STARRS Podcast
STARRS Podcasts includes the series STARRS & Stripes which interviews military veterans, talks about their careers and military service, and their concerns about what is happening in today's military. See our website, starrs.us, for more information.
STARRS Podcast
Woke Policies are Destroying the Military from the Inside Out
STARRS held a Joint Town Hall with the MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates and the Calvert Task Group. The guest speaker was Amber Smith, former Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Outreach in Public Affairs. Amber is a former U.S. Army OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilot and air mission commander in the 101st Airborne Division and flew two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. She is also the author of the recent book, "Unfit to Fight: How Woke Policies Are Destroying Our Military", a topic of great concern to all three organizations.
This episode only covers Amber's talk and Q&A portion, not the rest of the Joint Town Hall.
The woke agenda being pushed by the Pentagon is undermining the very fabric of our military. Listen to a talk by Amber Smith, an Army veteran, author, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Outreach, as she covers the critical issues facing the U.S. military today. Amber offers a sobering analysis from her book, "Unfit to Fight: How Woke Policies are Destroying Our Military," and reflects on her experiences as a Kiowa helicopter pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This episode unveils the pressing need for a mission-centric meritocracy, underscoring the complexities of global threats and internal woke policies in the military that jeopardize national security.
Amber dissects the alarming decline in accountability and professional standards among top military leadership. She draws stark comparisons between the rigorous standards of World War II and today's leniency, calling for Congressional intervention to enforce stricter oversight. She says that true meritocracy and diversity of thought are essential to restore the U.S. military's strength and effectiveness and to reject woke policies that do not contribute to its mission readiness.
Amber also shares her personal journey, revealing the inspiration behind her book and her mission to address the real crises within the military, such as recruitment and retention challenges and the infiltration of wokeism. She offers guidance to young women in the military on how to earn respect through professionalism and excellence. The Q&A portion concludes with reflections on courage, responsibility, and the indispensable role of integrity and effective communication in advocating for change. This powerful talk by Amber Smith is a must-listen for anyone passionate about the future of our armed forces.
Join us for future Town Halls:
https://starrs.us/
https://macarthursociety.org/
https://calverttaskgroup.org/
Amber's website: https://www.officialambersmith.com/
DOD Biography: https://www.defense.gov/About/Biographies/Biography/Article/1209223/amber-smith/
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For more information about STARRS, go to our website: https://starrs.us which monitors and exposes the CRT/DEI/Woke agenda in the Dept. of Defense and advocates a return to Merit, Equality and Integrity in the military.
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Amber, you are a great draw. We broke the triple-digit barrier in terms of numbers of attendees for the first time in our history. We thank you very much for being with us. For those of you who don't know Amber, I came to know about her when I saw an article on this book, unfit to Fight how Woke Policies are Destroying Our Military, and I said, wow, if that's not down Stars Alley, I don't know what is. So with Matt Lohmeyer's help, we got a hold of Amber and come to find out she was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Outreach and I go, wow, if that's not what StarsARS is all about. So I had a nice chat with Amber and asked her if she'd become a board of advisor members for STARRS. And she has.
Lt Gen Rod Bishop, USAF ret:But boy, she has one heck of a CV as well. Aside from writing Unfit to Fight, she's an author of Danger Close. She's flown in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army Kiowa helicopter pilot has led overseas as well. Member of the 101st member of President Trump's transition team the last time around. Amber, we're just so delighted to have you aboard and look forward to hearing what you have to share with us.
Amber Smith:Well, thank you so much for having me today. It's great to be with you guys and I appreciate the STARS mission and all the work that everybody on here has been doing. And I apologize for my voice in advance this is the best it has sounded in probably two weeks, but still giving me some problems. So, as mentioned, I recently wrote a book called Unfit to Fight how Woke Policies Are Destroying Our Military. It's for anybody that cares about freedom, the future of our country and ensuring the way of life that we all have loved and lived and want it to continue for future generations, for our kids, for our kids and really what is at risk if we don't face the reality of the state of our military and its leadership and the path that is leading it down. And I wrote this book because I have a deep respect and admiration for the military, for those who serve, and I want nothing more than to get the military back on track to a mission-centric meritocracy that is absolutely necessary to be able to accomplish the mission.
