Representative Brian Mast: God, Country & Family 57:59

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Welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and I'm going to share a few thoughts on the news. We're going to highlight the stupid because there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And then, of course, we're going to phone a friend. And you're going to hear my full conversation with one of my favorite people on the planet, somebody I wish I could continue to spend more and more time with because he's just a fascinating human being.

A great dad, a great patriot, and a fascinating member of Congress, Congressman Brian Mast of Florida. And he has an amazing story. You're going to want to hear it. So let's just get ready for a little riff on the news, and then we'll call and phone a friend. I want to start by talking a little bit about...

The Democrats who have now indicated via President Biden that they want to expand the number of people coming into the United States. I got a little bit of a problem with this because the way the people are coming into the United States, I think, is problematic. We've pretty much gone from a tempered, controlled border under President Donald Trump to

to a situation which is now just unwieldy. I mean, last week you saw this horrific video of this five-year-old yelling, screaming for help. I mean, it's a very difficult video to watch and you hear that it's happening in mass. You know, I for one feel that we have a bigger moral imperative and that is to deal with the people that are legally and lawfully trying to come to the United States.

Those are the people we're failing. You know, in the United States, we actually allow more people to come into our country legally and lawfully than all the other nations in the world combined in what they do with their immigration.

We are the beacon of freedom and of hope and of liberty and of the rule of law, which some would question as to whether or not we're actually living under the rule of law by allowing people to come here illegally in mass, in fact, attracting them illegally.

putting out the bait, if you will, and saying, hey, come on over here. You can bypass the normal processes. We've got catch and release. We'll let you go. We won't even give you a court date. Just come on in. And that is the concern. Now, again, last week, President Biden said he wants to expand the number of people. What is the right number? If you walked up to somebody and said, hey, what's the right number of people to come in the United States of America?

Well, right now the number is about 1 million who legally and lawfully come in. The part of the problem is the people who come here, they never end up leaving because if you overstay a visa or do something like that, we don't have an ability to track and then ultimately deport you. Those cases are rare to none. It's usually if you break the law in some egregious format that they will actually remove you.

Joe Biden has done nothing to slow the flow, so to speak. They've done everything they can to accelerate the flow. And there was a principle that I wanted to share with you that I learned about. When I first joined Congress back in 2008, I was elected in 2008, I was on the Immigration Subcommittee, and I learned a lot. I learned primarily that Democrats like the issue. They don't actually like to solve this. But there's a principle called safe third country.

And the idea is if you actually are going to go out and claim asylum, that is things are so untenable and you're under such persecution in your home country,

that you have to flee. Safe third country means as soon as you touch base into another country where you've escaped that persecution, it doesn't mean, you know, hopscotch or you leap or use that as a lily pad to get to the United States of America. You go to the country where you get the immediate relief. So if you're in a Central American country or you're in Syria or Iran and you want to get out,

Wherever you touch base first, that's the country in which you should actually claim asylum. It's not a, "Hey, I want to go from this country to this country because ultimately what I really want to do is I want to live on the beach in Florida." That's not the way this is supposed to work.

You know, I can talk on and on about immigration. I'm just so glad to know that Kamala Harris is in charge. I mean, she just got herself right down to the border. She's been held in the press conferences answering the questions from the American people.

I mean, this is such a joke. We're coming up on what will be close to 90 days, three months since Joe Biden announced that she was in charge of this. How can you not visit the border? Now, maybe she will before 90 days, but it's been more than 60 days and there's no sign yet that she's actually going to go visit, talk to the border patrol, talk to immigration customs enforcement, go talk to

the people that actually have to live and breathe this every single day let alone answer questions tough questions real questions and again I think one of the big questions out there is so if somebody comes here illegally or is claiming asylum in their cases not yet been adjudicated and you release them into the United States what are they supposed to do for housing food what are they supposed to do for an income job education maybe medical costs

Are they just going to immediately start competing with Americans? Because these people don't have paperwork. So what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to put out a fictitious Social Security number? What are these people supposed to do when you purposely release them in the United States? Nobody's asking that question. Nobody's been answering that question.

All right, I got to move on because we got to get to Brian Mass. But I got to tell you, if you missed this one, this is an awkward situation. Talk about awkward, right? So the Republican governor of Idaho, he decides to go out of town. Legitimate reason to go out of town. He's going to the Republican Governors Association Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Well, during his absence, the lieutenant governor said,

She decides, and now that she's the acting governor, in his absence to issue an executive order banning mask mandates in schools and public buildings, saying they would violate people's freedoms. Ooh, that turned out to be a little awkward because Governor Little was just out of town for a few days. She goes and issues an executive order. He comes back into town. And oh, by the way, the lieutenant governor there in Idaho,

She announced she would challenge Little to be the governor in next year's election. That might be a little bit awkward. So anyway, I just thought I want to share that with you, which takes us to bringing on the stupid because there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere.

