Skip to content A Military Veteran’s Mission to Ukraine with Chad Robichaux Dec 23 · 25 min ...more
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From Family Legacy to Frontline Service 0:06 Chad, welcome back to Focus. Yeah.0:08 Good to be back.0:09 It's good to have you. Let's just start right with what you and those that serve with you, men and women in the armed forces. You know, at 1 point you think of it as a career, but0:21 when when the bell sounds and everything's on like a conflict, those known, those unknown that we're engaged with around the world. I mean, it's everything on the line.0:33 Yeah. Well, I've been in or around the military for 30 years now and and and 1 of the things that my age has really let let me see is is the perspective of of service much differently. Because0:44 when I went in the Marine Corps 17 years old, I had this aspiration to be in special operations. That's all I ever wanted to do. From 13 years old, I started preparing for that. So it was very much,0:55 I 13 years old. You knew? I knew. Yeah. Wow. And your father or grandfather. Right? You had1:00 Well, we go back to World War 1, 85 years. World War 1, World War 2, Korea. My father was the first marine in our family, served in Vietnam as infantryman. And, probably wasn't didn't create the best scenario. I created1:12 a very dysfunctional home. But even though that I saw my dad, like, struggle with anger and alcohol and and womanizing and all these things, the 1 thing that made made my dad proud and stand up tall was the fact he's a1:23 United States Marine. I want a piece of that and maybe I had this desire to be a Marine, and I want to be in special operations. So my brother and I had had about 13, he was 14. We made the decision to to do that1:34 together and, we started training for that. And I think I maybe mentioned in the show before, my my brother, about a year into that, was tragically shot and killed and and, you know, created even more of a,1:46 just division of my home. I I ended up living on my own at 15 years old, but I never lost that goal of wanting to go in the Marine Corps and pursue being becoming a reconnaissance marine.1:55 Let me turn this to your time in Afghanistan. Last time you were on, and people can certainly go listen to this, I'd encourage you to do that because it was such a fabulous, insightful story about your time there in2:01 Afghanistan and what you did to rescue people. But you work in in you can describe this role quickly for the listeners2:13 that didn't hear it. But you're kinda you were out there by yourself pretty much doing that reconnaissance. You were making friends with villagers. You ended up hooking up with a man named Aziz who became, I2:25 think, your interpreter. Describe that relationship, how that came about, and then what happened when the the war came to an end there and we had that, you know, I guess you'd2:37 say wind up or retreat or whatever you call that.2:40 Retreat's bracket word for it.2:41 Yeah. The your further engagement there to get Aziz home or get Aziz here.2:47 Yeah. Well, I mean, real quickly, Marine Corps doesn't have a JSOC element, joint special operations command element. So the Marine Corps allows peep we let we send people. And so I was very privileged to represent the2:58 Marine Corps at JSOC, joint special operations command, a tier 1 special operations unit. My job was AFO, advanced force operator. And, and so that job is there's very few people that do it. You just kinda be, like,3:09 being undercover, and you go ahead of your unit to build all the condescent infrastructure, living and working with the local nationals.3:15 In the villages. In3:18 the villages. All over. Yeah. In the villages, cities, back, you know, it's you're not I spent in 8 deployments to Afghanistan. I spent about 2 weeks on a base. And, so I, you know, lived and dressed and and with the3:27 local nationals. And and I worked in what's called a singleton capacity, meaning by myself with a local a local national. That local national was Aziz. And so Aziz and I were in the mountains of Afghanistan, across the3:38 border in Pakistan, in the federal and eastern tribal areas, building all the infrastructure, put our soldiers on target to capture, kill bad guys. And my command was going after whoever's on the top 10 list. And we did3:49 that probably over 100 times, 100 missions doing that in in, my 8 deployments. And, you know, Aziz saved my life multiple times, in kinetic combat, but probably saved my life every day. Like, don't walk there. Don't eat4:00 that. Don't talk to that person. If you talk right now, they're gonna kill us. So he's and and, when I went when we're not operating, I didn't go back to base and he went home. I went to his home. His wife, Hatra, made4:10 me my first meal and, warm meal, and I held his babies when they were born, Mashuda, Mashuda. So he was family to me. So when withdrawal took place and, I know we're not gonna get into what I feel about the withdrawal4:22 because I go on and on about that. But when the withdrawal took place, the 1 thing I had control of was to go back and get my friend, Aziz, his wife, and 6 kids. And so I put together a small team of special operations4:31 veterans. We went to get Aziz, his wife, and 6 kids. And in the midst of that, God orchestrated a miracle and used us to, rescue another 17000 people.4:39 I mean, that's amazing. 