the same thing on the waters in the Gulf right now.
- [33:26]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So What? I guess international law says your borders go out, what, 12 miles from your. Your coastline. So if this is 21 miles, you basically have them and Oman, But Oman's never a problem. I mean, you never hear about them slowing up. Everybody. But the Iranians have that whole coastline, and they've constantly used that pinch point as a way to aggravate everybody. I trust the President. I really do think he thinks three steps ahead. I know there's a lot of people politically don't like him. We've seen our country is divided in a lot of ways. But. But I think to think that he is an idiot and doesn't know what he's doing is a terrible mistake. I think he does know what he's doing. And I'm just trying to fully understand why we're in this ceasefire. Why don't we just go ahead and take care of that now before there is a tanker that is bombed and not only a disaster because of the economics, but also you could have a massive oil spill there that could be very damaging also to the environment. So why are. Why are we indefinitely doing this? Why don't we go ahead and take that out and open that up and then worry about who we got to deal with in Iran as opposed to. And again, I'm trying to understand his logic because I trust him in this, and I'm just trying to understand it. What. What could be the thought here?
- [34:57]
Colonel Jason Benefield
So Jason Benefields thought, in looking at this, there's an optimism within this administration that they can sit Iran on a new course and have regime that is not suicidal and not a bad actor on the world stage.
- [35:11]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Yeah, it may not be the Shah, but at least they might be neutral. You know, we might have somebody that doesn't do all this all the time. They may not be our friend, but at least they will not be a handle on the world stage. Right.
- [35:24]
Colonel Jason Benefield
That's. That's what I believe they're holding out hope for. And that's why I believe they keep returning to the negotiating table, why I believe they're willing to extend a ceasefire. But the other outcome is, if we can't change Iran's path, we can set them back decades on the current path they're on, which is the pursuit of the nuclear weapon, being the largest sponsor of terrorism. So those are the two outcomes the administration sees are on the table. And they're holding out a lot of optimism and putting a lot of effort toward giving Iran a chance to be a good citizen of the world and become a prosperous country. And even an ally to other countries and to us in that region. So what Iran is doing by threatening the Gulf is not legal. So the legal framework for the straits is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. And there are 171 countries who are party to that. There are only two countries, as I mentioned earlier to you off camera, that have not ratified that. And those countries are Iran and the United States. So right now, Iran keeps wanting to exert more control than they legally have over that. They don't militarily have a way to do that. So they're left right now, I think, in an inflection point where even their actions in the straits are going to forecast what kind of path they're going to be on. Are they going to blow up a tanker and continue to be a terrorist state or are they going to agree to a deal at the negotiating table that allows them to become part of the world community and the world economy again? And I think that's why this is so important. But what they're doing, they have a history of doing. And there have been other interventions by coalition forces to open those straits up. When Iran has done this, this is on a different scale and we are using different tools or different instruments of power to make this a really game changing and a change of direction for Iran kind of deal. So I think that's the dynamics of what's going on here. But we do reserve the right to stone them back to the stone age or to bomb them back to the stone age if they cannot agree to a deal and get all of their true believing IRCG commanders out there on the ground to and their proxies to abide by that deal. So I think that's where we're at right now.
- [38:06]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, Colonel, Colonel Jason Benefield, U.S. army, retired as our guest. Colonel, I guess I just worry that they have been a good student of history and they saw, they saw how delaying the effort worked in Korea. They saw how delaying the effort worked in Vietnam. They saw how to some degree delaying the effort in Iraq worked against the US because we will lose interest the political powers at home. And I mean, the Senate is already voting on War Powers act now. They vote on it every Monday. And with gas prices high, which is going to be a byproduct of this, I think when it's over, you're going to see them go lower than they've ever been in our lifetime. But in the meantime, we have a midterm election coming up. The Democrats are going to push that President Trump has cost your, your, your cost of living to go higher, which is what he campaigned against. And they're going to get a Democratic majority in the House, possibly the Senate, and then he's not going to be able to do anything. He's going to be impeached again every other week. We've seen that run that course before. And under those, if they get the War Powers act passed, Iran wins. So our own political system is helping Iran, not us, which is a scary thing. What's your thoughts?
- [39:34]
Colonel Jason Benefield
I think you're right on the money on all those points. And I think the administration recognized that dynamic. And back to the two possible outcomes. They have great optimism that they can change the direction of Iran. But if they have to resort to political realism that we're not going to get there and Iran is not going to abide by any legitimate deal, then we will set them backwards enough to where even if we can't continue actions past the election, that we'll set them back far enough that the world will be a safer place.
- [40:14]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So.
- [40:14]
Colonel Jason Benefield
And that means taking out all their power stations, putting them in the dark as a country. The map of North Korea at night, that shows that they don't have dark.
- [40:24]
Bill Bubba Bussy
It is, yeah.
- [40:26]
Colonel Jason Benefield
They will look like a Christmas tree compared to what Iran is going to be if we continue to target the infrastructure in Iran. And I know some people have tried to make the case, much to my surprise, that power stations and bridges aren't legitimate military targets. Well, they are. That's been well established. And they use their entire geographic boundaries to project military power. And those are legitimate targets. And we are going to strike them and set them back on this course that they're on by decades if they do not come to an acceptable deal. So it would be devastating to them. And they recognize that. And I think even the most radical IRGC and the most radical of the leadership that is left recognize that it's going to be devastating and it's going to hamper their ability to maintain control as a regime. And that's what's most important to them. So it's in their best interest to reach a deal and play nice for the foreseeable future. And that's where the optimism is that we will get to a deal. And I think economically we're all going to be okay. I think this is going be to one of those two outcomes is going to be achieved here in the next few weeks, and then we will proceed on, as you said, where the price of oil will drop, the American consumers will have Lower prices at the pumps, hopefully by election time. But if not, they'll be well on their way to getting back. But this whole discussion about legitimate military targets is just another political discussion we're having here to sort of undermining our, our efforts over there. I mean, some people, I would say that radio stations are legitimate military targets, too. Or we could call this episode War Criminals on the Lake, but that's a story for a different time.
