Greenline Tactical

Summary

The Antihero Podcast: Greenline Tactical – Detailed Summary

Release Date: May 26, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Greenline Tactical," hosted by The Antihero Podcast, the discussion centers around military experiences, specifically focusing on Don Edwards, a former Ranger and Green Beret. The conversation delves into his journey through the military, training regimens, combat operations during Operation Just Cause in Panama, and his transition into civilian roles focused on tactical training and mentorship.

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Guest Introduction

Don Edwards is introduced as a seasoned veteran with extensive experience in special operations. As a former Ranger and Green Beret, Don brings a wealth of knowledge and firsthand insights into elite military training and combat missions.

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Joining the Rangers and Early Training

Don recounts his initial motivation to join the military, highlighting a lifelong fascination with soldiering inspired by reading about Vietnam-era Green Berets.

Notable Quote:

"I always had an idea that was drawn towards specialized types of organizations... I knew by that point in my time, by the time I was like, 18, 19, that my preference was to work with guys that knew what they were doing."
[06:15] Don Edwards

He joined the Army in November 1987, undergoing rigorous Basic Training and Airborne School at Fort Benning. The training, known as RIP (Ranger Indoctrination Program), was intense, focusing on building resilience and toughness.

Notable Quote:

"It was like a kick in the nuts, gut check every day. And you could pride yourself in the fact that, hey, I'm still here today."
[12:13] Don Edwards

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Operation Just Cause: The Panama Invasion

Don details his involvement in Operation Just Cause—the U.S. invasion of Panama aimed at capturing Manuel Noriega. As part of the 3rd Battalion, his unit was tasked with securing the Riojato Airfield.

Preparation and Mobility: The operation required rapid deployment, necessitating the Rangers to be ready to mobilize within 18 hours of receiving orders.

Notable Quote:

"Being in a Ranger battalion back then, there was a very serious understanding, even as a young private, that, you know, 18 hours was... jumping into another country with full combat kit."
[17:10] Don Edwards

Combat Jump: Don vividly describes the combat jump from C-130s, emphasizing the danger and precision required.

Notable Quote:

"War is dangerous enough without adding the element of parachute... parachuting hundreds of guys."
[37:09] Don Edwards

Engagement and Securing the Airfield: Upon landing, the Rangers quickly established a perimeter, dealing with minimal resistance and securing the area efficiently.

Notable Quote:

"We didn't have as much resistance as anticipated, but mission accomplished. We got the guy we were looking for."
[58:50] Don Edwards

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Life on the Ground in Panama

During their deployment, Don and his team established FOBs (Forward Operating Bases), managed patrols, and engaged in securing key locations.

Challenges Faced:

• Harsh Terrain: Navigating through muddy, water-filled areas during training exercises.
• Hazing Culture: Don touches upon the hazing culture within the Rangers, advocating for its role in building resilience and camaraderie, while acknowledging its potential excesses.

Notable Quote:

"Hazing... it's a rite of passage. It can be overdone, obviously, but it produces hard men."
[16:48] Don Edwards

Interactions with Local Forces: Don recounts interactions with Panamanian soldiers, many of whom surrendered without significant combat, highlighting the psychological impact of overwhelming force.

Notable Quote:

"Most guys didn't really want to fight. They were dealing with the reality of war and surrendering was the pragmatic choice."
[45:47] Don Edwards

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Transition to Civilian Roles and Counterinsurgency

Post-deployment, Don transitioned into roles that bridged military experience with civilian applications, particularly in counterinsurgency (COIN) and counter-IED (Improvised Explosive Device) efforts.

Involvement with AWG: Don became involved with the Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG), a unit focused on advising and implementing counterinsurgency strategies.

Notable Quote:

"Counter IED was a symptom of the insurgency. Addressing it meant tackling the root cause of the insurgency itself."
[77:38] Don Edwards

Mentorship and Training: In his current role with Greenline Tactical, Don emphasizes mentoring, teaching firearms and tactics, and fostering a deeper understanding of combat principles.

Notable Quote:

"Teaching a defensive pistol course that gives people confidence to defend themselves and their families is incredibly rewarding."
[81:11] Don Edwards

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Teaching, Mentoring, and Current Endeavors

Don discusses his passion for coaching and mentoring rather than traditional instructing. His approach focuses on the "why" behind tactical actions, ensuring that trainees not only learn how to perform drills but also understand their purpose and application in real-world scenarios.

Notable Quote:

"It's about being a coach and a mentor, not just an instructor. The why behind the what is just as important."
[81:58] Don Edwards

Night Vision Training: Don highlights his specialization in night vision training, reflecting his commitment to advancing tactical proficiency through specialized skills.

Notable Quote:

"I've been involved in the night vision and tactical night vision space for a long time. It's crucial for modern combat scenarios."
[83:24] Don Edwards

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with reflections on the camaraderie and enduring bonds formed during military service. Don emphasizes the importance of understanding and teaching tactical principles to empower others, ensuring that the lessons learned are passed down effectively.

Notable Quote:

"Seeing trainees have those light bulb moments when they grasp the why behind their actions is what makes this all worthwhile."
[81:58] Don Edwards

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Key Takeaways

• Resilience Through Training: Rigorous training programs like RIP are crucial in building the toughness and resilience of Rangers.

• Operational Readiness: The ability to mobilize rapidly is a cornerstone of special operations, ensuring preparedness for unforeseen missions.

• Effective Mentorship: Teaching and mentorship should focus on both the mechanics and the reasoning behind tactical actions to foster deep understanding and confidence.

• Adaptation in Counterinsurgency: Addressing symptoms like IEDs requires tackling the underlying insurgency, emphasizing integrated and intelligent responses.

• Specialized Skillsets: Continuous specialization, such as night vision training, is essential in maintaining tactical superiority in diverse combat environments.

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Closing Remarks

This episode of The Antihero Podcast offers a compelling glimpse into the life of a Ranger and Green Beret, showcasing the blend of toughness, strategic thinking, and mentorship that defines elite military professionals. Don Edwards' experiences provide valuable lessons for both military enthusiasts and those seeking to understand the complexities of special operations and tactical training.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections as per the provided instructions.

Transcript

[Brent Tucker]

I hate how we've turned the word like hazing into. Into a bad word. Yeah, like it's a rite of passage.

[Tyler]

I mean, it can be overdone, obviously.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right.

[Tyler]

But, you know, get it.

[Don Edwards]

Well, we can move into hazing to train.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right. As long as. As long as no orifices are penetrated and no one dies, everything and everything's pretty much on the table.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And it does. It produces hard men.

[Don Edwards]

Hold on. We're not recording. Do you want to buy a shirt to support military dance? People want to see their.

[Brent Tucker]

An appropriate level of inappropriateness. Something happens in my family tonight. The Delta Force isn't coming to rescue my. My family might get like it is. First responders that are. That are going to save my family.

[Don Edwards]

They want the culture to be down. They want people to not want to be cops. And the people that do want to be cops are now walking into the job, scared to do the job.

[Brent Tucker]

I'm gonna try to act like it didn't happen, although we. We all know it did.

[Tyler]

JV team for life.

[Brent Tucker]

Keeps your ears warm.

[Tyler]

Nah, I don't need that.

[Don Edwards]

I remember last time I. I can't remember. It was a couple episodes ago. I went half the episode with them on before I realized, why am I wearing.

[Tyler]

Why am I wearing these? I don't know if you guys need. We needed to be wearing those or. Or what?

[Don Edwards]

Yeah, I mean, like I said, you can.

[Tyler]

Yeah, no, I'm cool.

[Brent Tucker]

Makes me feel like I'm plugged into the hilo again sometimes. So I just wear them.

[Tyler]

Just by yourself in the dark? You put your helmet on and put your chin strap a little bit too tight.

[Brent Tucker]

Wait and hear the pilot. Give updates.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

You all ready?

[Tyler]

I. I think he's already recording us.

[Brent Tucker]

So.

[Don Edwards]

Welcome back to the Anti Hero podcast. Part Delta Force, part Street cop. All truth. I'm Tyler, the owner of Counterculture Inc. Go to countercultureincthreads.com use promo code ANTIHERO and get yourself 15% off. The best in counterculture style. Graphic tees, stickers, hats, flags, ranger panties, beanies, hoodies, zip ups, whatever you need. Counterculture Inc. Threads.com promo code Anti Hero.

[Brent Tucker]

And I'm Brent tucker, owner of FRCC. That's First Responder Coffee Company and First Responder Cigar Company. And soon to be First Responder Cask Company.

[Tyler]

That's a lot of Cs.

[Brent Tucker]

That's. Yeah, that's a lot of Cs. FRCC the use promo code FRCC15. That's FRCC15 to get 15 off the world's best coffee and cigars.

[Don Edwards]

And of course, this episode is brought to you by HBTRT. Go to HPTRT.com use promo code HERO and get 20% off your testosterone every single month. Not just your initial purchase every month. If you've done blood work in the last six months, you can upload that blood work and you will. The lab cost will be waived. So whether you did at the VA or whether or not you did it with your own doctor, if you've already done the lab work, don't pay twice. Go over to HPTRT.com and use promo code HERO for 20% off.

[Brent Tucker]

And don't forget our Patreon, please. If you want to continue to support us, it's an easy and cheap way to do so, subscribe to our Patreon. We've got two different tiers still the cheapest on the market. And you get insider information to Episodes, future episodes, discount codes, you name it, different forms, gun forms, gym fitness forums. So join our Patreon and welcome to the family. And don't forget our Thursday night lives. Thursday Night Live, every Thursday at 8:00pm Eastern. 8:00pm to 10:00pm that one's for the boys.

[Don Edwards]

Good time. Gonna do it tonight?

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, I've got one tonight. Yeah. In fact, you guys will know Don already because he'll. He'll be on tonight. You'll see him on the live, and then you'll see him. That's right. Yeah.

[Tyler]

We're recording the future right now, right?

[Brent Tucker]

That's right. With us, we have Don Edwards, former Ranger and Green Beret. Don was one of the very first Green Berets that I met when I went to the. Got to the company in an A320. I know there is no way for you to remember that because he is a new guy.

[Tyler]

You told me that story and I was like, oh, okay, yeah, cool. I guess.

