Navy Seal Rob O'Neil Exposes The Horrors of War He Can't Unsee... | | DSH #1954

Summary

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Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly

Episode: Navy Seal Rob O'Neil Exposes The Horrors of War He Can't Unsee... | DSH #1954 (May 11, 2026)

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Episode Overview

In this gripping and candid episode, Sean Kelly welcomes former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill, known for being part of the team that killed Osama bin Laden, to discuss the raw realities of war, the psychological toll of combat, and his journey after the military. O’Neill provides a no-holds-barred account of the horrors he’s witnessed, reflecting on combat, political manipulation, shifting battlefields, artificial intelligence, and the ways in which trauma shapes a life after service. The duo also stray into topics of sobriety, philosophy, critique of political systems, and the search for meaning beyond violence. Listeners can expect unfiltered dialogue about leadership, mental health, international conflict, and hard-won personal growth.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Psychological Toll and Ethics of Combat

• Unforgettable Moments from War:
  • Rob recounts a harrowing Afghanistan raid: breaking into a room at 3 a.m., a man goes for his gun, and O’Neill kills him.
    • "It's not because I got blown up... It's mental stuff." (00:00, 33:52)
    • He describes the internal struggles and PTSD—not from firefights, but from the moral fog and aftermath: "Seven years later, you think, why did I kill that guy? ... Well, because I'm in his room at three in the morning..." (00:00, 32:55)
• Haunting Decisions:
  • O’Neill dwells on lives taken and spared, the randomness of survival, and the guilt of violence, noting the humanity on both sides.
  • Not all missions are clear-cut: sometimes he questioned whether someone deserved to die and faced the ripple effects of political decisions impacting real people. (33:45–34:00)

Life After the SEALs: Transition, Speaking, and Mindset

• Public Speaking Career:
  • Started with a referral, quickly grew to as many as 250–300 speeches a year, emphasizing that in speaking, “if you’re good, someone in the audience hires you.” (04:03–04:53)
• Mindset and Lessons:
  • Chess as a metaphor for life: learning from losses, taking the shot, embracing the willingness to fail, and continuous self-improvement.
    • "When I play chess, I either won or I learned. I love losing because then I learned at that." (01:41)
• Community and Personal Change:
  • Speaks to the importance of knowing your neighbors, community building, and refusing to succumb to divisive politics. (18:08–19:34)

Training, Adaptation, and Tactics

• Military Evolution:
  • The necessity to adapt rapidly: from jungle warfare to off-road driving to urban combat, always learning from the best, even civilians or world champions. (06:25–08:12)
  • Example: Hiring experts like BJ Penn for jiu-jitsu, professional off-road drivers for driving, and learning breaching techniques.
    • "Check your ego. Like we're good skydivers, but how good are these guys called Arizona Arsenal... Let's just hire them to teach us." (07:25–07:42)
• Teaching Within the Ranks:
  • Specialists are responsible for teaching the whole team their skills, creating redundancy and adaptability. (08:12–08:55)

Reflections on War, Policy, and Geopolitics

• Cynicism about War:
  • Honest acknowledgment of profit and politics:
    • "There's so much money in war...Iraq, we... invaded for the private sector." (11:46)
  • Critiques prolonged, unnecessary conflicts and political motivations behind decisions. (13:13–13:52)
• Global Power Struggles:
  • Iran, China, Russia, North Korea: complex chess game involving resources, ideology, and future war technologies.
    • "Whoever wins World War 5 with AI wins." (13:52)
  • Stresses the long-term strategies of global adversaries, the risk of nuclear proliferation, and America's role. (24:25–26:06)

AI, Technology, and the Future of Warfare

• Rise of AI and Drones:
  • O’Neill notes how rapidly AI is evolving—drones on the battlefield, “gamers are the toughest guys in the world now” as drone pilots. (21:11–22:41)
  • Warns of de-skilling and the psychological impact of technology, especially for youth. (26:13–26:58)

The Challenges of Truth, Disinformation, and Media

• Disinformation and the Erosion of Objective Truth:
  • "Right now we're at a point where you don't need to be right. You should just be first."
  • Highlights the dangers of echo chambers, repeating lies until they’re accepted as truth, and bad actors influencing perception. (16:01)
• Suppression and Free Speech:
  • Discusses the shrinking space for uncomfortable truths:
    • "We're at a point, too, where the truth, if it's offensive, will get you in trouble..." (16:13)
  • Reflects on the difference between American and global standards of speech and freedom. (16:24–16:29)

Reflections on Leadership, Fear, and Calm

• Staying Calm Under Pressure:
  • Importance of controlled fear: “Fear makes you think more clearly... Calm is contagious as fuck.” (48:04–50:07)
  • Leadership in combat and life: managing team emotions under stress, never shortcutting safety.
    • "Anything you do in combat can get you killed, including nothing." (28:05)
• Combat Lessons:
  • Value in admitting you’re wrong, adapting, and never making decisions out of boredom.
    • "Don't die because you got bored." (38:55)
  • Notable Combat Incident: The story of leading a mission that almost ended in disaster—surviving an hour-long firefight in Pakistan after being ambushed, which resulted in his Silver Star. (39:56–47:41)

Sobriety, Healing, and Psychedelics

• Getting Sober and Healing:
  • O’Neill discusses overcoming alcohol, the pervasiveness of drinking culture in the military, and how he used psychedelics (Ibogaine, DMT, microdosing) as part of his recovery and PTSD treatment. (53:35–54:26)
• Critique of Pharma and Healthcare:
  • Criticizes Big Pharma for focusing on lifelong customers over cures, and the conditioning in schools, prisons, and hospitals for profit. (54:44–55:29)
• Philosophy on Progress:
  • Emphasizes small incremental changes, “2% changes” that compound over years. (53:09–53:29)

Systems, Beliefs, and Skepticism

• Government, Capitalism, and Ideology:
  • Scepticism of both communism and unchecked capitalism—believes in practical, community-based solutions over ideology. (18:37–19:34)
• Religion and Control:
  • Critiques organized religion’s use of fear and money, advocating personal spirituality over church dogma.
    • "How many churches did Jesus build? None. How many times did he quote the Bible? He never quoted the Bible. Why? It wasn't written. Who wrote it? Man. What gets corrupt? Everything. Why? Man gets involved. And so does money." (56:20–56:49)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Moral Injury and PTSD:
  • "It's not because I got blown up... It's mental stuff." – Rob O’Neill (00:00)
  • "Seven years later, you think, why did I kill that guy?... Well, because I'm in his room at three in the morning." – Rob O’Neill (33:52)
• Chess as a Life Analogy:
  • "When I play chess, I either won or I learned. I love losing because then I learned at that." – Rob O’Neill (01:41)
• On Leadership and Ego:
  • "Check your ego… Why not bring [the best] out? You're gonna get an ego with him? No… just do what he says and learn it." – Rob O’Neill (07:25)
• On Calm in Crisis:
  • "Calm is contagious as fuck... If you know you’re afraid, you know you are, but no one else does. So you just be calm and then you watch the people around you calm down... Don't be afraid of fear though. Fear will make you think more clearly." – Rob O’Neill (50:07)
• On Speaking and Taking the Shot:
  • "Take the shot. Just try. Go for it." – Rob O’Neill (01:08)
• On Politics and Truth:
  • "Right now we're at a point where you don't need to be right. You should just be first." – Rob O’Neill (16:09)
  • _"If you win this Iran stuff, it'll put a lot of wars on pause for a bit." – Sean Kelly (36:13)
  • "We're not going to see the invasion of Taiwan for a long time." – Rob O’Neill (36:17)
• On Community:
  • "You want the good schools right here. How does that start? The nuclear family, the nuclear neighborhood... that's how it starts." – Rob O’Neill (18:14)

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |------------|------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Rob’s visceral opening story from a raid | | 01:08 | Lessons in confidence, risk, and chess | | 04:03 | Transition to public speaking after SEAL career | | 06:25 | Training stories, adapting military tactics | | 13:13 | War profiteering and political motivations | | 18:08 | Community, local action, and family values | | 21:11 | AI, technology, and new warfare challenges | | 24:25 | Geopolitics: North Korea, China, Russia, Iran | | 32:55 | Detailed recounting of traumatic missions | | 39:56 | The "perfect plan gone wrong"—battle in Pakistan | | 48:04 | Psychology of fear, calm, and leadership | | 53:09 | Sobriety, personal growth, and psychedelic therapy | | 56:20 | Religion, control, and skepticism |

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Tone & Style

• Language: Raw, direct, sometimes humorous, unvarnished and occasionally coarse; candid and deeply reflective.
• Mood: At times heavy and somber, especially when discussing war and trauma, but also philosophical, pragmatic, and occasionally optimistic about people’s ability to adapt and grow.
• Dynamic: Back-and-forth between Sean Kelly’s thoughtful, probing questioning and Rob O’Neill’s rapid-fire stories, confessions, and lessons. Spirited camaraderie interspersed with moments of gravity.

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Conclusion

This episode offers an unfiltered, deeply personal look into life as a Navy SEAL and beyond, exposing the ethical and psychological weight of modern warfare. Rob O'Neill shares hard-won wisdom about leadership, mental resilience, the value of humor and humility, and insists that “calm is contagious.” His journey—through battlefields, addiction, public speaking, and political skepticism—will resonate with anyone interested in the realities behind headlines, the cost of conflict, and the possibility of healing. The conversation is gritty, real, and a masterclass in vulnerability blended with battle-hardened insight.

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Recommended for:
Listeners seeking authentic, thoughtful dialogue on war, leadership, psychological health, current events, and personal growth—delivered with candor, courage, and a touch of wry humor.

Transcript

[Rob O'Neill]

I'm in your room three in the morning, just woke you up, and I've got a green face and a gun. I'm gonna give you something. He kept kicking and then he looked at the gun. I looked at the gun. I'm like, don't do it. And he did. And I should killed him. And then he went for his gun. I killed him. And I white light. I hit him with a white light. And his wife saw him with his head blown open. Seven years later, you think, why did I kill that guy? He went for a gun. Well, why did he go for a gun? Well, because I'm in his room at three in the morning. It's not because I got blown up that it's easy getting shot at easy. It's mental stuff.