Amber Smith:Our nation is at an incredibly dangerous crossroads right now. The military, it's the backbone of our nation, of our society, it's what allows us to sleep safe in our beds at night. It deters our enemies. It's what allows us to sleep safe in our beds at night deters our enemies. It provides overwatch while we get to live the lives that we want here at home and allows our kids to grow up as free Americans. But sadly, as we all know, the military today is led by Pentagon political leadership that has put it in a downward spiral. There's a rapid decline that we are witnessing that is absolutely unprecedented. What we saw is, once that you know a lot of us have served in, was a kill your enemies machine. That was focused on was a focused meritocracy, but quickly, rather quickly, evolved into an indoctrination institution that is more focused on pronouns and identity politics than it is on accomplishing the mission. You have heard people say that the military is, and should be, a reflection of society, and that notion makes it stronger, but that could not be further from the truth. The military should not be a reflection of society, or should it be a requirement? It should be made up of young men and women who want to serve with the purpose of destroying our enemies so we can win wars and we can protect the way of life that we love, and that's it. Without a strong and focused and capable military with trustworthy leadership. We don't have a country. It's really as simple as that, and the seriousness of all of that is what led me to write my book Unfit to Fight.
Amber Smith:So I had the privilege of serving in the army for over seven and a half years. I was an OH-58 Delta Kiowa warrior pilot in command and air mission commander in the 101st Airborne Division and spent two years in the Middle East flying low-level combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our mission was unique because we flew very low level in direct support of ground units. So we provide close air support, close combat attacks, and we take out enemy targets and more. We supported the infantry and other ground units, which led us to frequently be in the thick of the fight, and I'm incredibly proud of my service. I did not join for political reasons. I joined because the nation was violently attacked and thousands of innocent unsuspecting Americans were killed in the most brutal fashion on 9-11. And then I was in college at the time and watching those towers fall lit a fire inside of me and I knew that I wanted to help protect the nation that I loved, and I'm forever proud and grateful to be within the exclusive brotherhood and sisterhood of those who have served within the exclusive brotherhood and sisterhood of those who have served. And what was really interesting was after 9-11, watching the nation unify and put our individual differences aside and witness something that we have not seen in decades now. Uh, for example, the AUMF the war authorization for Afghanistan at the time had one dissenting vote in Congress. So fast forward to today. That's pretty unimaginable in today's political climate.
Amber Smith:Sadly, though, today, as we see in the news every single day, a world war is now more realistic threats than we've seen in some time. China continues to threaten to invade Taiwan, us and Russia. Tensions increase over Ukraine almost daily. Threats from Iran and North Korea continue US foreign policies and a free fall around the world. And now what we are seeing in the Middle East? Our national debt is skyrocketing. But these threats are not just from nation states. Despite 20 years of war and trillions of dollars in the Middle East, terror groups still remain a very significant threat. Our open southern border has allowed countless terrorists into our nation, just waiting to attack, waiting for the right time. Southern border has allowed countless terrorists into our nation just waiting to attack, waiting for the right time. So that reality of a threat, of a hot war with a near peer is real, and the reality of this war would have dire consequences, and the challenges that our military would face are something that current military leadership and its force has never seen. In the past 20 years of conflict in the Middle East it's given many leaders and not just military leaders but political leaders as well an inflated ego and a false sense of security when it comes to our own military capabilities, and we're seeing that firsthand, especially with the war in Ukraine. So with these threats, you would assume that military leadership is focused on nothing more than preparing, training, readiness, effectiveness, but sadly that couldn't be farther from the truth.
Amber Smith:Wokeness has infiltrated the military and it has become a focal point. The military is focused on activities that are weakening it from the inside out and, as you know, woke is a progressive liberal ideology aimed at destroying traditional norms in every aspect of our society and our nation. But the military for some time was somewhat unassuming. It sort of flew under the radar in terms of the vast changes that it was undergoing and most people didn't assume the military was at risk for becoming woke, like other vulnerable institutions, like sort of the medical industry or the public education system, but the military recruited from red states, and so people sort of assumed that it would possibly be exempt from what some of these other institutions were facing, but in all actuality it wasn't an exception.
Amber Smith:Dei, transgender gender policies, double standards, gender quotas, these mismanaged wars, vaccine mandates, crt, critical race theory and overall woke policies, combined with toxic, failed leadership. Zero leadership, accountability has killed morale at every level in the military. It's contributed to the worst recruitment crisis since the end of the Vietnam War. There's a current ongoing retention crisis and the all-volunteer force could collapse. The only way the all-volunteer force works is if you get enough people to volunteer to serve, and we're not seeing that anymore. Young Americans they're paying attention, they're seeing these problems, they're seeing this awful leadership and they don't want to serve anymore. So more and more service members that are currently in are not staying in to make a career out of the military. They're turning down battalion commands and they're getting out as soon as their contract is up.