[Brent Tucker]

But you had a couple. You had a couple things going for you, and we're gonna, we're gonna get into that. I mean, you stood out in uniform. I mean, it wasn't a lot of guys in SF and in 2003 with a mustard stain on their uniform.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And I don't eat mustard. I'm a hot dog.

[Brent Tucker]

No. And. Or a star on their cib. So you stood out as a man among men. And you were always very nice to me as a new guy and as I continued out my career. You're always just a wealth of knowledge, well respected by, by the men that you led. When you're A team sergeant. So we're going to get into all that. Welcome to the show.

[Tyler]

Thanks, man.

[Brent Tucker]

Good.

[Tyler]

Good. We've been. We've been talking about getting. Getting together and doing this for quite a while.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, for sure. We seem to run into each other all the time. Yeah. At nra. Different Tactical Officer Associations. SWAT roundup. Yeah. So we're definitely due for this.

[Tyler]

And we only live a couple hours.

[Brent Tucker]

A couple hours. Which is where yet we always see each other in a different state.

[Tyler]

Right. We're rarely.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Rarely here. I don't know your whole story and to, you know, talk about maybe pass over. So it's like when we talked to Sean Keane, who was also part of our company. He was my team sergeant. I spent several combat deployments with the guy and didn't know his full story until he came onto the podcast. So it's a really good. It's really cool, insightful, you know, time to actually learn about your own friends.

[Don Edwards]

Podcasts are for.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

Get to know your buddies without being gay.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Yeah. You know, it's 2025.

[Brent Tucker]

So tell us how it started. When, when did you join? Where are you from?

[Tyler]

Well, so from. Actually originally from Central California. Place called Visaya, California. Which is pretty. I mean, as far as. By California standard, it's rural agricultural area and, you know, so sort of small town. Ish. Not what most people think about anyways. And I guess if I sum myself up, I always. The fact that I ended up being a soldier was. Is no surprise to me, was the kind of thing that I was always kind of fascinated with or, you know, drawn to. You know, I'd read the books about the Vietnam guys. You know, I was a dude that would stand at the, at the, the magazine rack and, and read Soldier Fortune magazine without buying it.

[Brent Tucker]

I still, for sure, I still remember that magazine.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

You remember that by chance?

[Don Edwards]

I just don't remember what.

[Tyler]

Yeah, it was the journal of a professional adventure.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Then. Then I'd put that one down and pick up auto traders and.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And look at all the cars I can't afford.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah, that too. And. But never buy, even buy the magazine, right? Never buy either one. The guy at the, at the counter be like, hey, kid, either buy a magazine or get out here and you run out. You know, it's not even like you're trying to look at porn, looking at gun magazines or something like that. So, yeah, I went to college for a little bit and it just wasn't. Wasn't me. And so I ended up, you know, joining the army, what I knew about things, you know, reading the old, like, Vietnam book, you know, the Green Berets and all that stuff. That's what I wanted to do. That's what I felt I wanted to do. So you go to the recruiter and be like, I want to be a Green Beret. And they laugh.

[Brent Tucker]

Obviously you knew that from an early.

[Tyler]

I kind of had an idea that that's. That was the kind of thing I just didn't want to be a soldier. I knew by that point in my time, by the time I was like, 18, 19, that my preference was to work with guys that knew what they were doing. You know, I had a low level of tolerance for I don't know if the word amateurs or incompetence. I guess I didn't know. I didn't know that at the time, but I was being drawn towards what turns out to be specialized types of organizations. And back then, you couldn't just join off the street to be an 18x ray or anything like that. Oh, okay. So the guy's like, yeah, you can't. You have to be in the Army. You know, you have to be reenlist to go to sf. And then he's like, have you ever heard of the Rangers? I was like, no, tell me about this. So I watched the video and I said, that's what I want to do.

[Brent Tucker]

I've been.

[Tyler]

Had a good video.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, well, it was.

[Tyler]

Yeah, I mean, it was the 80s video, though.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You know, this was 1989. Or. No, this is 80. 87.

[Don Edwards]

They had their face.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, yeah.

[Tyler]

They're running through the jungles and the swamps and all that stuff. And I was like, well, that's cool. That's what I want to do then.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And then I can be a Green Beret after that. He's like, yeah, sure, whatever you want to do.

[Brent Tucker]

You know how you decide this?

[Tyler]

I had a really high ASVAB score. You know, the Navy wanted me to work on nuclear subs and stuff like that. And I was like, I don't want to do that. But, yeah, this is what I want to be a grunt.

[Brent Tucker]

What. Did you have any military in your family?

[Tyler]

No, not. Not hardly at all, anyways. I would say not know at all.

[Brent Tucker]

But what'd your parents think about that when you. When you floated in the idea maybe colleges for me, I'm gonna go to the military.

[Tyler]

Yeah. I think by that time they had figured out that, you know. Yeah, college probably isn't for you. Yeah, you know, I don't know that I Don't know that. You know, a lot of people really thought that, you know, being a soldier, being in the military was like a high level or respectable kind of thing. But, you know, it was something a lot of guys will do for, you know, 114 year enlistment, then come home. And. And that's kind of what I figured I would end up doing was just, you know, do four years and get out. And that's kind of. That's kind of what happened. And I do. I do sort of blame the army culture of the day. You know, I don't know how it was, I mean, when you came in, but it's. It was like the day you join, guys are counting down the days till they get out.

[Don Edwards]

Yeah. Miraculous.

[Tyler]

And it was like. That was just kind of how it was. It was like, okay, all of a sudden it's time to get out. And I did, you know, you know, this is my personal opinion. I feel like they really didn't focus a lot on, hey, you know, why wouldn't you stay in? Why wouldn't you want to keep doing this? You know? And they wait till you're about ready to get out to start recruiting you to stay in.

[Brent Tucker]

You're right.

[Tyler]

It's like, dude, I've already, like, turned in my ruck.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You know, I'm already like, I'm out of here.

[Brent Tucker]

We say it's with a lot of professions like you, you really should be recruiting them the whole time you're there.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

So. So that. That never crosses their mind of sorts.

[Tyler]

Or, you know, and. And looking back, I think I kind of felt like, you know, it's like, well, if you really wanted me, you'd have been bringing this up a couple years ago. You know, it's like, is this why. Why wait till the last minute to try to convince me not to get out?

[Brent Tucker]

So did you go straight to the Rangers? I did.

[Tyler]

So I had a good.

[Don Edwards]

What was that? Did they have RIP back then?

[Tyler]

Yeah, so I went to rip and so that was. I ended up. I went into the army in like November of 87, Fort Benning. And basic training, Airborne. You know, infantry airborne school. RIP. All one.

[Brent Tucker]

So this is. This is old school, 1980s ranger battalion. You didn't have a whole lot of idea of what you were getting into?

[Tyler]

Not really, no.

[Brent Tucker]

How. How?

[Tyler]

Yeah, there was no Internet. I couldn't. I couldn't game this thing. I couldn't like, read a book and. About selection or RIP or anything.

[Brent Tucker]

When. When they started talking down to you, like the way they did and started treating you, you know, and they started really, you know, putting you. Putting you through the ringer. Was. What was your thought as. As you're going through that as a young kid who really didn't know what he was signing up for. Did. Did you love. It was like, this is different. Let me. Let me see how I feel about this.

[Tyler]

I think I was determined enough to realize that I just need to suck it up and endure whatever and with the idea that eventually it's gonna, you know, get better, that I, you know, this. I have to be tested before I can. Can be there. And, you know, you know, you know they're gonna call you a piece of shit. You know, like you said, this is, you know, now it's considered old school.

[Don Edwards]

Back when the army is hard.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

I don't know. I mean, they still used to call us Pepsi Generation.

[Brent Tucker]

Every generation.

[Tyler]

Every generation thinks that the new generation is weak. But I'm like, hey, look, these guys just, you know, pretty much fought the gwat, you know, not that weak. Yeah, you know, but. But yeah, so it was just kind of like it was a kick in the nuts, gut check every day. And, you know, you could pride yourself in the fact that, hey, you know, you know, I'm still here today. You know, there's guys that, you know, left in the middle of the night.

[Brent Tucker]

How did. So you. Usually people use, like, internalize hardships one of three ways. They either look to themselves and say, hey, I. I can get through this. And they need no outside influence. They just look to themselves. The second thing they'll do is look to people around them and be like, okay, that guy sucks. He's still here. So. So I'm good. And then there's, you know, always kind of a combination of the two. Do. Do you know what. You know, when you were tested, kind of like, what. What you.

[Tyler]

It's usually a combination of the two. You're like, well, if he's still here, I'm, you know, that. Or it's just like, I'm not going to let him, you know, not going to let him break you. Kind of kind of thing. Yeah, watch enough Rambo and. And stuff like that.

[Brent Tucker]

And, you know, how long was Rip then?

[Tyler]

It was three weeks.

[Don Edwards]

I love the Army. Like, Rip, it's proven to work. It's almost historic. Let's change it.

[Brent Tucker]

Let's.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Right? Yeah.

[Tyler]

Well, I mean, I think they made it better. I don't know. I don't know a lot, but was.

[Brent Tucker]

There something in the. Was it just sucked for Three weeks. Is there anything in particular about those three weeks that you look back, you're like, that in particular just sucked or sucked for me.

[Tyler]

Well, I would say, like, so this is Fort Benning, and it was cold, but I guess it had rained or whatever. So, you know, the grassy areas, you got these low, low ground fill up with water, basically grass, you know, ponds. And when you're in there doing flutter kicks and the water is like up to here already, and it's like. Then you got to roll over and do push ups in it, and it's like, we're gonna drown. Somebody's gonna die. And basically you're thinking to yourself, as long as I'm not the first one to die, because it'll probably end. He's gonna do this until one of us dies.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And as long as it's not me, then we'll get a little bit of a break. We might get some chow before we have to do this again, right?

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. And that's the price you pay for being weak. We're all okay with that as long as it's not us.

[Tyler]

Like, look, the wheat will fall by the wayside, and hopefully I'm not the first one to fall out so that, you know, we can all get a break after.

[Brent Tucker]

What. What battalion did you end up going to?