- [42:16]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Yeah, we'll let that go. So, but, Jason, it's. Colonel, it seems to me the most immediate concern is this straight. We got to get those oil tankers through there. That will get the prices down. That will help Trump, that will help the Republicans in the midterm elections. If you take out bridges and power plants, that's going to hurt the people. And that, you know, that's part of it, too. But we got to get these straits open. I think priority one. And if I know President Trump, like, I think I know him, he's riding this out, but at some point he will say enough is enough and we're not dealing with these idiots anymore, and we're going to do what we know how to do, and that is cause massive problems for him. And he will probably announce the ceasefire is over while the planes are in the air for the next strike. That would be very Donald J. Trump like. But I would like to see him take out this, really focus on the assets around the straits so that these guys can't do this anymore. Now, they, I think they had 63 ships that could lay mines out there, and we've sunk every one of them. So they're limited. They can still shoot from the shore. They still could put somebody in a bass boat with a bomb and run them out there. But I think we've got to absolutely wipe out their ability in the straits to cause problems. And then we can look at the bridges and the power plants. I saw one report that said 90% of the water in their country comes from desalination, desalinization plants, which is hard for me to say. So you take out a power plant, you take that out, they have no. Lots, no water. And, you know, that's a good time to go downtown and, and take somebody out of city hall, if you know what I mean.
- [44:01]
Colonel Jason Benefield
Yes. And I, and I think you captured it perfectly there, that this is. First of all, militarily, we have done more damage to Iran than is being reported. Like I said, they still have some limited ability.
- [44:16]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I got some toys. Yeah.
- [44:19]
Colonel Jason Benefield
And, but, but as you also pointed out, it doesn't take a whole lot. You know, loading explosives and a bass boat is enough to disrupt the Straits right now. I believe we're about to take care of that in this next round of negotiations. There is a ceasefire, but we are also going to prevent them from conducting these kind of attacks because you do have to pop your head up to do these attacks. You do have to expose where you're operating from and what your cap capabilities are. And I think that we're a little more advanced in playing whack a mole now. I think we all have the ability to level entire networks of capabilities and that they will quickly lose what little bit of ability they have to disrupt too. Because I have a lot of confidence even without boots on the ground, our navy is a very lethal fighting force. And when if they're given the go ahead to expand our operations to use naval gunfire on targets on shore in self defense mode or protect the Straits, that that's going to look different than even what it does now. And you're going to see the military even asymmetric capabilities to continue to approach zero very rapidly. And I think we're at that point. So I'm encouraged by that. I think that there's a lot of optimism in the administration that they can change the course of Iran. I think there's a lot of intolerance in the administration for the suffering that Iran is putting on its own people. Like I said, we've militarily killed 3,000 and they have executed politically 40,000 of their own people at estimates. So I think our president desperately wants that to stop. I think he hates war and he believes that he can preemptively prevent Iran from being a belligerent state in the future. And like you said, he's going to get enough and he's going to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. Even if it is taking out all their desalinization and power plants and bridges where they are isolated in low pockets.
- [46:27]
Bill Bubba Bussy
You can't hide those from the US military.
- [46:30]
Colonel Jason Benefield
No you can't. And you talked about a great time to go to city hall. If they take out all the bridges where the our can't send reinforcements. All of a sudden it becomes more realistic in different pockets of Iran for the people to rise up too. So they're looking at all of that and I think that they are trying to achieve the best possible outcome but with the political realism that they're going to bring this to an end before too awful long.
- [46:55]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Colonel Jason Benefield has been our guest. Any closing comments. You wrapped it up real good there. But any other thoughts you would like to leave the viewers with on this whole conflict?
- [47:07]
Colonel Jason Benefield
Oh, I, I would just tell people to have faith in the US Military that we can do, they can do. I'm retired now, but the military can do. I still have, I have two children who are active duty and I will tell you their military is capable to it anything they're asked to do. President Trump knows that. He has confidence in the military, the military has confidence in him that they will, that he will have their back. If he asked them to do something, they will do it with a lot of violence and a lot of effectiveness and we will achieve a positive outcome, even if it's not the best outcome where the Iranian people are able to seize control of their government. We will have an Iran that is not nearly the threat it is today. And eventually our gas prices will go back down to $1.95 a gallon or whatever they are. So people hang tight and have confidence,
- [48:02]
Bill Bubba Bussy
confidence and as always, pray for our troops who are on the front line, who are risking their life for freedom, not only for us but for other people in the world. Christians in that country, you know, that's Iran has one of the largest Christian denominations right now growing of anywhere in the world. And I think that's also something that needs to be we need to remind people of in this conflict. Colonel Jason Benefield, U.S. army retired. Colonel, thank you. We'll call you again. Sadly, there's always conflicts in the world and a lot of times the US Military has to answer the door.
- [48:36]
Colonel Jason Benefield
Thank you, Bubba. Enjoy being with you.
- [48:38]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Thank you, sir. And we appreciate your service and thank you for being part of Bubba on the lake today.
- [48:45]
Colonel Jason Benefield
Where's Bubba?
- [48:47]
Commercial Announcer
I'll tell you where.
- [48:48]
Bill Bubba Bussy
He's on the lake.
