John "Shrek" McPhee

And I got the word my team had moved to Baghdad.

And I was out of there that day.

Literally, I got on a fucking bird, a helicopter, went to Islamabad.

got on a civilian plane, flew to Kuwait City, got off the plane in Kuwait City, and, like, I don't speak the fucking language, but there's a C-130 on the tarmac waiting for me.

I'm trying to get to there, so I'm trying to tell all the fucking man-dress guys in Kuwait City I need to get to that plane.

And finally some dude walked me behind customs, everything, fucking fired up some...

like the big ass airport buses I'm the only one on it drove me to the plane I get to the back of the plane and the dude waiting for me is like you're fucking late you know what I mean it was like motherfucker you ever try to tell a dude you need to get to that plane without knowing how to tell a dude like come on I did my fucking best you know what I mean

So I get on a plane, we combat land in the biop, and then that's where my job was.

I was at the VVIP for a while.

No, that didn't come till much later.

Much later, yeah.

Yeah, much later.

This guy, when I was a SAR major, we hired a guy who was a retired SAR major, worked for the State Department.

He worked the Crisis Action Center for the embassy in Baghdad through the war years.

Got paid a ton of money to handle crises for the State Department, but you know what kind of crisis you handle while there's a war going on?

None.

There's a war going on.

He didn't do shit.

Finally, one day, his wife told him he had to come home.

He couldn't stay gone no more, but he's killed it for money working for the State Department.