Gary Sinise Talks Forrest Gump, His Son Mac & Helping Veterans | Unsubscribe Podcast 257

Summary

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Unsubscribe Podcast #257: Gary Sinise Talks Forrest Gump, His Son Mac & Helping Veterans

Date: March 29, 2026
Hosts: Eli Doubletap, Brandon Herrera, Donut Operator, The Fat Electrician
Guest: Gary Sinise

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Episode Overview

This lively episode welcomes acclaimed actor and prolific veterans’ advocate Gary Sinise to the show. In a freewheeling, humorous, and heartfelt conversation, Gary sits with the Unsubscribe crew in his memorabilia-packed office to discuss his military family history, the legacy of Forrest Gump, his son Mac’s music, decades of tireless work for veterans, and the enduring impact of service. The group delves into military stories, political change, war history, and the inner workings of the Gary Sinise Foundation in a wide-ranging session full of laughter, deep reflection, and respect.

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Main Discussion Themes & Highlights

1. Gary’s Military Roots & Family Stories

• Timestamp 02:43
  Gary describes the extensive military service in both his and his wife’s family, including relatives who served in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. He shares stories about his grandfather, who drove ambulances in WWI and narrowly survived a convoy attack, and other uncles and in-laws with decorated service records.

“That’s my dad right there, Navy during Korea… my uncle Jack, navigator on a B17 bomber in World War II… my grandfather served in the army during World War I.” — Gary Sinise [02:43]

• Timestamp 06:12
  Recalling wishing he’d spoken more with his grandfather about his service, Gary shares a moving regret common among many families of veterans.

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2. The Genesis and Scale of the Gary Sinise Foundation

• Timestamp 04:18
  Gary explains how he transitioned from “one donor” to building a powerhouse organization focused on veterans, raising over $650 million in 15 years.

“We’re over 650 million dollars raised… in 15 years.” — Gary Sinise [04:18]

• Timestamp 82:17
  He details the foundation’s programs: building and adapting homes for wounded vets, helping veterans with mobility and transport needs, community events, and the “Snowball Express” for families of fallen soldiers.

“We just gave away our 101st home that I’ve been involved with since 2010… Not just homes, but adapted vehicles, mobility devices, home modifications, disaster relief…” — Gary Sinise [82:17]

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3. Forrest Gump: Acting, Boot Camp, and Veteran Impact

• Timestamp 10:32 & 28:03
  On playing Lieutenant Dan as just his third or fourth film role, Gary dives into the preparation for the movie — including real boot camp experiences (and unfortunate encounters with anthills and snakes).

“We went, lived in the woods and did all that, did some training. Three or four nights… slept out there. Did all the boot camp stuff, war games.” — Gary Sinise [15:25]

• Timestamp 28:52
  Gary reflects on Forrest Gump’s cultural impact and why the film’s depiction of a Vietnam veteran's recovery was so meaningful:

“For our veterans… we want that story to be the story of success our wounded have… we hadn’t really seen the story of a Vietnam veteran having a happy ending in a movie up until that point.” — Gary Sinise [30:41]

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4. Community, Service, and Veteran Well-being

• Timestamp 31:54
  The crew and Gary explore the importance of community for veterans in transitioning to civilian life, contrasting experiences between generations and wars.

“It was just easier for folks to come back from Vietnam and still be amongst their fellow Vietnam veterans… than somebody who came home and tried to disappear and forget about it.” — Gary Sinise [33:06]

• Timestamp 92:14
  Gary urges listeners to find and support local veteran and first responder nonprofits; he asserts the value of small, personal acts of support.

“If every citizen in this country took some responsibility for reaching out to the men and women who have served… it’ll make you feel really good if you do it.” — Gary Sinise [91:23]

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5. Hollywood, Politics & Mission-Driven Life

• Timestamp 58:08
  Gary addresses whether his outspoken veteran advocacy was ever a problem in Hollywood, especially during the anti-war sentiment of the Iraq era:

“Hollywood got very anti Bush, anti war, anti-Iraq stuff. I didn’t feel that way… I just started to go on tours and go overseas and go to the war zones… [I] have a role to play here in supporting the folks that are serving out there.” — Gary Sinise [58:19]

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6. The Sinise Family, Music, and Grief

• Timestamp 101:21
  Gary opens up about his late son Mac’s musical journey, fighting cancer, and the emotional release in creating the “Resurrection and Revival” albums, all proceeds of which support the foundation.

“He hadn’t been thinking about music at all… then he finished this piece of music… He was paralyzed from the chest down… The album went to press the week he died.” — Gary Sinise [101:21]

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7. Brandon Herrera’s Political Win

• Timestamp 19:48
  A digression into Brandon’s recent congressional primary victory, the challenges in the campaign, and reflections on the scandal that rocked his opponent.

“His opponent dropped. Well, you explain it well… So March 3rd was the primary, and this was a rematch…” — Brandon / Eli Doubletap [20:02]

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8. Humor, Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• Forrest Gump Recurring Jokes
  The hosts riff on “pretending not to know” Forrest Gump, with Gary playing along:

“I was the guy with no legs.” — Gary Sinise [10:34]
“We just thought you were... really into the veteran community. We heard really good stuff about you.” — Donut Operator [10:51]

• USO Tours
  Anecdotes about USO trips, memorable entertainment lineups, and close calls with mortars while visiting troops.

“I went back that same year in November… I remember mortars coming in, you know at one point, and it felt to me like… everything was rattling.” — Gary Sinise [68:13]

• On Playing Music for Healing

“The music is… my escape… I’ve had this band for over 20 years… I play for free. That’s just part of the mission.” — Gary Sinise [100:43]

• Real Talk About Nonprofits

“If we didn’t have the number of nonprofits that are in the space, Veterans and First Respond[er] support space, there’d be a catastrophe.” — Gary Sinise [89:45]

• Final Wisdom

“We’ll never do enough for the men and women who serve our country… But we can always try to do a little more.” — Gary Sinise [106:23]

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Notable Veterans & Legacy Guests

• The Show’s Commitment to Veterans’ Stories
  Hosts recall interviews with WWII vets like “Papa Jake” (recently passed) and Don Graves, as well as Major James Capers—whose Medal of Honor was finally approved.

“Rest in peace, Papa Jake... we helped with the statue of Papa Jake though… Major Capers actually just got his… Medal of Honor.” — Eli/Donut/Connor [45:31-46:45]

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Key Timestamps

• Gary’s Family Military History: 02:43 – 09:33
• Foundation Fundraising Figures: 04:18 – 04:21
• Forrest Gump, Boot Camp & Impact: 15:25 – 31:54
• Brandon Herrera’s Congressional Win: 19:48 – 24:56
• Hollywood Attitudes & Post-9/11 Motivation: 58:08 – 62:55
• USO Tours, First Iraq Visit: 62:10 – 70:49
• Foundation Programs for Veterans & Families: 82:17 – 88:14
• Snowball Express Origin: 93:01 – 98:27
• Mac Sinise’s Story & Albums: 101:21 – 105:50
• Gary’s Philosophy on Service: 106:23 – 107:36

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Takeaways

• Community Is Everything: Gary and the hosts repeatedly stress how crucial ongoing community is for veterans and their families, from coming home after war to dealing with grief and loss.
• Real Impact: The Gary Sinise Foundation is a uniquely comprehensive support network for veterans, tackling not only housing and mobility but also children’s grief, hospital entertainment, and public awareness.
• Personal Connection: Gary’s involvement stems from deep personal and family service, guiding his choices and resilience in the sometimes polarized world of public advocacy.
• Every Bit Helps: Whether through donating, volunteering, or simply reaching out to a neighbor in need, everyone can contribute to the welfare of those who serve.

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Final Thought

“I thank you. This foundation was created because of what you’ve done for our country. And I don’t take it for granted.” — Gary Sinise [107:30]

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Brandon Herrera]

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[Donut Operator]

A while supplies last selection varies by location.

[Brandon Herrera]

Soil offer excludes Alaska and Hawaii.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

You were in Forrest Gump?

[Gary Sinise]

I was the guy with no legs.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, that guy.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

That guy. Okay.

[Donut Operator]

What's Forrest Gump?

[Gary Sinise]

Hollywood got very anti war, anti Iraq. I have a role to play here in supporting the folks that are serving out there.

[Eli Doubletap]

I'm sure you've had to deal with a lot of politicians in your life.

[Gary Sinise]

A fair amount.

[Connor]

I'm gonna go ahead and guess everyone since the movie Forrest Gump came out.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, I'm among friends here. Now say hi to Eli.

[Fat Electrician]

He's racially ambiguous.

[Gary Sinise]

Brandon, his hair is fucking fabulous. Donut, a dog joke disposition. And there's a fat electrician. Welcome to unsubscribe.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Hi everyone. Welcome to the unsubscribe podcast. I'm joined today by Eli Doubletap, fat electrician. Our very special guest, Gary Sinise. We're in his office. Like, we're his guest. Honestly, Brandon Herrera, myself, donut operator. Thank you so much for being here, Mr. Gary.

[Brandon Herrera]

Holy crap.

[Donut Operator]

We've been excited for this one for months now. Like since last year I think we've been trying to set something up and finally everything worked out and now we are here and we are stoked. Cuz, I mean, Cody's upset.

[Connor]

He's got more challenge coins than all.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

I'm a little upset by it. I thought I had the biggest challenge coin collection in the world. And then I walk into here and I told Gary, I'm like, dude, you have so many challenge coins. He's like, well, you haven't seen the other room full of challenge coins.

[Gary Sinise]

We have to have some place to put them all. Yeah, you know, Eli's doing. Thanks for coming.

[Eli Doubletap]

Eli's being extra respectful when he's not swearing intentionally.

[Donut Operator]

I won't even curse right now. You're probably used to it.

[Gary Sinise]

Thanks for coming, guys.

[Fat Electrician]

Absolutely.

[Gary Sinise]

So much for having us to be here.

[Donut Operator]

So for a quick. I don't even know how to start this one because you've done so much work in the veteran space and that's what is awesome to see from all our ends is just the sheer amount of work and good you do and how to change the lives. And that's. Tell the people what got you on that journey. Because I think that's a super important one because you have a family. You come from, like a line of veterans and your entire family history, right?

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, that's where it would start with me. I mean, that's my dad right there. He was in the Navy during Korea. Navy guy up there, that's my uncle Jack. He was navigator on a B17 bomber in World War II. And this is my uncle Jerry on the left. He was in the Navy during World War II. My grandfather right there, who served in the army during World War I. And I've got great uncle cousins, all this stuff. Lots of military in the family. And then my wife, also on her side of the family, Vietnam veterans. Her two brothers served in Vietnam. Her sister's husband served in Vietnam. Her sister served in the army, married a Vietnam veteran. They had a son. He was in the Army. He's now a cop up in Washington State. So a lot of service. I would. I would say that that's kind of the, you know, that's the family history that kind of laid the groundwork for me getting so involved. But then there's a series of things that happened over the years that just got me more tuned up and more invested and more active with all of it.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yeah. Because I. I mean, I don't know if it's an exaggeration to say, but your work specifically, I think you're probably the biggest veteran advocate as far as dollars raised in the country's history. I mean, I can't think of anybody bigger. I mean, what is it now, 400 million?

[Gary Sinise]

We're over 650 million dollars.

[Donut Operator]

Oh, my God.

[Gary Sinise]

In the 15 year history of the foundation, we're in our 15th year right now. So started with one donor, and then we started branching. You know, just as the foundation got more busier and more well known, you know, people started hearing about it. The donor base grew, and we have a tremendous philanthropy team. We're, you know, operating many, many different spaces now. So we're able to raise good amount of money. But that's. That's a fair amount there, I would say, over the last several years.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Amazing.