Amber Smith:So because of these divisive policies, there's been a significant breach of trust. Young soldiers trust their leaders. It's a blind trust to follow those who lead them. They count on them, they rely on them that they will make the best decisions for them in combat and they believe them. That trust is absolutely crucial to the commander subordinate relationship and that relationship is essential to winning battles in combat. When that relationship is taken for granted, like it currently is, that trust starts to dissipate and that effectiveness breaks down. Men and women are not going to fight for a leader that they despise or that they know. They are merely a number two. And that broken trust begins at the individual leader level, but it expands to the entire institution when a soldier sees the reality of a woke, politically driven Department of Defense and that vital trust has been severed from the COVID vaccine mandate, to the Afghanistan withdrawal, to this forced DEI indoctrination.
Amber Smith:Americans are saying no to serving in the military, as reflected in recent recruitment numbers. In 2022, the Army missed its recruitment goal for 25%. In 2023, the Army missed it by 10,000 recruits, the Navy 7,000. The Air Force 3,000. In 2023, in an annual defense survey by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation found that only 51% of Americans would recommend their families or friends to join the military. That's down drastically from 2018, when it found 70% of Americans would recommend service. Half of those surveyed pointed to so-called woke practices undermining the military's effectiveness as the issue, so that trust and confidence has rapidly eroded, within active duty, military as well, directly related to these woke policies that we've been discussing.
Amber Smith:In 2022, a poll for Heritage Think Tank asked to what degree have the following events or reports decreased your trust in the military? 71% said the withdrawal from Afghanistan. 64% said the fact that the military is pursuing an all electric vehicles. 65% said that the military being required to pay for travel for service members abortions. 69% said CRT being on the CNO's reading list. 70% said the reduction in physical fitness standards to even the playing field. 70% said focusing on climate change as a national security threat. And the top reason for losing trust in the military, at 80%, was allowing unrestricted service to transgenders.
Amber Smith:But you will never hear that truth from Pentagon brass. You hear excuses. You hear them point to the fact that only 77% of Americans are ineligible to serve. Only 23% of the population age 17 to 24 is eligible to serve because of obesity, drug use and mental and physical issues that disqualify people. This is true, but it is also not new. It has been this way for decades. What is new is that young, eligible Americans are suddenly saying no to military service. We live in an era of instant visual communication. Because of social media, people are able to see and learn about the military firsthand from people posting videos Today. I know it's hard to believe, but that is where a lot of young people are getting their information from and using to make decisions off of. They see this toxic military leadership. They hear the stories. They see these horrible, unhealthy living conditions. They saw what happened to service members with the vaccine mandates and they see senior leadership with a different set of rules than everyone else. They see these leaders who seem to be more concerned with appeasing woke politicians in DC who have a next election to win. Because of that, the military is no longer in control of the narrative.
Amber Smith:Pentagon, and this example that I'm about to give as well absolutely has been devastating to Pentagon recruitment. It has lost the veterans, which is tried and true as a method of their recruitment. That military service had almost become a family business. If someone in your close immediate family had served, you were much more likely to serve yourself, but that's not how it is anymore. The 2023 RAND report found that 54% of veterans would not recommend military service, especially in the enlisted ranks. When I interviewed recent veterans and recent retirees for my book Unfit to Fight. Not one said they would recommend service to their kids or young people in their communities. I had one that said maybe the Air National Guard once they fixed itself but that will. That fact that veterans are not recommending service anymore at a significant percentage will continue to provide devastating results to military recruitment. But you also can't expect the Pentagon to fix a problem that they refuse to acknowledge exists or the effects it has on the force.
Amber Smith:The Secretary of the Army said she does not know what woke means. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that he doesn't get the issue with critical race theory and that the Department of Defense doesn't teach it anyway, which is false, including at the academies. Others have openly embraced it General Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs. He thinks critical race theory in the military is essential and a great idea. He said he wants to learn more about white rage. Dei, gender ideology, social justice have taken a priority over mission focus and mission readiness, yet it is not being acknowledged. And all of this is a distraction from allowing those who are just trying to serve our country and accomplish the mission. Sadly, service members are being told that they're the problem. They're racist, they're sexist and even extremists. The military kicked out thousands of battle-trusted, proven combat veterans with years of experience and leadership over their refusal to take the COVID vaccine that was mandated by Secretary Austin, later rescinded in the 2023 NDAA. The military is spending your tax dollars on recruiting ads that solely appeal to the LGBTQ plus community, and it's ordered stand down days for extremism. It's lowered physical standards to ensure the retention of women and has even allowed drag queen shows on MWR facilities on military bases.
