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The Real Rambo - Roy Benavidez - The Green Beret That Took On An Army With Just A Knife | The Fat Electrician | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The Real Rambo - Roy Benavidez - The Green Beret That Took On An Army With Just A Knife
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Summary
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This content details the extraordinary life of Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez, a highly decorated Green Beret whose unwavering determination, resilience, and commitment to his fellow soldiers led him through immense personal hardship and into legendary acts of bravery during the Vietnam War.
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John Rambo the action hero that was an
Unstoppable unkillable Green Beret from
the Vietnam war that went into battle
with nothing more than a big knife this
video is not about him it's also not
about the man that inspired that
character that was aie Murphy this video
is about the real Rambo the actual man
that was inspired to join the military
because of aie Murphy that would go on
to become a Green Beret and go into
combat against a thousand men with
nothing more than a big
knife today we're talking about call
sign Tango Mike Mike AKA that mean
Mexican master sergeant Roy benovitz
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video born on August 5th 1935 Roy's
first memory in life was attending his
own father's funeral after he had passed
away from tuberculosis when Roy was 3
years old one year later Roy's mother
would remarry and 9 months after that
she would give birth to Roy's new half
sister and from that moment on Roy was
essentially on his own his parents gave
all of their attention to their new
daughter and Roy and his younger brother
Ro Helio were kind of neglected 2 years
later Roy's mother would develop a cough
that would get progressively worse and
worse similar to how Roy's father had
Roy's mother now had tuberculosis too
and while she was on her deathbed her
husband Roy's stepfather would inform
her that he would absolutely not be
raising another man's kids and
six-year-old Roy over hears this he's
terrified he has no idea what's going to
happen to him and his younger brother Ro
Helio he's already lost his dad he's
about to lose his mom and his stepdad
doesn't want him and that's the only
family he's ever known in his entire
life on the day of his mother's funeral
his stepfather tells him and ralio to
pack their things they're going to go
live somewhere else they load up in the
car go off to where the funeral's held
and at the funeral a man comes up and
introduces himself as Nicholas benovitz
he is their father's brother Roy and Ro
helo's uncle and they're going to come
live with him after the funeral they
load up on Uncle Nicholas's car and they
head off to elcampo Texas Roy and Ro
Helio's new home upon their arrival they
get to meet what is going to be their
new immediate family they have their
Uncle Nicholas their Aunt Alexandria
their grandfather Salvador and their
eight cousins Roy is then informed that
it is now going to be seven boys sharing
four beds and that everyone in this
family has to work to make this entire
thing work because they don't have a lot
of money all the kids in the family are
expected to go to school get good grades
and then after school they all have a
job that they are expected to go out and
do to help contribute to the family and
at the age of seven Roy's first job was
to go shine shoes to earn a little bit
of extra money then in the Summers or
any other time the opportunity presented
itself they would all go out as a family
and work in the fields picking crops and
this goes on for Roy's entire childhood
and his new family is incredible his
aunt his uncle his grandfather Salvador
they're the best people on the planet
but they're also being spread across
their work and the nine other kids in
the house so no kid gets a whole lot of
attention so between that losing both of
his parents and being abandoned by his
stepfather he's kind of an Angry Kid
understandably so so at a young age he
developed a pretty bad attitude and he
was not afraid to fight about it one of
his favorite things to do when he was
seven8 9 10 11 12 years old was to go to
the movie theater and watch the news
reels of all the different things that
were happening in World War II and he
was inspired by the paratroopers that's
what he wanted to do he wanted to be in
the United States Army but the problem
with this pastime of going to the movie
theater to to watch all the news reels
was that you had to pay to get inside
and Roy didn't have any money all the
shoe shining money went back to the
family so Roy and a bunch of other kids
would wait outside the movie theater for
one of the previous showings to leave
and hopefully rich people would throw
their pocket change out and let all the
poor kids scramble and fight over it it
didn't take young Roy long to figure out
that if he just beat up all the other
kids he would get all the money and then
he wouldn't have to run and dive for pocket
pocket
change the enemy cannot push a button if
you disable his hand and that's just the
beginning of the fighting it gets so
much worse because as World War II
progresses and all the young men go off
to fight this war there's a huge lack of
Manpower all across the United States
and to help alleviate that one of the
things the United States government does
is basically opens up the southern
border so that people can freely come
into the United States and begin working
because of that there ends up being this
huge misconception especially in any
state bordering Mexico that any person
of Hispanic descent wasn't even American
they were just some Mexican that was
showing up to work in the fields elento
uh D are you from Scranton e for that La
Philadelphia this leads to Young Roy
getting picked on at school all the kids
are calling him a dumb Mexican they're
telling him he's not American they're
calling him a pepper belly and he's like
eight nine years old he has no idea
what's going on so he goes to his
grandfather Salvador and Grandpa
explains to him Roy the Benitas family
fought against Mexico to gain their
independence just like any white
person's ancestors fought against Great
Britain to get their independence your
mother was Yaky Native American you are
just as much if not more American than
anybody else the Benitas family name is
Mexican but we are Americans you have
multiple cousins fighting for America in
the war right now don't ever let anybody
tell you that you're not American which