[Connor]

It's incredible.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yeah. That's insane.

[Donut Operator]

That's actually really. That's a number right there, guys. We need to step it up.

[Connor]

You said that was your grandfather.

[Gary Sinise]

So this is my grandfather right here. Yeah. And he was in. In the army in World War I. He drove an ambulance in France. So he. In fact, I have a. You can see across there. There's an album cover on the wall over there. That's a picture of my grandfather on a horse, training in Yuma, Arizona, to go off to World War I. And he ended up. He was in the army. He ended up driving an ambulance in France during the Battle of the Meuse Argonne. And that, you know, that. That battle, we lost over 26,000 in that one single battle. And he was back and forth from the front line to the rear, just taking the wounded back. And there's one story from my grandfather where he was in a convoy of ambulances. They all had that red cross painted on the side. I don't know why they did that, but.

[Donut Operator]

Supposed to mean shoot at us.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Gary Sinise]

Well, the Germans did that. They started targeting the ambulances, and the one in front of him got blown up, and the one behind him got blown up, and he. He was spared. He just kept driving. So he got very lucky during that. I didn't. I didn't talk to my grandfather too much when I was a kid. He died when I was in my early 20s. And, you know, of course, when I got more active with military support and veteran support and all of that, I. I started looking back at those days and just wished that I'd been not such a dopey kid that I actually paid attention to what my grandfather had done. Thankfully, my uncle, this one Uncle Jerry, he was on a ship in the Pacific during World War II. He became a writer after he got home from the war. And so he was able to get my grandfather to talk a little bit. And he wrote down some of the things he said. And that's where I know about the story about the ambulances from my uncle. Just interviewing my grandfather and trying to get him to talk.

[Eli Doubletap]

There's a shocking amount of notable people were ambulance drivers in World War I as well.

[Connor]

I was thinking that, too.

[Eli Doubletap]

Hemingway, Ray Kroc, Walt Disney. There's a lot of notable folks.

[Donut Operator]

I didn't even know that was it.

[Connor]

Was it Elvis, too?

[Eli Doubletap]

That was World War II.

[Connor]

It might have been World War II. Yeah.

[Gary Sinise]

Elvis drove an ambulance in World War II.

[Connor]

I swear that's what it was.

[Donut Operator]

He did something.

[Connor]

I thought it was. I know it was something with him.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

I think you might be right.

[Gary Sinise]

No, I think he. I think he was. Elvis was after World War II. I swear he was during.

[Donut Operator]

Or is it where? When? Yeah, when did he join?

[Gary Sinise]

Well, let's check. Yeah, that beautiful little Boston, the nightmare

[Eli Doubletap]

brick in our pocket might have the answer for sure.

[Donut Operator]

It was it. I mean, a Lot of that old generation, they really didn't talk about their service, especially if they were in World War I, World War II. Your uncle getting as much information, did he only grab a couple pieces or a couple stories from your grandpa or great grandpa at that time?

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, yeah. Just, you know, very, very limited because my grandfather just didn't want to talk about it too much, you know, but he did share a couple little stories like that with my uncle. And my uncle, again, he was. He wrote books and he wrote articles and whatnot, and he was able to document my grandpa and what he had done. And. And so when I. I wrote a book that came out in 2019, and I talk about my family history and I pull some of my uncle's stories about my grandfather and just stuck them in the book, you know, because that's what I know. But I wish, you know, I've been aware as a kid to just talk to my. Even. Even my Uncle Jerry. I never really talked to him much about his service. He was on a ship in the Pacific during the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and then he was part of the occupying force in Japan after the surrender, but he lived in Texas. And I, you know, I just never engaged with him very much.

[Connor]

Do you know what ship he was on? Because it looks like a battleship.

[Gary Sinise]

No, that's just a superimposed picture. We just grabbed a ship and put him in front of it. But he was on a landing ship tank. So those were the ships that would roll in and the ramp would drop down and a tank would roll out. LST and. Yeah, LSD. And so he was on. He was on 2811 and 8 70. I have those documented. And, you know, I got to hear some pretty good stories from him about what he had done, because he wrote about his service a bit. The family history is important. It sets up, you know, a lot. And, you know, I'll tell you, but when I was a kid, I wasn't paying attention to any of it. It all happened later when I started getting more involved with supporting Vietnam veterans. And then I played the Vietnam veteran in Forrest Gump, and he was a wounded veteran, of course.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

You were in Forrest Gump.

[Gary Sinise]

I was the guy with no legs. Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, that guy.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

That guy. Okay.

[Donut Operator]

What's Forrest Gump?

[Gary Sinise]

The guy. Yeah. It was before your time, probably.

[Eli Doubletap]

We were all joking before the PODC podcast. We're like, wouldn't it be funny if we all pretended like none of us knew what Forrest Gump was?

[Donut Operator]

We just thought you were. We didn't even know you're an actor. You're just really into the veteran community. We're like, we just heard really good stuff about you.

[Gary Sinise]

They said we should come over with cameras.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

We heard the Gary s. Foundation raised $600 million for veterans and thought he

[Gary Sinise]

was a cool guy. Dang.

[Brandon Herrera]

I had to. You act.

[Eli Doubletap]

Don't.

[Gary Sinise]

Don't make me take you through it.

[Eli Doubletap]

I had to throw this out there. Everybody knows you from, you know, Forrest Gump and things like that. I knew you first from Disney World. Mission Space. The command center thing.

[Gary Sinise]

Yes.

[Eli Doubletap]

That's kind of a wild throwback, for sure. Yes, sir.

[Gary Sinise]

The Ride that Goes to Mars.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yes.

[Gary Sinise]

Yes. Okay.

[Eli Doubletap]

I didn't even get that it was a reference to your other Mars movie. But I just. Immediately, as a. As a kid, I was just like, oh, wait, hold on.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

That's the.

[Eli Doubletap]

That's the Mission Space guy.

[Gary Sinise]

So when did you go. When did you go on that ride? How. How old were you?

[Eli Doubletap]

Oh, man, I was a kid.

[Gary Sinise]

I have no idea. So, yeah, I did a movie for Disney, Mission to Mars, about going to Mars. And when they were building the ride, we had a great technical advisor on Mission to Mars. He, you know, this is an astronaut who've been up six times on the space shuttle. Story Musgrave. Brilliant, brilliant guy. They hired Story to be kind of the technical advisor when they were building the ride to go to Mars, and I got to do the movie, and then they asked me to be the Capcom on the ride. So what he's talking about, you come into the ride and there's somebody on. On the screen, and they say, hi, welcome to Mission Space, and here's what you're going to do. And watch out. Don't vomit, all that stuff.

[Eli Doubletap]

Advice some people don't take.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, right. But it was a good ride, though.

[Donut Operator]

Brandon, could you tell me what Superpower does not draws?

[Brandon Herrera]

Let me step in for Brandon Eli. Superpower sends a medically licensed professional to your home to conduct a lab test.

[Eli Doubletap]

You can choose to either do it at your home or visit a nearby lab to get the test done.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's one simple lab draw.

[Donut Operator]

Are you here for my hundred biomarkers?

[Brandon Herrera]

I am here for more than just your hundred biomarkers.

[Donut Operator]

They're pulling out your biomark.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yeah. This is how you learn if you're up or not. All jokes aside, tests like this are one of the reasons why I found out I have lead poisoning, which is a very serious issue that I wish I'd paid more attention to.

[Brandon Herrera]

I thought I had cancer, and then Found out. I don't. That was a heavy weight off my

[Eli Doubletap]

shoulders and off of your.

[Donut Operator]

It actually presents all your information on an app that you can just check everything, literally everything.

[Eli Doubletap]

You get to learn basically what you're deficient in, what you do not have in your daily diet or whatever, and then they give you recommended on how to fix that.

[Donut Operator]

And a lot of the times it is genetic, so different people will have different eating habits or what helps their body perform better. And Superpower helps break that down. So it'll tell you, hey, you need

[Eli Doubletap]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Donut Operator]

Know your numbers this year with Superpower.

[Gary Sinise]

Superpower.

[Donut Operator]

Make this the year you stop guessing about your health with superpower. Head to www.powerpower.com unsub and use code unsub at checkout to get yourself $20 off.

[Eli Doubletap]

After you sign up, they're gonna ask how you heard about Superpower.

[Donut Operator]

Tell them it was us on.

[Connor]

On the way here in, in Forrest Gump, Lieutenant Dan invests their money in a quote unquote fruit company. Apple.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, right.

[Connor]

And it got me thinking, how good of advice would that have been if you just invested in Apple when the movie Forrest Gump came out? Oh, I did the math. If you would have put $1,000 in Apple after watching Forrest Gump in the movie theater, It'd be worth $1.1 million right now. Should have taken your advice when I was five.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Yeah, it was like 11.

[Gary Sinise]

I wonder people did that.

[Connor]

You might have changed some lives with your. Your advice.

[Eli Doubletap]

And only 80% of that is inflation.

[Connor]

Well, you know, during first gump, you

[Donut Operator]

actually did like boot camp, or they had you do different kind of training for the military, right?

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, yeah, we. We went. Lived in the woods and did all that, did some training. I think we were out there for three or four nights and slept out there. Did all the boot camp stuff, you know, war games, you know, lived with the snakes, all that kind of stuff. And it was great because right after we finished that, we went right into the Vietnam sequences. So I had shot already some of the. Some of the shrimp boat stuff we had done, I think in the beginning of when I started shooting and then. And that was with like a Long hair wig, you know, because we had to go back and forth between, like, long hair scenes and short hair scenes. So I had a long hair wig for, you know, and scruffy stuff on my face. Then I went and took the wig off, shaved, and then we went into the woods and lived in the woods. And then we went and started shooting the Vietnam stuff after that. So it was very. The timing was good because by the time we marched in to start shooting all the Vietnam stuff, we were ready to go.

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[Donut Operator]

Now, you did this with even Apollo 13. What was the hardest training you did? Like, preparing for a role.

[Gary Sinise]

Preparing for any. Any role.

[Donut Operator]

Yeah. Because Apollo 13. Okay. You did space camp for X amount of days are correct?

[Gary Sinise]

I did, yeah.

[Donut Operator]

Yeah. So what was the hard one? Where you're like, okay, this actually sucked way more than I thought it would.

[Gary Sinise]

Well, I mean, it wasn't fun to, you know, I. I remember when we were training for Forrest Gump, I went down into an anthill. You know, it's like they had some mortars set up. We were marching across this field, and they had planted, like, mortars out there. So, you know, special effects stuff. So they set these mortars off, you know, and we all hit the deck, right? And I went right into an anthill. And just like, you know, ants everywhere, snakes. So that wasn't fun. I didn't like any of that. That was. I. I would have rather been back in my hotel room at that point.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

What. What area was that in?

[Gary Sinise]

South Carolina.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Oh, okay.

[Gary Sinise]

Buford.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

I'm familiar with that. I was a police officer in South Carolina.

[Gary Sinise]

Okay. You know, they. I. I really liked it there, actually. I. I loved it down there. I loved being there. I love shooting there. Years later, they started something where we were supporting our wounded, and a lot of our wounded would come down for the weekend, and they had this thing called Lieutenant Dam Weekend. And my Band would come and play, and they'd have, you know, dozens of wounded service members would come down. We raise money. We were supporting something called the Independence Fund.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yep.

[Donut Operator]

And raised money for that, too.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, I supported them for a long time, and they. They wanted to do Lieutenant Dan Weekend, so I came down and it was great to be able to visit that. I went back year after year, and I loved the area.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Charleston.

