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In this compelling episode, John Rush welcomes Matthew McWhorter, who shares his remarkable transition from a hard-line atheist upbringing to embracing Christianity after surviving cancer and a heart attack. Listen as Matthew discusses the insights gained from his journey of faith, including his extensive research into the authenticity of the Bible as an attorney. This episode is a heartfelt exploration of how personal trials can lead to a deeper understanding of life and faith.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 16 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 04 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 16 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did.
SPEAKER 01 :
Get a job first. You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 02 :
Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 09 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, we are back. Hour number three, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Myself, Andy Pate, and our next guest, Matthew McWhorter, is with us. Matthew, welcome. How are you? Very good. Thanks for having me. Happy to be on. No, we appreciate it. And a little back story. I wanted you to be on. Andy’s with me on Tuesdays and Fridays, and I wanted you to be. We always have a fun day on Fridays. We do movies and other stuff, so we kind of get rid of all the politics and all the rest of the stuff that we normally do and have a lot of fun on Fridays. So I wanted you to be here on a Tuesday with Andy because you and Andy have similar stories other than Andy didn’t stop being an atheist because of a near-death experience. You just kind of did that through other means.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, bottom line, I converted myself out of atheism into Christianity when I was around, I don’t know, 20-ish, 18, 19, 20. And it was just reason. I was actually raised, long story short, in a hard-left atheist family, and I became the only Christian.
SPEAKER 10 :
There you go. Yeah, very similar story. I had been raised in just an uninterested family. We didn’t talk about religion or care about it. And my name’s Matthew Mark, though, so when I had my medical problems, I read the books I was named after and started exploring Christianity and the whole case for Christ and whether or not it’s really true.
SPEAKER 06 :
Did you even bother with Luke and John or just ignore those?
SPEAKER 10 :
I moved on to them eventually. Oh, okay. You know, they’re clearly second-rate. They are second-rate.
SPEAKER 18 :
I mean, obviously, obviously. Hey, now, I’m a John, so be careful there, guys. They were put in for people like John. Be careful, be careful. Okay, so talk about the medical, you know, your major medical problem that got you looking in the first place. What happened?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I discovered, I think it was October, that I had cancer. So they made a plan to operate and save me from the cancer. And in between discovering that and the operation, I had what’s called a widowmaker heart attack. So in addition to being extremely lucky to survive the heart attack, but then it complicated the cancer and everything else. So it was quite a scare for somebody who had been healthy his whole life up until then.
SPEAKER 06 :
How old were you at that time?
SPEAKER 10 :
42, I think, 43, I think, 42 when I had cancer and 43 when a heart attack, so it was right around my birthday.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, that’s scary. How did it affect you?
SPEAKER 10 :
You know, I wasn’t all that affected at the time. I was a very shallow thinker, so it was sort of like, eh, whatever, you know. It was only sort of later afterwards that it’s like, well, like I said, it’s kind of a bucket list thing of like, well, life might not be as long as I thought it was going to be. And then once I got into Christianity, etc., I realized how shallow I was, right? That I should have been concerned about a whole lot of things that I wasn’t concerned about.
SPEAKER 06 :
What did you think about Christians before then? I know I was more of a philosophical guy. It sounds like you guys didn’t look too much at religion, but what did you think about those Christians?
SPEAKER 10 :
I had nothing against them, but I thought of it as just something that you choose to do on Sundays. Like some people play golf, some people go to church. And, you know, I didn’t take their beliefs seriously or think there was anything to them or anything of the sort. Did you commit your life to golf? Yeah, I did not. Oh, okay, just checking.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 18 :
And I should also mention, too, your book, Canon Crossfire, does the Protestant Bible blow up in the case for Christianity? And I should just ask, you know, quickly, when did you write that book, and is it available, and how do people buy it?
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s available right now. It was part of how I came into this journey. It’s basically understanding that there’s two questions that I had to answer at the same time. One is, what is the right Bible? And number two is, is Christianity true? And so I had to look at both of those, and that’s what the analysis is. It’s available at my website, canoncrossfire.com, or on Amazon. And, you know, every Protestant who’s read the book has liked it. It is a piece of scholarship about who has the right Bible.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay. So when you’re an attorney, so I’m assuming you looked at some of these things in a very case-oriented type basis, or am I wrong in saying that?
SPEAKER 10 :
Totally, 100%. And that’s where I think I was somewhat an unusual background of reading myself into this, dealing with both questions at the same time, and being an attorney, a retired attorney, willing to do the work. And so what I did was a lot of research that no one had ever done into what exactly… We have a standard of proof in the case for Christianity, and the question is, what is the evidence for these books that the Catholics accept and the Protestants don’t, and how does that measure up to that standard?
