Hi, everyone. We're keeping up to date on what's going on around the country, around the world. We'll let you know when the president's supposed to speak at some point today. And we are finding out what the response is going to be from what could be a reigniting of the war in Iran. But war is nothing new to my next guest. He's Angelo A.J. Piscouti, Marine veteran, speaker of an author of a brand new book called Dark Horse,

Harnessing the Hidden Potential in War and in Life. Angela, welcome. Thank you so much, Brian, for having me. So, I mean, it's a big book about your life. You would think you were like 60 years old, but you joined the military right after 9-11. Yes, sir. Yes, so I was a senior in high school when 9-11 happened. and technically I was 16 at the time, had to wait three weeks before I could talk to a recruiter,

was influenced by a high school when 9-11 happened. Technically, I was 16 at the time, had to wait three weeks before I could talk to a recruiter, was influenced by a high school history teacher, who was also a Marine who introduced me to my first recruiter, and then joined right afterwards, and then shipped off right after I graduated high school. Why the Marines? You know, they were the toughest. I saw, you know, I didn't know the Marine Corps had jobs inside of it. I thought all of the Marine Corps was just infantry. And, you know, as a young man who had, you know, ideas of self-doubt and self-efficacy issues, I thought that why not try to climb the highest mountain I could. And how did it go? You know, it went well. I struggled at first a lot as anybody does. Paris Island. San Diego. So Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, because I'm from Northern California originally, and stepped into that and, you know, was able to find my footing eventually. But, you know, what I wanted to write inside of the book itself was that failure is often the first part of, the first step in success. And so I write a lot of my struggles in there to be able to be open to young men and young women who think that failure is final for them. And so I wrote about that. So I mean, you had two active wars going on shortly after. I mean, you had Afghanistan within months and then you had Iraq. They were

ramping up for Iraq right after. What was your experience? So my experience was when I went into

boot camp there was kind of rumbling. So I went into boot camp in July of 2002 so that we knew that Afghanistan was going on. And the rumblings of Iraq began. But we're pretty isolated when we go to boot camp. And then right after that, I graduated the School of Infantry in December of 2002, arrived to my first unit in January of 2003, and shipped off to Kuwait three weeks later. And then from Kuwait, you were part of the invasion? I was. I was 18 years old. It was a rifleman and third battalion fifth Marines. Where the book gets its name is Dark Horse. So it's kind of a double entendre. Dark Horse is the call sign for Third Battalion Fifth Marines out of Camp Pendleton. And also Dark Horse is for anyone who feels underestimated who thinks you know a little of themselves and kind of a you know

a challenger that people may not expect something so would you learn in the battle we know about

the thunder run with the third infantry where were you guys so we run up uh route one our biggest

day of fighting was in a place called de wanea or a little north little north of Dian, it was a Republican Guard training camp. And so also what we had Fedayeen was their kind of terrorist. We didn't know anything about Saddam Fedellin, right? That was bad intel, not knowing that they had guys in plain clothes, we're going to take you out. And that confuses everyone. Because look, at that time frame, we're looking for a

conventional military. And so then we're fighting a conventional military. Because of the first time. That's exactly. First person Gulf War. Exactly correct. And so then all of a sudden we see these guys who are in, you know, non-standard uniforms who are fighting us. And it started the very beginnings of what would eventually become the insurgency. But, you know, the Marine Corps, you know, We fought 2003 on our terms.

It was a maneuver warfare,

fast, of what would eventually become the insurgency. But, you know, the Marine Corps, you know, we fought 2003 on our terms. It was a maneuver warfare, fast-paced, striking the enemy so that

to prevent their ability to make war. And that was war on our terms.

What was the first up from? What was the big adjustment from training to actual war?

The big adjustment for me, I think, was the gravity of the situation.

So training, you know, there is a level of, you know, understanding of what could be. And then all of a sudden, once that first bullet snaps by your head, there's this realization of like, this is not a game anymore. And the stakes are pretty real. And I was pretty honest in the book itself. I made a lot of mistakes very, very young. I tripped over my own rifle, jammed my rifle with mud, and there's chaos and missiles and all kinds of things going on, and I'm trying to figure myself out. I was only steadied because of a very strong team leader at the time frame. And really what I saw through Dark Horse and the thread that I pull through it is that people, you know, that we were all in this together, right?

No one was coming to save us.

And so people looked to be able to help carry my load physically, emotionally and mentally until I could carry it myself.

How long until you could and how great is it to have a leader that doesn't judge just fixes, right?

That's exactly correct.

I really wanted to be able to emphasize that inside of the book.

How long did I feel that? You know, I'm still waiting on that to happen, you know, to feel confident in every decision that we make. And that's really what I wanted to do is inspire young men and women to, to recognize that, you know, if you're, if you're afraid, right? if you're uncomfortable, you're growing and to be able to push into that.

You know, eventually moved over into the sniper program as soon as we moved back to Camp Pendleton after OIF1 and started to move through a, you know, a sniper in-doc and kind of becoming a sniper and struggled with that as well. And so there's no secrets that I have left in, you know, I can't, there's nothing left to hide.

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