is a great sentiment I love it however
what Young angry Roy honen on was they
fought for it from this point forward
anybody that wants to make fun of Roy
has a fight on their hands and they
almost never won because Roy at the age
of nine 10 years old has been working in
fields and shineing shoes after school
every day for years he is way above the
average level of toughness for a young
man and Roy wasn't even that big of a
kid if anything he was smaller than
average but none of the bullies were
bigger than him either once they were
looking up at him from the flat of their
back which is always where they happen
to find themselves eventually now it's
also important to mention that Roy while
he does have a temper and he's not
afraid to fight about it he does have
standards he was being raised right by
his aunt and his uncle and his
grandfather Roy would not hit a girl if
a girl made fun of him he's a good kid
but what he would do is when they went
out to recess he would kick dirt at her
until her brother or her boyfriend came
to stop him and then he'd beat the [ __ ]
out of that guy hello how are
you and this goes on for Roy's entire
childhood he's always getting in fights
he struggles in the classroom
academically but outside of school he
does work super hard to help provide for
his family he still loves going to the
movie theater watching all the news
reels about World War II he still wants
to grow up to be a paratrooper and he
also loves hanging out with his uncle
and his grandfather Salvador and his
grandpa had all these amazing stories
that he would share with him and all
these stories had some underlying
meaning or some lesson that Roy needed
to be taught and his favorite story was
when his grandpa was younger and he was
a cowboy and he was on this Trail and
another Cowboy had fallen off his horse
down onto a cliff face and he was stuck
and Grandpa Salvador stopped took his
belt off and lowered it down to help
pull this Cowboy Up and saved his life
and the moral of that story was when
somebody needs help you help him and all
this keeps going on until he's about 14
years old and he drops out of school
he's not going to go to high school he's
just going to go get a full-time job and
help support his family so that's what
he does he goes out and he starts
working at this local tire shop Uncle
Nicholas realizing that Roy is going to
be a man soon and that getting in fights
like he does is going to have real world
repercussions figures that he needs to
help Roy get over that somehow so he
encourages Roy to start amateur boxing
and Roy is incredible at it he makes it
all the way to the state tournament his
first year of doing it while there he
ends up losing his very first match and
in the locker room after his fight the
young man that had just beat him comes
up and wants to shake his hand now that
they have their gloves off and Roy's
anger and temper gets the better of him
and he ends up fighting this kid in the
locker room wrestling him into a stall
and shoving his head into a toilet after
Roy does that all the other coaches all
the other Fighters Roy's coach all look
at him like what the [ __ ] dude and
they're all disappointed and it was the
first time in Roy's life that he felt
ashamed and disappointed in himself and
this is where Roy really starts to get a
lid and a grasp on how to control his
anger after that Roy gives up amateur
boxing and just continues working
full-time at the tire shop and that's
when his boss Mr hadock the tire shop
owner also kind of becomes his father
figure too cuz he works with him and
he's around him so much he just becomes
that older male role model that Roy has
always kind of been looking for and he
continues to help Roy mature and get a
better grip on his anger and more
control of himself and this goes on for
a couple of years and then one day when
Roy is 17 years old a recruiter from the
Texas National Guard comes in and wants
to hang up a flyer at the tire shop for
anybody's interested in joining the
Texas National Guard and on that flyer
was none other than Roy's role model aie
Murphy the most decorated soldier of
World War II you see this is right in
the middle of the Korean War so aie
Murphy the World War II war hero had
joined the Texas National Guard to help
with recruiting and he was also going to
train the next generation of soldiers
and at this point aie Murphy's the [ __ ]
he's got an award-winning book he's an
actor and when he's acting he's playing
the role of himself in movies and he's
being told by directors hey I know you
were there and you're literally just
portraying the [ __ ] you did but you need
to Tamp it down a little bit because
it's so unrealistic nobody's going to
believe this story this is a Texan that
was rejected by the Marine Corps for
being too small and then went on to be
the most decorated soldier of World War
II earning the the Medal of Honor for
going toe-to-toe with an entire German
SS Battalion by himself from the back of
a flaming M10 tank destroyer with a 50
caliber machine gun so Roy Benitos
figures if the Texas National Guard is
good enough for Audie Murphy then that's
exactly where he wants to be so he goes
He joins the Texas National Guard he
ships off goes to basic training ends up
coming back he's doing his weekends he's
doing his training in the summer that
goes on for a couple of years while he's
still working at the tire shop with Mr
hack then one day he decides that he
likes doing army stuff a lot more than
he likes changing tires so he wants to
go full-time Army he goes over to the
active duty Recruiters Office it's a
shared office they've got the Navy the
Marines the Army and the Air Force all
right there in one building Roy Walks
right past the Navy walks right past the
Marines walks right past the Air Force
goes straight to the active duty Army
recruiter says here's my guard papers
I'm a Corporal I want to be a
paratrooper I don't just want a normal
contract I want a contract that
guarantees me Airborne school at this
point the Army recruiter looks at Roy
who's like 130 lb soak and wet and he's
like man you're not big enough to be a
paratrooper at which point I'm
paraphrasing here but Roy says something
along the lines of well I could cut you
down to my size and we'll see if you're
good enough to be a paratrooper maybe
that'll help you make your decision at
which point the marine recruiter over
hear is that and he comes walking over
and like son you should be a marine
you've got the right attitude I don't
care how big you are you should come be
a devil dog with me at which point Roy
is like no I don't want to be a marine I
want to be in the Army just like aie
Murphy was which brings everything full