So we're going back to our friends at thesmokinggun.com. They're always good for this stuff. And I'm going to read part of it because a Florida man is facing a battery charge for allegedly shoving his ex-girlfriend's mother inside a fold-out couch. Now, what he was doing at the house of his ex-girlfriend's mother, evidently she was laying on the couch. The allegation is...

that this guy who's 53 years old and was arrested on a felony charge in connection with the incident. The victim was a 66-year-old woman, and according to the Palmetto Police Department report, Foreman arrived at the woman's home and asked to use the bathroom. The victim, who had been lying on a fold-out couch, told cops that Foreman said, what is this? He alleged pushed the victim onto the fold-out couch and

and folded victim inside of the couch. Now, I would think that it'd be a little difficult to get out of a folded inside couch, but man, that is just one stupid way to deal with things. He was booked into the county jail. He was being held in lieu of a $2,500 bond. I don't know where that case is going, but

Probably best not to be hanging out with your ex-girlfriend's mother-in-law and shoving her in a couch. That, to me, is bringing on the stupid. Nothing good's going to happen from that. All right. Now I want to go to stories from the halls of Congress. And I got to tell you, this one is more inspirational. This is not some of those funny stories I've told you with our daughter or with Trey Gowdy or John Radcliffe and that sort of thing or Tim Scott. I mean, the

a whole number of people. But this is really kind of inspirational to me because I read about this on foxnews.com and I want to make sure people don't miss this. It's been more than 80 years

since the attack on Pearl Harbor. And there were quite a few people who lost their lives. And on the USS Oklahoma, there were 420 crewmen who lost their lives. And one of them happened to be from Delta, Utah. Now, I live in Utah.

This is kind of the central part of the state, way out west near the border with Nevada. Wonderful, lovely town, smaller town, just not big in terms of population. Good salt-of-the-earth people who care and love about their country, work hard, work smart. And this person, Navy, he's a radio man, third class, Theodore Q. Jensen, was 22 years old at the time that he was killed.

But his remains were just recently identified. It took a long time to actually identify his remains, but they're going to be flown to Salt Lake City and he's going to be buried in his hometown of Delta, Utah. And I'm just glad that the United States of America is still spending time, effort, and resources to allow people to have closure and to remember the people who lost their lives. You know, it wasn't too long ago we had Memorial Day.

And I feel strongly that we just don't support or remember people

the servicemen and women or people who sacrificed for our country just on Memorial Day or, you know, Fourth of July, you know, Veterans Day. We need to do that more often than just this. It's interesting. So the story goes that his buddies ended up telling him that he had actually gotten off the ship before the attack came, but then said,

you know what, I forgot my camera. And so he ran back to go to the ship to get his camera when the attack happened and he lost his life. So to the family of this serviceman and the men and women all across that lost their lives at Pearl Harbor and serving our country in the various wars in Afghanistan and Vietnam, you name it.

Just can't thank you enough for the services you've given to your country. And thank goodness that our United States military and those are out there working are still trying to get the remains back to their families that deserve it. And with that, a tip of the hat, I think that's a good segue, actually, to bringing on and phoning a friend. Because Brian Mast is really an American hero.

He serves for Florida's 18th District. You'll see him on Fox News and a host of other stations, but he's a real patriot. He lost his legs serving his country, and I hope he tells us a little bit about that because he was a staff sergeant, the 28th Ordnance Company. He's won the Bronze Star. He's earned the Purple Heart, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal.

Just a wonderful, wonderful human being. So let's find a friend and let's try to get Brian Mast on the line with us. Brian Mast here. Hey, it's Jason Chaffetz. Thanks so much for joining us. I really do appreciate it. I know how busy you are, but thanks for joining the Jason in the House podcast. Never too busy for you, my friend. Good to talk to you.

Well, it's very kind of you. You've got a fascinating background. And our time in Congress, we only overlapped by months. I think you were elected 2016, right? That's right. I left in 2017, but I'm just so glad to chat with you and

I want people to get to know you a little bit better, your background. And, you know, you served in the military. You lost your legs serving our country as an explosive ordnance disposal technician. I want to hear about that. But let's go back to, I mean, you're about to have a birthday coming up. You're getting to be an old man.

Yeah, you know, July 10, 1980. I'm a child of the 80s. And so, you know, you want to get to know me, of course, all my children, they have 80s names. So my two oldest boys, Magnum and Maverick, you can understand where those names come from as 80s children. But yeah, I'm going to pass that 40 mark and be 41. Well, making me feel even older because I was born in the 60s.

Excuse me. Pardon me. And so, yeah, 1980 sounds like...

You know, that's right when I was starting high school. So you represent the Florida, the district there in Florida, but you were actually born up Michigan, weren't you? That's right. So I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, very just Midwest background. My father built houses his whole life. My mother stayed at home with myself and my two sisters. I grew up going to Christian school, church twice on Sundays, catechism and church choir and everything else. And really just

an incredible place to grow up, still have so many friends there. But like a lot of northerners as well, we also would fly south for the winter several times. And so, you know, whenever it was Christmas or spring break or, you know, some other time that we were taking off, we were headed down here to this area of Florida that I live in. And I knew growing up

when I was just a couple feet tall that this is where I always wanted to call home. And pretty much the day I graduated high school, I loaded up my old Mustang, threw everything in there, started driving down to Florida for what was going to be my new home, and then also joined the military about the same time. And they ended up sending me everywhere that they wanted to send me.

