Podcasts.

[ThunderHorse]

There are a bunch of dudes who served with him who really disliked him and thought he was as dumb as box of rocks, prototypical "strong like bull, smart like tractor", and a shitty teammate. Not knowing him or them I take it with a grain of salt, except that a lot of people who served with him are saying it.

I know a lot of those [type of] guys. Some are my friends. Some are not.

But it just goes to show that people have too much time on their hands if they're getting a wank out of a 51 yr old failing a hard selection course.

 

[Box]

Vet Bro podcasters got to where they are by being infallible when they were in uniform.
Some of you folks need to show these people the respect they deserve.
They are VETERANS for god sake.

They've never exaggerated
They've never been in trouble
They all made it to the very top of their career fields before leaving service
The ones that didn't make it to the only left service when they did "because the command fucked them over"
...or because their Senior Enlisted Leaders failed to recognize how great they were
They were all universally loved by everyone they served with
The ones the weren't universally loved were ust cursed by being stuck on a team full of shit bags
They worked hard to earn the right to belittle everyone else that serves...
...especially if they can bash them for clicks

They are just better than the rest of us.
We should follow their examples.

Get over it.

 

[AWP]

Goggins? He was great in Justified and killing it in Fallout.

 

[Box]

I liked him better in 'The Shield'

 

[Topkick]

dumb as box of rocks, prototypical "strong like bull, smart like tractor"

And rich like multi millionaire..

 

[Teufel]

I honestly feel bad for the man. I respect the fact that he built a very lucrative business out of being tough and doing hard things. Despite some apparent stray voltage with some of his teammates, he certainly earned his trident. I also appreciate that he never, to my knowledge, tried to exaggerate his service. I also wonder what he was doing, or not doing, during the height of the GWOT but he never staked his brand against heroism. It was always about endurance and never quitting.

I did some hard things in my youth, and earned my place in some very selective organizations. I'm much older now, and while I'm told the effectiveness of the infantry Marine peaks in the high 40s, I am not so arrogant to think that I could replicate these results at my current age. Goggins' case reminds me of Mike Tyson's. Neither person should have returned to the ring. That said I find myself in the strange position to have served in two theaters of the GWOT and potentially gearing up for the third. We live in strange times.

 

[The Quartermaster]

This was a serious amount to unpack. Do we have an intel guy or gal with a day to kill? What this guy is saying has my mind blown and just need it confirmed...on a lot, but that Ukraine bit has me like waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat......wait, wait just a minute here. Hold up now. We backed actual nazis here, aren't the Dems against nazis, and they put that pro Ukraine to spite Trump????

lol, what's going on here...

 

[Cookie_]

Hold up now. We backed actual nazis here, aren't the Dems against nazis, and they put that pro Ukraine to spite Trump????

I assume he's talking about Azov? They started out as a far-right militia fighting the Russians, before getting brought in under the Ukranian national guard. Depending on who you ask, they'd originally fall somewhere along the spectrum of Proud Boys-Patriot Front. During the fighting in the Donbass, they absolutely had recruits who were Neo-Nazis and came overseas to fight for a couple years.
The commander who took over in 2017 tried to remove a lot of the "politics" from the unit, though there is fair debate about how effective that actually was.


The Ukrainians didn't really pay attention to the unit until about 2022, when they gained International attention during the Siege of Mariupol.
Most of the unit members were captured or killed, with around ~500 being returned in a POW swap. The Ukrainians wanted to keep the heraldry of the unit, so it was expanded into a Brigade in 2023, and a corps last year.

The Azov brigade we lifted sanctions on in 2024 was essentially a totally different unit with the same name.

 

[AWP]

I assume he's talking about Azov? They started out as a far-right militia fighting the Russians, before getting brought in under the Ukranian national guard. Depending on who you ask, they'd originally fall somewhere along the spectrum of Proud Boys-Patriot Front. During the fighting in the Donbass, they absolutely had recruits who were Neo-Nazis and came overseas to fight for a couple years.
The commander who took over in 2017 tried to remove a lot of the "politics" from the unit, though there is fair debate about how effective that actually was.


The Ukrainians didn't really pay attention to the unit until about 2022, when they gained International attention during the Siege of Mariupol.
Most of the unit members were captured or killed, with around ~500 being returned in a POW swap. The Ukrainians wanted to keep the heraldry of the unit, so it was expanded into a Brigade in 2023, and a corps last year.

The Azov brigade we lifted sanctions on in 2024 was essentially a totally different unit with the same name.

Sort of. Mostly I suppose, but they still use the Wolfsangel as part of their unit insignia. If you look at their heraldry and past, its kind of hard to argue that the unit isn't influenced by the Nazis. Maybe they are a different unit today, but I can think of two Axis with totally different insignias and unit histories. (Shout out to the third nation for naming a carrier Kaga which the name of an earlier carrier that bombed Pearl Harbor. I don't feel like looking up other examples, but they are out there.)

Home

A short breakdown of the Azov history and insignia. If they want a full break from a Nazi past, I think keeping the Wolfsangel is not the way to go.

 

[ThunderHorse]

Sort of not surprised at this since there was a Ukrainian Waffen-SS unit. Much of the Waffen-SS especially the foreign folks weren't there for the politics, just the killing of Russians. Hence like Koreans in the Waffen-SS.

Should these people have a feel? Yeah probably. But it's also like how a lot of the German Army still does things like torch marches. Großer Zapfenstreich - Wikipedia

Torch marches had a lot of symbolism used by the Nazis, but not discarded because in their mind it's not a Nazi thing so much as it's a German thing. When I was at the Catholic Military Pilgrimage, the evening assembly, the German Soldiers marched with torches. Just some cultural nonsense that may be irrelevant.