Amber Smith:Our military is not a social experiment. It should not follow the political agendas that change every two to four years. Woke policies are destroying our military from the inside out, and it has happened faster than most could believe. So this is all happening while China, russia, iran, north Korea they're all watching and learning every single day what our military is capable of and, even more important, what it is not capable of. We're seeing this decline in leadership at the Pentagon, both political leaders and generals. There has become this two-tier justice system among flag officers, where they have a different set of rules than the rank and file.
Amber Smith:The current SecDef went AWOL for a medical procedure that required anesthesia and he did not tell his boss, the commander in chief, or give command authority to his deputy while he was incapacitated during the procedure. If a private had done that, he would be fired. He would face UCMJ action and more, would face UCMJ action and more. But you saw Secretary Austin smirking during testimony on Capitol Hill because he knew there would be no accountability. There has been no accountability and there will be no accountability. 13 Americans were killed during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. General Milley called the drone strike that killed 10 Afghan civilians following the attack a righteous strike, and the Pentagon held that narrative for weeks until the New York Times investigation revealed that it wasn't a terrorist target, but rather a civilian family including seven children. There has been no accountability. General Milley also called his Chinese counterpart to tell him he would give him warning prior to a military strike. Still no accountability. We've seen generals and senior enlisted leaders get in Twitter fights with people they disagree with. It's embarrassing, it sets a horrible example and our adversaries are watching it. All this lack of accountability, culture and decline of professional standards has eroded military culture.
Amber Smith:If you look back to World War II, generals were given a few months to prove themselves to be successful on the battlefield. If not, they were fired. They were replaced. It wasn't personal, but we needed to win a war. Fast forward to Vietnam. You started to see a significant shift. The Pentagon started to view firings and replacing individual generals as a black eye to the military rather than accountability for individual performance. It was viewed as negative PR and generals began to get fired less and less. Now it is incredibly rare to see a general get fired for performance fired for performance. We still see them fired for personal conduct here and there, but rarely for performance.
Amber Smith:Just look at the post 9-11 wars. The consistent testimony on the Hill from wartime generals in charge of combat operations was that the war was going great. They just needed more time, more money and continued to paint this rosy colored picture of the war, which we know is anything but general after general, and it's hurt the force as a whole, especially because service members who were there saw it with their own eyes and then they saw the televised testimonies of their leaders saying something different. It's encouraged yes-men who knew they just need to fall in line to get promoted up the ranks rather than actually have to produce a successful in-state. But we do not need yes-men who are scared to speak the truth about what is right and tell the truth. We don't need leaders who are silenced and scared to tell the truth. Today, it seems American generals are much more focused on scheduling book interviews to bash former presidents or scheduling media appearance to increase their brand upon retirement from the military than they are actually focused on solving the current military problems, including the current recruitment and retention crisis or the department's significant inability to innovate or preparing for the next war. Sadly, that group think that yes-man mentality is what the next generation of military leaders are being taught by example. We need diversity of thought and we need leaders who can handle that, not one who focus on uniqueness and appeasement over team and mission focus. We need leaders who value merit and standards and mission success.
Amber Smith:Pentagon and military leadership need to self-reflect and they need to acknowledge that they have to reverse course. Firing generals for lack of performance must be the standard. Accountability is the way forward. Meritocracy is the way forward. Top military generals have to stop looking outwards and making excuses. Dod has to operate like a warfighting institution rather than a DC political bureaucracy. Congress plays a big role in fixing this. Congress must perform its congressional duties and provide proper oversight. They control the purse strings. It's time to exert control over the matter and start using this power. They must hold generals and political leaders accountable for these military failures, and the Pentagon must no longer be able to investigate itself and clear itself of all wrongdoing. This practice is embarrassing and the military must get out of the appeasement business.
Amber Smith:Wearing the US military is not a right and it is not a guarantee. Not everyone is qualified or should be allowed to serve. An important reminder about the military is that it is hard, it is challenging. It opens your eyes to the good, the bad and the very ugly realities of the world. But it makes you strong. It pushes you to your limits. It gives you confidence in dealing with extremely hard situations and that you're capable of more than what you could have ever imagined. It is rewarding. It gives you confidence in your abilities, your decision-making and your character. You find out exactly who you are and what you are capable of, that you will never give up on your team, regardless of the sacrifice. That is what the military gives you Discipline, structure, purpose. This is important and this is like one of the most important parts of being a trusted member of the team. The team has to be required to successfully accomplish the mission.