- [48:51]
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- [49:22]
Bill Bubba Bussy
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- [49:55]
Colonel Jason Benefield
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- [50:34]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Folks, we have a very special guest on the program. She's often hard to book. She's very busy. She's moving, she's shaking. She's the one and only, our spirited child, Caitlin Bussey. Caitlin, how are you, babe?
- [50:48]
Caitlin Bussey
Hi. I'm good. Happy to be back. How are you?
- [50:52]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, we're very good. We. We got to spend a little time together. This past weekend we had a wedding that we got to go to up in the Nashville area. Actually Gallatin, Tennessee. And boy, that area has grown since I've been up there. It is booming. But we had a good time and we talked about getting you on the podcast, but because of your schedule, you had to fly back out of Nashville back to D.C. so now we just had to try to grab you on our normal setup here because you're always a doggone busy.
- [51:22]
Caitlin Bussey
Well, you know, got bills to pay. But yeah, I took the early red eye back to D.C. had to get back to work, you know, but this isn't bad. I like the new setup.
- [51:32]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, yeah, you. When you say red eye, you left the hotel at 4 o' clock and of course dad had to get up to see you off. But.
- [51:39]
Caitlin Bussey
And you know, that was your. That was. I told you didn't have to do that.
- [51:42]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Oh, I know, I know. But I, I woke up, I had to do it, so. But it was good to see you off and it was good to spend a little time together. And we never get to see you too much. You're always working.
- [51:56]
Caitlin Bussey
I know. Well. Well, it's a busy time. I'm working at Convergence Media right now in D.C. and it's an on year for the midterms, meaning a lot of our clients are up for reelection. So we are very busy.
- [52:09]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So you're working in. Just to clarify for everybody, you're in the PR business, the management of accounts management of campaigns, all that kind of stuff. Your company's a big, big player and all that?
- [52:23]
Caitlin Bussey
Yes, definitely. I feel like firms are kind of a dime a dozen up here in D.C. but ours is really unique. We've got a great team and we're a smaller team than most. I would say the typical kind of environment for campaign firms is kind of burn and turn, mass hire, mass fire based on the election cycle. But ours, you find a lot of employees that have been there for several years, they're very happy. We have two great, great leaders and I love it. It's a lot of fun.
- [52:55]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So I know you can't go into who your clients are and everything, but what do you do exactly? Can you explain that to everybody? I've asked you to do that a lot lately.
- [53:07]
Caitlin Bussey
I run our creative department, so our clients that have a creative contract, there's different areas of convergence media, but for the creative team, it's really focused on the social media side of things. So graphics, quick little videos we can throw together. We also film sometimes just depending on what it is. Some of them are more high produced videos, some are, you know, little reels you throw together. But yeah, just messaging, strategy, all the things. But I've got a really good team and we have a good time while we do it so well.
- [53:41]
Bill Bubba Bussy
You, you actually participated in Go to Work with Daddy Day back last week and you went to Jack State with me and met the folks that I work with and we have some really, really outstanding people working in athletics and at Jack State as a whole, you got to meet a lot of those, but you were busy. I mean, you were on that phone. Seemed like every time we took a
- [54:02]
Caitlin Bussey
breath, well, you know, you got to be able to balance it. But I didn't want to take, I didn't want to take any PTO while I was home. So I was on the clock, but working out just fine. So.
- [54:14]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So what? I know everybody always asks what you're doing because you were on the podcast several times and then you, you've been busy and living in dc. How about living in dc? I get a lot of questions about that. Most people think that if you live in dc, you're probably going to be killed tonight. You know, that's, that's pretty much what everybody thinks.
- [54:36]
Caitlin Bussey
No, honestly, D.C. is a lot safer in my opinion, under Trump now. I think like the first time I lived here was under the Biden admin. There was definitely a lot more crime not to get into, not to just turn on, on message, but the, the National Guard being Here has helped a lot. I feel very safe. I've never felt unsafe here, honestly, this, this time around, living here. Last time there were like a few dicey times, but not really this time around. And that's very, I'm very lucky. I live in a great part of town, but coming from Montgomery to here.
- [55:12]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Walk in the park.
- [55:14]
Caitlin Bussey
Yeah. Two different worlds. So.
- [55:16]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So you, you take the train, you don't have a car anymore. You take the train everywhere you go. So you're on the Washington D.C. subway.
- [55:23]
Caitlin Bussey
It kind of depends. I take the train a good bit. I ride with friends, I Uber. It's just a mix of all of it. I'm very lucky to have some very nice co workers with a car. So they, they take me to and from work a lot.
- [55:37]
Bill Bubba Bussy
But you were telling me that the is actually on the subway there.
- [55:44]
Caitlin Bussey
Yeah, well, they stand at like the entrance and the exit. They're not always on the literal train, but they're kind of monitoring the situation. I see them at a lot of different stops that I'm on.
- [55:54]
Bill Bubba Bussy
And they are from Texas, most of them.
- [55:58]
Caitlin Bussey
It depends. The ones that I've made conversation with have been from Texas, some from Mississippi. It's really all random places. They're all pretty young too.
- [56:07]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, you, you were mentioning to me how once you started talking, they all thought you were from Texas too. And then you immediately hit it off because you, you appeared to know a lot of them on a first name basis.
- [56:20]
Caitlin Bussey
No, Well, I, you know, I've never met a stranger obviously, but they were all outside of my building one night and just got to talking, you know, and I think I've seen at least a couple times people are really rude to them here. You know, DC's pretty divided with, with our country being divided pretty evenly. 50. 50. It's kind of saturated here in D.C. with a lot of people working on the Hill and for different congressmen and so on and so forth. So I've seen some people be kind of rude to them. So every time I see them, I do try and say thank you just for like what they're doing. If it's like, I wouldn't go out of my way to do it. If it's kind of like awkward no one else is around. I'll be like, hey y'. All, like, thanks for being here, you know, whatever. But I think I said y'. All. They were like, where are you from? And I was like, Alabama. But they're all very kind.
