210 - EDDIE & ANDREA GALLAGHER | From Fighting ISIS To Fighting For My Freedom

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0:42 This is Undaunted Life of Man's Podcast.

0:51 I'm your host Kyle Thompson.

0:52 Let's get into it.

0:53 All right, guys.

0:54 Today, we've got another special guest for you on the podcast.

0:55 This is actually two guests.

0:56 So you're getting Eddie and Andrea Gallagher.

0:59 So if the name Eddie Gallagher sounds familiar, it's probably because you heard his name in

1:02 the news over the last couple of years, but Eddie is a retired Navy SEAL, but his retirement

1:06 wasn't quite the one that he had in his mind and not by any stretch of the imagination

1:11 when him and his wife and his family thought they were going to go through because towards

1:13 the end of his tenure as a Navy SEAL, this guy was maligned and drug through the mud and

1:18 also accused of murder.

1:20 He actually went on trial for his life based on baseless accusations, really, from members

1:27 of his own platoon, right?

1:28 So President Trump got involved.

1:30 A lot of people got involved, but guys, this should have hit a lot of your timelines and

1:33 I know a lot of you follow him and some of the people that were kind of supporting him

1:37 during this time on Instagram or on Facebook or something like that, but it was an absolutely

1:41 crazy period of time to see how he and his wife, Andrea, who we talked to today to see

1:46 how they responded during these times to see how their family responded, but also to see

1:50 what the military tried to do, the US military that he served for almost 20 years to see

1:54 what the United States government tried to do to bury this Navy SEAL.

1:58 So he wrote a book about it.

1:59 He and his wife did and there were some other contributors.

2:01 It's called the man in the arena from fighting ISIS to fighting for my freedom and that comes

2:06 out today.

2:07 The list as of the listening of this podcast, if you're listening to it on time, it comes

2:11 out today.

2:12 You should definitely go out and get it because we can't get into a lot of the detail that

2:15 that this book gives you because this book details not only the things that went on during

2:19 the trial, prior to during and after, but also his time and deployment also talks about

2:23 his and his relationship with Andrea and kind of all the stuff that goes in there.

2:27 We spend a lot of time talking about the book and we spend a lot of time talking about what

2:30 comes through it.

2:31 Guys, it's incredible because even after all of this, this guy has a tremendous amount

2:35 of faith in God and Jesus and also in the United States military.

2:39 And even as you're reading through this book or listening to the story that he went through,

2:42 it's kind of hard sometimes to think that someone could have that amount of faith in

2:45 those things, right?

2:46 But it was a wonderful interview. I think it's great that we got a chance to talk to both

2:49 of them because we got to see both sides of the same coin because they were obviously

2:53 one was experiencing it from inside a prison cell. And the other one was experiencing it

2:56 on the outside trying to fight for her husband and all those different things, but it was

3:00 a great, great interview. I really enjoyed my time with them, but I won't keep them from

3:03 you any longer. So without further ado, let's get into it.

3:08 Eddie and Andrea Gallagher, welcome to Undaunted Life of Man's podcast.

3:11 Hi.

3:12 Thanks for having us.

3:13 Thanks for having us on.

3:14 I'm very happy to have you both on. And if it's okay with you guys, we're going to skip

3:17 past most of the questions that you're going to get asked a lot. So Eddie, I don't really

3:22 care if Buds was cold, wet and sandy. I assume that it was Andrea. I know it was hard when

3:26 he was off on deployment and you're having to deal with the kids. So if it's okay with

3:30 you guys, can we skip to some of the better questions?

3:32 Yes, please.

3:33 Okay. Sounds good. So today we're going to spend most of our time talking about the book

3:37 that you guys are releasing. And if you're listening to this on time, guys, this book

3:41 is now out there ready for you to go and get it. It's called the man in the arena from

3:45 fighting ISIS to fighting for my freedom. And so the thing about this book is there's

3:50 so much detail in this book. And so I can't possibly get the amount of detail into the

3:54 time that I have with you today on this interview. So you guys are just going to have to go

3:57 out there and get the book yourself. It is well worth the read. It's refreshing in a

4:01 lot of the ways because it gets into y'all's relationship and how you met. It also gets

4:04 into what your different deployments were like, but you have a lot of contributors

4:08 that wrote individual chapters, you know, from people that you were deployed with, to friends

4:12 of yours, to family members, to even your kids. So I thought that was a refreshing way

4:16 to do it. But again, it's impossible to do it justice here. You got to go buy the book.

4:20 But I kind of have a two part first question for you just to kind of get in briefly. Why

4:24 write a book about seemingly the most trying time in both of your lives? I mean, most people

4:30 would want to maybe like, you know, file that away and never talk about it again, never

4:34 even see anything about that ever again. So why write a book about that time period in

4:39 your lives? And then also why name it the man in the arena?

4:43 So the reason I mean, we wrote the book, you know, after the trial or even after I retired,

4:50 you know, we could have made two decisions. One is to just slink away and go away into

4:54 civilian life and try and, you know, start over or do something and sort of sweep everything

4:59 that happened to us under the rug. And that's not who we are. So we we stood up and we're

5:05 like, we want to put the truth out about what happened over the past, you know, those two

5:09 years, because there was a lot of injustice, a lot of corruption. But then, you know, what

5:15 my wife, what Andrea and my brother did is beyond like amazing to me. I mean, they took

5:22 on the media and the United States government in one, you know, who can met their own game.

5:29 So I mean, I wanted to highlight exactly what those two did plus highlight everybody else

5:35 that got behind us during that time. I mean, people who stood up and went against the grain

5:41 because the narrative at that time was I was a psychopath and that I was a warmonger and

5:45 then I'm a bad person. But there was people who solved through all that BS and stood by

5:50 our side. And I really wanted to highlight all of that because, I mean, during a trying

5:55 time like that, I mean, those little things that people do to, you know, support us were

5:59 huge. And that really helped us get through. And I also wanted to highlight the faith aspect

6:05 as well because I mean, that's the, that is the one, the main reason that we were able

6:11 to get through all of that stressful and chaotic time was, you know, God was with us and, you

6:17 know, was watching over us the whole time and we, we leaned on him on everything. So

6:21 yeah, we're certainly going to get a lot into the faith element of the book, but also just

6:26 all the details surrounding the trial, which you talked about there just briefly. But this

6:29 is a question really for both of you. One thing that was interesting, I'll say that kind of

6:33 caught me off guard and caught me by surprise. And we talked about this a little bit off air,

6:37 but it was just how raw and forthright both of you wrote while you were doing this because

6:42 it didn't seem like there was any concern for someone might get offended if I say blank

6:47 or I may not come off the right way. If I say it in this way, it just sounded like you

6:51 were talking. And so I guess just even briefly before we really get into the contents of

6:56 the book, why be so raw and forthright? Not why try to not, you know, kind of whitewash

7:00 it or button things up a little more.

7:02 Well, if anyone knows us, they know that, you know, what you see is what you get. So we

7:07 were definitely scrutinized and judged in the public eye by a lot of people have no idea

7:12 who we are, what he's done. And I'll go back to your first question. The man in the arena

7:16 has been definitely something that has always been a very meaningful thing in the context

7:26 of him going to war and him fighting and him being in the arena for the last 20 years.

7:31 But we definitely felt like it exemplified that we were judged. We were basically, you

7:38 know, he was hung out to dry. He was crucified by his own command and, you know, just like

7:43 cast aside and discarded after 20 years of service. And so I felt like there's a lot

7:47 of undertones that really exemplified that speech about, you know, it's not the critic

7:52 who counts. And we have a ton of critics, but we also have a ton of amazing supporters.

7:58 So it was really important for us to highlight all of those things. And I think that that's

8:03 yeah, and then as far as like the way the book was written, you know, it's Andy Simmons,

8:10 who is the ghostwriter. We definitely had some bumps in the road along with writing

8:17 the book because I think we, Andrew and I, wanted to be transparent and raw. Like this

8:22 is who we are. And the one thing, like after being smeared in the media, the blessing that

8:28 comes out of that is like, you know, I don't give a [inaudible] what people think anymore. I'm

8:33 like, this is, and I wanted to be like, I'm not a perfect human being. I'm, you know,

8:37 making mistakes, just like everybody else. But here is everything, which is why we also

8:42 put all the QR codes in the book, you know, so people look at all the insights and reviews

8:46 of all the trial transcripts. So that was like, we're not making this up. This stuff

8:50 actually happened. And then you can make your judgment at the end of the book.

8:53 Right. And that was encouraging for me because whenever I would go to the QR codes, because

8:57 you don't really see that in a lot of books, you'll see people make these claims or talk

9:00 about something that happened all the while knowing that 99.9% of the people are never

9:04 going to go look that up. It's like people in church, if the pastor could say anything,

9:08 he could misquote scripture and people aren't paying attention. They're going to be caught

9:11 asleep. And so you make sure that that wasn't really the case. And I keep saying we're going

9:14 to get to the book. But one question before we even get to the book, because I have to

9:17 remember every time I talked to somebody that served us in the US military, I'm always curious

9:20 as to why because I grew up in Lawton, Fort Sill, it was something that I was around my

9:24 entire life, but I kind of went the athletic leadership route. I didn't go the military

9:28 route. It's something that I still kind of, you know, regret even to this day, even though

9:31 my life has kind of worked out in the way that it did. But for you individually, why

9:35 did you choose to one just go into the United States military? But then specifically, what

9:40 appeal to you about the Navy seals?

9:42 So I grew up with military brat. My dad was in the Army. He retired at Lieutenant Carmel.

9:47 So I moved around every two years on living on army bases until high school. And then

9:53 my dad got out and spent about four years, you know, living the civilian life as a military

9:59 child. And I think it's just one of those things I was, I was drawn to it. I have a

10:04 pretty strong military history in my family. Most of them are in the Navy. And, you know,

10:11 I think I just wanted, I wanted to serve my country at the same time. I wasn't the life

10:16 I was leading like the year after high school, I wasn't going nowhere fast. So I knew I had

10:20 to go do something. And, you know, I grew up watching, you know, the, the, was it the

10:27 movies for guys who like movies like the 80s movie, you know, dieting, movie seals and

10:31 predator and that, that type of, you know, life just appealed to me. I didn't know what

10:37 exactly I was getting into, you know, all I saw was the movies. And I was like, Oh, this

10:41 looks awesome. But that's definitely something that I wanted to do was be a commando of some

10:46 sort.