[Gary Sinise]

Yep. Then we moved the event from Buford. We used to do it right in the town square, right on the water, and my band would play right there, and it got so big, they had to move it up to Charleston.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Yeah, I saw you jamming out in Charleston, so I love that area, man.

[Eli Doubletap]

You're about to get married there.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

I'm getting married there in 35 days.

[Gary Sinise]

Congratulations.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Love you.

[Gary Sinise]

Congratulations. Yes.

[Donut Operator]

And we haven't got to say this on camera, Brandon, congratulations. He just won a Congress seat.

[Eli Doubletap]

Oh, yeah.

[Connor]

Well, primary for it.

[Eli Doubletap]

A primary primary. Yeah, I forgot we haven't done a podcast since. But yeah, I just. I beat out Tony Gonzalez in District 23.

[Gary Sinise]

Where. Where's that?

[Eli Doubletap]

So it's basically all of West Texas. It's the western side of San Antonio all the way out to El Paso.

[Gary Sinise]

Well, congratulations.

[Eli Doubletap]

Appreciate it, brother. Thank you.

[Gary Sinise]

I'm sitting with a politician.

[Eli Doubletap]

I know. It sucks, right?

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Gary Sinise]

I didn't know run.

[Donut Operator]

You feel dirty.

[Eli Doubletap]

I'll take statesman. I don't think I'll ever be a politician.

[Gary Sinise]

Or at least I hope that's good. That's good.

[Eli Doubletap]

I hope not.

[Donut Operator]

Well, congratulations.

[Gary Sinise]

Congrats on that. Yeah.

[Donut Operator]

I was like, oh, yeah, we got the news after the fact because that was a weird. That was weird timing.

[Eli Doubletap]

That was very, very odd.

[Donut Operator]

His opponent dropped. Well, you explain it well.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah.

[Eli Doubletap]

So March 3rd was the primary, and this was a rematch. I had run against him last time. We had lost by, in a runoff, 407 boats. And so this time, I was hoping he would get better. He didn't, actually. Things got a lot worse and he. So I ran again this cycle. We were already looking pretty good in the polls, and then it dropped. He was in a very, very serious scandal where he pressured a subordinate into a sexual relationship. Can't do that.

[Gary Sinise]

That's not good.

[Eli Doubletap]

And then afterward, basically broke up her home to the point where she committed via self immolation. So.

[Gary Sinise]

Oh, my God.

[Eli Doubletap]

It was a wild story. The entire thing was wild. And then he lied to cover it up. He lied the entire time. Lied to media, lied to the voters. And then. So we shellacked him on. On Tuesday. But neither one of us got above 50% which means in the state of Texas you have to go to then a runoff election. So there were four people in the race. We were both in the 40s. We beat him, but not by enough to take it outright. And then two days later, so I'm expecting to go into a three month runoff election like another election which I was pretty confident we were going to win. Two days later he announced he was dropping out.

[Connor]

Well, he went, he went on somebody else's podcast and after he had been for six months at this point saying that these were all rumors and they weren't true and it was a political hit job, he went on a podcast and said, well actually it is true, but it's not my fault. And then after that the speaker of the House basically told him he needs to step down. So he dropped out of his reelection bid. So Brandon kind of took that by default being most votes.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yeah, I was sitting at my, my house bar playing blackjack with, with Conor just like screwing around. Like just. Yeah. Trying to like decompress a little bit. Like okay, we got a big fight to, to win. It's like 11 o' clock at night. And then I just get, my phone is just over in the corner on the side of my bar.

[Gary Sinise]

Just

[Eli Doubletap]

like what? Oh, oh, oh, oh, stress. I think I'm the nominee now.

[Gary Sinise]

Big news. Yeah.

[Eli Doubletap]

So it's, it's been a wild, wild journey.

[Gary Sinise]

But he got 50% even. Even with that going on he got

[Eli Doubletap]

like 41%, I think so.

[Gary Sinise]

But that was all, that was all being exposed.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

It was aired out.

[Connor]

Man, that had the confirmation that it was true. Didn't hit the news until early voting had already started.

[Gary Sinise]

Okay.

[Connor]

So then it was kind of like the voting was already happening when it was getting pushed out. So it was a matter of like how many voters could actually how many voters that are A already voted and B, how many voters weren't going to see or realize that's who it was right until that point in time because on the ballot he's still seen as the Republican incumbent. So everybody, if you don't, if you're not super into politics, you kind of just vote for the incumbent because that's what everybody does. They have the highest chance of winning. So I think that's where a lot of the votes came from.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yeah, we had people that came to us like our like sign waving teams and whatnot. People came up later saying I cast my vote on the first day of early voting. I didn't know is There anything I can do to help, which, you know, that's pretty indicative that, you know, it's a major shift because he really did. He. He said that I was lying. He tried to defame my character saying that. Oh, no, he's just smearing me politically. I'm like, no, I'm doing the same thing I've been doing since day one, which is tell the truth about you.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Yeah. A little background on this guy here. I gotta give him praise. Firearms manufacturer. Started a YouTube channel. YouTube channel. Pretty big. And we moved to San Antonio. His family's from Texas originally. And he. One day he just said, hey, I don't like this guy. I don't like my congressman. Started running and now he's. You might. You got it, buddy.

[Eli Doubletap]

We'll see. We'll see. And all self funded and with the help of, you know, the audience and everything like that. No special interests, no big DC money. Just gave it the best race we could and it was enough to take down a sitting congressman.

[Gary Sinise]

Well, sounds like he needed to be taken down.

[Eli Doubletap]

I think it's pretty fair to say at this point.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah.

[Eli Doubletap]

There was an argument before. I. I don't know if there is one now.

[Donut Operator]

Right.

[Gary Sinise]

And he finally. It finally was so clear. There was no ducking around it. And he couldn't get it.

[Donut Operator]

Yeah.

[Gary Sinise]

Get away with it.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Yeah.

[Connor]

He basically had to come out and admit it.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yeah.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Now our friend's a politician.

[Eli Doubletap]

Ew.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

I know.

[Eli Doubletap]

I still hate that. That word still sounds like a slur.

[Connor]

It's because it is.

[Donut Operator]

Connor, how do you shave your chest?

[Brandon Herrera]

How do I shave my chest?

[Eli Doubletap]

He doesn't have certain genes like me and Eli do.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yes. I am a Caucasoid.

[Eli Doubletap]

Oh, well, okay. He doesn't have certain genes like I do.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, it actually. This smells really good.

[Donut Operator]

It looks smooth.

[Eli Doubletap]

Feels smooth. Simba.

[Donut Operator]

It does say we highly encourage the hosts to get creative.

[Eli Doubletap]

Oh, that is a mistake. I'd shave me. Would you shave me?

[Donut Operator]

Why does he have forehead hair?

[Eli Doubletap]

You gotta keep it under control. Which is why I trust people like Harry's. Actually, that is remarkably smooth.

[Donut Operator]

Those are. I use those. They're cheaper than a majority of razors and they're really good.

[Eli Doubletap]

I didn't lube myself up like other folks.

[Donut Operator]

So Harry owns its own world class blade factory in Germany. Harry's has launched their most advanced razor ever. Why is he putting deodorant on his neck?

[Eli Doubletap]

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[Donut Operator]

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[Eli Doubletap]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Donut Operator]

includes the all new Harry's plus razor,

[Eli Doubletap]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Donut Operator]

and a travel cover to protect your razor on the go.

[Eli Doubletap]

Just head to Harrys.com unsub to claim

[Donut Operator]

this offer and after you purchase, they're gonna ask you, how'd you hear about us?

[Brandon Herrera]

Tell them, unsub or I'll shave you.

[Gary Sinise]

Well, that'll be an interesting life change. I'm sure if you, if you get in there.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yeah, it's going to be a negative one for me. I'm sure you've had to deal with a lot of politicians in your life.

[Gary Sinise]

A fair amount.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

You know, a couple I've seen. I've seen the pictures, Gary.

[Eli Doubletap]

I know you do. You got a casual photo of W.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

I'll say W is over there hanging out with you.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, that. I wonder where that. Oh, right there.

[Fat Electrician]

Yeah.

[Gary Sinise]

No, I've met a few.

[Connor]

I'm gonna go ahead and guess everyone since the movie Forrest Gump came out.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah,

[Fat Electrician]

yeah,

[Gary Sinise]

yeah, that change, that changed a lot. I hadn't done that many movies before that, so I wasn't well known. I'd done a lot of theater and. But Forrest Gump was maybe, I don't know, what. Third. Third movie or which is third or fourth movie, something like that.

[Connor]

I mean, wild.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

Third.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah.

[Eli Doubletap]

Movie.

[Gary Sinise]

Third or fourth. You know, I did like 90. My first real good part in a movie. I did three movies in 91, and then 92 of mice and Men came out. I did that as a film and the producers for Forrest Gump saw that and they invited me to come and audition.

[Eli Doubletap]

That was with John Malkovich, right?

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah. And then I auditioned for it and I got a couple of good parts that year. And you know, when you're in a movie like that that's so popular

[Donut Operator]

and

[Gary Sinise]

you're not that well known and you play a good part, you know, and things are going to change for you. So I got some good parts after that.

[Connor]

Did you have any idea, like during the filming that it was going to be as big as it ended up being?

[Gary Sinise]

No, no, no. You. I mean, I, you know, so I'm working with Tom Hanks that's, that's. He was a big movie star, so that was a good thing. Bob Zemeckis was top director. Really, you know, a lot of success. The script was good. So you got three things going for you there that give you an indication like, oh, you're involved in something that could be pretty cool. But the nature of the, if you remember that, the nature of the way that story was told is you've got Forrest Gump interacting with all these different characters, right? Like there's the Jenny story and there's the Bubba story and there's the Lieutenant Ann story and the Mama story. And we didn't really interact with each other. You know, all those other characters. It wasn't like we were all in the same scene. So I didn't really know what Robin Wright was doing as Jenny. I didn't know what. I knew a couple things about Michael T. Williamson because I was in some scenes with him, but Sally Field, I didn't really know what was going on. Tom was doing all these scenes with everybody else. I, I didn't know what they were doing. So, so I didn't know what the movie is going to turn out, like, until I saw it.

[Donut Operator]

Did you have a script that showed or was it just primarily your.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, no, you have the whole script. Okay.

[Connor]

Oh, that was, that was my question. Cuz I've heard like some, obviously every movie is different, but I've heard some people that are like, I don't, I don't know what the script even is. I just show up and do what the director says. Which would have been very funny from your, your perspective at the time, because you're showing up, all right, today you don't have any legs, and then like tomorrow you're gonna, you're gon no legs. You're gonna be clean shaven. Today you've got long hair and a beard.

[Eli Doubletap]

All right, Guess I'm putting on the

[Gary Sinise]

green socks, wheeling around like shrimp. No, I, I read the whole script. I like to know what the story is. That's good, you know, and, you know, but the nature of the Lieutenant Dance story is just these little, you know, these little moments. You know, he's in Vietnam and then he's in the hospital in Vietnam, then he's gone. You see him in New York and then you see him on the shrimp boat, and then it's just these little, little segments. So the, I mean, the story, just what I like about that story is, is the way it ends up for our veterans, right? I have a lot of Vietnam Veterans in my family, I, you know, remember what that was like. I've met so many wounded folks over the years and we want, we want that story to be the story of success that our wounded have. Right. They're able to move on from life. It's a happy ending. And we haven't really seen the story of a Vietnam veteran have a happy ending in a movie up until that point. But that is a happy ending. And we want that happy ending for everybody who serves our country, I think so.