Yeah, exactly. Now, growing up with two sisters, I grew up with a brother, but I didn't grow up with two sisters. What was that like? You know, I was the youngest and I was the only boy and I think I did

pester them quite a bit. So they took it out on me sometimes. They definitely took care of me and they loved me, but they definitely had their chances to take it out on me. I still love them though. Well, that's good. So your younger years, I mean, you live in a, it's a beautiful part of the world. I've had relatives that lived up in Royal Oak, which isn't too far away from you. But tell me, what was that like

growing up there in Michigan. I mean, a very patriotic part of the world, right? They care about their country, but not everybody grows up and decides to join the military. Fortunately, we have a lot of people who do, but not everybody does. So what were you doing as a young man that your mom or dad or sisters, I don't know what, what was influencing you that ultimately said, you know what, I want to serve in the military?

I say it like this. I grew up in a Norman Rockwell painting and everything that's in those. That's what my childhood was like. I had a great uncle that was awarded the Silver Star and killed in World War II. My father served during Korea. Uncles that served in Vietnam, a great uncle that was killed in Vietnam and others that served at peacetime. It was just

So military service was very much a part of both sides of my family. And growing up, playing baseball, playing football, running track, no matter what it was that I was doing, I always knew that my path was I wanted to be in the military. And not just a couple of years. I was a lifer in the military. And I don't know why I never thought about joining the Navy or the Marines or the Coast Guard or the Air Force. I always wanted it.

to be the army just as a little kid. I loved playing in the mud and playing guns and, and shooting, uh, you know, and hunting and, and archery. And, and I just, for some reason that appealed to me, I think from, uh, as soon as I could start to crawl and talk and, and, uh, that's something that I wanted to do. I remember playing with army men and throwing dirt clods and, and,

Getting outdoors, you know, and, you know, we didn't have phones or anything like that. It got dark. You got hungry. You came home. That's what you did. Come home when the streetlights come on. I think that was the rule of thumb for summertime in our block. I had to be home when the streetlights came on. But that was always my path.

And I never looked back when I joined, you know, it was just not too long before 9-11. And I started out in the reserves and going to school. And then after 9-11 kicked off, not long after that, I was in a unit that got called up. And then after I came back from that, switched over to active duty and retired.

Never looked back. Ended up spending really the rest of my adult life in active duty military and being a bomb technician. Yeah. Okay. So I want to come back to that part, but I want to know a little bit more about your childhood here. So like what's the...

You've dealt with some hard things in your life, but what was up until through kind of high school, what was, was there anything that was hard or difficult in your life? I mean, when you look back and you say, gosh, I, how did, how did I do that? Or why did I do that? What comes to mind?

I was a hell-raising child. And so probably the biggest challenge for me to get over was myself. You know, probably like a lot of us, you know, we're just, we're wired that we're full throttle and going all the time, but not necessarily always going after the things that we should. You know, in school, later in life, I ended up graduating from Harvard with honors. But back when I was in high school, you

it was not my best work by any means. I spent more time playing sports, chasing girls and wondering where the great party was going to be on that weekend and not doing nearly enough studying. And if I would have put that effort into the studying, I probably would have done a lot better at that time. So, you know, really the biggest challenge was, you know, just getting through those teenage years in a way that I didn't get myself into too much trouble. And luckily I,

I did grow up in a place that there wasn't a lot of trouble to be found.

I grew up with some really good kids around me that we fed off each other well. Even if I didn't do great academics, we didn't get ourselves into trouble. We were out there just enjoying the beautifulness of Michigan. Yeah, doing some good, clean fun and what teenagers will do within reason. But did you ever get a job? I mean, did your parents say, hey, Brian, listen. So what did they make you do? What were your jobs growing up?

So my first job before I could drive as I worked in a car wash down the road for me now in Michigan, it's a lot different working in a car wash than working in Florida, because in the winter months there.

It's cold. You're trying to spray with water all of this ice out of the wheel wells of people's cars. It's all spraying back at you by, you know, an hour into it. You're just soaking wet, freezing your butt off, hoping that you get a chance to go to the office and warm up.

a little bit and, uh, and it was a great job. And, uh, you know, like a lot of teenagers at that time also, you know, worked in the mall, worked at Abercrombie for a little bit, you know, at the same time had to get a discount on clothes, you know, so, uh, so that I could have the clothes that I wanted at that time. So worked both of those jobs and, you know, like I said, playing sports and, and always, always had work though, always loved to go out there and, and, and

just find the next place that I could do something. My father, like I said, building houses, learned a lot from him. The man's 91 today. And the fact is he'll work until the day that they put him in the ground. That's just the kind of example that he always set for me is no matter what you keep working, you, and there's lessons that came in that later after I was injured later in life. But that was, you know, that was always a great example that he set for me.

