>> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us on "the washington journal" is dan stein , federation for american immigration reform or fair.

what is fair what positions do you take on immigration? guest: it is an organization that believes immigration should serve the national and american interest and that immigration laws should be enforced and enforceable and we should set them at levels that the low enough level that it does not challenge domestic priorities or confound global objectives. right now immigration is far too high, it is unsustainable and everybody can see impacts from all across the country. we want to bring it down to 300,000 a year or less and we would like to implement legal reforms to make sure every immigrant is legal. host: how many illegal immigrants can come in on a yearly basis currently? guest: a statutory basis would run 750 but is too high.

there are administrative techniques in the last two years and we also saw studies the other day, the last two years we're talking 125 million, legal and illegal, and the legal level is over 1 million and growing. it is growing because the obama administration has changed policy to change work visa categories and students are staying indefinitely based on work visas and that using other techniques to bring in people whether it is refugees, but basically to find ways to increase the number and it is exploding. host: what is the negative impact in your view of higher immigration? guest: we see it every day. even at the most a sick level we have a national infrastructure. highway systems going back to the 1950's. anybody commuting in high impact studies can see traffic congestion has now dramatically increased to the capacity of our

infrastructure. 's immigration is not properly managed, it makes every challenge the nation faces more difficult. public schools are overwhelmed by foreign students, mostly illegally, and resources have to be divided among people of no right to be in the country. health, many people coming, some legally but mostly illegally, we wind up having great health care cost and we are allowing employers to bring in triple labor and there is a subsidy where we, the taxpayers, are paying for employees who want to use immigration to moderate wages. wage growth is supposed to be one of the great recoveries but how does that happen if you are flooding the market with surplus labor? most of the net new jobs created in the obama administration have gone to foreign administrative have gone. at a time when american citizens have been losing jobs through

manufacturing decline, or because of changes in our h-1b program, we see american native born label or force -- nativeborn labor force decreased. essentially, if you look at every major u.s. policy objective, uncontrolled and unsustainable mass immigration we are trying to maintain is making things more difficult and no one wants to talk about it. [video clip] >> the fourth mess, that immigrants are taking our jobs. let's look at the numbers. the number of people trying to cross our border illegally is near its lowest level in 40 years.

it is near its lowest level in 40 years. it is lower than i was before i came into office, lower than ronald reagan's time. they also start about 32% of businesses in america. everybody thinks immigrants come here and they are getting all of this stuff from the government. immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive and services. most importantly, immigrants are not the main reason wages have gone up for middle-class families. those are made in board rooms of companies where the top ceos are getting paid more than 300 times the income of the average

worker. deporting 11 million immigrants, not only is that a fantasy, it would cost billions of dollars and would be impossible. guest: i would love to have a beer with the president. during his administration, most of the net new jobs went to if you see wage stagnation policies that allow american

companies to fire workers, wage stagnation, if you see people impacted by immigration are the most of all ball he's as don't blame me, blame the ceos. he is trying to shift the blame. there is a law of supply and demand. if you increase the supply of labor from whatever service -- from whatever source, you increase the ability to bargain wages. you can see it in the wage data and the labor force participation data. i have been here since the 1950's. they wonder why donald trump has been so successful in this campaign.

the democratic party has made immigration a component of their political operation. if you want to control the border in mexico, hillary clinton says we are going to go to war with mexico if we put structures down there. if you take a look at hillary clinton's positions today she is embracing this idea ignoring

the law, bringing in people without regards to what the law says. people coming in from cuba, as refugees, from the middle east and elsewhere, they get cadillac treatment. when donald trump says we are receiving -- we are treating certain classes of immigrants better than veterans, he is right. in congress, when they had an opportunity to treat veterans better, do you know what the obama administration did? he used that money to pay for translators for refugees from african -- from afghanistan. everyone can see how the administration has dismantled immigration enforcement policy

for the last eight years to the point we have a totally dysfunctional government. host: daniel stein is our guest. we set aside the fourth line for recent immigrants. (202) 748-8003. that is the number for you to call. caller: as i speak, i am watching hispanic minorities cornering a young woman from last night at a donald trump rally, waving the mexican flag. intimidation fear, that is making this liberal democrat, who has never voted republican in his life, i have no problem voting for donald trump. host: because of the immigration

issue? caller: exactly. no, it is about american pride. where is the american flag? what about learning english? doesn't that mean anything anymore? that's what i am talking about. guest: this is an overt interference with the american rights to listen to candidates without burden or fear of violence. the respect for law is the cornerstone of citizenship. the policies abandon the basic principles. they become an exemption for violating laws of the rest of us have to adhere to. why should anyone be surprised this agenda has spilled into the

streets. one thing that ties us together is a highly the first society as a respect for law and a common language. if you start tearing asunder the threads that tie us together you so the seeds for what happens. this election, there has never been so stark a contrast. while fair is not a democratic organization, the party has shifted to something unrecognizable, saying immigration on demand. people can come without limit, they can stay unless they commit a serious violent crime.

donald trump has told the wall street crowd -- screw you. this is a decisive moment. if you look at the democratic shift, a one dictator in california, that is the future for the rest of the country. the election is about a fight. machine style politics and immigration go together. they are very easy to exploit. it cannot continue.

host: the southern poverty law center has labeled fair as an extremist organization. guest: ride and -- fair can label anything you want. they have their opinions but they oppose fair's policy positions, opposes us in court. host: fred, huntsville, alabama. guest:caller: this man is a breath of fresh air. we cannot take on everybody

around the world. we needed people. if you put a glass under a faucet, it can only old -- it can only hold so much water. then it will overflow. take that inscription off the statue of liberty. here is a new one. don't call us, we will call you. guest: the president is wrong when he says crossings are at an all-time low. we know there is a surge coming from central america. we know these things because it has weakened immigration to the point there are no removals. people will come if nobody goes home.