[Podcast Host]

Okay, guys, got Rob o' Neal today, catching him at the tail end of his Vegas trip. And he's still here?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, it was, it's a good trip though. It's productive. I, I, lately I've been behaving myself and just trying to, trying to have fun with other people around me.

[Podcast Host]

You don't hear that about Vegas too often.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well, I have. You know, I'm turning 50 next month. I've got Vegas experience. Yeah, we've had some nights here where we realized we're about to dance with the devil himself.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. You're a vet out here?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's funny, we'd fly with the Air Force our free flights. We're in the Navy and they'd always like if we went to up near Reno. We got a place where Top Gun is right now. And then on the flight home on a C130, for some reason they needed to stop here. And then the plane breaks for two days.

[Podcast Host]

Geez.

[Rob O'Neill]

So you're just in Vegas, you're stranded.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Wow.

[Podcast Host]

Turning 50. How do you feel?

[Rob O'Neill]

I feel younger.

[Podcast Host]

Really?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. It's good. I feel it's one of those things not to sound cocky, but like when they say youth is wasted on the young. Knowing what I know now, if I could take that back just, just to be more successful, have better relationships with people. The realizing that people don't think as much about you as they do and then you can get, you can, you're capable of more than you think you are. I had someone ask me the other day if you could go back and give 15 year old Rob O' Neill one sentence of Life's advice. And I said I would say ask her out and that's the advice and that'll get you started. And that leads in to take the shot. Just try. Go for it.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Rob O'Neill]

What if you don't fail? You learn, man. It's like in chess. When I play chess, I either won or I learned. I love losing because then. Oh, I learned at that.

[Podcast Host]

I love chess. We're off to play.

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, absolutely. I got time after this. I got time right now.

[Podcast Host]

What's your rating?

[Rob O'Neill]

I'm not buying there. Right around 1100.

[Podcast Host]

Okay, good.

[Rob O'Neill]

It's a.

[Podcast Host]

That's solid.

[Rob O'Neill]

I'll get dudes that challenge me. I had a dude challenge me and he didn't show his rating until we started playing and he was 23.

[Podcast Host]

And that's how you know you're screwed.

[Rob O'Neill]

He was cool. He's like, I didn't. I didn't want to show it because then. Then my rating wouldn't get hurt when I inevitably lose. Yeah, but just the way the game played and it was just so symmetrical. The pieces were moving, non essential pawns stayed. We moved the others, and then when they had. And then you get in the middle. It was a. A definite beginning, middle, and end. And I would. I saw the end coming and I would have resigned, but it's like, I want to see how he finishes. I just. I mean, I'm not going to force the stalemate. I'm going to try.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Everything was set. I don't know if he's a grandmaster.

[Podcast Host]

He was something, but 23 is up there. I played in the streets in New York at one of the parks. It got destroyed.

[Rob O'Neill]

Really?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. He wouldn't tell me his rating. That's how I knew I was screwed.

[Rob O'Neill]

But that's what's cool, though. It's just. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I've one time played with a dude who wouldn't. Who. He doesn't say check. Just assume. You should know you're in check. It's like, oh, can you give me a heads up and tell me I have a check? I got all the shit I was playing.

[Podcast Host]

That's funny. I love chess, though. I've learned a lot about myself through chess.

[Rob O'Neill]

Chess is so good because it's a constant puzzle and your mind is working. You're not gonna. You're not gonna get dementia if you're playing.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I had to put my ego to the side when it comes to.

[Rob O'Neill]

You should.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Because I used to, like, play, and when I lose, like, I play on the app. You could see all the things you did wrong. I used to get. I used to skip it.

[Rob O'Neill]

No, but. Well, if it's the. If it's A bot. It. It will tell you what you should have done. But some of the gambits you want to pull, it doesn't see necessarily. But yeah, it's. No, that's good stuff. We should definitely.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I didn't think we'd nerd out about chess Chest.

[Rob O'Neill]

I got time to. My flight takes off. We can do an hour on chess.

[Podcast Host]

Let's do.

[Rob O'Neill]

What's your. What's your favorite. What do you have one?

[Podcast Host]

I do the two knights.

[Rob O'Neill]

For white.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, for white.

[Rob O'Neill]

And then I've been rolling the Queen's Gambit. I like that because it can accept or receive. Everyone should know what it is. But then I've been exploring with the London.

[Podcast Host]

But London's standard. People don't respect it.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. But I have a trouble with my. The colored square bishop. Getting him out of there.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

I'll figure it. I got a. I got long flights. I'm the dork over there, though. Instead of like drinking and watching the comedy, now I'm over there. Coffee. And I'm studying chess on my iPad, watching games. We're geeking out.

[Podcast Host]

Let's do it. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, we lost a lot of audience with chess.

[Rob O'Neill]

I think.

[Podcast Host]

Other than chess, what else?

[Rob O'Neill]

All right, back to the Navy seal.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. You're speaking all over the country, right?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, I have been for a while. I. I started speaking in 2012. When I got out. I got out in August of 2012. And it was a transition for me because I didn't retire. I did not quite. 17 years, no pension, no college degree. So I was sort of figuring out what to do, and I got into speaking. A friend of a friend knew Amy Holmes is her name from. From school and I want to say Princeton. One of those who happened to work for leading authorities, a speaking agency. She introduced me and I gave a speech. And the way public speaking works is if you're good, someone in the audience hears you, they might hire you. It's hard to market a good speaker. So my first speech, I think, was November of 12. I had one and then two in December, third in January, five. And then I got up to a point where I gave, I think between 250 and 300 a year. Wow. Like two a days.

[Podcast Host]

That's insane.

[Rob O'Neill]

Different cities.

[Podcast Host]

Holy crap.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, I was busy for a while. I wasn't married then.

[Podcast Host]

That makes sense. If you're married, that wouldn't be possible.

[Rob O'Neill]

And you know what else made sense too, is I. I. 16 years is a SEAL. Once I got out, I finally figured out what my fair Share in taxes is. Yeah. That's funny. The first bill is like. Seriously?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Wow, that sucks.

[Podcast Host]

Because you're not paying them when you're serving.

[Rob O'Neill]

No, they just. It's a standard. They take them out and just. Just gone. And then you get a refund or. That's what they say. They're just given some of the money the government stole from you. But it's almost like one of those own nothing and be happy.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Type place.

[Podcast Host]

Minimalist lifestyle.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well, I mean, I think a lot. If Navy SEALs are Delta Force, realize how much they're not being paid, they wouldn't work as hard.

[Podcast Host]

Is a salary public info?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. What is it? You have to look at the charts. It's E1 through E9. Those are enlisted ranks or 01 through 10. And that's a base pay per month. And it's based on seniority and rank. And then seals get extra pays for diving, jumping, special duty, demolition, shit like that.

[Podcast Host]

That makes sense.

[Rob O'Neill]

And it's. It's. I mean, you can live on it. You get. You get benefits. Great benefits in the military.

[Podcast Host]

Okay. Comfortable living off.

[Rob O'Neill]

You're not rich, but. Yeah, it's. You can. You can live. It's fine.

[Podcast Host]

I guess when you're busy out in that. Out in the field all day, it doesn't.

[Rob O'Neill]

I mean, even not at war. When I was at Seal Team Six, I'm away from my kids 320 days a year. And that's like going to Arizona for skydiving, going to Nevada for rock climbing, going to Florida for diving. And then overseas trips. I've done trips before where, you know, we leave Virginia beach on a private jet, switch over on the big island in Hawaii, but our parachutes are on our luggage, not. Whatever. And then he switched out there. Do a jump into an agent, meet and snatch in the water. What? Yeah, the training. Then fly back on a commercial airline to see if you can do, you

[Podcast Host]

know, where you're going when you're doing,

[Rob O'Neill]

you know, the whole plan? You do, you have. It's. It's a training layout. You know what it is. But then you've got. We call them op for different. Different local police or people that want to have fun, play the bad guys. I've been to schools before, like in New Orleans, where one of the names for Seal Team 6 is Development Group, Naval Special Warfare Development Group. And we develop tactics. And one of our guys was smart, from that area, knew some cops and cons, cops and robbers in New Orleans. And they started a school, teach us how to steal cars. Teach us how to steal boats. Yeah. Most basic to the most advanced. How to get this to there so I can have it. And then you do like final training exercise where a cop will have a car in front of a real hotel and you got to steal without getting busted. Damn, that sounds fun. But I mean it's good shit. That's. That's train like you fight. Try to make it as realistic. There were dudes that were getting killed in Iraq when high speed ambushes. And we're not used to that. I mean before the war started, after 9, 11, we have Vietnam tactics, jungles. Now we're fighting mountains on the roads. And we're driving from like pavement to dirt. And guys are getting caught up there because I know how to drive in the pavement. How do we switch to dirt? We got to get a better driving school. Who are the off road drivers? Who drives the trucks? Who does what? Find a school. We found one. Drive tracks with pavement, dirt, how to do J turns, whatever. Yeah, like that. Think outside the box. Hire the best. You know, check your ego. Like we're good skydivers, but how good are these guys called Arizona Arsenal and oh, they're the best in the world. How about we just hire them to teach us what they do?

[Podcast Host]

Smart. Yeah. The battlefield's evolved quickly.

[Rob O'Neill]

If you can lose, if you can keep your ego at the door and try to absorb. That's the whole thing. Like with chess, when winning or winning or learning. And this guy's better. This like we would hire BJ Penn for Jiu jitsu. Best in the world. Why not bring him out? And you're gonna get an ego with him? No, maybe I should. No, just do what he says and learn it.

[Podcast Host]

That's it. Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And so we started getting good at that too. And then you bring that over with you and keep that in your bag. You might need one of them. And. And you're. Then that's when you're fully prepared for everything. And the helicopter crashes in the front yard.

