Scott Taylor, U.S. Navy SEAL (Full Interview)

our guest this week on Veterans Chronicles is Scott Taylor he served many years as a u.s. Navy SEAL and he's now a congressman from Virginia's second congressional district he's also a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom congressman thanks very much for being with us great to be with you let's start at the beginning of your story where were you born and raised so I was I was born in Baltimore but I was raised on Maryland's Eastern Shore so a small small no stoplight town called Hebron on the shore and raised by a single mother and we're gonna farm pretty young was there a history of military service in your family my grandfather's both served so my group my mother's father served in World War two and my father's father served in Vietnam but it wasn't that you know we weren't close to them or anything like that and quite frankly my my mother's father served in World War two never neither one of them never talked they never talked about it so it wasn't something that was like close close to me I'm not I'm not even sure what the catalyst was initially that that that made me want to serve but I didn't want to be a Marine initially and then that I've read a dick Marcinko book who was a former seal author and then watched that cheesy Charlie Sheen movie Navy SEALs and decided I want to be seal so the minute you joined the Navy you knew you wanted to be a seal I was in high school and I actually signed up for the delayed Entry Program the Navy at 17 and I already knew that idea that wide that I wanted to be a seal never mind I couldn't swim that well or I had no idea how to do a side stroke but I learned it pretty quickly in training her before you what's funny is the so there were two stroke swim strokes that you're able to do for the test the fur it was breaststroke and side stroke so there was a I was a wrestler and there was a wrestler that I that I used to wrestle a couple times he was a lifeguard at the YMCA and he actually taught me how to do breaststroke but then when I got the boot camp when we were going to take the test they were like we don't use dress trick we use side shirt so I literally learned side stroke in boot camp somebody just showed me out out of the water he just showed me what to do and I fasted the fastest one with it but but I didn't really have a swimmers background and so swimming sucked but you know so compared to the cheesy Charlie Sheen movie and I guess the book probably gives you kind of a real-life view of what being a seal was like in the training especially do you feel like you were ready for the training what was it like when reality finally hits you with I'm not sure if you're ever ready for that training but the you know the book was it certainly talked about you know that the hardness of it of course and and the challenges for yourself and something that I wrote at that age I've always wanted to test myself and I really wanted to see test my mettle basically as an 18 year old so I went there right out of the gate I was a youngest guy in there in fact I think it was a youngest seal not ever but at the time when I went through but when you're that old you know you you're your life is like this right you know when you get a little older it opens up a little bit but it just seemed like every single evolution and buds was completely overwhelming so it was let me get through this exercise let me get through lunch let me get to the next one and every morning you wake up at 4:00 a.m. and I'm like this sucks I want to get out of here however everyone in that little small town knew what I was going to do so there was no way that I was gonna let these folks make me ring a bell three times and quit you would have you would had to kill me how long is the training lasts it's robots just over six months but that first you know the buds training basically underwater demolition SEAL training is about six months and then there's more in the pipeline but that's really what you like the notorious SEAL training is about six months so you never seriously thought about dropping out I'm sure others did well we started out with roughly and I mean my numbers are hazy but that we start out right around 160 something maybe and we graduated with twenty original so yeah many people decided that it wasn't for them and it sucks so I mean it's it's you you definitely have to you have it's as physical as it is because it's very physical it's it's ultimately it's more mental and now I never seriously thought about quitting I thought about it every day probably multiple times a day but there was never a serious thought that was gonna bring me to ring a bell three times and say I quit what was the toughest part was it the swimming or was it something far different swimming was definitely tough the cold the cold was tough me you're hypothermic a lot during the cold water so that was very very tough as well I think I would probably say for me personally the the the the toughest thing was probably what's called pool comp so I'm swimming was tough right but I'm a runner and and you could power through the swimming if you if you were not a good runner running with probably really tough for you because it probably added about 20% of the of the energy you know expelled Oh to get through there because if you weren't a good runner and they do this condition it runs and you're at the back they would do what's called goon squad and they would make you do more more activities and buddy carries and sprints and all that stuff like that I never had that problem but for me swimming was tough but we made it through but pool comp was probably the toughest thing and pool comp is where you're you're about 15 feet underwater and you have all your diving gear on and you're sitting there on your needs underwater and