On The Jackals

An American Hero Steps Off the Stage

Howdy,

Let’s get a little sentimental. Shit, it’s good to cry! I like doing it. Whatcha’ think about that?

Earlier today, an American hero completed an incredible command tour. His name is Jerry “Marvin” Gay.

Look, I don’t have his entire biography in front of me, and if I did, it would take me a month of posts to adequately describe what this man did for this country.

He served 30+ years in the United States Air Force.

I did twenty, and it drove me to the looney bin! Further, my friend, Marvin, deployed 16 times throughout his illustrative career. Numbers do not do justice to the level of sacrifice this man and his family gave to our country.

In less than two months, I will attend his retirement ceremony to welcome him to the magical life he so richly deserves.

Marvin and I come from different parts of the intelligence community. But we were both at the tip of the spear. I wouldn’t doubt our paths crossed during the last twenty years of war. We swam in the same spooky waters.

But it wasn’t until the twilight of both our careers that we finally met. I’ll be honest. I didn't get along with his predecessor for various reasons, some of which were partly mine. My first year in command was brutal. The fall of Afghanistan nearly destroyed me. It’s a miracle I survived. It’s only now that I’m starting to remember that two-year traumatic journey.

Nevertheless, Marvin and I quickly put those things behind us and that’s partly because Marvin is intimidating. Seriously. Look, man. There’s brilliant, and then there’s Marvin smart on Air Force intelligence.

(Who has two thumbs and doesn’t know shit about Air Force Airborne ISR—this guy right here!)

Marvin is intimidating because we were both of the same rank, but Marvin had enlisted in the Air Force, climbing to Technical Sergeant before joining the dark side of the force as an officer. He was a distinguished graduate of Airman Leadership School, where Airmen learn how to become Non-Commissioned Officers.

Then, after doing all that, he fought our nation’s wars in the shadows for two decades. How decorated is my brother, Marvin? He looks like the infamous Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum when he wears his Mess Dress.

But Marvin actually earned all of his ribbons and medals. It’s truly humbling and (terrifying?).

But, here’s the thing about Marvin: he’s a great brother in arms. He put together a Warrior Mind Set course that prepares his Airmen for the horrors of a pending fight with China and Russia.

I wrote about it here:

With this vision in mind, our squadron’s ART helped create a two-day “Warrior Mindset” course—the brainchild of a grizzled prior-enlisted commander with nearly thirty years of experience, Jerry “Marvin” Gray. He wanted to build resilient airmen who could thrive in, for example, a possible war with China, where the death count could exceed the total of all American wars since Vietnam. His airmen and the ART worked together to create a course today that could start preparing young airmen for such a horrific event.

The Warrior Mindset course occurs far from the airmen’s high-paced, classified work centers. Over nearly sixteen hours of group assignments, physical activities, and conversations, the ART and other leaders discuss topics ranging from nutrition to physical fitness to moral injury.

In 2023, at the end of the latest iteration, the airmen heard from multiple speakers, including a panel I sat on with two other commanders. The three of us had nearly seventy years of combined military and intelligence experience, with about ten combined years of deployments.

There were no company lines. It was real talk. We talked about the horrors of war. A few of us, including me, wept. You could have heard a pin drop.

I wish I had had this type of training before I deployed in 2006. By the time I got in, the only guys who had seen similar fighting to what we would experience, the Gulf War vets, were few and far between. There was some talk of post-traumatic stress disorder. Nobody had even heard of moral injury. The military trained us to conduct the mission, but didn’t do enough to prepare us for what we would see or how to deal with it. That is, mercifully, changing.

My brother, Marvin, did that. He also did a whole lot more during his two year command tour. This post, unfortunately, will not do him justice. However, I hope he will write for us because if you think I’m a Grumpy Combat Veteran, I bow before the Grumpiest Combat Veteran. :)

To his wife and family, thank you for the last two years. It’s not easy to sacrifice for this country for so long. I’m in awe of your sacrifice and his. Supporting a warrior like Marvin is not easy—believe me, I should know!

On behalf of his brothers and sisters in arms, thank you!

If ya ain’t 3rd!

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The 2nd Generation

Today, we released our third episode of Stories From My Brothers: Tales of the Afghan Security Forces. It’s only audio. I will explain some of the reasons behind this in a few months. More to follow on that.

Regardless, it’s a great episode with my brother, Shirzad Sarbaz.

I tell ya what! His Mom and Dad should be damn proud of their son. They raised him right!

Come and listen to one of America’s newest heroes.

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Haqqani

I hear ya. I know you’ve heard me go on about Haqqani all week, but if you’re interested in reading my entire take, it’s right here:

While the world is understandably focused on the Ukrainian and Gazan battlefields, Al Qaeda and its allies are traveling freely across the globe. I didn’t get this information clandestinely or through some unnamed source. Instead, it occurred in plain sight. The Taliban announced it for the world to see.

On June 4, Afghanistan’s Minister of Interior, Sirajuddin Haqqani, met with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi—a city housing thousands of American service members at Al Dhafra Air Base.

Haqqani isn’t just some no-name minister. I should know. I hunted him throughout my twenty years in the intelligence community and three years in Afghanistan. The son of the ruthless Jalaluddin Haqqani, he killed over two thousand American service members, thousands of our European allies, and nearly 70,000 Afghans.

There’s also an FBI bounty on his head for $10 million for killing American citizens.

As always, thanks for reading/listening to our content.

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