SPEAKER 18 :
Interesting.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, before even looking at Catholic and Protestant, what got you to look at Christ? And what I mean is this. What put you over the top? What made it so you finally said, you know what? My goodness, this isn’t just a study. This is real. This happened. This is really God. I can really be saved. I can really live forever. And all of that. What put you over the top? What was the reason?
SPEAKER 10 :
It really is the case for Christ. Do we have good evidence that he rose from the dead? And there are a number of lawyers, Simon Greenleaf and Lionel LeCoultre named two famous lawyers, and a lot of pastors will tell you lawyers convert more often than other professions. It’s looking at the four Gospels and saying, gee, this looks just like eyewitness testimony to me, and then wondering whether that really is the case and what the proof is, etc. But Lawyers are familiar with the idea that if four people tell a story and everything matches, they’re lying. Other people seem to think that these little discrepancies and little things that are in the differences in between the Gospels are signs that it’s not true. But to a lawyer, no, that’s actually what eyewitness testimony looks like.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right, because they didn’t coordinate their stories. In other words, they just told their stories, but they do work together.
SPEAKER 18 :
Like people watching an accident, right?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, exactly. Seeing it from different angles. Really quick here.
SPEAKER 10 :
If your mom and your dad disagree about some story from your childhood, why would you expect four witnesses to Christ all agree? It doesn’t make sense. I agree, fully, absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, if mom and dad disagree, dad is wrong. Just saying, that’s my theological position. But okay, what about the fact that you had these people who are eyewitness accounts, but also that they were willing to be literally tortured to death? Absolutely. Absolutely. And they did it.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely, and they did it over four different times. It wasn’t like they were all tortured and killed at the same time. They knew what was coming, and they continued to preach it, which is a very different level of believing something, right?
SPEAKER 18 :
How long did that journey take you to where you finally decided, you know what, wow, I’ve been enlightened. I’ve now seen some things I didn’t realize were even there. I kind of poo-pooed all of this up until now. To your point earlier, you really kind of looked at it like, yeah, these are things people do on Sundays just like they go play golf. How long did it take you to come to the realization that, oh my word, all this stuff is real?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, it took several years because I did a lot of background research and stuff just to make sure, and it also sort of came in phases. Like, you know, I was so clueless, I didn’t even realize you have to go to church. So I think I was kind of a Christian in name only in that I was believing it but thinking, oh, I’ll never go to church. Why would I do that? But then over time, you keep reading and you start realizing why you have to. But yeah, it sort of developed.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Sorry, I keep jumping in right when I think you’re done. I’m so sorry about that. What did you give up? Okay, I’m just going to tell you a long story short once again. I basically lost my family and all my past to become a Christian. I was raised in the hard left corner. And I don’t say that in any kind of bitterness. I say that feeling bad because it was very hard on my family. Was it hard on some of your loved ones when you went through this transition, or were they very accepting?
SPEAKER 10 :
They were more accepting. I had a brother who had become Protestant years before me, but I had left home. Okay. you know, wasn’t part of that or anything like it. But that sort of softened it, I think, a little bit. The thing on my end was I had retired, you know, and I had plans for my retirement and all that sort of thing. And then all of a sudden I’m up to my eyeballs in a church and writing a book and out there preaching and doing stuff. So I’d say that’s more of what I never imagined I would be doing. You didn’t give up anything for that.
SPEAKER 18 :
You gained.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. Oh, totally. But if you’re looking at it from the atheist perspective… I suppose. I suppose.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, so the website is canoncrossfire.com. I’ll put that in my notes. And again, I wanted to have you on with Andy here because I figured you two would relate, which you have. And I, Matthew, I appreciate your time and just what you’re doing and what you’re still doing right now for the body. I appreciate it greatly. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it. You’re very welcome, Matthew. You have a great rest of your day. And yeah, I wanted to have him on just with you, Andy, because I knew that that would…
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and I did not know this was coming, folks. I had no idea. John likes to spring these things on me. He seems like a heck of a guy. I like him.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I appreciate him greatly. So Flesh Law coming up next. Speaking of attorneys, we’ve got our own Kevin Flesh. You can call him right now, 303-806-8886.
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SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 04 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Okay, this is making some waves today. Okay. And since Andy used to be in the military, I thought, again, this was fitting for him being here today.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, you’re talking the big speech to the generals.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, me playing this would be very fitting to have Andy on with me and… I’ve heard and watched so many different opinions on not only this speech, but just what Pete Hegseth is doing inside of the whole military end of things right now. And by the way, I don’t agree with most of what’s being said.
SPEAKER 06 :
About him, you mean?
SPEAKER 18 :
Against him.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, I thought you meant by him. No, against him. Yeah, before you play it, can I just say this? Pete Hegseth is one of my big-time man crushes. This guy’s great. I think he’s great. I think he was an awesome choice for the job.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, so let me play what he actually is saying, too. This is an address to top generals and admirals, but frankly, he is saying what I think a lot of us myself included, have been thinking for decades now, and I mean that literally decades. Let me play it.