Now, Brian, there's not a lot in your resume by working at Amber Combi and at a car wash that includes explosives. So you joined the Army. You're going through your training. What made you say, hey, yeah, I think blowing things up, that's for me?

You know, I'll fast forward a brief minute here and say there was a time not too long ago that my high school asked me, amazingly, asked me to come back and speak to people there. And the vice principal, when I was there, he was the principal at that point, and he

He's telling this story. He says, I went back in your file to look at everything that had gone on then. And the first thing that came up in your file was the first time you and I had an encounter. And that was you utilizing some smoke bombs,

in the school in a way that you shouldn't have. And that was the first time that you and I met as a young freshmen, when you were going to school here. And he said at that time, maybe I could have predicted at that time that you would have done something with bombs in your life.

And, you know, the truth is, I was also, you know, doing pop bottle bombs and things like that, and always understood the chemistry of explosives and making things blow up in that way and a little bit of the physics of blast effects. And I had the guts to do it. So it

it just became something that I wanted to do in the military was do bombs. And, and really when you get into that time of what was going on in our wars, being in the military was a lot more than that. But part of what I wanted to do was be able to, to be there for my brothers and sisters in arms and being that bombs were becoming the biggest killer on the battlefield. It was something that I really thought was a place that I could make a difference.

So walk us through, if we can, what happened? Because, you know, it's a zero fail. You can't have an accident or a mistake, but one happened. We have a number of sayings as bomb technicians, and one of them is initial success or total failure. There is no in between. You get it right or you get it wrong. And the fact is, if you get it wrong,

there's probably not going to be much left of you. You're going to become a pink mist in the air somewhere. And it's something that we recognize as a part of the work that we do. And, you know, another saying that we say is sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, you know, just like golf and a few other sports that we play. And when I was injured, I remember it very specifically. I remember it was September 19th, 2010, and I was in special operations at this point.

And the work we did, it was only under the cover of darkness. It was only going after high value targets that popped up on the radar somewhere. We never turned on the lights for anything. And the mission was serious. It was to either kill or capture those individuals. And there was no in between on that as well. And as the bomb technician, quite often I would be leading and clearing the way on those missions across, across the battlescape. And that particular night, uh,

we were on the wrong side of a river. We were in a tall marijuana field on the wrong side of this river and we had to get to the other side. And we came to this place. It was the only place we could get across this crappy river that doubled as, as their sewage outflows. So we definitely didn't want to get in it, but sometimes you have to. And I told my guys, if this is the only place we can get across, then it's probably ambushed or mined or booby trapped. You got to let me check

things out here. And I did that. I get down to this river bank and I, and I got down on my hands and knees. It's still under night vision optics. There's no flashlights on, and I'm looking for batteries buried in the ground wires, disturbed earth. I had a laser on the front of my rifle that I was aiming down range to see if there were any trip wires out in front of me because I'd lost a couple of friends in that same area who had tripped a trip wire. And so I was very keen on looking for those. I didn't find or see anything.

And I was working with two snipers at that time, still good friends of mine to this day. And I gave him the signal that I was going to forge to the other side of the river bank. And I did that and went through the same process there looking for trip wires and batteries and disturbed earth. And I didn't find or see anything there either. And I stood up and I gave them the signal that I was going to keep going again. And as I did that, I took one or two

maybe three steps past where I had just searched. And I found that device that I knew was there somewhere. It detonated under my feet. And I remember it so vividly.

It was not like the movies where, you know, somebody steps on a device and they hear this click and they tell their friends, hey, can you get some rocks to offset this or something like that? It wasn't like that. This happened so quick, just as quick as you flip on the lights in your house. That's as quick as this explosion occurred. And it flashed. It was a blinding flash and it tumbled me through the air probably 10 or 15 feet.

And I'm laying there on my back and the wind is knocked out of me from the concussion of that explosion. And I'm gasping for air, you know, trying to breathe. And I'm breathing in all of that dirt that was blown up into the air. And I'm trying to wipe it out of my eyes because it all got blown up into my eyes. And when I'm trying to wipe it out of my eyes, that's what I really realized how messed up I was because on my left arm,

All of my fingers were broken. One of my fingers was barely hanging on. My left forearm was extensively damaged and, you know, a lot of trauma to it. And so I'm realizing, wow, that got my arm pretty good. And I'm realizing at the same time, there's a really good reason that I couldn't stand up, but I didn't know exactly what that was until I could hear in my earpiece, my commo device, my guys saying,

are radioing up to all the assets in the sky that are watching our mission. And they're saying, EOD is hit, EOD is down. And that was my call sign. And so I'm realizing, all right, this got me pretty good. And about then, my guys, they came charging in for me to render aid to me or to see if I was still alive and had to put me through probably the most painful thing I've ever been through, even more painful than the explosion.