circle because aie Murphy was rejected
from the Marines for being too small and
now Roy benovitz is rejecting the
Marines because he wants to be like aie
Murphy then the other Army recruiter
who's a captain an officer somebody that
outranks a sergeant that thinks Roy's
too small comes in he's like no no no
we'll take him come come with me so they
go they start doing the paperwork and
Roy's like okay I'm a Corporal in the
National Guard I've already been through
basic training I've already done through
job training you should just be able to
send me straight to Airborne school and
then give me a duty station and the
recruiter is like yeah uh-huh sure
whatever Roy signs on the dotted line he
packs his [ __ ] he gets on on the bus and
he's off to the Army and Roy then
immediately finds out the hard way that
that recruiter was either not listening
to him at all or he was lying to him
because they sent Roy straight to basic
training again and to add insult to
injury he is also not awarded an
Airborne slot after that so he's not
going to be a paratrooper like he always
wanted to after he gets done with
training he immediately gets sent over
to Korea where he is going to be there
right after the Korean war ended and
he's going to be Manning the DMZ the
demilitarized zone between what is now
North and South Korea he's in Korea for
a year then he comes back home for a
little bit Stateside then they ship him
out to Germany and Wally zeri learns how
to speak German and in Roy's own words
he becomes the first Hispanic American
that could speak German with a Southern
accent see gretto he gets done in
Germany he comes back home he goes to
military police School becomes an MP and
he gets assigned to basically being a
glorified chauffeur for high-ranking
Military Officers generals Colonels Etc
and then randomly one day a couple
months out from his contract being up
with the Army he's trying to decide
whether or not he wants to reinlist and
this General General West Morland asked
him you ever thought about being a
paratrooper and Roy's like yeah actually
that's only reason I'm here I wanted to
do that I kind of got screwed out of it
I'm thinking about reenlisting and if I
reinlist I really want to be able to
become a paratrooper to which the
general kind of like doesn't even really
continue the conversation he's just like
huh well that's neat anyways we're at
the airport now I got to go by and then
Roy never sees this guy ever again a
couple months later Roy's contract is
about to be up he has to decide if he's
going to reinlist or if he's going to
get out and his potential reenlistment
contract there's an Airborne packet
courtesy of General West Morland if he
decides to reinlist he will get to go to
Airborne school and he will get to
paratrooper so that's what he does he
goes to Airborne school gets his Jump
Wings becomes a full-fledged paratrooper
and then he gets stationed with the
legendary 82 Airborne Division out of
Fort Brag I mean Fort Liberty sorry okay
sidebar look I don't care if we're going
to be renaming stuff every once in a
while that's completely fine however
name it after a war hero or something
don't just pick a generic term like okay
I don't need Fort Liberty I don't need
Fort life I don't need Fort Pursuit of
Happiness okay quit doing generic [ __ ]
and name it after an actual badass war
hero anyways Roy's at Fort Brag Fort
Liberty North Carolina he is with the
82nd Airborne during this time he's
training he's working he's doing his
thing he also ends up meeting his wife
and he goes about this the old school
way he has to have chaperon meetings
with her until he earns enough street
cred to finally be able to sit on the
front porch of her parents house with
her her name is La La they get married
she ends up getting pregnant things are
going EX how they're supposed to go and
then in 1965 Roy gets deployed to
Vietnam at the age of 30 Roy gets sent
over there as an adviser he's going to
be training the South Vietnamese and how
to fight back against the North
Vietnamese and hopefully prevent the
spread of Communism that's the plan so
he starts training these guys he's
working with them and he gets to the
point that he has to end up going out on
some of these missions with him because
they need a leader they need somebody
with more experience to go out and show
them how it's done and he does that
multiple times and then one day he's
walking through the jungle and all of a
sudden Roy has no idea what's going on
one second he's in South Vietnam on a
mission the next second he's in a
hospital in the Philippines and
everything goes by in a blur and before
he knows it he's in San Antonio at the
Fort Sam Houston Medical Center at this
point Roy still has no idea what's going
on doctors and nurses are coming and
going there's some pregnant woman named
la la that's trying to hang out with him
all day long and he's just not
comprehending anything that's happening
to him Roy's wife laa would be informed
that Roy had stepped on a landmine in
South Vietnam during one of their
patrols and they don't how we survived
but the going theory was that it was
some type of defect with the landmine
that when it exploded the entire
landmine didn't fragment but the top of
it stayed intact as one solid metal
plate and when he stepped on it it
detonated it and the landmine plate shot
up and smacked him on the ass so hard
that it broke his back and jolted his
brain so severely that they don't think
he'll ever regain his memory in addition
to that due to his broken back he would
almost certainly never be able to walk
again even if he did come to mentally
and this goes on for weeks of la la
showing him pictures telling him stories
trying to remind him of who he was and
then one day he just wakes up he snaps
out of it he's sitting in a rehab room
at the hospital by himself at a table
and in front of him there's like the
child's toy you know the big rectangle
with like the cylinders and the squares
and the triangles and you shove each one
through the corresponding shape he's
sitting there with that in front of him
and the PT person is like can you put
the shapes through there Roy and he's
like yeah obviously I could put the
shapes through there there and they're
like well why don't you go ahead and do
it he's like am I planing to get into
the Marine Corps like what what is
happening right now why do you think I
can't do that and they're like well just
go ahead and do it so he does it he's
like okay obviously what what is
happening right now they then explain to
him that he has been unable to do that
for weeks every single time they've got
him to try and Roy is just like
literally snapped out of it like that