if folks know what dive dive rigs are now diving hoses they're very like thin and and before they used to have those types of thin hoses that they had these elastic ones that were thick and so yours you're down there with those elastic hoses and your whole dive rig and the instructor comes down puts his foot on your back first he first sees like beats the hell out of you and everything your mask is there your air is gone so you're on a breath hold now and then he puts his foot on your back takes that those elastic hoses and ties them in a knot and when that breath hold and while you're getting the crap beat out of you you got to get your rig off take it off there and you have to sink you know have a little bit of clarity and that chaos and you know to untie that knot and bring it back to be able to get your breath hold and then put your uniform back on or your dive rig excuse me and make sure that it's there's no twist in the straps or anything like that that was tough and I failed it the first two times and then I thought then that was a sort of a make-or-break thing and then I passed it so you had three cracks at it I think you get a three or four okay it's my mind escapes me but that wasn't that was probably the single toughest thing I think for me but you know like I said swimmin was always tough every week it just it just sucked did you know it was coming did they give you a chance to prepare for any of this or did they just say show up at this time and here's what we're doing for the for the pool comp there were many there were many evolutions that that I wasn't prepared for necessarily I mean they it was always safe they always make things safe and they brief it and stuff like that but certainly like I said coming in right out of high school as the 18 year old a lot of these experiences and these things I'd never had never done before so it was just again like I said earlier you're like you're looking at okay how do I get past this first this evolution right here you know of course I've never had my hands and feet tied behind my back and drowned proof and when you're you know you have to have to swim and do that with your hands a few times but I've never done that before of course there were many things that were like that but you know you just you just figured it out and sucked it up and went through so what'd it feel like when it was all over and you were among the twenty or so that made it through uh it was it was awesome I mean it was definitely a huge sense of accomplishment for my family it was great you know I I'd never flown on a plane before I went out to boot camp my mother had never flown on my plane either until she came out to come see me graduate SEAL training so for her it was a you know a great experience and therefore for me it was as well and I'm not sure if you're familiar with Big Brothers and Big Sisters that mentorship program but you and I wouldn't be speaking right now if it wasn't for a big brother in my life and II so again I had a single mother and I was in trouble very early on and eleven on probation already at 12 I think so he really was a catalyst that instilled self confidence in me and self-worth and really guided me on the correct path so my big brother was at seal graduation as well and the rest of my family was too so it was a huge accomplishment that I think that my family was proud and therefore I was as well outstanding so when is this as late 90s this is 98 1998 98 and so how soon after that did you get deployed on on one of those secret seal missions okay so the first you still have to go through a pipeline and at the time in the 90s it was in early 2000s it was you go through buds and then you go through jump school down in Fort Benning with the army that's different now but that's how it was then and then you go to a team and you're still not a seal yet so today's a little bit different you know your your seal faster you had to go to a team and you had to pass an oral written and practical board so you're and you're on a six-month probation timeframe so you go through buds you go through jump school you go to the team you're on the six months probationary period inside of that probationary period you had to go through it was at the time called st t CL tactical training and that's basically that's really the nuts and bolts of and the tactics and the the tools of the trade if you will in the craft because shield training is more like an ask again it's not really yeah the first thing buds it's not really you're not become some awesome operator out of buzz it's not like that that's really the test who will no matter how hot how cold how about how tired you are who will be there who is not going to quit who submits to the calls which is the team that's greater than themselves and that's a beautiful thing you know when you when you the folks that graduate that you know that they're there with you right you know that they would rather die than let down their team so when you get to stt then you're going through really that really the the actual training stuff and and then you had to take this oral written written and practical board which is probably the toughest thing in my life to that point it was the the highest stress thing I've ever had in my life because imagine you had gone through all this pipeline all this training and then what they do is you'd walk in and you have a board of twelve I think it was like twelve seals and you have all these different these topic areas of course and you had studied and I've never studied for anything ever in my life more than that then before then or since I mean I'm talking about there's like radios you have this study and I knew like internal components of the radio which is I didn't have to know that at all certainly the seals that were give me the board had no damn