[Tyler]

3Rd Battalion. So I never left Fort Benning. You say it like that. Yeah, yeah. You know, getting and ending.

[Don Edwards]

I was up to January, and I remember in December, during the daytime, it was somehow hot.

[Tyler]

Yes, yes. For whatever reason I said, like, I went to RIP and like. Well, I guess so. I. I guess it must have been May because it was May of 88 when I got to the Ranger battalion. So, yeah, I went to basic and all that during the winter time, so. Because I remember that water being hot.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

I remember swimming around in hot mud puddles.

[Brent Tucker]

Right. Just. Just knowing it's just bacteria filled.

[Tyler]

Yeah. I didn't even think about that. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And then these scrapes that you might.

[Tyler]

Have had, they don't heal.

[Brent Tucker]

Just. Yeah.

[Tyler]

I mean, we live in the south, but it's like those dog days where nothing heals and you got bacteria and all. Yeah, it's nasty, but, you know, a little bit of Motrin and foot powder.

[Brent Tucker]

So I'd imagine after you've proven yourself and rip, you show up to battalion and. And everyone treats you really well.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah. Because, I mean, you're a Ranger now. You're a ranger.

[Brent Tucker]

Was that.

[Tyler]

No, no, no, no, no. Not. Not at all. It was like, come here, you Piece of.

[Brent Tucker]

I love it. That's. In a weird way. Yes. There are some hazing that can go too far, but it's really kind of.

[Tyler]

They're right.

[Brent Tucker]

It's really far and few between.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Like that. I hate how we've turned the word, like, hazing into. Into a bad word.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Like, it's a rite of passage.

[Tyler]

I mean, it can be overdone, obviously.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right.

[Tyler]

But, you know, get it.

[Don Edwards]

We can move into hazing to train.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right. As long as. As long as no orifices are penetrated and no one dies, everything. And everything's pretty much on the table.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And it does. It produces hard men, which is need.

[Tyler]

And. And, you know, be. Being in a Ranger battalion back then, you know, was between wars and stuff, but there was a very serious understanding, even as a young private, that, you know, 18 hours was. You know, the. The standard is like, you know, 18 hours from being woken up in your bed, you could be jumping into another country, you know, with, you know, full combat kit, and that was your job, and nobody cares if you're having a bad day. And that could have happened a week after I got out of RIP And I didn't know. Wouldn't know what the hell I was even doing, so I had to. I mean, it was, you know, I mean, you're in the army. It was like, that's the only place I've ever heard of where, you know, E2s stand. A parade rest for E3s if they're being yelled at.

[Brent Tucker]

I love it. Yeah, I love culture.

[Tyler]

But it was. It was explained to me early on by guys who became good friends of mine that outrank me just by a few months. They're like, look, dude, we could be at war tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. And you have to listen to the leaders because they know more than you do, and they know what they're talking about, and you have to trust that. And, you know, you have to trust that the reason we're here and all that. So, you know, those little things, those little attentions to detail.

[Brent Tucker]

What I really like about what you just said about them, and I've always admired Ranger regiment for their culture, is that they could be called at any moment and be on a plane in 18 hours. Now, there are some units and other. We'll call them tactical teams that have some sort of charter of things they. That they might be called to do. But some of them will take that. That responsibility and be like. But the chances of us actually having to do that are so small. Let's, like, let's focus on other things, you know, but no, as long as. As long as that's on your charter, you have to be prepared to do that, you know, and we'll get to this part of your. You know, but, you know, it goes back to. I don't. I don't care if it's a dive team. What's the chances of a Special Forces dive team doing. Doing that mission? I don't care what it is. Are you a dive team?

[Tyler]

Yeah. You better be better.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Yeah. And so I love. I love what you said about that, because even though the Rangers hadn't done that in a long time, it wasn't too much longer that you got called to do it.

[Tyler]

I mean, the previous time was Grenada.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And, you know, everybody, you know, that was still fresh enough in. In everybody's mind or understanding. And there were a few senior NCOs running around there with old Grenada scrolls on.

[Brent Tucker]

Do you remember what year Grenada was by chance?

[Tyler]

83.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

Because I was in high school, that was one of the things that made me and a couple buddies of mine decide we wanted to do this.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, really?

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Did you join with anyone else?

[Tyler]

No, not really. No. I ended up running into a couple of guys from. From the high school days off and on, but now just because I ended up waiting a little bit before I actually joined.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right.

[Tyler]

But how old were you when you joined?

[Brent Tucker]

Then went to college for a little bit.

[Tyler]

Turned 20 in basic training. So, yeah, not.

[Brent Tucker]

Not too far off.

[Tyler]

About a year. About a year, yeah. JV team for life.

[Don Edwards]

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[Tyler]

JV team for life.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, gosh, I think I turned, I might turn 20 as well. 20 or maybe even 21.

[Tyler]

But yeah, yeah, yeah, so, but yeah, it was, it was definitely. It was, it was what I was looking for even if I didn't understand it at the time. Just was, I was with guys who, who, you know, excellence was what they were looking for. And, and you know, I mean we, you did Everything hard. You know, you worked hard and you partied hard and you know, I learned how to. How to do both.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right. And sometimes you worked too hard and sometimes you partied too hard.

[Tyler]

Usually partied too hard.

[Brent Tucker]

We usually have a balancing act.

[Tyler]

Well, it's, you know, when you're a young private and you, you can eat for free and you don't have payments or anything like that, you spend all your money.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Because in two weeks there's going to be more.

[Don Edwards]

This thing called.

[Tyler]

And it just shows back up. Yeah, it just, you know, somebody said the Eagle shits in your bank account twice. And even though it's not a lot, it's enough.

[Brent Tucker]

That's enough. Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

That's the difference between that generation, though, and even maybe mine that came in is like, you can look at it like, I have free food and free room and board. Like, this is amazing. And then other people complain like, I don't like living in the barracks. Even though they live in like Air Force style barracks now. Yeah.

[Tyler]

It's not like it used to be living dormitories.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, yeah. They're like, I got a share. I got a share.

[Don Edwards]

Bathroom.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah, dude, we had to take, you know, we had group showers and stuff.

[Brent Tucker]

Nice.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Now take the cutter.

[Tyler]

Yeah. It was hell when somebody give you a coin check in the shower.

[Don Edwards]

And it's not gay.

[Tyler]

You got six dudes in there naked, taking a shower and somebody drops a coin in there.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, gosh.

[Don Edwards]

It's called hazing.

[Tyler]

Get used to it.

[Brent Tucker]

Do you remember any particular. Was there any squad or platoon that. That particularly had like a really rough, like, welcome to the club?

[Tyler]

I don't know, I. Looking back there, you know, I was in Bravo Company. 3rd. 3rd Ranger Battalion.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

And the different platoons had different personalities.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

And we were kind of the misfits, you know? Well, I'd say the most misfits were the. The weapons platoon dudes, the mortars and the anti tank dudes.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And, you know, Mean Jean Pataki, the platoon sergeant, if you're ever listening to this, he knows. Oh, yeah. But they were the characters. But as the. The line platoon, you know, I was the second platoon. We were kind of also the. The misfits, you know, the dudes that, you know, who do you think goof off, but still do.

[Brent Tucker]

Well, who do you think sets that culture? Is a platoon sergeant too senior to set that culture? Does he? I'd actually. In your guest, I actually heard that.

[Tyler]

Our platoon sergeant at the time had a deal with the first sergeant that if new guys were coming in and they looked like maybe they weren't gonna fit in, that he would take them. So for some reason we got all the guys that maybe the first sergeant thought wouldn't make it. Hey, he's like, I'll be their dad, the filthy 13. And it was our platoon anyways. And I can't speak for the other platoons. Some of those guys may watch this and be like, oh, well, let me tell you about first platoon. And I'd love to hear it, but we loved you. I felt like we were kind of a family, you know, like he was, he was dad.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You know, and you wanted to, you, you didn't want to disappoint him.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And that was a big, big part of it. You could tell, like, oh, we screwed up and you know, Sergeant D is not happy with us.

[Brent Tucker]

How long were you there before. Before the call for Panama?

[Tyler]

For Panama, yeah. So 89 almost. Right. At two years, I just got. Not only been out of Ranger school a few months, if even. And so that was December of 89. And I got there in early age. So a little. Not even quite two years, I guess when I was a young. I was E4, fresh out of Ranger school.

[Brent Tucker]

Was that something on your guys radar that this could happen or when it came down the pipe, you had to.

[Tyler]

Go see where Panama was on a map, somebody's radar. At my level, you know, I was. It was explained to me early on that, hey, you know, you know, when I learned, you know, how serious our job was that, you know, like, if we're doing training and we're like practicing a raid on a mocked up compound, you can be guaranteed that there's somewhere in the world that is similar to this, because we're not just doing this for the fun of it. And so we understood that, you know, any training that we were doing had some sort of real world implication at. At different levels. Knowing that it was going to be, you know, the country of Panama. Yeah. You know, was. We didn't have, you know, the Internet and everything, so we weren't as up on current events. I mean, I guess we. It didn't take as long to figure it out.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Was it that quick? Was it 18 hours and go? Did you guys have a little bit of time? It was kind of pretty close to that.

[Tyler]

I'd have to go back and review some of the timelines that other people have actually written out. But I think it was a little bit more of an extended thing because they actually brought all the guys from Fort Lewis, from 2nd Battalion to Fort Benning. And they flew out with us.

[Brent Tucker]

Really?

[Tyler]

And first bat guys flew out of either Hunter, I guess, were Fort Stewart with one of our companies, I think went with them. So, you know, we. So I think they kind of extended it out a little bit.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, it's a lot of Rangers in the air.

[Tyler]

It was. It was the entire. Entire regiment.

[Don Edwards]

What was it? Were you guys on different standbys? Like, 18 hours. The first and then second. You know, you had 24 hours, because.

[Tyler]

That was, like, 30 years ago.

[Don Edwards]

The only reason I asked, the 82nd, the brigade will have it, and each battalion transfers off.

[Tyler]

I see what you're saying. Three days. Yeah. They call it. I don't know if they still call it this, but they called it RRF 1, 2 or 3 Ranger Ready Force.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

And I don't know that we were on RRF1 or not, but they. They. They mobilized.