he's 100% mentally all there he just
doesn't remember the accident itself he
remembers everything else so Roy's back
this is great now he just wants to get
back up on his feet he wants to keep
serving in the Army he wants to keep
jumping out of planes he wants to go
back to Vietnam and be with his guys and
that's just how Roy is so he demands
that they start giving him physical
therapy as soon as possible and that's
what he does and over the course of a
couple weeks he comes to the painful
realization that these physical
therapists aren't getting him ready to
walk and run and be in the Army again
they're getting him mentally ready to
spend the rest of his life in a
wheelchair the doctors are telling him
he's never going to walk again he's
going to spend the rest of his life in a
wheelchair and he needs to accept that
but Roy Roy's not buying it if they're
not going to push him to get the results
that he wants he's going to push himself
night nurses come in they catch him they
give him a pill they knock him out they
put him to sleep he wakes up the next
morning his hip hurts from where he fell
out of bed and his leg muscles are sore
from bearing weight for the first time
in months but the plus side his hip
hurts and his legs are sore so obviously
they're going to work if he just keeps
building them up stronger and stronger
so that's what he does every night he
rolls out of bed he drags himself across
the floor lifts himself up and puts as
much weight on his legs as he possibly
can sometimes the nurses catch him and
try to put him back to sleep the nurses
are getting pissed off at him cuz he
keeps keeps doing this but his legs keep
getting stronger and stronger and he's
able to make it over to the nightst
faster and faster and it gets to the
point where all the other guys in this
medical Bay realize what he's doing and
they start cheering him on at night
nobody's ratting him out they're trying
to distract the nurses to get Roy the
time that he needs to be able to do his
version of physical therapy and this
goes on for months during the day
they're getting him ready for his life
in a wheelchair he's begging him just
more time for More PT and he'll be able
to walk again they're not buying it
they're doing the paperwork in the
background to get him Med boarded out of
the US Army they know that he's done but
Roy never gives up on himself and he
keeps training every single night then
after having been in the hospital for 5
months the doctor walks in with Roy's
discharge papers Roy begs and he pleads
not to discharge him out of the Army and
the doctor finally says Roy even if we
continue doing PT at best maybe you'll
be able to stand up one day you're never
going to be able to walk again at that
point Roy hops up out of the bed stands
directly in front of the doctor and
takes one step towards him and it was
one of the most excruciating pains that
he's ever felt in his entire life he's
got tears in his eyes but he's looking
this doctor right in his face and the
doctor shocked that Roy hopped out of
bed and took a step towards him says
benas if you can walk out of this room
I'll tear these papers up so Roy walked
room hold on hold on that hurt [ __ ] you
can walk shortly after that he walked
out of that hospital and went back to Fort
BR obviously he gets assigned to desk
job but despite that Roy's going to do
the best job he can no matter what tasks
they give him so he crushes that job the
best he can and when he goes home at
night he continues to train first he
starts walking a couple miles a day then
he's walking 5 miles a day then he's
running 5 miles a day then he's running
10 miles a day and doing 500 push-ups in
a single day every day and he works
himself up to being just as fast just as
strong as he ever was and then since he
did such a good job at that desk job he
kind of figured out how things worked
and then wouldn't you know it one day
out of the blue Roy benz's name ended up
on a manifest to do one of the jumps for
the 82 airborne's training not just one
manifest but three Roy did three jumps
in a single day after having broken his
back what are the odds of that what are
the odds of that and after having done
that Roy sits back relaxes reflects on
his Achi no I'm just kidding he goes out
and decides that he wants to become a
Green Beret now so he goes off to
Special Forces selection and he makes it
he passes he becomes a Green Beret on
one hand absolutely incredible it is
almost unbelievable that he's able to
accomplish this on the other hand it's
obvious that he was going to be able to
accomplish this right because if you
don't know about these Special Forces
groups it's never like the fastest the
strongest the freak athlete that ends up
making these special forces units it's
always just that tough Farm kid that
you're going to have to kill to get him
to stop it's that person that's never
going to quit and if there was ever a
embodiment of that archetype of person
it's Roy benovitz okay homie stepped on
a landmine and literally walked it off
of course he had What it Took to become
a green Barret that's just to get
selected to be in the unit though so
then he has to go off and get all of his
other training he becomes a linguist he
gets cross trained as a medic he gets
trained on every heavy weapon system he
becomes trained in Military Intelligence
the Gathering of information so he gets
done with all this training then he gets
orders that he is going to be deploying
to Central America here's the problem
Roy doesn't want to deploy to Central
America Roy wants to go back to Vietnam
so Roy goes back to that very same
office that he worked in for a little
while while he was training before he
became a Green Beret and wouldn't you
know it somehow or another his orders
got changed and he was sent to Vietnam
instead me but Roy wasn't just going to
be going to Vietnam he was going to be
going to other countries neighboring
Vietnam like Cambodia Roy was part of
MCV SOG okay real quick for those that
don't know MCV SOG at this point in time
is America's Premier top secret Special
Forces Group okay they take all the best
guys from all the other special forces
the Army Rangers the Marine Raiders the
Green Beret the Navy Seals they take
their best guys and they put them in
this unit together as like America's
Special Forces Dream Team basically
they're the ones doing all the stuff
that America's not doing you know this
group is so secretive that nobody even
knew that these guys existed until like
30 years after Vietnam okay SOG
everybody thinks it stands for Special
Operations group that's not what it
stands for it stands for studies and
observations group and they did that on
