➡ In this episode of Nino’s Corner TV, the host interviews his long-time friend, Joel Carpenter, a former Army Ranger. Joel shares his experiences serving in the military, including his friendship with Pat Tillman, a former NFL player who also served as a Ranger. Joel also discusses his new podcast and his views on global geopolitics. Despite knowing the realities of war, Joel expresses no regret for his service, attributing his current life, including his wife and children, to his time in the military.
➡ The speaker shares his experiences of enlisting in the military and training with Pat Tillman and his brother. He talks about the challenges they faced together and the bond they formed. He also discusses the controversy surrounding Tillman’s death, stating that he believes it was a result of the chaotic circumstances of their mission, not a conspiracy. The speaker also reflects on his own journey, from aspiring actor to military service, and his views on veterans seeking fame.
➡ The speaker discusses the trend of people seeking fame after serving in the military, often through podcasting or embellishing their service records. He finds it perplexing, especially when their real stories are already impressive. He also talks about the serious issue of stolen valor, where people falsely claim military honors they didn’t earn. He believes this comes from a place of deep insecurity and is a problem that needs addressing.
➡ The speaker discusses the issue of people lying about their military service or exaggerating their achievements. They express sympathy for those who are publicly shamed for such lies, but also frustration at the dishonesty. They also discuss the confusion and arguments that can arise over military titles and qualifications. The speaker concludes by expressing their belief in the importance of a strong military and good leadership, and their hope that their children, if they choose to serve, would be well-supported.
➡ The speaker discusses the importance of strong leadership, particularly in the military, emphasizing that the best leaders are those who serve others first. They share personal experiences of military service, including communication challenges while deployed. The speaker also expresses hope for peace and stability in global politics, referencing conflicts in Russia, Ukraine, and the Middle East. Lastly, they touch on the topic of mass deportations, questioning how this will be handled in the future.
➡ The discussion revolves around the potential dangers of cartels in America, their influence, and the possible increase in violence. The speakers also discuss the role of China in economic warfare, aiming to disrupt the U.S. to become the world’s leading power. They touch on the impact of drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl, on young lives. The conversation ends with an understanding of the complex strategies behind economic warfare and the efforts to maintain America’s top position globally.
➡ The discussion revolves around the issue of illegal immigration in the U.S. and how to handle it. The speaker believes that many illegal immigrants might leave voluntarily due to the pressure, while others will need to be found and deported. Cooperation between federal and local agencies will be crucial in this process. The speaker also suggests that funds currently sent overseas should be redirected to strengthen U.S. border control.

What’s up, folks? Welcome to Nino’s Corner tv. I’m joined with one of my best friends, and I can say that honestly, a very good friend of mine, very good friend of mine for about 30 plus years, right, Joel? It’s been about 30 plus years. Joel Carpenter. He was a Army Ranger, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regimen. I went out to where? Savannah, Savannah, Georgia and visit Savannah. Yeah, that was a fun time. And folks, I got to tell you, man, this guy has had my back and a lot, a lot of brawls back in the day. Joel, man, long time coming, brother.

It’s. It’s been, I’ve been trying to get you on the show for the last, what, like, few years. We just haven’t been able to. We haven’t been able to do this. So finally you’re on. Thank you. Yeah, years. Thanks for having me, man. It has been years. Well, I mean, time flies. Anyway, I just, I see you got your own thing going now. You got your own podcast going on. Is it on Spotify, Joel? I’m on Spotify, Yeah. We just started out, so not too many episodes, but trying to get something out there. So where do, where do people follow you? Just to give them the heads up? I’m on Spotify at JC Syndicated, so they can go there on Maso on X with the same handle.

And. And then we have a substack called Stratus analytics where we do kind of global geopolitics and, and open source intelligence. So before we get started here, I’m gonna, I’m going to introduce you to everybody. Joel, you. This is pretty incredible. One thing about Joel is that you served with Pat Tillman, correct? I did, yeah. Yeah. And you’ve got a lot of stories about Pat Tillman. In fact, I remember back in the day you would call me and I actually talked to Pat Tillman a couple times, and I, I remember talking to him on the phone, and I remember you were actually pretty damn good friends with him.

We were, we were good friends. We ended up going through. I went through pre Ranger and Ranger school with him and his brother and so developed a pretty close relationship. You got to remember during that time, there wasn’t a lot of older guys still that had joined the military. Typically, you know, everybody was 17, 18 years old. 17 would have been really young, but because it was post 9 11, people kind of felt differently at the time, no matter how they feel now, and they wanted to serve. So you had guys who left corporate positions, and in Pat’s case, he left the NFL Obviously, everybody knows this story and most people do, and they just, you know, the guys that were older kind of gravitated and got along better.

Yeah, you were like, I remember everyone was calling you the old man and you were like, what, 27, 28 years old? Yeah, yeah. What are we now? 26? 26, bro. They would call me old man. Old man. Well, let’s, let’s dive into this. But first, folks, get your Noble Gold. As we enter 2025, de dollarization is accelerating. China and BRICS nations are reducing their dependence on the US dollar. And their secret weapon is gold. China is buying gold quietly underreporting their purchases. Why? Because they know gold’s global value, its ability to withstand economic shock, and its immunity to manipulation.

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And you said, man, I’m, I gotta go, I gotta go serve my country. And I had the utmost respect for you. I still do. And it was like, I remember at that time, it was like, wow, you’re gonna leave everything you’ve been working for in Hollywood? Because little fact about Joel is that he was really, he went out to Hollywood. He was starting to make some, some big contacts and make it into the, in the Hollywood scene. And I remember you were on a music video on mtv. You like went out there for like a couple weeks and already landed a gig.

It was crazy. And I’m very proud of you. But I was even more proud of you for signing up to be a Ranger, man. That’s when I, that’s when my respect went through the roof for you because you were, it looked like you were heading towards or forging towards a very promising career in Hollywood. And then you just said, man, fuck this, I’m going, I’m going for the Rangers, man. And so, you know, Joel does have a backbone and he has character, folks. And I can tell you, because Joel’s see me in a few street fights and in the midst of the street fight, he’s Coming got my back a couple times, so I can actually attest for Joel’s character.