SPEAKER 19 :
It’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world. It’s a bad look. It is bad, and it’s not who we are. So whether you’re an airborne ranger or a chair-borne ranger, A brand new private or a four-star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards and pass your PT test. And as the chairman said, yes, there is no PT test. But today, at my direction, every member of the joint force at every rank is required to take a PT test twice a year. As well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year. Every year of service.
SPEAKER 18 :
Really quick, did he just do an ad for Ozempic?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, he did. Sorry, sorry.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yes, he did.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, but I know part of what he’s doing is just coming against the entire woke culture. He is. But let me tell you something else, John. He is speaking, and he has always been, a voice of the troops at the generals. Yep. He’s not done. I’ve got more to play. I know, but let me just say this. There are a lot of people in the troops, and I was in the military. We would look at our generals. We understood age wins. We get that, but they’d be totally out of shape, and we’re running our laps, and we’re kind of thinking, you know, guys, you can at least represent a little bit. Yeah, I agree. Okay, keep going. I agree.
SPEAKER 19 :
Also, today, at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to do PT every duty day. Should be common sense. Most units do that already. But we’re codifying it. And we’re not talking like hot yoga and stretching. Real hard PT, either as a unit or as an individual. At every level, from the joint chiefs to everyone in this room to the youngest private, leaders set the standard. And so many of you do this already. active, guard, and reserve. This also means grooming standards. No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression. We’re gonna cut our hair, shave our beards, and adhere to standards. Because it’s like the broken windows theory of policing. It’s like when you let the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes. So you have to address the small stuff. This is on duty, in the field, and in the rear. If you want a beard, you can join special forces. If not, then shave. We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans. But unfortunately, we have had leaders who either refused to call BS and enforce standards, or leaders who felt like they were not allowed to enforce standards. Both are unacceptable. And that’s why today at my direction, the era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos. The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done. Simply put, if you do not meet the male level physical standards for combat positions, cannot pass a PT test, or don’t want to shave and look professional, it’s time for a new position.
SPEAKER 18 :
In other words, go find something else to do.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
I’m okay with that, by the way.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, part of the reason he can do this is because their recruitment levels are through the roof. Right. You see, when you got plenty of people coming in, John, you can get pickier. You can get a lot pickier. By the way, I’m for it. And let me tell you something. A lot of these people who are coming into the military right now are pretty muscled up young guys. OK, and they are competitive. When I was in the military, you know, here at Lowry, probably two, three times a week, me and a bunch of it was a training base for all four branches and me, a bunch of guys, you know, from the Marines and Navy and so forth in the army. We would all play basketball. you know, for long lunch times.
SPEAKER 18 :
Sure, sure.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, let me tell you something, John. These guys were in shape. I was in shape, okay?
SPEAKER 18 :
Which, by the way, I would hope, given the fact that I’m paying for you to defend our country, my rights, and so on, my freedoms, I want you in shape, Andy.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I remember a guy, David Martinez. He was Sergeant Andy Pate, Sergeant Dave Martinez, and we were in the same area. Both of us would have laughed at this speech. we’d have been like, what do you think we do already, man? Right. Bring it. And there’s probably others that are doing the same thing.
SPEAKER 18 :
Then we’d go hit the weights. On the same token, there’s probably some leadership inside of the armed forces right now that are saying, oh, crap.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
Where is that Ozempic?
SPEAKER 06 :
I had a chaplain, Chaplain Larson. He would love this. Chaplain Larson, he was also in the weight room, and he was running laps. Look, most of the people in the military are in very good shape. I’m going to say that. The military, on average, is in far better physical condition than civilians. But… They have let this woke, lower standard creep its way into the military. It’s got to go. I agree with everything he’s saying.
SPEAKER 18 :
Fully agree. I hope, again, I want him to continue this. Now, here’s a question.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
If another administration comes in, does this change or how would that work out?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, obviously not if it’s one of our administrations, because I’m still the belief that Vance and Rubio are going to be taking over in 28. But obviously when a Democrat goes in, yeah, this all goes to hell.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay. Yes. Okay. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I hope that doesn’t happen for a while either, you know, because that would be really bad. I don’t know, John. Like I said, I was in many years ago, of course. I’m an old guy. But the physical standards back then, and we had women in the military. Guess what? They could run laps. They were tough. Okay. And nowadays, I look at some of these military members, and I’m just like, look. John, for a lot of people who don’t know this, because a lot of people don’t know this, you could be somebody who’s a pencil pusher like I was in the military. But all of us knew that at any moment we could be mobilized and put into combat with an M16. And if you’re in combat with an M16, God help you if you’re not strong enough to pull somebody out of the fire.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right, right. Okay, so moving along. Yeah, go ahead. I got a text message a second ago from a good friend of mine, which I won’t name names because I don’t want to have anybody throw him under the bus, but I don’t think anybody would. I think most people are going to agree with this. Now let’s do the same with our police force.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I got to be honest, most of the cops that I see in Aurora are pretty ripped.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 06 :
But they all should be.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, thank you. That’s not all forces, unfortunately.