idea about those things but I just over over studied so you get in there and you walk in the room there's the panel there and I just remember I remember you know you have this you know all your uniforms all crisped and stuff and and I was I was shaking never been this nervous in my life and my one hand just one hand was shaking uncontrollably I'm standing there at attention and I remember this guy Ron bellum who was I doesn't work for it was the CEO he's like shake it shake it look at it come on let it stop it stop it I'm like I can't shake it no but but as the they ask questions I didn't get anything wrong and I just my confidence just built and built and built and then so once you did all that once you went through that those those training and I'll give you an idea I mean we had to I mean they had me putting together guns and talking about components talking about radio stuff doing medical stuff I get up to the table with a guy that was doing the medical and he looks at me and there's all this stuff sprung out on the table and it was just IV IV everything everything you need to give an IV but in the packaging and he looks at me he says you got two minutes to give me an IV do it and that's am like holy you know they're like scrambling trying to get everything in and did I gave him a guy gave him the IV but it was a very very stressful thing and once you pass that then you you know you have this huge sense of accomplishment because now you're gonna you're gonna be a seal you're gonna get pinned well you know what have your have your Trident anything congressman let's pause real briefly for a quick commercial break we'll be right back with Virginia congressman and US Navy SEALs Scott Taylor our guest this week on Veterans Chronicles we're back on Veterans Chronicles I'm Greg corumbá honored to be joined in studio today by Virginia congressman Scott Taylor is also a u.s. Navy SEAL a veteran of the Iraq war and we were just talking about all of the stressful processes you had to go through to become a u.s. Navy SEAL so once you passed those boards where did you go after that so you passed the boards I was at SEAL Team four and then you get into a platoon and you know it's a platoon of 16 folks and typically there's a cycle there's about a two year cycle roughly and then again this this varies depending on the time depending on where they are now or what what team it is but so still team four specifically at the time the area of operation in the world was south of Central America so if you if you're familiar with an author Louis L'Amour who was a Western Western all three wrote like you know five hundred books so they're all the same story but they just changed the character but I you know I when I was in high school I used to get in trouble cuz I'd finished my work fast and and I'd talk so my big brother gave me this like a bag of books of 26 books and he's like hey you should just read and you get when you get in trouble and it was Louie L'Amour so they're all westerns right well when we graduated from from buds from basic underwater demolition SEAL training each instructor they had instructors from each team and that instructor would talk about instructor would talk about their area of operation in the world and how it was and the SEAL team for instructor comes up and he says you know the South America it's like the wild wild west and I said that's where I'm going because a little more you know they like I've read all these spaghetti westerns you know I'm like I'm going to I'm going to South America so anyway so SEAL Team four was that that's where their operation was doing counter drug stuff doing for internal defense which is teaching host nation Special Forces and militaries and building capacity with our partner nations and so I was in a platoon two year cycle and inside that two year cycle you hit every single block of training that you need in preparation for deployment so that and that as a brand new guy there were three new guys in my platoon and you know we were it was it was fascinating I mean that's that's when you really hone your craft if you're not in one deployment or at war you're preparing and you're training for it so that's that's what we did and then once we righted towards the end the last actually wasn't six months we deployed for eight months it was all throughout South and Central America so how many members in the platoon 16 kind of Brotherhood does that build when you're working in a group that small it's a it builds tremendous capacity for trust and you know and again again I talked about the type of person that you have there you know you also have your own problems sometimes guys go outside go back and beat the hell out of each other you know it just depends and then they walk back in everything's fine so 16 I mean and you and you're living with them training with them traveling with them more than your own families right so you really do develop a brotherhood that's very tight very tight bonds are you still down there on 9/11 so I got a 911 I had just gotten back from deployment in August of 2001 and then I had actually at that point in August 2001 I knew that I was I have about a year left I guess in that deployment because I came in 97 and I was gonna get out and go to school go to college but that changed everything so I actually reenlist it early you know to go to war so I mean that that changed obviously for not just for myself but it changed everything for everybody in the military and and has changed a generation and has changed our country it's not a decision you knew as soon as you saw what had happened of course yeah so what did that mean for you in terms of where you were and where you were sent so what's interesting is because as I said each team had an area of operation in the world we were not structured correctly