john kennedy's administration we have not seen levels this low. how you expect to drink just to gain control, if people get the message that if they get here they never have to leave. we need reform of our court system. we need to make it possible for state and local police to work with agencies, to identify people, get them out of the country. when congress or states have passed laws on immigrations those who come illegally respond. there is a great responsiveness to this. there is a way to manage the flow. we don't have to allow immigration to become a

political football for its own political power. it is about what we are and who we are as a people. it is legal immigrants who come legally, whose talent may expand our potential. what we have now are haystacks. employers like exploiting immigrants illegally because they are subordinated labor status. they like slavery. on the left, because the political power base of the party, you have organizations that see the power of the

democratic party, but they are defending a greed agenda, it is destroying the middle class. the two are working together to undermine the american people. host: anne, california. caller: i hope god gives me the grace to talk as good as other callers, they sound so confident , they know what they are talking about. i think i do, but i don't know how to put it in words. i grew up ignorant, not knowing that i counted for a lot. since i have been washing

"washington journal for all of these years -- i have so much to say. i don't know how to begin. host: our time is limited. make one statement. caller: the one statement is, my family has been so affected by street drugs and doctors overprescribing. that is what i have been affected by. at the same time, i was so impressed with donald trump. he i feel -- i feel he is a good man trying to do good. i changed my party to try to vote in the primaries here. this man here is so informative about everything. "washington journal gives so much information and makes

people more knowledgeable. host: thank you for calling. we appreciate it. we appreciate you watching. we look forward to hearing from you again. is the wall season? guest: the opioid epidemic is a result of people smuggling pills over the border. there are fences now that were built, started in the clinton administration. the idea of their ears walls perimeters they are essential, absolutely important. the management of that border with modern technology can be done, along with a balance

enforcement strategy, interior force event -- interior enforcement operations. donald trump has people advising him. the wall is a surrogate for the idea that we are going to get the border under control. there are a lot of people hurting in this country. they are using their remittances to pay for the wall. what a stroke of genius. it is hard to imagine a more brilliant statement. he is a public relations master. you have to admit. host: connie, new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning.

you are talking about ignorance people, to vote. i wish this person you have on new something about history in the history of the united states of america. it used to be my -- it used to belong to my ancestors. all the jobs go out of the country. every manufacturer goes to china , the philippines. that is the problem we have. not the southern border.

guest: i don't think we are giving taxes and california back to spain -- texas and spain back -- i don't think we are giving texas and california back to spain anytime soon. you did put your finger on an important point. the outsourcing phenomenon conceived in the 1980's was supposed to be replaced with information jobs. all of those went off site. the globalization has proved to be bankrupt for the labor market. the double whammy, outsourcing all of these jobs, and sourcing all of this foreign labor, never before seen in american history.

this is not the level of immigration we had. far in excess. to have this incoming foreign labor at a time when we are outsourcing all of these jobs. everybody agrees nafta has not delivered promises it has said it would. you can see why it is a mix of policies. it is about time somebody spoke up for the average american getting screwed in this process. host: a tweet -- who is hiring the immigrants? guest: there are different categories of immigrants. people who come legally are usually people of merit and ability. they will be hired by high-tech companies and others. people who hire other immigrants

are going to have less skill and work for retail, food processing food manufacturing. the employer is not paying taxes, pays under the table, shifts the burdens. a lot of employers ought to be in jail. frankly, the idea of immigration amnesty -- the president is blaming these employers but he does not have a solution. he says we cannot enforce the law, so we will destroy our ability to enforce it. he has never said he needs the money to enforce the law. now, nobody is going home. employers say they have to -- they do not have to worry about it.

the system of exploitation is making it difficult for the average american to see. young people under the age of 30, what is their path? host: patty independent line. go ahead. caller: we need more people like you. i would go on the liberal sunday talk shows and get your message out. i am calling because i have two things to say. the republican party and democrat in the house or for the chamber of commerce, not the people. i read this story going around -- obama made a deal with ups to fly in refugees in the dead of night and they are supposed to keep this a big secret. did you hear anything like that? host: where did you get that information? caller: it is on the internet.

there are articles about it. host: have you heard about this? guest: not ups per se, but the administration has been flying in refugees by their own determination. to bring in people from central america, the middle east. they do it in the dead of night so there is no public debate. they bring it into communities. anybody watching the president's soundbite can see he is not being up front with what is going on. there has been a news blackout. our government bringing in people with no right to be in the country, doing it in the dead of night miners who show up at the border, the inability

or willingness to detain families from central america. they deliver them to family members illegally in the country. this is a collapse of the rule of law. in june, the supreme court will decide whether the obama administration can ignore the limit set by congress and bring in people without regards to the law or limits. we are in danger. it means a road executives can bring in millions of people, give them our benefits. it does not matter what congress says or what the american people think. the supreme court is going to have to rein in the president.

no one can show direct injury. that will is what they were relying on. the reason he did this act is because he was told no one can stop him because they cannot get into court. hopefully the supreme court will decide to hold the injunction. there has been a total lack of candor about what the actual policies have been. caller: i don't think this is a bipartisan issue. my view is like this. when i was in the navy, we went to every thing that might mess

up the aircraft carrier. we would know how to fix it and make it work better. it is my belief that the american people are being treated like -- people. with enough stress, the government and everyone looking will see how much stress we can test on the citizens of the country. guest: you are raising an excellent point. we believe there has been a social gap. what is happening is now huge. you see that and how the pundits misunderstood donald trump's viability as a nominee early on.