So Joel, looking back on it now, man, like, do you. Do you ever regret being a Ranger or making that decision to go five year country at all? Especially with what you know now like it. You know, the. You know it. You’re a very awake individual. So you know what it was all about. You understand, you’ve been on infowars, you’ve been on a couple shows, you know what 911 was all about. But do you sometimes sit there and go, damn it, if I would have known then, would I know now? In. In regards to just, I think having, you know, the wool kind of covered over my eyes, yes.

But in regards to the experience, no, I don’t regret anything. I don’t regret who. I bet I don’t regret the combat deployments, the missions. The experience was amazing also. It was, it was. My heart was fully in it for the right reasons. In terms of, like, at that time, that was like the most patriotic thing you could do, and not everybody was doing it. And just to refresh your memory, you and I kind of like a decision point where I really hit for me was you. Me, you and Melanie were walking on 3rd Street Promenade at Santa Monica in that magazine stand, and there was a Newsweek article, and it had a spec ops guy on the COVID And we passed by and I grabbed it, and I’d already been kind of secretly thinking about it, but I.

I grabbed the magazine. You were kind of flipping through some stuff, and I was looking at that and, and almost like Freudian slip, the. The words just came out of my mouth and I just said, I’m gonna enlist. I’m gonna go spec ops. And then you, like, looked at me and you were like, do it, bro. Do it. And. And I remember I was just like, yeah, like, I’m gonna do it. And so it was. It was right around that time. But like I said, I mean, everybody felt a certain way. Even Hollywood, if you remember, you were there at the time.

There were American flags, bro, draped everywhere. Like, everybody was fully into this. They. They were shocked. And, you know, and. And then evidence came out later, and people feel differently about it, but no, 100%, I don’t regret joining the military. I met my wife because of the military. I have my children because of the military. So everything kind of played out the way it was supposed to. I think I’m a Christian. I believe that I have a destiny. So, you know, the long, short answer of that is no, I don’t regret it. And you’ve met, I mean, I’ve met a lot of your friends that I think Kenji, if you.

That’s the one. I really remember when we all went to Cancun together and that was crazy. Oh boy, was that a good time. But, you know, I, I’ve met a lot of your friends. I went out to Savannah and, and visited you out there and got to meet a lot of the Rangers, man. And, and I was impressed with all of them. They’re all great people, man. Really, really. Salt of the. I just, you know, I just, I just remember maybe you have, you know, I remember talking to Pat Tillman on the phone maybe a couple times when you called him, you called me when you were with him and you knew that guy, you know, like you knew that guy’s character to the core.

Were you were training with him or, or did you, were you in different, like battalions or, or how does that work? Yeah, so I was in 1st Ranger Battalion, that’s in Savannah, Georgia. Pat was in 2nd Ranger Battalion and that was up on the west coast. And so Tacoma, Washington basically. And, and so at different terms, like Pat came in after I enlisted. I had heard about him enlisting and had heard his story and thought it was amazing before I’d met him and, and then watched his pipeline basically where he, I mean, he enlisted with a Ranger contract, also him and his brother.

And so I’d heard about it and, and then we inevitably, we, well, not inevitably, we ended up being in the same pre Ranger course, which is Pre Ranger gets you ready for Ranger school as a three week course. I actually went to Pre Ranger twice. I had to go through because of an NCO IC that I didn’t really get along with. I ended up getting recycled. So if I had just gone and passed the first Pre Ranger course, then I wouldn’t have met Pat and his brother. They would have been in the class after me. So it was kind of, it was a blessing in disguise.

And, and so we did the three weeks of pre Ranger and then we did Ranger school, you know, which is another 62 days. And, and so, you know, you get to know people during that time. And then I maintained. So you got close to them. You were pretty cool. I mean, you’re always having, yeah, you’re with these people like 247 when you’re, you know, when it, I mean, if you get time off, you go do your thing. But like when, during those courses you do get to know people really well and great, great guys and, and super passionate guy and, and I mean, you know, what can I say? I literally still wear a KIA bracelet for him.

I recently passed the one that I carried for 20 years. I recently gave that to his mom and then I ended up getting another one here recently. So I think it’s great whenever anybody talks about him because it keeps his memory alive and yeah, great guy, Great. Let me ask you this. Like, let’s, let’s talk about Pat Tillman just for a second before we get into some other stuff. You know, there’s a lot of conspiracies that are swirling around Pat Tillman, you know, like, was it friendly fire? Was he, was it enemy fire? What are your thoughts on the whole Pat Tillman on Pat Tillman’s death is looking back on it now? My, my thoughts were always the same as recently a former Delta Force commander just did a very thorough multi year investigation on it.

He worked with the family, he worked with, with Pat’s mom on it. And it’s available. I think you can either read the report or the videos. That gentleman’s name is Pete Blaber and super intellectual guy did it, did a great investigative report on it. And, and basically my sentiments are the same as that. Now here’s the, here’s the disclosure with that I was not there that deployment I was in Iraq with my platoon and, and second bat that was, that was originally first Ranger battalions deployment cycle. And second bat got what they call surged forward. And so some of them went to Afghanistan and the other parts of second bat went to Iraq.

And so I was in Iraq when I found out that he was killed. So I wasn’t there. I don’t know how things went down. I, I personally, I, I never believed that for, for anything. I know people have those views, but I thought he was, I, I’ve heard rumors that he’s getting ready to blow a whistle on something or you know, along those lines. None of that’s true. I don’t think so. I, I, no, I mean he may, he, who knows, if he was gonna blow a whistle on something, I don’t know what it would have been about.

Like I said, I don’t. He wasn’t questioning me there like he was, he wasn’t like seeing things. It doesn’t even matter. Look, let me tell you, it doesn’t even matter if you’re questioning being there as a Ranger, like you can question being somewhere all day long, nobody’s gonna kill you over it. You know, the, the truth is, is that the canyons that they were traveling up and like I said, people have to really look at these, the videos, there’s, and the reports of, like, where they were traveling. You have, you know, hundreds to thousand foot canyons where they came in contact, for sure.