to be able to go straight to Afghan so when Afghanistan popped off the west coast largely had Asia and you know Central Asia and those those areas the East Coast did not in fact we I think we had one from all the teams that we had like one team in Afghanistan one but not one one platoon and so not a team is a bunch of platoons right that's just one platoon sixteen folks there and those guys were very very busy so everybody on the East Coast though was chomping at the bit you know to get to Afghanistan to to go to war obviously because our country was attacked but we still had obligations around the world so my next appointment after that actually was back to South and Central America because we had to cover that and what happened was this huge reorganization the SEAL Teams called force 21 that enabled basically it enabled the US to surge people to help with the war effort but we didn't we weren't doing that before my commitment to go back down South America so I still down in South America we have about a minute left before we take our next break here so when did you find out that ultimately you would be a Centon in theater but in Iraq so then I so from from from that other deployment then I they sent me to training Department so I was a sniper and they wanted me to teach marksmanship and reconnaissance for two years as soon as I got there there was a sniper trip to Afghanistan and you know and they said hey I said I want to go and they're like what you just got here there's other people that have been here for a while I said oh really well I just came off deployment all my bags are packed I'm trained up to the employment are there is packed are they're ready to go and by the way I haven't been trained up to train other people yet and they're like yeah that's that's that's right you're on the trip so that trip was a sniper trip to Afghanistan and it ended up getting canceled so here I am trying to get to the war and that gets cancelled and then fast-forward a few months later a similar type sniper trip which I'm sure we'll talk about to Iraq got there and I was able to get on that one stop right there and come back with the story of your service in Iraq and everything since then when we're rejoined here by Scott Taylor a US congressman from Virginia 2nd congressional district and a u.s. Navy SEAL welcome back to veterans chronicles on the radio American network I'm Gregor rhombus honored to be joined in studio today by Virginia congressman Scott Saylor a Republican from the Old Dominion's the second congressional district he's also a US Navy SEAL and a veteran of the Iraq war Operation Iraqi Freedom and so congressmen were just talking about how your sniper trip to Afghanistan had been canceled and soon enough you had the opportunity to get to Iraq so what was the mission what we're sure what we orders so again we know that I was a little bit bummed obviously the Afghan Afghanistan sniper trip gets canceled but then so I continued for from us to teach martial marksmanship and reconnaissance to other as I told you we had those training blocks before you deploy so one of one of the training blocks was marksmanship reconnaissance and that's what I was doing teaching other other seals so we got a call several months later from the XO which is the number two in command of SEAL Team four and he he called over to my command asked him for me personally to come on a trip as a sniper to to augment the platoons there in Iraq so basically I went there with this unit of I think there were what three or four of us not many like maybe maybe five that were just snipers and at the time all the all the platoons that were in Iraq or just about most of the platoon I think just about all the platoons were doing what's called PSD so they were doing so if you if you think Secret Service worked for the president right all these platoons mandated by our president then President Bush they were protecting the president the Prime Minister and so on and so on of Iraq so they were they were that's what they were doing boring work right babies anywhere not really not a mission that seals had traditionally done and probably didn't want to do right so but I didn't have to do that so I went there and I worked directly for this Warrant Officer who was the head for me as a seal and right out of the gate we get there and and we we get to to Iraq and went to this little small forward operating base with some two platoons from SEAL team 10 and while we were there we were gonna transition from there in a couple days going to Baghdad but while we were there there was happened to be you know a mission that came up a direct action mission that was to either you know kill or capture this this bomb-maker and and the platoons I knew well I knew all the guys there they're all my contemporaries so I knew them when they asked me to you know join in on the mission I'm like of course hell yes let's do it and they asked me to lead the external security unit so basically we had just you know we we went in and for example it was this guy and his people were supposed to be on the second floor of this building and the guys are going to blow the door and go up the stairs and get him but but as soon as they blew the door to go up the stairs my my unit my element outside we had we had basically were the into the second-floor windows we were we were putting explosives in there not not explosives to harm them but explosives to discombobulate them to give the guys time run up the stairs to get him and then of course you know as external security we were in a pretty bad hot zone and that's known for insurgent activity and stuff like that so my as soon as we did that then I was in charge everybody an external security to make sure if anybody came on then we were handling that issue and it went off flawlessly I mean