10:47 Yeah. And so obviously start out in the Marine Corps and then eventually made your way over

10:50 to the Navy seals. But I do want to go ahead and dive into the book. And we will kind of

10:53 like take the listeners along on the journey with you as much as we can and try to give

10:57 as much detail and we'll get into some of the charges and everything like that. But your

11:00 life really changed on September the 11th, happily 2018. So Eddie, you were yanked out

11:07 of a traumatic brain injury clinic. And in the middle of being treated, you are arrested,

11:11 you were taken to the brig. And you weren't even given so much as the courtesy of an explanation

11:15 as to why you're being arrested for what, when you would potentially be getting out,

11:19 if anything, you didn't even know what you were being charged with, right? And you thought

11:23 that, Hey, this is a big mistake, perhaps they're the wrong guy, you know, any number

11:26 of things. But give us a little bit of context, the both of you as to kind of what that time

11:31 period was like. Because obviously you were literally jerked out of a doctor's appointment

11:34 and then put into jail. So what was that like for you guys?

11:37 Um, be over here. Start up on me. Yeah. You know, that that time it was, we were, it was

11:46 already pretty stressful because, you know, right before they had yanked me out of that

11:50 TBI clinic, about, I'd say a month before that they raided our house for our kids out

11:55 at gunpoint. Um, so the, the escalation of everything had already happened. And we were

12:00 sort of in this weird time where I moved my family out to Florida, and then came back

12:06 to California to pretty much geo bash until my retirement. Um, but you know, at that time,

12:12 we still had faith that somebody was adult was going to step in the room and see what

12:17 was happening. But like, why are you guys, you know, persecuting this family or, you

12:22 know, this individual without any evidence? Um, and little did we know, you know, that

12:27 it was just escalate even more. They came and, uh, you know, NCIS actually wanted to

12:31 come and do a raid on the TBI clinic, like they had done in my house. Uh, but my command,

12:37 I guess, told them that they would go, you know, arrest me, um, because of how they handled

12:41 my kids prior. Uh, but yeah, they, you know, when they came and got me, there was no explanation.

12:49 Like you said, uh, and I was sort of, I was, I was definitely frustrated. Um, again, there

12:55 was a lot of, there was a lot of moments during all this where I had, I had, I could have made

12:59 two choices, which is I sat there and fought back right away when they were trying to handcuff

13:04 me. Um, and through a fit. But, you know, I don't know, you know, it's again, God was

13:10 washing over me and pretty much told me to like remain calm. Like, let, let this play

13:15 out. Um, and, you know, that's what we did. But of course, it just kept getting worse

13:20 and worse. Um, but there's nothing, you know, once, once you're in the break or one, there's

13:25 nothing you can do. Like they have the, the deck is stacked against you. Um, and you know,

13:30 the deck is stacked against you and, you know, the only reason that the word got out was because

13:36 of Andrea. Yeah. And what people will understand when they get the book is, um, the context of

13:41 where this started from and where it ended up, even at that point about him getting taken

13:46 out of the TV, um, clinic on September 11th. I mean, where this started out, like the

13:51 penny complaints, the juvenile grievances, like all of those things, um, it, not in a

13:58 million years, would you think that things like that at the end of a deployment where

14:03 everyone's at their wits and they're ready to come home? I mean, it happens every deployment.

14:08 So this was, this was nothing new. The thing that was new was he was in a leadership position.

14:13 It was a very high op tempo. They were tasked with clearing Mosul. They did it in half the time

14:18 because of his work ethic. Um, and the backstory that he kind of goes into really highlights that

14:24 his time and service with the Marine. So he's a Navy corpsman, which then the Marines don't

14:30 have their own corpsman. So they outside from the Navy, his upbringing in the Marines really

14:35 blended to, he was put under a Marsok command. Is that correct? Yeah, we fell under Marsok.

14:40 So, you know, he fit in perfectly because like that was where he came from. This mission and

14:47 he'll, he goes into it in the book. It was not a stereotypical steel mission, which I think

14:51 was the start of the disgruntled nature of life. Why are we doing this? And so there was a lot

14:57 of context that no one ever had the ability to trace all through, even though I was fighting after

15:03 I decided to come out with everything that was really happening. We were well a year into this.

15:10 So the book is really cool because it kind of gives the arc of where it started, how the heck

15:18 did we get here, and then everything thereafter. So it's pretty incredible looking back. But yeah,

15:25 it was, it was pretty difficult to hash back through it and see it all kind of and go through

15:31 those things. It was difficult for both of us at times to address certain things that had happened

15:36 that had happened to our children, our family, he mentioned the home raid. And so yeah, there was

15:41 a lot in there that people will be, I think, shocked to read. Well, in preparation for this interview,

15:47 I couldn't think of a nice way to bring up the home raid that NCIS did pulling your kids out in

15:51 their underwear, like going through their devices, literally like cowards waiting, knowing that Eddie

15:57 you were gone and waiting until you left Andrea, right? Even if you can't prove that they waited,

16:01 it would seem the types of slimy guys that were a part of this, that that's exactly what they did

16:05 to be untrained and to point these weapons at the faces of your children. Like, again, I as a new

16:12 father myself, I was losing my mind for you. So I didn't want to kind of bring that up. I didn't

16:15 need you punching the camera because we need the camera to work either made or this interview.

16:19 But I do want to kind of get into a section for you, Andrea, because you kind of made it clear at

16:25 some point that this was not going to be working out for the long term, because nobody was going

16:29 to be writing in and saving you, right? That it became very apparent because you were confined to

16:34 the brig, Eddie, during the time leading up to your trial. But I want to read this quote from

16:38 the book here. It's from Andrea, "We couldn't depend on Eddie's command for help. I began to

16:42 realize how alone we were that we'd have to fight this battle ourselves. I vowed to myself then and

16:47 there that I would stop at nothing until justice was delivered. I would not let my husband go down

16:51 without a fight. I would not sit by idly while Eddie was wrongly incarcerated. Following our strong

16:56 Christian faith, we turned the other tree for the better part of a year while lies and accusations

17:01 were loosely thrown around. My heart breaking. I thought of Eddie sitting powerless in his prison

17:05 cell, unable to fight back. I knew I had to fight for him for our family, even if at the time I didn't

17:11 know what tactics to employ. I only knew that it was time to go on the offensive." Now, I find that

17:17 quote to be interesting for a few reasons, because Eddie you talk about in the book, how what you

17:21 were doing in Mosul is you were basically employed to be a glorified defensive force. And you even

17:27 said explicitly, the Navy SEALs are not a defensive force. You're an offensive force, right? And then

17:32 you basically describe this the way that you do, Andrea. And as I was reading the book, you reminded

17:36 me of some other gangster women we've had on this podcast, like, you know, Michelle Black and Holly

17:41 McKay and Taya Kyle and Lila Rose. But take me through that mindset when that realization was,

17:47 is like, there's nobody coming in to save us right now. It's just us.

17:51 Gosh, it's hard to describe, but like, so I have a very deep faith and I'm, you know,

18:01 a biblical Christian. I've read all the stories of people rising up and situations presenting

18:07 themselves and then someone just meeting that. And I feel like that's the only way I can really

18:13 do it justice is it was an everyday waking moment like fire inside that I felt that very assured,

18:22 and I even had moments where when he was incarcerated, I felt so strongly that this was all happening

18:29 for a reason. I never doubted God. I never doubted, although it was, it was horrific. Well, what we

18:38 were going through, I just had this underlying sense of peace and assurance that it was happening

18:44 for a bigger purpose and it was happening to help us help other people. So ironically, one of the

18:50 verses that I was listening to on a podcast the day that Eddie God taken was about the story of

18:57 Joseph. And so Joseph was basically plotted against by his brothers out of jealousy and anger and

19:05 vengeance and they threw him in a pit and then he was taken through all of these series of horrific

19:11 events. But I talk about how without those events, he would not have been elevated to the position

19:17 that he eventually had. And so there was a very poignant scripture that the 50/20 rule kind of

19:24 people refer to it as, which is what they meant for evil, God meant for good, and it was for the

19:29 changing of many lives. And so we're living that now, but I am a very, you know, tenacious person

19:36 by nature. I feel like I was probably, you know, he always describes it as like, they awoke like a

19:43 sleeping giant type of a thing. I mean, I've always been this way, but I mean, as a sealed

19:48 wife, I have to say, you kind of, you're in the shadows, right? You're at home, you're caring for

19:53 the children, you're managing everything. They're off. I mean, he was off fighting the war on terror

19:57 for the past 20 years. And so it was interesting with the dynamic and the quote that you read,

20:04 because I really felt that he had been serving our country. He had been on the front lines of

20:10 every major battle since, you know, 9/11 kicked off and even before because he enlisted before 9/11.

20:15 But I was like, they had strategically put him in a position of helplessness. And I was like,

20:22 something inside me was like, this is just not going to happen this way. Like, I know what they

20:27 want. They want me to sit down, shut up, be it, you know, be a good little girl. And I'm like,

20:32 it's not going to happen. And I came out guns blazing. And basically, we strategically took

20:38 down, like, you know, every single lie accusation. I knew that we would eventually get proven innocent

20:44 at trial. But I could not have ever imagined the onslaught of the media, the government,

20:49 the full way of his command coming against us basically just to put him out to drive because

20:54 they're really more concerned about protecting the institution than they are the war fighter.

20:58 And for me, I don't care about their institution. I care about my husband. I care about the father

21:03 of my children. He's my best friend. So yes, I hope that people can take away from it. You have to,

21:09 at some point, stand up and fight. We're seeing it on our country every day. If you just, you know,

21:15 if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything in this day and age. And I feel like,

21:19 I hope the encouragement comes through that my love for him is what drove me to do what I did.

21:27 My faith is what undergirded all of it. So I hope that's what people can take away. But yeah,

21:31 it was a daily grind. Just like, you know, the only easy day was yesterday that for him through

21:37 I mean, with this trial, with this course of events, it was that was the only easy day was

21:42 yesterday. Every day was a new set of headaches and trials and things coming against us. And we'd

21:48 have a, we'd have a small win and then three steps back. So the book really highlights that

21:53 it was pretty much an onslaught that our family faced. And thank God for my brother, Sean. You know,

21:59 my brother-in-law, his brother, Sean. There was just so many God-ordained people that came into our

22:04 lives. And there was some vipers that came in. We had a horrible corrupt legal team at the beginning.

22:11 We had a corrupt nonprofit that tried to take advantage of us. We highlight all that in the book.