And it’s confusing. These winding canyons that go through the mountains and then, you know, all this is happening at dusk. So the entire kind of mission that led up to his death seemed like a soup sandwich to me. But I wasn’t there. And, and it could have caused a lot of conflict, confusion, and then they had, you know, fire from the enemy and then people coming over the mountain at dusk and all this different stuff. And so I don’t think I, I just don’t agree with the narrative or anything of that. And that’s, to me, that’s what the evidence shows.

If anybody wants to go and research with his family, I, I do try to keep in touch with his family because, you know, just, just for his memory and stuff and, and I knew him and out of respect, I try to keep in touch with him. Yeah. You know, one thing I, I’ve always known about you is that you, you’re a real humble guy and you never wanted really any notoriety from being a ranger or anything like that. But there’s a lot of rangers that are out right now that are, that are very voiced and, you know, it seems like they really want the notoriety they really want.

They almost, a lot of them seem to have like, these delusions of grandeur and they’re, they’re out doing podcasts and some of them, you know, we’ve talked before. No, not. You’re not one of. I brought you on. I brought you on Pulling teeth, folks. It’s like pulling teeth with you to get you on. But, but I mean, I don’t. To have you on here, you know, not wanting the notoriety. You’re a very humble guy and I know you have your own podcast now. What’s your stance on these guys that are coming out now? Just. And I know we were talking about one of them, and I really don’t know much about these guys at all.

So I’m going to put a disclaimer right here. I don’t know very much about the SEALs or the Rangers or any of these special ops that are coming out. I can’t tell what’s true or what’s false. You know, me personally, I know I, I can, I can spot out a fraudulent boxer like that. I know when someone’s full of, with UFC and I used to fight or I really. You can spot these guys out Right. I mean you see them out all the time and you’re like, oh boy, here we are. Anybody, anybody who served in the military or special operations knows how to.

And I mean it’s literally same thing with, once you get out, you know, people can. People know just the same way, you know, like boxers and stuff. You can pick up a phone and text and say, hey, do you know this guy? And if you don’t know him, then you know somebody that’s like one degree of separation from you that does know the person. But going back to your question about how do I feel, you know, you remember, I mean you said in the beginning, it’s like I went out to Hollywood. So there was some aspect of my life where I was seeking to be involved in, you know, movies or acting and all that kind of stuff.

And, and, but I had a, I had a love for the creative industry in terms of writing and then also the filmmaking side of it. I grew up watching movies, like all the legendary classic movies and I wanted to be part of that later. And, and so you know, for me when like 911 happened and then, and then you were there, you were part of, you know, you were a friend of mine. You knew my decision making and everything for me and understanding like the love that I had for that creative aspiration transferred and saying, I’m going to now, I’m going to shut this down and I’ll walk away from it.

And I wasn’t like Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman had million dollar contracts. I was a guy who was auditioning. I had, you know, a screenplay that, that people were interested in. That’s like pretty common these days. You got veterans who have, you know, like Jack Carr who have turned the terminal list like into a whole series. And, but back then it was rare and, and I was auditioning for lead roles in movies and, and so I would, I would say I was definitely like a contender to, to be in that space. And then I just, I walked away from it because I felt like it wasn’t the right thing to do.

So for me, years later as I watched veterans, because when I stepped into veterans, I became a Ranger, I was like, wow, this is great. Like this is meaningful. This, the other stuff that I left wasn’t meaningful. Like it meant nothing. It was superficial and, and having that freedom was amazing. But then when I got out to see years later, I was, I was watching guys who were very accomplished. It had been in spec ops and gone on combat deployments and all this kind of stuff. And then they got Out. And then I was seeing guys chase, like, Hollywood and chase, like, movies and film and stuff.

It was like. It was harder for me to understand why, because it was something I stepped away from. But you. At the time. But, but you went back to it, though, after the Rangers, right? You went on America’s Got Talent, right? Of all. What’s up? No, no, no. You know, America’s Got Talent, right? Definitely not. That wouldn’t have been me. Um, but. But they, you know, I’ve. I’ve definitely been involved with, you know, some production stuff and, But. But only because. And writing and all that, because I, I. I literally still have love for the creative space, and so.

But I. It’s perplexing to me to see people who chase after it, who. Unless they have that kind of same love. If you don’t have love for storytelling or the actual art of filmmaking, then that means that you’re probably in it just to get in front of the camera and get. For the fame. Yeah, exactly. And now with. With the podcasting, boom. It’s like everybody that, you know, everybody’s out there telling their own. I mean, it’s such a diluted scene now. It’s. It’s so like. I mean, if you look at it, it’s so watered down now.

Everyone who’s done something has their own podcast, you know, me included. But, But I mean, there’s just so many people now with podcasts who are going on podcasts, and if they served in the military, they did anything at all, they’re gonna have their own podcast. But a lot of you guys, you’re literally. I’m one of those guys describing me. No, but you just started this, and, And I. Like I said, folks, it was pulling teeth bringing this guy on my show. He, you know, he kept rejecting me. But I mean, a lot of the rangers and the SEALs and the special op guys, they.

They have no problem calling one another out, right? Like, if, if it’s like. It’s like if you’re. If you’re. If you’re telling a fib or you’re lying or whatever, they’ll jump on you fast. And I’m seeing that happen right now with a lot of these podcasters that almost look like they’re selling out or some of these guys that are getting on there with these delusions of grandeur. A lot of people, a lot of the Rangers or seals will come out and start pointing fingers and saying, that guy’s full of. Right? So. So kind of. So let me.

Let me just say this in My experience, what I’ve seen is this. If it’s a civilian who’s, who’s they call it, you know, stolen ballot. If it’s a civilian who’s pretending to have done all these things, then it seemed like, you know, people like Don Shipley, who I know you’ve had on the show, and other people like that would definitely call out people for stolen Valor. What becomes more difficult, maybe, or, or less so, would be where you have an accomplished soldier who is embellishing maybe their career or what they’ve done. And so what you’re see, what you’re seeing now in the space is, is some of that is happening right now, seeking fame.

Seeking fame for serving their country, basically. I, I, I don’t even know. I don’t even know what it is, because the truth is, is that their story is good enough already. Like, you don’t have to embellish or, or make stuff up when you’re already like, let’s say, like, I, okay, I’ll give an example. Like, I’d ran into an individual. This was, you know, 10 years ago. I’d ran into an individual, accomplished Green beret, served like 20 years in the military, retired, was working in the, you know, crisis management space. And, and, and I ended up speaking with them.