they blew the door our guys blew the windows you know discombobulated them there was smoke and dust everywhere it was crazy because it's in this you know this Iraqi town and they grabbed him we got got out of there and then we saw actually the Iraqi army was coming down the street we hadn't talked to them so we didn't always tell them when we were doing things of course for obvious reasons if you know if there was leaks and stuff like that and but we were able to get out we got out of there got him they interrogate him and whatever else but it went off flawlessly that was my like one of the first couple days I was in Iraq which was great so from there I went to to Baghdad we convoyed into Baghdad and and as a sniper element we would do over watches for the army over watches for the Marines so when are in Iraq the cities were the cities were separated or with like here's a sector of his army sector here's the Marines and they patrol it every day and do whatever so obviously they would have checkpoints sometimes and and so we would either do I pour over watches for them to make sure that they were safe or we would use them to we would go with one patrols with them to look for potential sniper hides where we might stay for three to five days and then once we we were able to get work I mean we were actually just finding work and then we'd go to the platoons which again we're protecting the prime minister and the president all that stuff like that we go to the platoons and grab their snipers and take that one ops with us you know they're bored of course like yes let's definitely do that so we did that for a little while in Baghdad and then and then I it sort of slowed down a little bit and in Baghdad so I heard that things were going you know popping off if you will out and out west out in Ramadi and and then so I basically I used this I used some context I had to get out west it was the same context there was this thing called the Marne Express which was kind of like a helicopter taxi that would go between ford operating bases and i jumped on the Express and you go to a different Ford Operating Base and look for sniper work and idly A's with them army of the Marines and say who needs work and stuff like that to get to get to find work basically and but eventually we was able to take the helicopter out to Ramadi now in Ramadi and which like I mean Ramadi was bad Ramadi was like think Mad Max in the Thunderdome type thing I guess it was yeah it was pretty crazy so in Ramadi there was you know same thing Marines owned part of the city and the army owned part of the city and there this army base called Junction City which is on the only afraid ease River and in the corner of Junction City was this house we caught a shark base shark al or Chuck Bass and it was all SEAL snipers almost all exclusively from the West Coast guys and they and then us as East Coast guys when we came in there but it was all SEAL snipers and there was if I remember correctly it was like a house of Army Rangers and then Delta Force and then some CIA folks it was a pretty rough Street if you will right and all that all it was was was really coming up with sniper missions and we almost when I got out there it seemed like every other day or something like that we were out doing sniper missions staying three to five days and sometimes over and I just depend on what it was in in houses to look for for insurgents and in between that you had this you had the Iraqi government center right so you had the that the Iraqi government there for Ramadi and the Marines were our Marines were were there and in firing positions and fighting positions to allow for that that government to continue right and we would go through and we would do this anti-sniper sweep for them so when you get one up on the rooftop you know all the Marines sandbags everywhere the young Marines there and I made it a point every time I was there to to go and speak to them all the time you know you just to talk to him a lot of them are very young and and edgy quite frankly and on one edge excuse me I mean all the buildings around that government Center just riddled with bullet holes you know they'd been fired at so many times and we had this technology called the Tilos and that what it did was it could see snipe scope shadow looking at you right so we would go do this anti-sniper suite for them every day almost to make sure that they were okay and but it this this sniper house that we had it was it was really you know we did these missions and you would also do like beta ops you could almost be creative with how you did it and beta OPS's and when you you know you exactly what it sounds like you have bait basically to be able to draw people out you know and uh so it was it was a very interesting thing and you would that the house itself I think one of the first nights we were there we get there there were there were too many people in the house so we were out in a GP ten outside and that base was getting mortared every day and sorry so the base is getting mortared every day and i remember one of the first nights first nights we were there we're sitting in in the tent and and you hear you hear the sound of the motor coming in it's like soon early coming in and I I'm not kidding I think I mean everybody in that damn tent we're a hall and but to get in the house it was like you couldn't get out at 10:00 fast enough to get in there and so eventually we got to move into the house today which was which was great it to worry about the damn mortars but the house itself had a makeshift site in race every time before you would go out on a mission you go up to the roof and sight make sure your guns sighted in but those guys had taken fie I never had but there were guys that were before us that we're up on the rooftop and they had taken fire before