[Donut Operator]

You talked about one of your interviews. You were discussing how important community is for the veterans when they get out. And a lot of them just didn't have that. Vietnam veterans wild. Because that is. You're coming back, you are hated. Which none of us have seen or experienced that.

[Eli Doubletap]

We were still drinking on the community thing.

[Donut Operator]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

But so good, so good, so good.

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[Gary Sinise]

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[Eli Doubletap]

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[Donut Operator]

As you said, I think it was family or friends that they had more success if they were still with that community, the veteran community, or they stayed active duty during that transition period versus the people that got out and just went into the civilian world. They were lost a lot of the times.

[Gary Sinise]

Well, my, my wife's two brothers are two, two different stories like that. One stayed in the army. Career army guy, Silver Star recipient in Vietnam, two tours in Vietnam. Very West Pointer, high profile guy. Unfortunately he got cancer in 83 and died of cancer. But he was very, very he. Profound impact on the army kind of person. He rewrote the entire leadership manual for the Army. He was very invested in the army, going to have a career in. If he had lived, he would have been a four star, there's no question about it. He would have been in the Iraq war and Afghanistan conflicts, all of that. He was that career army guy. Then the second brother, the younger of the two brothers with a helicopter pilot who, who went in. He was like the second son. You know, the, the first son was the father, really looked to him as, you know, he was very proud of him going to West Point and all that. The second son wanted to kind of, I think, be a part of that. And so he joined the army helicopter pilot, 800 combat hours. But it was rough on him. It was rough on him. And he came back and got out of the army and he struggled. Still struggles. You know, he survived. He's still alive, but still struggles. I mean, he kind of withdrew from life in a way, kind of recluse a bit. And I think and for my other brother in law who served in combat as a combat medic, he stayed in the army too, after Vietnam. And I think it was just easier for folks to, to come back from Vietnam and still be amongst their fellow Vietnam veterans who were still serving in the Army. They had this community of support. They'd all been through it, you know, they weren't, they were still serving their country. It was a bit different for them, I think, than somebody who came home, got out of the service and tried to just disappear and forget about it.

[Eli Doubletap]

I also wonder, I don't know what the answer to this is, but I'm just kind of like, I don't know, pontificating if it was a little bit easier for guys after World War II was over. Because that was something that if you were a red blooded male, you know, you went and you served. Like that was kind of a universal experience for everyone. Whereas gwot, that's not the case. Yeah, stuff like that. Like it was something that if there was another guy that was your age out in public, odds are we served together, we did the same thing. And that's just not the case anymore. And I wonder if that makes it harder on veterans nowadays.

[Connor]

Like even in the TV show the Pacific, it, like the ending of that show touches on it because like, even the Pacific war veterans were treated a lot different than the European war veterans for World War II. Just because like the, the general consensus back home. When World War II, like a lot of people on the civilian side, and especially like Europeans too, when Hitler surrendered, that was the end of World War II in a lot of people's minds. Like the, the Pacific theater was like a side quest to a lot of people. So like, and I'll get into my comment sections on like the history videos I do. Like I've had Europeans comment like, this guy thinks World War II ended when Japan surrendered. What's he talking about?

[Eli Doubletap]

And it's like it because it did,

[Connor]

because it, because it did. But to them it was, it was just a European theater. And the end of the Pacific shows that where the Pacific war veterans are coming home, you know, six, eight months a year later after the occupation of Japan, and they're looking for A job. And they're like, I just got back from the service. And they're like, what, what do you. The war ended a year ago. What are you talking about? Why are you just now looking for a job? And he's like, no, I was, I was in the Pacific. And like, the civilians are genuinely confused because they thought the war had been over for like, way longer.

[Gary Sinise]

They weren't thinking about that we occupied Japan for as long as we did.

[Connor]

Exactly. And the other crazy part to me, just like doing war history and hearing even people like you talking about your families, where it's like, America's really, really young. Because, like, I wouldn't have thought that your grandfather would have been old enough to have fought in World War I. Makes sense if I look at the timeline, but like, it seems so long ago to me versus, you know, and then his grandfather easily could have fought in the Civil War. So it's like, you're like eight, we're 18.

[Gary Sinise]

Well, no, no, he wasn't. He was an Italian, my great grandfather. And there's a picture of him over there. He came over from, from Italy in the late 1800s. And my, my grandfather was one of nine kids. Five were born in Italy and then his father moved to, to Chicago from Italy and four more children were born. So maybe the Civil War in Italy.

[Eli Doubletap]

It's funny, it's funny though, to see those timelines, those things that you wouldn't think would work out. Like, because we have videos, like actual videos of Civil War veterans, like, speaking and like talking to each other and things like that. It's also like, well, it's one of those where you just segment these things in your mind, but you don't actually think about, okay, where this went. Like, for example, I know the meme that gets shared around is Rosa Parks lived to see the movie Shrek. Yeah, it's like things that in your mind don't make sense. Oh, well, hell, I guess that's true.

[Connor]

Even, even like what he just said about how, you know, if he had stayed in, he would have been a four star general. He would have been in Iraq as a Vietnam veteran. Like, it doesn't sound that. But then like, I read up on war heroes and it's like, oh, this guy got his medal of Honor in Vietnam, but he also jumped into Normandy. Like, that seems crazy to me that you fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The timeline makes sense.

[Eli Doubletap]

My great grandfather did that.

[Connor]

But it's just weird to me. Or like, we did. It's been clipped to oblivion on The Internet. But we were talking about the. What is his name? General Clint. He was the nine year old drummer boy in the Civil War. He was a nine year old drummer boy in the Civil War was when he started his service. And he served his entire life and he ended up being a general in World War I. Like, it's just crazy. Somebody can see that many different stages of war, especially that going from that's a big muskets to machine guns and

[Eli Doubletap]

tanks and in your lifetimes.

[Connor]

And planes.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah.

[Donut Operator]

In a different country.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yeah, that's crazy. I like my. Yeah, my grandfather was a combat. Combat dozer or combat engineer in the Pacific in World War II, then fought in Korea and then was. Did some spooky advisory stuff in Vietnam. And so the way that it was described to me anyway was that in Vietnam his role was we'll go up in a plane. He was a pilot. We'd go up in a plane, we'd take pictures of things with the locals. And then the next day when we went up in that plane again, the things we took pictures of weren't there anymore.

[Connor]

Then we had to take the topographer up to maps.

[Eli Doubletap]

It was kind of one of those. I heard that there was like a family gathering. It's like, oh, yeah, I was in Vietnam from this time to this time, Grandpa, we weren't in Vietnam then. He's like, I was.

[Donut Operator]

Hey, do you know what's better than anything, brother?

[Brandon Herrera]

Homemade cooking. Oh, God.

[Eli Doubletap]

Eli, are we doing this bit again?

[Gary Sinise]

Yes, we are.

[Eli Doubletap]

I'm not doing the macho man bit.

[Brandon Herrera]

I've got hello. Fresh for three minutes.

[Donut Operator]

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[Gary Sinise]

Oh, yeah.

[Donut Operator]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Eli Doubletap]

like, hey, I made this for you.

[Brandon Herrera]

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[Donut Operator]

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[Eli Doubletap]

I'm not doing the macho man voice. We know.

[Donut Operator]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Donut Operator]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Eli Doubletap]

Varies by plan.

[Donut Operator]

It sucks that we don't have those interviews of those World War I veterans because those are the stories. It's all those stories that are lost throughout history because we don't have. We do have how many one on ones with World War I veterans? Are there that many?

[Eli Doubletap]

I'm sure there has to be.

[Connor]

It gets a lot harder after World War II to find personal accounts. I mean, but as far as, like, actual, like, writing books and like recording war experiences, it gets a lot tougher once you get past, like, Audie Murphy. Like, Audie Murphy's book To Hell and Back was like one of the first big books where a war hero actually wrote down their perspective and their story.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Yeah, there weren't Navy seals back then, so there's not a lot of books.

[Eli Doubletap]

Damn it. I mean, that's one of the reasons why, like, not to, you know, break my wrist or anything, but, like, it was why I like what we do on Unsub with bringing on so many World War II vets. Because I remember, you know, in my lifetime growing up, the moment I saw the headline that the world's Last World War I veteran died and thinking like, wow, okay, Those are stories that can never be told now. And so giving them the platform, the opportunity to be able to tell those stories is super important.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

You told Gary who we had on. We had Papa Jake, Don Graves.

[Donut Operator]

We've had three World War II veterans, and one was at the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. Like, he was there during that and then grabbed battle for both of them.

[Gary Sinise]

Yes.

[Donut Operator]

And Normandy.

[Connor]

Hearing his version of the story is hilarious because he's like, yeah, we raised the first one up on some drainage pipe we found, but then they said the flag wasn't big enough, so they had to go grab one off of one of the battleships and bring it over. We had to do it again for the picture.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Gary, I'll tell you, Papa Jake, he was trying to steal our girls. The entire time he was risen up, the ladies, the whole, he was not

[Eli Doubletap]

interested in any of the guys smile

[Connor]

on your fiance's face right now. What do you mean trying

[Donut Operator]

he's at that old man. He was succeeding.

[Gary Sinise]

Don Graves is pretty. Pretty frisky, too.

[Donut Operator]

You had to have known don't, which

[Gary Sinise]

I don't think he's pretty wild. I mean, he's got more energy than.

[Donut Operator]

Geez.

[Gary Sinise]

We've had Don on some trips and that kind of thing.

[Connor]

Don is awesome.

[Gary Sinise]

Pretty special.

[Eli Doubletap]

Any excuse that man has to sing.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, he'll do it. He loves that.

[Connor]

Oh, God. I remember because I think I was one of the first people to sit down at the table with Don, and, like, Eli was getting the cameras ready. You guys were, like, getting the drinks ready or whatever. And I was just sitting there with him, and he just starts rattling off like pure gold. And I'm like, eli, turn the cameras on. Turn the cameras on right now.

[Eli Doubletap]

We're gonna have to bleep half of this.

[Connor]

This is amazing. No, it wasn't even that. It's just like. The dude just sits down and just starts dropping, like, incredible stories just off the top of his head. And it's like, oh, my God. Everything he says is so cool.

[Eli Doubletap]

I don't know if we've gotten a chance to say it on the podcast. Podcast yet, but rest in peace, Papa Jake.

[Donut Operator]

Yeah, Papa Jake passed.

[Eli Doubletap]

We lost him a couple months ago.

[Donut Operator]

We helped with the statue of Papa Jake, though.

[Eli Doubletap]

Did we?

[Donut Operator]

So they'll have an unsub thing under it stone, because we. We threw some money towards it for that to get erected.

[Eli Doubletap]

That's awesome.

[Donut Operator]

We had him. And then Major Capers actually just got his. I think he got approved for the Medal of Honor, right? Did he get approved?

[Connor]

I haven't heard that.

[Gary Sinise]

I think that.

[Eli Doubletap]

I hope so.

[Connor]

I hope so. Awesome.

[Donut Operator]

Look it up. Do you know who Major Capers is?

[Connor]

He was. He was not Marine Raider Force Recon Force Recon Marine during Vietnam and led a team, and basically he. He had been recommended for the Medal of Honor, but he was, what I believe he was the first black officer in American history to receive a field promotion, like, in theater. And he is. He has this incredible story, this humongous military career, and he basically kind of got shafted for the Medal of Honor. And there's been a humongous push to get that retroactively fixed. And got approved. He got approved.

[Eli Doubletap]

Very nice.

[Connor]

Yes.

[Donut Operator]

Congressman Norman Bills is to award Major James Caper with the Medal of Honor.

[Eli Doubletap]

I'm excited for it. He deserves it. He really does. There's. There's also a thing about him being, like, one of the first. I don't know what the. The qualifications called but black combat divers.