22:15 And then we really just at the 11th hour kicked everyone out, repositioned, and we got the dream

22:21 team in and fought right up until we got to the trial to get everything kind of set up and then

22:26 eventually prove his innocence. One certainly came through in the writing of the book,

22:31 your faith in God, your love for Eddie, but also your desire to really get to bedrock on truth.

22:37 And now we're going to go ahead and get into the charges. And again, I'm going to say this a

22:39 million times in this interview. There's no way we can give, you know, the requisite amount of

22:43 detail needed. That's why you have to get the book. But there were charges that were brought

22:46 against you, Eddie, by the military based on accusations. That is essentially what it was

22:51 based on. There was no physical evidence of anything, even though they threatened that

22:54 there was physical evidence. And the accusations came from a group that you aptly titled The Mean

22:59 Girls. Okay, so one of the charges that was brought up, you know, that you were charged with,

23:04 was for murder, the murder of a prisoner of war, which does carry a life sentence with it.

23:08 So in the, in the best way that you can give us the spark note version, who were the mean girls

23:13 that made these accusations? And what did they allege that you did? So basically, I'll try to

23:19 summarize best I can. You know, I took over this platoon in 2016 and didn't know any of them,

23:27 except for maybe one or two. But, you know, took it over. I was the platoon chief, which is the,

23:33 you know, senior enlisted leader of the platoon. And from the get-go, I came in pretty, I wouldn't

23:40 say hot and heavy, but I was like, you know, I, these are my expectations. I expect us to

23:45 be the best platoon here. I think their prior leadership was completely opposite. It was more

23:51 just, hey, let's just get the job, you know, done, but, you know, whatever way we can. They're very

23:56 lenient, which is why they didn't have very good remarks coming out of that, that prior platoon.

24:01 So when I came in and sort of established, and I wouldn't even say it's stringent training, just,

24:07 this is, you know, training, which is what we're supposed to do. A couple of the guys right away,

24:12 you know, didn't, didn't like me. Didn't like the fact that I came in that way. It was very hidden.

24:17 All this came out later on, but these two individuals, you know, it's Dalton Talbert and

24:23 Dylan DeLay who were in the book, right off the bat didn't like me. And then throughout the course

24:28 of a workup, which is our training before we deploy, and then also deployment, they slowly

24:35 started to spread their little toxic narrative that, you know, I was, you know, a bad leader and

24:41 this and this. And they, they managed to grab one or two guys on board. And that's, I think that's

24:46 a big misconception that was put out in the media as well, is, you know, the whole time,

24:50 they're like, oh, it's whole platoon turned on this whole platoon. And really it was three or four

24:54 guys. And they managed to get like a, maybe a strat painter on there. But in the end, those guys

25:00 ended up taking the stand. Only one person out of all of them said, Oh, I saw him stabbed the

25:05 individual with the rest of them, backtracked on everything. They were like, Oh, I wasn't there.

25:09 And which I knew was going to happen, because they were blatantly lying. But yeah, these individuals,

25:15 you know, after deployment, it was a very chaotic deployment. It was, you know, it was rough. But

25:22 I mean, to me, it was one of the better opponents I've done on a lot of work. But I think some of

25:27 these guys that got to them, and you, and it's hidden like Andrea said before, it's natural

25:32 for guys to be disgruntled, you know, six to seven months after the point that they want to go home.

25:38 And usually they do turn blame leadership or certain problems. But these guys kept it going

25:44 when we got back. They did not go decompress, you know, they refused to move on with their careers.

25:49 And they were almost like little children or, you know, like we said, mean girls, like they were

25:55 making these heady accusations to the command, which the command was like, Okay, where's the

25:59 proof or well, that's not really something that's a big deal. And like, if you guys don't have a

26:05 legitimate complaint, like, then move on. And so that's, you know, four or five months later,

26:10 they come out with, Oh, well, now he stabbed a prisoner. And, you know, all the text messages

26:16 that came out during trial and all the evidence showed them conspiring during that four or five

26:21 months. Like, Hey, we need to get our story straight. Let's get this water tight, you know,

26:25 so that nobody can poke holes in it. I mean, it was all right there. It's like complete conspiracy.

26:29 But the unfortunate fact is, you know, once they came out and said, Oh, this, you know, he stabbed

26:37 a prisoner and they lied and said that they had it on video. That I think that was like a determining

26:42 factor for the command to just then pluck me out of my senior enlisted position and throw me away

26:50 in an office because of that threat. I'm not making an excuse with the command because they

26:55 could have asked to see the video, but they didn't exactly. But yeah, that was like the start of it.

27:00 And then once the NCIS agent told what things we got involved, that's when it really took off.

27:05 Yeah, this guy came in and pretty much just fed these guys. Like, he fed them with enough

27:12 confident, you know, gave them enough confidence to keep, you know, keep this BS going. And then

27:18 this guy also came in with a prosecution of his own, you know, he wanted to bag and maybe

27:22 make a career out of himself. So I mean, that's where it really got crazy. And there was no getting

27:28 off that track. Well, and that's the thing that was kind of weird for me is it seemed like,

27:33 you know, when you're caught in a lie and you just make the lie worse, it seemed as elementary

27:38 as that like it went from, okay, Skittles went missing from a care package to, oh, he murdered a

27:42 guy that that, you know, it still bothered me the whole time that they were so worried about this

27:47 ISIS combatant that was literally trying to chop y'all's heads off seven seconds before that.

27:51 And then, you know, y'all got the jump on it. But I guess I'm a bigot if I point that out. So,

27:55 so let's digress just a little bit. There was. Yeah, yeah. I don't want to get canceled from

28:00 my own show. So there was a little drama leading up to the trial. You guys talked about it. There

28:05 was bad representation from your lawyers. They were either being lazy or they were being, you know,

28:10 intentionally vague with you and they weren't really moving at the pace that you wanted.

28:14 There was a nonprofit that was screwing around with you guys. There was also a lot of media malfeasance,

28:18 right? Because at any point, these media members that were being leaked this information, they

28:22 could have been like, Hey, can you show me the video, this alleged video that shows this thing.

28:26 So there was a lot of malfeasance going on. But then there was obviously this conservative

28:30 conservative effort from the US military and the government to try and take you out, right? To bag

28:35 a Navy SEAL. And so I guess for me, for the both of you, after almost 20 years of service as a marine

28:41 and as a Navy SEAL, the government that you were representing, like, this seems like a jack

28:45 car novel, like the government you were representing was trying to take you out. What was that like

28:49 for you to? For me, it was, I mean, definitely one of the scariest moments of the whole time is

28:55 when they finally brought me all the evidence they were going to use against me. I was sitting

29:00 in my jail cell. I mean, it was a big pick binder and on it, it said, you know, special operations

29:06 chief Gallagher versus the United States. That right there, you know, looking just looking at that

29:12 statement is definitely daunting. And I was like, okay, this is, this is going to be rough. And I

29:17 mean, and you know, the feeling of betrayal was throughout. I still, you know, I still have a hard

29:25 time like when you start thinking about it, you know, you give your blood, sweat, and tears to an

29:29 organization for 20 years, especially during a time of, you know, combat that you're literally

29:36 like, I was glad to do it. And I, you know, volunteered for every combat deployment. But the truth is,

29:42 you're risking your life for your country and, you know, willingly and wanting to volunteer to

29:48 do that over and over and then to have them all of a sudden just take all that away and like,

29:52 nope, you're a bad person. We're going to hang you off the drive. It's definitely hard to deal with.

29:56 But at the same time, you know, I tell people this, like, I don't, I don't have any negative,

30:04 like qualms towards the military. You know, there's bad actors in every group you're in. And this,

30:09 you know, started off. And like you said, made a good point, like this just seemed like when

30:14 a little kid gets caught lying and he keeps keeps lying. Well, that is the theme through all of this

30:20 because these these little guys, you know, with me and girls started the line, they got

30:25 believed by the command. Once the command found out that what they were saying wasn't true,

30:29 they refused to back down like, well, we're already, we're already hanging this guy out to

30:33 drive. We're not going to like admit that we were wrong. And then anybody that got attached to this

30:38 case, the same thing happened. It just were they were forced to lie to keep this narrative going,

30:43 which is why the Secretary of the Navy got fired, which is why the prosecution got fired for cheating

30:48 in spine. It was it was blatantly there. It's like when you're trying to make a case of lies,

30:54 you have no choice but to lie yourself if you want to win. And what happened?

30:59 Yeah. What about you, Andrew?

31:03 So for me, obviously, it was more heartbreaking to watch him having to, you know, go through all

31:09 of those emotions of betrayal and just just pure disbelief, really. But one of the things I think

31:17 that was really prominent to me, and it's a theme throughout the book, and I kind of talk about it

31:21 more because I have a bird's eye view because it was his service. But you know, we were in,

31:27 we were in the teams for many years. And so I kind of highlight the difference between the guys that

31:33 I saw initially, who he was with, and he went through buds with and he got deployed with initially,

31:41 which were all still friends. Unfortunately, we've lost quite a few of those guys that were his

31:47 brothers. But there's just a huge chasm that I felt like I was seeing in the character and quality

31:54 of people that were getting pushed through. And there's a lot of agendas, obviously, that get

31:58 shoved down through the military first, even before regular society. So, you know, a lot of

32:04 the administrations, I mean, he served under multiple administrations and some of the administrations

32:08 had certain agendas. And they, you know, they wanted to really boost the numbers of the seals,

32:12 they wanted to lower the standards. And it's just in any service, if you would lower the standard

32:16 with a police force or lower the standard with a fire department, you're going to get a quality

32:20 and level of an individual. So I think that that's one important thing that I really view this as

32:27 like a changing of the guard. And there's so many good guys that are still in, and that we know,

32:34 and there's great guys that are still serving. But this just kind of for us was really hard,

32:39 because it was not only what we were going through, but it was the end of an era for what we had

32:45 been brought up. And what we had been raised up in was a brotherhood. It was a tight knit community.

32:51 Yes, you'd have differences. I mean, they'd go after, you know, out and after deployment. I mean,

32:56 they'd probably by the end of the day, they'd go in the fight room and punch each other in the face,

33:00 you know, and then they'd walk away and be best friends again. I mean, that's the type of thing

33:04 that we were used to. So seeing this occur was a real shift of our upbringing. And I can't express,

33:14 I think I try my best in the book to quantify and categorize the real heartbreak for us

33:21 was seeing that type of level of degradation of the community. And I feel like there's a lot of

33:26 intentionality where you look now and what the, you know, some of it, it's an internal breakdown

33:33 in these people that are in the levels of power and the commands. And we kind of highlight some

33:39 of the people that were high up the admirons, the commandoros and blooms. And we're like, these

33:45 are the tip of the spear problems. And that's why you're seeing this level of degradation.

