This Memorial Day, we are joined by father, husband, combat veteran and patriot, Senator Tim Sheehy. Join us as we discuss the role our military plays on the world stage and the importance of remembering our fallen soldiers and what they fought for. - - - Today’s Sponsor: Helix Sleep - Go to https://HelixSleep.com/BEN for 27% off site-wide + FREE Bedding Bundle (Sheet Set and Mattress Protector) with any Luxe or Elite Mattress order.
Chapter 1: What should Americans remember on Memorial Day?
So, you know, obviously a huge majority of Americans haven't served in the military. On Memorial Day, it's easy to forget what the day is about because people sort of treat it as vacation day in the United States. What should Americans be thinking about on Memorial Day?
Chapter 2: Why is it important to think about deployed troops?
They should be thinking about the men and women that are still deployed overseas. That's actually where I will be spending Memorial Day as I'm leaving this weekend to head overseas to where I see our deployed troops from Montana and our special operations forces that I used to be a part of. visiting them before deployed where they are.
Although most Americans don't feel like we're at war, the truth is around the world, the American empire and the American ideal are all over the world and requires us to defend it constantly. And right now in the Red Sea, we've had the longest continuous run of naval combat since World War II.
Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are over there constantly fighting the Houthis, which are a proxy arm of Iran, to keep those sea lanes open and keep commerce flowing worldwide. It's an incredibly important mission. And that's what Americans should be thinking about on Memorial Day. Have fun, have a barbecue, go water skiing, do whatever you want to do. That's great.
We're proud to have Americans enjoy their day off. But just do so remembering that you're allowed to do those things because a very small number of men and women have chosen to stand on the wall and protect your ability to do that.
Senator Sheehy, one of the things that the Trump administration has really put a lot of focus on is rebuilding the American military, changing the way that people think about the American military.
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Chapter 3: How is the current state of the American military evaluated?
If you're grading the Trump administration's efforts so far in terms of the Department of Defense, the American military, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's performance, how would you grade it so far?
It's a solid A, Ben. Turning an organization the size of the DOD is a great challenge. It's like trying to turn an aircraft carrier quite literally. But they've come in with a purpose, with an aggression that's absolutely needed. They've reformed and refocused our military. It's not perfect yet. It's going to take some time.
But as you well know, during the Obama years and then especially during the last four Biden years, which, as you know, is basically with the same foreign policy extension, except far worse. was we saw weakness all over the world, and that weakness abets enemy strength.
And we saw that when we pulled out of Afghanistan, that kicked off a domino effect that led to the Russia-Ukraine war, led to the disgusting Hamas attack on Israel and the proxies all over the region becoming emboldened.
And what we've seen in the last 120 days is strength, focus, and aggression to make sure our military is focused on one thing, and that is killing the enemy and bringing home our men and women alive.
You know, Senator Sheehy, obviously there's a lot of concern about China out there. China is, in fact, a rising geopolitical enemy of the United States. A lot of concern about the ability of the United States military to combat China in places like the South China Sea, the possibility of a Chinese blockade around Taiwan. How worried should we be about that?
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Chapter 4: What concerns are there regarding China as a geopolitical threat?
And what does that mean in terms of military development?
We should be very worried, Ben, because you'll hear the term near-peer conflict thrown around all the time. We've got to be ready for near-peer, near-peer this, near-peer that. I don't know who they think the near-peer is, but the reality is right now China builds ships 230 times faster than we do. They have a standing army that by some accounts is 10 times bigger than ours is.
Just about a week and a half ago, last week, we had Pakistan and India face off in an air dominance battle that really we haven't seen an air superiority battle like that in several decades. It appears as if the Chinese integrated air dominance technology beat the Western technology five to zero. So that's a very big concern for those of us who are watching carefully because
Chapter 5: Why should we be worried about military readiness against China?
We all hope we don't have to go to war again. Ben, I know you hope that. Your family and friends in Israel have been fighting for the last year and a half. We know how brutal war is. We do not want to go to war, but we owe it to our people, especially our young men and women in uniform, that we are ready for the war when it comes. And America, unfortunately, in our track record,
is we usually have to absorb a lot of pain and a lot of losses before we change our behavior and last time we had great power competition in the pacific we got our ass kicked for the first year there's a lot of ships at the bottom of the ocean and a lot of dead americans because we were not ready to face off against this threat right now china has been preparing they are more prepared than we are we've seen a massive atrophy of our base infrastructure in the pacific and most importantly our ability to build replace and maintain our naval vessels which have been the guarantors of freedom of navigation around the entire world for the last 80
here. So I'm very concerned, Ben. I know that many of my former, sorry, many of my comrades in the Senate are equally concerned on both sides of the aisle, I might add. Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia has been a great voice of reason, too, in this saying we need to make sure our Navy's ready. So we've got a lot of work to do.
I think Pete's up to the job and the president has very clearly said it's time for us to get ready.
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Chapter 6: What has the U.S. military learned from past conflicts?
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Yeah, I think one of the things that a lot of people neglect when they look at American politics is just how much of America's soft power, how much of our economic power is in the end based on our ability to project force, keeping those sea lanes open, ensuring that the microchips that are manufactured in Taiwan actually can make their way to the rest of the world, ensuring that China doesn't just take Taiwan, destroy TSMC or
or seize control of TSMC, the consequences of an America free world or a world where America really has retreated within its own borders, those are disastrous consequences for American citizens living here at home.
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Chapter 7: What role does Helix Sleep play in improving sleep quality?
You're absolutely right. And that's something that Americans don't like to think of ourselves as a military empire of projecting force around the world. We like to think of ourselves as, hey, we want to mind our own business here at home and we'll deal with a problem if it comes to us. And that's certainly a noble cause. And I think for the most part, we all agree with that.
But the truth is, unfortunately, we have to be ready to defend our interests globally. And frankly, that goes back to the beginning in our Constitution. Our founding fathers in our Constitution stated very clearly that we are constitutionally required to provide and maintain a Navy. And the reason why is because building a Navy takes time.
It's expensive, it's hard, and the skills around a Navy take years to develop. And an Army is, of course, an equally important capability to have, But especially at that time, our founders were concerned about a standing army in America becoming used as a force of tyranny by a runaway government.
Whereas the Navy was understood that as a mercantile republic, we had to have open sea lanes available to keep our businesses running, to keep our economy strong. And as you correctly pointed out, 250 years on, very little has changed.
The technology is different, the products are different, but the reality is we have to be able to move products into and out of our marketplace, and so does the rest of the world. And right now, frankly, for the last eight years, the entire global economy has rested on the bedrock of freedom of navigation that sits on the backs of the U.S. Navy. So we have to be ready to defend those interests.
And right now, as we've seen in the Red Sea over the past year and a half, since October 7th, Although it's a small example of what can happen worldwide, we're very lucky to have the Navy we have. But unfortunately, the Red Sea is a tiny speck on the map compared to the Indo-Pacific region.
And we're not ready to spread that capability across the whole region the way China is rapidly pacing towards.
Senator Sheehy, obviously Memorial Day. And because it's Memorial Day, I want to talk to you about what drove you to join the military in the first place. Obviously, it's a volunteer military, which means that the best young men and women in the country are putting aside their own hopes, aspirations, financial dreams for a certain period of time in order to serve the country.
What drove you to make that decision in the first place?
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