they do not have their finger on the pulse. people are getting hammered. i love the idea of immigration. i know many immigrants are friends. it is a wonderful idea, but you can get too much of a good thing. history has not been kind to those countries that have crossed their borders. the point is, a nationstate to be viable has to control its borders. our political class benefits from reduced wages. they don't care about the taxes. the average american is getting killed by these policies. hillary clinton needs to address this. bill clinton said we are a nation of immigrants, but we are a nation of law.

hillary clinton will need to move to the center of the immigration issue or she will be hammered by donald trump through november. host: laura is calling in from our republican line. caller: i agree with you. one of the things with the illegals that has me concerned is not every country they are coming from has a health care system. we are seeing diseases we have not seen for a long time. remember the measles that hit in the disneyland area. if they come in illegally, there are no screenings. they are put in the low-paying positions, which is against the law. they are putting in a food service line. they could have something that

will be infecting thousands and thousands of people. guest: this goes to the commander-in-chief. his responsibility to protect the american people. in this age, it is clear we can ill afford to have people running across the border. the united states, you have to have perimeter control. people are going to run into the country, trying to get on the system by virtue of the actuary getting on the system. these super bugs around the country are deadly and we are barely keeping up with them. the cdc has a responsibility in a responsibility in any to recognize you can't control contagious diseases if you can't

control your borders. you are spot on. most americans have gotten to the point where they recognize what is going on. it is a question of how to get the political system to respond to the people. host: that's questioned comes from george -- last question comes from george. caller: you have to have a better immigration policy. one, the gentleman should explain that the issue with cuba was planned from the eisenhower administration. there was a ban that worked pretty well. two, the iris it came into the 1800s, it is true, -- the irish that came into the 1980's, it is true.

i am looking at myself, we were born here, but at the same time, we were anchor babies. we have to have reasonable and we have to practice our laws. it is an unbalance of how we treat immigration depending on where we come from. lastly, presidents from eisenhower on have dealt with this issue. i find it interesting. president bush and president reagan had issues, too. guest: every president has had issues. presidents throughout history have. i don't know how much time i have. we have had a schizophrenic policy with cuba. we say if you get here from cuba, you can stay. we relied on fidel castro cannot

let everybody out. he's would've been overthrown decades ago. but to allow him to offload -- we have an open border with cuba. when barack obama sought to normalize relations with cuba, you did not taking needed to repeal the act to put cuba back on the footing with the rest of the world. we have a policy this is if you get here from cuba, you get to get the benefit defense day. almost an immediate green card adjustment. that is like putting the cart before the horse. now, people are pouring in from cuba trying to get into the country before the policy changes. this has created another border crisis. the administration is helping to bring about. host: stephen green tweets how

much money would require to remove 11 million people? host:guest: if you take a look at arizona, there is an and the less response -- there is an and norma's respons enormous response. people who come illegally no they don't believe they will be -- people who come illegally come here because they know they will not be deported. not everybody should have to go. the problem is our political system has not offered a compromise that says we will deal with cutting the future flow and make sure we don't have future illegal immigration. we were burned in 1986. ronald reagan says this was the last amnesty. i have been doing this a long time.

full day once, shame on me. we will not be full twice. host: the guest is only half right. congress failure to do is job is just as bad. guest: chuck schumer betray the american people by drafting a bill with a group of senators that did not take into account the average american's bu. any -- american's view. that is the one closest to the people if you are going to get to get you political consensus. the president never anticipated that it would pass beginning with his first amnesty. obama destroyed the basis for legislative compromise and consensus. since then, key has been using it as a political football. the democrats and their allies have been using immigration to polarize the latino vote against

the republican party for their own short-term political gains. host: epstein's

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>> excellent website for that kind of thing. i will end on a good news nationalism, what's driving arms production decision rather than trying to make the economy boost the economy. the good news is no matter how much they're spending on defense, and they're spending on defense, it's still a tiny portion of the modern economy and most of the countries with the exception of russia, i don't think they're going to free up or goose the economy by building more weapons at home.

the one exception is japan japan has sophisticated defense industry. it would unleash quite a lot of economies and it would actually improve trade quite a bit if it sold weapons and it's a failure to do so in australia shows that there's a lot more to selling weapons abroad. there's politics to it rather than economic logic which japan was pretty good on that front. so it is nationalism rather than economic incentive that are driving a lot of what is going on here. [laughter] >> i want to thank both of our speakers. i want to thank all of you in audience who spent tuesday morning with us, if you'll join me with a round of applause for our two speakers. [applause] >> we are adjourned.

[inaudible conversations] [laughter] [inaudible conversations]

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>> we'll hear more about u.s. policy towards asia this weekend on news makers. our guest is air force secretary debra lee james who talks about recent events in the south china sea. she also shares her thoughts on air force operations and the debate over whether women should register for the selective service. watch the interview sunday 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> citizens have got to feel that their vote matters, that their voice matters and whether they cannot spare a single cents

for a person writing for office or whether they can write a big check that their struggles can be listened to and followed up. >> wisconsin senator baldwin talks about political history. >> helped shepherd the change whereby -- whereby senators with not appointed by the legislatures but demanded elections, so i guess those -- i don't know if it was the first but the idea that it wasn't going to be the party bosses who made the decision of who the nominees were in smoke filled back rooms but rather the people that were, you know, going get a chance to vote in free and fair elections.

>> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. >> former ashley staff sergeant sal guinta to receive medal of honor. he told a story about serving in afghanistan from 2003 to 2011 at a conference in california springs hosted by the leadership program of the rockies, this is just under an hour. [applause] >> appreciate it. [applause] >> so this is a very interesting

place for me to stand. i can honest i will say that my environment, second largest city in iowa. my folks were very supportive. they kicked me in my behind when i needed to get moving and congratulated me when i did good things and scolded me when i did the wrong things. i grew up and i was a pretty excited young man. i can't say i was the most excited about school but i was very excited about life and growing up life was really good. i had every freedom that every american enjoyed at my fingertips and i got to enjoy them. my parents still don't lock their doors to the house, this is where i grew up. i said i was a wig studier or big on stood but one day i was in school and my life changed forever. early morning and dropping balls

into liquid, doing something, i wasn't paying attention that great but that's what we were doing that great and someone came to the classroom door and they said, turn on the tv, a plane just flew into a building in new york. i went to a good school, the teach e agreed that we turned on the tv, before she did, in my mind i had this small plane, big building, some crazy accident. and when we turned on the tv, it wasn't a small plane, it was a huge plane and it was a terrible accident. and as we watched the second plane came in, it became apparent that this was not an accident, this was a planned attack on the american way of life, not against camouflage gun toting military and civilians about life in america. it affected me because if this can happen going about life, we are not looking for fight.

we are looking for live and life. i got worked up and i called my mom and i told her, hey, mom i think i need to quit school and join the united states army, this seems like a pearl harbor moment. absolutely not. you're not going to drop out of high school. okay, i have one year, i can do this. this idea of going out of my comfort zone for doing something to others, it was a pretty feeling about i, i, do i have a date to the dance, when i do i have to work again. it stopped being about other people. there was not a real big military presence so i never saw anyone. the only thing you see on the news and it's war and it's combat. my junior finished, my sebory year came and almost done, life

was still very good for me. i had a job. i was sandwich artist, i made delicious subs at subway. not my career, but it was a job and it put money in my pocket and i was happy. of course, i want a free army t-shirt, that sounds cool. i went in and i know they're going to try selling me something but i came for that t-shirt. i have to keep my eye on the prize, remember what's important and the recruiter said something to me that i didn't fully understand and i wasn't prepare today hear. he said it very simply, you're an 18-year-old able body male, everything you've been given to this life has been given to you freely, it cost someone else. to truly be part of this country torques make a tangible difference in the country that

gave you everything, join the united states army. those are heavy words and i told him, hey, stick with that, you're going to get tons of people to enlist in the army, i came for the t-shirt. that was awesome. you had me there for a moment. take this test, very your skills and weaknesses and at that time my folks were on my back about sat and act and not just working at subway but making something of my life and making it something for others to enjoy as well. when i thought, well, i would take this long test to replace the other test and the outcome doesn't really matter so i took it. ten days later i said glad i could do anything i want as united personnel. sal, you can do anything you want unless you redo what you just did and make it better, then go ahead and do whatever you want. it never starts that way. i started thinking, you know this is true, everything i have has been given to me.

i have not earned any of it, just because i was born in america, just lucky to have support of parents, that's why i have everything. i'm not responsible for any of my successes, they've all been given to me and i decided i'd join the united states army, four years sounded legit amount of time. i'm in, i will join the army. they said, well, what do you want to do. i didn't know there was options. you join the army and i'm thinking quick. they're going to sell something you don't want to buy, say something smart quick and i'm thinking and there's this parachute from the ceiling. i want to jump out of plane, that's 150 extra months to be airborne. that's exactly what i want to do. i picked jobs with bonuses. you know, that's not -- that's not an actual career choice, that's a supplement tour.

what kind of stuff do you want to do. i don't know. i mean, spit and swear and fight bad guys and leave iowa. say no more, say no more. that's an actual job description we have in the united states that's called airborne infantry, you're going to love it. trust me. i'm in. [laughter] >> i signed and joined. i signed a country at war, we were in when are eak and afghanistan i joined airborne infantry they're going to send me to war, that's what i came to do and i showed up at basic training ready to kick in doors and fight bad guys and shoot guns, that's not what you learn first. there's always the yelling and chaos that they bring to you to throw you off your game but the very first thing that happened to me in basic training after the push-ups and being yelled at was i got a best friend and i know because the drill sergeant, you two are best friends, don't leave each other's side.

[laughter] gibson didn't pay for his mistakes. he was not senior to me and i was not senior to me. we were equal peers in everything. if i did something wrong, gibson had to do push-ups. we started looking out for each other, what he did mattered very much to me because i was going to get messed up if it was wrong and we started carrying for each other. that took like one day. now, when i first met gibson gibson from a haitian family from miami, florida. dude, i don't know what you're saying. that's not english. he told me, well, i've never met anyone like you. this is going to be an

interesting partnership. we became friends in a day. over the course of 14 weeks we became best friends and relied on each other and we were better together we understood that no matter how great i was i was better when i was with gibson, the team was better when we were whole. at tend of basic training we went our separate ways, that's what the military does. gibson went onto kansas and i went onto airborne school and air boorn school is supersimple, one of those physics i wasn't paying attention to. once you jump out of the ground you're going to hit the ground. it's guarantied that you're going down. but instilled something in you the only reason we jump out of a plane in combat because the ground is not secure, that's our airborne mission so not everyone has to jump out of the plane in chaos, that's what we were doing.

that's what we were training to do. once that light turns green, the first jumper will go, second jumper will go. you recognize people on the ground and we all have a gun strapped on our leg and parachute strapped on our back and no matter how afraid we are as long as the person in front of us go, and as long as we go the person behind you goes. it's about bringing the team with you. we are only as strong as the team we have. we understood that. no math what, i don't know what's going on out that door but as long as that person goes i'm going and they're going and we will be there. airborne school finished up and i thought, i'm going to iraq for sure and they sent me to italy. not iraq. i wasn't sure about what this place and i showed up and i told him i am ready to fight bad guys and change the outcome of this war. just so you guys know i showed

up to help and one of my very first leaders, not a boss but a leader said to me, we as americans do not fight because we hate what lies in front of us, we as americans fight because we love what lies behind us, we love our homes and way of life and that's why we go over there to fight and don't let them to come. that's why we fight out of love, caring and compassion. i told them, i'm ready to fight. at this time in early 2004 there's very first few world countries you can go to and see 2,000 combat infrant ri men ages 18-23. they just spent a year in combat and came back and i was here telling them about how cool i was and ready i was to go. it took guidance to reign me in.