[Brent Tucker]

But it didn't matter. Because it didn't matter.

[Tyler]

We're sending everybody, so. Yeah. Yeah, we're sending everybody.

[Don Edwards]

Whether you go in 18 hours or 20.

[Tyler]

Y' all are on RF1 now, so. But. But. Yeah, so it was. And actually, I don't know if they still use these. Those old hangers. And when you went to airborne school, did you go to this old hangar to, like, shoot up and everything?

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, gosh. I don't remember where.

[Tyler]

I just remember we were loading magazines in the same place that we went through jump school.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

With. Oh, that's kind of weird. They just cleared all that out and all that stuff. And they brought the big pallets of ammo. We called it the contingency pallets and stuff like that. And it had everything on it, man. And, you know, we're just loading, loading mags, and dudes are putting way too much stuff in their ruck sacks. Yeah, like that.

[Don Edwards]

Oh, I have a question. We asked this on every person that came in that went through airborne school, did you actually drop from the things.

[Tyler]

Oh, from the 250, the mighty Ungawa, as they call it. Yeah. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

You did.

[Tyler]

Yeah. First person.

[Brent Tucker]

First person didn't work when I was there, either.

[Tyler]

Always down, not working, or high winds will cancel it. Yeah, no, we did it. I remember we had to haul ass because, like, you have to get all this done before the winds.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Tyler]

I thought it was kind of cool.

[Brent Tucker]

You're talking about rucksack weight. I imagine there were some monster, monster rucksacks.

[Tyler]

So we're loading up, like, they're bringing all the ammo. Right. It's just like all the ammo and it was a free for all. Guys are just getting everything. And I distinctly remember there were two guys, Sergeant Larry Bernard, who got killed in Panama, was in 82nd in Grenada. And then another one of the platoon Sergeants was in 1st Ranger Battalion in Grenada. And I overheard, they were standing near me and they were talking. You know, one of them brought it up to the other one. It's like, man, the boys are putting a lot of stuff in their rucks. They were bringing a lot of stuff. What do you think? And they basically, I overheard them say, like, let them take whatever they feel they need. And that kind of stuck with me.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Even, even when I became a senior nco and a leader is like, if you think you need it, I'm not going to tell you not to take it. You know, I'm going to make, I'm going to. Might be like, hey, that's kind of heavy. But if you, if, you know, if it, you know, because, because we didn't know. I mean, we really didn't know how long we were going to or how much fighting we were going to end up doing. You know, it turned out to be a lot less than we anticipated, but it's like we could go for days without resupply and sustained combat. So, you know, guys are taking double, triple basic loads and stuff like that.

[Brent Tucker]

What, what did you know at that time? That's a broad question, but yeah, like, like what did, did you know you were taking an air.

[Tyler]

Yeah, so we, so I, you know, my company, my platoon, we, we jumped onto Riojato airfield.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

There were other guys, you know, the guys that, responsible for clearing the Runway so that the C130s could land with the jeeps and bikes.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

We had jeep and bike teams and the, you know, our mission was to secure the, secure the airfield.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

And did you know of any potential.

[Brent Tucker]

Follow on for that? Was. But that. Or was that the information you give?

[Tyler]

I mean, that was always the main one. I don't remember if we had any planned follow ons, but figure it out from there. Yeah, but there were, there were, you know, there were obstacles. You know, like I said, we didn't have Google Earth and stuff like that. We had imagery from somewhere and what we knew, you know, I don't know. Look, I didn't know where that came from. It came from the, the CIA or something, as far as I knew.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

But you know, there, there was a highway going across the airfield, you know, the Pan American highway. So in My mind, if you say the Pan American highway goes across this airfield and there's a fence on either side of it, I'm thinking i95. Right. There's going to be chain link fences and all this stuff. And. And I was. I was. I was a breacher dude, demo guy back in those days even. And we had guys jump in quickie saws. You know, we. We had no other intel than there's a fence or expect a fence, and it's got to be cleared out so we can land these planes. Right. So a contingency was like if the guys with the saws burned in or the saws themselves burned in or something like that was what we needed. Demo to blow it. So I had. I had blocks of C4. I had. I had all kinds of crap in my. In my ruck. I had. I was also. Had an M203. So I had the old school vest.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And I had enough to refill it in my ruck. I couldn't stand up with this thing on. And it was crazy. I was carrying way more stuff than I needed. Yeah. And it turned out to be a rusty barbed wire fence with rotten fence posts and. And go push it over. Yeah, exactly. We got over there and our old. Our old platoon leader, who is now the. The XO tenant, Justin Whitney. Hope you hear me shout out, but we're like, hey, sir, what's going on? He's like, help me drag this fence out of the way.

[Brent Tucker]

I'm like, all right, hold on. Before we get into actions. On. Yeah, on this. We're still loading up the plane.

[Tyler]

Oh, okay. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Was there ever a moment or, like, rumors, you know, you know, the old, you know, Joe rumor campaign, like, we're not going. Or did you guys think from. From the get.

[Tyler]

I think this was happening in the beginning. I was calling, and then when, because, you know, I lived in the barracks, I was like, you know, E4. You know, at the time, I was a team leader. But then I wasn't because we had some guys come back over. But so I was a senior E4 on a team full of a bunch of tab daddy 4s and on a squad. So the squad leaders, the guys were married, lived off post.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

So I was actually in, like the first brief from the platoon leader and platoon sergeant, and. And they're like, no, this is. This is legit. This is real. This is not a training thing or anything like that. So it hit pretty hard then. And then. Yeah. When we're loading real bullets into real magazines, you know, in 1989.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You know, that was. That was like, okay. I mean, this could still be, you know, not for real, but now it, you know, I think we realized then when we saw 2nd Ranger Battalion camped out in the middle of the airfield. Yeah, yeah, this is. Okay. We're past the point of nowhere return. Yeah. As they would say. And. And, yeah. So, I mean, we loaded up rucks, and like I said, they were so heavy, like, people had to help us get on the bird with them and stuff like that. We didn't. We. We. We didn't in flight rig. We in flight, you know, hooked up our equipment and. And stuff like that. So we. We were rigged in the chute, but.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

But we didn't have our. Our rucks on for the entire flight halfway through.

[Brent Tucker]

You guys load it at night?

[Tyler]

Actually, I think it was daylight, if I remember right, when we loaded up.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

So that our time on target was like midnight.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

In Panama. So I guess they had to backwards plan the flight. Yeah, but I remember it was light. I don't remember what time of day it was, but it wasn't dark.

[Brent Tucker]

How. How did you. I mean, at any point, this thing can get called off, but for the most part, when it goes wheels up, like, the chances of the thing not happening, it's never zero, but it becomes a lot more slim.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Brent Tucker]

Do you, like, do you remember how you felt wheels up as a. As a young Ranger a couple years in, like, just invading a different country as a Ranger.

[Tyler]

I mean, like, we're about.

[Brent Tucker]

Not just. Not just invading. We're going to jump in. I don't think people realize war is dangerous enough without adding the element of parachute.

[Tyler]

We're getting parachuting hundreds of guys.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

You know, it's not like you're skydiving.

[Brent Tucker]

And really low altitude, and regardless of weather and regardless of winds, you're sending it. Like, there's no safety protocols. Like, it's.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah, it's full send.

[Brent Tucker]

It's full send. Yeah.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Is the weight of that kind of hitting you at any point or just. You're just along for the ride?

[Tyler]

Well, I'm sure the weight, but I. I remember being like, this is exactly what I joined the Army. I mean, literally, that is exactly what I joined the army for. Were. And we, A lot of us were like, you know, we were basically like, yeah, this is what we were here for, you know, and. Yeah. Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

Because you didn't join at an active time of war.

[Tyler]

No. So. So I specifically joined a unit with the highest probability.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Yeah, I mean, I did. I literally like, well, if there's no war going on, I'm going to go to the place where I have the highest probability of getting to go.

[Brent Tucker]

That was what worked out for you.

[Tyler]

It did.

[Brent Tucker]

That's what you wanted.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

So. Yeah. Um. So at that. At that point in time. Yeah. There were still butterflies and stuff like that. And you know, you get, you know. You know what I'm talking about. You got that actual point of no return.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And when they pass that along, like you're flying all night long. It's like, okay, we just passed the point of no return. It's like, we're not turning these birds around.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You know, we're jumping out of them.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right. The only way out of these birds right now.

[Tyler]

Birds are going to land somewhere, but we're not going to be on them anymore, you know.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Do you remember when it. What. What is like some of the, like the stuff you just remember vividly. Like the. Like when. When the. When the. When the ramp opened. Was it a ramp exit or side.

[Tyler]

It was doors. Yeah. It's like you shotgun. Shotgun the doors out of a C130 full night combat.

[Brent Tucker]

Gosh. C130s too. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's just. You guys are packed.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

In there. Oh, dude, you probably can't move the.

[Tyler]

Biggest rucksack you've ever seen. And the only. I mean, you know, like back in the day was always like, hey, when you do a combat jump youp're not gonna use reserves. Well, we had reserves, but what we didn't use was the safety wire.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

On the reserve. So the idea was, hey, look, if you need this thing, you got it. And it's gonna be easier to get out of because you don't have to worry about the wire.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

To get it out. And you know, that. That was it. So we still had reserves on and. And all that. Yeah, sure.

[Brent Tucker]

Did you guys sing? Not sing. Did you guys say the ranger creed?

[Tyler]

Yeah. I know you did.

[Brent Tucker]

It's a silly question. It was a silly question.

[Tyler]

Of course.

[Brent Tucker]

And is that got to be one of the coolest experiences.

[Tyler]

Oh, you know what? Yeah. I'm getting some goosebumps. Yeah. You know, I mean. Yeah, I mean that was like just a bunch of.

[Brent Tucker]

That was fire.

[Tyler]

That was ready. Peak performance back then. You know, I was like, so. So. Yeah. You know, and. Yeah. You kind of waddle that big old rucksack and everything like that and end up basically falling out. I had so many twists because of just. Yeah, the crappiest exit of my life and.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And all that. Just.

[Brent Tucker]

But you, at some point you got to just be happy to be under, under a canopy. Yeah. Step one.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Get under canopy. Yeah. Check canopies. And I had to piss so bad I couldn't wait to get on the ground.