purpose because they wanted it to sound
like some nerd [ __ ] that way if a
politician or a high-ranking officer
that wasn't supposed to be in the no
read that on a document they weren't
going to ask any questions during
Vietnam these guys had a 150 to1 kill
death rate ratio for every Mac V SOG
member that went down 150 enemies went
down first and they do all kinds of
different crazy stuff during Vietnam but
when Roy gets linked up with them
they're working in Cambodia okay real
brief oversimplified version of what's
going on here you have the NBAA the
North Vietnamese Army and they are
trying to supply the Viet Kong the
gorilla fighters in South Vietnam with a
bunch of supplies now they have two
options they can punch through the front
line fight through all the American
defenses to deliver these supplies
doesn't sound like a very good time or
they could cheat they could just cut
right over into LA and then travel
through this neutral territory with no
resistance and then travel into Cambodia
more neutral territory with no
resistance penetrate way past all the
American front lines deep into South
Vietnam and then cut back in and drop
off all the supplies okay and to be fair
that's a brilliant plan because there's
not a whole lot America can do to stop
it right because the only thing America
really can do is to send their troops
into Cambodia and la and that's not
going to be a very popular idea
considering that most of America's mad
that they're in Vietnam in the first
place they're definitely not going to
support invading two more countries so
if America wants to stop this the only
thing they can do is to send their own
guys into this neutral territory where
they're not supposed to be to cut off
this supply line and then even if they
do run into each other in this neutral
territory it just turns into the
Spider-Man meme right hey you're not
supposed to be here no you're not
supposed to be here and then everybody's
just as guilty of breaking the same
rules it's a really good plan on their
part okay but here's the problem with
this whole thing America cares a lot
more about not getting caught in these
neutral territories than the North
Vietnamese do because of this the
Americans are only sending in very very
small groups groups of men like 12 guys
or less whereas the North Vietnamese are
sending in entire companies they're
sending in hundreds of guys so this
makes it impossible for the Americans to
directly confront the North Vietnamese
so rather than confronting them they
start stalking them they start tracking
them down and following them writing
down what their most commonly used pazar
what they're dropping off where they're
dropping it off they try to memorize all
their different routes they try to
figure out anything and everything they
can about their operations inside of LA
and Cambodia so that goes on for a while
and then somebody gets the bright idea
of like hey we know where all the
enemy's ammunition is what if we just
snuck in a bunch of defective ammunition
that blew up when they tried to fire it
and then it would not only a take care
of some of the enemy troops that got
messed up from you know a Howitzer round
blowing up or ammunition blowing up or
defective ammo and they go and try to
get into a firefight then the Americans
are guaranteed to win there's that
aspect but then there's also the
psychological aspect of the enemy isn't
going to trust their own supply line
anymore so then that goes on for a
little while and then eventually the
North Vietnamese and the Viet Kong
figure out that the Americans are doing
this so they start sending out their
best guys their equivalent of Mac B SOG
and they send them out into these
neutral territories to try to hunt and
kill the American macv SOG operators
because of that the MCV SOG casualty
rate goes up and at one point it was
actually reported as being a 100%
casualty rate if you were in MCV SOG
during this era there was a 100%
likelihood that you were going to get
injured or killed in the line of duty a
purple heart to these guys was just a
right of passage so MCV SOG starts
taking more casualties they realize
they're being hunted then they start
doing counter measures to prevent from
being caught they're having helicopters
go in and pretend to drop off a bunch of
operators when they're actually not
doing it basically spamming them that
way when they actually do go behind the
line the enem is not going to know
whether that was a fake drop off or a
real drop off so that's what's happening
there's like this Shadow war going on in
the neutral territories of Cambodia and
la and this is what's happening when Roy
shows up so two weeks into being there
Roy goes out on a mission and one of the
guys of he's with ends up getting shot
up and they have to get this guy metac
but they're still being attacked so they
can't go out in the open so a helicopter
can land so the helicopter has to drop
what's called a Maguire rig it's
basically just a rope that these guys
are going to hook on to and they're
going to pull them straight up out of
the canopy of the Jungle and fly off
with them dangling underneath the
helicopter like some badass Pinocchio
now usually when you do this like you
can see in this picture you're stacked
on top of one another on the same nylon
rope but for some reason on this day
they dropped two nylon ropes Roy HED the
other guy that's injured up to one and
he hooked himself up to the other and
Roy probably didn't even realize that
there was two ropes he just saw a bunch
of nylon rope everywhere he hooked both
of them up and they were going to take
off so they get pulled up out of the
canopy they take off headed towards camp
but because they're each on a different
rope the ropes end up getting crossed
and the nylon ropes start rubbing
together and when nylon rubs up against
nylon it melts because it's plastic so
these ropes are going to end up snapping
and Roy and his buddy are both going to
fall to their death unless they can land
and get this figured out and they can't
land because they're still being shot at
now luckily for Roy and the other guy
the bellyman in that helicopter was
another one of Roy's friends a sergeant
by the name of Leroy Wright and he
noticed what was going on and he ties
himself off to a third rope and lowers
himself out of the helicopter in between
the other two nylon ropes allowing his
body weight to untangle the ropes as he
them two days after that Roy wakes up in
his cot time to go get breakfast he
heads off towards the chow hall he's
making his way there and everything just
starts scrambling there's radio
Transmissions coming in saying it's a
Daniel Boone tactical emergency Daniel
