[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
we’re definitely going to get attacked
tonight I’m in a tiny village in sorrow
wah Afghanistan 2005 it’s a hundred and
twelve degrees outside you can feel the
beads of sweat running down your neck
like a leaky faucet we’re here to
establish a strategic alliance with this
village but first we’re gonna have to
survive the night you see there are 13
of us in this dilapidated building
Taliban fighters lurking in every
direction just like we planned it we’re
surrounded on purpose I’m sure many of
you have heard of the Navy SEALs those
amazing elite commandos who took out the
world’s most wanted terrorist Osama bin
Laden but how much do you know about
another secret organization US Army
Special Forces the Green Berets the only
knowledge most people have about the
Green Berets is a John Wayne movie by
the same title The Ballad of the Green
Berets and dare I say Rambo none of
these are accurate I know because when I
was 14 years old
I decided to become one I lived in a
little log in town in Arkansas Mount Ida
and one day a Green Beret swaggered into
our soda shop right out of a recruiting
poster uniform pressed to perfection
it’s like cardboard and these big ol
shiny boots I’ll tell you I was a runt
of a kid even bullied at times and this
guy this guy was everything I wanted to
be
and I committed right there to becoming
a green beret and you know what I did it
I spent the next when I finally made it
in 18 years of my life in the green
beret but as cool as that guy looked it
was actually the mission of Special
Forces that drew me in unconventional
warfare immersing into a trust depleted
conflict riddled environment and working
by with and through the indigenous
people there over the long haul
to help them stand up on their own our
motto says it all day oppress only bear
free the oppressed you know ever since
world war ii complex threats have often
required unconventional solutions local
human connections brokered by these
specially trained advisors who can go
into these rough areas and inspire the
people who live there to fight back from
the inside out now this kind of work is
not for everybody it takes the right
kind of person a green beret is like a
combination of Jason Bourne Jake Sully
from Avatar and the Verizon guy
or the Sprint guy
in other words relationship based
connectors who just happened to be
lethal when it’s needed and only when
it’s needed now getting into Special
Forces is extremely tough if this 500
person venue were the entire US military
population two of you would be Green
Berets it’s a grueling process that
requires you to jump out of a perfectly
good airplane conduct endurance events
like carrying a 50 pound pack for 30
miles at a time in bitter cold or
oppressive heat and these seemingly
unwinnable combat scenarios until you
figure out that the only way through
them is complete reliance on your
teammate this process weeds out all but
the most committed candidates and that’s
just to get selected to start the
training each candidate then goes
through a year of intensive specialty
training the officers start out with
strategic planning
while these sergeants are splurt spread
across five disciplines the engine the
weapon sergeants learn every weapon in
the world our engineer sergeants they
learn how to build a bridge and then
blow it up our medics these guys can do
a battlefield tracheotomy like they did
on my friend Romi and they can pull
teeth in their spare time and our
communication sergeants they can write
complex computer code or they can send a
secret message around the world using
Morse code all of the candidates then
have to go through guerilla warfare
training advanced combatives training
foreign language training and cultural
awareness before they can earn that
Green Beret there are two officers and
ten sergeants on the basic element that
we call an 18 but don’t let the size of
this little detachment fool you one of
you guys could have told me this did
this
like oh thank god got it but don’t let
the size of this little detachment fool
you back in the village where I am that
a team they are conducting big things
with bushy beards and indigenous
clothing these guys cannot be recognized
from the other villagers captain Sean
he’s over here in the village right now
meeting with two tribal elders whose
defense of the village tonight will be
critical and Gary the engineer he’s over
here inspecting a well that he helped
the villagers build last week and in the
clinic Billy the senior medic he’s
examining two little boys right now
whose mom and dad just brought them in
for acute stomach pain and Tracy Tracy
the senior communication sergeant he’s
on his radio like a LaGuardia air
traffic controller calmly managing all
of the frantic messages that are coming
in and out about tonight’s impending
attack it’s just another day in the life
of a green beret but there is nothing
casual about what goes on here each