[Podcast Host]

So you were very well versed. It sounds like you had skills in all sorts.

[Rob O'Neill]

We try to do everything we try to do. Yeah, you want to be able to. You should be able to do. You should be able to do most things that are required, but you should be at a level that you can teach the guys who don't know how.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Rob O'Neill]

And not in a professional school. Like for a breacher, for example, a BRE is a guy that will get you into a room, into a vehicle, and he gets you in. So he's gonna Blow the door. Yeah, but he's also going to use the thermal Barrick torch, or whatever we call it, or the EXO throw. I don't know what the hell it's called. It's a torch or a saw or the tools. You know, he can use all these. And he's the breacher. Then his job is to come back to the platoon, or in our case, the squadron, and teach all the guys. So they're not all breachers, but they're all carrying explosives that they know how to use. We're not all communicators, but I can load the crypto. I can call in the fire if I need to.

[Podcast Host]

Did you ever have to blow up a door?

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, yeah, all the time. Yeah, we did it. We did it to the. Yeah. I mean, in training, we're blown up doors, real shit. And that's. That's, like, where the traumatic brain injury will come in, because we're. I mean, minimum safe distance is probably my arm from the length of that to the boom.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, yeah. My first mission in Afghanistan, I had to blow the front door. But then with that, you learned shit that they didn't teach you in breach of school. When I blew up the first charge In Afghanistan, there's 20 kids in the courtyard sleeping still.

[Podcast Host]

Holy crap.

[Rob O'Neill]

They slept through that explosion. That's weird. Yeah, well, they. They do that.

[Podcast Host]

They're used to it.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, I guess. Well, I mean, you start to realize quick, too, that the world's different. Not everyone is like Las Vegas. Yeah. And people are just different. I showed a guy, I think he was 80 years old. He might have been 25, based because he lived in the Shoriak Valley. I showed him a computer for the first time in his life. Yeah. We're looking for Marcus Luttrell, lone survivor. And he came into the base. We already been awake for three days. Came back down, he came out, the one with the note. We made the mistake because you were not knowing our layout. Yeah. Here's a computer. This is your village. Which. And he saw a computer for the first time in his life.

[Podcast Host]

That's funny.

[Rob O'Neill]

I might as well just introduce him to Muhammad himself. This guy was no longer functional.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

So you should probably know, like that it's kind of. You see some cool, then you're like. Then that's when you realize, okay, the tactics aren't working. I remember a mission one time. Here's how outside the box, it got turned down, but I think it made sense.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

They're in some of these valleys. They don't know what time is really? No. They know the sun comes up, the sun comes down. They know how many brothers they have. They know what the names of their four brothers are, but they don't know what the number four means. Like weird, bizarre. So there's. And the first time before I went over, I asked the guy who'd been to Afghanistan, what's it like? And he said, you won't believe me, so you have to go see it. So there was a village in one of these valleys that believe the sun came up every day because of a dragon, an angry dragon that spits a gem and the sun comes up and he puts it out at night when it's thunder. Obviously the dragon is just angry. And the only way you can kill the dragon is with a German made B52, which isn't a thing, but this is what they said because somewhere the word got into the valley. That's it. And they know this the way when your crazy aunt taught you about Jesus or whatever. I know this, they know this, they're that crazy. So my plan is, here's the deal. I'll go in there, we'll ask the village elders where the Taliban is, and if you tell me, I'll kill the dragon without a German made B52. And I assure you, I'll even come in day for seven days to make sure the sun comes up. That's all me. Tell me where they are. And I told the bosses in the army, that's what we're going to do. And they said, no, that's stupid. I'm like, is it.

[Podcast Host]

That sounds like a. If they.

[Rob O'Neill]

It sounds okay to me, but that's the whole. You get into the military, this is the way we've always done it. And that's. That's how we end up in 20 year wars.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that must have been frustrating for you, right?

[Rob O'Neill]

It. It gets. It's almost like flying in an airplane. You want to stop the person from getting his bag back, let everyone go, you want it. But then you realize what I say is not going to matter. Just watch.

[Podcast Host]

Well, there's an argument that they want prolonged wars.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well, you know, there's so much money in war.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Kb. Kbr? Was that the name of the Halliburton? Iraq. We. And we invaded Iraq for the private sector. Yeah, pretty much 100.

[Podcast Host]

They didn't find anything there.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well, yeah, I mean, we're gonna go because of a thing. What? The weapons of masses. Okay. I know he did use them. Yeah. Okay. But I mean, we don't need to do we.

[Podcast Host]

They're saying that with Iran now, too.

[Rob O'Neill]

Iran's different.

[Podcast Host]

You think so?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. Iraq was more personal because Saddam Hussein was like a personal problem for the Bush family. He said, because the first Gulf War was President George H.W. bush, who ran the CIA. I actually should look into that and do another episode on someone that knows him started that once Adam said he's gonna kill him. George Bush becomes 43, and then he wants to invade. I think the towers had been hit five days prior. There have been five days since the towers were hit before they started talking about invading Iraq. And people in the Pentagon couldn't believe it. Like, what are you. We don't even know where anyone is. And now you got the Iraq plan unfolding. Because it's going to happen. And then we invaded for whatever, and then we're just in there. A lot of people die. Shit ton of Iraqis were killed. And I mean, some of the most gracious people I've ever met were in Ramadi, Iraq. Like in a war zone. Most people in a war zone aren't combatants. They just want to get on with their lives. But they deal with that government, this government, and all these dudes in my country. Iran's different because it's more of geopolitical shift for your grandkids. He's making. Even though we pretend we're nice and we say we're the oppressor and we're everyone's problems, that's fine, because that's what China and Russia, the communist the Marxists want us to do because we're all disheveled. You think for a second that Russia, China aren't trying to get Greenland. They're not trying to get the Panama Canal. The Venezuelan oil. That's exactly what they already got. The Iranian oil and their drones. That's a problem for the future. We need them out of our hemisphere. You got to take. The Venezuelan oil is taking away oil from China. The Iranian oil is also taking oil away from China. If China doesn't have oil, what can't they do? Invade anybody? They're not going to invade what, Taiwan? Why do they Want to microsystem AI? Whoever wins World War 5 with AI wins. And this is. This is a process of slowing them down so we can win.

[Podcast Host]

Got it.

[Rob O'Neill]

And he's looking at this hitting, getting Maduro out of Venezuela, hitting Iran is the most America first thing he could do. And behind the scenes, trying to negotiate. They tried. They tried and they. And as someone who's been to war a lot and doesn't like war. I'm not happy to wake up and see people dying.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

If you're going to do something, this is it. Unfortunately. If you want to get 20 million criminals out of the country, people are going to get hurt and get killed. If you, if you, if you want to keep China and Russia out of. And a lot of Sharia out of parts of the world, you have to do. Some people are going to get hurt and they're going to die.

[Podcast Host]

Yes. It's inevitable. Right.

[Rob O'Neill]

I'd love it, man, if we could sit around and just talk. Now you start getting men and money and power involved in corruption is right behind it.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, well, he was offering money and flights to leave the country and no one was hopping on, you know, and

[Rob O'Neill]

again, too, like we were saying, off air, I mean. And then what's true, though?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

They're not telling us everything's going on.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, for sure.

[Rob O'Neill]

I mean, it's. I, I hope people get a, get an educated opinion about it, hopefully. And, and if you may be proven wrong or your side's not exactly what you wanted, instead of insulting someone, just take a step back and say, okay, let me think about that. Or maybe, maybe the end results. What we want, we don't agree with the way we're getting there, but I personally don't think this administration is out there blowing up people just because he can. Yeah, I don't, I don't think that. And I know Donald Trump.

[Podcast Host]

Were you pretty active in politics when you were serving?

[Rob O'Neill]

No. I started to realize that it's a large planet but a small world. And I started to read politics and certain, certain things. I didn't, I wasn't reading laws. I was reading more memoirs and stuff and just seeing why people were on different sides. And I, I'm a registered independent. I realized a long time ago that I, I'm not going to go R or D. It's like, well, what's that issue? Okay, here's how I feel. And what's that issue?

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Rob O'Neill]

And that's actually democracy, line by line. We're not a democracy.

[Podcast Host]

Not at all.

[Rob O'Neill]

No.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I think the system's a trap.

[Rob O'Neill]

100.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. When people align so strongly towards one side, I think it's foolish.

[Rob O'Neill]

It is. And, and the repetition line on one side and keep repeating it until it becomes true. Yeah, Yeah. I mean, it's. We have the, the world that. We have the ability to have the world at our fingertips, but we also have bad actors sending you disinformation and so much disinformation. That is like. Well, maybe that's just a different. It's like.

[Podcast Host]

All right, right.

[Rob O'Neill]

Slow down.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. There's a lot of disinformation about war, too.

[Rob O'Neill]

About everything. I mean, right now we're at a point where you don't need to be. Right. You should just be first.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. There's. There's almost no objective truth at this point. No. Which is crazy.

[Rob O'Neill]

It is crazy. And we're at a point, too, where the truth, if it's offensive, will get you in trouble.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. A lot of trouble just bringing it. Yeah. You in prison.

[Rob O'Neill]

Isn't that sad? Yeah. Don't tell me we have free speech.

[Podcast Host]

No, not here. I say we're better than most.

[Rob O'Neill]

We are. We're definitely better than most.

[Podcast Host]

99 of countries.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well, I mean, look at getting in your car and it yells at you for not putting on a seatbelt. You get a ticket. It's not a free country. You're arguing with your phone about a code to get in your bank and your bank and tell you you can't have your money.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Come on.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. If everyone went to pull out their money right now, it wouldn't work.

[Rob O'Neill]

No, you can't.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. They wouldn't have enough. Isn't that crazy?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, well, wait till we go to Fort Knox and realize there. There's never been any.

[Podcast Host]

There's no gold there.

[Rob O'Neill]

What?

[Podcast Host]

Hell, no.