33:50 So we hope that out of it too, not to point fingers for the sake of pointing fingers,

33:56 but it will be used as an after action report to say, what can we do better? How can we make

34:02 sure that this doesn't happen again? So I think that was one of our goals to writing the book was

34:06 saying, we want the community to get back to what it was. We want the community to go back to the

34:11 bedrock of really what you want when when I'm sending my husband overseas, I want someone

34:18 that's willing to die and put their life on the line. And that's what we talk about. That was the

34:22 quality of men and the character. So to have this, it was definitely a very big shake up for us.

34:28 But you know, we've come out of it and we just want to exemplify. We can, we think we can get back

34:35 to that point, hopefully in the community. I know that's what he wants is to see that again.

34:39 Yeah, and we'll certainly, I have some questions for later on to kind of get more into that,

34:43 because I want to definitely go into that more. But it's like you're mourning what happened to

34:48 you while at the same time, mourning the end of an era. And you know, some, some people like to

34:52 romanticize the end of an era, like, Oh, back in my day, it was like this. And today, it's just like

34:56 it was back in their day. But there does seem to be a definitive dividing line that's occurring

35:01 right now. And again, I'll save that for a little bit later. But there was a turning point

35:05 pre trial. And it came from the man that everybody loves to hate, right? Even now,

35:09 Donald Trump. So Donald J Trump, the president got involved in your case. And there was a ripple

35:15 effect from that. Some positive ripples came for that, but also some negative. So he took a very

35:20 public interest. Obviously, Andrea and Sean were able to get on Fox and Friends, which is,

35:24 as we all know, Donald Trump's favorite show to watch, at least while he was, it was in office.

35:28 And he took a very public interest. In your case, he tweeted about it. There was some political

35:32 maneuvering. And it was able to get you released from the brig. But the people that were kind of

35:37 taking care of your next restrictive confinement, they wanted to kind of stick it to President Trump

35:42 by making you, well, you're not in the brig anymore. But now you're actually more sequestered

35:46 than you were before. So there was kind of that political rambling and you know, wrangling as it

35:50 were. But then the prosecution, as you mentioned earlier, they were caught digitally spying on you

35:55 guys on the defense team. It was absolutely insane. It's like, of course, you nerds would try to do

35:59 something like this and get caught like that. But this led to the judge actually releasing you

36:05 completely from pretrial confinement, right? So no special confinement, no purgatory confinement,

36:10 no, just out so that you could be with your family and prepare for your trial. You had been

36:14 confined for up to I think it was nine months up to that point. So again, we'll get into the trial

36:19 just a second. But what was that like for the two of you when you spent three quarters of a year

36:23 away from your family, away from your children and your spouse, and then all of a sudden,

36:27 you're out almost because of a technicality. Yeah, that day it was that it was unexpected,

36:33 just because up to that point. And there's some things we didn't put like I didn't put in the book,

36:38 like we had multiple motions hearings, you know, all the time leading up to the trial. And I mean,

36:44 at these motion hearings, we were calling out the prosecution from day one for leaking information,

36:51 you know, breaking the what's the protective order, protective order evidence, because the

36:57 newspapers were putting out articles. And we'd see them like we go to court, my lawyers would see

37:03 them and they'd be like a whole batch of new evidence or new claims against me. And we didn't

37:08 even have that. So my lawyers like, we don't have this evidence yet. How do the papers have them?

37:12 And every time the prosecution would just smile at us and just be like, no, it's not us. And

37:18 the judge would be like, okay, well, keep moving on. And this happened multiple times. So it was very,

37:23 you know, even when the prosecution got caught spying, I mean, it was that was so egregious,

37:29 but we had called them out so many times to that point that we were like, yeah, this is this is

37:35 the injustice that goes on here. This is the system nothing's going to happen. And in reality,

37:39 if this happened in civilian world, and it's a billion court, they would have been thrown in

37:44 prison. The case would have been thrown out. But of course, the military justice system, their,

37:49 you know, remedy was like, okay, we'll just let you out of confinement because I was like,

37:54 why would you have been in confinement in the first place? That was their remedy. And then

37:58 their other remedy, which is actually helped us is the judge gave us a certain to pick out the jury.

38:05 He gave us, I think, a couple more strikes, just, you know, strike people off the jury.

38:11 But that was pretty much their remedy, like, okay, move on, we got a new prosecutor,

38:15 we're still, you know, coming after you. So it was, it was, I mean, not to say like that day,

38:22 we were definitely, I mean, it was a huge win. I got to like, you know, be out of confinement,

38:29 we got to go out to dinner, you know, and then the big thing is I got to fly at home

38:33 to see my kids for the first time, like clean, confined. And so I mean, that was huge, but it was,

38:40 we were still in the fight at the time. So like, you know, the victory was like, okay,

38:44 let's celebrate. But we still have this mountain ahead of us, which is the trial.

38:48 Yeah. And so when we get to the trial, there was, there was so much detail about the trial in the

38:53 book that it's really hard to encapsulate all the crap that the prosecution was trying to do. But

38:58 if I could even sum it up and you can correct me if I'm wrong, the prosecution and their

39:02 witnesses were a complete crap show. Like it was almost like they were playing law, not practicing

39:08 law, like it was just an interesting thing, which again, when you don't have the facts at your side,

39:12 you have to kind of be a little bit, you have to play some shadow games, but it's like y'all

39:16 suck at playing shadow games. It's like, how are you this bad at this? But even even though they

39:20 were so bad at it, you had to have been concerned that it wasn't going to work out well for you.

39:24 And again, there were a lot of egregious errors. And you know, I just want to kind of go into

39:29 to one section of the trial, because there was an enormous turning point of the trial. As I was

39:33 following in the case, as it was happening, I was thinking to myself, why are we still here?

39:38 Yeah, after this big turning, okay, because Petty Officer First Class Corey Scott,

39:42 right, a seal that was with you on the ground that day after being granted immunity prior to

39:46 his testimony. He said this, and so I'm gonna actually read some quotes from the book. So this

39:50 is your lawyer, Tim, your new lawyer, lawyer who actually knows what he's doing. He doesn't just

39:53 carry the briefcase. He's questioning Corey. And up to this point, he had been asking why he

39:58 used the word suffocate, right? And he had been asking, well, did this guy suffocate the prisoner?

40:03 Did this guy suffocate the prisoner? But we'll go into the book here. Did you suffocate him?

40:07 Yes. And this is Eddie. This is you kind of thinking yourself, what did this dude just say he killed

40:13 the terrorist? He said it almost like he was like both a question and a statement. Did I hear him,

40:18 right? I definitely didn't see Corey do that. And I was the, and this was my first time hearing it.

40:23 I'd assumed the terrorist died from his battle wounds. The Hellfire missiles were dropped on

40:27 the building that killed the rest of his Isis contingent. I figured he joined the other 49 souls

40:31 in that building. It was difficult to maintain a solemn face as Tim asked his next question.

40:36 How? And then this is his answer. After Chief Gallagher left the scene, I was left there monitoring

40:41 him, Corey explained. I thought he would die. He was continuing to breathe normally as he had

40:46 been before. So I held my thumb over his ET tube until he stopped breathing. I remember hearing

40:53 that when it happened. And as I was reading it again, like in your book, I was like, we're done

40:59 here. We're we're done here. Why are we here? There's nothing else for us to do. So take me through

41:06 what was going on for the both of you at that moment. Because again, even I think the lawyer,

41:11 I'm trying to remember correctly, the lawyer like leaned over to you, Andrea at one point to say,

41:14 I'm so sorry, we couldn't tell you all this before today. But take us through that because that was

41:18 the hinge point of the entire trial, at least for me. Yeah. So again, there's so many layers.

41:24 It's kind of hard to just synapseize it. But basically that day when that was occurring,

41:31 like we were all just dumbfounded. We were like, what is going on here? And that's why in the book,

41:37 I write like it's, you know, people picture it like, you know, like beautiful courtroom and Tom Cruise.

41:44 And it's like, no, it's literally was like my cousin Vinny in that courtroom. And it was just like

41:49 everything was more ridiculous than the next. And we're like, we thought the same thing like,

41:54 what does this even mean? But you know, I think that people hearing that on the outside in the way

42:01 that the media obviously put it out, people thought like, Oh, this will be the end of it.

42:07 We really did not feel that way. We knew that they were going to keep the cadence,

42:12 just keep pushing forward. What it did do was they ended up not calling quite a few witnesses because

42:18 they knew that these people were not going to say what they were being told and threatened to say.

42:23 So in the book, we talk about the witnesses and kind of the way that their stories and

42:30 their lives broke down on the stand under cross elimination. So we give the people the audio

42:35 files, we give the people all of it. But it got as crazy as like, and like you said, when you're

42:40 telling a lie, so what they had to do to cover up, you know, lies was start making up just really

42:46 egregious stuff. So there was a point where one of the guys had said, Oh, I was in the other tower.

42:53 Well, how did you know that it was him that was shooting? Because there's not two false charges

42:57 about him shooting people indiscriminately. And he said, Oh, um, vapor trails. That's how I did.

43:05 I saw I saw vapor trail. It's like a bad novel. So there was so in in the end, really what happened

43:15 was their level of trying to piece together these lies and the hearsay with again zero zero physical

43:23 evidence. Nothing. It basically started to break down and deteriorate. So that at that point,

43:30 it was quite a culmination. And I think what Corey did was was very brave. And he took a huge risk

43:37 because they were going after everybody. They were sending target letters to anybody that did not

43:42 agree with their narrative. And so the dirty games that were played were really overwhelming. So I

43:48 mean, it was a huge day for us for sure. Yeah. You know, like she sort of I explained in the book

43:54 to you know, when that was said, I think everybody has this assumption that we were like, that's it.