And that was when they had to put tourniquets on what was left of each one of my legs that had just been blown off above my knees and what was left of my left arm. And they had to wrench those tourniquets down as tight as they could to keep me from hemorrhaging out on the battlefield.

And I'm glad they did. You know, sometimes we got to go through a little bit of pain to get saved and I'm glad they saved me. And the last thing that I remember from that night before I was either knocked out or they passed me out or I passed out or whatever happened was they loaded me onto a medevac helicopter and it was still pitch black. And they gave me one more salute and they just told me, Hey, you're going to be okay. You know, it's what we're trained to do to tell people they're going to be okay. But I really remember them telling me you're going to be okay.

And the fact of the matter is I am today because of three specific things, my God, my country, and my family. Wow. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Congressman Brian Mast right after this.

From the Fox News Podcasts Network. Stay on top of the latest news and information from Fox News. Listen and download the Fox News hourly update on your time. The trending stories you need anytime you want it. Listen and download now by going to foxnewspodcasts.com. So they take you and when do you come back? Like when do you like do you have cognizant? Like when did you get your kind of like I know where I am and I know what's going on. When did that happen?

That is, that sounds more like the 60s when you were born. So that, I was out for about a week straight. Now,

there were people that met with me along the way home, the journey home from Afghanistan, going from Kandahar, Afghanistan to Bagram to launch stool, Germany, and then, and then ultimately Washington DC. And they, they say they met with me there and that we were kind of joking and Jehovah to some degree. I had no memory of that whatsoever, but they swear, they swear up and down that it happened. And I have, I,

vivid memories of things that happened during that time that, that my wife says, Brian, I have no idea what in the world you're talking about. That absolutely did not happen. And that was that, that little window, but part of that window goes to something very serious.

I had never been injured like that in my life. The worst I had was having my tonsils out when I was probably like three years old. And aside from that, never any serious injuries like that. And when I was injured,

What I realized when I did actually come to was that I woke up on a laundry list of drugs and painkillers. And I was on just some of the things that I remember all at the same time. I had an oral morphines, oral oxys. I had an epidural. I had...

anti-inflammatories, antidepressants, heavy sleep sedatives, and probably about 20 different things that they were giving me two, three, four times a day that when I woke up, it was a trip. I was in a haze in a way that I had never experienced in my life.

And I thank God that I had the wherewithal to say, what are you giving me? And why are you giving me this? Okay. And antidepressant, I get you think that there might be something going on in my mind, but there's nothing. So take it away. I don't want it. Heavy sleep sedative. One thing I don't want to rely upon is a drug to go to sleep every day. Take it away. I don't want it. And just right away started kind of weaning myself off of these things that they put me on involuntarily.

Tell me about your wife at this point and what she went through. So a rock, absolutely amazing woman. And I say that because I, one, because she is, but two, in comparison, unfortunately, I saw at the hospital at Walter Reed,

There was some people who showed up there in a similar condition to myself. Now, let me take you back there to 2010. Very heavy period of fighting in Afghanistan. Every single month in Walter Reed at that time, there was 50 or 60 men and women a month that were waking up anew in that hospital that were missing two limbs, three limbs, four limbs, blind, burned, traumatic head injury, a combination of all of the above. Very heavy period of fighting.

And I witnessed couples that the spouse showed up and basically said, this isn't what I signed up for and left the veteran essentially at that bedside at their most dire hour of need. And that was not my wife whatsoever. And that, that wasn't a lot of cases, but unfortunately it was something that I saw play out a few times. And, and,

My wife, you know, there was never a doubt. She was just there. I can remember she's a very petite woman and going through all of that. She ended up losing about 15 or 20 pounds, which she did not need to lose, but it was because we had one son at that time who she was still feeding and

And her life was racing back and forth between a hospital or the hospital where I was laying in there, where she was just trying to change damp cloths on my head because I was in heavy sweats and things like that. And racing back to the hotel room that they had put her up in just enough time to feed the baby.

and then spend a few minutes with them and then race back to the hospital and try to take care of me for a couple more hours and then race back to the hotel to try to take care of the baby just back and forth and back and forth. And actually had worn herself down to an almost an unhealthy weight because she was working herself so hard to just take care of both of us because that was her calling. And I'll step back and tell you, she could tell the story better herself, but

she tells me about when she first found out that I was injured. And, you know, we, we had this home at Fort Bragg and all the bedrooms were upstairs and the, the,

the my first sergeant and my commander of my unit and a couple of the military wives the unit wives had all shown up to the doorstep and it was early in the morning it was about seven o'clock the doorbell rang so she's wondering why in the world the doorbell rang at seven in the morning and so she comes down the stairs now her mother had just shown up to our house the day before thank god to help with the baby and everything and she's going down these steps and we had one of those

doors where there were windows around the door that you could see kind of a little bit outside of the door. And she's about halfway down the steps and she sees my unit commander and the first sergeant and some of the wives out there that she knew and every military spouse, they know exactly what that is.