[Brent Tucker]

At some point you got to pee yourself. What was it?

[Don Edwards]

What was the opposition supposed to be? Anything?

[Tyler]

I mean, dude, as far as we knew, they were like Panamanian defense, you know, battalions of their versions of us.

[Don Edwards]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Like in that area waiting, you know, to, you know, basically fight us. They. We didn't really get the resistance that we, we, you know, were anticipating the, you know, some guys did. I mean, there was some, some gunfights.

[Brent Tucker]

Any, any, any Triple A coming in. Everything pretty smooth all the way to exit. As far as the aircraft, as far.

[Tyler]

As that, you know, I think it was most fire.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

You know, there was one guy that I remember that he got hit while it, you know, it was still in. It wasn't, wasn't that bad. I mean, I mean, obviously he was, he was shot, but he lived and you know. Yeah, but he, you know, basically unhooked and air landed and ended up going to Germany.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

And whatever. But you know, some of the birds took bullet holes. But I don't think there was any like actual anti aircraft stuff being. I could be wrong.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

But yeah, we came in, it was pretty low. I, I don't remember. It was easily 400ft is, you know, so. Yeah, like by the time the shoot opened, the ground was right there.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. How was, how was, how was your landing?

[Tyler]

So it was horrible. It was horrible. You know, first of all, I had twists, you know, because I got this big old rucksack and crappy exit and everything like that. So by the time I get untwisted, it's like there's the, you know, you see the horizon and you got the trees because you already started out low enough. And yeah, I hit like a sack of potatoes. And I thought I got knocked out because my, my chin hit something hard. I don't know if it was my rucksack frame or just my reserve or whatever. And you know, so obviously the first thing you do as soon as you start getting out of your stuff is a roll over and pee.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right. War can wait.

[Tyler]

I gotta pee. Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

Oh, yeah.

[Tyler]

I'm old that.

[Don Edwards]

I'm not effective at all.

[Tyler]

I've been holding it all night long.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Plus you're hydrating because you're Getting ready to jump into the jungle. Right. So you're drinking all this water?

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

What was that like? Were they giving you guys, like, anything? Like, hey, take this pill. No, because we're going to a weird.

[Tyler]

Oh. I don't remember if we started taking the malaria stuff or not. I guess maybe we did mostly was just like, everybody knew, you know, you're going to be sweating, drink all the water you can. So it was like gorging themselves on.

[Brent Tucker]

All your face paint's already off by the time you get.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah, yeah. You sweat it off and stuff.

[Brent Tucker]

How. So how hectic was. Was rallying up and. And. And becoming, you know, a. A viable fighting force, you know, once. Once. Because that's something you don't really get to train for, you know, of sorts. Super heavy rucksacks, super low, you know, altitudes and. And what. Either how that could help because, hey, they can't disperse as much or. Yeah. At the end of the day, it's.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

I mean, I don't know, like how you guys feel. Like you rallied up pretty quick.

[Tyler]

Wasn't that. Wasn't that bad. I mean, you know how it is when. When you. When you train to do something, you know, what, you know, what you're supposed to do do and everybody, you know, it wasn't too hard to figure out where, you know, the platoon rally point was supposed to be. And. And as guys would link up with each other.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And we'd start moving to that area. You know, everybody pull out your compass. Okay. That's north. Okay. We're supposed to be right over there. Start moving that direction, you know.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

And as soon as guys start linking up on the DZ and the plan.

[Brent Tucker]

That, that you guys had intended to execute was. Was executed that night.

[Tyler]

I think it was, you know, as close as it could be with all. That's true with all the unknown variables. Right. Like not having to actually blow up a fence and all that stuff. Of course I then I had. Man, I had to carry that crap around with me.

[Brent Tucker]

If you had to guess, how much did your rucksack weigh?

[Tyler]

Dude, that ruck was heavier than my ruck was in Robin Sage.

[Brent Tucker]

£150, maybe.

[Tyler]

I mean, if you filled your rucksack, but it was like ammo and. Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

All the heaviest of items.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, all the heaviest of items.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Like, no sleeping bag.

[Tyler]

No. Yeah, I did have a poncho liner and like, I think a pair of socks or something like that and a toothbrush. Like, no personal items. You know, all the MREs that you brought were like, smashed.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

So the food was like mush. Now it was. It was just a rucksack full of ammo and grenades and crap. You know, there were guys that were jumping with laws and.

[Brent Tucker]

No, yeah.

[Tyler]

60 millimeter mortars.

[Brent Tucker]

Mortars, mortars.

[Don Edwards]

Because you got to jump in the 60s.

[Tyler]

Well, yeah. Well, yeah. And then. Then all the. All the regular dudes, everybody jumps one mortar round and then drops it off at the mortar. Or they get collected up eventually because the motor guys can't bring 50 rounds of.

[Don Edwards]

You know, they strapped the 60 to their rucksack.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Don Edwards]

If I remember correctly.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And it was usually the smallest guy.

[Brent Tucker]

It's just how it is. Yeah.

[Tyler]

Yeah, actually, I think it was. There were some pretty tall dudes, too, but, yeah, they, you know, because the 60 was pretty small.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Do you remember, was there any resistance on. On that airfield?

[Tyler]

There was some.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

But I think. I think the overwhelming force, you know, that we brought.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Most guys didn't really want to fight.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. You think thousands of rangers in the air gave the enemy something to think twice about anything.

[Don Edwards]

Did they. Did they know y' all were coming? And I don't know what intelligence was like in Panama back then.

[Tyler]

I don't know.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, that's a good question. What did they know? Were they just as surprised? Like, what are they doing? What are they doing here?

[Tyler]

Yeah, well, I mean, I think there'd been enough.

[Brent Tucker]

But there's radar, and maybe they would have got some sort of, you know, early warning or communication.

[Tyler]

There have been enough like saber rattling, if you will, you know, whatever. And, you know, like, you know, you know, they. They knew, you know, Noriega was, you know, like, basically we were saying, we're coming after you or whatever, just didn't say exactly how. So I'm sure these guys were on somewhat. Some level of alert and, you know.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. And not to just beat America too much, but I sure will.

[Tyler]

Yeah. It's.

[Brent Tucker]

It's one thing for. For you guys to be nervous because. Because it's war, right? I mean, you. Of course, you're nervous, but could you imagine being little Panama and on the other end of that and be like, America. Yeah. Is here.

[Don Edwards]

The notorious.

[Brent Tucker]

Right. Just America is here. Like, that's. I don't see a situation where you stand your ground.

[Don Edwards]

They didn't even want to be in.

[Tyler]

They're ready.

[Brent Tucker]

I mean, you gotta imagine what those guys are thinking when.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

When you guys show up.

[Tyler]

Well. And, you know, it's like, a lot of places we end up going, they don't really. They're not as loyal.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

They're like, you know, I'm not gonna die for these guys. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And they're like, yeah, I'm a soldier, but, you know, like, I'm not gonna.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, they're not living their best life. This isn't something, you know, everybody wants to.

[Don Edwards]

The Red dawn scenario in their head, what they would do.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

America would come together quick.

[Tyler]

So the.

[Brent Tucker]

Imagine you're still in the airfield. Are you kind of waiting for daylight to actually realize where. Where you're at or.

[Tyler]

Well, I mean, we, you know, we linked up our, you know, our platoon and. And squads, you know, linked up in our. We had blocking positions to block, you know, to block that highway.

[Brent Tucker]

Yep.

[Tyler]

And then eventually once the. Once the aircraft landed with the jeeps, you know, the, the jeep teams there, they came through our position to push further out.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

You know, to basically make room for, you know.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. The.

[Tyler]

The tier one guys to utilize that airfield.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

If they. They needed it.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

For their hvi, basically. Noriega. And then once that. Once that happened, which happened sometime probably early. Early in the morning before sunrise, then we kind of just pushed into a perimeter and kind of like, fleshed it out, filled in the gaps. But they had. They had the blocking position further out along the road with the jeeps and stuff.

[Brent Tucker]

How long did it take before at some point, you guys realized or felt like, we own this place now. Nothing's pushing us off this. We're here. We own it.

[Tyler]

I don't know that there was ever a question, to be honest with you. I mean, I don't mean that.

[Brent Tucker]

I love that answer. Yeah. That's the answer.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Yeah, I. I think, you know, pretty much, you know, by the time we got our initial.

[Brent Tucker]

When you landed.

[Tyler]

Well, at least by the time we got our initial blocking position established, you know, nobody's coming through here.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And, you know, you know, not. Not alive, anyways.

[Brent Tucker]

How long did you guys end up staying on the ground?

[Tyler]

We were. Well, we were there on the airfield for a couple days.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

The. And it seems like a couple days. Anyways, the 82nd guys rolled in eventually and relieved us in. In place.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

And then I.

[Don Edwards]

Like how you said rolled in.

[Tyler]

Well, I didn't mean it that way, but yeah, they did land in their airplane.

[Brent Tucker]

But they did land. They didn't.

[Tyler]

They didn't necessarily jump. Some of them did. Not on our. Not on our. Our airfield, I don't think. But got relieved. I remember a guy, the guy that one of the squad Leaders or team leaders that was coming to our, my section and I, I, we had claymores out and stuff like that, you know, old school perimeter set up. And so I've, I've got the sector sketch of all this stuff. I'm like, okay, so here, this, I'm showing them because I'm getting ready to give it to him. Like, okay, is that right there? See that tree right there? Yeah. The claymore is right on the other side of that tree and right over there. And here's the clacker for that one. Here's the clacker for that one. He looks at me, it's like, you mean those are real claymores out there? And I was like, yeah, bro, this is, this is war. And yeah, we, those are real claymores. And that was. It kind of hit me. Then again in my career that's like, I, I am kind of sheltered. I don't. You know, we used to blow up real claymores all the time in training, you know, so it's like blowing up claymores was like, not a big deal to me even by the time I got to that point. And, and you know, the, the funny thing that goes along with that is like, first of all, we got, we got alerted, right. And then what's the first thing they do? They lock you, lock you in. Like, you can't go. So you can't go to the px. Guess what? The Copenhagen starts to run out. So dudes were the reality of war. Dudes were in like combat with no dip. Yeah. And stuff. So like some of the guys were like going over there to escort the our. You know, the guys were leaving us and apparently they didn't have much ammo. Guys are like, I'll trade you a couple mags for a can of dip.