he said i'm not going work you harder it's not because i dislike your family, i want you to be the best you can be and without me pushing more than you're willing to go it's not going to happen. well, that sounds terrible. he just told me i'm going to work harder and longer than anyone else and he's telling me it's in my best interest. he proved it every single day to me. no matter when i went home from work, he was still there. when we went for a run, every first thing was physical training, pt and a group of 3535 people.

we are going to run 3-miles, 100 push-ups and go to the gym in half an hour. check this out, we are going run 5-miles, 400 situps go to the gym till exhaustation. that's going to take forever. we could have one one more mile and situp. that would have been more. that's not what he wanted to do, he we wanted to show how much we were going to go above and beyond. i don't know if you go to the gym and you lift weights and you lift till exhaustation. it's not a 300-pound weight, it's 45-pound empty bar and you're stuck and you're worried if anyone is seeing. it took a lot to get to this point but there's see that there's nothing on that bar but it's about the person to your left and right, no matter how much weight it is, if you can't

do it, you can't do it. but that's why we have the team, the person to the left and right to lift the light 45-pound bar off your chest, the commitment as long as we are there for each other, we will be be better. then we went to war. i can honest i will say short of my children's birth i've never been more excited for anything in my entire. i was going to get a chance to prove a tangible difference to the country that gave me everything. we showed up to balo. we were in the low valley, we had no running water new york city electricity and you were told that was going to be the home next year, we were going to dig wells and interact with the general public we were going to tell them that we were here to make lives better and hopefully we left the place better than what we arrived to. in that year time we never dug a well, we never built a school,

we got shot at every single day in the spring, summer and fall but that's okay, we came to fight bad guys and once they shot at us that's apparent that you're a bad guy in my world and then fight you. if it was superimportant they would bring up helicopters. if it wasn't, we would just block, walk to contact. you fight the bad guy, another day's worth of work. we talked 10 kilometers. 100-120 pounds of gear. we got out 10 kilometers and no one shot at us. that's fine with us, that's still a good day's of worth and turned around to walk home. it was going to be a good day. just up the mountain from us we

got hit by one enemy fighting position, two people in it, they shot down right at us, 150 meters or so, straight down the mountain. barbarette was our leader. he made the decision to turn upwards the enemy and even though they had a superior position. close the distance, e e eliminated and this would have been so much better if they couldn't done anything but they couldn't help themselves. we have about 15 leaders below in fighting position an the other side of the valley, maybe as the crow flies, we have on a steep grade on the side of the mountain, no cover, no con

consealment. shoot back and soon e -- sooner or later this would be over. there's two of us in our group of eight out that carried that gun, six people would run while the two of us would shoot and we continue today close distance on the enemy. we got closed down to the bottom of the mountain. it was the first cover i had been behind at. i got down and started shooting and my buddy miller comes out next to me, come on, guy, you have to keep on running, this is my rock, sorry. [laughter] >> he took off running. we had been in combat for a month, we had been shot at everyday for 30 days. i heard him pop, crack, i felt like they were pretty close but who knows how close they are some where in space, when miller ran out i watched the bullets

chase his feet missing by 6-inches by a foot, that's where the smoke was -- that's where the dust was poofing at. i was scared for him. and i started getting scared for myself knowing that i had to come mind the rock but because they were going i would go. i don't want to let the team down. i took off running from behind my rock, i was running down the hill and i felt like something hit my leg and my left leg went behind my right and i'm tumbling head over heels over the side of the darn mountain. i'm 19 year's old i just got shot, i informed everyone i got shot. i don't know if i screamed it or yelled it. i said that i got shot and as i'm saying this i'm trying to feel my darn leg and no blood. my leg wasn't bleeding, i started hoping no one heard me. i don't know about your friends,

my friends if you say something that's not too smart they hold it against as of as they can. saying you got shot in combat when you didn't get shot, that's one of those things you'll never forget. [laughter] >> i start today worry about myself because that's embarrassing. we ended up dropping from a c- 130. nothing. we had been done. we haven't been physically manually pushing the limit for 24 hours and still 10 kilometers from home. we had very little water, we had almost no food, everyone seemed fairly fine but we were in the middle of afghanistan, in 2004 we had so much allocated in iraq we were just eight guys in the middle of afghanistan and started getting the feel like no one cares about me. that i got that boo-boo face and

looking at 12-hour walk probably, a little bit longer than the walk there. all of a sudden we called a gob light, lights up about a square kilometer, you can't see with naked but in night vision you can see it perfectly our world just lit up and feeling alone and sorry for myself in the middle of afghanistan i just realized there were 13 people watching every sad step i took making sure that i made it home okay. the bigger picture, bigger team, doesn't mean you don't have the same goals or doesn't mean they were looking out for you that's the folks upstairs. we got back from this and after something like this we have to check out and i went in and medic 6 ft. 4, solid muscle it's tough to explain that everything hurts and i got there and i'm

trying to tell him where it hurts and checking my body out and gets to my leg, dude, you have a hole in your leg. what do you suppose that's from? it's a big man and start squeezing my calf, he starts poking with big sausage fingers and scwezs out this piece of a bullet, no glownd. just looks like a cigarette burn. that's a purple heart. we are going to send a shower, and send you out. i went and hung out for ten days . it was awesome. i got ice cream in the shower and no one is going to tell me no. ice cream and showers awesome.