[Donut Operator]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Connor]

Because his story on that when he was going to dive school was crazy because he, he showed up to dive school and the person, I don't know if it was a literal doctor, but the. The medical person in charge of the program didn't even want to let him go through the course because according to what Major James Capers was told was he has medical evidence that black people can't swim is what they told him. And he's like, no, I can. I can swim. And he ended up, like, passing the course and performed, I think he said, three combat dives.

[Eli Doubletap]

Yeah.

[Connor]

And, yeah, just a crazy military career.

[Eli Doubletap]

Is that what they told you in Buds?

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah.

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[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

They just sink, dear. I don't know what to tell you.

[Connor]

Nothing.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

The fastest swimmers we had in Buds were the black dudes.

[Connor]

One of my favorite moments, we've done hundreds of these podcasts. One of my favorite moments is I had read his book prior to him coming on, and he has a story about when they were in Vietnam on a mission.

[Eli Doubletap]

I know where this is going.

[Connor]

And on their way back up to their. Their fob, which is on top of this big hill, Slash Mountain, they had to cross a river and they found a 26 foot long python that weighed like 300 pounds and they couldn't carry it across this river, but they were. They told everybody up on the FOB that they found this gigantic snake. And they're like, no, you didn't. That's not true. Whatever. So one of the helicopter pilots flew him back down and they captured the snake and kept it as a pet. And they named it Gomer. They ran into town and they were feeding it ducks. Well, he tells this whole story and it's hilarious. And then we have his book on the table and we flip through it and in the pictures, there's a picture of him and his guys, like six dudes to hold up this snake. It's humongous. And there's two pictures like that. And one picture says Gomer number one, and the other picture says Gomer number two. And I was like, how many snakes did you catch? He's like, oh, yeah, we caught another one in Panama too. So he's just catching these gigantic pythons while he's out on missions for fun.

[Donut Operator]

This is in operations.

[Gary Sinise]

Like, that's awesome.

[Donut Operator]

Pulling back from a mission and be like, wow, spin up this helicopter.

[Connor]

Grab that £300 snake.

[Donut Operator]

This is going to be cool. Bag over.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

It's the most dude thing I've ever heard of.

[Eli Doubletap]

Guys got to have something to do. They didn't have Xboxes on the FOB yet.

[Donut Operator]

Oh, man.

[Eli Doubletap]

What?

[Donut Operator]

You've been in many, many movies, but as you said, Forrest Gump was number three or four.

[Fat Electrician]

Yeah.

[Gary Sinise]

Early on. Yeah.

[Donut Operator]

And then it was just big movie after big movie because you've done three with Tom Hanks or he.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, Apollo 13 was. Was one I did right after.

[Donut Operator]

Never heard of it.

[Gary Sinise]

And I did the Green Mile with him.

[Eli Doubletap]

It was American propaganda to make it look like we went to the moon.

[Donut Operator]

Oh, thank you.

[Gary Sinise]

Thank you. Fake stuff. Y.

[Eli Doubletap]

They use the same studio, actually.

[Connor]

Were you. Because you say you didn't know how big your, you know, Forrest Gump would be, especially your role with Lieutenant Dan. Were you at all concerned, like, after it did blow up and got as big as it did, that you were gonna kind of be typecasted into that military type role? Because, I mean, I. I don't think you were. You went. And every role's significantly different. You're not just like the army guy in every movie where you concerned?

[Gary Sinise]

No, I wasn't worried about that.

[Connor]

Okay.

[Gary Sinise]

No, I ended up, you know, you might get offered some things, but I. I just was looking for the. The best projects that were coming my way at the time and ended up played Harry Truman in a. In a movie for hbo. That was. That was an interesting project because, you know, it's a historical figure, footage of him, you know, lots of documentation, a lot of books. So the trick there is you're creating an impression of somebody who really lived. Right. So you've got to do believable enough impression that people kind of go with it and forget it's you. So that was a good. That was a good acting challenge. That right after I started shooting that right after the Oscars for Forrest Gump, I left like, the next day and. And went and started shooting Harry Truman. So some really good projects started coming my way at the time. The 90s were very, very good. Good, good time.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

I'm curious, what got you into acting? What made you want to. Want to get. Because you said you did theater first. What made you want to do all that?

[Gary Sinise]

Well, I Was a bad student in high school. I'm among friends. I'm among friends here now.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Gary Sinise]

Bad student in high school. Failing a lot of classes, not doing well, playing in a rock band, getting into trouble, all that kind of stuff. And I just stumbled into auditioning for a play for the hell of it. I saw all the pretty girls walking in, and I followed them in, and I, you know, thought, okay, give me the script. I'll try it, you know, And I auditioned for west side Story, the no kidding musical, and I got in it. I got a little tiny part in it. And, you know, here I was, I probably getting ready to get kicked out of school at the time, and that whole theater community and the fun that I had doing that show, and everything just changed everything for me. It really was a turning point point. And the teacher that I had was unlike any teacher I'd ever had before. She's. She. She just was different. And she saw something in me that was that, you know, that she kind of encouraged. And I was, you know. And then after. After that play, I just wanted to be in all these shows. And I ended up doing really well in theater. Ended up starting a theater company when I got out of high school called Steppenwolf. And that theater company is now over 50 years old. We ended up. We were little kids. We ended up building a building that takes an entire city block. So it really is a great American dream story where you start with absolutely nothing. Just kids wanting to do some plays, and it turns into something special. These caricatures up here on the wall are from different Steppenwolf plays that we moved to New York and did on Broadway or off Broadway. And we started moving our shows to New York. That gave us a lot of international recognition. And because of the international recognition, we were able to raise the amount of money that we needed to raise to build a building. And we ended up building a building. That's awesome.

[Eli Doubletap]

Are you still, like, very heavily involved in that?

[Gary Sinise]

No, no, I. You know, I support my support, but September 11 changed everything for me. I was in New York that year doing one of our shows, and it was. It was a Broadway show, big hit, all of that. It closed about six weeks before the attack of 9 11. And I was profoundly impacted by that whole incident, and everything changed for me. I just decided that's when I got super heavily involved in all this. And I didn't go back and do plays after that. That was the last play I did because I turned towards service and volunteerism and raising money for our Veterans and entertaining them and building houses for wounded. All these different things that we do that became the mission. I ended up getting a TV series after that, which was lucrative and very, very good at the time. To have a television series right at the time that I was getting so involved in. All of this was a great benefit, not only financially, but when you have a public platform like that, you're on television every week and it's a hit show and it's doing well. I had a megaphone. I could get up and talk about what I was doing on USO tours and visiting the hospitals and talking about all that. And it gave me a good reputation in the community. And I got so busy with all of that, I haven't been back to do theater since.

[Brandon Herrera]

Connor, what are you doing? I'm fumin, brother.

[Donut Operator]

You fuming, okay?

[Brandon Herrera]

You ain't never seen nobody cheap a fume like this, boy can fume responsibly.

[Donut Operator]

Look at Connor.

[Brandon Herrera]

I'm cured.

[Donut Operator]

From what?

[Brandon Herrera]

My oral fixation. I would have something else in my mouth right now, but thanks to fume, it's not made of human flesh.

[Eli Doubletap]

Can I have that, please?

[Brandon Herrera]

You want to hit my fume, bro?

[Gary Sinise]

I do want to, dude.

[Eli Doubletap]

Let me pass it. It's also got a fidget movement on it for those who are tactically challenged.

[Brandon Herrera]

Made that up.

[Eli Doubletap]

Tactically is a rare, often non standard adverb of the form tactile, used to describe interacting with or understanding something through the sense of touch, physical feel, or haptic feedback.

[Brandon Herrera]

You pass me my fume, bro. We're fuming it up, dude.

[Eli Doubletap]

Look at how f Cking cool he looks.

[Donut Operator]

He's getting fumed out of his mind.

[Brandon Herrera]

I'm out of fume too much, bro. My favorite flavor is orange vanilla because it tastes like somebody near you at a coffee shop ordered an Earl Grey tea.

[Donut Operator]

Chris, Mint.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, one time I was really, really fiending for something. Something I legally cannot say in this advertisement. But instead, I reached for my fume

[Eli Doubletap]

and boy, o.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, did that hit the spot.

[Donut Operator]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Eli Doubletap]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Eli Doubletap]

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[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Did Hollywood ever have a problem with your involvement with, like, how. How passionate you are about the US Military?

[Gary Sinise]

A problem? And in what way would it, like,

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

there's a lot of, you know, like, Anti war actors or producers or things like that. Did anyone ever, like, did you ever have a problem with that?

[Gary Sinise]

No, not me, but I was. I was actually. I know what you're talking about. Like during the Iraq war, you know, everything. You know, we were kind of a nation that came together after September 11th, right. We wanted to do something about what had happened to us as a nation. But as time went on and we went into Iraq after that and everything like that, things started to splinter again and Hollywood got very anti Bush, anti war, anti Iraq stuff. I didn't feel that way. And I'll tell you why. Because as I said, I've got Vietnam veterans in my family. I could sense that, hey, what's happening right now in the country is very similar to what was happening to our Vietnam veterans. The media and folks are turning against the war. The soldiers, the Marines, the people that are serving, they're going to get caught in the middle of all that. And I don't want that to happen. So I just started to go on tours and go overseas and go to the war zones and go to the hospitals and, you know, support organizations that were helping our. Our service members. And I. The more I sensed all that stuff coming, you know, like, I. It just motivated me to do a lot more. Did that affect me in the movie and television business? No. I had. I was the lead in a hit show. So what are they going to do about it? Yeah, I mean, you know, I had a television show.

[Connor]

I know.

[Gary Sinise]

I love it. You know, had. It, had. It had a TV show every week. The show was doing well. Like I said, it gave me financial security that was beneficial, and I could start a foundation with that and all that. But I also had that public platform. And so I'd do interviews and I'd say, people would ask me about what you've been doing, and I'd say, well, I just went to Afghanistan or something, and here's what I saw. Here's the people that are serving our country. This is what they're doing. This is why we should support them. I got to see a lot of things on the inside that, you know, the average American doesn't get to see what. What gets done. Right. I mean, they don't see the people that. That serve in. In the way that somebody who may be related to somebody, you know, you have a personal relationship to somebody who's serving in the military or on the police force or something. So you see it in a different way than the average American who may not have a personal connection. So I Felt like I was kind of a little bit of a bridge. I could go to the war zones and I could go see what people do and train with the Special Forces, see what they actually do, and then come back and talk about it and let people know how fortunate we are that we have such exceptional people serving our country. And so somebody like me is saying that kind of stuff. I mean, some people paid attention, others probably thought it was, you know, I was, you know, it wasn't what they wanted to hear, but I felt like that's my role. My role is to, I have a role to play here in, in supporting the folks that are serving out there. And it turned into a full time thing.

[Eli Doubletap]

Speaking of which, with your, your trips to like Iraq and Afghanistan, things like that, with the uso, how did that transition work? You know, it's one of those things, you wake up one day, you're like, I think I want to do something, I want to make a difference. How did that conversation go?