[Brent Tucker]

Bartering begins.

[Tyler]

Bartering. Hand grenades for cigarettes and crap like that. And then you'd see, you know, and you know, guys like, where'd you get that? Oh, I traded some 80 second dude, like a grenade for. It's a weird world. Yeah. When it comes to that. Yeah. But it was like, you know, like, this is. Yeah, this is so Vietnam right now. Right?

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. I didn't sign for it.

[Tyler]

Yeah. It's like, dude's like, you mean you give me that? He's like, yeah, I got like eight more here, take it. You know.

[Brent Tucker]

Hey, those are rookie numbers.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Bump Those up to 50.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Don Edwards]

Make sure it was eight, though.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, that's right. We need to be accurate.

[Tyler]

I mean, I'm making up numbers, but like you guys are like, I'm tired of carrying all this extra ammo. Here, here's three mags. Give me a can of Copenhagen. The.

[Brent Tucker]

Dare I say when you guys ended up, you know, loading up the plane to go home, that you're disappointed? Did you feel like, hey, we came here, we, we locked it down, we did our job? Yeah. Or are you a little bit disappointed in the lack of resistance that, that, that you got?

[Tyler]

I don't know that anybody was disappointed. Maybe surprised a little bit. But we had some follow on missions, you know, once we, we hot on the airfield for a while and then they evacuated, evacuated whatever to the air force base there. And we had a. They'd set up a tent city. Well, we had to set up GP mediums for ourselves, but. And then we were there for a couple of few weeks and there were some follow on missions. Most of those were units basically surrendering. And yeah, they were doing. Basically. They would call these commanders and be like, hey, look, you know, we're gonna send some rangers over there tomorrow and you can either fight or you can. Yeah, it's gonna go one of two ways. And, and without question, they're like, yeah, we'll be, we'll be ready to like.

[Brent Tucker]

Be ready to surrender.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And, and it was funny because most of the time these dudes were just sworn into the new Panamanian army.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And it was like, now we're friends, I guess it's kind of weird and, and stuff like that. So we go in there, show a force overwatch and, and stuff like that and you know, one commander would, you know, accept another commander, surrender or whatever, doing all that officer stuff.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And next thing you know it's like, okay, everything's good, get back on the plane. What? Back on the helicopter.

[Brent Tucker]

I mean, where'd you guys end up having to take all those detainees? Or you just accepted their surrender?

[Tyler]

I guess. Okay, yeah, that was. You're just above my pay rate.

[Brent Tucker]

You're just a non combatant now.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Or they're. No, they're soldiers in the. Under the new.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, I see, I see.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Okay, take this patch off. Put this patch on. Yeah, good.

[Tyler]

Basically. Yeah, I mean, we went on one that was a lot more small, I guess. Small scale was a small little outpost. And that was really one of my early exposures operationally to SF dudes. And some seventh group guys were basically with their mission and we were, we were their security.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

And went back into this little place in the middle of nowhere. And one minute we're holding these Guys at gunpoint. And the next minute, you know, some E7 swore them into the new army and Spanish and we're all eating pizza together. You know, that's make it make sense.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. It was like Christmas Eve.

[Tyler]

That was like Christmas Eve.

[Brent Tucker]

It was. It really.

[Tyler]

Yeah, it was like Christmas Eve. We're drinking grape soda and eating crappy pizza.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

In the. In a little jungle outpost.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. And just wearing. Essentially wearing the same clothes this whole time.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

[Brent Tucker]

You guys smell great.

[Tyler]

Yeah, really good.

[Don Edwards]

How long did, how long did it take you guys to get a shower?

[Tyler]

When we were on the airfield, there was like this NCO academy there at that airfield. And once we were all relieved and just kind of like waiting for them to figure out if they were going to take us somewhere new or not. Guys were coming around with like, I guess some pickup trucks that they had liberated or whatever and be like, hey, you know, one squad at a time. We're going to this pool. There was like this Olympic sized swimming pool pool and somebody found some bars of soap and you have like, like 30, 40 dudes in the pool.

[Brent Tucker]

In the pool with soap.

[Tyler]

Oh, talk about ring around the tub. You ever seen a Olympic pool with. With a soap scum ring? We destroyed that thing. But that was kind of refreshing. There's probably some pictures, some of the guys.

[Don Edwards]

Yeah, that's why they, that's why you started off with community showers. So you.

[Tyler]

But that's, that's definitely. You brought up. You got ranger panties, you know, that's why you always have a pair of ranger panties in your rucksack in case you got to take a pool bath with a bunch of dudes.

[Brent Tucker]

Takes up no space, dries out quick.

[Tyler]

Yeah, exactly.

[Brent Tucker]

Everything. Everything you need convenience.

[Tyler]

That's right. But then, yeah, once we got back, I think it was Howard Air Force Base on. In Panama. There was barracks there and stuff like that. I think you kind of had to rotate by squad, whatever, to go, whatever, because we were intense. Yeah, but you guys get to see.

[Brent Tucker]

The, the D boys flying around or hanging out or little birds going into.

[Tyler]

Them every once in a while.

[Brent Tucker]

See them doing. Doing their thing a little bit here.

[Tyler]

And there, hoping maybe.

[Brent Tucker]

Hoping maybe they'd call you for, for security on one of their missions.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure some of the guys did. Yeah. You know, and then they had the whole. Playing rock music to Norieg.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right.

[Tyler]

Got tired of that.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right. It was like Guns n Roses.

[Don Edwards]

Was that what that was?

[Brent Tucker]

That's how that he had. Oh, good. Jogging the memory banks here, I believe. Gosh, I should look.

[Tyler]

Maybe Larry Vickers will call in and he can tell us.

[Brent Tucker]

Was he there?

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

All right, we're, we're gonna put a, we're gonna put a little halt to this. We'll come back. I think what he had done was he had gone to some other like consulate or another countries.

[Tyler]

Embassy or maybe it was a church. It was a church.

[Brent Tucker]

It was some building. And then he just held up, he.

[Tyler]

Was holed up in it and I'm pretty sure it was a church. And they were just blasting like metal, I want to say like guns or something like that. Or just, you know, it was before Napster. Somebody had probably just had some cassette tapes.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, for sure. All right.

[Tyler]

It was the Psyops guys. They had all that stuff.

[Brent Tucker]

Here it is. We'll start here. During the United States invasion of Panama, Operation Just Cause, sometimes referred to as Operation Just Because, Panamanian leader Manuel Norega initially eluded capture before taking refuge in the Apostolic Apostolic Apostolic Nunciature Vatican Embassy in Panama City. So we were both right. I was like, he went to an embassy. Like they went to a church. It was a Vatican embassy. We're both right. He held out there for 10 days, during which time U.S. forces use psychological warfare tactics, including playing loud rock music to pressure him into surrendering. The Reagan finally surrendered on January 3, 1990, was flown to the United States for trial.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

That'S how, that's how we, that's how it all ended.

[Tyler]

And then we all came home.

[Brent Tucker]

And then we all came home.

[Tyler]

The. So yeah, as far as like regret, I mean, it looked mission accomplished.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, yeah, it was mission accomplished. Like we did, we did get the guy we were looking for. And you know, you say that about, you know, United States from then on, hey, it took what it take, 10, 10 years to get UBL. Took a few years to get Saddam. Took what, 10 days to get him. But, but when America's looking for you, America will find you. That's right. Yeah. Which is, which is awesome. That is. And you were part of that JV team for life.

[Don Edwards]

Are you tired of using your standard issue flashlight? I know you're still using it because I was still using mine. But I have good news. We've teamed up with Cloud Defensive, the best in the game when it comes to weapons mounted and handheld lights. Go to clouddefensive.com, put in promo code ANTI HERO15 and get 15% off your entire order. Cloud Defensive, pushing the boundaries in illumination. And of course we Got to give a shout out to our boys in 09 holsters. Custom built ruggedized duty gear. Made in the USA for cops by cops, a Leo and veteran owned small business. They do an upgraded solutions for duty gear including cases for portable radios, body cameras, tourniquets and pretty much everything you need to carry on duty. So go to 09holsters.com and use promo code ANTIHERO10ZULU9. That's ANTIHERO10Z9 and get yourself 10% off your order.

[Brent Tucker]

Revenge is an act of passion. Vengeance is an act of justice. Injuries are revenged. Crimes are avenged. Almost a century ago, big pharmaceutical companies re engineered medical school curriculum and faculty with one goal. Putting profit before progress. Anyone pushing back against the medical matrix they carefully crafted was threatened, silenced, censored, financially ruined or worse. They are the problem. We are the solution.

[Tyler]

You're clear to engage with weapons. You're clear to engage with weapons. JV team for life.

[Brent Tucker]

The when you got home, the how long did it take you? I know it's kind of a weird question, but it's such a unique piece of, of, of of military patches or part of the uniform. How long it take for you guys to get your, your mustard stain? And then how, then how cool is that to be able to walk around?

[Tyler]

I'm not gonna lie. It's pretty cool.

[Brent Tucker]

I mean your whole career isn't not just base then your whole career with a mustard stain. Yeah, I don't realize that at the.

[Tyler]

Time, but yeah, I mean it was, it was pretty cool. I mean, because that's really, you know, that's one of those things as in, as an airborne Ranger, you know, that's always the, the pinnacle. Right. The, the peak is, you know, CIB and a combat jump.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tyler]

You live life so it's like, you know.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tyler]

Spend an entire career in, in that organization. And not a lot of people don't.

[Don Edwards]

Understand about combat jumps is that there's legit combat jump.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right.

[Don Edwards]

And then there's combat jumps that all of a sudden you look at the roster or the manifestation and it's all high officers that want their mustard stain.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Or there's certain combat jumps that, that went off and they got their mustard stains, but they didn't, they weren't combat jumps either. Other units were already on the ground securing it, which happened in several instances during, during, during the g. W. A. T. And like I said, maybe the 82nd. I'm not going to speak for them, but if they did jump in, maybe they already jumped into A place where.

