Signal Interceptor in Combat | Special Forces Linguist | 82nd Airborne | Clay Jensen

This episode is brought to you by 4Patriots Survival Food Kits.The kits are compact, sturdy, water-resistant, and stack easily. They have different delicious breakfasts, lunches, dinners. You can make these meals in less than 20 minutes. Just add boiling water, simmer, and serve.
Go to 4Patriots.com and use code COMBAT to get 10% off.

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!

=========
Today we hear our first Combat Story from a military intelligence linguist and signal interceptor, Clay Jensen. Clay deployed six times to both Iraq and Afghanistan and has spent considerable time helping to get our Afghan allies out of Afghanistan.

Clay was in a Blackhawk when it was shot out of the sky while trying to identify the location of Al-Qai’da’s then #2 leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan. Clay was also forward deployed in 2007 to identify the location of Bin Laden during what became a failed raid to capture AQ’s leader at the time (listeners will recall that our former guest Mike Rutledge was also on that operation).

Clay supported clandestine and Top Secret operations working alongside NSA and other three letter agencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Latin America as part of both the 82nd Airborne and 7th Special Forces Group in a Special Operations Team - Alpha (or SOT-A).

I hope you enjoy this first ever Combat Story from a signal interceptor who we, as Apache pilots, relied on regularly to triangulate targets, as much as I did.

Find Ryan Online:
Ryan’s Linktree https://linktr.ee/combatstory
Merch https://www.bonfire.com/store/combats...
Instagram @combatstory   / combatstory  
Facebook @combatstoryofficial https://fb.me/combatstoryofficial
Send us messages at https://m.me/combatstoryofficial
Learn more about Ryan www.combatstory.com/aboutus
Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle

Find Clay Jensen Online:
LinkedIn   / clayton-jensen-793b468b  

Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to Combat Story to stay up-to-date on future episodes!

Show Notes:
00:00 - Intro
01:02 - Guest Introduction (Clay Jensen)
02:15 - Interview begins
02:48 - Impressions on Iraq 20 years later
04:57 - Japanese upbringing
09:24 - Bilingual for Defense Language Institute
11:31 - Interest in the Military
12:58 - Joining the Military
14:57 - Recruitment
18:15 - Working with Agencies
19:24 - Training for the Signals and Intelligence
23:38 - Joining the 82nd
24:40 - Linguistics in regular MOS
28:08 - 9/11
31:05 - 1st Deployment to Afghanistan
37:28 - Supporting the battle as a Linguist
40:08 - Navigating the outcome of a battle
44:06 - Transfering to Special Forces
46:11 - Proving yourself
47:20 - Definition of SOT-A
49:33 - Difference between standard MOS and Special Forces
51:21 - The Raid for Zawahiri
01:09:33 - Columbia
01:16:59 - The importance of Vocabulary
01:19:37 - Funny things
01:24:19 - Relationship with Interpreters
01:27:03 - Getting involved in the Afghanistan Evacuation
01:34:57 - Most courageous act
01:38:26 - Best and worst MREs
01:40:07 - Sentimental items
01:41:22 - Would you do it again
01:43:09 - Listener comments and shout outs

Combat Story, military intelligence, signal interceptor, Special Operations, SOT-A, 82nd Airborne, 7th Special Forces Group, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden, high-value targets, Afghanistan Evacuation, MREs.

In this episode of Combat Story, we hear from Clay Jensen, a military intelligence linguist and signal interceptor who deployed six times to Iraq and Afghanistan. Clay shares his experiences working alongside NSA and other three letter agencies in Special Operations Team - Alpha (SOT-A) and the 82nd Airborne and 7th Special Forces Group. He talks about his involvement in missions to identify the locations of high-value targets, including Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama Bin Laden.

If you're interested in military intelligence and special operations, you won't want to miss this episode!