[Rob O'Neill]

But I thought this money in our pocket was backed by. No, it's not. We just told you it was.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I'm a little worried about the dollar I saw yesterday. Terrence Howard, I think his name is on PBD, was talking about. We lost 9% of the value of the dollar this year.

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, yeah, they're just printing it. They started that, what, 1916 with or 13? One of the 19th. The Federal Reserve. We'll just call it some federal. So it sounds cool, but we'll build them a castle, which they're building right now. It's not actually federal. It's just a bunch of private banks fucking you. It's like making up money. We're going to. I'm going to invent and I'm put on screen. I'm lending you $1,000. Oh, but you. You're going to owe me a thousand and ten dollars. So already there's more debt than money. And now you just owe me. And now I'm going to print more. Or not even print more. I'm going to say I'm going to print money. It's like it's. It's going to collapse. I went to see the movie Armageddon in Turkey in 1998 and it cost me 7 million Turkish lira because of hyperinflation. And it's real. The gold is not getting more expensive and neither are your groceries. The dollar is worthless.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I worry for our kids and our grandkids about.

[Rob O'Neill]

That's what I'm saying. I mean, we can argue right now about all this stupid shit, but I mean what I say a lot of times, I don't want my granddaughter putting on a burka saying grandpa was right. Yeah. And again, that's the truth. It just, just. I just don't want that.

[Podcast Host]

That's why you're seeing a movement towards homesteading and bunkers now. Because people are wanting to go off grid a little bit.

[Rob O'Neill]

They are. But I think, I think you can do differently. I live in New York. I have. I have a diverse neighborhood.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

But what we do, what we do is we get to at least once a year that everyone gets together, potluck, meet each other. Because we all. And we believe me in. We don't have the same political views. We all agree. We love our kids, we want them to be healthy, want the good schools right here. How does that start? The nuclear family, the nuclear neighborhood. My kids are going to be here. Here's my wife, my kids. I know the cops, I know the school board and I know the locals and we all know each other. And that's how it starts.

[Podcast Host]

That's how it should be. Community. Right.

[Rob O'Neill]

And again, I've even heard it. I think Jimmy Carr said he was talking about socialism, communism and capitalism, whatever. And he says we're all communists, if you think about it, in our houses. Because it's what one person can do according to another person's needs. And that's communism. And I do that in my own house. And I will do that. Socialism maybe for my community. Spread a little the wealth. I do want you to. And then like. But in New York, Seattle. So I'm not a communist as far as that goes. So I think I don't. Again, I don't think it's black and white. It's like it, you know, like in New York. I hope communism works the way it never has ever.

[Podcast Host]

Mamdani. Right.

[Rob O'Neill]

Making it work.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

It's a great idea.

[Podcast Host]

Has he done anything there yet?

[Rob O'Neill]

A lot of trash in the streets. Really, really dangerous. Buses aren't free, it turns out.

[Podcast Host]

Really?

[Rob O'Neill]

No, they. They raised the prices on. On public, free grocery stores. No, there was. They did. They did one. One Night chaos.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I bet it was.

[Rob O'Neill]

The ideas are great, but you got to. I mean capitalism is the worst design except for everything else that's been tried.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I think it's the only thing that's worked.

[Rob O'Neill]

I think I was thinking about this yesterday and I'm not in a political party, but like capitalism should work because that's how it started. I have this, you have that. I'd like some of that. Here's some of mine. Right. Well, what's that? Well, he wants it too. Well, he's gonna, he's gonna say how much? Or whatever. Since we're both competing now, you can raise the price or whatever.

[Podcast Host]

I'm a fan of it. Until the government and big government and big anything big agriculture.

[Rob O'Neill]

When the lawyer starts showing up.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, there's your. I think it gets out of hand when you put money before health and people's actual needs.

[Rob O'Neill]

Without question, time and happiness is worth so much more than money. Yeah, but the money. But you know, I mean. And it's also the funny argument I have in my head with that. Like the Romans and the, and the, the gladiators and keep them happy and blah blah, blah. Like we went to hockey, my brother, we went to ufc. And it's like, it's not a distraction. I just kind of need that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Just let me get away from the stupid.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. The value needs to be there. Right. If you're selling a product or service, like when you speak to kids, like you're giving them a lot of value.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You get paid for.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean the values with more then time is worth more. It's. It's almost like if I hire somebody new, I, I know what I need to pay them. And I'm also, I'm not going to make that. But how much time does that free up for me to do more stuff?

[Podcast Host]

Stuff that makes sense.

[Rob O'Neill]

It took me forever doing ads. A guy was telling me. Yeah, because I, you know, like I said, I'm turning 50. I'm not knocking him out of the park with ads. He knew how to do it. Here's what I'm charging. Like seems a little pricey. And he told me for two years, like it's. You're not gonna notice. You're gonna make money. Finally. Fine, do it. Boom. Wow.

[Podcast Host]

Instant roi.

[Rob O'Neill]

Wow. I think I hired someone that knows that.

[Podcast Host]

Damn. Yeah, I need that.

[Rob O'Neill]

I'll introduce you.

[Podcast Host]

Well, now there's AI so like you. The ads are so good now. It just shows your to people that

[Rob O'Neill]

the AI finds AI is insane. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

It's nuts.

[Rob O'Neill]

AI is. Is better right now than when we started this conversation three seconds ago.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. It's constantly getting better. I mean, when you were serving, were you guys using any AI?

[Rob O'Neill]

No.

[Podcast Host]

With planning out missions or.

[Rob O'Neill]

No, we were. No, we weren't that advanced. I mean, I. I remember the first time I used gps. Like, that's cool. Like, literally. Well, that thing can see us. Like, that's how old I am. So we got. We got to watch it. Now, obviously, the. The bombs in JIT are smarter than the stuff they're giving the guy in the. In the river, but we did see it start to advance, which is great. But as far as. Especially military training, you've got to start with the basics. You've got to crawl.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

You have got. Do you know how to get somewhere with a map and a compass with your phone? It doesn't work. Do you know how to build shelter? Start a fire? Find water? That's. I mean. I mean, that's great that we have all these jets, but what happens when someone smarter than me turns the. When the. I don't know. The plane disappears over China and no one knows where it went?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

It's almost like that almost happened once. Isn't it crazy? Yeah. When one of the weapons that we have that's more powerful than nukes get used. Can you keep your family alive? So that's the. That they should be teaching, but, yeah, the technology is great. Till it isn't.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I mean, the drone stuff scares me.

[Rob O'Neill]

That's horrifying.

[Podcast Host]

They could fly right in this room. I know.

[Rob O'Neill]

And nothing can't do things. Can you imagine that? Gamers are the toughest guys in the world right now.

[Podcast Host]

Crazy, right?

[Rob O'Neill]

You've seen him. The drone flies right to the dude and they taunt him.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And the guy's like, all right, I guess it's up to you. That's horrible. Isn't it? You bet. I mean, trench warfare is back, and you can't even leave the trench. Seriously.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that's.

[Rob O'Neill]

But I mean, the good thing about it hitting Iran is we hit some of their factories that make those drones.

[Podcast Host]

A lot of drones. Right? I think.

[Rob O'Neill]

I don't. I wouldn't be surprised if Putin came to the table this week. You're going to see Iran thing's going to work.

[Podcast Host]

Really?

[Rob O'Neill]

It's just. Yeah. Just not. It's not immediate gratification.

[Podcast Host]

Chess, right?

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, way beyond this. This is a power move. This is. This is.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. People think so. Decades A and B and it's more like a give this.

[Rob O'Neill]

I mean, Democrats are pushing midterms because they're in November this year and it's always election year in D.C. the, the American public forget real quick this time in November, October, ish. When the gas prices where they are, the, the markets where it is, and a lot of the stuff is working towards peace.

[Podcast Host]

That's what Trump wanted, right?

[Rob O'Neill]

That's totally what he wants.

[Podcast Host]

He ran on.

[Rob O'Neill]

I know that's what he wants. And I mean, he ran a. No, no new. No new wars with some of these actors. It looks like it's necessary. And again, I don't have the intel they have. I don't know what they're saying. I know why they're doing it. And I mean, we've trained on stuff in Iran, too, they haven't used yet. I remember training. That was one of our main missions in Iran. But I mean, we know they're a threat. And look at North Korea now they have nukes and now we're really not going to do anything. We do not want that with Iran. If you, if you look at what the 12ers think, loving death the way they love death, the way they want death, they're waiting for death, death. And they get a nuke, it's over.

[Podcast Host]

Dude, I had on a guy that escaped North Korea twice.

[Rob O'Neill]

Really?

[Podcast Host]

He did not say many positive things about North Korea.

[Rob O'Neill]

North Korea?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. The scary leadership over there.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, scary as hell. And. But I mean, even people who have escaped, women that have escaped the, the sex trade and the slavery have gone to campuses on the east coast of this country and told them about how bad communism can be, and they kicked her out, basically shut her down. Well, the white, white liberals. White liberal girls in this country know a lot more than a woman from North Korea who escaped sex slavery and communism. They know way more.

[Podcast Host]

That's nuts.

[Rob O'Neill]

It sounds nicer, too, doesn't it? Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Where do you rank North Korea on the enemy list? Like in terms of threats? Is it up there or you put China and Russia above them?

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, China's way above them. North Korea is a wild card. Nukes or bad. That I think could be a. We've seen it when Donald Trump went in there. That is something potent. You got to get to Kim Jong Un. He's crazy as hell. Was raised by Kim Jong Il, was raised by Kim Il Sung. And. And then North Korean people are proof that you only know what you're taught because they know that, like Kim Jong Un doesn't have a butthole. He doesn't poop because you use. Yeah. They know that there are no wild. There's no wildlife or birds in North Korea. They got to eat them. Anything they can find. Jeez, it's worse than you think.

[Podcast Host]

If you have a phone there, they take a screenshot of your phone every 60 seconds. Probably crazy.