They’re doing due diligence and everything. And basically, he, he embellished his career. He said that, you know, he was a Green Beret. It’s like there was no denying, but he basically had said that he was in Delta. And there’s a huge difference from Green Berets to Delta. That’s, that’s kind of, that’s stolen valor right there. Right. In a sense. I mean, you could potentially, yes, somebody could categorize it as that, but it’s just a lie. So, so it’s not even embellishment. It’s a lie. And so, but my question is, is just why lie about it at all? You were a Green Beret.

Like, that’s already an accomplishment. Like, you already have a great story. You don’t need to dress it up anymore. And so I feel like it comes from a deeply insecure place in an individual to, to have to go and to lie about something that they didn’t, they didn’t do, or they did, they weren’t part of. And then, and then, you know, present it like they were when they already had something to be proud of. And, like, already they already had something that was honorable. So, but, you know, so you do have a big problem with people that have that do stolen valor that say that? I think it’s a problem.

I, I definitely think it’s a problem. But if you think about this, the, the, the. The irony is, is this, is that everybody’s pretending they’re somebody these days, whether it’s different gender or whatever else. Stolen valor in the military, you know, these people, it’s the only space where people kind of are holding people accountability and saying, hey, wait a second, you’re not that. Like, wait a second. You. You’re saying you’re Navy seal, You’re not a Navy seal, or you were a Green Beret, you’re saying you’re Delta. You weren’t Delta. So, I mean, I guess the answer is the person could say, well, I.

I identify as Delta, right? And then they would say, oh, okay, we’ll let you do that. Well, dude, you’ve been with me when we’ve been out, like in LA or like even here in El Paso and Juarez and we gone out and you’ve seen people come up to me and be like, oh, I’m a fighter. You know, and, like, you know, and just with me. And we look at each other and immediately I look at you and go, he’s full of. But it doesn’t bother me. I don’t call him out like, oh, that’s good, buddy, and I pat him on the back or whatever, or if.

Whatever, right. And we move on. But you guys take that serious with, with stolen. Like. Like, to me, if someone claims they’re a fighter and I know they’re full of, I’m not gonna, like, knock them out and show them that they’re not a fighter. Although it has happened. But I’m just gonna say, like, I don’t. It doesn’t bother me. I just look at him, I go, okay, cool. He’s a. He’s a fan. He’s basically such a fan that he wants to pretend to be a fighter. But for you guys, stolen valor. Stolen valor is a serious, serious problem.

You guys take. That’s very serious. Don Shipley has dedicated his life to this, to tracking these guys down and humiliating them publicly. It’s different because it’s an industry where literally people die and people lose friends and people get exploded into, you know, they disintegrate from IEDs. And so people take it extremely personally, and that’s the reason why. So, I mean, look, I was in Ranger Regiment. I could tell you a story where we went down on Memorial Day, and It was like 2005, I think. We went down to Jacksonville and I, I Literally had a guy who was a regular army guy accusing me that I was not in Ranger regiment.

And over and over again. And. And it was like I just kind of blew it off. And, you know, I mean, I knew I was. Yeah, I knew I was in Ranger regiment. He was asking, why are you. Why are you saying you’re in regulation? And I’m like, ah, you know, just. Because. It’s just, you know, whatever. It’s a cool thing to say, whatever. And. And I didn’t even bring it up. It was a civilian friend of mine that said, oh, you’re in the military? He goes, oh, my friends over there are Rangers. So the guy came over and he was somewhat intoxicated, and he started.

But this guy was not a Ranger. No, he was regular army, just got back from Iraq. And so he started interrogating me about, oh, you’re a Ranger, what battalion? Where do you serve? And all this kind of stuff. And I said, well, I’m in 1st Ranger Battalion. He said, oh, yeah? What city is that from? I said, you know, we’re up in Savannah. And he said. He goes, I don’t think so, bro. He goes, you’re in Fort Benning? And he’s like, you’re not a real Ranger, are you? And I was like, I guess I’m not. And he’s like, you’re not? And I said, well, no, you just said I’m not.

So, you know, I mean, you. It’s just like you. You’re gonna, you know, you’re gonna argue with that. So I just, you know, blow stuff off like that. But look, the tolerance level for. I think it’s an awkward thing where, like I said, you have an individual who has definitely is deployed and done things and is credentialed and has a long tab or. Or a Ranger tab, or served in Delta or 82nd or wherever, and they have a career and they may have even served longer than you, but then you find out that they’re lying. That’s a weird space for everybody because.

And it’s harder to call out because you’re like, you know, are you going to be the veteran that. Just like you said, it’s like, he’s not going to let it bother him. Or is it repetitive where the person’s just lying over and over and over and over again and you’re just like, dude, stop, bro. Like, enough. I would imagine I would pro. If me personally, I would let it go. Unless they were talking about me personally and bringing me into their stories and saying I knocked them out on the street or something, then I’d have a problem with it.

But then you got guys like Don Shipley who like go track these guys down. Yeah, he made humiliate them in front of their families and stuff. And I’ve watched a lot of. I like to watch Don. Don Shipley. I watch a lot of his videos, but there’s some of them that are just so cringe. I’m like, dude, just let this poor guy live his life, man. Like, who’s it really bothering? I mean, they got. You’re in front of his family, you went into his house and you’re calling him a liar. That to me, in front of his children, bro, he’s never going to have a relationship with his children again.

I just. There’s some circumstances where I’m like, man, sometimes you just got to take your foot off the pedal, bro, on some of these people. I. But I’m not a Ranger. I’m not in the ar. I can’t. I have no room to talk on that. But I’m just. I just. I feel. Feel bad for some of these people that he confronts, you know, because, you know, that. I mean, there’s just. There should be a better way to go about it. But I mean, whatever. I mean, I’m not a Ranger. I’m not a seal. So I. Like I said, I have no room to talk.

