Allen Jackson NOW

Allen Jackson: Life of Service | Allen Jackson Now

October 31, 2025 | 22:52

Allen Jackson interviews Lt. General Jerry Boykin.

#News #Media #Government #Politics #Culture #Military #Faith #PersonalStory #Prayer #Mother

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Allen Jackson NOW | Allen Jackson: Life of Service | Allen Jackson Now | October 31, 2025

And we're going to talk a bit
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About your career and what you've done.
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But i think the foundation for
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You came from a family of real faith.
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I know your mother was a godly, praying woman.
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I've heard you share a variety of ways
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That she would pray and intercede for you
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At different points
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When you were qualifying for delta in some of those places.
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So some of you who think you're all you can do is pray.
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That's a misunderstanding.
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In most cases, the most valuable thing we can do is pray.
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Yes, but in my right.
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She didn't when you were doing. yeah. when?
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When i had, i got a call asking me to come
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And try out for this new unit,
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Which turned out to be the delta force. and,
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And they said, and we need your answer in one hour.
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So i did what every christian man does
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When he is confronted with a dilemma.
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And i call my mother.
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And i told her what was i said,
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I don't know if this is where the lord wants me or not, but,
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They tell me this is going to be the
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Toughest thing i've ever done.
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And and they tell me you better be
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In the best physical condition you've ever been in.
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And i said, mom, you need to be praying for me.
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And she said, i'll go pray for you right now.
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And she started praying and and, i mean, when my mother prayed,
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She shook the gates of heaven. i'm telling you.
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And i got family right here.
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And i will tell you the same thing. but,
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36.5 years, i was in the army.
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Every day that i was in the army,
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My mother prayed for me,
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And she prayed psalm 91 over me
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Every day.
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There's, if i remember correctly,
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That delta trial, there was another component of that.
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You had to make some crazy hike.
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And then there was a psychologist
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That had an opinion about your fitness.
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You know, it may not be the most god honoring
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Part of the morning, but it's memorable.
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Well,
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The trial was a 30 day trial up in the mountains of north
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Carolina and going long distances, carrying
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Heavy loads and, the last day we went 40 miles.
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We started with 118 people, and we finished with 19.
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And the last day was 40 miles through the mountains
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With a big, heavy rucksack on the snow.
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And, and, i came in first and i had been.
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Yeah, but i was.
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Trust me when i tell you i couldn't do that.
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I could not do that on my own.
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I was praying and asking the lord to give me what i needed.
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If he was his will, that i should be part of this.
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Give me what i need and help me through this.
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And that's exactly what he did.
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He gave me what i needed.
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But, they brought us back to fort bragg
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Out of those mountains,
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And a psychologist came in and gave us all,
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A battery of tests and everything.
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And just as one psychologist, took us all into a room,
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And each one of us individually, he would,
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He would talk to us, and.
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Well, when he brought me in, i sat down and he said
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He was very unpleasant.
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Let me just say that.
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And i said he said,