17000. And we captured a great deal of that story last time. So again, you can go and listen to it. But that's like phenomenal to be out there on your own in that way and dealing I4:51 mean, your sense of awareness has to be so high. So you turned your focus after that you, with the conflict in the Ukraine. At thatRescue and Compassion in Crisis Zones 5:03 point, you're out of the service, I think. And yet there was this pull, kinda like what you did in Afghanistan during the withdrawal to get Aziz and 17000 others out, which is amazing in itself. You turned5:15 your attention on to Ukraine. I guess the big question is what opportunity presented itself and why you said, okay, this is something we need to do.5:24 So we we when we first got there, you know, it was like everywhere else I go. We try to develop access and placement to make sure we get to where we need to go, and we start to, you know, kind of assess an area and how5:33 we're gonna operate. And 1 of the things I want to see what the reality was. You know, you always wanna see beyond the mainstream media, what the reality is. And so I went to the border, seen the border crossings, went5:43 to some of the refugee centers. And I went to this refugee center, and it was and and and I've been to many places around the world that have had humanitarian crisis and and seen refugee centers. But the 1 thing unique5:53 about this was it was only, women and children and older men because all the men were forced to stay in the Ukraine. And, and when I've seen that, it was just heartbreaking. These women were scared, and these kids were6:04 scared without their husbands or brothers or or or fathers there. And, and and so we went and toured it, and then we started walking away. And I and I and I seen this flower shop. And I and I I was with my 1 of my6:16 buddies who is, Roman who's he speaks Ukrainian and and and Russian. He's he's half Ukrainian, half Russian. And I'm like, would you think we should get should get some flowers and bring back? Is it gonna be weird? These6:26 women gonna think we have, you know, bad intentions because they're scared. And he's like, no. They would love it. So we we started buying as many flowers as we could. And then the lady asked, who are you getting those6:35 flowers for? But we told her the lady at the flower shop, they just started piling on flowers and went back and and started giving flowers to these ladies. And it was, it was just such a really just sweet moment that6:44 they were you know, someone were just taking a rose and balling up and Yeah. Smelling it and crying. And then, you know, and then the border, like, we're going on to the border and seeing when you see stuff like this,6:54 and and I'm sure a lot of people that have watched this on mainstream media news, you you get frustrated, because when the these a lot of things right now are happening because the governments of the world, including our7:03 own, by the way, are not doing the right thing. And, and I went on that border and I didn't see 1 government in the world represented on that border. Mhmm. And that that reflects that. But what I did see were good7:13 people. And what I've seen in in my lifetime is when the governments of the world fail, good people stand up and do the right thing. And mainly, it was it was it was churches from around the world7:22 Take a good right.7:23 Christian community on that border receiving these people, these women that are coming across wet, cold, their cell phones dead, they're out of gas. The line is 14 days long to get out of Ukraine at that7:34 time. 14 days. 14 days, long. They're basically like in in shock. Many of them are in shock. They're without their their husbands. So it's mainly women and children. And they come across and there's7:46 people there that have piles of jackets. There's people that have a a cell phone so they could contact their loved ones and let them know they're okay with a with a sim chip. There's people there They drove their empty7:55 seats in their car to be able to drive this. There was Indian guys out there making, big bowls of warm cauliflower curry. Mhmm. And and there was this 1 guy that came from Germany. He drove a grand piano, pulled it8:07 behind his car, and he's sitting there in the snow. It's like very cold, wind blowing. He's playing Elton John. Imagine. And I went up and asked him, what are you doing? He's like, I just I wanna do something. I didn't8:17 know what else to do. And all I know how to do is play piano. So I thought all they're gonna hear is chaos and war when they come across the border. I wanted them to hear something