Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee All the best. Have you ever heard the analogy of the sheep, the wolf, and the sheepdog?

It's a metaphor used in the military and law enforcement, and it became popularized with the 2014 movie American Sniper, which is based on a true story.

In this scene, a father teaches his sons what to do in the face of a bully.

Quote, there are three types of people in this world, sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. Some people

prefer to believe that evil doesn't exist in the world, and if it ever darkened their

doorstep, they wouldn't know how to protect themselves. Those are the sheep. Then you've got

predators who use violence to prey on the themselves. Those are the sheep. Then you've got predators who use

violence to prey on the weak. They're the wolves. And then there are those blessed with the gift of

aggression, an overpowering need to protect the flock. These men are the rare breed who live to

confront the wolf. They are the sheepdog. This analogy makes sense to me,

and I am grateful for the service of people who stand up to the world's bullies and put themselves

in harm's way to keep others safe. At the same time, I have a lot of concerns. I worry about the physical

and mental safety of the sheep dogs. I worry that we as humans

so often incorrectly identify people as wolves when they're really just other sheep. I worry that

people who tend to mistake sheep for wolves also tend to recruit young boy sheep to be sheepdogs.

I don't have any first-hand experience with the military,

so I am honored and grateful to talk about this issue with someone who knows it inside and out.

He's a former Navy SEAL, and he's asked that we keep his identity anonymous,

so we won't use his name or any identifying information, but he's

agreed to speak candidly about his experience and about the larger systems at play on this episode.

So thank you so much for being here today.

No, of course.

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