decision can mean life and death every
move this team makes is purposeful like
a well conducted Symphony especially
tonight the attack comes those tracer
bullets light up the night sky like
lasers these rough men leap out of their
cots grab their rifles dawn their heavy
kit and they are up on that roof
standing shoulder to shoulder with
reluctant villagers there is no black
brown or white that climbs this ladder
only green and somehow they find a way
to hang on through the night and in the
morning when that rooster crows these
guys roll out of their cots and it’s
business as usual
they’re back in town engaging locals
inspecting crops and continuing to train
these villagers to fight back even
though their numbers are even smaller
now because of the injuries and the
casualties they took last night you know
people ask me Scott why do you guys do
this why do you do this kind of work why
do you keep going back to these places
when the rest of the world just keeps on
spinning I have buddies that are on
their 9th and 10th combat deployment as
Green Berets I don’t know I don’t know I
think it has something to do with impact
because it would be blissfully easier if
we could just focus on the enemy but
when you put everything you have into
restoring trust and honor and shared
struggle in the day today with people
who the rest of the world has forgotten
that little tactical team of twelve it
literally transforms with that village
into a tribal force of 1200 impact when
we give every tool we have everything we
have to these villages so that they
don’t just survive they thrive if I’ve
learned anything in this 15-year war a
war that has taken 23 of my friends from
me doing this kind of work a war that my
son Cody will fight as an army officer
instead of me now it’s this despite all
the technology that we have and all the
military might that we have a resilient
community is the ultimate antibody to
violent extremism a resilient community
is the ultimate antibody to a lot of
problems right here so consider this
the next time life throws you a
curveball I mean a really wicked human
problem in your family your office your
community well everybody else is staring
at it arguing over it or worse running
away from it
do something unconventional something
that people around the world and right
in your own neighborhood will respect
you for take a page from the Green
Berets step into that problem and get
surrounded on purpose thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
we’re definitely going to get attacked
tonight I’m in a tiny village in sorrow
wah Afghanistan 2005 it’s a hundred and
twelve degrees outside you can feel the
beads of sweat running down your neck
like a leaky faucet we’re here to
establish a strategic alliance with this
village but first we’re gonna have to
survive the night you see there are 13
of us in this dilapidated building
Taliban fighters lurking in every
direction just like we planned it we’re
surrounded on purpose I’m sure many of
you have heard of the Navy SEALs those
amazing elite commandos who took out the
world’s most wanted terrorist Osama bin
Laden but how much do you know about
another secret organization US Army
Special Forces the Green Berets the only
knowledge most people have about the
Green Berets is a John Wayne movie by
the same title The Ballad of the Green
Berets and dare I say Rambo none of
these are accurate I know because when I
was 14 years old
I decided to become one I lived in a
little log in town in Arkansas Mount Ida
and one day a Green Beret swaggered into
our soda shop right out of a recruiting
poster uniform pressed to perfection
it’s like cardboard and these big ol
shiny boots I’ll tell you I was a runt
of a kid even bullied at times and this
guy this guy was everything I wanted to
be
and I committed right there to becoming
a green beret and you know what I did it
I spent the next when I finally made it
in 18 years of my life in the green
beret but as cool as that guy looked it
was actually the mission of Special
Forces that drew me in unconventional
warfare immersing into a trust depleted
conflict riddled environment and working
by with and through the indigenous
people there over the long haul
to help them stand up on their own our
motto says it all day oppress only bear
free the oppressed you know ever since
world war ii complex threats have often
required unconventional solutions local
human connections brokered by these
specially trained advisors who can go
into these rough areas and inspire the
people who live there to fight back from
the inside out now this kind of work is
not for everybody it takes the right
kind of person a green beret is like a
combination of Jason Bourne Jake Sully
from Avatar and the Verizon guy
or the Sprint guy
in other words relationship based
connectors who just happened to be
lethal when it’s needed and only when
it’s needed now getting into Special
Forces is extremely tough if this 500
person venue were the entire US military