about seven days of this, i see all the helicopters coming in and i'm getting antsy myself. all i see cheerleaders. it was, it was the denver brongo cheerleaders. [laughter] >> i do life in colorado. i'm not saying that's the reason but it didn't hurt. on july 10 the denver broncos cheerleaders when to camp with about 300 people, they we wanted to show the support. the ladies had 3 million better places to be. anywhere else in the world would be better place and they came for us because they cared. that comes differently from

everyone. after that, i was pretty excited to get back out to the guys and tell them because they haven't seen a women in ten months and haven't taken a shower. i told them my story and showers and cheer leaders and ice cream and they were unimpressed. i mean pretty sure they were disappointed that they weren't with me but i saw something in them, they become better, they were bigger, they were faster, stronger, the way we recollected, the way they reacted, as fast as life changes war is like a million times faster than that. all the bad decisions are no longer around to make bad decisions, that's what it cost you, good decisions or no more decisions to be made. if you ever get into the group and you can't spot the weak link in the group, it's probably you. i felt that. i felt that in the deep of my

heart and that put them in danger for not being as good as i could have been. a couple -- i'm sorry one month later we went out, this mud hut that we had, we had our former defense was razor wire and razor wires slows people down to take a good shot but we needed more and we didn't have the ability to give ourselves more. so we had the heescos. stops grenades but they brought that out. a convoy about 12 vehicle that is traveled 55 kilometers, where vehicles had never been in the history of afghanistan and realized all we had warm water and turned around left. about a kilometer from the

vehicle, both of the legs high hip. bad business to pick up pieces of your friends and we went out there to pick up pieces of your friends and i had never seen a young dead american soldiers. i had seen a lot of dead people. i had never seen anyone that looks just like me, the fastest, strongest, selfless in the prime of their life be reduced to a mess and it affected me, that hurt, i thought you get sick and you die and you drink and you die and you cross and don't look both ways you die we have no one to blame. we don't go out accusing people say for things they didn't do or we just are to pick up pieces, that is war. we did, we just picked up pieces. the next week we went after high-value target and we asked

them to come out of the house with hands and they came out shooting. we eliminated all the enemy that came out of the house. in that time lieutenant was shot in the face and killed. now i had seen more deaths in one week than i had in my entire life previously and i got sad again. i got down, that feeling of being 19 and invaluable all of a sudden turned into the dirt valley i'm ever going to see and no one really cares. and it was a leader of mine again that took time of his life to care for me, he was our dad figure, our mom was post nicolás post. he cared about us completely. he cared about brothers and our sisters, he cared about girlfriends, what was happening and our life affected him because we were only as good as

all of us can be and that involves your family, that involves everything else that doesn't happen just in combat. he told me something very simple, look, sal, i tell you what, i will make you a promise, the sun is going to come up tomorrow whether you get to see it or i get to see it. all you need to know that you gave 100% every chance you had and upon your last breath whether five minutes, five days or along the road, we will never hold it against you. i did not find the most positive of the speech but i understand it. that is it, that's life, that's how we live lives now. hopefully it doesn't have to take a combat, it takes a lifetime to be your best, we should try every single day. my checklist is like wake up don't forget to put that in the checklist because we have to do it as soon as possible.

if we fail today, that's okay because the sun is going to come tomorrow and good willing we will be lucky enough to try to try all over again and do better than the day before. we left afghanistan after that year, i figured with a year of training and a year of combat, a year of training, they are not going to send me, i'm free to go. i'm back in italy having the time of my life and working out at the gym and my buddy comes up, arthur brown from northern california, he has a stupid smile on his face, dude, did you read the newspaper. just tell me because it's going to be dumb. they said we are not going to iraq for 12 months we are going to afghanistan. bummer for you guys, we are not going for 12 months, 15 months. that stinks. he said they're in effect. stop movement ifs you're supposed to go some where else

you're not you're going to stay here and deploy again together. i had a buddy going to alaska and hawaii and all of a sudden they're not going anywhere but afghanistan. i started feeling bad for my buddies. if the military deems your team essential they don't have to let you out of your contract. they will call you back, they won't let you go. i said, well, that kind of feels like -- you're coming to afghanistan with us. the first contract in my life was with the united states army, i fulfilled my side from the united states army, the first contract i felt cheated was with the united states army. i wasn't going back to the states i was going back to afghanistan but this time i was going as a leader of men. i had three guys in my charge.

casey from tallahassee, florida and grigo from california. i have to do this. i have to tell them do this, check this out, follow me, i'm going to show you. leaders don't send people they won't do. they better do them better than they're trying to teach. i have to do that. it was one of the most proud times that i have to teach these guys what they know and prepare them for war and then we left. we were in northeast corner of afghanistan, 6 kilometers by 6 kilometers, 135 american troops there. we had no running water, no electricity, our job dig wells dig friends, again, we made no friends, we built no schools and we fought people every chance they fought us which happened to be every single day in the spring, summer and fall.

we had been there for a couple of months now and in october we did mission called rock avalanche. we got shot at every day and there's only maybe 200 people in this valley and so pretty much on a daily basis about a tenth of them are shooting at us and yet we have to walk with a smile on the face and hope they don't shoot us in the back. when we came in with a thousand people all chaos, all heck broke lose. several gunfights throughout the day, throughout the night. next day we saw the enemy go into the house after done shooting at us and we dropped bombs on the house. they brought out women and children after the house was bombed. the people declared jihad on us and that they were at war with us. that's okay because they weren't being honest with us. at least now they are shooting us straight and telling us that they hate us. we continue to fight.