Amber Smith:The military isn't easy and it shouldn't be. Becoming a kinder gentler. Military is simply becoming a weaker military. A simple question that can be asked in any military context is does this make the military a stronger, more lethal fighting force capable of destroying our adversaries? If the answer is no, then it doesn't need to burden the military. Does lowering the standards for women make the military better? No, kay, we probably shouldn't do that. Does requiring taxpayers to pay for transgender service members, gender reassignment surgeries, make the military more deadly force? No, okay, probably shouldn't do that either. We should focus on war fighting. The danger of this crisis is difficult to overstate. No-transcript. Continually worried about finding themselves the focus of the wrath of the US military, we're in a perilous place, and that's exactly where we are today.
Lt Gen Rod Bishop, USAF ret:Wow, Amber, I guess you're finished All done, pending any questions.
Amber Smith:I guess you're finished, all done, pending any questions.
Lt Gen Rod Bishop, USAF ret:Well, yeah, I'd like to turn to questions specifically for you first, before we go to Lonnie, and general questions. I was noticing on the chat one of the people that had to depart called out your bravery and I would only second that. And you're just so articulate. Second that, and you're just so articulate. With your permission, I'd like to ask Cindy to carve this portion out, because it needs a wider distribution than the 128 or nine of us that we have here. So there's a number of people I know I and I'm sure a lot of other folks would like to send that to, because it's a real live experience from someone who's been there done that, and we just appreciate your words.
Amber Smith:Well, thank you so much, Appreciate it.
Lt Gen Rod Bishop, USAF ret:So I guess that's a thumbs up on. We have your permission to do that and then let's open it up, ron, and if you want to run this section to questions of Amber, we'll let that go, maybe 10 minutes or so, and then we'll turn to Lonnie to close this out with some good thought-provoking ideas that Lonnie always has. So, ron, over to you and to our populace here for questions of Amber.
Speaker 4:Okay, well, we're waiting for hands to come up. Boris Marion just published a very powerful article lately and Cindy has put the link in the chat box. The title A Serious Pentagon Must Hold a Plucking Board Very powerful and very closely aligns with your theme, amber Victor go ahead, sir.
Speaker 5:Yes, amber, I just I'm going to be very blunt. I praise God for you and for your willingness to stand in the gap. Like so many others and I, just I was spent time non-combat. I never want to step on people's, but I spent four and a half years in the 82nd Airborne Division and to hear your danger close I'm an artilleryman your danger close, willingness to support troops is just a big hooah. But how can we best support your mission? Thank you.
Amber Smith:Well, I am just so I'm noticing. I wanted to get the word out because I saw in 2022, and this sort of sparked my idea for the book itself was I saw the. I saw the at the time the Army Chief of staff testifying on the Hill about the recruitment crisis and I watched him, just like every single general during the Afghanistan war, go up there and give an answer. That was every single. That was an excuse. It was anything but the truth of why the recruitment crisis was happening, and I was like you know how today's media works. There's going to be headlines, soundbites, and people are going to hear these things and make excuses for the military when not acknowledging the real problem, and you can't fix a problem that you don't acknowledge exists. And I said I want people to know the real problems that are out there with the military right now. So that is where I decided to write the book.
Amber Smith:Now, the big thing is just continuing to get the word out, because you are seeing there is a population, especially within the veteran community, actually who are denying that wokeism exists at all in the military and they're completely downplaying it and saying you know, people are being alarmists when I take the exact opposite stance is that if you care about the military, if you care about our country, you're going to want to fix the military. You're not going to want to tell everyone to shut their mouths and deny what is going on. So I think it's important to keep the truth out there in any way that you can. So helping spread the word, helping spread it on social media talks like this, it's all important.
Speaker 4:Great Thanks, amber. Two more hands, our Stars and Stripes podcaster and host, al Bigfoot Palmer. You're up, sir.
Speaker 3:Hey, Amber, Thanks for being with us here today and as a Vietnam era combat guy, I'm proud to be here with you today. But here's my question for you and you pointed it out Flying combat, and particularly flying in the military, is a difficult and arduous task. How did you handle that? And my second part of that is how did your fellow aviators handle it?