SPEAKER 06 :
Like that, yeah. The other day, Saturday, we had, now this was the campus cops. Right. But I’m going to tell you, for the most part, they were in good shape. That young lady I told you, she had very intensely dyed red hair like these young kids do. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER 18 :
Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
She was in good shape. Okay. She can handle herself. I can tell.
SPEAKER 18 :
Unfortunately, that’s not the majority of what I see. That’s not all of them.
SPEAKER 06 :
No.
SPEAKER 18 :
No. And I wish we’d get now, you know, government entities, cities, counties, sheriff’s departments, and so on, that would start looking at this in very much the same way that, hey, you know what, guys? I get it. We’ve been a little sloppy in our, you know, regiments, if you would, in regards to health and weight and PT and so on.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, what do you think about, because a lot of the newbies are in pretty good shape, okay, a lot of the newbies. But what do you think about the ones who have been riding behind a desk for too long and the belly has gotten too big? What happens if they do have to go out? Now, don’t get me wrong. They’re not going to be going out there busting perps because they got young people to do that, but they’re still a cop. And they are still setting the standard.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, thank you. You took the words out of my mouth. I think you have to look at that, and it’s a leadership lesson. It’s the old monkey see, monkey do end of things. Are you looking the part, whether you’re out in the field or not, when those guys come and go from the station, even those underlings, when they show up and – they’re dropping off their paperwork or they’re doing this or they’re doing that or you’re all you know going to an event together or whatever the case may be some of you even work off duty together what image are you giving the rest of those folks by how you are right and nobody’s saying that we all have to look like michael jordan no no no i’m not saying that yeah like saying that like i always talk about you know once again the uh black tech sergeant big mike i called him who changed my life who was over me
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, Big Mike, he wasn’t the thinnest guy. Okay. But if I had arm wrestled him, he would have thrown me through a wall.
SPEAKER 18 :
And I’m okay. By the way, he’s a wonderful Christian. I’m okay with a guy having a few extra pounds. But, Andy, I want that guy or that gal to be able to run down that perp.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and Big Mike, I wouldn’t want to face him in combat.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, Eric’s got a comment. We’ll come back and talk to him. Hang tight, Eric. We’ll get you as soon as we come back. Roof Savers of Colorado coming up next. And again, folks, don’t forget, you can rejuvenate your current roof, therefore extending the life of, in a lot of cases, helping you when it comes to your insurance policy as well. Talk to Dave today. Find out how that works. 303-710-6916.
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SPEAKER 17 :
Stay up to date with Rush to Reason after the show on Twitter at Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, we are back. Eric, you’re next. Go ahead, Eric. Hey, John. How are you doing today? I’m good, sir. Welcome. Glad to hear from you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. No, it’s just kind of crazy because Andy’s talking about the fitness and lack thereof. As you know, I was Army. I got out in 95. I was 165 pounds. I’m up to 175. you know, five pounds in all those years. Wow. You slob. I go, I tell you, I have just lost it. I go in on the bait. I go in on, on Schriever or Pete. I get on some of these ops floors and it’s like, I’ve got a platter gut in a bigger chest than a lot of these other chair force guides. And that’s what I was. I was army space, you know, and, and, Here I am. I’m one year younger than you, John. I’m 60 just this month, September. And I look more fit than a lot of these guys. Way to go.
SPEAKER 18 :
Eric, I’m glad you’re calling in, by the way, because you’re a living testament to what we’re talking about. I’m not trying to be mean or rude or anything along those lines, but my wife and I at times, we’ll comment. We’ll see, not necessarily military, but we’ll see somebody police force-wise, and it’s like, You know, Eric, I can outrun that person, and I’m a 61-year-old guy with a bad back. I mean, at the end of the day, I shouldn’t be outrunning anybody, and I want them to for sure be able to outrun me and the perp they’re chasing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Is that wrong? Well, no, that’s not wrong. You know, matter of fact, just this Saturday, I was up at Silverthorne, and I set out and I did four hours solid hiking up and over a mountain, went to Lilypad Lake, on over, back down to almost 570, came back up and over with very minimal resting.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, Eric, you’re a fitness nut, but let me ask you this, okay? When you were in the Army, what kind of shape was your superiors in?
SPEAKER 18 :
Good question.