43:59 And I that was like the last thing from our mind. I was like, well, now what's this going to bring,

44:05 you know, because I know how these people are. And you know, even at the end of the book before,

44:09 they asked the jury to make the verdict, right? They they sit there and explained them. And this

44:16 shows exactly where their heads were at. They're like, hey, we know there's not really enough

44:20 evidence to get him on murder. But you guys can get him for this aggravation. We can still put him

44:26 away. Like, these are all the other options you have. And I was like, this, this is no long, you

44:31 know, this case is not it's not about justice. It's not about doing the right thing. It's these

44:36 guys are trying to get away at all costs. And they don't care that they're throwing a human being

44:40 away. Like, they they don't look at you that way, which is it was very eye opening and very

44:45 disgusting to see how these people act. Just in the name of careerism. And these are officers,

44:51 these are all Naval officers. And I think what it also highlights, and this is the truth, is how

44:57 elitist Naval officers think they are. They think they are so above the enlisted. And that's across

45:03 the board. I mean, they are taught that in Annapolis that they, you know, they had their up here and

45:08 were down here. And it's, I think my case shined a light on it. Like, this is how, and you know,

45:13 it showed my command, like commander Rosenblum, Admiral Green, they all have this very elitist

45:17 attitude where it's like, I can do no wrong. Whatever punishment I throw down must be done,

45:22 even if there's evidence that comes out that's maybe, you know, if I wasn't in the wrong,

45:28 they refused to back down and say they made a mistake. And so, you know, once that came out,

45:34 I knew I was like, this isn't going to, this isn't a changing point. And then, you know,

45:38 we went out after the courtroom that day and the media was out there. And the first questions

45:43 they were asking were, well, how can you bring your kids to this court? You're still going to

45:48 come after you in some way, right? And shift the narrative, baby. It was so blatantly obvious.

45:53 We didn't know it was going to happen with Corey's testimony. We had no idea. So they were like,

45:57 how could you bring your kids? And we're like, it was just, yeah, really, it just shows that

46:04 there's just a lot of things that occurred and so many injustices that happened. And that's, I think,

46:10 what people will be able to see is that thread of like, what we were coming up against was

46:16 insurmountable odds that we did eventually overcome, but it was not easy. And yeah, it was definitely

46:22 exposed during trial. So having the ability for people to scan through the text threads and see

46:30 everything written out and see, listen, and hear the NCIS testimony versus their actual trial

46:38 testimony and their cross examination, I mean, you can see and hear in that context, like the case

46:45 falling apart, which is what we were seeing inside of the courtroom. So we felt confident.

46:50 But then you go on the news and the media would be, they wouldn't even put out big stuff. So it's

46:56 crazy. It was like they were putting out two different different days. We come out of court.

47:01 We're like, that was a big win. That was a big big break, bro. And the media was like,

47:04 no, but this, right? This New York, did you not just listen to what happened?

47:09 Yeah, it's all about the narrative. I talk about that all time on this podcast, whether they're

47:13 talking about anything that goes on in the news, you have to stick to the narrative at all costs,

47:17 right? And that's just kind of what you see. And by the way, and this is as a side note, if anyone

47:21 ever asks you something like, why did you bring your kids to this? Why did you expose them to that?

47:25 The best way to defuse that argument is just to ask them, hey, what are my kids' names?

47:30 Because they're sitting there pretending like they love your kids more than you do. They don't

47:33 even know your kids. So yeah, it's not something you ever ever even need to respond to. So another

47:37 thing that was interesting from the book, Eddie, is that you and your legal team and your whole

47:41 family, I guess you decided that you weren't going to take the stand yourself, that you weren't going

47:45 to give a testimony. For my purposes, I feel like this book is your defense, obviously, that this

47:50 is your testimony. And so I think it was a good thing that you didn't end up taking the stand,

47:54 even though I'm sure you probably wanted to. But then we march our way all the way to the verdict,

47:58 right? And I'm sure that right before the verdict was read, you all know what the truth is. Everybody

48:03 in the room knows what the score is, right? But then there's still that, but are they going to do

48:09 something else? Are they going to get me on something else? And so the verdict comes back.

48:12 And as y'all describe it, it was read super fast and kind of awkward because they threw out several

48:18 numbers regarding charges, but they didn't actually name the charges when they said the numbers.

48:23 And so essentially what you all heard was not guilty, not guilty, guilty, not guilty, not guilty,

48:29 not guilty. And so there was that immediate confusion as to what the hell even, you know,

48:34 the people on your defense team are trying to figure it out. And then all of a sudden,

48:38 there's the realization that the only thing you were being being charged guilty of is taking a

48:42 picture with this ISIS fighter after he had died, which again, everyone can have their own opinion

48:46 about that. But you went from, you know, this desolation to confusion to this extreme elation.

48:52 So I just want to hear from the both of you what that was like after enduring what you did,

48:56 all the ups and downs, all the highs and lows, all the craziness. What was it like to finally

49:00 know that you had been fully exonerated? It was, you know, it's, it's very emotional, very emotional

49:07 thing that happened. I mean, even thinking about it now is, it's still, it was a traumatic

49:14 event because, you know, I went in there. It was probably the scariest moment in my life,

49:18 like standing up, you know, your attention just waiting for these seven individuals to

49:25 say whether you're going to go away for life, you know, or be free. And so, you know, as they

49:31 were reading off, I mean, I just haven't like an out of body experience, probably. I was like,

49:35 my heart was pounding. I really wasn't like, you know, listening to everything. But I did hear,

49:40 you know, the guilty, not guilty, not guilty. And as soon as my lawyer grabbed me, it was like,

49:45 it's for the picture. It was, yeah, it was like a, just like a dump, you know, like this weight.

49:52 But then I turned around and saw her and, you know, everybody in the courtroom was crying,

49:56 helping each other. I mean, you had team guys rushing in that were crying. It was,

50:00 it was definitely a very, just a real moment, you know, that's, you know, we'll remember it

50:09 forever for sure. Yeah, I mean, even reading it, and Andrea, I'd really like to have your

50:13 feedback to that as well. Because, you know, Eddie, you're the one, you're next in the noose at that

50:17 point. And then all of a sudden the rope gets taken away. But Andrea, that was a culmination

50:21 of a lot, really a lot of work. And that's not why you did it so that you can get the, you know,

50:25 the biscuit or the cookie at the end. But you know, what was that like to know Eddie was coming home

50:29 and he was staying there? Oh, I mean, it, it felt like the answer to like a million prayers and,

50:36 yeah, lots of hard work. But it felt, you know, justified. Like we knew that there, and what we

50:45 said from the beginning, it's like, how can you make something at nothing? How can you take nothing

50:49 and then turn it into something? But they did. And we saw that. And so that's where, you know,

50:56 we always talk about it and we say, like, it's, you can't unsee that, right? Like we saw behind a

51:02 curtain that we never knew existed. We had never been put in a situation like that. We never would

51:08 have known what the legal justice system in the military and the UCMJ was like. And so to go through

51:14 such like, just egregious violation of his rights and they took away, you know, his constitutional

51:22 rights due process, they threw him away. It was like, I feel at the end of it, we really felt somewhat

51:28 vindicated even though we still had a ways to go even after the trial. So yeah, it was a surreal

51:35 moment. It was a huge relief and a huge victory for us. But the battle kind of kept raging even

51:42 after the trial. And we touched on that a little bit. And we talked about how this all the way up

51:47 until he got out, it was really sour grapes, you know, that there was there was just so much that

51:55 so many people had put into crafting and trying to get this narrative and trial pushed forward that

52:02 it felt like to us that we were still kind of under attack even after we proved his innocence.

52:09 So we talk about that and we just share, you know, that we've just kept moving forward.

52:15 Every day we try to, you know, honor his service, the people that we've stood side by side with,

52:21 the families that have lost loved ones. And, you know, we still love the community, but the book is

52:26 definitely kind of the culmination of just showing behind this curtain and giving people the true

52:32 story because even people that followed us, and there's people on social media, they followed us

52:36 from day one, there was not a way to really encapsulate every nuance that we were going through.

52:43 And so this is kind of also for all of those people that fought and stood by our side and believed

52:50 to say, this is what really was happening. And like that, I think for us is really another big

52:56 culmination. So that day was a huge culmination and a victory for us. But just getting this story out,

53:02 I think is a huge culmination for us as well. Yeah. Yeah, I think you alluded to it a little bit,

53:07 but you know, with the sentencing, you got the maximum, which you were kind of expecting. So that

53:10 was a reduction in ranked to E six forfeiture of pay and then four months of imprisonment,

53:14 which you had already served. But you know, the chicanery wasn't over. They tried to bump you down

53:18 to, I think, an E one, they tried to take your trident and then Donald Trump got involved again

53:23 and, you know, said, Hey, screw that he's keeping his trident, which actually helped a couple of

53:26 other guys keep their tridents. But even just briefly, I think it was kind of cool that after

53:30 all this went down after trial, President Trump, the villain that he is and Vice President Pence,

53:35 they actually called you after the trial. So what was that like to get a call from the president of

53:38 the VP? Oh, I said that was pretty crazy. You know, at the time I was going back and forth between

53:44 Florida and San Diego, because we were awaiting them to throw down judgment from the verdict,

53:50 you know, and they were taking their sweet time with it. So I was just going home spend time with

53:54 the family and then going back to work, if you want to call it work, like checking in. So I,

54:00 it was one of the times I was flying back and I got a call from my lawyer, 10, he was like, Hey,

54:05 you know, if you get a weird phone call, pick it up. You know, okay. And so yeah, when I landed in

54:11 San Diego, I got a call. I said like Egypt on it. And it was the vice president and the president,

54:16 you know, and they, it was pretty amazing to, I mean, I didn't say much. I just sat there and

54:21 listened to them, just kept saying thank you. And, you know, I appreciate everything they did. But

54:25 the amount of detail that the president knew about my case and was like going, you know,

54:31 I can't believe I did this and this like he had been avidly following it was, I mean, that,

54:36 that showed a lot to me because I think people are like, Oh, he just got involved as a political

54:43 stunt or whatever. It's like, no, he genuinely cared about what was going on. He genuinely took

54:48 time and delved into every detail before making any kind of decisions. And, you know, the misconception

54:55 that happened, you know, afterwards, like everybody's, Oh, I was pardoned. He didn't pardon me. You

55:00 know, all he did, you know, when he first got involved was he said, let this man out of prison

55:04 so we can properly defend himself. Not that I was guilty or not guilty. He just was like,

55:08 this guy do process, like, which is what everybody deserves, which is what everybody deserves.