nice.8:24 It's kinda like the flowers. Yeah. Just something peaceful, something right in a world that looks all wrong. Right?8:30 Yeah. So just, you know, it's just, like I said, when the governments went there doing anything, people came came together and did the right thing.8:36 Mhmm.8:37 Chad, 1 of the efforts in the Ukraine that you were part of and planned was the rescue of a journalist named Ben Hall. What happened with Ben Hall, and what did you and the team that you put8:48 together have to do with his situation? Yeah.8:53 Before I answer that, can I can I say 1 thing real quick? I think it's important for listeners to know. Because with Ukraine, there's been such a division, especially we both have Christian audiences and and and we're,9:02 you know, conservative people. I've gotten so much, heat from people. Why are you in Ukraine? Look at what's going on in America. We're giving hundreds of billions of dollars away. And I I hear that, and I agree. I don't9:12 think the hundreds of billions of dollars are not going the right place. Ukraine is a corrupt country, and people are saying, you know, Zawinski is corrupt. And I agree. I personally believe Zawinski is corrupt. But9:21 people in Washington DC DC are corrupt. And if you think if you're surprised that a politician's corrupt, you should probably read a history book. Right? Like, I didn't go to Ukraine for Zawinski or president Biden or9:32 any politician. I went there to help people. And and as Christians and and and conserve especially conservative Christians, if we ever let our politics get in the way of our heart for people, we should probably change9:40 our politics.9:41 That's really good.9:41 And, and I think it's important to note that as people hear about what we did in Ukraine, because people really misunderstood about it because they don't the mainstream media doesn't cover anything beyond headlines. In9:52 1000000 people over 1000000 people have died there, mainly women and children, civilians, and that's what we've seen. And, you know, and Benjamin Hall was there to he was 1 of the journalist that was there to try to10:01 cover the truth that he embedded himself in Kiev at a time when Russia was taken the capital city, Kiev. And so, when he was there, the Russians were closing around Kiev. They were trying to take the capital.10:13 They were ballistic missiles the size of telephone poles flying into apartment buildings and civilian residences, MIG fighter jets dropping bombs, Russian infantry and tanks closing in our city, and he got hit. And when10:24 he got hit, his, his Fox correspondent, Sasha, was killed immediately. Pierre Zeszewski, his 25 year cameraman for Fox was killed immediately. The 2 Ukrainian soldiers that were protecting10:36 them, their security was killed immediately. And and he was catastrophically wounded and probably had about 48 hours to live. That information, made it back to the Pentagon and the Pentagon contacted10:48 us as well as the CIA's was called the solo special operations liaison officer reached out to us to ask us if we would step in to go get Benjamin Hall. The reason why is because the White House had forbid,11:00 any US, presence, including the central intel do you think maybe oh, well, maybe Delta Force is there, maybe the CIA. They were grounded to be able to go and do any kind of rescues or anything. So they're so, I mean,11:10 Delta Force, we were friends with all the guys. They were they were at the I won't say what hotel. They were at a hotel and they were on standby and they were mad. They couldn't come with us. Right? They wanted to go.11:18 The CIA wanted to go. So this we were on the phone, with the Pentagon in a solo to coordinate this. And the Pentagon was coordinated to 80 second airborne, the army's 80 second airborne to liaison with us. And I11:30 remember getting a phone call, my buddy, Seaspray, was our ground lead there. We're in a safe house and he gets he's on the phone and he kinda gives his hand up for everybody to be quiet. And he collects the information,11:39 and he puts down the phone. He says, Benjamin Hall, the Fox News reporter, is catastrophically wounded. His team is skilled. No one's going to get him. He he probably has about 48 hours to live, and he has a wife and 211:50 little girls at home. Who who who's in? And everyone in that room raised their hand. And, and we crossed the border. And, we went into Kyiv and and and Seaspray's there was 2 of us team12:01 separated. I was Seaspray was alpha team. I was a I was leading the Bravo team, and and Sea Spray's team got them. We got a we got them across the border in12:09 This is the middle of the Russian troops.12:11 This is this is this is like d day of Yeah. Kyiv. This this is d day of Kyiv. Kiev.12:16 How did you maneuver in that environment? Well, how many guys were you?12:21 Well, we we had a we brought 9 of us across the border in 2 vehicles. And and and God God I gotta get You're like ghosts. God orchestrated a miracle in this because whenever