And so she's, she says she just froze on the steps and they could see her there frozen and they're yelling at her, you know, Brianna, listen, you know, he's okay, but you have to let us in. He's okay, but you have to let us in. And, uh, so, you know, they, she gets down the steps and she lets them in and Brianna

basically her world got turned upside down where in a matter of days, she had to pack up her whole house, find homes for our dogs and, and take our son up to Walter Reed army medical center, where we were going to spend the next year plus of our life, just trying to recover. Well, God bless her. You know, she, uh, she brings a lot of strength to that. And there are other unsung heroes who go through this. Now, you know, you get, um,

you know we get to tell your story because you you're assented there to to the united states congress but there are so many of these stories where ordinary people just do extraordinary things and those to me are the most inspirational and i

I hope she realizes how many Americans love her, care for her, and just admire the kind of strength that she probably wasn't counting on, but had to dig down and just make happen to take care of your first child and to take care of you. But you now have four kids, right? Yeah, I have four children now, and we've never looked back in life.

But I'll tell you, you know, on that note, what military spouses go through, it's hard for many to really put themselves in that place, right? Because you have the spouse for the last 20 years has been missing birthdays and anniversaries and bath times and baseball games and every other sporting event, every other good time that happens with the kids. And shadowing over all of that is...

Are those unit members going to show up on your front doorstep one morning telling you that your spouse is

or the father or the mother or whoever is not coming home. And it's a shadow that weighs on families and, and, and that they think about a lot. It's hard to get away from. Um, and on top of that, they're doing everything that, that two families would, or two of a couple would normally do, you know, from paying the bills to mowing the lawn, to getting the groceries and taking their, the kids and everything else. Um,

Because the other person is gone and our spouses, our military spouses, I couldn't say enough about them for what they do and what they go through and the way that they step up. It's absolutely incredible. Well, I, I for one can't thank her and can't thank you enough for your service and stepping up to create the freedoms and opportunities that our country has. You know, there's two things that I, among all big long list that really kind of touched me during my time in Congress.

And one of them was visiting in Afghanistan as a member of Congress to kind of blow in and out of there in record time. But I remember meeting with these two Marines and kind of scooting aside their handlers, you know, and just being able to talk with these two Marines and being touched by when they finally loosened up and, you know, they'd say, permission to speak freely, sir. And I'd say, of course, that's why I want you to tell me. And this guy kind of tearing up because he

His spouse, his wife, couldn't find somebody in their neighborhood to help them mow the lawn. So this guy's out there fighting in Afghanistan, and yet the thing that was weighing most on his mind, and I think it's a good reminder as Americans and as human beings and as neighbors and friends,

You know, you got service members that are deployed and serving. There's something that we can do better, I think, as a society to reach out and just let them know we love them and care for them and that we can reach out to them and help them. You know, that's really a lesson that I learned today.

uh after coming home from that injury from service i was i was always a proud american i mean my chest was out for america i love this place and i do to this day but i was never so proud of this country really until i i came home and what i witnessed in that hospital when i woke up in walter reed not just uh you know like my spouse and family members but i witnessed hundreds of non-profits

Coming in from around the country that these people, they had just just had something that they like to do in life or that they were good at or a way that they provided and they had this hair in their brain that said, you know what?

Maybe I can find a way to apply that to our veterans coming home and try to help them out some way that they just people just found it in their hearts to say, I'm going to find a way to help our service members like this or this or this or this, you know, scuba diving or building a house or taking them bicycling or.

out to go shooting or hunting or let them know that they can still do everything that they did before prior to those injuries. It just might take another couple minutes or two for them to learn to do it. And I was so proud of what I'd witnessed that I had no clue any of that was going on as I was in my day-to-day operations of being a soldier. I never had the time to stop and smell those roses and realize that

how much effort was being made in our country to make sure that what happened during Vietnam and to those veterans that came home from Vietnam never happened again. And I'll give you one other quick point on this. What was most amazing to me on that note was where we had Vietnam veterans across the board trying to do exactly that, make sure that what happened to them never happened again.

And I got to say, that takes a really big person. When you think about the way that they were treated to say, I'm not, I'm going to make sure that that doesn't happen to somebody else. Not that they came to our generation with bitterness or anger that we were being treated in a different way. They were making sure that that happened. That takes an amazingly big person. Yeah. That, that,

to apply those lessons and take them and turn it into a positive and you know, it really is inspirational. And I'm going to tell you one other thing that you may not know about. One of the other inspirational things that kind of touches my heart and I'm sure it was nothing. I'm sure you do not remember this. Okay. But

I had hurt my foot. You know, you talk about an injury. Yours is a real injury. Okay. I was changing a light bulb on July 5th and electrocuted myself, fell down and broke my calcaneus bone, which is your heel bone in six pieces. I had surgery, had 14 screws and two plates in there. And I mean, it's nothing compared to what you've gone through, right?