55:13 But then because he did that, you know, I became a political football man, you know,

55:18 it was like people that hated Trump now hated me, which, you know, I was like, I'll take that on

55:23 because, you know, he's doing the right thing. And then everything after that was, it became like

55:30 a battle between the United States Navy and the President of the United States. They would make

55:34 decisions just to throw him a slight, we're pretty much give the finger to him. And then it's like,

55:39 well, that there's one thing we know about the president is like, you're not going to

55:42 outdo his ego. Like he is going to come right back after it. And it literally was embarrassing,

55:48 man. Like I was, I was actually talking to my command. Like they were, you know, like they were

55:53 children. I was like, hey, do you understand that what you're doing is going, it's not looking good

55:59 for the community. And they were just blatantly like, we don't care. This is it. Like, this is not

56:03 about the president. But I was like, well, it is because you guys keep doing this. I mean, it was

56:07 pretty obvious. Well, that's also the upper brass that we were dealing with. We're definitely Obama

56:12 holdovers. And they had a lot of animosity towards even the president, you know, getting involved. But

56:18 the president was consistently writing wrongs that the command themselves should have been doing.

56:23 When we got the tweet about President Trump saying he should be allowed to be out to defend

56:28 himself, who he a part of his assisting in his own trial, we had got at that point gotten over

56:34 50 members of Congress to sign on to a letter to get him released. So we had been getting a lot of,

56:41 you know, grassroots movement, congressional support. So people just think he came out of

56:46 the woodwork and did this. It was monitored by the 50 members of Congress who agreed that what was

56:51 happening to him was actually a grave injustice. So without the context, I can see how people getting

56:56 sound bites, news bites, clickbait, could just think, oh, he was just acting so impulsive. He was

57:02 not at all. It was very, very strategically thought out on his part. And the president did the right

57:09 thing when the Navy consistently would not. So we kind of highlight that in the book as well and

57:15 really show the true trajectory of how things happened, what went down, what it took versus all

57:21 these little bits and pieces that people have a lot of myths. There's a lot of myths messages,

57:27 I guess you'd say in the media. And again, it's, you know, so many people like he emphasized

57:32 think he was pardoned. He was not pardoned. He didn't have to be pardoned. He went to trial.

57:37 He went through the whole gamut of the trial. And there was definitely a lot of misinformation

57:42 released. So we also are sending a record straight on a lot of that. So if people do the due diligence,

57:48 they have the ability to look into everything. They have the ability to see everything in front

57:51 of them. So we hope that that'll also kind of aid with people getting a story straight. Finally,

57:58 because it did turn into a really politically divisive, you know, ping pong match between his

58:05 story and President Trump. And yeah, I mean, it was to the point where, you know, the maybe awarded the prosecutors

58:13 naval, like, naval achievement now after my trial after losing the trial and getting caught cheating

58:20 and spying, they gave them awards. Right. And this is like a cover. I mean, it was just to show how

58:25 how they were again, like, they wanted to fry me. Yeah. And because they couldn't get it done,

58:32 and they award the prosecutors for for any good job for trying.

58:36 Yeah, good job. Good effort. It's like you suck so bad at your job. Here's the metal. And so it's

58:41 like, but that makes perfect sense. And we'll certainly get more into how kind of that attitude

58:44 has permeated into the military here in just a little bit. But to kind of put a bow on this whole

58:49 trial before we move on to some other things about the about the Navy and about your faith,

58:52 there was a quote from the book that it was a short quote, but I highlighted it because I was

58:55 like, this is going to be something that that's going to come up later. But it was this, I vowed

58:59 that after all this was over, the command leadership would be held accountable for their lives.

59:03 To this day, they haven't, but the fight isn't over. So obviously, the whole time I'm reading

59:09 the book, I'm like, what recourse is there, if any, against these men for blatantly lying,

59:15 you know, from the members of your platoon to the members of NCIS or anyone else that had their

59:19 hands in his for the lies, like, is there anything that you can honestly do to fight the people that

59:25 are still in? Yeah, for the for the people that are still in for the people that straight up lied

59:29 to you, like, is there any recourse for you? You know, there's my recourse is putting on the book,

59:34 and it's like, here, here's what happened. And that's the thing like, here's all of your NCIS

59:40 interviews, here's your trial audio, here's, here's where you guys all live. And here's your faces,

59:45 like, I'm going to hold you accountable regardless. But no, the answer is the military would not,

59:50 you know, we filed IG investigation. Oh, sorry, I misunderstood. Yeah, no, I mean, well, but that

59:56 is true. That's why we wrote the book as well, because after the trial, we filed IG investigations

1:00:01 against them. And then the Navy was like, Nope, we're all good here. It looks like we did everything

1:00:06 right. We, you know, at that point, we knew that we had to do something. So we're still currently

1:00:12 in a lawsuit with the Navy. We're currently still in a lawsuit with the reporter from the New York

1:00:17 Times, David Phillips, who literally has made a career off of riding the coattails and contextualizing

1:00:23 him as a warmonger. And there's just so much bad motivation that came out after this. So we're

1:00:30 fighting that battle. We're also fighting with our former legal team right after he was acquitted.

1:00:35 They filed a lawsuit against us for a million dollars, which I don't, I don't know where that

1:00:40 figure came from. But so we filed a countersuit against those lawyers, Colby Voki, Phil Stackhouse,

1:00:47 and the corrupt nonprofit, which is United American Patriots. So there is a lot that we

1:00:53 have personally taken on to try to do to not only set the record straight, but hold people accountable,

1:00:59 but the short answer is no, no one was held accountable. All of the people involved were

1:01:04 basically promoted. Yeah, back the opposite happened. Yeah. So they were awarded, promoted,

1:01:09 and Tom, Tom McNeil, who was one of the junior officers that testified against me.

1:01:15 So if you watch his first NCI interview, he doesn't say a word. He's like, I don't know nothing.

1:01:20 I don't have any information blah, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden, at my article 32,

1:01:25 he comes out with a proper with like a laundry list of agreement. Can't say got to us because

1:01:30 it's a command where everyone's like, Hey, get on board and we'll get you a promotion. And he was,

1:01:35 I mean, this guy went on stand and said that he had taken pictures with dead bodies. He had done

1:01:40 this, you know, all these things, but he had immunity. And then they promoted him to an OIC

1:01:44 position on the East Coast, which I found out he got fired from anyways, because

1:01:49 his, you can't hide your shoe character in the eyes and like him. And if that's, there you go,

1:01:53 that's the thing. You know, I was like, the community can, you know, keep these guys and try and cover

1:01:58 it up. The guys know in the community. But yeah, I mean, you can sniff out of, you know, a little

1:02:04 rat or like, like, this guy doesn't belong. And that's what's happening. They can sit there and

1:02:08 try and parade these guys around like their heroes, like, which is crazy. But I mean, I get

1:02:12 phone calls all the time from guys, you know, like, dude, I don't know why they still do this.

1:02:16 Why are they still going on with the agenda? But, you know, it's that, and I always say,

1:02:21 it's like this, they have a never quit attitude as well, just just in the wrong way.

1:02:25 Yeah. Well, that was funny. As I was reading through, it may have been the same guy you're

1:02:29 referring to, but this guy was about to go to dev group. He wasn't there yet. And he's already

1:02:33 talking crap on the guys in dev groups, like, bro, you, you, of all the people on the planet to

1:02:38 not talk trash about, like, that group, you're going to talk trash about that group. So it was

1:02:43 just astonishing to me that something like that would happen. We make sure we make certain things

1:02:48 during the trial. So I mean, there's that point where I wanted my lawyer to read that text message

1:02:54 because he was over at development group at the time. And he was already accusing them of war crimes

1:02:59 and hadn't thought of it. I'm like, this is the type of individual who I've been telling everybody

1:03:03 about like, this dude can't be trusted. He's not a good person. But then also you have Josh

1:03:08 Friends. You know, we highlighted the fact that he's in there calling Marcus LaSrelle a coward in

1:03:13 the liar. And this guy was probably in fifth grade when Red Wings happened. You know, it's

1:03:19 he's, this is the type of like entitled attitude where they have no respect for the guys that came

1:03:23 before them. They have no respect for what guys have been doing the past 20 years. It's all about

1:03:27 them. And you know, they'll, they'll say whatever and do whatever to take better men than them down.

1:03:33 Yeah. Well, let me actually transition into that. And then I do want to make sure that we talk a

1:03:37 little bit more about the faith element. But I, one of the undertones of this entire book was the

1:03:41 changing nature of the seals, which we've already talked about. So I do want to go ahead and read

1:03:45 this quote from your book here and then get your comments on it. Now, when new Navy seals receive

1:03:49 their tridents, it's basically a coronation. As I described earlier, Naval Special Warfare allows

1:03:54 all these nonprofit foundations to give the command millions of dollars for access to these new seals

1:03:58 and take them out to dinner and golf. Freshly pinned seals are told how special they are by guest

1:04:03 speakers at Gala events, where they're wind and dine by foundation executives before ever stepping

1:04:08 foot into a team room, let alone a battlefield. I don't disagree that there is something special

1:04:12 about attaining the trident. But to inflate these men's egos and pump them up by telling them how

1:04:17 great they are before they even get to a team is a disservice to them and the community.

1:04:21 Recently, I've watched experience seals go to disciplinary review boards for merely tapping the

1:04:26 trident into someone's chest. We have officially come formed into a softer gentler Navy. In our

1:04:33 ethos, there is a statement that says, I don't I do not advertise the nature of my work nor

1:04:38 seek recognition for my actions. Don't get me started on the gender neutral pronoun changes to

1:04:42 the ethos by someone you've already been introduced to and we'll get to know well in this book,

1:04:46 Admiral Colin Green, common men with uncommon desire to succeed has since been changed to common

1:04:51 citizens with uncommon desire to succeed, as well as striking any other reference to men or brotherhood.

1:04:56 The way the command treats these men now contradicts that statement. I don't blame the new guys.

1:05:01 They're a product of the institutional environment set up by the upper brass. But I do believe that

1:05:05 this is why a sense of entitlement has crept into the community and is eating it from within and

1:05:10 quite possibly why the men who conspired against me felt like they had the right to do so.

1:05:15 So here's a deal for me as a patriotic American and as a competitor, I love that America wins.

1:05:20 I love that we have the best fighting forces, right? I try to support all these fighting forces in

1:05:25 whatever way I can as a city. You know, I do the Murph every year. I give money to these

1:05:29 organizations that, you know, support, support individuals like yourselves or to, you know,

1:05:33 individuals that have maybe lost mom and dad to war and now the kids are left behind.