SPEAKER 03 :
Most of mine were darn good shape. That doesn’t surprise me. It’s kind of funny because even as, you know, like I said, I was Army space. We had enough who would be guys that, you know, that even we had a guy, a sergeant, smoked like somebody just set an ashtray or something on fire, trash can on fire. That guy could outrun almost everybody. And it’s like, how can you even run with as much as you smoke? It’s just like, I just do it. I just keep going.
SPEAKER 06 :
That amazes me.
SPEAKER 03 :
That amazes me. Yeah, oh, it truly blew my mind that he could do so well.
SPEAKER 06 :
What really blew my mind, Eric, when I was in the military was, look, I was surrounded by a lot of people who were generally in really great shape, but let me tell you something. When the weekend came, they could down a few bottles.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Let me tell you something. You didn’t want to keg next to these guys, and you wonder, how do they drink that much and still be in shape? And then you see them a couple mornings later out there running laps. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, we had a few people like that, not so much in the space sector, but, you know, we did have a few guys. And, yeah, it was always like you would expect them to be fat from all the beer they were drinking, and they weren’t, you know. I guess they just did enough PT to burn it off and turn it into muscle.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, that was the case with us. Go ahead, John.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, so question for you, and Andy and I were talking about this during the break, so I wanted to mention this on air, though. Eric, when you look at other countries, because we’re talking military, not police and fire and all that. We’re just talking the military right now. When you look at other countries and what they’re putting up for their infantrymen and their jet fighter pilots and, and, and, and even, by the way, some of their upper echelon generals and so on, I see a distinct difference from us. Am I wrong in that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, no, no. You know, I went over to South Korea before I got out, and their average guy put some of our best to shame. You know, just because, among other things, they live to threat Davis.
SPEAKER 18 :
Correct. Correct.
SPEAKER 03 :
Every day they’re at risk. Correct. Very true.
SPEAKER 18 :
And by the way, that’s a great point, and I’m not taking that lightly. On the same token, though, and you and Andy both would agree with me here, I’m sure, we are supposed to be the elite of the elite of the elite. You know, we have the best fighting machines, the best warfare, you know, the best of everything, Eric. So shouldn’t our people be the same?
SPEAKER 03 :
Our people should be. Our people should be. To a degree, we have gotten complacent, depending upon…
SPEAKER 06 :
uh our equipment instead of yep thank you you took the words out of my out of my mouth we’re relying too much on technology not enough on the actual quote-unquote grunt work well yeah and really quick here eric and i want to ask your opinion because i think ben shapiro makes a good point he says modern day americans can’t handle a war that’s more than 35 seconds long They start immediately turning on it and saying, when are you going to get us out of this war? When are you going to get us out? Back when I was in the military, we basically felt physically, man, I’ve got to be able to move like a cat if I’m going to be taken up to the front lines. Even though I’m just a computer guy, pencil pusher, they may put an M-16 in my hands and put me out there. I don’t want to be an easy target. Great point. And nowadays, I don’t think any of these kids expect to really be in combat unless they are, you know, paratroopers or so forth.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and that’s just it. Like I said, I go on these air bases, they’re now Space Force bases. And these people are, well, I specifically signed up for Air Force because I’m not going to have to go to the field. Yeah, your average Air Force doesn’t. But I guarantee there are… The people that are going down to South America on drug interdiction and other stuff, they’ll put any Army Ranger to competition. They do the Siri training. They do all of that. They’re not to be laughed at.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, they’re not.
SPEAKER 18 :
Amazing. Again, my point was, and I want to make sure I mentioned it, is we are up against all of these other nations, and frankly, I feel we should be setting the stage for all of that and not being outranked. That’s not the right word, I know, but you get what I’m saying there. I don’t want to be outdone by another country, Eric.
SPEAKER 03 :
I fully agree. My oldest boy, he’s a Marine. God only knows why. I haven’t figured that one out.
SPEAKER 18 :
Raised him wrong. That’s all right. That’s awesome. Well, tell him thank you, by the way. Thank you as well, Eric. Every time you call in, I appreciate it, man. I learned so much from you. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, the thing is, he’s a smart guy, and he’s climbed rank. He’s going to pin on his D6, which for a Marine is good. He looks at all the different forces and their reserves, and he just shakes his head.
SPEAKER 18 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
He says, you know, I admire Marine Corps Reserve because they actually get out there and they keep training and they stay in shape. And, you know, whereas you look at Army Reserve, Army National Guard, and some of those people are more roly-poly than… yeah anything else yeah yeah good point and uh good point no you know but yeah no it just it just bugs me oh and then you know you were talking on you know about the announcement you know you’re going to be clean shaved my marine and i rolled up to buckley to go you know get him some new new pt shoes and stuff while he was in town And the security guy, security forces guy, had a full beard. And here I’m handing my civilian credentials, showing that I’m a contractor and, you know, his Marine credentials. And, you know, my boy’s just like, what’s that? And I said, very disgustedly, where the security guard could hear it, that’s the new standards.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hmm.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, are you sure it was a guy? I mean, we still have some Biden effects. I’m just kidding.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. I have run into a few of those on some of the bases.