you're doing operations like12:32 this, you you have to, have us call we call it access and placement. So you could be as good as you want at doing something, but if you can't be there, if you don't have the ability to be there, you can't do it. So12:42 access placement is key these operations. So we knew the only way to get through through Ukraine in the middle of the night and get through all these checkpoints that are unorchestrated, you have to have a a plausible12:53 reason to go. The most only plausible reason was medical teams. So we had just bought ambulances. Got got we created an ambulance, rescue company. We put stamps on it, made ID cards and, you put stamps on anything in the13:04 world. That's a good trade craft secret. You you could get through you get anywhere. And, and so we had access and placement an hour before we got that call. And I believe God orchestrated time because if we would not13:12 have it at that in place an hour before that call, we would have not been able to get it. Yeah. And so when we got Benjamin Hall, we drove him across the border and we were coordinating with the Pentagon and the solo and13:22 and the 80 second airborne was waiting for us to cross that border. We got him on a blackhawk helicopter. They flew him to aeromedical unit. He flew to Launch Jewel, Germany, and then on the Brook Army Medical Center13:32 where he's Saved13:32 his life.13:33 And well and he's he lost a a leg, a foot, a hand that they put back on, an eye. Uh-huh. But he's he's he's I mean, that's video of him dancing with his little girls on his prosthetics.13:42 Well, that says it all. Yeah.13:43 And then we then we were asked to go back and get Pierre Zizewski's body. I said no, because obviously but his wife got on the phone and said, I want my husband. And we said, yes, ma'am.13:53 Yeah. Change of plans and we went. I mean, wow. That just sounds like the heart of God saving a life like that. I mean, that's what he does for each 1 of us spiritually. Right?14:01 It does. Yeah. Yeah.14:01 That's what we talk about, everlasting life through Christ.14:04 Yeah.14:05 And this is a physical representation of that. That's what makes it so amazing, Chad. In fact, Seaspray, you mentioned him. In the book, he had a comment that I wanted to ask you to to make mention of14:17 where you're talking about these missions into the Ukraine and why you're doing it. And I think it was him who said, it doesn't have to be worth it. Yeah. What explain what he meantSelfless Sacrifice and Spiritual Resilience 14:29 by that.14:29 Well, for to to really explain it, I have to tell you who's who is.14:33 He sounds like a character.14:35 Yeah. He's so he's a guy his whole life, he wanted to be in the CIA as a paramilitary officer, which is the the military paramilitary unit in this in the CIA. So he was the youngest at his time. He's the youngest person14:46 to become a Green Beret, got ox reeducated, went to the CIA, went to ground branch and and maritime branch was the paramilitary units of the of the CIA, became a precision rescue expert. 1 of by only the 314:58 most qualified precision experts in the world. And so he made it like the lottery to make it his dream job. He's in Afghanistan, rescuing people with us, or at H Kaya. And he and he was on he took15:10 leave because the military wouldn't allow him to go there. He said he was sailing and they catch him there.15:14 Don't miss him that.15:15 Yeah. They catch him there to say, hey. We love you. Slap on the wrist. Go back home. You're not allowed to be out here doing this. And he resigned. Oh. He resigned he resigned from a job he worked his whole life to do,15:26 the most prestigious job in military special operations for people he never met before from the country not his own. He lost 37 pounds in that 10 days going outside the wire. We're having to force feed him bottles of15:37 water because he was he was selflessly That's right. Rescuing his little girls, and people. And, and so now we get to Ukraine and and we're going to he and I are on this operation. We're going to rescue this15:49 marine. This US marine had volunteered, got shot in the stomach. He got captured by the Russians. We had some information. We're working with the CIA to go rescue this marine. We ended up losing, track of where he was.15:59 We didn't get him so that that we were asked to go identify these mass graves. And so we were we had been awake for days. Just him and I driving. We had been we sleeping out outside. We're just tired. We're hungry. And16:09 this Fox News reporter that we were leaking this information to called us and she was just she was nasty to us to be honest with you. She was just kinda she was not pro Ukraine being there in Ukraine, and she was like,16:18 what are you guys even doing there? And I was just irritated with her. I was and I was snapped back at her. I was like, it's the right thing to do. Like, you know, don't you get it? Like like, sometimes it's like Saving16:27 a life. Yeah. We're we're doing