[Gary Sinise]

Well, I wanted, you know, after September 11th, like I said, I just felt heartbroken and crushed by that and I wanted to do something. I wanted to get involved. And so what do you do? You know, I had been involved a little bit with the Disabled American Veterans Organization because of, because of Forrest Gump. And I'd been supporting the DAV for a little while. But how do I support our active duty folks that are now deploying to Afghanistan, Iraq and we're in a war now, you know, and they're getting hurt and they're getting killed and families are losing loved ones and people are really banged up, you know, they need some support. So one of the first things I did was contact the USO and just say, hey, I want to go on a trip. And it's funny, I've told this story before, but I left some messages on their machine. I called the USO and said, I'm Gary Sinise, I want to go on a tour. And then I didn't hear anything back. And then I called him back again. I said, hi, I'm Gary Sinise, I really love to go on a USO tour, go to Iraq or whatever. Didn't hear anything back then. I started to think, oh, you dropped the lieutenant. Okay. Yeah, they don't know who Gary Sinise, so I better call back. I said, I'm the guy who played Lieutenant Dan. I want to go on a tour. And then they called me back. So I wasn't, I wasn't real well known at that point. You know, this is back in. This is Before CSI New York, I'd done, you know, I'd done Ransom with Mel Gibson, I'd done Apollo 13. I'd done some pretty big movies. I did the Stand, which was a miniseries on abc. But still, I wasn't like a recognizable name actor. So I figured that out. I figured, okay, I gotta tell them who I am. So they called me back and I started going on tours and I went on the first one to Iraq. It was the first big USO tour to Iraq in June of 2003. We hadn't sent a tour over there yet. We'd just gone into Iraq in March. Remember the statue coming down? And that was in April, and then in June, I was over in the

[Donut Operator]

war zone, you know, Green Zone. That would have been like Iraq, a surge, wasn't it? Yeah, I mean, that's during the surge, you're pulling down the statues and there's maybe one Green Zone at that time. Where did you go that entire experience? Like, I am.

[Gary Sinise]

No, yeah. This is before the insurgency and all that. So this is right. Just within months of us getting there.

[Fat Electrician]

Right.

[Gary Sinise]

Pulling the statue down. We had. We were in Baghdad. We were all over the place. And so I went over there on the first big USO tour. And there were 180 of us on this tour. Northwest Airlines gave us an airplane and 747, taken all of us over there on the plane. Kid Rock was on that tour. Leanne Womack. Gosh Basketball players, football players, Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. I mean, it was big tourists.

[Donut Operator]

Dude. It was crazy. When we pull up to base because I lived out in sector, so I had to come back and we see posters for. It's like, hey, this person's coming to the base. I'm like, duh. I don't get to be on the base any of those times.

[Eli Doubletap]

I was just thinking about the chronological possibility that you, Kid Rock and Eli were in country at the same time.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah.

[Donut Operator]

Were you there in like 2007, 2008?

[Gary Sinise]

I was in. Yeah. Both years.

[Donut Operator]

Yeah. See, probably there and I was out in sector.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Oh, you guys served together?

[Gary Sinise]

Gosh, yeah. I was there both. Both years. I was in Balad.

[Donut Operator]

Oh, yeah, I was in Balad. Yeah.

[Gary Sinise]

And all these different places. I was both those years. I did two in a row.

[Donut Operator]

Beautiful. Oh, if you get a living.

[Gary Sinise]

I was at Camp Anaconda.

[Donut Operator]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Eli Doubletap]

What is the service member equivalent of Eskimo Bros?

[Donut Operator]

Yeah, pretty much. I know this area. How was it like getting off that plane the first time? Because that had to be a Cha. Yeah, a change for you. You're not prepared for war. And we just got in the country eight months ago. Hey, here, can you entertain these people? That's a wild.

[Connor]

I'm sorry I can't get you being in character for Lieutenant Dan surrounded by Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. Out of my head.

[Gary Sinise]

That was entertaining.

[Eli Doubletap]

It's like the New Year's that meme.

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[Gary Sinise]

That was fun. That was fun. How was it getting off the plane? It was hot, like 150 degrees or whatever.

[Fat Electrician]

Oh, the temperature.

[Connor]

I thought we were still talking about the cheerleaders.

[Donut Operator]

My bad.

[Gary Sinise]

Well, that was hot, too.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

That was good.

[Eli Doubletap]

Better than the fire ants.

[Donut Operator]

I am, Lieutenant.

[Gary Sinise]

We had a great tour, though. I mean, it was called project Salute, that 2003 tour. And then how was it?

[Donut Operator]

Scary, though. Like, was anyone worried going into that? Because that would have been military. You signed up for it. You're going to war. You're going to a country where a war is happening. They prep you for it. But from your side. I want to do a good thing. I'm going to make a difference. Landing in country, getting off in a C130 or black hawking, like, oh, it's really hard.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah. No, we landed in Kuwait first, and then we went up to Baghdad. You know, there were so many of us, 180 on that first tour, that we split off into three different groups. And I remember one group, like, was went into Kuwait. Another group went up into Iraq. Another group flew out to a carrier in the Gulf out there. We were just splitting off and trying to cover as much territory as possible. And I remember I went up. Yeah, I went up to. You know, we were doing a lot in Kuwait. I went up to Baghdad, did some stuff, came back. And then Tommy Franks, he was running the. The war, and he said he wanted to go. He was going up to Baghdad the next day, and he wanted a small group to go with him. And so I went back up into Baghdad with Tommy Franks and Robert De Niro was on the airplane. You know, we're on a C130 and we're going up. That was a really. That was an incredible trip. And I wanted to go back once I got home, so we were well protected and we weren't going to anywhere. You know, we were such a big tour that we weren't like fob hopping or anything like that. The second time I went back, I went back that same year in November, just whatever it was, four months later. That one was a little bit different. I remember mortars coming in, you know, at one point, and it sound. It felt to me like. Like everything was rattling. Like the pipes were rattling or something like that. I was sleeping, I. On a cot in this room. There are no lights, no electricity. And I was like, what's going on here? And I came out and there were two soldiers just sitting there, sitting there. The building had been rattling, you know, smoking. They were just sitting there like this, you know, and I'm like, what's going on? You know, I'm like. And they said, oh, the mortars. You know, mortars coming in.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Just another day.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, you know, it's another night.

[Connor]

The James Franco meme. First time.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, that was kind of like that. They were. They were not. I mean, if they weren't going to freak out, you know, and like, okay, everybody's out. We're going into the bunker or whatever. But they weren't. They. That it was a routine and they could tell how far away they were by the noise, you know, so they knew that we were at that point. This was kind of a routine thing. Bad guys out there throwing the mortars in at this time of night, you know, kind of thing. I would have, but that was the first time for that, you know, I

[Donut Operator]

would have looked at my buddy like, we're dead. Gary Sinise is here. This makes zero sense.

[Connor]

We're in heaven and

[Donut Operator]

we need to run.

[Eli Doubletap]

My current job is to guard Lieutenant Dan. What the are we doing here?

[Gary Sinise]

Two guys out there not doing anything.

[Connor]

You hear? You hear? Incoming. Stumbling out of the tent, hungover like Lieutenant Dan. The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

[Gary Sinise]

I'm going that way

[Donut Operator]

with the cheerleaders.

[Gary Sinise]

Follow the shorts.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Mortar got me.

[Brandon Herrera]

Hey, you ever just wake up and

[Donut Operator]

felt like your mattress sucks and it beat your ass, punched you in the face?

[Eli Doubletap]

That's crazy. Does the mattress also your mom?

[Brandon Herrera]

You ever wake up feeling like you slept in a swamp because of your disgusting, nasty ball sweat?

[Eli Doubletap]

I see most of you on Reddit, so I know you have time to

[Donut Operator]

break up with that mattress.

[Brandon Herrera]

Get divorced from your mattress, Get a ghostbed that hoe. You're worth more you're so strong. Well, guess what.

[Donut Operator]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Donut Operator]

These beds are built with its patented cooling technology, Brandon.

[Eli Doubletap]

So you can keep your giant hog cool.

[Donut Operator]

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[Eli Doubletap]

That's right.

[Brandon Herrera]

None of that drippiny or nonsense. Every Mattress has a 20 or 25 year warranty. That means if I bought one today, it will outlive me before the warranty expires. I don't have much time left.

[Eli Doubletap]

Especially with as much as you smoke.

[Brandon Herrera]

Way to make it real, Brandon.

[Donut Operator]

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[Gary Sinise]

They got the full setup.

[Donut Operator]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Eli Doubletap]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Eli Doubletap]

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[Connor]

What are we doing?

[Eli Doubletap]

What are we doing?

[Brandon Herrera]

Why aren't you going to.

[Gary Sinise]

Why aren't you going. Why aren't you going?

[Eli Doubletap]

Using code. Unsubscribe.

[Donut Operator]

Hey, go use code on sub.

[Eli Doubletap]

What's happening? What's going on?

[Donut Operator]

That's Ghostbed.com. unsubscribe. Use code unsubscribe.

[Brandon Herrera]

Sleep better.

[Donut Operator]

Stay cooler.

[Eli Doubletap]

This is a threat. I was actually just gonna ask it and forgive my. My ignorance on this, but I don't know if any of the USO shows, like, intentionally got attacked or anything like

[Gary Sinise]

that with me when I was on the.

[Eli Doubletap]

I mean, with you in general.

[Gary Sinise]

No, no, we. We did there. Outside of Balad, there was a big soccer stadium. The big soccer stadium. Saddam Hussein and his family used to like torture people in this stadium. But we.

[Eli Doubletap]

Wait, what? Yeah, out of all the places they were like, as an intentional, like, media

[Gary Sinise]

event, bad stuff would happen in that stadium. Yeah. And we saw. I was in palaces with swimming pools, and there were like empty swimming pools with blood on the side and.

[Eli Doubletap]

Wow.

[Gary Sinise]

You know, there was some ugly stuff that they did. The bath party and all that. They did some ugly stuff. But I remember the soccer stadium and we. I was with Wayne Newton, Chris Isaac.

[Donut Operator]

Your tour was way better than my tour.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, I'm sure it was. Yeah. And I got to leave after a few days.

[Eli Doubletap]

Eli's like, he didn't even get shot.

[Donut Operator]

Dang, this is so cool.

[Gary Sinise]

You know who Neil McCoy is? Neil lives in Texas. He's a country singer and everything. Neil was on that trip. Great guy. And so we were entertaining on that trip. And we did a big. There's a picture around here somewhere from that trip. Me talking to thousands of troops in the soccer stadium. And there were probably five or six thousand in the soccer stadium in. This is in the Balad area. Five or six thousand troops, you know, they're all out there. Didn't feel dangerous to me or anything like that. It felt like, okay, we're here. It's November 2003. Fairly early on, after we kind of started occupying things, we went out to visit some Iraqi schools that they had helped to rebuild. I started a program after that called Operation Iraqi Children. We started shipping school supplies over to the troops in Iraq, and they would take them out and give them to the kids, put them in the convoys, you know, roll into a sort of somewhat tense situation. Just get out, started handing out stuff, and it changed the mood. So that was a good program. And that started because of the November trip. So I didn't feel. There were a couple, you know, a couple times where it felt a little sketchy in the convoy, you know, just going down the road and stuff. You're kind of looking around, you know, wondering what's going on. But we. We were. We were pretty good. Nothing. Nothing happened.

[Eli Doubletap]

Do you know if any. Anything happened, like, to any of the others? Like, because I want to say there was one show that did get attacked, but I don't remember, or an attack happened during the show rather a lot

[Donut Operator]

of the times I don't remember. You'd have mortars. I was gonna expect you to deal with like one mortar incoming. And it is, as you said, Balat's huge. Like, Balad is a massive base.

[Gary Sinise]

And that was big. Yeah.

[Donut Operator]

And you'll have one that's. Did they even have the alarm systems at that time or is it just like, oh, yeah, so it's boom, boom, boom. You'll hear them. You'll see either people running or they don't care. And they're like, eh, whatever. But was it only about one mortar situation?

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, that night? Because I was only there that one night.

