That huge, campaignshaking announcement he had been promising. He offered the president of the United States a charity gift of 5 million if the president would release his college transcripts. I believe we have the footage of the announcement of trump making it. [laughter] yeah, oh, wait a second. You know what, im sorry. Im sorry. That wasnt donald trump trying to publicly extort the president of the United States. That was a gorilla eating its own [bleeped]. My apologies. [cheering and applause] i dont know how that. That was weird. Anyway, sarah palin chimed in, accused the president of shucking and jiving. Yeah, her words, shucking and jiving about libya. Lets take a look at her statement. Oh, wait. Im sorry. Im sorry. Thats. Huh. Huh. I apologize. That was a hippo spraying its own [bleeped] through its tail. Again, i. I dont know how i ended up confusing these images. Look, lets face facts, were tired as hell of covering all of these important electoral developments anyway. So tonight we thought wed focus on a different, perhaps more interesting topic. To that end, we will have on as our guest author and medal of honor recipient dakota meyer, and well also take a look at some. [cheering and applause] what we think. Take a look at what some of what we think are important veterans issues, because as divided as america, is, there are still a couple things we agree on. One, popcorn is corn, so for dietary purpose, it does count as a vegetable. And number two. The publics voice is clear. 85 of americans polled by cnn in january said preventing cuts in Veterans Benefits is more important than reducing the deficit. Jon wait, who are the [bleeped], the 14 that say reducing the deficit is more important than our obligation to our veterans . Who are those [bleeped] . Roll tape. Senate republicans blocked a bill yesterday that would have provided a billion dollars over fife years to help over 20,000 veterans find work in their community. Republicans argued the bill was unpaid for. Jon shame were out of animal [bleeped] footage. Let me be absolutely clear what happened here. 40 republican senators. [laughter] you like that . 40 republican senators thought it would be wrong to spend a billion dollars on a bill to help reintegrate veterans into the domestic workforce partly because of the amount of money we had already gladly spent on wars that made them veterans in the first place. Besides, why do veterans need extra help finding work . Dont they come back with all sorts of valuable skills . As veterans return home today with military training they received, that training is not recognized by civilian authorities and states and therefore theyre forced to go through redundant training to do the job they were doing in the military. If somebody can do a job while serving in a war zone, they can certainly do that same job at home in a safe environment. Jon can they . Sure you can drive a vehicle while being shot at, but can you do it while not being shot at . [laughter] luckily, all is mott lost. A piece of the larger filibustered bill, which was the veterans job corps act of 2012, does still remain in play. This piece is called the hire at home act. Its passed the house with bipartisan support and is sitting in Senate Committee waiting for old, slow people to do something with it. How do we fix this massive veteran employment oversight . The hire at home act, a twopage bill that asks, nay demands, that states take into consideration a veterans training. Yes, from now on with god as my witness, if your state wants federal job training money, when you interview veterans, their training must not, shall not, will not go unconsidered. [laughter] for a moment. Two problems. One, a bill that seeks to correct the very complex problem to civilian skill and short easy sayings is substantially shorter than the itunes contract you have to sign to download a season of band of brothers. Number two, the problem is only partially on the state. A major piece why skills dont transferres back to civilian life is the military certification is completely different than the civilian certification process. Apparently the technology does not yet exist to convert that information. Or perhaps the technology is so advanced that it exists but human eyes cannot see it. Stealth paper [laughter] well played, pentagon, well played. Although, to be fair to the pentagon and the department of defense, this is only our 240th year of fighting wars. So new issues are always going to arise, like what to do with the people who fought for you afterwards. Look, all armies face this, except oddly enough the kiss army, were for just 110, kiss army members receive full certification, attesting that they are capable of not only knock ternal rocking, but everyday partying, skills recognized by all 50 states. [cheering and applause] look, heres the other thing. Maybe its time we point the finger at veterans themselves. What gave these veterans the idea that their military skills would be transferable to the real world in the first place . The strength to build a Better Future can be found in the army, with leadership skills and training in over 150 careers, 150 careers in the strengths americas Top Employers are looking for. Jon oh, right. [laughter] [bleeped] well be right back. Welcome back. So before the break i told you about the hilarious story of thousands of returning veterans not having the certification that civilians will understand, even though they have clearly gone above and beyond the work requirements that you would need to do the job that theyre trying to get here, so i figured wed do our part to help reintegrate them into the workplace. Joining me now are two iraq