the right thing. And then she asked Seasprade that question. Right? You think about what what he gave up. She said, is it worth it? And he just said, it's without even hesitation. It16:37 doesn't have to be. Right? It doesn't have to be worth it to do the right thing. And a guy who gave up everything. Right? And and and you contrast that with most Americans and and, I love this country. I love our our16:47 people. I'm a patriot. But the truth is most Americans are pretty we're pretty selfish people because of our culture and and the and the privileges we have here. And we put our ROI on everything. I'll get my time. I'll16:56 get my resources. I'll get my money. It it might be a a noble cause, but what's the word what's the return on investment? Benefit. Right. What's what's in it for me? And this guy who gave up everything says, it doesn't17:05 have to be worth it to do the right thing. We don't always have to have ROI. Sometimes we do the right thing Wow. Just because it's the right thing to do.17:11 Yeah. I mean, I've never heard it said that way, but it's profound. And it's very Christian.17:16 It convicted me.17:17 Say it that way.17:17 I mean, in that moment, in the middle of me even doing this, it just convicted me because Yeah. I mean, I measure everything with, like, metrics of, you know17:25 You know, I I want also to mention Mighty Oaks. I wanna capture that. So we're leaving the battlefields and all of your veteran experience after you've served and the things you still do in these17:37 conflict areas to17:37 help people, whether it's delivering17:37 a flower to a woman who's, you know, catastrophically impacted by a war and they're on the the refugee path, or17:49 it's actively engaged trying to save a journalist who's about to die. Yeah. But moving now back home, like you said, to Mighty Oaks, an organization that you formed to do18:01 what?18:02 Yeah. Well, Mighty Oaks is is formed out of, you know, people caring for me when I came home. I came home and dealt with debilitating panic attacks, anxiety, depression. Had a suicide attempt in 2010. And I did a lot of18:11 things to recover, but nothing was more profound than a restoration of my faith, becoming a Christian, surrender my life to Jesus, and then being discipled for a year and and taught how to live biblically in response to18:20 these things, make choices that the Bible outlines outlines in response to the things I dealt with. And and it was a profound thing for me, and and and and I had a god put a deep burden on my heart to pay it forward, and18:29 that manifested the founding of Mighty Oaks Foundation. And since that time, 14 years ago, we've, I've spoken to over half 1000000 active duty troops on bases around the world on the topic of spiritual resiliency. We18:41 my my podcast is called The Resilient Show because resiliency is the topic that I think matters most, not just in the military, but our culture and our world. Being resilient and spiritual resiliency is is at the18:51 foundation of that. And then, and then we have a recovery program where we bring active service members, veterans, first responders to our ranches. They go through a intensive program. We do about 8000000 dollars a year19:01 year for free. So it's if anybody, veteran, a first responder, or active user service listening, spouse of, we even pay for the travel, a great I I say we do. I'd say that loosely. A grateful nation does, through19:12 supporting us.19:13 Yeah. Donors. Yeah.19:14 Donors. Yeah. And then, we have a advocacy program. I've testified now a dozen times in in Washington, DC, before Congress and Senate. I've I've I served as chairman of White House's faith based coalition of veteran19:24 affairs and really pushing to make sure we have legislation and even got executive orders passed to get make sure veterans have access to faith based programs. And then Mighty Oaks is an international arm too that we19:33 they'll do rescue operations, but my son, for example, who went to Ukraine, their team, went in and and trained 300 pastors to become chaplains. And that might not sound like a big deal, but if if I could explain real19:45 quick, on a Sunday morning, you might go to church and there's half women, half men. Next Sunday, you go to church and it's all women. Where are the men? They're on the front line defending your homes and family. And19:54 this pastor, these are tight communities. Little Yvonne, he's been he's been in his in his his youth program, and now he's off defending, our our families and our and our freedom and our neighborhood. So the pastors had20:05 a desire to go out and and serve their their men and their young men that was defending, but they they didn't know how. I mean, they didn't know how to sleep in the woods, poop in the woods, Yeah. Put on a tourniquet.20:15 And how do we not be a burden? How do how do you administer to someone who's in the middle, not PTSD, but in the middle of losing buddies and and the the average life span is 4.5 days for a Ukrainian troop