[Donut Operator]

Of course, the one night you're there.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, I was there that one night. But it seemed kind of routine. Like it was a sort of a routine thing or something.

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Incoming.

[Eli Doubletap]

Speaking of incoming.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, incoming at that time of night?

[Donut Operator]

Oh, it was a daily. If you lived on A big base. It was expected if you lived outsider in a cop, never get mortar because it's so small. But when you're on a giant place like Balad or Eagle, any one of those is just shoot a mortar and see what happens.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, when I was at Bagram in Afghanistan, some similar things, you know, some alarms went off. We had a hunker down and stuff like that. But I don't recall any. Anything coming in. But there was a reason they set the alarms off. So yeah, you feel sometimes some pretty dangerous situations. On the other hand, I'm with a group that's surrounded by a bunch of guys with guns. So I mean, they protected us pretty

[Eli Doubletap]

well over Not a bad place to be.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

The show you're talking about is when Toby Keith came to Kandahar airfield and he played and I was there and it got bombed.

[Gary Sinise]

Oh, really? Kandahar?

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

Yes, sir. So it was my first tour. I landed and then I ate at a Burger King at the Boardwalk.

[Gary Sinise]

Boardwalk? Yeah, I played a concert on that.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

You did?

[Gary Sinise]

I did, yeah, man. In 2009. I played a concert on the Boardwalk.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

But yeah, I was playing a concert in 2009, but it wasn't that.

[Eli Doubletap]

You know what I'm saying?

[Gary Sinise]

Well, they had like Subway and Tim Hortons. It's crazy. Yeah, yeah. And a bunch of fast food places on this boardwalk. So you were where?

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

So I. We landed there, but then we went to Garmser and then I did that tour. But my second tour did the invasion into Marja. But like I just landed there. My daughter had just been born and have like all these weird feelings and I'm eating like a Whopper at the peak of the military.

[Gary Sinise]

It's surreal.

[Eli Doubletap]

I think you did a video on that. Like the army's deployable Burger King that we have.

[Connor]

Yeah, the army has a deployable Burger King anywhere in the world.

[Eli Doubletap]

God, I love this fucking country so much.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

We're the best, dude.

[Connor]

Nothing more demoralizing to the enemy is like they're bringing in a lot of troops. Oh, they're bringing out a trailer. What's in that? Yeah, they brought a Burger King with them.

[Eli Doubletap]

They're going to smoke you. They're going to have a good time.

[Gary Sinise]

Or Subway. There was a subway.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

There was a Subway too. It was, it was. I heard they even put a TGI Fridays in there.

[Donut Operator]

Wait, what?

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

I swear, I swear to you. You can look this up on. On the line, but I heard they put a TGI Fridays in there.

[Eli Doubletap]

Is it just as mediocre in the Middle East? Yes.

[Connor]

TBI Fridays.

[Gary Sinise]

My first meal was, like, something like Subway or Burger King. When I got to Kandahar, it's wild

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

because it's such a big active base, especially at that time with all the NATO forces and stuff. And the Marines were literally off, where they turned into a waste depot.

[Eli Doubletap]

We're literally bringing capitalism with us.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah. All over.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

Democracy's the best.

[Donut Operator]

How do these troops get by, huh?

[Connor]

It's called a Whopper.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

But he came in and he was playing. Him and Scotty Emrick, I think is his name, they were playing some songs and stuff. And he got to the end, he started playing the Taliban song. And then the sirens went off, the air raid sirens. And then, like, the air Force attache, like, ran up there and was like, no, no, no. And, like, we're all there because we're a bunch of animals. We started booing.

[Brandon Herrera]

We're like, get back out here.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

And then he came back out. He's like, well, I guess I'm gonna finish the Taliban song since they're attacking us. And he finished the song, and then they took him away. But it was, like, crazy. I had a belly full of Burger King and Toby Keith singing the Taliban song while the Taliban.

[Gary Sinise]

He wasn't playing on the boardwalk, though.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

No, he was, like, off in a different area because they wouldn't list go over there. But he was just like, the Taliban, baby.

[Connor]

You know they banned the Marines from the boardwalk. Is that what you're telling me?

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

Shortly thereafter, we were not allowed to go back to the boardwalk yet.

[Connor]

I wonder why.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

Bartering incidents.

[Gary Sinise]

But on that trip now, I just. You know the guy that played Bubba and Forrest Gump, Michael T. Williamson. I took him with me on that trip.

[Eli Doubletap]

No kidding.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah. And he plays harmonica, so he got up and played with us a little bit.

[Eli Doubletap]

Oh, it's awesome.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

It's sick. It's. It's crazy. And, you know, just from my perspective as a veteran, I really appreciate everything your organization has done for so many people. Tyler Vargas Andrews, to name a few. Like, you've literally changed lives and gone out of your way to help people who need it the most and, like, really show what true patriotism is. And it, like, means a lot to me.

[Gary Sinise]

Thank you.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

Like, from, like, the deepest part of my heart. I'm not often serious, but I do mean this well.

[Gary Sinise]

I appreciate what you did for our country film.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

It was my honor, so thank you so much. I'm gonna trade back out with a more handsome version.

[Gary Sinise]

Thanks for sharing that.

[Guest Veteran or Military Personnel]

Oh, yeah, it was awesome. Thank you, sir.

[Donut Operator]

Good Stuff, just the amount of work you've done, and go into more depth with what your foundation does because it changes lives in different ways and how it helps community. So what is some of the big ways Gary Sinise is helping veterans or

[Gary Sinise]

soldiers or families or families. You know, like I said, I got involved very. A long time ago, decades ago, and it. It just kind of spiraled into something. There's a. I wrote a book called Grateful American, and there's a chapter in the book called Turning Point, and that is really the September 11th chapter. And what that moment did to kind of galvanize me toward the service or veterans and first responders. And before I had my own foundation, one way that I would do it was start with a lot of different foundations that were in a lot of different spaces, right? Helping our wounded, building houses for them, helping our families of our fallen, entertainment, whatever it was. And I would get involved with a lot of different organizations and support them. And so that gave me a lot of insight into where the needs were and what different organizations were doing to fill those needs and how I, as a public figure, could best benefit that effort. So I started getting more and more and more involved in all these different efforts. I actually. The home building stuff that we do, where we build houses for our wounded service members, that actually started. I got involved with that before I had a foundation. So once I created the foundation, we created a program, we started raising money. Now we just gave away our 101st home that I've been involved with since 2010. And so 15 years. And we just. This past week, we gave away our 101st house. But I saw that that was a need that was not that it was not a service that was provided to our Vietnam veterans when they came home, right? Oh, let me build you a house. You know, it was Vietnam veterans disappear. Because it was not a good time to be a Vietnam veteran. I didn't want that to happen again, you know, to Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. And so got involved with the home building effort, started doing that. Now we have a very vigorous program where we not only build homes, but we provide adapted vehicles, mobility devices, you know, track chairs, wheelchairs, that kind of thing. We do home modifications. So we have, you know, dozens of home modifications in the queue right now where we will go in somebody's, you know, and we do these for elderly veterans. We do this for anybody who's serving, right? You got a lot of aging veterans and, you know, they're. Maybe they're having trouble in their house. They can't get up the stairs anymore. We make the bedroom downstairs much bigger for them. We go in, we fix the bathroom up, whatever. We do modifications. But we're still building a lot of homes from the ground up for people that have been very, very badly wounded. Tyler is one of those, you know, in fact, Tyler Vargas Andrews. I. When he, when he was first wounded in that stupid withdrawal, I reached out pretty quickly to the hospital to find out what was going on with our wounded and talked to his mom and started communicating with his mom because he couldn't really communicate. And I wanted her to know that there were services that we could provide should he need that. And I'm glad that eventually he came around to applying for the program. You know, he sacrificed a lot and we want to do something to give back to him. So we have, we have a couple of our wounded from the abigate mess that we're building for. We probably have 20 in the queue right now. I mean, we thought maybe this was going to start to wind down a little bit. There wouldn't be as much of a need for us to build these specially adapted smart technology houses for badly wounded service members. But there are a lot of needs out there. So I don't want to be somebody who says no a lot, you know, so we, we have a pretty vigorous program and we're trying to provide those services on multiple fronts to help a lot of different people. We've had World War II programs for World War II veterans. We just, you know, we're taking a bunch of Rosie the Riveters down to the New Orleans to the national World War II museum, wherever we can serve those who have served and defended and protected us. That's where I want my foundation to place its efforts. And I feel blessed that the American people have kind of put their trust in us, you know, send us their donations or, you know, they help us if we have a special project or something like we'll have a disaster, a hurricane or something like that. Our National Guard starts going in helping. Well, we back them up. We'll go in with disaster relief stuff to help them help the people. So we're operating on a lot of different areas, mainly focused, of course, on supporting first responders, supporting our veterans, supporting our active duty, supporting our families of our fallen, you know, wherever we can place our hands and wrap our arms around these people. Let's. That's. That's what I want my foundation to do.

[Eli Doubletap]

And I'm glad you brought up the mobility part of that because a lot of people don't realize just how bad the VA is with stuff like that. I mean, I. I'm representing now or about to be one of the biggest veteran districts in the entire country with, you know, Fort Sam Houston, Fort Bliss, everything like that. There's people that I've talked to that, you know, need, for example, like a mobility, like a wheelchair, electric wheelchair, essentially. And there's limitations on if it breaks. Like, for example, in this case, like a battery broke. Like, okay, well, can we get it replaced? Well, no. Okay, well, if I go out and purchase the battery, will you service it? Well, also, no. Okay, can I get another one? No, you're owed one. Every six years, I think, is the cutoff. And so this guy's just. He's being forced to wheel around as elderly, disabled veteran. I don't think there's an excuse for that.

[Gary Sinise]

You know what, here's what I would say about that.

[Fat Electrician]

First of all, if we didn't have the number of nonprofits that are in the space, Veterans and First Respond or sports space, there'd be a catastrophe. I don't believe that the government can do everything.

[Gary Sinise]

The government does certain things. I know my dad benefited from his

[Fat Electrician]

V8 benefits and all that, and many veterans do. But I always say, look, we as citizens who benefit from the freedom and protection of our defenders, well, there's a role for us to play. You know, there is a role for us to play. I don't think we can depend on the government to do everything they should do. They should always do more. But I always say my foundation should always do more. You know, there's always more that we can do, and I think that's a great way for our citizens to participate, you know, in helping our service members through difficult times.

[Gary Sinise]

There's a.

[Fat Electrician]

There's thousands of nonprofits out there that are in this space, and if they weren't here, we'd have a catastrophe. If it was all up to the government, massive catastrophe. So it's a good thing that these nonprofits are out there. It's a good people. Good thing for people to be aware of all the different nonprofits and not all of them. You can't. There's too many. But, you know, be aware of some good nonprofits, especially in your area. What are the veteran support organizations in your area that are helping your local veterans? If every citizen in this country took some responsibility for, you know, reaching out to the men and women who have served our country and sacrificed for our country just to help them through their day, you know, maybe just go buy groceries, if maybe somebody's deployed and that spouse is left at home and the car breaks down and she's got four kids and she's trying to manage everything like that. You know, just a little helping hand can help that person a lot. People always ask me, who should I support? What should I do? I always say, look in your own neighborhood, look in your own community. Are there veterans and military families and first responders who are struggling? Can they use a helping hand? It'll make you feel really good if you do it. You don't have to write the big check. You can do something very personal. Personal touches matter. I started my, you know, by just a lot of personal touches. Going out to the war zones and patting people on the back and shaking hands and taking pictures and sitting down and having dinner with them. That meant a lot to them, just to know that somebody cares, know that somebody in the country who's benefiting from what they're doing to protect and defend us, that it matters to that person. I try to let our service members know that their service matters and to let our fellow citizens know that there are a lot of ways that you can show your appreciation.