Boone is the name of the operation in
Cambodia you're not supposed to be
saying that over the radio period which
means that [ __ ] has really hit the fan
somewhere everybody around him starts
scrambling helicopters start going out
and helicopters start coming back in all
shot up with injured men on them and Roy
goes up to one of these helicopters
trying to figure out what's going on and
the door gunner in this helicopter falls
out and it's a 19-year-old kid that Roy
remembered they just celebrated his
birthday like a week ago and this kid
falls into Roy's arms and dies on the
spot Roy asks the rest of the helicopter
crew what's going on what's Happening
and they tell him there's a team out
there that's getting overrun by hundreds
of NVA so Roy continues to ask him what
team who's out there did you pick them
up are they here now what's going on and
they go no we couldn't get close enough
to pick these guys up they were so
overrun and we were taking too much fire
from the helicopters it was we don't
know who it was but it was that the big
black dude that saved you the other day
and Roy immediately knows they're
talking about Leroy and his entire team
is still out there so Roy asks them are
you going back out there and they said
yeah we're going to go back out there
but we're not going to be able to land
the only thing we're going to be able to
do is drop drop ammunition out of the
helicopter above them so they have
ammunition to keep fighting and to Roy
benas it sounds an awful lot like
somebody needs help and with that he
runs over grabs his medical bag jumps in
the helicopter and they take off a
couple minutes into the flight there Roy
realizes that in his hurry to run and
grab his Aid bag so that he could help
he made a mistake a really really big
mistake he forgot his gun God damn it he
is now in a helicopter flying into
combat with no gun no food no water no
grenades he literally had has an 8in
Recon knife and his Aid bag and that is
it despite that Roy is still determined
to help these guys so they get there
they drop the ammunition out of the side
of the helicopter on top of these guys
and then they fly off and Roy says get
me as close as you can and land this
helicopter so I can jump out and they
get him like 100 150 yards away from
where this team is injured and pinned
down and Roy jumps out of the helicopter
and starts running towards them he makes
it 10 steps gets shot drops him he got
shot in the leg he tells himself that he
tripped and landed on on a thorn bush
and he's not actually shot but he knows
he's shot he keeps running towards him
and he makes it another 50 yards and he
gets shot again this time it's a
glancing blow to his helmet he doesn't
know that yet maybe he got shot in the
head maybe he didn't maybe it was
shrapnel he has no idea he'll figure it
out later if he makes it so he just
keeps running to the team and he finally
ends up making it to him so he makes it
to where the team is pinned down they're
all spread out way too far out they're
not in a defensive position they're
running out of ammunition every single
person there is shot blown up everybody
is in horrible shape so Roy gets to work
he picks up an AK-47 off a dead NVA
Soldier as he runs to each individual
team member giving a morphine whatever
Medical Aid he can and then dragging
them over to this anill this big pile of
dirt to get them in this defensive
position where they're actually semi
close together and they can start
fighting back Roy ends up making it to
the guy with the radio and he's like
this is Tango Mike Mike I've still got
men on the ground I need to get these
guys metac I have green smoke grenades
I'll pop them so you know where we're at
while the helicopters are on their way
Roy keeps going and getting more guys
and dragging them back the anill giving
himself and everybody else morphine the
helicopters finally show up the door
Gunners lay down suppressing fire and
Roy starts loading up the guys at the
anill onto the helicopter but he still
has more men out towards the bush line
that he hasn't been able to make it to
yet so he gets all the guys on the
helicopter and then he tells the door
gunner hey we still have men over there
cover me and Roy takes off running next
to the helicopter as the helicopter is
gliding next to him and him and the door
gunner are returning fire into the
Woodline trying to make it to the other
men so Roy and the helicopter make it to
the last guy that Roy knows of and it's
not Leroy so he asks this guy where's
Leroy at and that guy points him towards
the Woodline and says he got hit back
there and he's got a bunch of
confidential classified information on
him so Roy decides that he's going to go
get it he takes off running towards
where this guy pointed him out in the
Woodline but the helicopter can't follow
cuz it can't get that close to the trees
so the helicopter door gunner continues
to lay suppressing fire while Roy runs
into the tree line and finds Leroy's
Body he gets all the classified Intel
off Leroy's Body and then he begins
dragging Leroy's corpse towards the the
helicopter because he at least wants to
bring his friend's body home and then he
gets shot in the back as we all know
it's always darkest right before the
dawn but as we also all know sometimes
it's darkest right before it gets even
[ __ ] darker after being shot Roy
turns around realizing he's not going to
be able to bring his friend's body back
with him and starts running towards the
helicopter and then he sees the
helicopter pilot get shot through the
window as the helicopter spins out of
control and crashes Roy makes it to the
crash site and everybody there that
survived is pretty much ready to call it
a day they've accepted the fact that
they're about to die and Roy Roy hasn't
he starts dragging everybody getting
them away from the burning helicopter
and getting them into another defensive
position so that they can fight back
he's going and getting AK-47s off of
dead NVA soldiers getting these guys
guns he has guys that can't even see
they're missing eyes and he's just
telling them shoot that way under Roy's
leadership they start fighting back and
Roy starts calling in air strikes f-111s
F4 Phantoms gunships anything and
everything they have and they just start
bombing this tree line with all they've
got and they do it over and over but the
enemy soldiers just keep coming and
coming there's literally hundreds of
them and this goes on for hours it's too
hot for them to get a helicopter in
there to load people up and every time
they bomb the tree line more enemy
soldiers run out of it towards Roy and
his crew and it gets to the point that
they're literally using the dead bodies