Amber Smith:So I actually address a lot of this in my first book, danger Close, because that's more of it is a memoir about my time, especially as a young woman, in the military, and then all of my training and then into Iraq and Afghanistan. But I will also tell you that my flight instructor was a Vietnam pilot. He flew bird dogs and Hueys and he was just awesome. He was amazing. He had some incredible stories to tell and that's also what I want. I want the Vietnam War generation to tell their stories as well. So I think it's important. But my experience was a wake-up call, you could say. I grew up with two sisters and I can you still hear me?
Amber Smith:I grew up with two sisters and it was I joined the military because I wanted to serve my country and I wanted to fly after what happened on 9-11. And I knew it was going to be challenging. I knew it was going to be tough. I knew that it may be. I knew that people that I was serving with may possibly perceive me as weird or not fitting in, because I was coming.
Amber Smith:I was young. I was about 10 years younger than most. When I went to like basic training I was obviously, like, actually kind of older, but when I went to walk school and then onto flight school and then to my unit, I was about 10 years younger than, I would say, most people and so 10 years younger. I was just coming out of college as a University of Washington cheerleader and was now going to be this Kiowa helicopter pilot which, still back back in the day when um I got to my unit, was very rare to have women. So there was, uh, a female president presence in um the lift community, so Chinooks and Blackhawks, but in the patchy and the cab world it was still rare, and so, uh, they made me earn it.
Amber Smith:You know there was no handouts when I got to my unit, which is what I wanted Because, like I said, I'm the biggest advocate for merit. Do the job that everybody else can do, no special treatment, and you will earn the trust of the people that you serve with, with, and I'll I'll be the first to say that it wasn't easy, and I think a lot of people were very skeptical at first and, uh, you know, keeping my head down doing my job, doing it well, Um, and then becoming that trusted member of the team was, I think, what then, um, you know, changed my experience. It could have gone one way or the other, Um, but I learned very quickly, um, how to work with everybody in that kind of an environment.
Speaker 3:Did you, uh, did you lose anybody over there?
Amber Smith:I did yes, one of my. Uh, I did yes, one of my. Well, yeah, we lost a couple of people and I and the Kiowa's mission is different. Are you familiar with the Kiowa? Yeah, I am, yeah, so a lot of people aren't. It's like, for some reason, this mystery aircraft that most people, even army people sometimes, I feel like aren't the infantry guys, the guys on the ground, that most people, even army people, sometimes I feel like aren't the infantry guys, the guys on the ground, like usually are very well familiar with it.
Amber Smith:But the Kiowa it's a light attack reconnaissance aircraft. It only has two seats. We carry a 50 cal machine gun, a rocket pod that carries seven high explosive rockets, and then we can also be configured to carry four hellfire missiles, depending on your configuration. We fly very low level, 50 feet above the ground, 300 feet at night, and that's only to avoid power lines and cell towers, different sort of man-made hazards. But so we are very much in the thick of the fight.
Amber Smith:I had an AK-47 round land about 12 inches behind my spine when my aircraft got shot up in Iraq. It's like Kiowa pilots, it's just we go and fly into firefights. That's literally what our job is is to go, then provide close air support for the infantry, for convoys, for anybody that's in trouble on the ground. We come in and we take out enemy targets for them. So we, you know, always prided ourselves on being able to respond, like the fact that our aircraft was sort of old technology and not that sophisticated like an Apache, where it was very digital and had you had to took 30 minutes to crank it.
Amber Smith:Um, we could run from the time we got a call If we weren't already in the air we could be in the air in seven minutes and only need a call sign, a grid and a frequency to get to where we were going and and help those guys out on the ground. So it was a very it was a very cool aircraft. That I'm very grateful. I almost, if you read my book Danger Close, it was like fate that sort of shifted me to the Kiowa versus a different aircraft. But I'm so grateful I got to have that experience because I would have had a very different experience if I hadn't got to fly that aircraft.
Speaker 3:And the tough part about that is, after getting shot or even losing somebody, go back to your quarters, go to sleep and then get up and do it again the next day.
Amber Smith:Yep, it certainly is, and yeah, it's crazy and it was like I always and it was like I always. I knew the look on someone's face when they were coming to tell me that you know, someone had been killed, whether it was a result of, like, enemy fire, we also lost people because of maintenance, because of those hazards that I told you about. So it was a very, very dangerous job. Um, I, I, in Iraq too, my roommate actually, um, was out on a mission, you know, and I I had somebody she got, she got shot during a firefight through her leg, through her ankle actually, and so, yeah, somebody knocks on the door and tells you and it's, yeah, it's. It's hard for people that have to relay that information, but I also think you know they have, they have a look on their face that you learn when they come to give you that information.
