25 Years Later: "We Were Wrong About The War"

I'll talk to guys or guys will ask me guys that were in the military like before September 11th after Vietnam before September 11th they did whatever 1994 to 1999 and they feel so bad and so guilty that they didn't serve in combat and you know I always tell them hey you did what your country needed you to do at the time you know like thank you for your service and that's but but guys do feel guilty about that >> what was happening then from a military perspective yeah I mean I was in the entire '90s and we didn't do barely anything we did like ship boarding over in the Persian Gulf, people that were smuggling whatever stuff in and out of Iraq. So, we did shipboardings over there to like get control of those vessels, but that was pretty much like the real the real missions that we were doing at the time and it was just not that big of a deal. >> So, what happens when 2001 comes along? Like what what did that feel like to go from seeing this period of relative I mean as peaceful as the [ __ ] military with guns can be I suppose >> very peaceful >> and then there is a very large or two very large pistols that get >> no it was it was uh total totally different yeah total game changer for everybody yeah overnight >> what was waking up midepptember like >> um well we just knew I mean everybody knew that we were going to war now if you would asked me at the time would we you're going to be at war for two decades. I wouldn't have thought that. We all thought that much like some of the other sort of operations that had taken place, whether it's Panama or Grenada, something like that, these things lasted a few days, even the first Gulf War over in 72 hours. I was so I was the the Navy had sent me to college at the time. So, I was in college and I was all distraught because I thought I was going to miss this war. You know, I want to be a commander my whole life. you know, there's nothing going on in the 90s when I'm in. I know that we're all going to war and it's probably going to be over very shortly and I'm not going to be a part of it. So, I actually called the guy that was in charge of assigning us to where whatever SEAL team you're going to go to and I said, "Hey, sir, you know, please get me out of here. Send me back to a SEAL team. I'll finish college later." And he he said, "Hey, this is going to last a long time." And I didn't believe him. He goes, "This is going to last a really long time." And I was like, "No, it's not." He goes, "I finish college and I'll get you to a team." And sure enough, I mean, he got me to a team a little while later. And sure enough, he got me to a team that was deploying next, luckily, thankfully to Iraq. But even my first deployment to Iraq, I thought, "Oh, this is going to be over." You know, we'll be I'm so lucky I'm get to be here and do do my job for 6 months right now cuz it's probably going to be over. Then probably that was 2003, 2004. Now we get into 2005, you start saying, "Oh, this is going to be on for a long time." And then, you know, it lasted for two decades. >> When did you realize that it was going to be more than just a couple of a couple of years? I would say the middle of 2005, that's when the news, you started really hearing the shift in the news that they were saying that this is an insurgency now. You know, as opposed to just a regime, hey, we're going to take out the regime and walk away, which could we could have done, but instead now we're going to stay there. We're going to try and turn them into, you know, a de a democratic country. It's like, >> okay, that might not be a great idea. Okay. And now you start to have the insurgency, which is al-Qaeda leadership starts coming in from other countries and they're starting to run and direct and finance operations inside Iraq. And the local populace again, you know, there's so many complexities to this, but you know, the the the the Shi are the majority people there and it's been run by the Sunnis for a long time. So it doesn't take much to sort of spark a spark friction between those two elements cuz they already have bad blood between each other. And of course they al-Qaeda doesn't want America to have any success over there. So they do their best to spark that conflict between the Sunnis and the Shia. It's a disaster. Yeah. >> Well 911 is maybe second only to the atomic bombs is like very small period of time that just totally changed the course of the future. >> Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure. Um, and I would say even the atomic bombs were less because that that was, you know, the direction that we were going in, we were going in that direction. If we would have if we didn't have atomic bombs that time, we would have landed on mainland Japan and we would have we would have been a costly victory, but we were going to win. >> So, I would say that yeah, 911 was even more of a radical. >> Such a left turn. >> Yeah. Such a left turn. >> Were you more Sunni or Shia? >> So, it depends on how you look at it. the the the Sunnis and the Shia, you know, it's it's one of those scenarios where we worked alongside the Sunnis, but the Shia made up the vast majority of the army of the of the Iraqi army. So, you kind of had to, you know, you kind of had to do both. You kind of had to get get along with both of them. >> Reasonable. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Both guy. >> Yeah. You kind of got to get along with both. >> It's [ __ ] crazy, dude. I mean, it's 25th anniversary is in a month. >> Yeah. What >> the for 911? >> I don't know. It's called an anniversary of of a tragedy. What What would you call it? >> Maybe birthday. >> Memorial. [laughter] >> Maybe memorial. >> Just call it 25 by 250. >> Yeah. Okay. Like America. Netflix did just the best. Like the archive footage. even though you've got such a constrained amount, they keep on finding or being able to remaster or make stuff a little bit better. And uh this is as I'm sort of dreaming of coming out to America and when you're anywhere that hasn't been involved in living in Manhattan, thinking about it, it almost feels unreal. It's like watching somebody play a video game kind of and because it's such a insane city and the density is so high and then obviously the instance just like so crazy. And now that I've spent time, lots of time in New York, and I [ __ ] love Manhattan. I think it's so cool. Thinking about that thing happening, like that actually happened. >> Mhm. >> In a city that I'd spent tons of time in, that I've walked around Freedom Tower. I've seen, you know, Ground Zero, all that stuff. That must have just been for the people that were there. That must have been like one of the most across all of human history. What other days have been more insane to have seen something like that happen? >> Yeah. >> So crazy. >> Yeah. Seeing a plane crash into a [ __ ] building. >> Yeah. That's crazy. >> Yeah. And I I mean obviously Pearl Harbor was a huge was a huge impact as well, but again that we were leaning in that direction anyways. You know, it was like there's a lot of isolationists in America obviously during that time, but you know, there was also people that were like, "Hey, we got to do something." And that that tipped the scales. But yeah, 911 was just, you know, we were all just carrying on with normal stuff. >> Was it like a >> and then boom, >> a shocking incident at Pearl Harbor and with the atomic bombs, but not a shocking trajectory. This was a total just >> like off-road left turn thing. So yeah, it's it's wild. That being said, I I >> it's so fascinating to see now in retrospect what that did. It changed >> travel. It changed the entire sort of geopolitical landscape. Yeah. I I wonder how different the world would be if that if that hadn't happened. It would be like literally a different [ __ ] universe. >> Different universe. Yeah. I mean, my life obviously everybody that I know would, you know, who knows what their lives would be like. >> Mhm. You'd have still been in college. [laughter] >> Maybe >> still just keep. >> Do you guys know anyone that was that in Manhattan during >> The only story I've heard is that uh Do you know Lewis J. Gomez? Yeah. Comedian. He rollerbladed away. He was on rollerblades and he rollerbladed it like away from New York City >> faster than he's ever rollerbladed. [laughter] >> It's a true story. Apparently he like he wasn't like at ground zero but he was there when it got impacted and he just >> Wheelies could have helped. >> Wheelies could have helped. He had roller blade he apparently rollerbladed >> like super far. It was like ah just rollerbladed away >> speed skating away from it. It's one of my I mean I like the idea talking about PT [laughter] PTSD, you know, it's like the big biggest day in history and you get caught on roller. [laughter] >> It's like a bad dream. >> What a nightmare. >> Oh my god. >> Where were you in like just rollerblading around >> you know having knee pads on and elbow pads and a helmet wrist guards. >> Yeah. >> But you are safe. You know Michael Jackson was supposed to have a meeting on the top of one of the Twin Towers on 911 but he slept in. >> Can we confirm this? >> This sounds like some [ __ ] Let me give you an even better one. Let me give you an even [ __ ] better boy that was never there. >> Seth McFaran, guy that uh started Family Guy, was supposed to get on a flight on the morning of 9/11 and his assistant mis booked the time on his schedule. He arrived at the airport but missed the plane. The plane left. >> That was the plane that hit the South Tower. >> What? >> Yeah. So, he bought his assistant a Rolls-Royce as a thank you for having gotten him late. He might be the very only. Uh, Michael Jackson was definitely in New York City. The answer is possibly, but not definitely established. >> His brother said in his memoir and in interviews, "Michael was scheduled to attend meetings at the World Trade Center that morning, but overslept." That looks good enough for me. 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