 

[Cookie_]

Sort of. Mostly I suppose, but they still use the Wolfsangel as part of their unit insignia. If you look at their heraldry and past, its kind of hard to argue that the unit isn't influenced by the Nazis. Maybe they are a different unit today, but I can think of two Axis with totally different insignias and unit histories. (Shout out to the third nation for naming a carrier Kaga which the name of an earlier carrier that bombed Pearl Harbor. I don't feel like looking up other examples, but they are out there.)

Home

A short breakdown of the Azov history and insignia. If they want a full break from a Nazi past, I think keeping the Wolfsangel is not the way to go.

Luckily, they don't use it anymore; this is their current emblem.


That's clearly a totally different emblem, and not at all just a rotated and squished wolfsangel. Totally distinct from the nazi stuff.

Sarcasm aside, I agree that using nazi imagery is something that they (and generally, everbody) need to stop doing.

 

[The Quartermaster]

Okay, I am officially six hours into that podcast and I am almost enraged at the real causes of the deaths of Chapman, Cunningham, and Tillman.

 

[Kaldak]

Okay, I am officially six hours into that podcast and I am almost enraged at the real causes of the deaths of Chapman, Cunningham, and Tillman.

Which podcast?

 

[The Quartermaster]

Which podcast?

Post #387 on this page.

 

[AWP]

Okay, I am officially six hours into that podcast and I am almost enraged at the real causes of the deaths of Chapman, Cunningham, and Tillman.

I don't mean this in a condescending manner, but welcome to the party. Chapman and Tillman have bothered me for well over a decade but because of some of the players involved speaking up gets you slapped down. How dare I think the great McChrystal did anything wrong!

And we've covered Chapman at length here. I'd recommend digging through posts with him in it, especially the debacle that is his MoH process.

I look forward to hearing Blaber's take on those incidents given his proximity to the battle.

 

[The Quartermaster]

I don't mean this in a condescending manner, but welcome to the party. Chapman and Tillman have bothered me for well over a decade but because of some of the players involved speaking up gets you slapped down. How dare I think the great McChrystal did anything wrong!

And we've covered Chapman at length here. I'd recommend digging through posts with him in it, especially the debacle that is his MoH process.

I look forward to hearing Blaber's take on those incidents given his proximity to the battle.

I am at a bit past the 9 hour mark of this podcast. The more I am actively listening the more I am enraged, embarrassed, and in utter disbelief that these people who caused those deaths were promoted.

Have you watched any of it yet? He's mentioned that this is also briefed in detail in his book or books.

 

[AWP]

I am at a bit past the 9 hour mark of this podcast. The more I am actively listening the more I am enraged, embarrassed, and in utter disbelief that these people who caused those deaths were promoted.

Have you watched any of it yet? He's mentioned that this is also briefed in detail in his book or books.

I started, I'm up to his college days.

I recall him mentioning this stuff in his book, but not all of the details. It might have been the first detailed account about the Tillman ambush, or at least one you could trust. I think his book pre-dates the MoH fiasco.

I remember watching the ISR feed on SIPR back in 2005, when everything was wide open. The narrative was garbage then, it was clearly garbage. Some of the amplifying details or analysis wasn't out, but I watched the whole thing from first shot and even Razor 3 landing and the Rangers dying off the ramp. It was gut wrenching to watch, especially since we knew the names and order in which the Rangers disembarked.

Chapman being alone and his efforts were painfully obvious to anyone with a room temperature IQ. His MoH taking the journey it did is criminal.

 

[The Quartermaster]

I started, I'm up to his college days.

I recall him mentioning this stuff in his book, but not all of the details. It might have been the first detailed account about the Tillman ambush, or at least one you could trust. I think his book pre-dates the MoH fiasco.

I remember watching the ISR feed on SIPR back in 2005, when everything was wide open. The narrative was garbage then, it was clearly garbage. Some of the amplifying details or analysis wasn't out, but I watched the whole thing from first shot and even Razor 3 landing and the Rangers dying off the ramp. It was gut wrenching to watch, especially since we knew the names and order in which the Rangers disembarked.

Chapman being alone and his efforts were painfully obvious to anyone with a room temperature IQ. His MoH taking the journey it did is criminal.

When he gets to Gothic Serpent and speaks of how they wanted to do it in all Little Birds and they were told no because they wanted to show off their MH60's, was when my stomach started to make me feel nauseous.

I always asked how did these things happen, that there's no way these things were allowed to happen, that there had to be a fog of war involved. Nope, from Gothic on up to GWOT, it's a general's fault for not listening to those on the ground doing this live.

I am going to stop, and get back on later to hopefully finish watching. I'm probably going to get even more upset, he is now starting to talk about OIF or leading up to it.

 

[AWP]

When he gets to Gothic Serpent and speaks of how they wanted to do it in all Little Birds and they were told no because they wanted to show off their MH60's, was when my stomach started to make me feel nauseous.

I JUST listened to one with a Delta guy where he laid out the COAs for Somalia. A few I'd never heard before but I'll wait (A) to see if Blaber mentions them and B) gives me time to find the clip because I've forgotten who. Maybe Eric Haney on Mike Ritand's show?

 

[Box]

I don't have the stomach to watch ANY of these podcasts. The ones that aren't absolute bullshit clearly designed to generate likes and sponsors are just too fucking soul crushing to sit through while the past is dredged up over and over again.

We are a corrupt nation of sheep led by corrupt shepherds and misguided sheep dogs that don't realize how evil the shepherd is.
Ironically the ones that expend the most effort trying to sell their value as "Sheep Dogs" are the ones that spend their nights sleeping at the feet of the hungry greedy corrupt shepherds.

The wolves are dangerous for sure - but they are both predictable AND upfront about their treachery.