of soldiers as sandbags to stop bullets
Roy and the men on the ground don't
realize it at this point in time but the
crews up in the gunships that are mowing
down the forest that the enemies are
coming from are are starting to mow down
so much vegetation that they're starting
to see straight lines which don't occur
naturally in nature these are bunkers
with fortified machine gun positions the
MCV SOG team didn't just stumble across
an entire Battalion of men they walked
right into an entire NVA base inside of
Cambodia eventually the air Crews come
to the realization that with this base
there there's got to be at least a
thousand men an entire Battalion there
and there's a road where they can bust
in even more men for reinforcements
they're not going to be able to keep
this up and get Roy and everybody else
to be alive and handle this the right
way so the only thing that they can do
is to have a carpet bomb of that forest
and at the exact same moment that those
bombs start dropping they're going to
send in the helicopters to try to pick
up Roy and everybody else so a group of
a37 super tweets bomb the tree line as a
huey comes down and Roy starts helping
to load these men into the helicopter
some of them have lost so much blood
they can't even pick themselves up and
while this is happening the North
Vietnamese soldiers rush them they're
coming straight towards the helicopter
they're firing Roy's trying to load the
men on while firing back the door
Gunners returning fire and one of them
ends up making it to Roy and for some
reason whether he was out of ammo or
whether he was trying to take an
American alive he hits Roy in the back
of the head with the buttstock of his
rifle Roy falls down and then he swings
it again at Roy's face dislocating his
jaw Roy somehow still conscious gets up
starts trying to wrestle this guy to the
ground he lost his gun all he has is his
Recon knife and this guy's got his rifle
with a Bayonet on it the enemy soldier
goes to Lunge at Roy with the bayonet
ends up cutting Roy's arm and then Roy
lunges at him misses the enemy soldier
lunges back he ends up stabbing Roy in
the stomach with the bayonet and Roy
ends up getting to him with the Recon
knife stabbing him in the chest and
killing him Roy pulls out the bayonet
can't get his Recon knife out of this
guy's chest and he's now holding his
intestines in his stomach with one hand
at this point Roy's right next to the
helicopter and he's looking right at it
he should get in the helicopter but he
turns around away from the helicopter
and there's two Americans still out
there returning fire that are able to
fight they're just not able to walk and
Roy runs towards them Roy gets there
picks up the one that can't walk
entirely and starts helping to drag him
towards the helicopter and the other guy
can't crawl but he can't walk so he
literally starts walking on his knees
using an AK-47 like it's a crutch they
get to the helicopter Roy helps load
them in the helicopter grabs the AK-47
that the guy was using as a crutch turns
around again and starts shooting at NBA
soldiers that are charging towards the
helicopter as the injured men behind him
literally grab Roy and drag him into the
helicopter as they take off as it
becomes clear to absolutely everyone
that Roy benovitz did not just bring a
knife to a gunfight the Communist
brought an army to a Roy benovitz fight
and still couldn't win after saving all
the surviving members of the original
MCV SOG team and the first helicopter
crew through 6 hours of combat Roy has
sustained over 37 different
life-threatening injuries multiple
gunshot wounds over 20 shrapnel wounds
he has been bayonetted and he has been
clubbed and after being dragged into the
helicopter he finally loses
wound his next memory is being literally
waste deep inside of a body bag as an
American medic is zipping it up his eyes
are caked with blood and he can't open
them he can't talk to the medic because
his jaw is dislocated and he's lost so
much blood that he can't move and from
the medic's perspective he doesn't even
realize that Roy's an American because
he's hispanic he's got the same skin
tone as a North Vietnamese and Roy's
Body is literally laying on top of three
dead NVA soldiers that in Roy's fog of
morphine and adrenaline he loaded into
the helicopter because he didn't want to
leave anybody behind Roy can literally
feel the teeth on the zipper closing as
it gets closer and closer to his head
and once the zipper reaches his neck
somebody stops the medic and says hold
on that's Ben AAS and he instructs the
medic to double check and make sure that
Roy is actually dead and the medic
argues with him and Roy's Buddies says I
don't care double check and the medic
Zips down the body bag a little bit and
puts his hand on Roy's chest and leans
forward to listen and see if he can hear
breathing and at this moment Roy takes
what he describes as the best shot he's
ever made in his entire life he spits
directly in that medic's face give him
that hu to and with that they get Roy
out of the body bag they get him in the
Aid Station and they start trying to do
everything they can for him but they're
almost positive that he's not going to
make it after his chain of command
figured out everything that had happened
and that Roy was pretty much the only
reason that the eight other men that
survived made it out of their alive
immediately got him signed up to receive
the distinguished service cross the only
reason they didn't try to get him the
Medal of Honor on the spot was because
they didn't think Roy was going to
survive and they wanted to get him an
award that they could give him in the
field so that he could receive it before
he passed away but Roy Benz had other
plans he doesn't pass away instead he
recovers and not only does he recover he
yet again refuses to get Med boarded out
of the army into a medical retirement
and continues to serve an additional 10
years in the United States Army and
during that time they try to get him
awarded the Medal of Honor because if
anybody deserves it it's this guy right
but for some reason or another it always
ends up getting rejected and it gets
rejected again and again and over and
over they just keep rejecting his Medal
of Honor but there's nothing that Roy or
anybody else could do for some reason or
another the committee in charge of
awarding the Medal of Honor simply did
not want to give master sergeant Roy
benovitz the award that he had earned so
he did the only thing he could do he
just kept on keeping on so he went on
served throughout the military until
1976 before finally retiring as Master
Sergeant benovitz the recipient of the