Ten years later, it somehow got infected. They had to fillet me open, pull out all the hardware, and then they patched me back together. And the doctor said, look, we just can't get this infected or we may have to amputate your foot. So I go through this and then I get a call from Speaker Ryan. And he's telling me that, hey, we got the health care vote. We have to have you here. And I said, well, I'm in Utah. And he said, I don't care. I got to have you here. So I flew out with my wife, Julie, to be there for this vote. I'm on this knee scooter now.

You know, a little scooter with the, you put your knee down so you can have your foot in the air. And I, you know, I just had surgery a couple of days ago and, and this one just, you know, it's amazing, Brian, because I've seen you on the floor with your kids and it's about the cutest thing in the world. As a member of Congress, you're allowed to bring, you know, young people under the age of 16 onto the floor of the house and you do that. And I'm, I'm glad to see them there.

But this particular day, I was on this scooter. And as you know, the floor of the house is at an incline. And the only part that's really flat is down on the well of the house. Well, I come scooting down there and it's a big vote. And normally, you know, a lot of people vote, then they leave or they scoot outside or something. This is a big vote, right? So more people are huddled within the

on the floor. And when I got down to the flat part, a bunch of members were sitting in the chairs there on the front row. And first person to jump up and say, here, take my seat, was you. Now, I can't get through it without talking about it. All the people there, you were the one that stood up. And it still touches me in a way that I just like,

Wait a sec, you were the one that went through all the heartache and the tough parts. I just had a little foot surgery, you know? I broke my calcaneus changing a light bulb for goodness sake. And it's still, I like telling that story to groups and whatnot because there's something different about the men and women who serve and sacrifice for our nation. And the example that you give to your kids and to others is,

Guys like me, it's inspirational. Thank you, Jason. I really appreciate you saying that. I think one of the things that just as Americans, I think we do it better than anybody. And it's it goes to inspiration. And that is we find ways to pay it forward.

We look for ways to pay it forward. We are contagious to one another in saying that good deed or gesture, whatever it was happened to me, who can I do the same thing to? And the fact of the matter is,

When I was in that hospital, I had people that, you know, I was day one in that hospital, let's say of being cognizant and aware of what was going on. And I had people coming in on a regular basis that were day 365 getting ready to leave the hospital that somebody came and stood on the other side of that bed for them and said, you're going to be okay. You're going to go through this. How can I help you out in this way? And, um,

And there was days that I was on the other side of that bed for somebody that was now day one in the hospital and saying, you're going to be okay. And you're going to go through this. And I remember when I was day one there. And, and the point is, is simply that as Americans, I think it defines us that we try to find ways to pay it forward.

Yeah, and I think it's incumbent upon all of us. It always feels better, right? You always feel good about the service and just doing good for others. It's contagious, and it doesn't have to be with just the military. It's amazing when I go out and talk to these audiences, it could be people who are dealing with cancer or financial troubles or addiction recovery or a car accident, or it could be an infinite number of things. But

There's something satisfying and rewarding and uniquely American also about reaching out and helping and, and doing so with a sincere heart and a true spirit and, and, uh,

In a way that the buoys people up. So you exemplify that as much as anybody. And well, those are explosions in our life. Right. I mean, that's a common denominator. We all face explosions in our life, physical, mental, emotional, financial relationships.

And we find ways to overcome them. Well, I can't thank you enough for your service. And I can see why the good people of Florida would elect you to be their representative. I really do wish we had more members of the United States military in the Congress. The Congress would be a better place if we did that. But I can't thank you enough for your service to our country and also for

your service in the Congress and just raising some, some great young kids there. And they're going to go through some challenges and do some stupid stuff too, but they, they certainly got some parents with their heads screwed on straight. So, all right though, Brian, Congressman, we got a segue because I can't get through this without asking the rapid, fast questions. I hope you understand. Oh yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.

I should probably have just wrapped it up right then, but I need to ask you these core questions to really get to know Brian Mast that much better. Let's do it. All right. High school mascot. We were the Sailors, so it was actually an anchor. And this is in Florida? Grand Rapids, Michigan. Of course, because in Grand Rapids, you're doing an awful lot of sailing, right? Yeah.

Well, you know, we have the Great Lakes. Yeah, the Great Lakes. Okay. I'll count that. I'll count that. All right. If you met Bigfoot, what would you say? Do you shave your armpits? Really? That's all the questions you'd start with. Interesting. It was definitive. All right. Favorite salad dressing?

Ranch. Good answer. If you could get me to eat a salad. I like mine blended. I tell my wife, you put every bit of nutrition, every bean, every broccoli. I don't care what it tastes like. If you will purify it, just buzz that thing up and I will drink it. But I hate just sitting down and eating a salad or broccoli or beans or something. All right. First concert. I don't eat many of them. First concert. Goo Goo Dolls.

Cuckoo dolls. I haven't heard that one before. All right. First childhood celebrity crush. Let's see. Who would that be? Maybe Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yeah, cute. There you go. All right. Worst thing you did as a child. We're not even going to get into that. Your kids are still too young. You'll talk about that later.