[Gary Sinise]

But. Yeah.

[Fat Electrician]

Anything else? Do you guys have any more questions?

[Eli Doubletap]

I was asked specifically to ask you about the Snowball Express.

[Fat Electrician]

Yeah, so snow. This is the Families of Our Fallen Heroes program that we have. It was. It started 20 years ago by some folks who wanted to. Some veterans in California. They wanted to do some, you know, this is 2006. You know, we've been in Iraq now for three years. We've been in Afghanistan for five. We lost, you know, we're losing folks. A lot of children, you know, struggling and suffering. And so they wanted to do something that would help help the kids through difficult times. So right before Christmas time, they. They raised some money and they were able to bring, you know, a bunch of families with kids to Anaheim, to Disneyland, and all expense paid. Southwest Airlines was involved, helping to provide some transportation. They did one event where they brought the kids and they had. They videotaped it. And right after that event, which was December of 06, they contacted me. I was shooting CSI New York, and they, you know, they knew that I was active and doing a lot, going overseas and that kind of thing. They contacted me and said, we want to do this again next year and would you get involved in it? And they showed me the videotape of the children. These are all children that have lost my mom or dad.

[Gary Sinise]

And

[Fat Electrician]

it was very moving. You know, it was very moving.

[Gary Sinise]

A man.

[Fat Electrician]

I had actually been involved with the Intrepid foundation, wanting to try to do something for children of our fallen heroes that never quite got started and got off the ground. So all of a sudden this event comes and I'm seeing all these happy kids at Disneyland. And I said, I want to help that.

[Gary Sinise]

So I got involved.

[Fat Electrician]

The next year I volunteered to go to the event at Disneyland. Brought my band, donated my band, played a concert for the kids. And it was so moving. You know, you see these kids and they've got T shirts and their fallen hero dad is on the T shirt or buttons or whatever, and they're right in front of me, these little kids, and I'm playing music for them. I'm trying to lift them up, make them feel good, never having fun. And so I. The following year I went back again, did got involved again. Then it moved to Dallas because American Airlines got involved, started providing all the transportation for the kids to go to Disneyland.

[Gary Sinise]

Now we were going to move it

[Fat Electrician]

to Dallas, which is the hub of American Airlines, and they have a lot of connections at Dallas and all this stuff. So we're going to move the event to Dallas. We're going to do it in Dallas. For nine years it was in Dallas. And I brought my band back every year to play for the kids and to help help them through it was growing a lot of families and lost loved ones. I have a great relationship with Disney World. Narrating that park ride and being in the movies and all that stuff. Narrating at Disney World, a show called the Candlelight Processional. I was doing that every year at Disney World. So I said the next thing we should do with these kids is take them to Disney World. And so I went to Disney and had a meeting with them and they were. We got them on board. We had to have. We're going to bring a thousand kids there. We're going to have this Disney on board, right? So after that, it was going to cost a lot more money. So we brought it into the Gary Sinise foundation as a program of the Gary Sinise Foundation. So we have very vigorous programs to support the families of our fallen heroes. That particular program is really focused on the children, but we support the spouses and, you know, we support parents of fallen heroes. We're getting involved in, you know, we're involved in so many different things. In fact, today we have. We have what we call it a city adventure going. You might have seen the balloons out in the hallway and everything like that. So we have a city adventure going where we're bringing in spouses of fallen heroes. And we treat them to,

[Gary Sinise]

you know,

[Fat Electrician]

two or three days of fun in Nashville. We show them some love. Just trying to help them through these difficult times. You know, I understand grief.

[Gary Sinise]

It's a.

[Fat Electrician]

It's a difficult thing to deal with when you've lost a loved one. And, you know, we. These are. These are people who given a lot

[Gary Sinise]

for our country and we want to

[Fat Electrician]

do something for the families that are left behind.

[Eli Doubletap]

It is.

[Donut Operator]

It's awesome to see how much you do for the veteran communities of families. It is one thing, like, we were blessed enough because of the amazing community to donate towards the Gary Sinise Foundation. We're going to continue like every year for November when we do our. Pretty much that entire month, we'll make a few shirts and then 100 of profits we make that month. We just write it off and just donate everything we make. And we do it for special needs and veterans.

[Eli Doubletap]

So we've gotten as well as our own money, too. Like, usually if we have a goal and we come slightly shy of that or something like that, we'll throw in our own. Our own nuances.

[Fat Electrician]

You guys are in San Antonio? Yes. So I'll be at Bamsey next month.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, really?

[Fat Electrician]

Yeah. Come say hi. I have my band at Bamsey next month. We do. One of the programs that we have is we do these festivals at Military Hospital. I started doing it in San Diego in 2012 and we do it at the hospital. We'll be at Fort Belvoir. We were in Naval Medical center in San Diego at the end of January and we're at Vamsee on the 17th, right? Yeah, 17th of April.

[Eli Doubletap]

I've got a lot of good friends.

[Fat Electrician]

Come on over.

[Eli Doubletap]

Would love to. Love to come see you. A lot of good friends that have trained there. But a lot of people don't realize how much of Army Medical. Pretty much all of Army Medical is out of Fort Sam Houston, bamsi, all that in San Antonio.

[Fat Electrician]

Yeah, this we set up outside. It's during the day. We call it our Invincible Spirit Festival. So I'll visit the hospital and then I come outside, play a concert. We have food, moon bounces for the kids, rock climbing walls, you know, I mean, we set up a festival outside, so they look forward to it every year. Come on over and see what we're doing. We would love to help battle this end.

[Eli Doubletap]

That'd be awesome. I'd love to.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Fat Electrician]

Because we would put out, I mean, even Harpos.

[Donut Operator]

If we can help with any of that, let us know. That's One space we want.

[Fat Electrician]

I'll stay in touch with my team. They know that's. I have a concert in. At the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar in California on the 15th, and then on the 17th, I'm in San Antonio. Dan Band. The band is. It's a rocking band. Yeah.

[Donut Operator]

Is that the name, though?

[Gary Sinise]

Is that.

[Fat Electrician]

Which one is Dan Bam. Yeah, it's really good.

[Eli Doubletap]

Is that still just like your passions? Just the music. Music side of things?

[Fat Electrician]

The music is. Is. That's kind of my escape, you know, it's really. You know, I don't go play golf. I don't go on trips other than for the mission. And so when I'm playing a concert, that's really my. That's my release, you know, I pay the band. I've had this band for over 20 years. I. I play for free. And that's. It's just part of the mission, you know.

[Donut Operator]

That's awesome. And then if we can. Just a quick shout out to your son, Matkins. That's where you guys connected, really. Because that last album he did that you didn't know about.

[Fat Electrician]

Well, my. Yeah, my son was. He was a great musician, that great composer, you know, he was. He was my number two drummer. So if my guy couldn't play, I would always ask Mac to sit in and play with us. He was just really exceptionally good. There's a picture of him over there when he's nine years old with his drumsticks. When I. It's the first day I put him on the drum set. It's over there, and I took a picture. He became just a great drummer. Went to USC music school, wrote a lot of music, ended up working for the foundation, writing music for the Foundation. He got very, very sick and With a rare cancer called chordoma. And he fought it for. He fought it for five and a half years. And in the last year of his life, he hadn't been thinking about music at all. And he said, dad, it was a piece of music I wrote in college. I never finished it. And I've been thinking about it and I think I'd like to try to finish him. And he was paralyzed from the chest down from the cancer, and he was in a hospital bed and he finished the piece of music. They ended up going in the studio, recording it with an orchestra. You can see it at max and East YouTube. You can see the recording sessions for the first record. He called the record Resurrection and Revival. He ended up doing a whole album. 10. 10 pieces of music. And he. And the album Went to press the week that he died, so he never got to see that album. But that album, that's a picture of my grandfather and his great grandfather on the COVID And one of the things Mac did for the foundation was kind of resurrect and revive things in my archive. Old photographs that I have from World War I, World War II. And he loved that picture of my grandfather from World War I. And he. He brought it back to life and put it on the COVID And he brought that piece of music that he wrote in college back to life, you know, resurrected it and revived it. After he died, I started to find all this other music that he wrote. So that's when I did Resurrection and Revival Part Part two. And then, believe it or not, I started to fight even more after I finished that record. So we're putting the finishing touches on Resurrection and Revival Part 3 right now, and that'll be available in June. 31 pieces of music are on this record.

[Eli Doubletap]

Wow.

[Fat Electrician]

I thought I found it everything he wrote when I. When I did the second record. But then I found all these little things and just all these melodies that he created. And so we've taken them and brought. Brought them to life. And it's. I was listening to it on the way over here today, and it's. It's great. You can download both Resurrection and Revival and Resurrection and Revival Part two. You can buy the albums, the vinyls, all the proceeds go to the Gary Sinise foundation, because that's what Mac wanted. He said, dad, I want to make some vinyls. If we ever sell them, I want the proceeds to go to the foundation.

[Eli Doubletap]

And where people find that if they want to buy the vinyls or anything.

[Gary Sinise]

The vinyls, right.

[Fat Electrician]

@garysinisefoundation.org the vinyls are available. We've sold over 9,000 copies. You know, people buy them, they don't even have a record player, but. But it's. You know, they buy the album and then they go get a record player because the. The music is very special when you want. When you watch the YouTube videos, there's a piece called Arctic Circles and it's an orchestral piece that Mack wrote. That's the piece that he was thinking about that he never finished in college and he finished it. And it's stunning. It's a stunningly beautiful piece that led to a whole album. Then I found more and now I found even more. So between all three albums, it's about 60 pieces of music.

[Gary Sinise]

So.

[Fat Electrician]

Well, yeah, that he created.

[Donut Operator]

When does the third one drop? And where it Will also in the exact same location.

[Fat Electrician]

Yeah, you guys are getting a scoop. I haven't told anybody about it. So that third album is coming out in June. Yeah, we're going to have it. It goes to press next week. So we're, you know, we got a couple of months where they're, they'll print it and get it all ready, you know, get all the artwork done and everything like that. And then it'll. It'll be available on our website on in early June.

[Donut Operator]

Thanks, brother. Any last pieces of wisdom for the audience out there before we close this out?

[Fat Electrician]

I. I always say that, that. Well, we, we can. I, I believe that we can never do enough for the men and women who serve our country, protect our cities, you know, run into burning buildings trying to save people. They don't know all these different things. We can never do enough for them. But we can always try to do a little more. And that's what I'm trying to do here is just find ways that we can continue to do more, that we can continue to inspire young people and motivate young people to learn a little bit more about why it's important that we have defenders out there protecting our country, you know, and that we're lucky to have. So all you veterans here, you know, I really. My hat's off to you. I thank you. This foundation was created because of what you've done for a country. And I don't take it for granted.

[Donut Operator]

Surely appreciate it. But let me just talking to you guys, all you.

[Fat Electrician]

Thank you, all youse guys.

[Eli Doubletap]

Brain. Hey, let's not even cook.

[Fat Electrician]

You got a whole crowd over.

[Gary Sinise]

Don't embarrass me in front of Gary.

[Donut Operator]

You want to close us out?

[Host (Donut Operator or another host)]

Thank you guys for joining the Unsubscribe podcast. I was joined today by Eli Doubletap, the fat electrician. Gary Sinise, Brandon Herrera, myself, donut operator. Thank you so much for being here.

[Fat Electrician]

We love you.

[Gary Sinise]

Yeah, honor it is to sit next to the fat electric. Sa.

[Fat Electrician]

TikTok aura.