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Captain boykin, i'm going to recommend
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Against you being part of this delta force.
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And i said, why?
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And he said, because
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You rely too much on your faith and you just won't fit in here.
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And i thought,
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And you rely on your nose to breathe, and i think
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I'm gonna break it for you.
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Now, pastor, i'm more sanctified now.
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Okay?
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I'm more sanctified
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By the spite of all that.
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They took me.
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They took me in spite of that, because i've been very open
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About my faith.
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I did not feel like
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I was compelled to hide my faith, particularly
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When i was asking the lord to help me to get through this.
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That test where he warned me to be so.
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And but you know, sometimes
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When we compromise on our faith
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Or we say we're christian
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And we compromise and people see us compromise,
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And you don't realize the damage that we do
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Is not we can repent and be forgiven for it.
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But how about those people that see us compromising
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That we cannot do that?
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We can't do it?
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But there are so many christians that are doing exactly
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The same thing. so we're all sinners.
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That's not the point though.
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We're all sinners, but we can't compromise our faith.
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And because the people
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That are hurt the most of the people who see us do that,
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I think that's such an important point,
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Because it's become fashionable to diminish your faith,
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To turn it up
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More brightly in some settings
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And to turn it down in other settings.
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And, you know, the
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The marriage covenant you have,
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If you had that attitude towards your marriage,
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That in some settings i can be less married,
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And in some settings i'm more married.
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We would all understand that your character was broken.
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Well, the covenant you have with god
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Is more significant than your marriage covenant.
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And i'm not diminishing marriage.
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I'm telling you, we have bought into something
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That is fundamentally deceptive
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And wrong, and from the pit of hell,
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We're either christ followers 24 seven wherever we go
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Or you're not one.
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And you're the lord blessed you.
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In spite of that, you ended up you.
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You not only were the one of the founding
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Participants in delta, eventually you led delta.
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Is that right?
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I did, i, when i reached the,
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Rank of colonel, i became the, unit commander.
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And i commanded, delta force for a little over two years.
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You spent your professional life leading
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Young men and women, overwhelmingly young men.
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So i would love to, to borrow a bit of that experience,
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If you had a message for fathers that have sons still at home,
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What would you say to them today?
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There's a lot of voices competing
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For how they should think and what they should do,
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And how they should help shape those young lives.
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What would you say to those fathers?
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What i would say to you is, first of all,
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Set the example,
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Set the example for your son.
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He's got to know what a man is supposed to do.
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And i got to tell you, in our society today, adam,
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I know it's no surprise to you, but men don't even know