[Rob O'Neill]

It's. It's nuts. We'll look at. What's his name? Warmbier. Otto Warmbier. That went over there and touched a flag or tried to steal a flag. And then they tortured him to death, gave his body back.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

It's not a good place. It's gonna. They had North Korean soldiers fighting in Ukraine and they had no idea what they were doing.

[Podcast Host]

They got smoked. Right?

[Rob O'Neill]

They got smoked. They had letters saying how they are so happy to die for. For the Dear Leader. So you'd have to re. Educate the entire country as far as what life is.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. They're so brainwashed over there.

[Rob O'Neill]

But North Korea, China's been playing the long game. And China. China's still pissed about the Opium Wars. China's really mad what we did. And I just. We. But the west, and. And you've. We've seen it before with like the heroin problems in Vietnam because they were getting heroin, selling it for like maybe 5 cents on the dollar. Two troops in Vietnam just got them all strung out. And they're still doing it here with the fentanyl. That's not the cartels. It's China.

[Podcast Host]

Fentanyl. Tick tock. Destroyed the brains of the young.

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, God.

[Podcast Host]

They're taking over our farmland here.

[Rob O'Neill]

We're in World War Four.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. China's been at war with us.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. World War Three happened in the 80s. World War Four is right now.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And they're doing it with TikTok. It's like, I'll ask my daughters where to get your news. Tik Tok.

[Podcast Host]

It's like it's destroyed the attention span of everyone.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. People don't want to learn. My mom's a teacher still. She taught me.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, I feel so bad for teaching.

[Rob O'Neill]

And you just get up there and they. The. There is no attention. There's no need to learn again. You can see their point. That's all they know is what they have in their hand. But what. When it's gone.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

I mean, are you a plumber? Look at AI. Right. Do you know how to. If you're a writer or talented and you're planning on working in that field in about three years, you're in for. I mean, maybe not even Three years.

[Podcast Host]

IQ is plummeting right now because of AI. Actually, you're using less part of your brain now.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well, you know, I brought this up on my podcast, the Operator. I said last week that they're always talking about the new words going into the dictionary. Oh, we just put K. Popper in there. We just like. What were you taking out? What words do?

[Podcast Host]

What.

[Rob O'Neill]

What. What words are we burning to getting rid of?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Keep the population dumb. They're doing that too.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. Yeah. I don't know, man. I worry for the next generation.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, that's. That's what I'm saying. I have kids and I worry about my grandson.

[Podcast Host]

Gonna be tough. Very tough. Different types of problems for each generation though, right?

[Rob O'Neill]

It is. I have faith in it though. I mean, I. The. My. One of my favorite quotes. Babe Ruth said, the loudest booze come from the cheapest seas. So the negativity is out there, but it's just. You're hearing it because it's the loudest. Most people. Most people are pretty cool.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah. I think they're cool. I just.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well. Oh, no, I know what you're saying. Cool. But we. We have our badasses out there still. That. That will adapt to everything, I think.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

You know, we did it. We did a good job. From the Mayflower to the space shuttle,

[Podcast Host]

it's been a time. I just think with AI, it's going to replace a lot of jobs.

[Rob O'Neill]

It'll replace most jobs.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Probably not military though, right?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. I don't think we're going to need an infantry, really. No. If we get like, even right now with boots on the ground, they're saying in Iran, it's not going to be an invasion. No. You got to get the smart guy to the site. So you got to bring a guy with a gun or a couple guys. You know, A good rule to follow is if you're in a bad spot, bring a gun and a friend with a gun.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

So do that. I think that's one of the rules of Murphy's Rules for combat.

[Podcast Host]

Is it?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. Wow.

[Podcast Host]

That's nuts.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. Anything you do in combat can get you killed, including nothing. Another rule.

[Podcast Host]

You've seen a lot of combat, so.

[Rob O'Neill]

A little bit, yeah. Yeah. I wasn't intended. I went in before 9 11.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, that's a rare take.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. I didn't know how to swim. Join the Navy on accident before 9 11.

[Podcast Host]

Okay. Yeah. A lot of my got vets I've had on or from 911 era.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

That was in before I went to just to kind of have the challenge and be cool. And then reenlisted because of 9 11. Well, the second time because of 9 11. And then Seal Team 6 got it.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Over 400 firefights. Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan. You've been all over.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, we were busy. The. The bad guys can be everywhere. We obviously. The bin Laden raid, I was part of that team. What an honor. But we rescued. Same team rescued Richard Phillips. We took off on my birthday in 2009. Good Friday, April 10th. I was at my daughter's Easter tea party at her preschool and got a message that we're going. And that was the first time that it ever happened. From soup to nuts. Like the call. And then the rescue from Seal Team 6 was designed in 1980, had never been done. This is 2009.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And that tells you about mindset, doesn't it? Like we went over there after an American who was in a lifeboat being towed by a US Navy destroyer without a plan. Because we just want to get them back. But how are you going to do that? So we put snipers down there. Just watch and make sure. What plan wasn't to kill him? Just make sure nothing unsafe happened. Something unsafe happened and they took the shots. So what's that, 29 years on a Friday, on a long weekend, I'm going to drink beer all weekend outside my gun in on Tuesday. Right. They didn't do that. Their guns. Think about those snipers four days before those shots. They were in their own beds in Virginia, and we had never done this. Their guns did not need to be sighted in for the most difficult shot they're ever going to take in their fucking life. But guess what? They were. And not just that they were ready for one guy to shoot the other two to shoot. Like they didn't count down three.

[Podcast Host]

How far was that shot?

[Rob O'Neill]

I don't know. I was getting coffee in the chief's mess. That's a true story. No, a thing in the Navy is making chief like. Because, like, there's E1 through E6 and then Chiefs, Chief, senior Chief, Master Chief. They have the chief's mess on the boats, on the ships where the chiefs go. And Navy chiefs run the Navy. They've been, like I was saying the. The President's a visitor. Chiefs have just been there. Officers come and go. So I've just made chief. So I led the jump in. I was lead jumper. We get on the thing. We all came up with different plans. I came up with a pretty good plan. So I went to the Chief's mess to celebrate. And I'm getting a coffee, and I got a text from the snipers. We got him.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Rob O'Neill]

And I texted back, God, who? And they said, we got him. Yeah, that was my part of that mission. I was burning my lips. I don't know if you can get a Purple Heart for burning your lips, but, yeah, that's all I did.

[Podcast Host]

What other missions do you think about a lot these days?

[Rob O'Neill]

The first few that. I mean, there's. There's the ones that went bad.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well. And most of them didn't go. Right. There's a guy I think of when you say you. You people are capable of sharing a moment that it's almost like you lived your entire life and so did you, to get to a moment. And this isn't. I don't think I've mentioned this one before, but it's not. I read the first mission, the one where I blew up the door, and actually, a dude saw it. He fell. I fell in. Whatever. We get inside, the kids are asleep. I ran into a guy from Saudi Arabia. Big fat guy. And if you're in Afghanistan around 2005 from Saudi Arabia, you're not there to teach Arabic. You're Al Qaeda. Not even the Taliban. And so I roll up on this dude unarmed. He's wearing a shirt that says he doesn't speak English. This guy's wearing a shirt that says, it's not a bear belly. It's a fuel tank for a sex machine. I laughed at his shirt, and I just. I thought, you're definitely not going to die, because that's funny. And I told the interpreter what his shirt said, and we laughed. And then I arrested him.

[Podcast Host]

Was he Al Qaeda?

[Rob O'Neill]

I don't know. That's just a moment we both shared for no reason.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that's funny.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. And now.

[Podcast Host]

I sure saved his life.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, it did. And then there's other ones where I killed guys that I've wondered, should I have.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, wow, that must suck.

[Rob O'Neill]

You can't get that back.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that must.

[Rob O'Neill]

And it's quick. I mean, it's a quick decision. There was a guy killed in front of his wife in bed, and. And I. I killed his brother on the way in. Shot him, and then made a. And then. Because once gunfire happens and we stopped using suppressors. This is 2007 Iraq. Because I want you to hear me shoot. I want you. Because we don't talk, but I want you to hear me coming. Like, I'm not gonna yell. I'm not gonna yell. Firing the Hole clear, All that. But I want here, bubbum. And then nothing else. And then closer. Yeah. So I made a one man. The point I'm getting, as I got cocky, made a one man entry, which you shouldn't do, on the bedroom. Smoked him. Go in there. There's a guy in bed with his wife. And then he's got a gun over here. And I'm looking at him and he started, like, throwing kicks and punches. And I. I did call one more. So one more guy came in and I remember he said to me, this guy serious? I go, I think so. And I'm giving him the courtesy, like, I'm in your room at three in the morning. I just woke you up and I've got a green face and a fucking gun. I'm gonna give you a second. He kept kicking, and then he looked at the gun. I looked at the gun. I'm like, don't. Don't do it. And he did. And I killed him.

[Podcast Host]

And then trying to capture him, or I would have.

[Rob O'Neill]

And then he went for his gun. I killed him. And I. White light. I hit him with a white light. And then his wife saw him with his head blown up and she screams. So then seven years later, you think, why did he go for that gun? Why did I kill that guy? He went for a gun. Well, why did he go for a gun? Well, because I'm in his room at three in the morning on a Tuesday. Why am I in his room? Because George Bush decided he didn't like Saddam Hussein. Literally. Then you start to. This is how your mind. This is how PTSD works. It's like, if I had met him somewhere else under different circumstances. Is he a dude that happens to be from Ramadi that knows a joke? Maybe. Is he Al Qaeda and would have killed me? Maybe. But this is where. Because it's a. There's a human element in war. Now. When I see people bombing and you see social media, they're cheering for it. Go fuck yourself. You imagine being on the working end of a bomb. Like, it hits this building and we're not. We're not lucky enough to have died. We're just buried under everything. We'll die in seven hours from suffocation. That's what they're going through.

[Podcast Host]

It's terrible.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. War's not cool at all.

[Podcast Host]

Should it be celebrated?