- [57:04]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So what about dating in dc? How does that work?
- [57:08]
Caitlin Bussey
It's working. You know, I have a boyfriend. Funny enough. He's from Alabama.
- [57:12]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
- [57:13]
Caitlin Bussey
A boyfriend? Breaking news.
- [57:15]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Stop the presses. Stop the podcast.
- [57:18]
Caitlin Bussey
I know.
- [57:19]
Bill Bubba Bussy
What can you tell us? What are you willing to tell us about your boyfriend?
- [57:23]
Caitlin Bussey
I'll tell you anything you want to know. Harris. His name is Harris. He's wonderful. He works for Senator Tuberville, but he's great. He went to Briarwood. He is a little younger than me, so I'm being a little cougar.
- [57:36]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Wait. Wait a minute. How old are you?
- [57:38]
Caitlin Bussey
I am 26.
- [57:40]
Bill Bubba Bussy
And you're a cougar at 26?
- [57:43]
Caitlin Bussey
Well, he's 23. It's kind of just a joke, dad. You know, lighthearted joke.
- [57:48]
Bill Bubba Bussy
But he works for Tubby, huh?
- [57:52]
Caitlin Bussey
He does.
- [57:53]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So will he come back with Tubby when he comes to be governor of Alabama or runs for that, or will he stay there in D.C. and use his skills on the Hill?
- [58:04]
Caitlin Bussey
I think he'll stay here. I think he still has some time to figure out what he's going to do next, but I'll let him answer all those questions.
- [58:13]
Bill Bubba Bussy
What does he do for Senator Tuberville?
- [58:16]
Caitlin Bussey
He is his, I guess, like, Body man is his official title.
- [58:20]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Body Man?
- [58:21]
Caitlin Bussey
Yeah. He walks him around everywhere, drives him everywhere, keeps him on schedule, all the things. But, you know, I don't want to. I'll let him speak for himself on
- [58:30]
Bill Bubba Bussy
those things, but when are we going to meet him on the podcast? Can we interview him? You know, dad hadn't had a chance to scare him yet.
- [58:37]
Caitlin Bussey
I'll. I'll ask him. I'll run it. I'll run it by him, but I don't.
- [58:41]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Is he over there now, off camera somewhere? Let me look over there and see.
- [58:44]
Caitlin Bussey
No, he's not.
- [58:45]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Okay. So you. I mentioned it on the. On the last podcast. You want me to run for Congress. Is that right?
- [58:54]
Caitlin Bussey
I think you would. It would be so fun. And it would be easy to run the campaign selfishly, like I would love to do it.
- [59:03]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, you know, here's the problem. Most of the guys elected from here are friends of mine. And I don't even know what district I'm in now.
- [59:10]
Caitlin Bussey
You know, look, you don't need to make any enemies. Everyone has a. You know, it. Give them. Give your friends some competition. Like friendly competition. You have millions of dollars worth of name ID throughout the state of Alabama, and I think you should use it. And I think you're smart, you're already media trained. You're kind of the ideal candidate. And you're funny. Like you have some one liners that, you know, Senator Kennedy can't even come up with. So I think it would be really fun.
- [59:38]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, you know, I've always had a theory that the people who look best on camera get elected more than the people who don't look best on camera. Can I say it that way?
- [59:47]
Caitlin Bussey
No, I can't.
- [59:47]
Bill Bubba Bussy
And I don't think I would look very good. Look, I don't look very good on camera. Look at that mug on there. Now you're dealing with.
- [59:54]
Caitlin Bussey
Have you seen any, Anyone that's elected to Congress or Senate? I mean, yeah, they're. I guess there's some attractive ones, but like, not really.
- [60:02]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So now are you just basing this off your, your feelings about this or do you have data to back it up that I could.
- [60:10]
Caitlin Bussey
Actually, I tried to explain this to you. You know, running a poll costs money. And no one's willing to just throw money away on like, hey, he might do this.
- [60:20]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, I mean, surely somebody's run a poll.
- [60:22]
Caitlin Bussey
I'm gonna be honest. Like, if I asked anyone in the state of Alabama to run a poll on you, they would just laugh because the numbers are going to be unreal. Outstanding. You have wonderful name id.
- [60:33]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I'm. I'm not popular in every crowd, I'll tell you that.
- [60:37]
Caitlin Bussey
I think. I don't know if the video is freezing or what, but.
- [60:41]
Bill Bubba Bussy
No, it's fine. It's just what you're seeing it when it, it. When it's all put back together from the cloud. It'll be fine.
- [60:48]
Caitlin Bussey
Okay, cool. Okay. Well, anyway, what were we even talking about?
- [60:54]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Polling. Polling data.
- [60:56]
Caitlin Bussey
Oh, yeah. I, I really don't think it's much of a question. Do you remember that time? I think it was. Al.com did an article and it was just like a straw poll type thing. Like it, like you could literally write in anyone you wanted to and it was like if Alabama had a Mount Rushmore.
- [61:12]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Yes, I did be on it.
- [61:15]
Caitlin Bussey
And it. Nick Saban, Helen Keller and Rick and Bubba.
- [61:19]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Like, I think Bo Jackson may have been in there too or something. I don't know.
- [61:23]
Caitlin Bussey
I don't know. But that's pretty much the only polling you need, I think. I think that's pretty funny.
- [61:29]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, you know, the listeners over the years have been very kind to me. I admit that. And you know, that it would be an honor to serve them, but I don't know. That lake is awful. I mean, that water is getting that time of year. You know what I mean? It's hard. It can be hard. To get me off that PO Pontoon boat.
