From Ranger to Rancher: Picking a Fight With Big Food | Patrick Montgomery | Ep. 473

A Marine veteran with no combat time or service injuries asks what I think about his stepsons' VA disability ratings and whether he should file for the same "free money." I break down where that money actually comes from, what the deficit and national debt look like, and why I'd tell him to stick to his morals. I also address the people who feel the need to qualify their service. A listener pushes back on last week's censorship conversation and cites an FBI arrest as proof that some speech has to be stopped. I walk through what the First Amendment protects and what it doesn't, why an arrest for incitement is a consequence rather than censorship, and I repeat the question I've been asking for years: show me one example where censorship was a net positive. A 25-year-old whose father coached him from high school through college writes in about losing the sport he loved, feeling behind in his mid-20s, and worrying his fiancée will be collateral damage while he figures it out. My advice is simple. Share all of it with her. Take the Operator Code Assessment: https://www.theoperatorcode.com Today's Sponsors: Surefire: https://www.surefire.com Ridge: One thing to pack, five ways to power! You can find Ridge's Power Bank at Best Buy or our listeners can get 10% off at https://www.Ridge.com by using code "clearedhot" at checkout.

Ryan Bodenheimer spent eleven years on active duty flying the F-15E, including 70 combat missions over Afghanistan and a stint building strike packages at the air operations center in Qatar. He was selected for the Thunderbirds, flew Thunderbird 2 for two show seasons, and instructed the next team. After the Air Force he flew airliners, then walked away to build Max Afterburner, now one of the largest military aviation channels on YouTube, and to write Take Command. The thread in this conversation is rules and when to break them. He kept a loaded jet at .99 Mach so he'd arrive with something to protect a SEAL, then went down to 100 feet because 500 would have gotten the guy killed. He went off dry on a cleared-hot strafe because he saw kids, and two targets got away. My helicopter instructor put it simply: know the rules and why they exist, then you can break them. We close on Iran, drones, the withdrawal, and the limits of air power. Enjoy. Take Command: https://mysignedcopy.com/en-us/products/take-command?srsltid=AU7gw4XIeBMvDl9pxPZIhD54iTnJC5j74cMg8n-HS_7Cxx5Z4k83omYq Take the Operator Code Assessment: https://www.theoperatorcode.com

I asked a question this week about whether the Fort Hood shooter's execution should be made public, and the emotional response to it surprised me. One video about my post opened by telling me never to defend him. I didn't. He should die, and I spent ten years of my life removing people like him from the planet. The real question is what a public execution gains and what it costs. Deterrence and closure are legitimate arguments. So are martyrdom, the countries that already do this, and what happens when footage reaches people who never went looking for it. I don't have a deep stake in either answer, and the responses on X land much closer to an even split than my own comment section would suggest. That gap is worth paying attention to. Michael and I also get into a YouTuber's RPG-7 test going wrong, flat earthers confronting the 24-hour sun in Antarctica, the reported removal of more than 130 million names from India's voter rolls, and a 94-year-old barrister arrested in the UK over a sign. Enjoy. Take the Operator Code Assessment: https://www.theoperatorcode.com Today's Sponsors: Willie's Remedies: Order now at https://www.drinkwillies.com and use code "CLEAREDHOT" for 20% off your first order plus free shipping on orders over $95 AG1: Go to https://www.drinkag1.com/clearedhot to get a FREE AG1 Flavor Sampler and AGZ Sampler to try all the flavors, plus FREE Vitamin D3+K2 and AG1 Welcome Kit with your first AG1 subscription order!

Bill Thompson joined the Army at 17 and spent 22 years there, most of it on the technical and communications side of a special missions unit. He now runs Spartan Forge, an AI-driven hunting app with over 100,000 users, advises high-profile clients on communications security, and is building his own compute network to run AI without feeding anyone else's system. His core argument is that AI as it exists today is training data, matrix math, and human correction. It produces novel output, not novel thought. He argues the companies promising AGI know they cannot deliver it, and that calling for regulation lets them blame the government, guarantee investors a captive market, and shut out the open-weight models anyone can run at home. He is moving his own companies off the closed systems now. Spartan Forge: https://www.spartanforge.ai Take the Operator Code Assessment: https://www.theoperatorcode.com Today's Sponsors: Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com Better Help: https://www.betterhelp.com/clearedhot

Traditional Q and A to round out this week: A high school senior sent five questions about American culture for a class assignment, so I answered all of them. The smartphone posture you'll see everywhere the second you look up. Political division and why your neighbor isn't your enemy. Whether Americans can still stand on their own or just push a button and wait. What the toilet paper shortage actually revealed. Being capable of violence and choosing not to use it. Independence as a core American value and what convenience has done to it. Why people born here won the lottery and forgot. A new father who cut off contact with his own dad asks whether there's any benefit to his daughter knowing that story someday. How my parents handled it with my grandfather. The difference between trauma and hardship, and why only one of them builds anything. Take the Operator Code Assessment: https://www.theoperatorcode.com Today's Sponsors: Firecracker Farm: https://www.firecracker.farm Cowboy Colostrum: Get 25% Off Cowboy Colostrum with code "CLEAREDHOT" at https://cowboycolostrum.com/CLEAREDHOT.