You know, it is what it is. I don’t. I try not to get into it either. I mean, I’ve seen guys come to blows over. There’s another thing where, you know, there’s Army Ranger school, there’s your Army Ranger tab, and then there’s the 75th Ranger Regiment. Over the years, there’s been tons of different confusion. And you get guys from regiment and they get. They get hot and bothered over anybody who calls themselves a Ranger that isn’t assigned to 75th Ranger Regiment. And you know, people who are in regular, you know, army unit or somewhere else, they fully believe, once they are, you know, receive the Ranger tab, that they are referred to as an Army Ranger.

But it’s probably more appropriate to say that your Army Ranger qualified or Ranger qualified, because that’s what the TABIT does is it gives you a Ranger qualification. And it’s a school, It’s a leadership school. The unit is the 75th Ranger Regiment. And I’ve seen guys, I mean, come to blows over it. It’s like, you know, so it just depends on the individual. And, and like you said, like your tolerance level, what you’re. What you want to deal with. And I think the older that you get and the more mature you become, you’re just like, dude, I don’t even want to waste my time on that.

Well, you’ve kind of brought up to me some of the guys that embellish in this, and I. I can tell it kind of bothers you. I’m not going to name any names, but, like, you’ve told me, like, I can tell. I know I’ve known you for. For many, many years, and I can tell when something’s irritating you and you brought up some names in me that you’re just like, man, it’s just. It’s just ridiculous, you know, And I’ll. I’ll. They’ll remain unnamed. But you do probably. You do have a problem with it, the guys that kind of embellishing it, because I know you to be a very humble guy.

I know you to be not a guy that wants notoriety. Like I said, it was pulling teeth getting you on this program. But do you look at it kind of in the same. The guys that embellish it, do you kind of look at it in the same realm as. As the stolen valor, like, kind of disrespectful to everybody else or not really. It’s. I think it’s. Look, I think it’s embarrassing, number one, but number two, it’s. It’s a different realm because they have served in some capacity. And so it’s not the same as a civilian who’s straight up dressing in a uniform saying, like, hey, I’m impersonated.

No, it’s different. Yeah, that’s totally different. Yeah, I think it’s. I just don’t understand it. You know, it’d be like. For you, it’d be like, I guess like a boxer who says that they were pro or a cocky boxer that was pro and he’s cocky and he mouse off all the time. You just kind of have to be like, well, he is. He is a pro. He, you know, and just deal with it. Yeah. For you, it would be somebody who’s pro, who’s had a lot of fights and actually who was probably talented, but then was blatantly like, you know, or embellishing, saying that he fought certain people, that he never fought, or that he went however many rounds when he didn’t go that many rounds, like.

Right. You would be like, that doesn’t even make sense. Like, he did fight that guy, but he didn’t. He didn’t. He didn’t go that many rounds or he didn’t knock that guy out. I don’t. What’s he talking. You would, you would. It would be more like, puzzling. So I, you know, at the end of the day, man, I, I, in the realm of things, I served, I served. You know, my initial enlistment, it was, it was a small, you know, link in the chain of a, of a, of a legacy that’s been around much longer than I have.

And, and I was part of something amazing and, and then I got out. So there’s guys that have been doing it way longer than me, and so I try not to let those things bother me at the same time, like when I hear somebody and I, I know that’s not true. It’s like you roll your eyes and just go like, you know, that’s whatever. That seems hard to believe, but I, I have too much going on from the day to day basis to worry about that kind of stuff. Right. Yeah. So how do you feel now that you’re awake on most of everything? You know, look, we’re pretty much on the same page with most everything that’s happening within the country right now.

How do you feel now, looking back hindsight 20 20, I know that you don’t have any regrets being a Ranger or whatever, but what do you feel like? How do you feel about it now? Like, with Trump coming in, do you feel a lot different? I mean, would you have, I know you have kids. Would you have told them to serve under the Biden administration? Or would you, or, okay, so you wouldn’t have told them to serve under the Biden administration, but now with Trump coming in, you’re okay with it? Look, I think serving, you know, there’s less than, you know, total in history.

If you look at it, there’s always less than like 1% of people who, of the population who actually serves. And I think I’m always on the fence of, you know, having like a conscription model, like where people are, they serve out of, you know, mandatory serving a year, whatever. Like other countries, once they get out of high school, like, I’m, I’m not really for that. We’ve had the volunteer thing. I think a volunteer force, it, it kind of like separates. It’s like it’s its own attrition because it basically says, like, these are the people who don’t want to serve, these are the people who do.

So you’re already getting like a higher level of person or a commitment in terms of like, my kids, I would definitely, I want the most support for my kids if they’re going to serve. In the military. So, and that comes in every aspect. That means strategically, that means the leadership levels. It means equipment budgeting. That’s, that’s, you know, it starts to become tyrannical and, and I don’t like those models, but I do think a military is necessary. I do think that that’s why I say I don’t regret, like, the model of America as a country or a vision for what a country could be doesn’t get to where it is and can’t maintain unless it has a strong military and a leader.

You have faith in a leader that trust. It’s. Yeah, it’s not okay. So it’s not just. To me, it’s not just maybe somebody who just. I have faith in. It has to be a, you know, someone broadly that we. Everyone recognizes has strength, will do the right thing. Because leadership is, is not just like a position. Leadership is, is an action, like. And you have to show people that you can lead and that you have what it takes to lead. And often, like in the military, it’s leadership by example. So it’s servant leadership. And so the best leaders are servants first.

And so if you don’t have a leader that’s a servant or willing to serve, then, you know, you’re in trouble. And so, yeah, you’re right. I, I would definitely steer away from. If it wasn’t like a Trump administration. I feel like he, he would, he’s going to strengthen the military. I think that they’re going to make the right changes if, if Pete Hegseth gets in and, and so it’ll probably come around again. What do you feel? How do you feel? I mean, you’ve done a lot of special operations. I know. I mean, you used to call me from.

Can I say where you call me now? We can tell, we can tell that story, though, but go for it. Yeah, so he used to call me from Iraq, but wherever he was at, you know, wherever he was at in the Middle east, and he’d call me on the phone and, and we’d have long conversations, man. You know, when he was out there and he was. I could always tell when you were really, really tired, man. You’d be slurring your words, you’d be spaced out. But you still call, man. You’d still call me like, what’s up, man? And we, we talked for a while, but I don’t know if you want to tell the story, but, but you.