- [61:50]
Caitlin Bussey
You could still be on the pontoon boat. It just would be, you know, every day.
- [61:54]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, I could join the Freedom Boat Club because I know they have that. We have that here at Lake Martin, but they also have it there at. What was the name of the place we went to where the. The dock is on the Potomac. Is it called the Wharf?
- [62:10]
Caitlin Bussey
Yeah, there's several. The Wharf, like the Georgetown Wharf? There's several different places, but, yeah, I know. You're talking about.
- [62:17]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, we got to figure out what district I'm in before we even can talk about this. Elmore County. What. What congressional district is that with the redistricting? Do you know I'm inside Elmo county by about 100ft.
- [62:35]
Caitlin Bussey
I think he'd be in three, but I'll have to look at a map. I don't know.
- [62:39]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, that's interesting. Thank you, Kay, for. For bringing that up. I'm sure I'll get some email on it. Thank you. No, I. You know, Younger. Younger. Earlier in my life, I thought that. That. That giving back in that way would be a real honor to do. I don't know now. I'd have to. I'd have to really think about it, but. Are you telling me you would be my campaign manager? Is that it? Or would I have to hire Convict Convergence? Is that. Is that what this is?
- [63:10]
Caitlin Bussey
Oh, 100%. We would 100% be running your race, but I don't know. I don't know how much direct involved. I would love to do it for you. I think it'd be really fun. I think we work well together. Probably better than you think.
- [63:24]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, like I said, I think we have some good people representing us. I don't have a problem with them as people. The only issue that I always struggle with, and I've told them this is lifetime politicians, and this is all part of the way they take care of each other in D.C. is this seniority thing. And they'll come and they'll say, well, I'm only going to run two terms or three terms. Well, I get in, and then I'm about to be the committee chairman of this or that, so you need to put me in again. So they've already broke a pledge to the voters that they were only going to run for so many times, but that, to me, is the deep state, and it's on Republicans and Democrats. You know, the House of Representatives was supposed to be the. The heartbeat of the people, which means you had to turn that over a lot. And when you get lifetime people in there, I think you. You lose that even if they're good people, they need to go do their two, three terms, whatever it is, and go home. You know, like J.C. watts did. People wanted J.C. watts to stay and do other things. He said, hey, I said, I've come here for so many years, I'm going home. And he did, and we haven't heard from him since. Good for him.
- [64:34]
Caitlin Bussey
You know, I think I get what you're saying, and I think that if you come up to D.C. and you say, like, hey, I'm only going to be here for X amount of years, like, you should honor your word and then duck out when it's your time to duck out. But if you. If you want to be here and you keep winning and you feel like it's your calling and, you know, it's the. At that point, the will of the people for you to win, I mean, you have to get voted in to be reelected. I think it's fine.
- [64:58]
Bill Bubba Bussy
You just knocked a leg out of my. My campaign, Caitlin, by saying that you just. You just give my opponent the out that he needs to stay.
- [65:07]
Caitlin Bussey
No, I'm just telling you, like, this is how we'll go. I'm just playing a little devil's advocate here is a test. I'm kidding. But I really do think that it's a calling for sure. It's not for everyone, but I think that you could totally do it and do a great job at it. Well, we do, right? We have Alabama. The Alabama delegation is seriously amazing. We have really great members. But, you know, some of them might not be here forever. Some of them might want to retire. You never know.
- [65:38]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, I think from a campaign messaging, hey, it's time for a change. That's hard to beat, you know, I mean, because it is. You just need to turn that over because you get in there and I don't care who you are, okay, you can be a fine, upstanding man, Christian man, believer, fighter, believer in our country and our state. But when you get in there and you stay and you stay and you stay, you become part of the problem. I don't care who you are. And I believe that with my heart for everybody. And I'd say the same thing about me. And I don't know how long I would want to run how many terms, but If I say two, if I say three, if I say 10 years, when it's up, get out, do us all a favor. We can survive without you, big man. Head on back to doing what you were doing. It's time for a change. And that's what I would tell our delegation today, whether I ran or not.
- [66:32]
Caitlin Bussey
All right.
- [66:32]
Bill Bubba Bussy
How's that for a speech? How's that?
- [66:35]
Caitlin Bussey
I think it's. I love the energy. We'll work on the talking points. I think that. I really do think you'd be great, though. I. I love it. I think it'd be awesome.
- [66:47]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I think you just want to run so you can get in the congressional dining room with me again.
- [66:52]
Caitlin Bussey
I could do their. Regardless if you're with me or not. Like, no offense.
- [66:56]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, let me say this. I always said on the radio show that if I ran for office in our state, and I will say this, if I ran for federal office, I would not be liked very well, because I'm not going there to get on the merry go round.
- [67:12]
Caitlin Bussey
We're not even going to get into this before you're about to tank your political career.
- [67:16]
Bill Bubba Bussy
No, I'm just telling you I'm not going to get on the merry go round and ride it like everybody else and just, hey, I'm in, you're in. We're all in. And let's keep the party going. If I have some things I want to work on and change, I'm bringing them up day one. And the leadership can go with me, or they can put me in the committee to collect trash cans. I don't care. But I'm not going to be a puppet. I'm not going to do it.
- [67:40]
Caitlin Bussey
And I think that's fine. I don't think anyone should be. But I think there's also, like, a decorum to it and a way you have to go about it. It's almost like you're playing chess instead of checkers. Like, you've got to play the game. It's not always as simple as, like, I'm here, I'm elected. This is what I want. Do it now. This is, get them out, do this, do that. Like, that's. Unless you're Donald Trump. That's just not really how it works.
- [68:00]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, it kind of worked for him, you know?
- [68:02]
Caitlin Bussey
Yeah, it did. It did. But, you know, not everyone can be Trump, and I think we're seeing that.