veteran, field trained medics, meg mitcham and daniel hutchinson. Thank you for being here, meg, daniel. All right. [cheering and applause] lets get into it. All right. Meg . Yep. Daniel . Yep. Jon okay. You guys served in iraq . Yep. Jon and what was your job in iraq . I was a combat medic. Jon uhhuh. Daniel . I was in iraq in 06. Our job was to stabilize casualties until the point where we could get medical evacuation for them. Jon yours as well. Pretty much the same thing. Guy gets shot, we fix it. Jon well, now youre back home. Youre looking for work. Would you like the still be in the medical field by any chance . Absolutely. Jon interesting. [laughter] where are you from . Columbus, ohio. Jon where are you from . Washington, d. C. I didnt realize youre from ohio, the only state that matter. Heres a Voter Registration card. Please. Did your get this . Yeah. Jon they already got you . You want to volunteer at all . Apparently its a requirement now, anyone from ohio has to. So ohio and d. C. I happen to have two openings, school nurse. Would you be interested in that at all . A jobs a job. Jon a jobs a job. Okay. Can i see very quickly your bachelor of science nursing degree. I dont have one of those. Jon oh. Well, how about the results of your National Council licensing exam . I dont have one of those either. Jon well, we need our people to be familiar with biology, anatomy and physiology. Got that. Jon what were some of your experiences . You see, i was over with some of my friends in iraq, and we were driving down the road. Big bomb went off, bunch of people got injured. So i used the resources that i had at the time to save lives of three patients at the same time, stop their bleed, call in a medivac request and ensure that they were kept alive and safe until they could get to a higher echelon of care at one of the hospitals in the country. [cheering and applause] jon do you have a certification that says that you did all this . I am my amt basic license, which is some of that. Jon and that certifies do you do what . Take vital signs. Jon school nurse. Lets do it. [laughter] jon youd like the job . Yes. Jon do you have a professional Pupil Services license. I do not. Jon issued by the ohio licensing boardment i do not. Jon what experience do you have in this field . Ive stabilized guys with a wound in his chest, replenished fluids, breathed for him for 37 minutes until we could get a blackhawk helicopter to get him to the next echelon of care. [cheering and applause] jon let me ask you a question. Are you familiar with kickball . [laughter] in the job that im asking of you, you will be required to deal with bruising. Were there tummy aches were you were . We had tummy aches in iraq. Jon so you are not in any way licensed or qualified to work as a school nurse . Thats correct. The only certification i have is an emt basic. Jon now, but you clearly both have had the experience and the training far above and beyond what any of these jobs would require and also seem to have, and i recognize this before in people and i dont necessarily recognize it in myself, courage and integrity. [laughter] which i find employers tend to value. So what is the disconnect . What is going on here that is not allowing people that are clearly qualified, intelligent, tenacious, hardworking and courageous to not get the jobs that they are absolutely qualified for. What would you say is the Biggest Issue . I think between what we learn in the formal training and what we learn in the field and on the job hands on just doing it because it happens and so you fix it, between those two things, we dont get the certification that the employers are looking for. Jon how about you . I believe there are two major breakdowns. First one is we need a better Transition Program in place for our returning veterans with big emphasis on resume writing. A veteran can take his job skills that he did in the military and translate it into a way civilian employers can understand. And the second, i believe men and women should come home with certifications. You should be able to do the same job you did in the military. You can do it in the civilian world. You say you have an emt basic. You clearly would qualify for an emt paramedic, would you not . That is the essence of what you are doing, saving lives in an emergency situation. Were practicing at that level. We Practice Medicine at that level without the certification. Jon when you get back, they want to put you back through Training Programs that could be two years long, hundreds of hours and those types of things. I hate to be arch about it, but it is somewhat stuning to see people of your qualifications and your talents have to struggle with the system that should do nothing more than respect and honor all that youve given to it. So thank you very much. [cheering and applause] former Staff Sergeant meg mitcham and former specialist daniel hutchinson. Well be right back. Jon welcome back. My guest tonight, a veteran of the war in afghanistan who is a recipient of the congressional medal of honor in 2011, whose book is called into the fire, a firsthand account of the most extraordinary wattle in the afghanistan war. Please welcome back to the program dakota meyer. [applause] young man. Whats going on . Jon first of all, i am stunned after reading your book at how much in common you and i have. [laughter] really . Which part . Jon a couple brave Kentucky Farm guys, except for not me. This is an absolutely. Its called. Into the fire. Jon it is a searing look at the battle that you were in, in afghanistan. Walk us through just very quickly the parameters of that battle. You know, we had the village elders come in and tell