Oh, I’m going to tell the story I wanted because it’s real funny. So, so let me Just tell. Let me just tell it. So. So if you. Every call that. If you’d get it back in the day, you know, you had the MWR Morale, wealth or recreation, and so there’d be a huge line and you had calling cards, and you’d have to get in line, and you’d wait 20, 30 minutes, maybe, sometimes more. It depends on the line. And so by the time you get up there, then you’d have this. This form. Letter of what they would have you disclose to the.

The. You know, the person you’re calling. And you’d have to start out. I don’t remember exactly when. It would just be like, hey, I gotta tell you this real quick. I can’t tell you about the operations I’ve been on. I can’t tell you where I’m deployed. I can’t tell you what time it is. I can’t tell you. And there was a list of all these different things. You can’t tell. You can’t tell. You can’t tell. David is a. Let’s just say an ambitious person and very cognizant of his time. And so I was on the phone, I was trying to explain this thing to him, like, hey, Dave.

Multiple times, right? Multiple times. What’s going on, bro? What’s going. I’m like. I’m like, hey, hey, real quick, I gotta read this to you. And you’re like, no, no, no. I say, bro, just let me read this to you really quickly. And I said, listen, I can’t tell you where I’m at. I can’t tell you the operations I’ve been on. I can’t tell you what time. I can’t tell you this. I can’t tell you that. And you’re like, okay, okay, all right, I know, I know. You’ve already told me. I. I got it, I got it.

And I said, I finally got to the end of it. And I’m like, okay. I said, dave, okay, good. I read that. And. And we’re good to go. I think now we can have a conversation. And you’re like, okay, okay. All right, good. Okay. So where are you right now? I’m like, did you really just ask me after the long disclosure of all the things that I can’t say, the top one was like, where I’m at? And you just asked me where I’m at right now. And then you were like, oh, oh, yeah, right. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, yeah. And meanwhile. And I would say, hey, can you hear that? Can you hear that? And you’re like, you’re like, yeah, yeah, what is that? And I said, dude, that’s. That’s mortars. Mortars coming in, man. You’re like, no way. Yeah. So it’s pretty surreal back then. I totally remember that, man. Damn. Yeah, man. That sounded like fireworks in the background. It was crazy. That was crazy back in the day. Yeah. I mean, you were listening, and then after you’re listening to Iraq, like, you know, mortar fire coming in just like non stop over the phone.

It was like first line. You know what I mean? Yeah. It’s kind of. This is surreal. Like, the whole thing was surreal. Yeah. But then when you got out of the military, you went. You started doing special, like, reconnaissance. What were you doing? You were doing missions or you’re doing security or something like that. Yeah, yeah. You never did Blackwater, right? You never did any of that stuff, or did you? I had applied with Blackwater and Triple Canopy, which were both Dodges, defense contractors in the Middle East. When I exited the military and so on both of those, my bio was being reviewed and both of them got accepted, but they both had contracts at different times, and so they would place you on a shelf, and then when you.

When they were ready and they had basically slots for basically to push people forward on a class, they would call you. So what you’re referring to is just my work with Triple Canopy, basically as a Department of Defense private security contractor, that was post my time in the military. So that began in like 2008. So with what, you know, right now and all the time that you’ve served and all the expertise that you have, all the experience that you have, what’s your thoughts on, you know, what we’re dealing with, with Russia, Ukraine, Israel, the Middle East? The draft, I mean, if.

If they implemented the draft under Trump, would you be good with that? I mean, what’s your thoughts on all this? Do you want this all to just stop? I mean, do you think Trump. Yeah, of course I wanted. I mean, I think that the one thing that I’m really hoping for is that we can get back to a position of peace, like with Trump. So it was strength through peace. And so I think that would be good. Again, I’m not, like, I’m not. I’m not a supporter of the, you know, Russia, Ukraine war. I’m not a supporter of our billions of dollars being sent overseas to a bunch of different countries.

I think that it’s possible for. For a president to get in there and to basically do what Trump did. I hope he does it again. The world’s chaotic. I’ve been to approximately 60 countries, close, approaching somewhere around there, and, and I’ve seen how the rest of the world works and lives, and a lot of it is pretty primitive. There’s some beautiful countries in the world, beautiful areas, but there’s a lot of bad in the world and, and it could be a scary place. And I think that’s where Americans, we just, you know, mostly Americans that don’t get out much or aren’t able to travel, they don’t understand how bad it can be yet.

And so, you know, the chaos and, and, you know, if you go on, you’re talking about Israel and the Middle East. I mean, we’re talking about, you know, Abrahamic religions that go centuries, you know, thousands of years back and have been fighting forever. And, and so how do you resolve that? It’s a. And it’s, I think it’s chaotic. So it’s going to be interesting. It’s going to be interesting to watch how the Abraham Accords come back into play, you know, under Trump, and, and to see, you know, which countries aligned first and how they all began to align.

Because I think if, if they’re gonna, if they’re gonna bring that back, I think that’s a requirement. That’s where they were headed before Trump, you know, left office previously. So you were born, you know, you and I were raised in the same town, man. You guys, you know, my audience seems to know Joel was raised in El Paso. Up going on both sides of the border. See that? Juarez, El Paso. We both grew up getting in fights on both sides of the border, you know, had friends get thrown in Mexican jails. I mean, we know both sides of the border pretty damn well, and we both know what goes on on the border.

So what’s your thoughts about these mass deportations? You know, I, I’ve been wanting to ask you this anyway. You know, how is Trump going to go about this? Because, you know, he’s saying he’s going to do like a clean sweep or, you know, mass deportation of millions upon millions. And, you know, and I know how clever these cartels are and how they work. I, I’m predicting a lot of bloodshed from these cartels. They don’t care about civilian casualties. I think that we could be approaching something that’s pretty damn dangerous in America. A lot of bloodshed. What’s your views on that, man? How do you see Trump handling this? Do you think this Special Ops will have, this will be pretty easy for them? Do you see a lot of civilian casualties.

Do you think this is going to pick up? Do you think it’s just going to be something he does? Pretty easy. What’s your thoughts on this, this whole mass deportation thing? I think it’s going to be a multi leveled approach. I, I think he has the right, the right guy in charge, you know, right guys in charge like Stephen Miller. I think it’s Tom Omen, Tom Holman. I could. Okay, okay. I don’t know if I’m pronouncing it correctly, but it’s not just going to be, you know, one unit, one group, one anything. It’s going to be kind of a broad sweeping like you said.