from across the river so you'd go cite your gun in but you have like you crouched down to walk over you know walk over so you weren't exposing yourself to the to the folks that were across the street but in that area you know one of the worst things about Ramadi were just the roadside bombs I mean I'd say well we were there I was actually just looking at an email my email list of when I was over there and I remembered I was writing to folks and that we had lost like 10 12 Marines in like a few days or something that were in Ramadi and the guys that were in the house with me never happened to me thank God but the guys that were in the house you know they had been in explosions before as well and I do remember one op that we were doing I remember we we we get inserted into the middle of the night and we would use the Marines in the army to insert us or and extract us and Duke you are effed QRF which is Quick Reaction Force in case you get in trouble right so I do remember one mission we were when we went in go we went in it was like you know whatever to 3:00 in the morning and we're all night-vision goggles going through the city and as soon as we get dropped off by the by the convoy I'm the rear security so I'm the guy closest to that to the road as we just patrolled and oftentimes if one convoy would come through and it would wake up the bomb maker right and it was the next convoy that would get cracked off and hit so we get dropped off another marine convoy comes through and they get hit and it's it's probably 50 maybe 50 yards behind me and so we I mean they they get blown up and we just we said take a knee real quick looking around look at making sure that there's not another follow-on attack or something like that and and and see and listen on the radio to see if they were able to take care of themselves or if we had to go help out because we were also on a separate mission and I remember them getting a call or I remember hearing in the radio they're like we have friendlies in the area because there's a helicopter came over as well too and they're like there aren't any friendlies in the area and and and they were like the Marines that were that just got blown up they were like no we don't have any friendlies in the area so we're like oh you know like because we don't want that helicopter to unload on us you know blue and blue so our guy our radio guys you know obviously for them they just got hit so they're you know they're they're dealing with those issues and and our so our radio man was able to calm him down say no no no you got to see a level man in the area please don't shoot us out basically and but I think I don't have much time god but I'll tell you I talk to you about when I actually got injured you know so so we were fact we were doing these missions these sniper missions quite often and it was it was a fascinating experience for me but but it all came to an end my vacation in Iraq came to an end because we were doing this mission and this specific mission we were supposed to observe this this intersection and in this intersection there were known insurgents that would that would come out of the intersection to launch attacks on coalition forces they would meet there and stuff so we were going this in this building that was supposed to be empty and we would say that for 3 to 5 days observing this this intersection so we make our way the Marines drop us off and make our way through the through this through the streets and typically you know like I told you about the first we did you blow the door and you go in well this is different as a sniper mission it's quiet right and you don't want to give a funny light signature because you don't want anybody to know that you're there because you might be there three to five days so we sneak into the into the building we keep our night-vision goggles on so as not to give off any light and we're clearing each room because even though it's supposed to be an empty building you also you still want to take it down as know it's there might be insurgents in there because it could go bad right so we were clearing each room methodically clear in each room and we go to the second second deck a second floor and I remember turning to hold security on the third deck stairwell and then fallen right through the floor and I fell about I don't know 20 feet or so to the concrete below and I'm instantly unconscious and what's interesting is now I'll talk about this in a second because I didn't I mean I'm out cold so my recollection was a little bit different and then I saw my the guy that the medic about five years later who filled me in with everything and so I'm out cold I had a concussion a pneumothorax a bruised lung a torn PCL tendon and six broken ribs down my spine so so I I'm down but but the unit continues on right you you still you want to win the fight first before before you would you know attend any your folks so they continue to clear the building to make sure there's no one in there and then the my medic petty officer stout comes up to me and he he hears my breathing or lack thereof basically was extremely slow and labored and so what he did was he took a Jay tube and put it in my throat and opened my airway and potentially saved my life he didn't stop there though he he makes sure my spine was okay and then he called in the medevac so that year that the medevac were the Marines of course so they were gonna come in and between that building and the helicopter was a pretty long road that had have we had lost a lot of Marines that year so it was a very you know I Edie Lydon Laden Road so he stabilizes me he gives me morphine and and then he he actually rode with the Humvees to take me to make sure that I arrived safely at the helicopter and of course I didn't know this at the time but he told he told me