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What men are supposed to do in many ways, because
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They have been beaten down.
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They've been told that they are no different from a woman.
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And and, and that's simply not true.
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And it's not just their plumbing.
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I mean, the men come out of the womb meant to be warriors.
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Warriors.
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You understand what i'm saying? warriors.
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Men come out of
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The womb meant to be warriors,
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But they're in many cases,
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They are conditioned to be just the opposite from that.
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But i would say men set the example for your son.
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Let them see you pray.
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Let them understand
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How important it is for your children to see you.
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Pray and look.
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You're going to make
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At times bad judgment.
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You got to make.
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I will say mistakes, but
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Be careful when you talk to somebody about a mistake.
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When some guy says, well, yes, i slept with this woman
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Even though i'm married.
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And my, it was a big mistake.
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No, it was not a big mistake.
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It was a choice.
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Don't let them off the hook.
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Because the next thing they'll say is.
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And everybody makes mistakes,
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But everybody doesn't make the choices that you've made.
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But everybody doesn't make the choices that you've made.
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You gave them the strength of
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Your youth to defending and serving this country,
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Which hasn't been a particularly chic thing
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To do for a while.
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And i think, you know, in the the diminishment
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Of our attitude towards
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The military is connected, in my mind, at least,
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To the diminishment of the respect
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We have for law enforcement and for first responders.
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You can speak to this from experience.
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Do you regret it?
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Has it been a good thing for you?
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What would you say
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To the young men
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That are looking at their futures
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And the families that are looking for the futures?
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You see the parents,
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We have to value those things for our kids to value them.
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But do you think you made a mistake?
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If i had to do over again,
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I'd go back in the military.
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I'd go back and
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I'd go back into the u.s.
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Army and, and i'd spend another 36 years, i, i don't regret it.
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And let me say this to you.
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I've talked
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To a lot of people that have said, well, i wish i'd stayed in
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Or i wish i'd been in the army or been in the military.
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I've never heard anybody say
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I regret the time that i spent in the military.
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You will never regret it.
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And let me tell you, if you got a son or a daughter,
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Either one
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That aren't sure what they want to do with their lives,
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There's a good way to get them on the right track.
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And we're getting back to being a real army.
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We're getting back to having
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A focus.
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We are
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Now focusing on getting ready to win the nation's wars.
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And douglas macarthur stood in the west part mess hall.
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That's the dining facility,
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In 1962.
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And he looked down at the cadets there
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And he said, your mission
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Remains fixed, determined, inviolable.
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It is to win the nation's wars.