maybe 5-8 guys that carry better guns, they make single shots they do it quietly and professionally, they are the fastest and strongest and stay inyiest. the scout got overran. in that time, our scout team was leader sergeant, he was smart, cool, the ladies liked him, he all wanted to be like him and he was killed. they took night vision goggles. our entire tactics had to change. they can see it. we have the irbeaco, in that

blink so helicopters and planes can see us so our guys are recognize leaders so we can see everyone goes in the night, we had to top that. our job the following day was to set up overwatch. we set up about 400 meters over the village and another group went to interact and see what information they could get from the villagers. about 400 meters up the mountain they took the high ground and no one had the high ground on us and stayed there all day, maybe 14 hours. we got nothing. time to walk with mud huts with no running water and no electricity. chaos is good, we thrive in chaos. we don't want to set a pattern. we don't want to let them know what we are going to do. we want them to think we are crazy. we talked ourselves into a place we walked, so we walked in a single file long 10-15 meters.

they have to fight us head up one for one. we talked about 300 meters from where we sat all day and then in an instant my entire world exploded at me, at that point i had been 300 gunfights a year prior and a couple month this year i had never seen a fight like this. they hit us from 30 meters away, that's from me to the cameras, we had no cover and concealment. 16 of 18 people were shot. my first responsibility was to my men, the guys around me and i look at casey and clery, i dropped to the ground, shoots a thousand rounds per minute. he never once got down. casey started shooting. i promise you it does not benefit casey. that helps us.

we had nothing to get behind but as long as they put their heads down their bullets aren't as accurate. 203, grenade about the size of my fist. because we trained it, we had never been in this position before but we were prepared if this were to happen. i can't tell people what to do because they were already doing it. we had more things to do than people to do them. i had to do the next thing on the checklist. i looked toward my leader gallardo, he is head snapped and body dropped to the ground. and i was -- i was overcome with every emotion you can imagine, i had seen this happen a few times and that's the end, that was that and i ran to him to grab his body so it didn't get shot anymore as i was running i got shot in the chest but my plate stopped it. no big deal with that, now i can't shoot it nor sit it down.

there's a hole inside of the rocket launcher. when i was hit i was hit from the north. i knew i got shot from the north. i knew i got hit and i knew where it came from but there was nothing i could do about it. all my mind was on gallardo and getting gallardo back. his feet started kicking, hit his helmet, did not go through and he was out the whole time i dragged him and the second that he came, the very first words out of his mouth were throw grenades. the first out of my mouth was i got shot. that's the difference, the leader did not care about himself, he always cared about us. we were on his mind conscious or unconsciously the whole entire time. had grenades. we have to throw behind the enemy because grenades are

explosive will still hit us. they were that close. as i threw grenades i just kept on running. there was no reason to stop. he had the gun that shoots a thousand rounds per minute. we call that mass-weapon. i went over to bend to pick up the gun and before i could do that gallardo was already there. popped up and chased after me and he was there. again because of training, i knew that everything was okay because gallardo was there. he gave tus skills to be the best and check that box, taken care of, i don't need to worry about it. i continue to run to the north. i got to where there's one more guy and i couldn't find him.

his is clean through, no ricochet. we couldn't get the helicopter to pick them up and had to lead patrol to walk out distance. i reminded, dude, i hope you meet cheerleaders, eat ice cream. two days later, the black hawk helicopter comes in and we are excited, we are fired up. it doesn't matter what it had, whatever it had on it we didn't have and it was going to be better than we did have so it was going to be awesome. food, water, milk, it doesn't matter. one thing calm off it was a dude, a dude with a big pack and walked with a limp. i knew it was brenon, i was so disappointed. dude, come on, man, what's the deal here all he said to me the

showers were making lazy and the ice cream were making them fat. that's exactly what he said to me. that made me feel pretty darn small and now i can't take that back and i have to be below him the rest of the time. that night our book says standard operating procedure in ambush situation, they shoot you, you shoot them. 75% casualty rate is acceptable. the army will pat you on the back if you lose three out of four guys, that stinks when all those guys have first middle last names and brothers and sisters and it's not just the name of your friend. that's what had to be done. i did not charge the ambush line. i just ran after brenon not to be left behind. i got about 30 meters. i was in this no man's land because i wasn't shooting i was able to move quickly and quietly through darkness.

i got to a flat part of the ridge and there's no bushes or anything on it and i could see two people, i had my night vision googles up because there's explosion too bright for me and i could see two people carrying a person away and i didn't understand it i kept running after them closing distance quietly and i realized how i was seeing, two enemy carried away and i did exactly what i signed up to do, close enemy, nothing more, nothing less, that's the job description i signed up for and that is exactly what i did. i destroy it had enemy and grabbed my buddy and took off running in the direction i came. at that point the enemy ambush line started to break down and

this entire time we had helicopters directly above us but because of close proximity they couldn't shoot. as the enemy ambushed started retreating they created the space we needed and helicopters went to work on them, as far as i know, no enemy survive it had ambush line. i was working on brennan and i have truly needed medical assistance and two times i've watched medics come through bullets an explosion. it's just like the movie. i needed one this night and no medic was coming. what i didn't foe our medic, hugo mendoza was shot and killed in the first seconds of the ambush, as i was working on brennan, she was shot seven times and missing piece of jaw but still alive and talking, all

of a sudden a man who volunteered for mission, he was in the group that was above us 400 meters up the mountain. the second they watched the world explode on us, they ran into harm's way not because it benefited them because they knew they could assist us and would make us better. sergeant started giving tracheotomy, we don't carry body bags, it's bad to carry your own caskets with you. another opinion orphan inference cell >> we started evacuating the people out of the valley through helicopters and took their night vision googles we took 16 out