I, you know, I'm not going to incriminate myself at this point in life. All right. So he's playing the fifth. All right. Fair enough. All right. Best James Bond. Oh, probably Goldfinger.

All right. Good. That's a good one. That is good. I always love in the holidays. They always have like James Bond marathons or something like that. I mean, you could get them probably on just watching one of the streaming services, but there's something about in the holidays watching those back to back to back. All right. I've seen all of them. Love the Bond films. I love the Bond films. Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no?

Yes, absolutely. I was stationed in Savannah for a while and used to always have pineapple, banana peppers, and pepperoni at Vinnie Van Gogh's. If it wasn't for your military service, I would really rake you over the coals for that because that is absolutely the wrong answer, but we'll give you a pass. All right. Most embarrassing moment? Oh, most embarrassing moment. Let's see. Man, I don't know. That's a tough one.

Back in high school, when I was playing football, at one point I was on kick return or not kick return, but punt return as well. Kick return and punt return. And I think it was the first punt that I ever had to return. You know, it's coming at me in the air. I'm lined up directly underneath of it. And I,

It bounced directly off of my helmet and went another 10 yards behind me, and I had to go chase it down. That was probably a pretty embarrassing one. Well, you touched it. Yeah, I mean, that's – yeah. Anyway, that's pretty bad if it hits you right in the helmet. Yeah, you lined it up right. All right, what's that other thing? And I ask this because –

If you want to get out, clear your head, go out and do something. Like I like wildlife photography. Go out chasing bears, moose, elk. You know, that's what I like to do. I stop thinking about the world and I just kind of focus and clears my head, breathe the fresh air. But what's that other thing for Brian Mass? What do you do to get out and get away from everything and just clear your head?

You know, I think that goes to something I say to people like we all have our own version of the country. Maybe it's looking at a field or a mountain or a stream or whatever. Mine is the ocean. Right now, I'm sitting here talking to you just a couple of feet from the Atlantic Ocean, the Atlantic Beach in Fort Pierce. And that is my that is my respite is just looking out over the beach and feeling the salt air and and enjoying it.

Yeah, the beach, the waves, they're just mesmerizing. I'm entranced by the beach as well. It's just hard for me to get to it when I live in Utah. So, all right, last question. Best advice you ever got? From my father.

When he first came to my bedside and my dad and I, we love each other, but we were never those two guys that went around saying that we loved each other. I tell my boys and my, my daughter, I love them all the time, but just wasn't who we were. And he comes to my bedside a little bit tearful and emotional, you know, seeing his son lay there and he says, he loves me and he's proud of me and he's glad I'm okay. And then it went back to tough love. And he said, Brian,

You can't let this keep you down. You got to find a way to pull yourself up and get yourself out there and get back to work. You can't let your kids see you sitting on your butt, regardless of what happens to you in life, because they're always looking at you, trying to figure out how they're going to go out there and live their life. Best advice I ever got. Great advice.

Brian, I can't thank you enough for everything you do. And it's an honor and a pleasure to know you and shake your hand. And we're inspired by what you're doing and how you're doing it. So a lot of people watching. And I know because I've been there in Congress, sometimes it feels like, what in the world are we doing here? But you know what? This is the greatest form of government on the face of the planet. It's better than anything else out there. It's something you fought for.

to preserve and now you're there and you can make a real difference in people's lives and putting your trust in you is a worthwhile cause. So thank you, thank you, thank you for joining us here on the podcast today and we wish you nothing but Godspeed and the best of everything. Thanks Jason, thanks for calling me today. Thank you. Again, I can't thank Brian Mast enough for joining us on that podcast. I just love ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

And I want to kind of go to somebody who is extraordinary as our last thought of the day as we kind of close out this podcast. But pretty soon here, Buckingham Palace has...

announced that there will be public events and community activities to mark the 95 year old monarchs. This is Queen Elizabeth II. She will be celebrating 70 years on the throne. 70 years. Now, I tell you, we joke and mock, I think sometimes some of the activities of the craziness that happens there with the royal family. But

But personally, I have the greatest respect for Queen Elizabeth II. She has held that throne in some of the most tumultuous times in her country. And she's done so with a steady hand, with a respectful hand, and something that I actually admire. And she has seen it all.

She has held on to that throne. She's the epitome of health. I wish her nothing but the best. She isn't going to live forever. Her husband recently passed away. But I got to tell you, her effect on world affairs and her ability to be a positive voice, I think is admirable. And so I think we should all pause and thank somebody for 70 years serving on the throne today.

there with one of our greatest allies. And I think that will be a neat moment. Well, I want to thank you for listening to the Jason in the House podcast. You find more from the Fox News Podcast Network over at foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you listen. Please rate it, hit those little stars, like it, share it, subscribe to it, and we'll be back next week. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and this has been Jason in the House.

Jason in the House, the Jason Chaffetz podcast. Dive deeper than the headlines and the party lines as I take on American life, politics and entertainment. Subscribe now on Fox News podcast dot com or wherever you download podcasts.