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That has not changed.
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But when we got into this cycle of all this woke nonsense,
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There was no focus
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On winning wars.
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That mission has not changed.
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But when we were more and concerned about somebody
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Knowing the proper pronouns
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Than being able to hit a target downrange
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That was not preparing for war.
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And if we had been called up, then
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It could have been an ugly situation.
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But now, as soon as we had a new president,
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The recruiting went off the scale, it went off the scale.
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And we, you know,
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We have to recognize that that's what our military is for.
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So i have no regrets whatsoever.
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And trust me when i tell you my body is so beat up right now
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For that.
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I've been shot at.
00:11:45.927 --> 00:11:46.961
I've been shot once.
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I've been hit with a mortar once i've,
00:11:48.062 --> 00:11:51.399
Had a parachute fail, and,
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And i believe it or not, i went through this.
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Can i tell this?
00:11:59.007 --> 00:12:02.877
You know what freefall
00:12:03.344 --> 00:12:04.579
Parachuting is, is different than static land or static land.
00:12:04.579 --> 00:12:07.582
A plane pose your and you're only 1200 feet up.
00:12:07.582 --> 00:12:12.287
But when you go into a freefall, you go up very high.
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I've been as high as an over in europe.
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I've been as high as,
00:12:18.226 --> 00:12:20.528
24,000ft.
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And we jump out
00:12:22.363 --> 00:12:23.598
And you fly for a little ways till you get stable,
00:12:23.598 --> 00:12:26.568
And then you pull, and then you just fly the canopy. so,
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I had
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Never had any training when i started doing that.
00:12:33.641 --> 00:12:36.077
I mean, that was kind of stupid, but.
00:12:36.878 --> 00:12:41.182
And i told the people last night, i have a fear of heights.
00:12:42.317 --> 00:12:46.020
I honestly have a fear of heights.
00:12:46.020 --> 00:12:47.689
That's no joke.
00:12:47.689 --> 00:12:49.257
So i,
00:12:49.257 --> 00:12:52.393
I said to the guys one day, i said, hey,
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I can do that.
00:12:55.864 --> 00:12:56.798
I'm watching you. i'm watching what you do.
00:12:56.798 --> 00:12:58.900
I can do that. let take me up.
00:12:58.900 --> 00:13:00.902
I will do that.
00:13:00.902 --> 00:13:02.537
And they took me up, and this was one of these.
00:13:02.537 --> 00:13:04.505
It was a cia airplane.
00:13:04.505 --> 00:13:06.174
And you had to climb out on the strut.
00:13:06.174 --> 00:13:09.444
I mean, climb out on the strut,
00:13:09.444 --> 00:13:12.046
And, so i climb out on, i strut and it dawns on me.
00:13:12.046 --> 00:13:15.750
What are you doing?
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And i thought, oh, lord, if you will get me through
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This, i'll never be this stupid again.
00:13:21.956 --> 00:13:27.161
And i and i jumped, but
00:13:27.662 --> 00:13:30.465
So i had i did three jumps with no training.
00:13:30.465 --> 00:13:33.701
And then on the fourth jump,
00:13:34.302 --> 00:13:37.238
I got out.
00:13:37.238 --> 00:13:40.041
And my air on me and my, parachute
00:13:40.041 --> 00:13:44.512
Malfunctioned.
00:13:44.846 --> 00:13:46.414
The automatic opening device opened at the same time.
00:13:46.414 --> 00:13:49.550
I can't, i pull my canopy and the two of them
00:13:49.550 --> 00:13:53.021
Just kind of hate each other like this.
00:13:53.021 --> 00:13:55.857
It's the worst entanglement you can have.
00:13:55.857 --> 00:13:59.560
And i'm sailing through the air knowing that i'm.
00:13:59.560 --> 00:14:02.764
I'm going to be killed.
00:14:02.764 --> 00:14:03.631
And i just said, lord, don't let me die.
00:14:03.631 --> 00:14:08.202
And the holy spirit said to me,
00:14:08.836 --> 00:14:12.040
Greater is he
00:14:12.407 --> 00:14:13.841
That is in you than he that is in the world.
00:14:13.841 --> 00:14:18.613
And i went,
00:14:18.947 --> 00:14:21.182
I went into the trees,
00:14:21.182 --> 00:14:23.117
Some 80ft pine trees, and one of those pine trees snagged,
00:14:23.117 --> 00:14:28.323
And i went all the way to the end of the ropes.
00:14:29.223 --> 00:14:31.259
And i hit my knee on a stump, and i got up and walked away
00:14:31.259 --> 00:14:34.462
From it. and.
00:14:34.462 --> 00:14:43.071
God will never leave you
00:14:43.604 --> 00:14:44.872
Nor forsake.
00:14:44.872 --> 00:14:52.004
Nor forsake.
00:14:52.004 --> 00:14:56.622
But i thought of you
00:14:57.090 --> 00:14:58.124
With the israeli hostages,
00:14:58.124 --> 00:15:01.461
Because i know you were involved
00:15:01.461 --> 00:15:03.830
In the rescue attempt for their hostages
00:15:03.830 --> 00:15:05.598
That were in iran,
00:15:05.598 --> 00:15:06.699
And i read where it was one of the more disappointing.
00:15:06.699 --> 00:15:09.469
But i it's a part of the story.
00:15:09.469 --> 00:15:11.004
I mean, the lord blessed your life
00:15:11.004 --> 00:15:12.472
And has established you,
00:15:12.472 --> 00:15:14.474
But everything didn't work
00:15:14.474 --> 00:15:15.541
The way you wanted it because that they didn't.
00:15:15.541 --> 00:15:18.544
And i've heard you tell some of those takeaways.
00:15:18.544 --> 00:15:20.513
I mean, i i've been celebrating all week, those israeli
00:15:20.513 --> 00:15:24.317
Men and women that walked out, it seemed impossible to me.
00:15:24.317 --> 00:15:26.753
But you went to get our hostages in iran.
00:15:26.753 --> 00:15:29.989
You talk about iran, you know, 1980,
00:15:29.989 --> 00:15:34.394
We went into iran to rescue 52 americans that were being held