1:05:37 I'm doing all those different things. But when I read this, I want y'all to be the most violent

1:05:45 and best at war possible. I don't care about the ribbons. I don't care about the awards.

1:05:50 And one thing that I kept thinking was, as I was reading this book for the guys that were

1:05:54 kind of going against you is how did these guys have the mental fortitude to get through buds?

1:05:58 These are guys that are that are getting so worried about personal slights or being called a pussy

1:06:03 or like, you know, stuff that should get you fired up. It's like, reach down the front of your pants

1:06:06 and make sure you still have a pair. Why are you getting so so offended by this? So talk to me a

1:06:11 little bit about the changes that you're seeing in the seal community. And as an American, as a

1:06:16 civilian, is there something that I should be worried about that these are the things that

1:06:19 our best fighting force or one of our better fighting forces is talking about?

1:06:23 Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we said it before, like, or Andrea said it, where, you know,

1:06:29 the social experiments that happened with this country, they trickled into the military first,

1:06:34 right? And so that during the Obama administration, when they wanted to grow the force to 500,

1:06:40 they want to make 500 more seals, which is, oh, I think it was like an eight, three or four year

1:06:45 timeframe. That's a lot. I mean, it doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're only getting, you know,

1:06:52 70 a year or a little bit more than that, probably, but it's still, it's a lot. So in order them to

1:06:58 grow that number, they had to, you know, lower the standards a little bit. I mean, because I was

1:07:04 an instructor during that time and they would, we, our classes would be three times as big as normal.

1:07:11 We didn't have all the instructor staff to, you know, handle a class that big. So of course,

1:07:15 there's going to be onesie twosies that slipped through the cracks. But in with classes that big,

1:07:21 those onesie twosies turn into, you know, four or five people that slipped through the cracks.

1:07:25 So you have seven classes a year. That's five people that slipped through that 35 seals that

1:07:30 don't belong every year. So that happened over a, you know, three or four year period of time.

1:07:35 And you know, you could see the difference with these guys, you know, especially when they're

1:07:39 trying to grow the force. And like I said, you go to these, the, where they were getting their

1:07:44 tridents. And it was come, it was just completely different from when we received our tridents,

1:07:50 which is, you know, it was only seals. They brought you into a room. It was like, hey,

1:07:55 you know, congratulations, but you ain't [inaudible]. Like, you're ready to go to a team where you

1:07:59 have to earn this every day. Now it's like, I feel like they put it out. Like, oh, you guys are

1:08:04 the best. They really like pump these guys up. And, and like I said in the book, it's not the

1:08:07 guy's fault. It's the leadership, you know, they're, it's the upper brass that, you know, sits there

1:08:14 and lifts these guys up telling them they're the best things and slice bread. And then when these

1:08:18 guys show up to a platoon with this, like entitled attitude, like I just got told I was the best.

1:08:23 When we're smacking back down, I'm like, no, we're getting in trouble for smacking them back down

1:08:28 and be putting them in their place. But you see it in the entirety of every single sphere of the

1:08:36 community. I mean, whether it's nursing or whatever, it's like this is happening and these pervasive

1:08:43 attitudes are really destroying the fabric of what made America great. And that's, it's too bad

1:08:49 that it's happening in the special operations community because unlike a lot of workplaces,

1:08:54 there's is life and death. So you do not have the ability for people to be overly sensitive or,

1:09:03 you know, making something out of nothing when it's like them not being on their A game could

1:09:08 cost someone to get killed. And so that's where I think it's a redefining of, like he said,

1:09:14 it's a softer, gentler type of a community. But since when do we want our special operators or

1:09:19 Navy SEALs for that matters to be boy scouts? But that's what they want. And you have leaders

1:09:24 and higher up saying that they have specifically made that a mandate. That's what they want. And

1:09:29 it's like, we definitely, you know, feel strongly the thoughts. That's going to be a big let down.

1:09:35 If God forbid, we have another 911 and, you know, the fighting force is, you know, only as good as

1:09:43 the leadership and what we've seen as a downtrend and, you know, the readiness. So I'm hoping that

1:09:49 maybe through this, there can be more examination of, you know, maybe what we should be doing and

1:09:54 focusing on is getting to be the highest state of readiness versus kind of lowering standards,

1:09:59 making excuses and giving everyone trophies. Yeah, I think I used the word earlier, violent. I

1:10:05 meant lethal, like I want y'all to be the most lethal fighting force possible. And so, so for me,

1:10:12 I don't care about diversity in the military. I don't, I don't care about diversity of ideas.

1:10:16 I don't care about diversity of haircuts. I care about lethality because you are the guys that

1:10:20 are entering the breach to protect my butt and keep my family safe because I don't have to worry

1:10:24 about someone from another country coming into my community and in my gated community and trying

1:10:28 to take me out because you guys are there on the front lines. And a big element of all this,

1:10:33 as you've mentioned several times, is that the element of faith that both of you had during

1:10:37 this entire setup. And so I'm going to read a section here from the book and guys listening

1:10:40 to this, if you hate hearing me read out loud, I'm so sorry, this is going to be a decent chunk,

1:10:44 but this is one of my favorite parts of the book here. So here we go. After you found out that,

1:10:48 or, sorry, this was after you found out that the kids are that you weren't going to be able to go

1:10:51 home. I think you just got the phone with Ryan and Ryan was, you know, he thought you were coming

1:10:55 home and now daddy's not coming home. I think it was seven or eight at the time. So pretty brutal,

1:10:58 but we'll get into the quote here. And this is from Andrea. This is Andrea. This is you talking

1:11:02 to Eddie. I need you to listen to me very closely. Andrea said, for years now, you've left us more

1:11:07 times than I can count to do this job. You put this job before our family and held the teams on a

1:11:11 pedestal above all else. The kids and I have followed you through this because you always told us that

1:11:16 you were doing what you were doing was for a righteous cause. We entrusted you when you said this,

1:11:21 now I need you to trust me when I tell you this, it's only us. The command is not behind you.

1:11:26 The command is against you. They are hanging you out to dry. No one is coming to help. I need you to

1:11:31 let go of the notion that the institution you've given every ounce of your being to is coming to

1:11:35 your aid. They're not. Andrea's word stung. It was hurtful to hear, but I knew she spoke the truth.

1:11:41 Foolishly, I had still been holding out faith that my command would support me and rectify the

1:11:46 situation. This was supposed to be a brotherhood, a brotherhood that I'd sacrificed everything for

1:11:50 over the past 19 years. I'd wrongly assumed the protection and support would be reciprocated.

1:11:55 That conversation with Andrea as was a much needed come to Jesus moment that forced me to see

1:12:00 reality. I hung up the phone, went back to my cell, sat on my bed for five minutes. Then I got on my

1:12:05 hands and knees and I spoke out loud to God. I am relinquishing all control of the situation to you,

1:12:10 I told him. You have always looked out for my best interests, kept me safe and blessed me with a

1:12:15 wonderful career and family. I'm giving you a hundred percent of myself. Whatever happens,

1:12:20 happens. If you deem it necessary for me to go away for life, then so be it. If not, I have faith

1:12:25 that you will show me my family and my legal team a path out of this. I got to my feet, buzzed the

1:12:31 button to open my cell door. By the time I stepped back into the pod, I felt like the weight of the

1:12:36 world had been lifted from my shoulders. While I'd always been a practicing Christian, my faith had

1:12:40 been rooted in convenience. It took a crisis for me to fully give myself over to Jesus. From that

1:12:46 day forward, I left myself in God's capable hands and I haven't looked back. So there's a lot there,

1:12:53 Eddie, that I think most people would recognize in themselves. You know, we kind of live in a

1:12:58 culture where it's God when he's convenient, but not when he's not kind of a thing. But take me

1:13:02 through being kind of a Christian in name only up to that point, but now being in jail, being on

1:13:09 your hands and knees, crying out to God, basically saying, it's all you. It's not about me. Take me

1:13:14 through that. Yeah, you know, it's a I really didn't you don't for me at least I didn't really

1:13:21 didn't know I was a Christian in name only until you get put in a situation like this, right? So you

1:13:27 you through my career, you know, I was a practicing Christian. We go to church every Sunday. She is

1:13:33 definitely a thousand times more hardcore than I was. And she was always trying to put me on the

1:13:38 always never stopped trying to put me on the right path. But just nudge you nudge you onto

1:13:45 the right path, right? Just nudges. But you know, like I always had like if I was having issues,

1:13:53 you know, I didn't go to God with them all the time, I could easily go to the team and like talk

1:13:57 about it with guys at the team or like, I always had another place to vent my issues or sort of

1:14:03 instead of going to God and asking him to take care of me, you know, and then it wasn't until that

1:14:08 point, you know, when I was in there, I had literally no one. So I went to my cell and I mean, it took

1:14:15 that was like the big turning point for me during this whole story was, I mean, it took all of that

1:14:22 to be taken from me to actually turn to God 100%. And just knowing I didn't have control, which,

1:14:28 you know, it's sort of crappy to say, but that's that's the truth, you know, and I realized that,

1:14:33 you know, I was just a, like I said, like a Christian through convenience only. And so

1:14:38 to be able to like relinquish everything to him and mean it, say it out loud. And that's the most

1:14:44 important thing is I said it out loud. It's not just something I thought, I said it out loud on

1:14:48 my cell, which I gave it so much more meaning. And then I mean, and I can't emphasize this

1:14:53 enough, I literally felt his presence like take it off my shoulders. I mean, and that right there.

1:14:59 And that's why I wanted to put that in there because it's not, it's not a, you know, joke,

1:15:04 it's not, I'm not embellishing anything. That actually happened. And like, you know,

1:15:09 Christ is real and God is real. He'll take care of you as long as you, you know, completely have

1:15:14 100% faith in him. And not to question anything that happens.

1:15:18 When I think that that's important thing for our listeners to hear, because obviously this is a

1:15:22 majority Christian audience, but we do have a lot of non-Christians that listen to this just because

1:15:26 of the type of content that we talk about. And, you know, when you hear someone like you or like,

1:15:30 you know, our mutual buddy Eddie Penny talk about the world that you're in, but seeing God in it,

1:15:35 that's kind of a common refrain that you hear from people that are in the community that are in the

1:15:38 teams is that there are men of all faiths that are, that are a part of that, right? And I think

1:15:43 it's important to keep your faith in those moments because that is what will get you through. Because

1:15:47 even the people that don't have faith, I forget who it was that I was talking to a while, I was

1:15:51 Ephra Matos. And he was basically talking about how there were people saying that they're doing

1:15:55 good overseas, but these were atheists, right? And so it's like, you would have to ask that person,

1:16:00 what is good? Because in order to know what good is, you have to know what evil is, there has to be

1:16:05 some sort of a moral law with which to differentiate between those two things and who gave us the moral

1:16:10 law, right? It always kind of comes back to God. Why are you doing the right thing? It's because God

1:16:15 is telling me to do that, right? Why would you ever put yourself in that sacrificial situation?