SPEAKER 18 :
Wow. Amazing. Eric, as always, man, I appreciate it. Thanks for all you do. Tell your son the same. Very well. All right, man. Appreciate you very much. John and Cheyenne, go for it, sir.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey guys. So I was laughing when I was listening, uh, Secretary Hegsat, because everything he said was what I lived for 11 and a half years. You know, we got up. I was a Bradley mechanic, which means I was in a Mech Infantry Battalion. And our battalion commander said, no, no, you guys are just grunts with toolboxes. That’s what he called us. And he treated us exactly the same as the infantry guys. We had to do PT with them. We had to go to the range with them. We had to train with them. Oh, yeah. Because he said when something blew up and when we went to Desert Storm, you might have to use that M16. And I want to make sure you guys can shoot as good as my infantry guys. So we would go to the range and do all that other training. But we had to be clean shaven because, you know, I was in the training of the, we were going to fight the Russians, the Soviets, still the same. And their main thing of everything we understood from intelligence is the first thing they were going to do to us was gas us. And if you didn’t have a clean shave, you couldn’t get a solid seal on your mask.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. Good point.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, and so things like that. But I was just laughing at the little things that he’s going to bring back And I remember what my daughter told me. She retired from the Navy in April. But her last year, or shortly a little less than her last year, she was on a cruise on the Roosevelt. They went to the Far East and the Middle East. And she said that the squad or the CAG immediately changed and went to the old school Navy the day they pulled out of port because they were now on a combat cruise and there was no time for nonsense.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hmm.
SPEAKER 09 :
So all of a sudden, all these kids that were getting away, as she called them, I’ll call them that, too, that were getting away with murder weren’t getting away with it anymore. They were having to, you know, do their job across the board.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
And it was, you know, it was pretty interesting that, you know, you talk to some of the Desert Storm. That’s my generation or the next, the Iraqi and Afghanistan war vets. Once they got into country, all this politically correct crap went out the window. Once you were in a zone, in a combat zone, you were…
SPEAKER 06 :
expected to soldier as we yeah well that’s why i don’t like the entire military thing the what the left has done with the military turning into a place of social experimentation look we are sending these people into combat right if we need them and i look man in combat you can’t be somebody who’s worried about your feelings or wondering about your gender identity you’ve got to be ready to die Okay? Or to hopefully not die. And you’ve got to have somebody else’s back. I never understood this when they turned it into social experimentation. That’s not what it’s about. Rush Limbaugh said it best. The military is to kill people and break things. And that’s their job.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s what we do best. Everything else is just secondary.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 09 :
Good point. Oh, and you were talking about fitness levels, John, in an infantry division. Oh, yeah. everybody except maybe the sergeant majors who were old time, you know, the old sergeant majors, they were the only ones who may be not in perfect shape, but they were usually in their mid forties at 30 years in. So they weren’t in the shape that, but everybody else, I mean, our brigade commander used to take us on a brigade run once a month and he was right with us every time, you know, And that would be a three-mile run, and everybody had to do it once a month. Plus, we ran three miles three times a week. And then the other two days, we did sprints.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, John, at my time, in my day, it was pretty competitive, too. The young guys, you didn’t want to be the one who wasn’t in total tip-top shape.
SPEAKER 09 :
No, you didn’t want to be the guy that just barely passed the PT test.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER 09 :
You had to get 180 to pass, 300 was max, and you wanted to be closer to 300 than 180. Yeah. And it changed. I think it still does. The older you get, the less you have to do because you’re not as strong. But when you were 18 or 19, you were expected to work out.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, good point.
SPEAKER 09 :
I will let you guys know. All right, no, good stuff, John.
SPEAKER 18 :
As always, man, appreciate you very much. Thanks. We’ll be back. Talk to Joe in a minute. Don’t go anywhere. Ridgeline Auto Brokers up next. If you’re looking for a new used car, they’ve got you covered. They can finance that car. Take your car on trade. Sell your car as well. RidgelineAutoBrokers.com.
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SPEAKER 04 :
It’s time to leave your safe space. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560. All right, we are back. Myself, Andy. Joe, what’s going on?
SPEAKER 08 :
John, I’ve got mixed emotions or mixed feelings about the announcement. And maybe I don’t understand it clearly, but, you know, the military has thousands of jobs where you will never be required or expected to carry a weapon or to, you know, do a hike with a 40-pound bag. I mean, you’ve got… Navy, you’ve got doctors. You’ve got military doctors who are women. They’re heart surgeons. You’ve got jet engine mechanics who are female. There’s a new documentary series on TV started two weeks ago called Top Gun, The Next Generation. It’s about the training of Marine fighter pilots. And the women fighter pilots are outperforming the men. And if you’re a Marine fighter pilot, yeah, you might get shot down and have to practice your survival skills. But you’re not ever going to have to do a 10-mile hike with a 40-pound pack carrying an 8-pound rifle.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, actually, if you get shot down by enemy lines, you may have to carry a lot of stuff a long ways, man.