Speaker 3:Well, thanks so much, amber, for being with us here today, and can we get you on one of my podcasts?
Amber Smith:Sure, yeah, you can just get my email from everybody. I'll send it and then we'll connect.
Speaker 3:We'll do it, thank you.
Speaker 4:Well, amber, I can tell you, having some time in the Kiowa when I was a forward air controller in West Germany, pilots pride themselves on you know good hands and whatever. Yeah, pilots pride themselves on you know good hands and whatever.
Amber Smith:But that Kiowa requires some real coordination with the anti-torque pedal and whatever it's the last helicopter that required piloting and I know some people are going to get really mad at me for saying that.
Amber Smith:No, but it is true because it is like it's the oldest aircraft. But it is true because it is like it's the oldest aircraft, if, if, um, and if, if you paid attention to it, to the progress of them trying to do the replacements, it was a uh, it it was 30 years they've been trying to replace it and then they finally ended up, uh, just retiring it completely, but it was. You still had to wiggle the sticks and the pedals and all of the other like models of the aircraft that the army had. And I say that talking about the army too, because I know army aviation and the other ones were continuing to advance with technology and we still had all the old technology that's still required. Like if you lost hydraulics, you know, you had to really muscle it, which was an emergency procedure. So it didn't happen that often, but it was um, that's what they say.
Speaker 4:Yeah, amen to that. Okay, we've got some more hands up. Uh, the honorable Fred Rice, you're up, sir.
Speaker 8:There we go. Uh, thank you very much. Uh uh, amber, I really enjoyed your talk. Um, I've got a little bit in common with you. My son was a cobra pilot and you talk about when you have to fly. You really have to fly those things yeah, and I wonder, did you ever, uh, fly with somebody by the name of holly mitchell?
Amber Smith:no, I don't think so.
Speaker 8:I'm wondering if you may have bumped into my son while you were in the 101st. He was a division aviation officer there. Maybe I was in.
Amber Smith:There were two aviation cabs in the 101st and I was in the 101st, airborne in the cab, and then there was 159th as well, so there was two different brigades.
Speaker 8:He was the division aviation officer.
Amber Smith:Oh, okay, he was a major I was a lowly warrant officer, so I never got to probably meet those guys.
Speaker 8:Okay, well, let me tell you I read your book as soon as I heard about it and I really really enjoyed it. Right after I read your book, I also read Pete Hegses' book, which kind of attacks the same problem, but he comes at it from a much different point of view. He comes at it from the political side of it A lot more politics than yours. I think yours was much more aimed at the gut and aimed at the real nut of the problem, so to speak, because you don't pull any punches on it. Of course he doesn't either, but it's in a different way.
Speaker 8:But I think you've started an extremely important movement and I hope you will help to join this movement to get former military officers such as are on this call, right here, to speak out and make their voice heard. It's hard hitting stuff like you're doing that gets out into wide print. That is going to do a lot more than all of the guest appearances on, even if it's on Fox. Not enough Democrats read Fox to convert them. But I think people who have sons and daughters in the military will really feel something from your book. So I want to congratulate you on having written it. I think you did a great job with it and I hope we get Trump elected.
Speaker 4:Thank, you Thanks, fred. Okay, one more, matthew Nugent, and then we'll hand it back to General Bishop.
Speaker 9:Thank you, amber. Great job. Thanks for your courageous service. Real deal. I'm on the board of the MacArthur Society. We're in the fight with you, rod Ron. It was great, great idea to have this. So I want to tell you, amber, my daughter is a sophomore at West Point and she is a hard charger. She wants to be in the thick of battle, just like you shared with us. What advice would you give to a young female willing to serve in the combat space?
Amber Smith:Well, I want to. I know a lot of women don't like to hear this or acknowledge this as reality, but it is very much the reality that you have to as a young female. You have to prove yourself Like I'm not kidding. It took me years. I feel like to be able to admit that that's what you have to prove yourself Like I'm not kidding. It took me years. I feel like to be able to admit that that's what you have to do, but that's actually what you do.