us they wanted to renounce themselveses from the taliban and invite us to come in, and this was the only mission that they left me out of my teamment they sent me back to my vehicle. They let my team go in. They replaced me with another guy named gunner sergeant johnson. They were going to interthe village, secure a town meeting and the village elders were going to renounce themselves from the taliban, like i said. This is huge for us because, you know, you lower the supporters of the enemy, then obviously you lower your freedom of movement. And therefore youre starting to win. Jon this is a strategic battle. Gangial valley. Its like a horseshoe valley. In afghanistan, ive never seen a place where you had the high ground to be honest because you look on map, youre like, well get to this high ground, you have it, as soon as you get up there and trek up the mountain, you look up, theres another one higher than us. Jon more high ground until you go all the way to everest. Wherever, exactly. Jon wherever the hell youre going to get to. Who knows. So anyway, were going to go in, secure the town meeting, and immediately upon entering the village, a team is under attack, and its an ambush and it was definitely big, and it wasnt like normal ambushes. Most time in an ambush takes ten minutes, the dust settles and your training kicks in, you started doing your fighting and thats how it is. Not in this one. It seemed like everything you could count on in every other battle was failing. So finally after a little while me and Staff Sergeant Rodriguez Chavez said, we got to do something. You know, we requested to go in four times. We were told no each time. Then finally we just did it because its simple. Were taught obedience to orders, but i can tell you what were taught more importantly is a brotherhood. And its about doing whats right. [cheering and applause] jon whats so incredible about this is, you know, so much of our vision of war is good guy, bad guys. And in an event like this, you really see the nuances of. You are embedded with Afghan Soldiers that you are training, and theyre the ones that are supposedly taking the lead in this battle. Yeah, you know, were supposed to be advising them on it. Its kind of like with, hey, you know, it would be good, what do you think about moving this cup over here . Probably not a good idea. What do you think if we move this cup this way a little bit. Great idea. Good idea. Jon so theyre in the lead. Yeah. Jon its cup moving watch. Yeah, whatever. So anyway, we went in. We finally went in, and when we got in there, it was. You take your worst day you could ever imagine and multiply it by a million and we just started laughing. Me and rod were laughing. I could hear him over the headset. He was driving. He was laughing. Jon hes driving and hes up on a tourette. And you got yourself a 50 cal . So youre just trying the find where these snipers are. No, no, no, i have guys running at the vehicle trying to swarm me. So im trying the keep them furthest away i. Can jon taliban. Yeah, taliban. So after six hours of searching for the missing guys, i located my team. The helicopter located their life legs bodies in a trench and i got to them and they paid the ultimate sacrifice. I just. Jon right. Its an incredible story. [applause] what i thought was so interesting about this story and you left out some of the details of some of his incredible exploits of defending his vehicle from the three taliban that had attacked it and then also bringing back a lot of wounded people back to the. I guess youd call it the marshy area. We had a casualty collection point. Jon and then going back out into the fight and continuing to try and. Theres a portion of a place called toc. Can you tell us . Toc is where basically the higherups stay. They make decisions from there. They give you. Thats where all your support comes from, all your radio traffic goes through. Its like a Central Point to where back on a safe, secure base, they make decisions. And thats who failed us. Jon part of the story is they had taken the command of some of this operation from the guys on the ground that were there and placed it in toc, and youre calling them for air support. They make the final decision, and, you know, its so frustrating for us over there because you got a guy like me thats on the ground. You know, if youre going to send me out on patrol and trust me enough to go on patrol without you going with me then let me make my own decision. If you want to make a decision, get out there with me. Youll make a different decision if youre getting shot at. Jon so youre calling them back and saying, these guys are up on ridges and you have six positions we can call in. We have four u. S. Missing to top it off. And when they come back and they say, are they marines or army . What does it matter. Jon it was interesting because every time theyd call, they would call back with another sort of strange question. Yeah. Yeah. The last words i heard out of my lieutenants mouth was, he gave a Great Mission to drop smoke so he can extract back cover movement. They called back and gave the mission and said, no, its too close to the village. He says, if you dont give me these rounds right now were going to die. And the response back was well, try your best. Jon its an incredible story. I give you and rodriguez all the credit in the world for basically ignoring orders but living up to the creed which you swore to protect. Youre brothers and going back in there. Stick around for a little bit . Yeah. Jon more with dakota meyer, into the fire. Its on the bookshelves now. Dakota meyer. [cheering and applause]
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