- [68:12]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Bless your heart, Caitlin. You got such great ideas, but,
- [68:17]
Bubba Theme Singer
yeah,
- [68:17]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I think your mom might be a better candidate.
- [68:19]
Caitlin Bussey
To me, no, we'd all be in federal prison.
- [68:25]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, she's easier on the aisle. You know what I mean?
- [68:28]
Caitlin Bussey
She's. She's great arm candy for the campaign.
- [68:34]
Bill Bubba Bussy
That's funny. That's fun.
- [68:36]
Caitlin Bussey
And. And Mom. Mom would be. You know, it's actually funny. I don't even know if this is something that I just kind of of come up with them on my own through meeting some of the spouses of members. But it's kind of like a running joke. Like, if you want something done, talk to their spouse, not them.
- [68:52]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Right.
- [68:53]
Caitlin Bussey
And it, you know, that's still the case.
- [68:57]
Bill Bubba Bussy
That's. That's still the case in real life. You know, you. You don't know how many people call me needing something and I don't get to it in a timely manner. And then they call your mom and then it immediately goes to the top of the list. You know how that works.
- [69:12]
Caitlin Bussey
I know, but. No, it's just funny. I know, like, you think it's a joke, but I really do think you'd be a phenomenal.
- [69:19]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, thank you. I appreciate you saying that. And I know you mean that. I really do. I think I'd be a better, more benevolent dictator. You know, I think that that would be a better role for me. Just get things done
- [69:34]
Caitlin Bussey
by Diamond Attack Ad. There we go. There it is.
- [69:39]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I would be a much better benevolent dictator. Hey, if you got a good dictator, it ain't a bad thing. Think about heaven. Okay.
- [69:51]
Caitlin Bussey
All right. I think we're getting a little off color here, but I really do think, you know, we could do a little spin off podcast for a couple years. Baba on the Hill.
- [70:03]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Oh, yeah, just rebrand Bub on the Lake to Bub on the Hill. We put the little capital logo back here and all that. That's funny.
- [70:12]
Caitlin Bussey
I think it'd be so cute.
- [70:13]
Bill Bubba Bussy
That's funny. What comedies do you think I'd be good on?
- [70:17]
Caitlin Bussey
Oh, gosh, definitely something with intel. I think you'd be good on literally anything to do with all of your little interest areas, like space science. I don't really see you being on like, like banking, even though you're great with money. I just think it would bore you. I think you would be good with like, natural resources, armed forces, literally, whatever.
- [70:41]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Everybody from our state's good on armed forces because everybody in our state can shoot real well.
- [70:50]
Caitlin Bussey
You're just, you're, you're literally a walking talking point Ad. Like, it's just, it's. He's so easy, you know, my, My
- [70:59]
Bill Bubba Bussy
goal would be have more one liners than Senator Kennedy.
- [71:03]
Caitlin Bussey
That's a good goal. I would love to get you two in a room together. I think that would be so funny.
- [71:07]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Oh, gosh, it is. Well, Caitlin, anything else you could tell us you want to Tell us you're able to tell us about what you're doing in dc.
- [71:17]
Caitlin Bussey
I am starting a. Well, it's not my own podcast, so don't get too excited. But I am going to be appearing on the Right side Podcast through Right side Media with Allison Sinclair and Amy Beth Shaver. They're great. We've been kind of talking about this for months. And when she first Allison came to me, she was like, I think you'd be great. Like, we really want kind of just like your perspective on current events being in dc. Gen Z point of view from all the things going on and just kind of like you in general. So it's kind of. We're just gonna kind of throw. Throw stuff at the wall and whatever sticks is gonna work. But I'm excited for that. I think we're gonna start on May 1st. It'll just be a little segment on their show, but I'm very excited.
- [72:03]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, congratulations.
- [72:06]
Caitlin Bussey
Thank you. Just, you know, had to follow in your footsteps.
- [72:08]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, if you, if you get too successful, we'll have to put you under intergalactic pants and tees. You know that, right? I mean, you got to play for the home team. Kay. You know, I mean, that's like, that's like Jermaine Jackson breaking off of Barry Gordy, you know, by the way, hey, that movie's coming out in about a week. Michael Jackson. We got to see that.
- [72:29]
Caitlin Bussey
Oh, I know, I know. I have plans to go see it.
- [72:31]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I think I saw Jafar talking about it. Who is Jermaine Son? Not your majesty, but Jafar.
- [72:39]
Caitlin Bussey
I don't know. The whole family tree like that familiar. I know the other ones probably get that all the time.
- [72:46]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Jermaine was probably the second best Jackson known Jackson brother behind Michael and Jafar. I saw an interview with him and I mean, he, he the resemblance to Michael, immediately you notice that. And he talked about seeing uncle Michael as he was growing up, that he was at a lot of the concerts, you know, and he was backstage and he was out front and he saw the performance and he saw the excitement and he thought, you know, that he, he had a unique look at it so he could reproduce it for the movie. So I'm excited about it. Of course, I always enjoyed Michael Jackson, you know, I mean, he, you know, he had his weird stuff, but I just kind of blocked that out. Went with the music.
- [73:28]
Caitlin Bussey
Hey, if the beats good. I don't care what you're doing in your personal time, like, I'm not going to endorse it, but I will Listen to your music still.
- [73:37]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Oh, yeah, well, it was. He had quite a few. He turned out some dandies. Well, Kate, good to talk to you, babe. Thanks for taking time. I know you're very busy and it sounds like you're going to be even more busy. And tell Mary Beth and the gang I said hello. I know them. Haven't talked to. Who did you say you're doing the podcast with?