[Tyler]

Rangers already, as I understand it, you know, there. There were guys from the 82nd that did get a combat jump, and then there are guys who jumped that did not get awarded a combat jump. And I think it had to do with. At some point, somebody had to decide when was the airfield considered secure and when or when was the drop zone considered secure and when was it not, and they had to put a time stamp on it.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And if you jump prior to then. Yes. If you jump prior or afterwards, you know, sorry.

[Brent Tucker]

There was an airborne unit that jumped into Iraq, and SF had already secured the.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

The. The drop zone for them. That. So that's like. Is that a combat jump if. Because it's like, units are already on the ground, but it's combat zone jump.

[Tyler]

I guess it depends on your definition of whether the DZ was secure or. You know what? I don't know. Those. Again, not my pay grade.

[Brent Tucker]

Well, after that, your. Your. Your career as a Rangers, you. You're golden. You got your combat jump, you got your cib. What else did you do?

[Tyler]

Easy day, right? Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Is that what you did? Did you do four years and get out?

[Tyler]

Did four years and got out. You know, like I was saying early on, I kind of. You know, after I got out, I started to realize that I really liked being in. You know, it's not that I missed. I mean, I did kind of miss the camaraderie and stuff like that. I realized. I think getting out was what made me realize that I'd found what I was looking for when I was, you know. You know, the things that I didn't like about.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

I guess civilian life, even when I was just a civilian, don't know what.

[Don Edwards]

You got till it's gone.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tyler]

I didn't realize that I'd found what I was looking for, kind of. And then I started figuring out, okay, well, what am I going to do about this? And, you know, I considered law enforcement, but, you know, there was too much Ranger to. To pass any police interviews at the time, you know, and so, you know, I considered ROTC and going back in that way, and. And somewhere along the line, I ended up going to SFAs and. And doing that. And then I. Even then I was considering it, and then I realized, you know what? I'm an nco.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You know, and, you know, doing. There could be some cool things you could do as an officer, you know, but, you know, those cool things in my book were Ranger platoon leader, which you get to do for one, maybe two Years.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

You go to sf, it's being a team commander and that's it.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

You know, past captain, it's no longer cool.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right.

[Tyler]

And then what do you do? You go to, you know, maybe go to Delta and then from then on, you know, the officer, you know, nothing against. We need those guys to do what they do. But.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

I realized that's not what I joined the army to do. And, you know, I liked being the guy pulling the trigger or putting the charge on the door.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

So, you know, I made a very conscious decision to not do that even if I ever did finish school, which I never did. So the good thing.

[Brent Tucker]

So when. So you get selected in SF and you're going through the Q course. Did. Like, do you. I mean, it's a silly question to ask, but as a student, do you. Do you wear your CIB and your mustard stain as. As a student. I mean, it's your uniform. You earned it. But there's a reason kind of not to. But there's. But there's. There's no reason to act like you didn't do it.

[Tyler]

I was one of those guys that I had a mixture, you know, because it was BDU's back then. So it was like some were sewn on some or not.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. So just whatever ones you're going to.

[Tyler]

Cost like 30 bucks worth of sewing just like that. So on it's like a dollar a patch.

[Brent Tucker]

That's a lot of beers.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Yeah. But so, you know, there were, There were some, you know, I would have some, you know, you know, uniforms that just jump wings on it or whatever. Ranger tab.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. I'm sure there's some instructors like, whoa, whoa.

[Tyler]

And it also kind of depends. I'm not going to lie. There were instructors that I would intentionally wear all my around because, you know, I would get tired of them, you.

[Brent Tucker]

Know, and their instructor itis.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And, you know, I was still young enough to be dumb and cocky even going through the Q course, so it's like it wasn't enough that that dude was a Green Beret and was my instructor. You know, I had to show him that I was a Ranger, you know, but it was also cool because some of those guys were also rangers and we had that whole, you know, background handshake.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Kind of thing going on too, which was. It was always cool. I mean, you know how it is. We didn't. In the Q course. It's like there's. There is an understanding that, hey, look, we're. We're all Men here. And everybody's done something prior to being here.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

And some of us knew each other in that prior life.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Kind of thing. So what.

[Brent Tucker]

What year did you get to group still pre 9 11.

[Tyler]

Yeah, it was pre 9 11. It was 96, I think.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

Yeah, whatever. Whatever year it was that the Florida won the National.

[Brent Tucker]

96. That's right.

[Tyler]

Danny Warfel was a quarterback.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right.

[Tyler]

So, yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Heisman Trophy winner Danny Warfel.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Number seven.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Because I lived in Gainesville during that time.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh.

[Tyler]

So I just moved there. So we just graduated.

[Brent Tucker]

Which, which really is a. Is. I mean, I'm sure you'd gladly gone sooner, but now you get five years in an oda. So the next time, you know, sabers are rattling again like you, you know, your job, like you're. You're prepared this time. That doesn't mean you weren't prepared last time, you know, I mean, but. Oh, yeah, but you were. You have a little bit more time underneath your belt. And so when it, when it came time to go again, I mean, you guys were. You guys were there fairly early. 0203.

[Tyler]

Well, I wasn't on that first.

[Brent Tucker]

You were on that first trip.

[Tyler]

Well, oh, three. Not. Not the very, very first. Yeah, the first one that the whole. Most of the company went on.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

0304. Okay.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

I mean, it was. So when 911 happened, I was, I was an E7 already.

[Brent Tucker]

Really?

[Tyler]

I was a, you know, already had a CIB, you know, all that stuff. SF qualified. I was a senior. I was in 18 fox, as a matter of fact. Yeah, it was back when. Oh, and I and, and anoc were all one course.

[Brent Tucker]

So what was your mos before fox?

[Tyler]

18. Bravo.

[Brent Tucker]

Bravo.

[Tyler]

So actually, and, and I was full time in the Guard, so I was on the counter drug. You know, Scott Resendez and I were running the counter drug training academy. And I remember specifically we had a. Al Rizzo had put together a foreign weapons thing because there was a bunch of. Bunch of foreign weapons ammo that had to get, you know, either turned in or shot.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

So he organized it and we were out there on. On the range shooting fals and stuff like that. And, and Scotty kept getting phone calls like, something's going on, something weird's happened. You know, by the time we got done on the range and back to the office, you know, it was all over the tv.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And we're just looking at each other like we're going to war. I don't know exactly what's Going on. But this is, you know.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And, you know, it was.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, 03 was still pretty early. Did you guys go to an established fire base? What. What did you guys end up doing on. On that?

[Tyler]

Yeah, I'd say it was a. It was a fire base that the oda, prior to us, had just kind.

[Brent Tucker]

Of gotten started, going semi established.

[Tyler]

Yeah, they were like. They were 20th group dudes, too, I think. And so it was. It was out in middle of nowhere, south of Gardez Zorman. Yeah. And it was, you know, kind of Indian country. Pretty. Pretty austere, too. And I was like. We were, you know, again, I was talking to somebody about this the other day. Like, it was like Vietnam. We were literally burning the.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. You know, I'm sure as much as that sucked. Also in the day, though, like, you're doing what you. It's just 12 guys out in the middle of nowhere doing Green Beret. Doing Green Berets.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, you pretty much. Of course, you have a hire, but for the most part, you answer to.

[Tyler]

Yourselves and you radio.

[Brent Tucker]

You guys do what you think is right. And we talked about this a bit before the podcast, and me and Tyler just did the history of the Green Berets and how the OSS drove our lineage. You know, the OSS split into the CIA and the Green Berets, you know, being a human or intelligence heavy organization carried over to the Green Berets. And we're. And I also believe what. What you said. I believe we're the only special operations unit at a team level that gins up its own intelligence for its own missions. Like you. You guys absolutely are, you know, other masters of your area and your missions.

[Tyler]

Yeah, I mean, it was, you know, at the time, it was exactly what, you know, I mean, it was Robin Sage for real, basically. You know, and somewhere along those. Somewhere in there, I realized, you know, the genius of that whole. Whole thing and, you know, selection, you know, different units are looking for different. Different things, different personality traits in people. Like I said before the podcast, I was just a. As far as I concerned, an average performer when I was in SFAs, you know, I wasn't, you know, a dude that you would point to and be like, that dude's gonna be on the All Star team or whatever. Yeah, but. But I was on the team and, you know, so what do you call.

[Brent Tucker]

A doctor that makes Ds?

[Tyler]

Yeah, Doctor. Right. But it. I remember where I was going with this, but I know they're looking for certain personality types, right? More than anything. And when they find the right personality type. The other things that are necessary to be prepared have also been taken care of. Right. And that's. That's part of the genius, I think. And then the training programs that we go through are just mainly equipping you to do what should normally come naturally for you. And then Robin Sage brings it all together in an exercise that is timeless, you know, because, I mean, you. You've done that same thing in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Green Beret. And, you know, you think about it, it's like Pineland is everywhere. Did.

[Brent Tucker]

Did you find yourself trying to force a. A jump into one of your missions just. Just at the.

[Tyler]

Just to maybe get another combat.

[Brent Tucker]

Just to spike the football with your combat jumps?

[Tyler]

No. That would have been cool, though, you.

[Brent Tucker]

Know, but it's been a lot cooler if you did it.

[Tyler]

I bet you Dave Melvin was trying to play something like that. I wouldn't.

[Brent Tucker]

Would put it past him.

[Tyler]

Yeah, he's pretty smart.

[Brent Tucker]

If someone could figure out.

[Tyler]

If somebody figure out how to do that, it'd be him.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

It'd be like, you're like, look, man, we're both going to get a second combat jump.

[Brent Tucker]

Well, I'm just going to keep hopping forward here. You did, you know, we're together in Iraq 05 06, when you're a team sergeant and Samara, and that. That was. That was a hot spot. So you got. Gosh, you got to do Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq. Tell us a little bit about. Because. But, you know, we've had guys on talking about, you know, being Green Berets and, And those. And those places not to take away anything that, that you did there. It had been a different experience.

[Tyler]

All. Most of the stories have been told over here.

[Brent Tucker]

But you contracted and did some work with awg, correct?