[Rob O'Neill]

No.

[Podcast Host]

Wow, that's. That's deep. Thanks for sharing that. Jesus.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, but that's when you get into the pta. Like, it's not because I got blown up. That shit's easy getting shot at. Easy. It's. It's other stuff. It's the mental stuff.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I never knew. Knew that actually about ptsd, that.

[Rob O'Neill]

No. I went into a house one time in same room, Ramadi was hot. Like we were going. Getting it on. I went to the wrong house one night. And this, and this is the. You see in combat, it's like you don't. It's like in baseball when Aaron Judge has a home run. You didn't see the 10,000 swings he took all week.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Rob O'Neill]

So you don't see the targets that are benign. We hit dry holes. Wrong house. So I remember saying, you know, you hit a target, follow on. It's loud as whatever they're hearing us coming. Like I was saying, go into a house. Wrong house. A woman came out with a daughter my daughter's age. I looked down, I'm on her white carpet. This is in. You know, again, two in the morning. And I looked at these mom and her kid and I just thought, I. I get why they hate us. And then guess what? She offered me tea.

[Podcast Host]

What?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You think she was trying to poison you?

[Rob O'Neill]

That I'd never even thought of that. It just seems so genuine. I saw her make it.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, God. So you drank it?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, okay.

[Rob O'Neill]

But the. Yeah, I guess that's one of those things where it's like, fuck it, you know, but when you. That's how you go from after 9, 11, when I was like 28 or 27, I will invade Canada right now. You want to hit Australia? Let's do it. You start to get over to our enemies and you just realize what the are we doing here? I'm serious. And that's where. And again, I'm not saying I'm. I'm not going to turn into the big protester, but. But there are people, people on the other side of the world trying to get on with their lives. And we just show up because we decide we're the good guys. Right. You know how many people think they're the bad guys?

[Podcast Host]

No one.

[Rob O'Neill]

No one. The ones that are doing really bad, they're sociopaths or psychopaths. They don't know any better.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Do you think Bin Laden have a couple hundred million followers? Like he was right to them? Yeah, crazy like that.

[Podcast Host]

It is wild, right? They see us as.

[Rob O'Neill]

You start thinking weird when you stop drinking.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, not too. But yeah. They see us as the terrorists, but we see them.

[Rob O'Neill]

They're terrorists. We're the great Satan.

[Podcast Host]

Right?

[Rob O'Neill]

Like they're terrorists, but they're freedom fighters to them. And then our media throws that in a freedom. Well, like. Well, like queers for Palestine. They don't want to know what the Palestinians would do to queers if they met them face to face. And they don't need weapons. They don't want to know what they would do.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that one doesn't make any sense

[Rob O'Neill]

because they don't know any better. Because you only know what you're taught.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And then people try to tell you the truth. You get offended because you're. That's when they bring the name out. You're racist. You're an Islamophobia. It's like, we'll stop with the names. Here's what I think. If I'm wrong, I'll admit it.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Prove me wrong.

[Podcast Host]

So you think if we win this Iran stuff, it'll put a lot of wars on pause for a bit.

[Rob O'Neill]

I mean, we're not going to see the invasion of Taiwan for a long time.

[Podcast Host]

That's good.

[Rob O'Neill]

That's a good thing for all of us. If you like what you're doing, it's a good thing for all of us because there is a big picture. We are, you know, the baby birds get the morsels, but mama birds out there doing stuff too. On. And I think I could be biased. I know a lot of them. I think this administration has this country in mind and your future. The problem is we have a lot of people here who live in this country who do not like this country. And they don't have it. The people mourning Ayatollah's death.

[Podcast Host]

Death.

[Rob O'Neill]

You know, just, just instead of mentioning the New York Times, mentioning people celebrating in Iran, they don't want to talk about that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Because the people are. The vast majority of Iranians want this, but they won't talk about that. They had their chance before. They've done this before. Up. Rise. Rise up against the Islamic regime. And they wait on us. And then our media turns off and we don't do anything. They get slaughtered.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

We said then we send them a couple billion dollars in Euros. There's not. Nothing's being done has been done about it.

[Podcast Host]

So it is interesting. I've talked to people that grew up in Iran and they're pumped. Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

I talked to a guy. I was in Dublin the weekend when they started getting bombed. And one of the security guys was from Iran. I talked to him for a while about pump. Just talking.

[Podcast Host]

But you won't see that on the media.

[Rob O'Neill]

No. And if you report it, then you're. Whatever the flavor of the day is how you're an.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, you'll get censored or whatever. It's crazy, man. Truth is suppressed. You got to really know the right people to get it these days, you

[Rob O'Neill]

know, you do need it. And that goes both ways. So you need to be willing to accept it. I love when someone proves me wrong. It's like, I'll be down. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Podcast Host]

You're willing to change your opinion.

[Rob O'Neill]

I'd love to change my opinion.

[Podcast Host]

Really?

[Rob O'Neill]

I would love to be proven wrong and then say, you're right and I'll go with that. Now I used to do that in combat too. I would tell guys that don't take shortcuts. We have the way. And this makes sense too. Like, my wife's the power line industry. I tell the lineman there that the 8 hour, 10 hour workday is the safest way to get from point A to point B. That's it. If someone figures out a better way, tell us and let's fix it. We'll make that the. But always follow your rules. Always follow them because they're written in blood. Once you deviate, that's when. Like with the construction guys, someone gets catastrophically injured, God forbid, killed. What does the sign out front say? About 500 incident free days. Well, what did he do wrong? Well, he didn't bring his gloves up there and it's 20 minutes to get him. I'll just do a quarter turn twist that. He deviated from the rules of one of the rules. It was quicker, but he blew up.

[Podcast Host]

So.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. Tell the truth and learn.

[Podcast Host]

So you're not a fan of shortcuts?

[Rob O'Neill]

No. Well, gambling's a shortcut, right? You can win.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

You can take in the ass too,

[Podcast Host]

though usually you will.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah. I think every. Naturally you want to get things done quicker, Right. It's like human nature. But you can't. Like you said, you can't be stupid with it.

[Rob O'Neill]

No, I would tell guys in combat, and I know guys that this happened to don't die because you got bored.

[Podcast Host]

Did you see that before?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, I've seen it a lot. I. I would be prone to. We would. When we would go after it as a troop, we'd have three teams per troop, which means three team leaders, which means we're gonna sort of vote on the missions. I would be normally the guy say, I don't think that's a good mission. Just because really, look, it's the immediate gratification. Yes, it will be fun and. Yeah, I mean. And let's be honest. Hunting people is fun. Yeah, but it's also dangerous. And this could be the one a bullet needs to be right. One time when I.1 RPG killed 31Americans.

[Podcast Host]

Holy shit.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. Hit a hit extortion one seven on August 6th, 2011 killed 31American. A lot of guys from Seal team six were there. My friend Robert James Reeves was on that bird. I named my son Reeves after him. But I'm not saying what they did, but I'm just saying if you make a decision based on boredom and then your truck gets hit. Yeah, okay. What was the name of the guy you were going after when he got blown off? Oh, you don't remember? What are your kids names? You remember before. Be smart about being stupid. Stop taking shortcuts.

[Podcast Host]

Right. So you operated pretty safely.

[Rob O'Neill]

I tried to, I tried to but I would do stuff the that would. When I said anything you do can get you kill included nothing. Well, prime example of the the perfect plan. There were two Al Qaeda safe houses on the other side of the border in Pakistan. I was running an outstation in Assadabad, Afghanistan, which is right on the Korengal River. I knew the, the bad guys. Afghanistan didn't have a lot to do with a 9 11. They let him be there anyway. Al Qaeda realized we're too weak to go into Pakistan. But there were two houses. One click, one two clicks. I'm running this out station. I knew if I can get up there and get shot at and if I'm in, if I can see them the whole time while being shot at, I can call the Air Force, they can bomb them. I can pursue 10 clicks and I can hit those two houses. That sounds like fun, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, it's gonna. It could be. So we got up there. It took a while to insert and climb. We did have to remain for a while. The first night I woke up and I was laying on a nest of baby pit vipers.

[Podcast Host]

Geez.

[Rob O'Neill]

And I remember looking, I'm like oh, they did okay. At least that's the worst thing that's going to happen all day. So we, we saw. Now we're in a place called the federal administered tribal area, the Fada which is parts of it border China. There's. You don't. You're in 11th century. We armed them all too by the way. The, the Frontier Corps we just gave them American guns. We do like that. I. I don't know. So they're armed. We know that. But now we're. Me and four Americans are dressing tiger Stripes with a couple Afghans. Because we don't want them to know we're Americans. Because if they do, they might not shoot at us. Because the Air Force. So now these dudes show up, and I was calling them, like, a checkpoint. They're on the Pakistan side. I told an Afghan, go down there. Talk to them. See what they say. And they came back, and they're like, yeah, they don't know they're Americans. Through an interpreter. They don't know they're Americans.

[Podcast Host]

Blah, blah, blah.

[Rob O'Neill]

They said, maybe we'll have tea later. The tea thing always comes up. And then a truck shows up, a Hilux with all kinds of dudes in it. Like, in the back, like. And then another truck shows up with more dudes. It's like, so we're the guy we're going after. Names, the beat. Jaleel is one of the dudes that ambushed Marcus Luttrell and his crew for Lone Survivor. That's what kind of. I want to kill these guys. But now there's. And this is what happens. Like, oh, fuck, man. There's a couple of us on a mountain. It's daytime. I make the call that I'm the ground force commander. We can leave. Let's leave. If we can go around this. They don't see us. We have dead space. I'll call a bird. We'll get the fuck out of here. Because this is.

[Podcast Host]

You're outnumbered.