And, and on the other side of it, what you said, I mean, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of, in my opinion, there’s a lot of other, you know, foreign influence happening in regards to Chinese. The disruption of just America in general. So weakening America, you know, that goes into, that goes into basically economic warfare. So when we look at economic warfare, it’s all about posturing. So countries and. Exactly. You just nailed it. It’s like, you know, China has the Belt and Road initiative and, and they are, their number one goal is to reach, to become the number one world power.

And the only way that that happens is if they remove the U.S. the U.S. in America has been the number one world power for a bit now. And so they have to disrupt normal operations, whether it be economic or whatever. And so fighting on different fronts in different countries. And then you have the criminal element of it, which is the cartel aspect. And so now they’re going to step in and the cartel and the groups that are thinking, well, we’re going to have our money chain basically disrupted. And so they’re going to be thinking, how can they counter it? Maybe they’re already thinking also, if this is going to be disrupted, what’s our next, you know, way to generate revenue? And so you and I live through the cartel wars, though.

I mean, from like what, 2003, you, first of all, you know how, see that waters is, you know, how shady it is, how sketchy it is, the shit that used to go on there. Yeah, but remember, like, was it 2003 to all the way to 2003, 13 before. So, I mean, you’re talking probably, I would say really, I’d say in the latter part of the 90s, so maybe like 98ish when we were going there. But when did the cartel wars really pick up? That was. No, I, I think, you know, so, so I Think it was around if.

If I’m not mistaken, I’d really have to go back and. And research this. But it was really when the Zeta and security element broke off into their own separate. And then the Gulf and then the Juarez cartel, they were fighting for that access up there. And so that was really, I think, when it started to kick off. And, and, and you saw a lot of the brutal, you know, crimes taking place, the decapitations and the mess, because they were basically running psyops on each other. Attempt, you know, just going straight for fear to prevent. Because it wasn’t violence just in general, or the threat of that was preventing them.

And so they were really just taking it to another level. Like horror movie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre type stuff. I mean, we’d be walking over the bridge, dude, and I remember I would see bodies just hanging there, just hanging right up. I’ve seen that multiple times. One time I went into a pharmacy, you know, and I. And I was back in my days, I was shooting up roids and stuff like that. Go get drunk. Go take some roids at the pharmacy. I remember going to the bathroom and seeing. They told me not to use this bathroom. I didn’t listen to him anyway, because, you know, I don’t listen.

And I walked right in there anyway and I turned on the light that was hanging. And I remember it was swinging. It was in this dark, black bathroom. And there was a shower next to me. And I just remember seeing piles of clothes next to shower. And I was like, what is that? So I got the light and I shined it on there and I was like, holy. There was heads, bro, like five heads just sitting in the shower. And there was a hose connected to the shower. So what are the. And I remember I got out of there as fast as I can.

I remember the. There was a group of men playing poker in the next room over and they saw me leave really fast. They were looking at each other and, bro, I never ran so fast over that border in my life. Yeah, I’ve never. I never saw anything like that. But I know of stories and I also know of something as simple as like, the. The individual, the Americans, I think they were actually intelligence guys or no, excuse me, they were civilians. Who? The. The drug kingpin back then, Rafael Caro Contero and his group had identified. And they said, hey, these guys, they just stopped in to get something to eat.

They were just regular American support. I think they were with a church, like, missionary group. And they went in and they were getting something to Eat. And like Rafael and all of his buddies were all, you know, high. And they basically said, hey, we think those guys are, you know, CIA or dea. And so they ended up. And it was a brutal, like, execution thing where. At the restaurant. So, and, and I mean, like you said, when you, when you’re in war is. Even as kids, if you remember, it was like the urban legends where we would always hear like, you know, that people would get kidnapped and they would take your organs and.

Yeah. And you know, all the women who. Over there, thousands upon thousands disappearing like graveyards with hundreds and thousands were like thousands of bodies. Right. They would just dump them into this one graveyard. And they were. Well, and then also the ones that were just disappearing. And so it was. No, it was known back when we were much younger, but we didn’t. There wasn’t social media, the Internet wasn’t super big back then, you know, and so it was more like, like I said, it was more like urban legend. You couldn’t confirm or corroborate the way that you can today.

Yeah, I mean, I just remember just how, how they were extorting businesses and they all had to give a percentage. So what I’m trying to get at right now is like, now they’re over here, now they’re controlling places like Arizona, parts of Texas, New Mexico, stuff like that. So that’s big business for them. They’re not going to just say, okay, Trump’s president, we’re going to go peacefully. That’s not what’s going to happen. Plus all the amount of fentanyl and drugs they’re bringing here, that’s, that’s, you know, killing young lives, dude. People are dropping at the bars, at the clubs.

Things are laced. I mean, to me this is, you know, this is China at the helm of the ship, actually killing off younger generations. This is fifth generation warfare. Right. In my opinion, they’re definitely involved. They’re agitating for the reasons that I said, for economic warfare purposes, which if you look up, you know, if you really research economic warfare, then you begin to almost. I’m not going to say you, you empathize, but you begin to understand, like, the strategy behind it, which is basically almost any means to disrupt or to cause a country to falter, to basically keep them from rising to the top and becoming a number one power or something.

And so the, the steps that are taken, they tie in with like, foreign policy and stuff that probably people would say, you know, why. Why are our, our top secret agents, agencies doing this? Or why are they stuff that we typically just can’t understand in my opinion, ties into economic warfare. Where you go, okay, from a humanity standpoint, this doesn’t make sense. But if you’re just talking about almost like a board game, like who’s going to come out on top then these people who are focused and that’s their mission. When you say, what’s your mission like? Your mission is to ensure that America never loses its place at the top and at any costs.