SPEAKER 08 :
But not a 40-pound pack. But you’re not going to hike 10 miles in a 40-pound pack. My point, and then even if you look on the aircraft carrier, you’ve got this, you’re feeding 3,000 people every day. You’ve got this huge galley with, you know, cooks and, you know, and they’re preparing food for, you know, they’re serving 9,000 meals a day. If you’re a cook, a culinary specialist on an aircraft carrier, do you have to have the physical strength to do a 10-mile hike?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yes, in my opinion, yes.
SPEAKER 06 :
Didn’t you ever see Under Siege? Come on, that’s totally real.
SPEAKER 18 :
And I guess the way I look at it, Joe, is just like any other structure that’s out there whereby you may not on a day-to-day basis have to do the things that you just mentioned, but what if you do? And you have to, and I still look at this as, you know what, what’s good for the one should be good for the all. As Pete said, from the generals all the way down to the infantry, I feel like they ought to all pass the same standards. They’re in the military. I’m paying their wages as a taxpayer. Granted, it’s a pretty good bargain on my end because we don’t pay those guys near enough. That’s probably a conversation for another day, frankly, but I don’t think we pay them enough. But at the end of the day, they still work for us.
SPEAKER 08 :
But, John, I look at risk-reward. So let’s say, yes, there’s a chance that out of a a thousand fighter pilots, one or two, you know, over the next five years, one or two may get shot down in combat. But let’s say, but you might have 200 highly qualified women who can fly the snot out of those things.
SPEAKER 18 :
My feeling is if they were able to handle the G-force and everything else it takes to fly, they’re in pretty good shape, Joe. They’re not the ones we’re talking about.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s a non-issue. But again, if they can’t do a 10-mile hike carrying a 40-pound pack in four hours… I guarantee you they can. Oh yeah, they can.
SPEAKER 18 :
I bet those gals can.
SPEAKER 06 :
Let me tell you something, Joe. The girls that I was in the military with could.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I’d be surprised. And here’s my point, too, Joe. And this is me. And this is somebody, for everybody listening, I have struggled with my weight forever. I am constantly watching what I do, what I eat, the amount of exercise, et cetera, Joe, because it runs in the family. and it’s one of those things that I just have to watch on a regular basis. So personally, I look at this as, and I know it’s not the same for everybody. Some people can eat all they want, frankly, still aren’t that healthy at the end of the day because of their body makeup, and they might look healthy, but they’re not. But in general, Joe, people that are overweight, in my opinion, and I’m sorry, I’m going to say this because I am one, it’s a discipline issue, Joe. So I look at this as if you’re going to be in the military and you’re not going to be disciplined enough to keep your PT up and your weight off, you know what? That’s a problem then.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and one last thing, if I may, John. The women who are fighter pilots, I guarantee you they are highly competitive with the guys.
SPEAKER 18 :
I’m not talking about them.
SPEAKER 06 :
I’ll bet they’re in pretty good shape.
SPEAKER 18 :
That side of it, I’ve already been through. I don’t see that as an issue, Joe. I’m talking about, to your point, even that cook. I want the cook to be in shape, too.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, and I agree. And I agree. And, John, when it comes to the weight issue, John, if they don’t have the discipline to control their weights, I agree they have no place in the military, but to expect a 120-pound woman who might have incredible skills— Well, keep in mind what Pete said was male standards.
SPEAKER 18 :
To my understanding, the female soldiers, they’ve got a different PT test to pass. They don’t pass the same test that a male does.
SPEAKER 06 :
Am I correct in that or not? No, I believe he’s trying to impose— So he wants it to all be the same? Yes, but it’s a minimal male standard across the board, okay? And I believe the standard that he would impose, that 120-pound girl is probably going to pass it just fine. Okay, and if we’re comfortable, they can do that.
SPEAKER 08 :
But she’s going to want to be ripped. Go ahead. And if we’re prepared to go there, and I agree, you know, people who are overweight, if they can’t get their weight under control, they need to be ripped out of the military. But I would hate to say because a A 120-pound woman can’t do some of the things.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, but, Joe, let me throw this at you. If she’s a 120-pound woman and she does end up in combat and she’s got to try to rescue someone or bring somebody that’s been injured back out of the line of fire, if she can’t do it, should she be there?