[Rob O'Neill]

We have the high ground, but it could get bad. So we do that. We get down to a spot where I can call, and this Afghan, who never spoke a word of English to me, yelled in English, bad guys, bad guys. Oh. So I turn around and look up the hill, and they're in brown pajamas, and this is terrifying. They're running, like, these two ways. I can see them. They're trying to get on both sides, and they want to. They start shooting, but some guys stop. They're shooting. The other guys are moving. So it's like, okay, they're shooting. Shooting maneuver. Communicate. Like, these guys are trained.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Rob O'Neill]

And they're trying to get us. We're in a shitty spot. I had a. My backpack on, and I'd heard from Vietnam guys, they had us wearing our gear in lines of gear. First line, second line, third line, first line. Gears are most important stuff. It's on your belt, in your pocket, your most important. Like, you dip and your knife.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And then, like, one bullet for yourself. Second line. Gears, your second most important stuff. So it's water and magazines, bullets, rounds, grenades. Third lines are least Important in your backpack you sleep with. Sleeping bag, ground pad, exercise, foot powder. The Vietnam guy said, if you need to run for your life, you can get rid of your least important. Never done it. Never heard of. I dropped my. And I'm running to the radio guy. He's another SEAL, but not SEAL Team 6. He's never been in a gunfight. He has a radio. I need to get to him. I lay next to him. They're maneuvering, and they'd set their RPGs to airburst where, like, blowing up right above you, trying to get, like, rocks look like they're as big as an iPhone, and you're trying to get behind them, and the shitty feeling is, dude, shooting at you, but your bullets won't reach them. So it's like, why would I waste them? This boy, this. I just kind of lay there and. And one of the. The guy that yelled, bad guys, He. He tried to get sort of high ground, a different position, and he took. We. This happened for an hour. An hour. We can't return fire.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Rob O'Neill]

We don't have any air support. Tony said, we don't have any. We don't have anything. There's nothing up there. I don't know why we didn't get any. There's nothing. We're on this fight. An RPG hits this dude, and he blew him up. His hat flew off, and he's laying in these rocks, and that's. We just lost our first guy. This is a serious gunfight. The weirdest things happen in combat. He rolled over and he sat up, this Afghan, and he's dusting it. He's unhurt. The RPG exploded right behind him. Unhurt. His ears are ringing. He lost his hat. He saw me. He yelled the second thing ever in English. He went, okay, USA it, right? So this went on for an hour. It's it. I dropped my backpack 100 meters or whatever way I remember, two tracers flew in between my hand and my face.

[Podcast Host]

Jeez.

[Rob O'Neill]

And, like, there's real bullets in there, too. And I sort of stopped, and I started thinking, what is this going to feel like? And what happens? Like, what? You know, fear's gone. Like, I'm going to die. Yeah, I'm going to die. Or I'm going to win. That's all that's going to happen today. And I'm sort of in a bad spot. And finally the radio guy goes, hey, I got one. I got one. I got a jet. I'm like, sweet. Hit that checkpoint. And he said, I can't because the radio, the batteries died. Oh, I don't like micromanaging people. I think it's counterproductive. But now I need to. And I said, change the fucking batteries. And he said, I can't. I'm not carrying the spares. Remember, you are in the backpack. So I got to get up. There's a dude over here who's been creeping up and he's. He's close. He looked like me, red beard, white guy shooting a belfed machine gun, yelling God is great in Arabic. Allahu Akbar. Like. And I'm like, okay, that's a Chechen that. That's like running into a someone from Dagestan in the octagon. That's a very, very serious right there. So I gotta run to the backpack. So I run to that, get the things and I run back over to. To the guy and I give him his bat. He changed him out and we ended up getting a bomb. We got, we. The first one we got, he said, bombs away, two minutes out. And I was pissed at two minutes because nothing takes two minutes to fall to the earth. And I remember saying something cute like, the first one he got was a space shuttle or whatever. And he said, no, it was turning. It was a B1 at 60,000ft. He dropped three JDAMs, 2,000 pound bombs. They burst it right on top. These guys realized they are Americans. That's why they're ambushing. They thought they were going to just kill a bunch of Afghans. So we got. Dude, 1, 2 came in who's an F15. He was awesome because he said, just talk to me like I'm a man. Meaning don't get worried about the complications with shit. Tell me the truth in Obama. So we bombed Pakistan for four hours. Three and a half hours. Four hours. Wow. And we killed 11 Pakistani soldiers, which tells you that their army was fighting us. We killed I don't know how many Al Qaeda in Taliban, but we got helicopters to come back in. And we took off. And I was on the starboard side of a Blackhawk, the right side. And as we're taking off, I could see the battlefield because I've been ducking for four hours. Yeah, I see the battlefield and it is scorched earth. And I was like, I remember thinking, wow, we just bombed Pakistan and that is an international incident and I'm in charge.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, God.

[Rob O'Neill]

And I'm. I'm definitely gonna hear about this. And I was right. We land at Assadibad and there's a general there. And it was a funny conversation because I I was gonna die. Now I'm not. I'm happy. And I know the ca. Is like a whiskey, and. And he. He said to me, something like this, o', Neill, you realize we're not at war with Pakistan, right? And I smiled because I'm in a good mood. I'm gonna live. And I go, yeah, but we were today, sir, and you should have it. And I'm like. And he said, yeah, you're probably gonna go to Leavenworth or get a Silver Star if we gotta look at the footage, if we have any. So three weeks later, they found footage, and we're good.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, wow.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. So that's the perfect plan. Like, here's a great idea, and it turns into I almost died.

[Podcast Host]

It turns into you bombing Pakistan.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. And there's footage out there of. There was a drone that was watching us. There's footage on the.

[Podcast Host]

So they were recording that.

[Rob O'Neill]

I think I might have it on my link tree.

[Podcast Host]

Holy crap.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. I didn't know they were recording that back then.

[Rob O'Neill]

I didn't either. I was glad they were. I'm not worth. I'm not turning bigger rocks into smaller rocks. Yeah. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So you didn't get in any trouble.

[Rob O'Neill]

I got Silver Star. My Silver Star. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

What?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So it ended up being a great thing.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Holy crap.

[Rob O'Neill]

My hearing's a little worse.

[Podcast Host]

Damn. That's crazy.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well, I mean, there's a saying I will sign. You're never out of the fight.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

You've got to. You have. Regardless of who you are, you have a puncher's chance. Throw that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. That's a crazy one, though, because you can't even.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well, that's a story, too, that I don't even. No one talks about that one. It's like. That was the closest to death I've ever been, really knowing I'm gonna die accepting it, seeing it, and then winning. Like, getting that. That. You hit him with that left. You hit him on the button. That was that first. First triage of straight up American air power.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

That's Dude 12 or Bones? Bones 22 and Dude 12 with the two jets.

[Podcast Host]

Did you fear death before that moment?

[Rob O'Neill]

Fear is a tough one, because, yes, death. No, I didn't know about death, but fear is not a problem, and it's very, very healthy. If you talk to someone who's been in a gunfight and says they weren't afraid, you're probably talking to a psychopath. And I'm not saying that to sound cute, like you're talking to a Psychopath. Which is a fun conversation if you've never talked to like realize you are. It's really. They will tell you the truth.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Sean Strickland, is he a psychopath? Could be. He does not fear much.

[Rob O'Neill]

I've never met him, but I love listening to that dude.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, he's serious either way. He's got some trauma, but yeah, he's a fun one to talk to.

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh yeah, I've never talked to him. I want to. I really want to. That's cool. But yeah, that's. But the, the fear thing, if it's controlled, it's. It's going to help you out. You need to. You need to take fear with patience if you can. If you can back off and realize that this is fight or flight. It's helping me. Fear makes you think more clearly. The issue is if you're too quick with your fear, it turns into panic, which is contagious.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Rob O'Neill]

That's why we ran out of toilet paper in 2020.

[Podcast Host]

Yup.

[Rob O'Neill]

Has nothing to do with survival. Has nothing to do with a virus. Someone panicked, bought it all. Someone saw him and he panicked and he went somewhere else and bought it all. And then we all ran out of shit. That's it. Panic is contagious. Very important. If you're patient with your fear. Calm is contagious as fuck. It works for you. If you know you're afraid, you know you are, but no one else does. So you just be calm and then you watch your people around you calm down. That calms you down. Very contagious. Calm is contagious. So is panic. That's a very fine line. Don't be afraid of fear, though. Fear will make you think more clearly.

[Podcast Host]

I think that that calmness is what separates the best leaders from when you're.

[Rob O'Neill]

When you get the adrenaline spike and you're calm, you're moving a fuckler faster than you realize. Yeah, like even. Even with my. I got a speaking agency I started called Operators Collective and I've told my guys, prepare. If you. If you have a 40 minute, 45 minute speech to deliver, train for an hour. Because once you get up there, you're now just talking faster.

[Podcast Host]

Right?

[Rob O'Neill]

40. It'll be 40 minutes.

[Podcast Host]

Great advice. Yeah, that's so true. When you're nervous, you talk a little faster.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, when you're nervous, you talk faster. Don't read your notes, don't memorize, and if you forget what you're saying, just start talking about something you know, because people don't remember really what you said. But they will remember how you made

[Podcast Host]

them feel, the delivery of it.

[Rob O'Neill]

Good. Give them good right now. Give them pearls. Give them. Make your voice say something positive.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. You know, public speaking is the number one fear in the world.

[Rob O'Neill]

I did know that, yeah. When I gave my first speech with zero training. My very first speech that November one I talked about was in front of 2,000 airline captains. And I didn't know if I was going to faint or. I know. I called my agent. I said, I've been in gunfights, man. I can handle it. I don't know if I'm going to walk out there and faint. You know what she said? This is true. I'm sober. But she said I wasn't at the time. She said, go drink three glass of red wine right now. Not. Not two, not four. Drink three. Trust me. And I did. And then I walk on stage and. And here's the luck when, when. When luck meets the opportunity, that that's your preparation, whatever the saying is. Because I'm walking out there because I'm talking to airline pilots. Some of them are prior service. So the marine in front gave me. Which instantly, like I said, be common to portray. It'll. It'll. Him giving me made me realize I'm in a friendly crowd. This is good. And the three glasses of wine were like it. Anyway. Yeah, I'm good.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. So three glasses.