distinguished service cross as Roy
retires there was another press push
about how incredible he was wondering
why he didn't earn the Medal of Honor
and this ends up connecting him with one
of the men that he had saved that Roy
actually thought had died and this man
gets a hold of Roy almost 12 years after
the fact and he tells Roy that he's
going to write up everything that he
witnessed and send it into this
committee again and yet again even
despite all this new information the
committee in charge of awarding the
Medal of Honor rejected it again and
then they realized what they were doing
wrong they were telling the whole truth
they were saying that Roy hopped in a
helicopter flew into Cambodia and helped
save a bunch of MCV SOG members and as
far as the US government's concerned at
this point in time up until like the mid
80s MCV SOG a doesn't exist and B if it
did it definitely would not be operating
in a neutral territory like LA or
Cambodia because that was against the
rules I can neither confirm nor deny
details of any operation without the secretary's
secretary's
approval so the politicians and the
bureaucrats in charge realized that if
they give Roy the Medal of Honor for
saving MCV SOG members in Cambodia which
wasn't supposed to be happening there
could be political backlash and they're
not going to metaphorically stick their
necks on the line just to give Roy what
he deserves despite the fact that Roy
put his entire life on the line for them
so bearing this in mind they redo all
the paperwork they jump through all the
Hoops to try to get Roy the Medal of
Honor again and this time rather than
saying that Roy's courageous actions
occurred in Cambodia they simply said
that they happened to the west of lockin
Airfield which was where Roy was
stationed they just didn't bother to say
how far west and once you know it it
gets approved Roy Ben aidz receives the
Medal of Honor in 1981 from President
Ronald Reagan 15 years after the fact
after getting what he had earned he
finally gets to go home with his wife
and kids and enjoy his retirement for
all of like a year and a half because on
a random day in 1983 he receives a
letter in the mail from the US
Government informing him that he would
not continue to receive his veterans
disability benefits from his injuries
that he sustained during the war and
Roy's not having it he goes straight to
the media starts putting out press
releases and giving interviews talking
about how ridiculous this is and putting
political pressure right back on the
politicians and wouldn't you know it a
couple weeks later the US government
comes out with a statement of like oh
hey we're sorry that we're doing this we
haven't been handling it appropriately
we're going to continue to do it but
we're going to do it in a more humane
way for everybody involved and while I
can't prove this I'm willing to
guarantee that Roy benav has got the
notification of like oh sorry you got
that letter obviously this doesn't apply
to such a high-profile person that's got
enough leverage to be a pain in our ass
here's your benefits but we're going to
go ahead and [ __ ] everybody else and Roy
wasn't going to allow it he came out and
said that if they can try to do this to
him he can't imagine what they're going
to try to do to everybody else so he
keeps fighting for not only himself but
for the other
350,000 veterans that were getting their
benefits cut right because they need
help too and Roy's going to help him so
he keeps pushing and putting more
pressure on the US government basically
just comes out and says hey the same
Ronald Reagan administration that gave
me my Medal of Honor is now telling me
and a bunch of other veterans that we're
not good enough for the benefits that we
earned and with that he finally gets to
testify in front of the house senate
committee in charge of this entire
operation and they end up shutting the
entire thing down preserving the
benefits for
350,000 veterans and with that Roy
benitz could finally go home enjoy eny
his retirement and live happily ever
after so in conclusion when somebody
needs help you help them and for the
love of God the fact that somebody
renamed Fort Brag Fort Liberty and not
Fort benovitz instead is borderline
criminal thank you for watching best way
to support the channels go by some merch
over the fat electrician. comom quack bang
out oh hey real quick if you guys wanted
more there's a book called legend by
Eric blim all about Roy benv the author
spent like three and a half years
researching for it and he actually
helped me make this video so if you guys
wanted to check it out it's over on
Amazon and I'm sure it's on his website
if you wanted to Google it too I'll have
it all linked down below thanks for
watching after that PlayStation comment
I'm taking these back come on that's not
funny I want those no it locked in on
stag are and start unloading start
identifying the bodies they found out I
helicopter I didn't want to leave anybody
anybody
behind my mission was to recover the
classified material so if anybody had it
that he was on a helicopter they left
the three enemy soldiers on the side and
because I sort of look Oriental they
thought I was one of them so it let me
lay right next to them and they were
putting us in body bags and I remember
my feet been lifted and I was inserted
into this body bag and I could hear that
zipper coming up and I oh my God no no
and I couldn't talk because my jaws were
locked and I could hear that Dipper
coming up coming up and one of my
buddies was doing the Mexican head dance
and he was yelling at the doctor that's
Roy that's Roy Ben doctor said sorry
there's nothing I can do for him I'll
find out later Jerry cottonham made that
doctor at least to feel my heartbeat
when I felt that hand on my chest I made
the luckiest shot I ever made in my life
I spit in the doctor's
face you know there's a sin Among Us
Veterans for those that had fought for
it life has a special flavor that
protected will never know you have never
lived till you almost died and it is US
veterans that pray for peace most of all
especially the wounded because we have
to suffer the wounds of War I'm asked
hundreds of
times would you do it over again in my
25 years in the military I feel like
I've been overpaid for the service to my
country there'll never be enough paper
to print the
money nor enough gold in Fort Knox for
me to have to keep from doing what I did
I'm proud of being American and I'm even
proud of that I've earned the privilege
to wear the Green Beret I live by the
motto of duty honor country l ladies and
gentlemen thank you very much thank you
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