on the front20:27 line. So so they're the clock's ticking when they go. So how do you minister to that? And so Mighty Oaks and our our international team went in and and trained 300 pastors to chaplains and equipped and deployed them to20:38 the front lines to minister. So that's some of the things we do at Mighty Oaks.20:41 And it's amazing. We'll put a link on the website to for people that can go there. But, Chad, let me ask you right at the end here, if I could, Veterans Day again, veterans that are going through experiences20:52 like you went through with PTSD, and you mentioned it20:52 quickly, but experiences like you went through with PTSD, and you mentioned it quickly, but I caught it in terms of depression, suicidal ideation, highest rates of suicide exist amongst the veteran21:05 community. Yeah. Can you pray for them right now as we end today?21:09 Can I21:09 ask you to do that?21:10 Lord, we just, we come to you and, on this Veterans Day, and and and I I ask, Lord, that you will penetrate the hearts of every veteran, and and the families of, Lord.21:22 We know that that the freedoms we have in this country are God ordained from in our constitution, but they've been they've been maintained and you've been orchestrated through your provision in order to bring service21:32 members since 17 75. And every man and woman had donned the uniforms since 17 75 and fought, bled, and died for these freedoms, lord. We as Americans appreciate them. And, lord, so today on Veterans Day, if you could21:43 just penetrate the hearts of every veteran and know they're they're loved, they're appreciated, we we honor them for their their preservation of our freedom and the sacrifices they make, whether in combat or not in21:52 combat, just by raising their hand and being willing. Lord, we as a as a nation are grateful for them. Regardless of what they see in the news and politics and division and divide, lord, they will know wherever they fall22:03 that this country is a country of patriots who love and respect and thank for them, lord. And I thank you that we were born in a country, that we have that we're born in those freedoms, lord. And I and I pray that these22:14 that these veterans and active duty service members will have access to, to you being the solution to the hardships that they face in their service, lord. That we will we will win the war in22:26 in in the halls of congress, that we have before. I've seen your victories before. That we'll see those victories again. They will win the war in congress that every active youth serviceman or veteran will have access to22:36 you as a solution to their hardships and trauma, lord. We'll see a spiritual revival in our in United States military and that they'll, our military will be strengthened and emboldened with the spiritual resiliency that22:45 only you could provide, lord. And I I pray today, for the families of our service members that they will enjoy this day that honors them on Veterans Day. In Jesus' name, amen.22:56 Amen. Chad, thank you so much. Thanks for everything you've done. It's, you know, insufficient to say thank you, but you embody the the whole perspective. And I am grateful for what you and your family has done for our23:08 nation.23:09 Well, yeah. I'm thankful well, I'm thankful for what you guys do. I focus on the family and, you know, you guys have not just been good friends, but if those don't know, ministry's hard. And I have a wife of 29 years23:18 and, and we went to Hope Restored. Yeah. That's awesome. We let a lot of pastors go, a lot of ministry leaders go, and, and and so you guys, you know, served our family.23:26 Well, that's a cherished endorsement. So thank you so much for that. And, you need to get a copy of the book, Mission Without Borders. Get that directly from Focus on the Family. Make a gift of any amount. And like23:37 we often do because we believe in the content so strongly, if you can't afford it, get a hold of us. We're gonna get it to you. That's our mission as a Christian organization, especially for veterans. We get it, and23:45 we'll try organization, especially for veterans. We get it, and we'll trust others who can. We'll cover the cost of that. And the idea is just to give you hope. That's why FOCUS23:57 is here, and that's what Muddy Oaks is here to do, particularly for veterans.24:01 Yeah. We're a phone call away. The number is 800, the letter a, and the word family. 802 3 2 6 4 5 9, or you can access resources and make a contribution as you can,24:14 when you're at our website. And we've got the link in the program description. And on behalf of the entire team, thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family with Jim Daley. I'm John Fuller inviting you back next24:25 time as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.In this video 0:00 From Family Legacy to Frontline Service4:55 Rescue and Compassion in Crisis Zones14:21 Selfless Sacrifice and Spiritual Resilience
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