SPEAKER 08 :
If she’s a heart surgeon, absolutely. If she’s a heart surgeon working in a hospital, absolutely, John. Or if she’s a cook on an aircraft carrier, why not? She’s never going to have to carry somebody out. If you’re a cook on an aircraft carrier, you’re never going to have to carry anybody on your back out of an enemy, out of a combat.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s no guarantee, actually.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah. But okay. All right. I’m going to leave you with that, Joe. We’ll talk more on Thursday, of course. Tom, go ahead. I’m going to give you a couple of minutes. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. I want to tell you that Jersey Joe is never wrong except in this case. He doesn’t understand those military standards and what they stand for. I’m a civilian, but all my kids were in the military. I sailed for eight days on the Tarwa with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. I saw the cooks inside the ship. Everybody is to a standard. Doctors, everybody. That’s what makes our military different than everybody else.
SPEAKER 18 :
I agree with you, Tom.
SPEAKER 11 :
And all the female girls in the Marines and all the Navy girls were tough girls. They hit the fitness standards. I can guarantee you they’d run the three miles, get their push-ups and their sit-ups in, where a lot of people right now cannot do that. And so we’ve got to get back to that standard. And I think if Joe had been around the military a little bit, he’d understand it right away.
SPEAKER 18 :
And, Tom, I come from you, again, because of having kids. I didn’t go to the military, but I had kids that did. I understand all of what we’re talking about. I get where Joe’s coming from, where you’ve got some highly technical, skilled positions where we need people to be there no matter what. But on the same token, I look at that and say if they’re really skilled and they’re really disciplined, they’ll have no problem with us anyways, Tom.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right. We sponsor two Air Force cadets, and they’re both in the— uh space force program and they’re they’re into the chair side of that thing and these kids are ripped and they’re ready to go for anything at any time and that’s just as they should be every marine is a rifleman yeah as they should be yeah and we’re not asking women do struggle with push-ups we’re not asking them to do 15 reps at 225 okay i mean come on exactly yeah yeah and every listen every marine i saw on that ship and all my years of being around all these female marines You wouldn’t want to tangle with one, and that standard needs to stay where it’s at.
SPEAKER 07 :
I agree.
SPEAKER 11 :
And even the doctors. I’ve got a friend that runs in sports medicine. She’s a colonel at the Air Force, and that girl runs 10, 12 miles every day. And it’s the standard that those people set as leaders that trickles down, and you can’t give the exceptions away for certain people. Otherwise, the mechanism breaks.
SPEAKER 18 :
Otherwise, Tom, there’s no standard.
SPEAKER 11 :
Exactly right.
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s why we’ve got generals in some cases probably, and I’m not exaggerating when I say this, that are probably 100 pounds overweight. We shouldn’t have that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh yeah. If you notice during the speech, the Marine, the Marine generals were all laughing at the rest of the branches because you looked at every Marine general, those guys are ready to eat a piece of steel.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 11 :
And they know that the softness lurks inside the other branches right now.
SPEAKER 06 :
Tom, do you think the Marines enjoyed the speech?
SPEAKER 11 :
I, I, I believe that they did. I didn’t get all of it, but I’m pretty sure my entire family’s Marines. And I’ve got one son who’s an operator and, uh, And I know that those guys are war fighters and they believe in this. If you see the Mets, the kids lining up outside of Mets now, downtown Denver to go in to sign up.
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s awesome.
SPEAKER 11 :
Are out the door now. That’s awesome. Before you couldn’t get anybody in. That’s awesome. Now they’re lining up the door.
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s awesome. And by the way, this is going to do nothing but make it better.
SPEAKER 11 :
Exactly right. It’s the best of all. It’s a straightening out of the weakness and the softness and the DPI that creeped inside of our military ranks.
SPEAKER 18 :
Bottom line, before I go to break, Tom, I’ll say this. I think every other country listening to that probably just realized that, oh, crap, we aren’t up against who we used to be anymore.
SPEAKER 11 :
That is exactly right. And they’ll think twice before they want to tangle with us. It’s a deterrent, and it makes peace.
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s right. That’s exactly right. Peace through strength, Tom.
SPEAKER 11 :
Very good.
SPEAKER 18 :
Thank you, man. Appreciate you very much. Thanks for the call. I appreciate it very much. Have a great evening. Mile High Coin up next. And I say it all the time. If you’ve got a collection of things that you’ve been sitting around trying to figure out, do I turn this into cash or not? Get it appraised. That’s a free appraisal for Rush to Reason, KLZ listeners. Mile High Coin, 720-370-3400.
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SPEAKER 04 :
We don’t yell at you. We inform you. Now, back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right. Great last hour, by the way. Thank you all for calling in and for listening. I appreciate it greatly. Andy, thank you as well. It was a lot of fun. It was a great day. It was. Have a lot of fun tonight. You guys enjoy. Be safe. Charlie as well. Thank you all. We’ll be back tomorrow. Same time, same place. Rush to Reason. Denver’s Afternoon Rush. KLZ 560.