later I saw him at a fundraiser and he he said yeah you know I you were you're out cold the whole time you woke up a little bit because on the way in the Humvees on the way to the helicopter there was some ice or something that like a cooler that fell with ice and like woke us up and stuff and but he made sure I got safe to the helicopter but then he had to go back to the you know rejoin the team and as I told you earlier a lot of times the first time first convoy goes through wakes up the guy and then the second one is where people get hit but thank God thank God nothing happened he was able to get back rejoin the team they were able to finish the mission and you know I was on the helicopter and the first time I recall waking up I couldn't move very well because there was I was strapped in very tightly and I couldn't really feel anything because they'd give me morphine and I just thought to myself I'm paralyzed you know this sucks I'm paralyzed and then I passed back out and then I woke up again and I'm in the 10th hospital in Balad and the first thing I did was grab my legs and then I grabbed between my legs and I said thank you God I'm not paralyzed and so I and I was in the blood hospital for a couple of days breathing down that pneumothorax and and then I made my way and got medevac'd out through Germany back home where my mom waited for me and you know any airport and received me so that was the end of my vacation in Iraq vacation how long did it take you to fully recover months I mean you had my so I have I still have a torn PCL tendon in my knee I mean uh let me preface this by saying there people were way worse than me I'm fine you know I'm fine but the PCL tendon was had to rehab that knee because that's just still torn but there's stability in it so I don't have to get surgery and then just ribs or that those injuries you know and be anybody out there that's broken ribs you understand how bad it sucks when you sneeze hey no so it just takes a little while to heal so when did you leave the service how soon after that so I finished out my I finished out my tour which was that was in that was in July and let me also say that was one of the toughest times in my life because that was three I think we have I was injured three or four days before Operation Red Wings so a lone survivor folks have seen the movie and stuff like that they're all my buddies on the helicopter and and I remember I was actually in the tenth Hospital and they're reaching out to me to see if I'm okay and those are some of the emails I looked at yesterday - they're there you know to see if I'm fine and and then one of my buddies who was in Baghdad at the time his brother was there and he and he starts corresponding with me ins like hey I have some really bad news helicopter went down I'm not sure if my brother was on it or not but there are no names yet and eventually his brother didn't his brother was on the other helicopter but of course we all know what happened in Operation Red Wing and we lost all those folks so it was a really tough time for all of us in the in the SEAL community when something like that happens everybody knows someone on there when I came back I know I had went to the to the funeral which was the most beautiful thing and the most horrible thing I've ever witnessed till that time because there's been worse things since then but so I I was supposed to get out scheduled to get out in November of that year and I did I just finished out my tour and I and I transitioned out the sealed funeral I know there's a tradition with the casket what happens there with so the tradition is and unfortunately I've done this and been to more funerals and I wish on anyone but you know will you you go when the caskets there each seal member comes in and they take their Trident they which is their obviously their insignia of the pen they take that off and then they pound it I went to the coffin so when you when you left the service not too long after that you decided to run for Congress and in 2010 that one didn't work out but you then got elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and then ultimately 2016 elected to Congress two questions on this front first of all what do you think your military service means in terms of helping you do this type of public service and what military issues are you most passionate about as a member of Congress sure so when I got out like you said I did some real estate stuff and then I went back and forth to Yemen over about three or four years for about ten deployments or trips as a civilian doing stuff there doing security stuff got involved in politics because I started to pay attention and I just felt like I you know I have our first service I want to improve things I want to help people I want to you know solve problems and I felt I felt like in 2010 of course the country was in a big transition and and I threw my hat in the ring lost learned a lot of course and then as you said went to the House of Delegates and served two terms there and then like congressman started retired said he was gonna retire we jumped up and here we are I think a couple things that are that are very important from my service that really helped in the political world is politics is a team sport to get things done I understand how to operate in a very elite level and in a team and what that means and what it means to serve a cause greater than yourself and put the team before yourself I think that translates very well now granted there are a lot of you know the team isn't the same because you're not certain you know the makeup of the team now is not the same as it was then in terms of everyone being under that same mentality but it but you can you can make a difference because you can lead you can you can lead and you can help people see that right and bring