of 18 people shot. they're good for maybe one or possibly two and some of the guys that weren't shot we are taking the plaits from them and put brennon on the helicopter and get him out of there. as we started walking back, five days prior i started with 350 rounds, rocket launcher, food, water, and fife -- five days later i had three different guns on me new york city rocket launcher, ten grenades on me and extra plates and i could feel the weight, the loss, the burden in which these men carried, it wasn't because they weren't having fun or they were tired or because they gave absolutely tomorrow that they would ever have so we could live today and it was our job to do what we were going to do and we didn't

have them in our lives anymore. we walked back. we have to learn what caused this, how would we have done a better work, were they great? what scenario led to this? on the following day my company commander came up to me, guinta i want to know i put in sergeant gallardo for a silver star. i'm so proud of you, gillardo is the man. and then he said i want to know that i put you in for the congressional med of honor and i never heard such rude words to me before since -- don't bother me. i'm an easy going guy, words will never hurt me. those words cut to my core, it was the saddest meanest thing i heard anyone ever say, sergeant

brennon died, sergeant mendoza died on the mountain. they want to put a medal on my chest and tell me good job. i told my company commander, my boss' boss. i think i might have ended it with i will punch you in the face if we have to talk about this again. it was combat. it was guy talk and then we didn't. that was july 27th, 2007 we didn't leave till july 29th 2009 -- i'm sorry 2008 and we left. we went back to italy. that was that. that was five years on a four-year contract. i knew i was done to the military. i got back to the italy and i was approached again not by a boss but by a leader. the army will take care of you and you guys -- you ce --

recently met me. i get into trouble sometimes. i decided, you know what, as long as i can stay in italy with these people that i truibly believe in making the world a better place, i would be happy to stay in the army. i told them that so i got to stay but something strange happened, they gave me a cell phone and a desk and a computer and 43 wives and 63 children a new responsibility. i had their families and they sent 134 young men in one year back to combat, back to afghanistan, they left one, it was me. i had never been in my entire life. i just don't. you're not going to see me entering a spieling bee. it's not a thing. i don't get impressed by it anymore. i thought i was a good warrior i thought i had proved exactly what they wanted me and left me and put me with the women and the children.

i always use my cell phone. i can't sit at this computer because i will pull out of my hair and smash the computer if i have to see it too much longer. it was september 9th, 2010 my desk phone ring and it was some colonel at the pentagon and verify who i was with the social security number. random guy, i might as well give you social security number. i told him my social security number and he told me that at 17:05, 5:05 my time, don't tell anyone about the conversation, roger, sir, okay. i went home and in the last year i got married to my wife who i dated for five years. jen, i think tomorrow i'm going to get arrested at work, could you come with me at work. the problem is i don't know what

excuse to make. colonels don't call staff in italy, somebody is going to wait in handcuffs for me. i dated my wife for five years. we rolled around in the dirt she doesn't need to see that and talk on the phone and multitask and i didn't want to know her i was that productive otherwise she would expected a lot more from home. on that day she came in and at 17:05 the phone rang just like he said. it's colonel at the pentagon verified with my social security number again and then the clone clicked and it was secretary of the white house something. all i could think of something. the white house, i can only think of the white house obviously they're not calling me and then the phone clicked and it was the president of the united states. i wish i told tell you some classy conversation, i don't remember. my heart was pounding pretty heart and my chest and ears.

i was squeezing my wife's hand. what do you say to the president of the united states, i never met the president of a chess club. roger, mr. president. he went on talking and at the end that it was be the first silver medal recipient, do not tell anybody about the conversation. we will find you and the phone call was over and i sat the phone down. this job that i had for 43 wives and 64 children, 135 guys worth of family. four other guys that did the same exact job and we all share it had office when i looked up all four were staring at me and 55 guy that is were preparing to go to afghanistanlike i'm some sort of silly goose. dude, mr. president, are you for real. everyone i know is in afghanistan without access to a

telephone or standing here looking at me like i'm silly yeah, i guess that happened. i think that was 15 seconds after the president told me not to tell anyone. i don't want to exaggerate. i only told 59 people. i am usually better at keeping secrets than that. [laughter] >> but i did say that. in the video you saw quite a few gentlemen stand up at the white house. those are the guys that i was on the mountainside that night. that is the environment that i grew up in. america is the environment that i grew up in. you are the people that interact with. it's hard for me to take responsibility because i'm a product of this environment, the product of the great people around me that give me the kick in the behind to go and pull the reins to slow down. i want to say i stand here humbled man, i stand here one of

many, this metal is not, this is our medal and represents sacrifice, service, it's not about just what happens in combat, it's not about just what happened yesterday in combat there are so many great deeds that happened across america every single day. that's what this medal represents. it doesn't represent the ones that wear it, it represents all those that deserve it and don't have the chance to wear it. the unsung heros around us. you saw when everyone was standing up, military service they don't all look alike but that's what makes america great and in support of the military every single person in the room is standing or about to stand. that's one of the most impressive things. i'vetries in the world. this is probably that that answer would have gone over like that. it wouldn't happen here, it happened across the united states because that's what we

are. we are the american people, we are the difference makers. we have to go above and beyond every day because this the greatest country in the world and if we don't do the best it will not be the greatest country in the world. that's why we love it not because we want to change it or hate. it's an honor to be around all of you. i'm going to stick around, have lunch and hang out. i'm a friendly guy and like i said, i'm not anything great. i'm a simple product of my environment and being an average american is one of the best things we can all be. thank you for your time, thank you for listening. i've been talking like that my whole life so this is special. i appreciate it. thank you, thank you for your support. god bless america. [applause] >> i would like to talk to you a little bit later. nice meeting. nice meeting. [applause] >> thank you very much.

home run. appreciate it. thank you. [applause] ..