And then you have people assigned to do that. Then you, then you go, oh, wait a second, that’s why they do that. And then, and then you go, okay, I don’t like it. I don’t agree with it. But now I, I guess I understand the mechanics of it. It’s a really intriguing kind of space to research. But yeah, China’s involved. I mean every country’s involved in that, against each other, you know. So how would you go about doing this? I know you’ve, you’ve been on a lot of operations. Like do you see them kicking doors down, dragging families out, sending them back to Mexico or wherever they’re from? How, how are we going to accomplish this? Or do you think that a lot of the organizers of these of, you know, transporting the illegal immigrants and stuff like that, or the cartels, do you think they’ve been tracked and traced already? They know who they are.

I mean, how are we going to, how are we going to do some such a huge operation of deporting millions of people? I’m still kind of thrown back by that because I just don’t understand how they’re going to accomplish this. Yeah. I mean, first, let me. Without disrupting society. Yeah. Let me just say this first. I’ve never worked for the boat patrol. I’m not an immigration guy. The operations that I went on were kill capture type, hunter type missions for U.S. army Special Operations. And those were overseas. So putting on a lens here in the States and saying what do I think is going to happen? Strictly opinion based, I think they have the right people in charge.

I personally believe that, that a lot of, a lot of it is going to be actually people leaving themselves initially. You’re going to see a high percentage of people that are just going to say, I don’t even want to deal with that. I’m going back home until to figure certain things out. Then you’re going to have the people who stay and you know, are committed to staying or just getting lost in the system that they’re going to have to find. I think what Tom Holman has mentioned is basically, you know, the U.S. you know, federal government’s going to work with local, you know, state agencies basically to identify these people.

They’re going to use ice, they’re going to use, you know, state police and, and local police. And especially they’re probably not going to want to cooperate because a lot of the police are captured by the cartels. I mean, look, I. That’s where, you know, this whole concept of crime doesn’t pay is going to come in. Because there has to be. There has to be a deterrent for people to basically not go that route. And so the things you’re talking about, I think that what. What they’re gonna. What we’re gonna see first are the cities and the states that are gonna willingly comply and work with everyone to basically get these out.

I think we’re also gonna see these cities that have. And we’re already seeing this. These cities that have these, you know, high populations of these groups. Like the trend. Yeah, yeah. However, I’m. I’m pro. I might be pronouncing it wrong, but basically those where, where these gangs and cartels have. Have gotten a foothold on the cities, you’re gonna. I think we’re gonna see, you know, like an iron fist kind of in terms of legal and lawful capabilities come down on these to get things back to normal in America. So because Americans want law and order, and so you have to identify the highest risks.

You know, if I was going to look at something, I would say, where. Where are we seeing the most activity? Where is the highest risk and how do we approach that? And then once you identify, okay, it’s these states, these states, these cities, then you’re going to say, okay, which of these cities are we going to see the path of least resistance to fix these problems first? And say, okay, well, Texas is going to work with us. This state’s going to work with us. This governor is fully supportive of us. And you’re going to go 100%, full force in those directions.

Let’s clean these areas. So you’re going to clean these pockets first. I’m not saying that these other places are just going to sit there and rot, but what I’m saying is I think we’re going to see the fastest implementation of the plan that you’re speaking of happen in the states and the cities that are most supportive of it. So you’d have almost like with Bukele or whatever, you know, in his country, where it’s like a little bit at a time and then all of A sudden at once. So do you. You know, another way I see this com, this working out is if we stop the money, you know, we stop the flow of money to Ukraine and other countries and focus completely send all that money to our border patrol, send all that money to ICE and have them really shut down the border and take control of it.

And I think that’s what’s going to happen. And I think that’s what’s going to, you know, stop the bleeding into other countries. But then, I mean, look, what’s, what’s going to happen to Zielinski in Ukraine when this happens? I mean, not that it’s any of our business or not that we should care, but we need to stop the bleeding here in our own country. And we need to send all those tax dollars that we’re sending off to Ukraine and to all the other countries in the Middle east need to go to our border. You agree with that 100.

Because first of all, America is its own country and we have our own problems. And, and you and I are our kids, you know, from, we grew up in the 80s and the 90s and 2000s. And so we’ve seen a different America. We know what it looks like. And there’s a serious problem right now with like the people that are on tranq and this fentanyl and all that kind of stuff. And you see the cities rotting, I can’t for the life of me understand how, you know, or places like Hawaii that have burned, how we can allow this to happen in our cities.

And you see some of our cities look like third world countries or, or I would categorize as a fourth world country and, and still send hundreds of billions of dollars overseas, you know, basically saying that we’re going to fix their problem, whether if it’s their border or they might have a problem with something else. And I, I think there’s just a shadiness to it. And there’s, you know, there’s probably money to be made in terms of, you know, the non profits and people basically offshoring the ability to make money through foreign businesses. And so that’s kind of like a status quo that probably nobody wants in, in certain spaces of this world, nobody wants to end.

And so yeah, it’s a good thing when we’re able to basically fix our problems at home. You know what you’re. I just lost you. Well, you’re still talking your webcam cut off. But okay, let’s, let’s, that’s okay. We can end it right there. Let’s let’s do a part two soon. Joel. This was good. I’m gonna put this up on YouTube, folks. Thanks for joining. If you liked this video, please. If you like it, if you appreciate the work that myself and Joel, the. The. The information that we gave, please like it and share it. Share this video far and wide.

Joel, can I get you back on pretty soon? Yeah, yeah, definitely. No, thanks for thinking. I mean, I appreciate it. I know it’s taking a long time, but, you know, I appreciate you. Yeah. So, folks. All right, follow Joel. Joel, where are you at? Really? People can fall on. On X. I keep wanting to say Twitter, but on X, at JC Syndicated. And then. And then if. If people want to support the podcast, we have four episodes up and some really great stories and guests. I’m trying to kick that off and kind of meet in the middle ground of like a Joe Rogan slash Sean Ryan.

But I just want to keep it story driven. And where’s your podcast? Spotify. It’s on Spotify, correct? Yeah. And what is it? JC Syndicated Syndicate. Correct. Correct. And then on substack, I just. I do basically, like I said, geopolitical analysis. I’m. I’m dropping reports on there under Stratus Analytics. Okay, Joel, I appreciate you, man. Thanks for coming on. Maybe next time we can get your America’s Got Talent story. Yeah, and I’ll have some more of your stories, too. All right, folks, see you next time. Later. Yeah, thanks, David.
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