them together for a purpose right so the teamwork thing is a big deal I think the ability to see clarity and chaos and when you think about the world today and you think about how divisive the country is and the chaos that's going on and you know regardless of whose fault it is that's what we have right so you know from from my background and folks like me you're able to think with clarity and chaos and this is nothing right you know this all the stuff that's happening political it's just it's it's it's nothing we're able to to move forward and make decisions under pressure without worrying about the other stuff so I think that's that's extremely helpful in this environment especially so and people see it and people see that I think and then you know and that's that not just with me but there are other veterans as well who have the same the same sort of qualities and I think it's important that veterans get involved not only that but you also you're less partisan necessarily you know veterans tend to see okay here's an issue we gotta get it solve I don't care you know you're black white brown gay straight who cares no one cares we have to solve this problem let's do it you know and that's a good quality for all veterans and then it helps with continued service and in the political arena for me personally as I told you my district has more veterans than I could do than anyone in the nation so having a strong military is extremely important for me personally and for I believe for not just my district but also the country and then veterans of course I mean that so in the strong military space we work in all the time the same thing with veterans making sure that they're cared for making sure that this generation who quite frankly has shouldered the burden for the last 16 years for the nation less than 1% of the population them and their families because let's not forget you know we are only as strong as our families who back us up so dealing in the veteran space is extremely important for me and reforming the VA to reflect the realities of today and modernizing the health care there and and and the wait times and all the stuff that you've heard about in the VA and then lastly economy and jobs which is important you know if you're gonna have a strong military you gotta have a strong economy last topic you wrote a book largely critical of national security policy I know some folks thought that perhaps you stepped out too far from what is usually a fairly secretive line of work in the military with the Navy SEALs and others obviously welcomed the fact that you were shining lights and some problems talk about that experience just a little bit and and why he ultimately decided to write the book sure well I think you know I was unhappy it's the only reason why I ran for Congress in 2010 where the country was going I think that the some of the national security policies for example using leaks as we all know in Washington that happens but using those leaks that under that with with national security secrets to to move a political agenda forward I think is dangerous puts people's lives at jeopardy it's something that I felt very strongly about foreign policy as well I think you know having seeing the world or or excuse me operating on policy as oh you wish the world to be as opposed to it actually how it actually is I think is also very dangerous I mean the world and veterans understand those veterans have been around the world they understand that you know there's that the lot of those policies or at least maybe the majority did that we're very very naive it's very it's very naive to think that so forth for you and that's that that happens on Republican and Democrat side when you have we've had veterans who have gone forth and they've been in these other countries they understand the populations the culture identity the tribal isms and you know the tribal customs and stuff like that predate religion and trying to create overarching policy that doesn't take those things into account is naive and dangerous so it was I just felt compelled to write it sure typically in the SEAL Teams you don't necessarily step out all the time but if you look at our book and everything like that and even now you don't hear me talking about specific missions or taking undue credit for myself because there's listen that the reality is there are people who have done so much so much more than me for this country and I just had the honor to be able to serve beside them so it's I want to tell them I want to tell what they did but and that's that's what I do now in public office and I'll continue to do that but I did feel compelled to write that and now as a leader in this country I'm compelled to to act on it I'm compelled to make sure that our policies reflect in the best interest for our national security or foreign policy and for this nation there's certainly no shortage of national security concerns right now so congressman we'll let you get back to that work thank you for your service to our country and thank you for your time today my pleasure thank you Scott Taylor Republican congressman from Virginia's second congressional districts he is a u.s. Navy SEAL he's a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom I'm Greg Caramba this is Veterans Chronicles

Channel: American Veterans Center

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Keywords: AVC, American Veterans Center, scott taylor, rep scott taylor, representative scott taylor, navy seal, us navy seal, united states navy, virginia's 2nd congressional district, representative, seal veteran, navy veteran, veterans, history, oral history, Navy seal Veteran, BUDS, former navy seal, combat veteran, Navy, navy diver

Id: Bf1Y1ZkQc00

Length: 41min 25sec (2485 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 30 2017