GRP 80-Memorial Day in Mosul: A Special Forces Veteran Returns to Iraq

Global Recon

GRP 80- Memorial Day has a special place in American culture. It's a day we honor those who were killed in action during all wars fought by this country. Memorial Day is observed as a federal holiday, but there are men and women to which every day is Memorial Day. We have a special episode for this week with Special Forces veteran and co-founder of Raise The Black Bryan Myers who came on to the podcast with us while he's in Mosul, Iraq. Bryan spent his Memorial Day going back to a place where him and many of his American and Iraqi teammates fought and died fighting against Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and now ISIS. He went to connect with the Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) to bring resources and help with the refugees, help with the families of the fallen, and meet with ISOF Commanders to further discuss the expansion of the role of Raise the Black in Iraq. We talked about unconventional warfare, some of the histories of it behind the region of the middle east. Below is an excerpt: Bryan Myers: I spent Memorial Day this year trying to do something positive and to honor the guys. I left camp here and headed up to one of the screening points for the refugees. It's a place where they come in after being checked for suicide bombs, unfortunately, its a tactic ISIS has used. I went to see what they needed. Ran an assessment to see where I can help. Handed out candy to the kids. You can see the pain in these people's eyes, and you get that moment of happiness in showing that love and respect. I was with ISOF at the front lines for the rest of the day. It's my way to honor the men of ISOF who died fighting, and the men of B 2 3 (Green Berets). My first trip to Afghanistan I was the Charlie that started the groundwork for Firebase Sweeny. It built into this huge base that was meant to disrupt Taliban movement from Pakistan into Afghanistan. After the deployment on our way out the villages, the women and children were coming out and clapping and waving. The way we messed up in Afghanistan was at first we made them work for the help we gave them. We built them wells but we needed help identifying the Taliban who were rocketing us. We impacted the area so well. People would legit point Taliban guys out right in front of us. "Hey, that guy over there he's Taliban". Eventually, villages started getting things without earning them. Global Recon: www.globalrecon.net IgRecon – Instagram BlackOpsMatter- Instagram Mission_Critical – Instagram IgRecon- Twitter Bryan Myers: www.Raisethe.black www.WIMCF.org Instagram- Raise_th_Black Instagram-The_Bearded_Bryan Chantel Taylor: Instagram: Mission_Critical Facebook: Battleworn Music provided by Caspian: www.caspianmusic.net --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/globalrecon/support