[Rob O'Neill]

But. Yeah, but once you. Well, at the time I was a big guy and she thought, she's like, we're just swinging for the fit. Take the shot, punch your stance.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And I went out there and the first joke open with a joke and

[Podcast Host]

then open up the crowd. Right?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

First time I spoke, similar story. Not 2, 000 people, but like a hundred people. I did. Oh my God. I was freaking out. Like, I had to do breath work. I had to take his Xanax. Dude, it was bad. And then as soon as I got up there and said the first word, it all went.

[Rob O'Neill]

Isn't that funny?

[Podcast Host]

Crazy.

[Rob O'Neill]

That's the same thing with skydiving or shark diving. The hardest parts, from the bench to the door. And once you're in it, it's on.

[Podcast Host]

It's easy. Once you're on that stage. It's a very mental thing.

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, it's. Everything's mental 100 mental. The, the. The. The Xanax thing. Yeah, I. Well, the drinking thing too. I've done it before where I had the four drinks and get on stage and realize, okay, bad.

[Podcast Host]

Too much.

[Rob O'Neill]

Literally. I've told the same story on Stage. And I started telling again. I'm like, did I just tell that?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, I hope no one's watching. Oh, they're all watching.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Drink it on stages.

[Rob O'Neill]

Don't.

[Podcast Host]

Unless you're a comedian.

[Rob O'Neill]

Just leave it at. Drinking is bad.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

You imagine if you tried to sell alcohol right now, if it wasn't. If it didn't exist and you tried to be the first salesman a beverage store. I got this drink that tastes like. Bear with me. It's going to ruin your marriage and your job, and the only way to make it taste good is a bunch of sugar. It's going to ruin your life. Who's in?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. It's a tough sell. That's why you're seeing the trend these days go down for alcohol, because the younger guys don't really.

[Rob O'Neill]

I tattooed my last. My first sober day on my finger. That's my drinking hand.

[Podcast Host]

What date is that?

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, 7, 18, 25. Well, that's proof right there of. Of the. But, like, if you want butterfly effect large, your large goals are there, but you got to do the short goals. The 2% change right now in five years is going to be a monster.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Rob O'Neill]

So like on 7, 18 or 7 19, 25. This looks ridiculous. On 7, 18, 26, it's like, oh, look at that change.

[Podcast Host]

Right?

[Rob O'Neill]

That's. And that's my drinking hand. So, like, if I ever reach one. You gotta. You gotta. You're gonna pay the man right now or just don't.

[Podcast Host]

So it was an issue for you? It sounds like I was.

[Rob O'Neill]

It was. I started to notice that every problem I ever had, alcohol was involved.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And it's a big drinking culture.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yo, for sure. My dad was an alcoholic, so I grew up around that, you know, it's tough, man.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, it's. It's been. It's been great for me. I. We talked about ptsd. I was. Me personally, I was just covering it up with alcohol. But then I noticed a lot of my friends did too. And then my friends started getting sober around me and I thought it was great. They didn't tell me for a few years it was because they did ibogaine.

[Podcast Host]

Oh.

[Rob O'Neill]

And then I was like, oh, that's how. And so I did. I took me three trips for ibogaine to get sober. But that's. That was my goal with sobriety, with ibogaine. And it worked. And I was able to get introduced to five meo, DMT and psychedelics and nice. Like. Like talk about opening your mind up and taking a. Taking the 30000 foot view on.

[Podcast Host]

I love microdosing. I haven't done full trips with those yet though.

[Rob O'Neill]

Microdose is the way to go. Ibogaine is definitely macro dosing. Yeah. And like I'm. I'd love to get. I had a couple calls right before this podcast trying to get it legalized to be administered medically in this country. It's a. The problem we're running to in the country is big pharma. It's a. Yeah. And big pharma doesn't make money.

[Podcast Host]

You should say that word on YouTube. You get a.

[Rob O'Neill]

You know that there's never anything.

[Podcast Host]

It doesn't surprise me.

[Rob O'Neill]

Not a thing. You know how many billion it's a trillion dollar company yet. Probably you think it's like selling alcohol. That's not good. Why didn't you cure anything yet?

[Podcast Host]

No.

[Rob O'Neill]

You could have. You got lifelong customers now though. A lot of them if you think about that too. It's like yeah. Let's take this perfectly normal six year old boy who's got this. The creative. He's a creative genius at this point. Let's sit him in a classroom for the next 18 years. See how he does. And oh by the way he's. He's too hyper. Give him the Ritalin or give him whatever. Get him a lifelong customer. That's all it is. Man. What three buildings look the same. School. Prison. Hospital. Keep full. Someone's making money. What do they do? What do they. What do they teach you in school? You got to get to college. Why? So I can start in debt. What am I going to learn in college? Nothing.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Hundreds of thousands in debt and you're so programmed.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well they're starting that. So now what? What are you worried about now? The mortgage and the ridiculous interest rates. What aren't you thinking about how they're. You on the banks?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Good luck.

[Rob O'Neill]

You're not thinking about the global anything. You're seriously nothing.

[Podcast Host]

I've seen you don't know how to do taxes.

[Rob O'Neill]

That's where the comment is. Eventually after you see it they come back and say you will own nothing and be happy. Maybe I will be happy.

[Podcast Host]

Be.

[Rob O'Neill]

I'm just gonna go to the game. I'm gonna kiss my wife. I'm gonna do it again.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Man.

[Podcast Host]

They got us by the balls.

[Rob O'Neill]

They do.

[Podcast Host]

From age zero all the way.

[Rob O'Neill]

See it's the. It's the same thing with knowing the truth. That sucks.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. It does suck. I try not to like let it consume me though. You know.

[Rob O'Neill]

Don't. I mean there's so many opportunities for happiness. Take them.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And that's what. Taking the shot, too. I mean, with the fear. It. What a story.

[Podcast Host]

I used to fear death a lot. Every day because I would grow up Christian. And they teach you to fear it, though.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. My joke was. Yeah. I was Catholic till I reached the age of reason. I'm still Catholic. I'm not. Yeah, I'm making it.

[Podcast Host]

I just don't like how they program that. That whole sinning thing. And the fear.

[Rob O'Neill]

Well, of course they do. How do you keep people in line? You scare them. Jesus was a carpenter, right? How many churches did he build?

[Podcast Host]

None.

[Rob O'Neill]

None. How many times did he quote the Bible? He never quoted the Bible. Why? It wasn't written. Who wrote it? Man. What gets corrupt? Everything. Why man gets involved. And so does money. Look at church. Hey, we're going to get in heaven, but we're going to just need a little tithing so you don't go to hell, which means probably doesn't exist anyway. All you got to do is forgive yourself. Jesus said you're good, right?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

How hard is that? You have to go to church. Why? Well, someone needs money. You can do that at home.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

You can do it outside. We can do it. We're doing it right now. Why you got. Why you got to follow it, dude. And believe what he says. Where did he learn it? From another dude that told him something.

[Podcast Host]

100%. Yeah. I'm reading the Bible by myself. I'm not going to church.

[Rob O'Neill]

That. That's all you read. Read the Gospels. Find the other ones. Find the Book of Enoch.

[Podcast Host]

That's a good one I've had on Billy Carson.

[Rob O'Neill]

People start reading that, they don't want to know why. Well, because it contradicts the. You've been told your whole life. Yeah, I was in. I was in a church in Dublin two weeks ago during Lent, which is big for Catholics. That's the first time I've ever heard. I'm turning 50. The first time I've ever heard the word Ramadan using a Catholic church, the oldest Catholic church in Ireland. Talking about Ramadan. That's also the first time I ever left mass before Communion. Those are not Catholics up there. That's not about Jesus. It's something else in this church is being infiltrated like everything else that man is involved with. Wow.

[Podcast Host]

So power.

[Rob O'Neill]

They used to. Used to be able to buy your way out of hell hundreds of years ago. You know, Bishop's. What's. Come on. Yeah. He's putting that money in the Candle store so that he buy it. We fall for it.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. These mega church owners are caking in the money.

[Rob O'Neill]

How many. How many Ferraris does Joel seen have? A lot.

[Podcast Host]

Gavin Newsom probably has some too, at least.

[Rob O'Neill]

Gavin Newsom? Yeah. Joel's. At least. You know, Gavin Newsom, you know he's going to be a scumbag.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

He's running for president.

[Podcast Host]

I can't believe people are buying.

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, but when you're going to believe it? When he wins.

[Podcast Host]

I don't. I hope he doesn't.

[Rob O'Neill]

A couple years after 9 11, we have a communist jihadi as the mayor of New York. Yeah. I guess New York literally forgot to never forget.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah. When you put it that way, he has a good chance on they'll forget about.

[Rob O'Neill]

Oh, yeah. Who's the evil man of the country? Donald Trump. He's fighting for the country. He's fighting for your family.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

Evil. That's what they say.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

And that's what they believe. Repeated enough. You're going to believe that I hate Donald Trump. Why? Other than don't call him a name. Why do you hate him?

[Podcast Host]

They'd say fascist.

[Rob O'Neill]

Okay, I ran. Now I get it. He's doing. He's doing it. He's doing it for what he was elected for, I think. Yeah. We'll see.

[Podcast Host]

You ready to play some chess?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah. Want to.

[Podcast Host]

Let's do this. Thanks for coming on, man. We'll link your stuff below. Anything else you want to close off with?

[Rob O'Neill]

Yeah, just. You gotta. You gotta check out the operator podcast. I'm able to do this. I. I do a lot by myself and I just tell you what I think. But more importantly, I call the operator, because everyone's an operator. I give you my opinions, Operator. I want to hear yours. And like we were talking about, I want to read it and then maybe learn something.

[Podcast Host]

Love it. Check it out, guys. We'll link below. See you next time. Peace. If you learned anything from this episode or got any value at all, please share this episode with a friend. It helps us grow the channel, it helps us grow the podcast, and it means a lot to us. Thank you so much.