Amber Smith:People are going to be judging you more harshly than your peers and you may not like it at first, but you can complain and get upset about it or you can ignore it and do your job and get really good at your job and stay focused and move forward. So I would say stay above the drama, because it is going to come for you, and be very professional. Be so good at your job that when that, when the dramatic people and the naysayers come for you which they will be so good at your job that it's not going to matter what they say and she'll have those experiences. I will also say the military is a different place than when I served, but be the best that she absolutely can at her job and people will take her seriously. People will respect her professionalism and will include her and trust her as a member of the team If, like I said, she stays above um uh, above the naysayers and the traumatic people.
Speaker 9:I look forward to sharing this be lots of stories for you. I look forward to sharing this interview with her. Thank you.
Amber Smith:Thank you so much. Best of luck to her as well.
Speaker 4:Great. Thank you, General B, back to you sir.
Lt Gen Rod Bishop, USAF ret:Hey, thanks, Ron and Amber. You'll be a tough one to top in the future, Believe me. Thank you so much for joining us.
Amber Smith:Well, thank you for having me. It was Thank you so much for joining us. Well, thank you for having me. It's great to be on with you.
Speaker 4:guys are doing great work, all of you, so thank you, jim Wyman had his hand up the last time. Jim, you go first.
Speaker 6:Well, first I want to thank you for excellent talk and very deep and inspirational. My question is do you regard a difference between, say, combat courage or the courage to enter the military and social courage, because you seem to exhibit both.
Amber Smith:I think they're probably two separate things. In combat, you train before, hopefully, you are going into war and you train and train and train. And then you go and have been putting my thoughts and analysis and opinions out there for some time now Some of them popular, some of them very unpopular be confident in what you're saying and what you believe in and what message you are delivering and stand by it. So I think that it requires courage because in today's social media world, you know, you know there's going to be the haters out there. Everybody loves to um come after you no matter what.
Amber Smith:And, uh, I think you just have to not care in all honesty, like you have to believe in um, your message, and not care about what and maybe I did learn this from, like, my time in the military is not it's noise right, like people who are telling you you're wrong or that they don't like what you have to say about something. It's noise, it's a distraction and stay focused on what it is, that, whatever message it is that you're delivering. And some people like to get involved in the weeds and talk back and forth, especially on social media. I'm not one of those people. I'm not ever going to argue with you to change your own mind. I'm going to tell you what I believe and why, and if you choose not to, then I personally like, okay, I'm not there, we go like okay, I'm not there, we go.
Speaker 7:Great thanks, amber. Going back to the previous question about courage and I think it's a superb question and that's why I raised my hand as I used to teach at the National Law College, clausewitz, writing in the 19th century during the Napoleonic Wars, said Courage is of two kinds. One is the courage in the face of physical danger that every veteran, every warrior, every first responder demonstrates by running toward the fire, not away from the fire, which is the human instinct of self-preservation. Clausewitz teaches that that physical courage is the lesser kind of courage, that the more important courage is the courage to accept responsibility, and that is what you spoke about as social courage. He calls it the courage to accept responsibility. And that courage you measure not in battle but at the tribunal of your own conscience, meaning you are able to look yourself in the mirror and say I did my best not to allow evil to happen to my country, whether it's in uniform or it's by speaking out and by volunteering Over.
Speaker 4:Great. Thank you, dr Katz. All right, general B looks like we had a great workout today.
Lt Gen Rod Bishop, USAF ret:Over to you to close it out. Yeah, good prep for our four hours on Wednesday. Really appreciated the last discussion and, al, your comments about the American people. Remember our line of efforts since the beginning the court of public opinion, of course. We have a bevy of outstanding lawyers in the halls of Congress. That's our focus and when we first started and thank you because your podcast is a big part of that court of public opinion, you know what we're talking about.
Lt Gen Rod Bishop, USAF ret:In Lonnie's last remarks went to, you know, marketing, our ideas, our ideas are some of are certainly aligned with some of the most amazing thoughts that man has ever thought the founding father's vision. And when we first got started in the stars, we had a company, had a company which aligned with us or advised us. And, lonnie, it goes to your point about stories. They said you, everybody, needs to have a PhD. You need to PhD this personalized, humatize and dramatize, and I guess that's a great segue for me to thank amber for doing that for us today, uh, and for for your thoughts and everybody else for what you're doing out there. Uh, thanks to all. And uh, maybe ron, we should look at these combined uh meetings in the future and just kind of pass around. Uh, you know who's hosting them because, uh, I don't know whose idea it was, but I thought it was, you know, our best town hall. Good Thanks, everybody.
Speaker 4:I'll take the blame for it.