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Now people hear about, like, AWG or the Asymmetric Warfare Group, but because they don't know a lot about it, there's. There's a little bit of mystery to them about what it is they actually do.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And it was kind of. I mean, it's a unique organization, and unfortunately, in the Army's great wisdom, they. They shut it down not too long ago, but. And hopefully. I get it. At least close enough. You know, it was born out of the original counter IED task force, where, you know, the. When we really didn't know what to do about that problem. And a bunch of smart guys, a bunch of, you know, retired soft dudes were kind of recruited to help come up with a plan. And. Yeah, you know, how do we stop the bleeding on this and you know, as a counter ID task force that became jato, the Joint ID defeat Organization. And then AWG was kind of a spin off of that, which was more of the operational advisor side of the house. So it was a really unique army unit that was pretty much 50% we called green suitors. And mind you, I was also still in the Guard while I was doing this, so I was a little bit of both. But I was, I was there as a contractor. So wherever you would have a guy in uniform, you would have basically a left seat, right seat, you'd have somebody who used to do that as a subject matter expert contractor, mostly from a special operations background, even if it was in the intel shop, you know, maybe an intel from SOCOM or JSO or something like that. So you had that blend of expertise and then the, the abilities that civilian guys had, the flexibility, I guess that civilian guys had to do certain things. And then also on the operational squadrons that we had and troops, you know, all the guys that were there as, as civilian contractors were either former or SF or Delta guys or both, you know.

[Brent Tucker]

So what would you guys advise on what was your day to day counterinsurgency.

[Tyler]

Type type stuff or a lot of the, the commercial off the shelf solutions and stuff like that. So yeah, the, the focus targeting and time sensitive targeting stuff using you know, different ints to target people, personality targeting and stuff like that and bringing some of those capabilities to the regular army was a big thing that they did. And then a lot of also what we do is embed in either lessons learned or troubleshoot. So once I was there for about a year and then ended up with the Gieto, had their jet teams, joint expeditionary teams and very, very similar mission. I wouldn't call it the same, but definitely a little bit different. Nexus had to be counter ID connected. But you know, in my book counter ID and counterinsurgency were pretty much the same thing. Right, right.

[Brent Tucker]

It's insurgents putting in the IEDs.

[Tyler]

Right, right. Pretty easy connect. I always felt that the, the improvised explosive device was a symptom of the insurgency.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Tyler]

So the reason you have IEDs is, is because you have an insurgency problem.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Tyler]

You don't have an ID problem. But so sometimes I would embed with an organization or a unit because they had encountered something and they'd already come up with a solution. So I'm there to capture those lessons learned or sometimes they're getting their butt kicked and I'm bringing lessons learned from other, other places.

[Brent Tucker]

I do like that. I love that aspect of it actually, that it's both introducing solutions but also finding and disseminating information for people who have solutions. Be like, hey, this is what these guys are doing and it's working. Yeah, we verified it. Let's, let's disseminate this.

[Tyler]

Verified this as a counter to the enemy's new and emerging ttps.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And you know, the intel people are saying that this is going to migrate as it does so, you know, the idea is to help these, you know, units. And then also our other mission was once we got home to visit the people that were getting ready to come back or deploy to where we just came from.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

So I would go spend time with them at NTC or jrtc.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

Bringing lessons learned or getting them ready advice and stuff like that as they did their train ups and stuff like that. So really rewarding. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean it's, it's like being a Green Beret.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You know, I mean it really, you know, was, was pretty cool. Especially when you could help a unit and, and see, you know, I mean it's hard once they get into country already because they're, they're so head down focused. But if you can, you can alter their, their course and direction when they're preparing to go and then you can see the fruits of that and then go visit them later on.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

On the battlefield they're like, oh yeah, this is cool. And you know, tell us a little.

[Brent Tucker]

Bit what about what you do now. And so you can see that that was, you know, training as towards the end of your career and you're still training.

[Tyler]

I still am, you know.

[Brent Tucker]

Hard, huh?

[Tyler]

Yeah. Well, at some point I realized that that's something that I love to do.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

I love not. I don't, I'm not, I don't see myself as an instructor. Right. So we do firearms and tactics at Greenline and. But I'm more like a coach or you know, it's just my personality too. I don't, you know, you know, if.

[Brent Tucker]

They'Re just crushing nuts.

[Tyler]

No, I'm not the guy doing a red ball cap on the range kind of guy. I'm Uncle Don. Hey guys, come around, you know, gather around over here. Let's talk about this real quick. And then we're gonna go do it kind of thing. And I like sharing those lessons learned and, and just stuff that I've learned from, you know, I've had the privilege to, to learn about combat and you know, fighting and shooting and all this stuff. You Know, I've had a career doing it, but I've also had the privilege of being mentored by some of the, you know, some legends and stuff like that. And, you know, just having the opportunity to pass that on to people and stuff like that is, is really rewarding. Even if it's just, you know, I'll honestly say, even though I don't do it that much anymore, teaching a basic defensive pistol course for two days probably makes me the happiest because I know that I've taken some people who, who really didn't have the capability or the understanding of how to, how to defend themselves or their families or loved ones. And then seeing those light bulbs. Bulbs come on.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

After a two day course and stuff like that, it's like, you know what, they have the confidence they can, you know, they could probably do this.

[Brent Tucker]

And I hate saying this, but it's just, there's no other way to say it. They don't know what they don't know.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

So it takes someone who's either been in situations or has a tactical mind and has thought about realistic scenarios to say, hey, what if? What if? Yeah, what if?

[Tyler]

Well, and it also, I mean, there's a lot of, a lot of guys we know, it seems like a natural fit or whatever, but I do kind of have a knack just to connect with people and stuff on that level. And it's, you know, you can't just tell them, here's how you do it. You know, it's, it's being. You got to be a coach.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You've got to be, you know, be able to teach, coach and mentor, not just instruct.

[Brent Tucker]

I say this all the time. The why behind the what is just as important, just as important, if not more.

[Tyler]

Any of my alumni are listening to this. They've, they know that that's the most important thing to me. So. And I tell them, like, look, I may be repeating myself over and over and over again because it's more important to me that you leave here understanding why I think this is how you ought to do it than it is that you be good at it. You can understand it, but you can go do reps at home. That's right, at your home range. But if you don't have any idea of why I think you should, should be doing this, you're not going to believe in it. And you might, you might think Don's full of shit, but at least you should be able to articulate why you think I'm full of shit. Because I've told you why I believe this.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. You know, you do a fair amount of night shooting as well, right? Yeah, we do some night courses. Yeah, I love that niche. That's. That's a really cool one.

[Tyler]

Yeah, I kind of fell into the MVG world. I became partners a while back in a company that we specialized in night vision training. And then I was the director of training and law enforcement, government sales for a company called Tactical Night Vision Company TNBC for a while and stuff like that. So I've just been involved in the night vision and the tactical night vision space, if you will, for a long, long time. And. And now it's like I'm the nod father OG of that stuff, and it's.

[Brent Tucker]

Kind of nod father. I like that.

[Tyler]

But, you know, so. Yeah. And, you know, several of the guys that. That teach for me now, we used to work together at TNBC and stuff. So we've. I've got, you know, a pretty good cadre of dudes that are. Are experts. And not just the night vision, but lots of other. Other disciplines too. You know, be a long gun in or CQB and stuff like that.

[Brent Tucker]

We're definitely going to come out to one of those night shoots because it just sounds like a good time.

[Tyler]

Oh, it's a great time.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Go to the campfire.

[Tyler]

I'm going to get you to come out to all of them because we need cigars. We're gonna need coffee in the morning.

[Brent Tucker]

That's right.

[Tyler]

That's right. Because there's lots of bourbon at night.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

You know, so.

[Brent Tucker]

Perfect.

[Don Edwards]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, we'll bring all three. FRCC is exactly what's needed. We need lots of caffeine to get going in the morning so we can stay up all night.

[Brent Tucker]

Well, Don, we got a. We got a live get ready for. But as we always end our episodes, you should. With your career, you should be able to pull one of these out of your hat. Tell us a funny story. Ranger battalion group.

[Tyler]

Funny story. Put me on the spot.

[Don Edwards]

Yeah, I prefer he did it to me the other day. I don't have one.

[Brent Tucker]

I prefer one about Scotty Resendez or Sean Keane. But I'll take. I'll take any. There's got to be Ranger Barrack stories. Those are actually. When I worked with guys from. From Regiment. Those are always my. Actually my favorite stories. Ranger private stories.

[Don Edwards]

Not on a podcast. I can't tell stories.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, yeah. Privates in the barracks.

[Tyler]

It's a recipe for trying to think if I can. If I can make this like, podcast rated.

[Brent Tucker]

I like where it's going already.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And I probably need to leave names out, but they used to have a.

[Don Edwards]

Panty tree at our barracks every Saturday night. Friday night you were Saturday morning, Sunday morning, you'd wake up and there'd be colorful panties all over the trees from. From their nights. Shenanigans.

[Tyler]

Shenanigans. So I'm in. I'm in anon.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Tyler]

And so this is an SF thing, and we're in this sexual harassment EO briefing, right? And in this briefing was also the.

[Brent Tucker]

Civil affairs people, okay?

[Tyler]

And there was one female sergeant in that group in that class. So it was a bunch of about to be made E7SF dudes and a bunch of other NCOs from the civil Affairs. And the guy's talking about sexual harassment, and he's explaining how even if you say something like, if you and I are telling jokes and he's offended by it, that that's sexual harassment.

[Don Edwards]

It's what is perceived, not intended, right?

[Tyler]

So this one guy, whose name I won't say, stands up and says, let me get this straight. So if I'm in the shower.

[Brent Tucker]

And.

[Tyler]

Sergeant Edwards here is walking out of the shower, and I look at him and I say, hey, buddy, nice cock. And he says, hey, thanks, man. I've been working out. And Sergeant so and so over here is offended by that, that. That sexual harassment. And the guy was like, remember, there's a female sergeant. Everybody's looking at her. Nobody's saying right until she starts to laugh. Now it's okay. And then it was pen, okay, now, now we can. We can think it's funny. We laughed. The dude lost total control of the class. I think we just walked out on it.

[Brent Tucker]

I don't think he ever had control of the class.

[Tyler]

You know, it was perceived. We were letting him think you did.