- [73:56]
Caitlin Bussey
Allison Sinclair and Amy Beth Shaver.
- [73:59]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Amy Beth. Amy Beth. That's what I meant.
- [74:02]
Caitlin Bussey
Yeah, I just got dad introduced me under a wrong name also at our little Daddy Daughter workday. Well, Joe Biden on it.
- [74:10]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, you know, that may be a good reason to stay at home. No, you know, I think you need
- [74:16]
Caitlin Bussey
to stay busy, stay sharp.
- [74:17]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I've been running pretty hard the last couple of years. I mean, I'm working harder than I've ever worked, honestly. Far as you know, responsibility and hours and driving.
- [74:25]
Caitlin Bussey
So, hey, let's hit it. Thanks, Rick.
- [74:29]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I'm ready. I'm ready for a little R and R on the porch, that's for sure. All right, Kate, thank you. Good talk to you, hun, and good luck. And let me know about the podcast and we'll. We'll cross promote it here. And you know, Hunter's on the barn, so you'll be doing politics, he'll be doing sports. And I think that's where both of you like to be.
- [74:50]
Caitlin Bussey
Yes, sir. Well, I love you. Thank you for having me.
- [74:52]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Okay. Thank you, babe. Come see us again real soon.
- [74:55]
Caitlin Bussey
Okay, I will.
- [75:00]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Just hold on. Hold on a minute. It has to finish uploading from your end and I'm going to stop this.
- [75:09]
Bubba Theme Singer
It's Bubba on the Lake. Bubba on the lake.
- [75:14]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Dr. Dudney has been my dentist for about 20 years. He does a great job taking care of my teeth, making sure my cavities are good, cleaning my teeth, and also adding veneers to my smile, which was a game changer. Now Dr. Dudney and his friendly staff can do the same for you. I ask you to give them a chance. Just talk to them. No cost. Just make an appointment. See what you need. See if you can have a better smile and feel better about yourself today. Give them a call at 205-663-6545 or tedudney.com what a matchup we've got, folks.
- [75:50]
Commercial Announcer
Just non stop action. The energy is electric and the fans are all in. An intense game like this calls for a Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a good game changer. Yeah, that taste scores Every time. And just like that, they're back at it. Passionate fans in an ice cold Coca Cola. Now that's a winning combo. No matter the team, no matter the sport. Everyone knows fan work is thirsty work. Enjoy a Coca Cola on the water or off.
- [76:20]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Experience lake life to the fullest at Russell Lands on Lake Martin. Want to know what's going on around Lake Martin? Check out the calendar of seasonal events that include Fridays on the green, naturalist events, fireworks, concerts, poker runs, boat shows, juried art shows, boat parades, and much more. If you're here for the weekend or if you've made your home at the lake, Russelllands is where community and the land come together. To learn more about upcoming events, visit Russelllands.com come see what Lake life is all about. Folks. We have a special guest with us. He is the winner of the 2026 bracket challenge. Tyler Brown, Columbus, Ohio. Tyler, welcome to Bubba on the Lake.
- [77:21]
Tyler Brown
Thank you, Bubba. It's a pleasure.
- [77:23]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Tyler. We had. I forgot how many thousands of people that were filling out brackets. And you won it. I mean, how wild is that?
- [77:33]
Tyler Brown
Yeah, it is pretty crazy, honestly. And we'll, we'll talk more about the bracket itself, but yeah, I couldn't believe it.
- [77:41]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So, Tyler, this is what's kind of the, the, the funny headline for me is that you are a student at Ohio State and you pick Michigan to win the national championship. That had to hurt just a little bit, right?
- [77:56]
Tyler Brown
Of course it did a little bit. Yeah. I've got, I've got some pride for Ohio State for sure, but.
- [78:00]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Yeah, well, you had to go for the money, right? I mean, they wasn't, of course.
- [78:05]
Colonel Jason Benefield
Yeah.
- [78:05]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I mean, you know, it's, it's tough. It's like picking Auburn, Alabama down here in our part of the country. You know, it's, it's, it's frowned upon when you have to pick the, the rival. But, but if you're going for the money, you got to go for the money. I mean, Auburn fans will gladly choose Alabama and football if they think they're going to win if they can get some money out of it. So tell us a little bit about your process. Are you, do you follow college basketball? Are you just that good? How did you, how did you come up with this bracket and what was your percentage on it? Do you remember?
- [78:38]
Tyler Brown
I don't remember entirely. I'm trying to get pulled up right now. I'll let you know. But that, that's kind of the best part is. No, I don't follow college basketball at all.
- [78:48]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So were they just Blind picks.
- [78:51]
Tyler Brown
No, no, I. So I live in a house full of a bunch of roommates. They all go to osu. And one of my roommates, Ryan, actually picked most of the bracket. And he.
- [79:03]
Colonel Jason Benefield
It was.
- [79:04]
Tyler Brown
It was mainly his pick.
- [79:07]
Bill Bubba Bussy
And you. Now you've said it out loud.
- [79:09]
Tyler Brown
I know.
- [79:10]
Bill Bubba Bussy
He knows it.
- [79:10]
Caitlin Bussey
It.
- [79:11]
Tyler Brown
I know.
- [79:13]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So is he going to want part of the money? Noted for a while.
- [79:16]
Tyler Brown
We were watching the whole thing. Of course he wants part of the money.
- [79:20]
Colonel Jason Benefield
Yeah.
- [79:21]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Y' all will spend that whole check one night out on the town, won't you?
- [79:27]
Tyler Brown
We might have to. We might have to celebrate.
- [79:30]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, Tyler, congratulations. You're now in the Bubba's official contest hall of fame. You'll remain there as long as that website stays up. It's quite a place of honor. Only two people are in it.
- [79:41]
Caitlin Bussey
It.