1:16:19 Because Jesus sacrificed for me, right? It all kind of goes back to those areas. So we'll get out of

1:16:24 kind of the world of faith and all that will stop, I'll stop preaching. I do want to get in our

1:16:28 final moments here. I want to talk about a few things that you're doing. Because obviously,

1:16:31 you're not just slinging books. You are, you have a lot of products that you're putting out there. So

1:16:35 you've got a partnership that with Precision Tactical. So you got seek battle rifles that

1:16:40 are out there. You got a pistol out there, you got some nucks, which are awesome. You got t-shirts,

1:16:44 you got all kinds of things. So why don't you walk us through that partnership and kind of why you

1:16:48 wanted to get into that community? Sure. So we, you know, we live here near Destin and we wanted to

1:16:57 help out getting business people here locally and help out local businesses. This place is

1:17:02 very all, they're all about local businesses and keeping what was going on, especially

1:17:07 during the time last year with during our warranty and all that. So I was going up to this store

1:17:13 to just to buy some accessories with the guns that I had. Ended up, we ended up connecting with

1:17:18 the owner, Ward Lewis. And we sort of came to an agreement like, he's like, you know, we can build

1:17:24 a rifle. You pick out all the parts and we'll make it your rifle. I was definitely, has a tent. She,

1:17:31 she was all, you know, like, we're doing this. I'm the business. She is. But, you know, it ended up

1:17:39 being, it's an awesome thing. You know, we built this rifle. We have a 14 and a half inch and a 10 and a

1:17:43 half inch. And we just came out with the seat belt pistol, which is the Glock, or the Glock 19X

1:17:49 that's coming out next week. And then the end, you know, the big, the, the idea is to get a whole

1:17:56 sock mod kit. So be able to sell like upper, lower pistol and then also have some accessories

1:18:02 like the brass muffles in there. But, you know, we're working with this company because they're

1:18:07 a local company. And if we want to help, you know, if we can help them out or do, you know,

1:18:11 they're helping us out as well. You know, that's, that's what we're all about.

1:18:15 Well, everything looks awesome, guys. I'll make sure that you have a link in the show notes so

1:18:18 you can go and check those things out for yourself. And it's great that you have, I didn't realize

1:18:21 you were going to be expanding into other areas. So I know a lot of guys are going to be paying

1:18:24 attention to that. But this is going to end up being my last question for the day, because this

1:18:27 was another thing that was just nagging at me the whole time that I was reading this book, because

1:18:31 I've been following you on social media for a while. So you kind of show the family and, you know, the,

1:18:35 the dog, you know, which I did think was funny as a little side note that didn't one of the people

1:18:39 say that you were like intimidating the witnesses, but like walking your like French bulldogs past

1:18:44 their houses. It's like, of all, yeah, of all the intimidating animals to walk past another person's

1:18:49 house. I don't know that the French, the French bulldog would be on that list. But as I was looking

1:18:53 at social media and everything, I kept seeing your son, Ryan, which is he is he nine now 10

1:18:58 how old's Ryan? He's going to be 12. He's going to be 12. Oh geez, 12. You know what,

1:19:02 math was never my strong suit. So, you know, he's 12 years old, but let's say that Ryan sits you

1:19:07 down one day sits to both of you down. Maybe he's 16, 17. And he says, mom, dad, I want to be just

1:19:14 like dad was, I want to be a Navy SEAL. Okay. So and you mentioned this a little bit earlier,

1:19:19 you don't hold any grudges against us military, but with everything that your family has endured,

1:19:23 right? Not at the hands of the enemy, mind you, but at the hands of your own military,

1:19:27 your own government, the people that are supposed to have your back,

1:19:29 what would you say to Ryan if he told you that? Well, that's an easy question to answer because

1:19:34 he's already he tells me that every other week that he still wants to be. He wants to be a Navy

1:19:39 SEAL. And I, you know, I tell him the same thing as that's, I'm I support him 100%.

1:19:45 You know, I was proud of the 20 years that I did. I got to work among just giants,

1:19:54 this amazing individuals that I wouldn't have had the chance to work with if I hadn't had gotten

1:20:00 to that, that profession. I mean, the, I was, my career was privileged. You know, I was privileged

1:20:07 to be able to go to combat. I was privileged to be able to go with these men that I went with.

1:20:12 And if my son wanted to fall in that same path, I would definitely be 100% behind him. You know,

1:20:17 there's going to be ebbs and flows, you know, and everything, you know, and right now,

1:20:22 yeah, it's not looking too great in the community. But I know that the community is going to fix

1:20:27 itself. And that's because of the guys that are in it. And they'll, they'll go back to the way it was.

1:20:32 And I would be proud of my son, you know, wanting to join that. But at the same time,

1:20:36 I don't want to push him into that. He's like, that's his right. And I told him,

1:20:40 if that's what he wants to do, then he's going to have to work for it and earn it on his own,

1:20:45 because that's, there's not something that you can know, so that they're in coach someone

1:20:48 to go do. It's has to be, it's all up here. And you have to want to do it. Right. What about you,

1:20:54 mom? Yeah, I mean, ultimately, for us, you know, we have three kids. Each of them is very unique

1:21:01 and different. And I think our whole goal has just been to encourage them to pursue whatever

1:21:07 passion that they have. So our oldest son is like into chemistry and astrophysics. Our daughter is

1:21:13 going into nursing. And then our youngest son, who is the carbon coffee, I was like, him, and then

1:21:19 half me. So it's like, oh my gosh, we'll see what happens with him. But he, you know, we would

1:21:27 encourage our kids no matter what, because at the end of the day, you know, God is in control.

1:21:31 And it's, it's so funny. We talk about his grandma and mom, and they always just used to worry and

1:21:38 worry, worry, when he was away. And I would talk to his grandma and I'm like, grandma, it's okay.

1:21:44 Like, he's one of those people, if there's a burning building, he's not going to run away,

1:21:48 he's going to run to it. It's how he's made. If we take that away from him, he'll just slowly

1:21:54 start to die inside. You know, I think you have this, like, your faith in God, trust that like,

1:22:01 yes, we are very blessed and very fortunate, obviously we went for a horrific ordeal. But

1:22:06 we have so many friends that have lost loved ones. And, you know, we have to honor those people

1:22:12 every day. And that's why we do what we do. And we would never discourage our kids from joining

1:22:16 the military. And I believe that, you know, it takes strong individuals and people with strong

1:22:21 character to serve and sacrifice in the way that he and that community has. And so no, we have nothing

1:22:28 but the utmost of respect for anyone who serves in any branch of our armed services. And we also

1:22:35 have a non-profit that stands behind those people that get into these types of situations, have

1:22:41 injustices that happen. So before he even exited the military, we found it and started the process

1:22:47 of creating the Pipe Hitter Foundation. So if people want to look into that, his website has all

1:22:52 of the things that we do at vietigallagher.com. And then there's also a link to the Pipe Hitter

1:22:57 Foundation. So we support service members, police and first responders and their families

1:23:03 when they're going through hardships, basically. So yeah, that's another big emphasis that we

1:23:09 want to push forward and focus on. And just encourage our kids, service is a part of our family,

1:23:15 whether it's through that, giving back to the non-profit, working with veteran organizations,

1:23:20 and we're very blessed with the partnerships that we have. So we'll see what happens. You

1:23:25 can never tell with these kids. Yeah. I really appreciate that answer. And also we'll make sure

1:23:32 that you guys have all the information there. So if you want to support that foundation,

1:23:35 you can have that there. It'll be in the show notes. But thank you all very much for spending

1:23:39 this amount of time with us to really get into the details. And for the last time today,

1:23:42 we couldn't go into all the details. There's so much details in this book. It's 400 plus pages.

1:23:46 It was a great read. Guys, you're literally on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what's

1:23:50 going to happen, even though you know what's going to happen. So it's one of those types of

1:23:52 stories. But that's all for me. Is there anything else that either one of you want to get off your

1:23:56 chest? No, but I appreciate you having this on there. Thank you for buying and reading the book, man.

1:24:01 I appreciate that. All right. Eddie and Andrea Gallagher, thanks for coming on Daunted Life

1:24:07 of Man's podcast. Thank you. All right, guys, as always, thanks so much for listening to the

1:24:12 end of the interview. I really enjoyed my time with them getting to see it from both of their

1:24:15 perspectives, I think was really interesting. And we had a lot of time to go over a lot of those

1:24:19 details. So I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And don't forget to share this around.

1:24:22 All right, before we let you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost at Undaunted

1:24:26 Life. Our mission is equipping men to push back darkness. And specifically, we do that by providing

1:24:30 content like this podcast that helps you forge spiritual, mental and physical resilience. So here

1:24:35 are the links I've got for you today. I've got a link to the book. Again, the book is The Man in

1:24:38 the Arena from fighting ISIS to fighting for my freedom. We've also got a link to Eddie's website,

1:24:43 so you can check out a bunch of the stuff he's doing, including seek battle rifles. And then

1:24:47 also I've got a link to his Instagram account. All right, guys, thanks so much for listening.

1:24:50 Wherever you're listening to this, please subscribe, rate and review. If you want me to come speak live

1:24:55 at your event or on your podcast, just hit me up via email at info@undaunted.life. That's i-n-f-o

1:25:01 at Undaunted.life. Check us out on Instagram and TikTok and like us on Facebook and check out

1:25:07 our website for everything else, including how to donate to keep more content like this coming

1:25:11 your way. Just go to www.undaunted.life. We also want to thank the band August Burns Red for

1:25:16 allowing us to use their music for our content. The answer outro track on this podcast is their song

1:25:21 Cutting the Ties, which is off their 10th anniversary re-recording off their album Leveler. The links

1:25:27 are in the description. I'm your host, Kyle Thompson. Remember, keep pushing back darkness,

1:25:33 keep forging spiritual, mental and physical resilience. Keep seeking the lion of Judah.

1:25:51 And the fight's down. You'll be revived.