00:15:34.394 --> 00:15:39.032
By followers of the ayatollah khomeini.
00:15:39.032 --> 00:15:41.567
And and we got about 100 miles from tehran,
00:15:41.567 --> 00:15:44.704
And we landed in c-130s, and we brought in rh
00:15:44.704 --> 00:15:48.508
53 helicopters
00:15:48.508 --> 00:15:50.176
Off the uss nimitz and tucked them in behind the c one 30s.
00:15:50.176 --> 00:15:54.347
And we pulled the hoses out and started
00:15:54.347 --> 00:15:56.449
Refueling the helicopters so we could go in on
00:15:56.449 --> 00:15:59.786
To the next leg into the embassy and get our hostages.
00:15:59.786 --> 00:16:03.823
And all of a sudden, one of the,
00:16:03.823 --> 00:16:07.193
One of the helicopters lifted off in the sand.
00:16:07.193 --> 00:16:09.495
This was right out in the middle of the desert
00:16:09.495 --> 00:16:11.664
In a sand just blew up.
00:16:11.664 --> 00:16:13.299
And, and it was, i mean, the pilot couldn't see.
00:16:13.299 --> 00:16:18.304
He went vertical, he lost his equilibrium,
00:16:18.304 --> 00:16:21.707
And he came back and landed right on top of the,
00:16:21.707 --> 00:16:26.813
Of the,
00:16:27.046 --> 00:16:28.014
C-130, and it burst into flames.
00:16:28.014 --> 00:16:31.951
I was outside, i was about
00:16:32.518 --> 00:16:35.388
Oh, really?
00:16:35.388 --> 00:16:36.756
Probably from here to that screen, from it.
00:16:36.756 --> 00:16:39.759
And when it exploded, i turned and i felt the heat,
00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.429
And i, i had no idea what happened.
00:16:44.163 --> 00:16:47.800
I thought they had fired mortars or something at us, and
00:16:47.800 --> 00:16:51.704
And i looked back and, and i realize that 45 of the
00:16:51.704 --> 00:16:55.908
Delta force men that had prayed before we launched
00:16:55.908 --> 00:17:00.246
Were stuck inside that burning wreckage.
00:17:00.246 --> 00:17:02.949
And i didn't, i didn't know what to do.
00:17:02.949 --> 00:17:05.985
So i did what i always do
00:17:06.552 --> 00:17:09.155
Since i couldn't call my mother.
00:17:09.155 --> 00:17:13.259
I, i just started praying.
00:17:13.826 --> 00:17:15.962
I went, reached out to my source.
00:17:15.962 --> 00:17:19.065
I prayed a ten second prayer.
00:17:19.065 --> 00:17:21.868
I said, father, these men trusted you.
00:17:21.868 --> 00:17:24.270
I'm asking you to bring them out alive, lord farrell.
00:17:24.270 --> 00:17:28.040
In jesus name, amen. ten second prayer.
00:17:28.040 --> 00:17:31.477
No. sir.
00:17:31.744 --> 00:17:34.847
Sadducees and the pharisees.
00:17:34.847 --> 00:17:37.316
I prayed these long, elaborate,
00:17:37.316 --> 00:17:39.986
You know, prayers.
00:17:39.986 --> 00:17:42.622
But they weren't praying to god.
00:17:42.622 --> 00:17:45.158
They were praying to the people around.
00:17:45.158 --> 00:17:48.661
And i will tell you that i get very suspect
00:17:48.661 --> 00:17:51.264
To people that pray these long prayers
00:17:51.264 --> 00:17:53.266
And start quoting scripture and all that.
00:17:53.266 --> 00:17:55.501
You think god doesn't know what the scripture says.
00:17:55.501 --> 00:18:00.406
Or think about it.
00:18:00.840 --> 00:18:03.743
But, it was,
00:18:03.743 --> 00:18:10.850
I guess it was one of those turning points
00:18:11.717 --> 00:18:14.520
In your life where you realize just how fragile life is,
00:18:14.520 --> 00:18:18.257
And you realize that at any moment it could end.
00:18:18.257 --> 00:18:22.228
And for me, it made me much more aware
00:18:22.228 --> 00:18:27.066
Because those 45 men jumped out of that helicopter.
00:18:28.067 --> 00:18:33.005
I mean, out of that, aircraft,
00:18:33.005 --> 00:18:36.542
They troop door came open
00:18:36.542 --> 00:18:39.679
And here they come, jumping through the flames,
00:18:39.679 --> 00:18:43.316
Jumping through the flames, out onto the desert floor.
00:18:43.316 --> 00:18:46.118
And running is like shadrach, meshach and abednego.
00:18:46.118 --> 00:18:49.422
You know what?
00:18:49.755 --> 00:18:51.123
Nebuchadnezzar put them in that fiery furnace.
00:18:51.123 --> 00:18:54.560
And then nebuchadnezzar jumped up and ran over there.
00:18:55.628 --> 00:18:59.498
And he said, yo, dudes, come here and check this out.
00:18:59.498 --> 00:19:03.736
That's the way they talk back.
00:19:04.337 --> 00:19:05.605
Then.
00:19:05.605 --> 00:19:08.507
Didn't we throw three?
00:19:08.507 --> 00:19:16.382
I see a fourth.
00:19:16.749 --> 00:19:19.619
It looks like the son of god.
00:19:19.619 --> 00:19:22.855
I can assure you
00:19:23.256 --> 00:19:25.625
There was a fourth worker walking around
00:19:25.625 --> 00:19:29.061
And that burning wreckage that night.
00:19:29.061 --> 00:19:31.831
He will never leave us nor forsake us.
00:19:31.831 --> 00:19:44.003
He will never leave us nor forsake us.
00:19:44.003 --> 00:19:47.718
One of the things that i used to tell the
00:19:48.586 --> 00:19:51.022
Those young men
00:19:51.022 --> 00:19:52.123
That i was teaching, i told leadership i had the most
00:19:52.123 --> 00:19:55.559
Oversubscribed class
00:19:56.027 --> 00:19:58.562
In all of that at the whole,
00:19:58.562 --> 00:20:02.300
University or college.
00:20:02.767 --> 00:20:04.969
I guess it really is.
00:20:04.969 --> 00:20:07.238
You can't
00:20:07.538 --> 00:20:09.173
You can't compromise on what you believe.
00:20:09.173 --> 00:20:12.343
And here's what i'd say to them.
00:20:12.343 --> 00:20:13.944
I'd get them around the fire the last night of class.
00:20:13.944 --> 00:20:18.015
I would do it outdoors and i'd get them around a foreigner.
00:20:18.015 --> 00:20:20.651
Say, you need to know
00:20:20.651 --> 00:20:24.088
What your values are.
00:20:24.588 --> 00:20:25.856
You need to know what you believe in.
00:20:25.856 --> 00:20:27.758
You need to know what you're willing to sacrifice for,
00:20:27.758 --> 00:20:31.128
What you're willing to, to even die for.
00:20:31.128 --> 00:20:34.298
Maybe
00:20:34.298 --> 00:20:36.467
You need to know that, but you need to know why
00:20:36.467 --> 00:20:38.769
You believe it. it's not enough.
00:20:38.769 --> 00:20:41.772
It's not enough.
00:20:41.772 --> 00:20:42.940
If you don't know why you believe it, that's not enough.
00:20:42.940 --> 00:20:45.710
You gotta know why you believe it.
00:20:45.710 --> 00:20:47.211
And and and in our case, we believe it.
00:20:47.211 --> 00:20:51.282
Because us in the word of god.
00:20:51.282 --> 00:20:54.051
But we've gotta know what we believe in.
00:20:54.051 --> 00:20:56.754
It's not just a matter of having a value.
00:20:56.754 --> 00:20:59.957
You need to know why you have that value, general.
00:20:59.957 --> 00:21:03.127
Thank you, thank you,
00:21:03.127 --> 00:21:04.662
Thank you for your service to our country, for your.
00:21:04.662 --> 00:21:04.662

Allen Jackson: Life of Service | Allen Jackson Now

October 31, 2025 | 22:52

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