population two of you would be Green
Berets it’s a grueling process that
requires you to jump out of a perfectly
good airplane conduct endurance events
like carrying a 50 pound pack for 30
miles at a time in bitter cold or
oppressive heat and these seemingly
unwinnable combat scenarios until you
figure out that the only way through
them is complete reliance on your
teammate this process weeds out all but
the most committed candidates and that’s
just to get selected to start the
training each candidate then goes
through a year of intensive specialty
training the officers start out with
strategic planning
while these sergeants are splurt spread
across five disciplines the engine the
weapon sergeants learn every weapon in
the world our engineer sergeants they
learn how to build a bridge and then
blow it up our medics these guys can do
a battlefield tracheotomy like they did
on my friend Romi and they can pull
teeth in their spare time and our
communication sergeants they can write
complex computer code or they can send a
secret message around the world using
Morse code all of the candidates then
have to go through guerilla warfare
training advanced combatives training
foreign language training and cultural
awareness before they can earn that
Green Beret there are two officers and
ten sergeants on the basic element that
we call an 18 but don’t let the size of
this little detachment fool you one of
you guys could have told me this did
this
like oh thank god got it but don’t let
the size of this little detachment fool
you back in the village where I am that
a team they are conducting big things
with bushy beards and indigenous
clothing these guys cannot be recognized
from the other villagers captain Sean
he’s over here in the village right now
meeting with two tribal elders whose
defense of the village tonight will be
critical and Gary the engineer he’s over
here inspecting a well that he helped
the villagers build last week and in the
clinic Billy the senior medic he’s
examining two little boys right now
whose mom and dad just brought them in
for acute stomach pain and Tracy Tracy
the senior communication sergeant he’s
on his radio like a LaGuardia air
traffic controller calmly managing all
of the frantic messages that are coming
in and out about tonight’s impending
attack it’s just another day in the life
of a green beret but there is nothing
casual about what goes on here each
decision can mean life and death every
move this team makes is purposeful like
a well conducted Symphony especially
tonight the attack comes those tracer
bullets light up the night sky like
lasers these rough men leap out of their
cots grab their rifles dawn their heavy
kit and they are up on that roof
standing shoulder to shoulder with
reluctant villagers there is no black
brown or white that climbs this ladder
only green and somehow they find a way
to hang on through the night and in the
morning when that rooster crows these
guys roll out of their cots and it’s
business as usual
they’re back in town engaging locals
inspecting crops and continuing to train
these villagers to fight back even
though their numbers are even smaller
now because of the injuries and the
casualties they took last night you know
people ask me Scott why do you guys do
this why do you do this kind of work why
do you keep going back to these places
when the rest of the world just keeps on
spinning I have buddies that are on
their 9th and 10th combat deployment as
Green Berets I don’t know I don’t know I
think it has something to do with impact
because it would be blissfully easier if
we could just focus on the enemy but
when you put everything you have into
restoring trust and honor and shared
struggle in the day today with people
who the rest of the world has forgotten
that little tactical team of twelve it
literally transforms with that village
into a tribal force of 1200 impact when
we give every tool we have everything we
have to these villages so that they
don’t just survive they thrive if I’ve
learned anything in this 15-year war a
war that has taken 23 of my friends from
me doing this kind of work a war that my
son Cody will fight as an army officer
instead of me now it’s this despite all
the technology that we have and all the
military might that we have a resilient
community is the ultimate antibody to
violent extremism a resilient community
is the ultimate antibody to a lot of
problems right here so consider this
the next time life throws you a
curveball I mean a really wicked human
problem in your family your office your
community well everybody else is staring
at it arguing over it or worse running
away from it
do something unconventional something
that people around the world and right
in your own neighborhood will respect
you for take a page from the Green
Berets step into that problem and get
surrounded on purpose thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
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