- [79:41]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Both of them bracket winners. And. Have you told anybody else? Did you? Did you. Well, let me ask you this. How did you know about it to begin with? Because I, you know, just off the cuff, I don't know that there's a lot of bubble on the Lake Listers in Columbus, Ohio. There's some. Obviously there's one. But how. Did you hear about the contest?
- [80:02]
Tyler Brown
No, I actually, I wasn't a listener before this, honestly, and I hate to say that I wish I could say no.
- [80:09]
Bill Bubba Bussy
That's fine.
- [80:10]
Tyler Brown
We found the. Yeah, yeah, we were looking just for bracket groups to enter, and we found you guys on Twitter. And since then I've listened to a little bit of a couple episodes. I'm not the biggest podcast listener. Sure, I enjoy it. But yeah, it was sort of just. We entered that bracket into a bunch of different random groups that we found. It was nothing in particular. Right. But yeah, I can't believe I want it. And it's. It's been a pleasure.
- [80:39]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Tyler, where is your hometown?
- [80:43]
Tyler Brown
It's a suburb of Columbus, Delaware, Ohio.
- [80:46]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Just.
- [80:47]
Tyler Brown
It's about 30 minutes north of Columbus.
- [80:49]
Bill Bubba Bussy
So, I mean, you, you know, Ohio State, you've. You've probably watched and been a fan your whole life.
- [80:55]
Tyler Brown
Oh, yeah.
- [80:55]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Oh, yeah. So what are you. What are you studying in school? What do you. What are you going to be when you get out? When you grow up? What you going to be, Tyler?
- [81:03]
Tyler Brown
So I actually already graduated.
- [81:04]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Did you? Good. Yeah.
- [81:07]
Tyler Brown
So I went two years to a community college here in Columbus as well, and then I just took some more classes on top of that at osu. So I didn't really actually get a full degree from osu. A bunch of my roommates are. Everybody's a Senior. I would be the age of a senior right now. They're all seniors at osu, but I'm a software engineer.
- [81:33]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Oh, cool. So what, what kind of programming do you do? And since you've graduated, you have a job. Are you actually working now or.
- [81:40]
Tyler Brown
Yeah.
- [81:40]
Bill Bubba Bussy
But you're still just hanging out with the guys, all living there on campus. I got you. Hey, hey, I got you, man. I know. I know where you're coming from. Okay. I got you.
- [81:51]
Tyler Brown
It's a, it's a fun time.
- [81:52]
Colonel Jason Benefield
Yeah, yeah.
- [81:53]
Tyler Brown
The campus life is a lot of fun. Fun. Yeah.
- [81:56]
Bill Bubba Bussy
I. Especially if you don't go to class. If you don't go to class and you got $500, it's a lot of fun.
- [82:02]
Tyler Brown
Exactly. Well, there's a, there's a bit of a balance, you know, because I, you know, I go to bed at a reasonable time, I gotta get up for work in the morning, but everybody else in the house doesn't need to because they don't have classes till noon and stuff like that. So it's a, it's a give and take for sure. But. But yeah, it's a lot of fun living down here.
- [82:22]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Well, Tyler, congratulations. As my dad used to tell me, don't spend it all in one place. Tyler Brown, our 2026 bracket challenge winner, Congratulations. We hope to see you again next year. Yeah.
- [82:35]
Colonel Jason Benefield
Awesome.
- [82:35]
Tyler Brown
Thank you. I appreciate it.
- [82:36]
Bill Bubba Bussy
Thank you, Tyler. You're listening to Bubba Bubba on the lake. On the water or off? Experience lake life to the fullest at Russell Lands on Lake Martin. If you love the outdoors, then Naturalist Marianne's classroom is where you need to be. She brings the outdoors to you at Russell Crossroads. Or you can see Lake Martin and thousands of acres of undisturbed forest. Taking a guided horseback trail ride through the stables. If you're here for a weekend or you've made your home at the Lake Russell Lands is where community and the land come together. To learn more about upcoming events, visit Russelllands.com come see what Lake life is all about. Alright folks, that's going to wrap it up here from the Melayella Studio. What a great podcast. I want to thank all my guests for taking time to be with us. Remember our website bubonthelake.com our email bubba@bubbaonthelake.com and of course our message line 308 Big Lake. Keep those cards and letters coming. Also, Joe Scott Morgan is scheduled to be on the podcast again. For you true crime fans, the host of Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan and he had requested you send email questions, and I have some of those, so keep those coming. I'm not sure exactly which podcast he's going to be on, but he's going to be on another one fairly soon and we want to have all those ready to go. Don't forget to subscribe, like turn on notifications, all of that good stuff, not only here on the podcast, but also on our social media. And we're all over that. We've got a lot of changes coming up in my life personally, and we'll be telling you about that and hopefully that will be a big positive here for the podcast. So thank you very much and remember, as always, till the next time we sail into port. God loves you and so do we. And thank you for being part of Bubba on the Lake. This podcast is brought to you in part by Russell Lands Coke Buffalo Wild Wings Southern Immediate Care Guaranteed Labels Central State bank, Sunrise Docks, Dr. Thomas Dudney and the Green Monster Fishing Light B
- [85:12]
Bubba Theme Singer
U double B A on a lake hey Wishing I could listen to the show every day hey gotta hear what Bubba and his buddies gotta say on B ub 8 on the lake in the mellow yellow studio putting on a show Betty say what she always on the go we got on a bus sitting at master control don't wanna miss a moment cause Bubba's got the flow B U double B A on the lake hey wishing I could listen to the show every day hey gotta hear what Bubba and his buddies gotta say on B U double B A8 on the lake Hey B U B A B U B A hey B U B A hey B U B A on the lake Height.