Signal Interceptor in Combat | Special Forces Linguist | 82nd Airborne | Clay Jensen
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2024
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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.
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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!
This dude is one of my favorites. The tactical SIGINT world is fascinating and mostly untold.. Delta, SEALs and Rangers may be the guys putting the charge on the door and doing the gun fighting, but it’s guys like Clayton, Erick Miyares and Bret Velicovich that are connecting the dots and pinpointing the targets.. In more ways then one, these guys are the real hunters and killers.
They're killers alright
@@MFKR696 lol It makes me want to try out that Fox hunting hobby where you drive around direction finding a transmitter 🤣🤣
As someone that was a part of the technology pipeline built into these types of missions, I have been waiting for this window to crack open a little. Thank you for bringing this to your program and for creating this channel to capture the oral histories of so many of our veterans. They represent the best of our country.
What a great interview. I bet Clay has some good stories he can't share.
Many.
@@claytonjensen4047. I remember you saying you went to Nevada to try out for that “other Organization”,, but as a SOT-A did you guys ever work with that Unit in a liaison or augment type of role?
@@joesgotya9930 yup.
I don’t think this guy realizes how much of a badass he is💪🏼👌🏼
Great interview!
I don't know Clay, but I'm really glad that he survived what seems life a hundred lives rolled into one and that he's going from strength to strength.
Seems like a top dude and I wish you all the best 👍
This was a really fun, interesting (and familiar) episode. I first saw Clay on The Team House and was really glad to see him here, especially since Combat Story and Team House are on my Mount Rushmore for cool guy interview stories. I know Clay has so many great experiences that could and should fill a book. But until he decides, if ever, to write one, I'll happily watch him here. Thanks Ryan for continuing to bring us great guests and thanks Clay for all you've done.
Thanks for mentioning Clay has been on the team house, I missed that but damn sure I'll get right on it next! Bet those guys also have some great tales about the Intel side that I'm keen to hear.
Right!? It was really fun hearing this guy tell his story.. not military or anything but a Linguistics major. This guy pretty cool dude
This is by far an excellent interview. I had the honor to serve with MSG Jensen while on 7th SFG. Just by listen to the interview, it brought so many memories from that particular deployment. Good Job!
The questions before the classic last two were great!!
--think about making them part of the cycle! Great interview-SOT-A’s are more than enablers, I’ve always appreciated their value👊🏼🇺🇸
he brings up mike flynn at that time and i was in 504 his brother charlie flynn was my battalion commander and that dude was the bussiness . this was the first 82nd deployments .
The art of speaking other languages is to think in that language. I went to school in Beirut and my initial friends didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak a word of Arabic. Within a short time I learnt the pronunciation and eventually learnt to write it too. The main trouble with learning a language in the relevant country is that everyone wants to learn English.
It's interesting three Fingers of Death in ranger battalion refer to the width of your mohawk. This is an interesting side of the war that i only saw a little bit of, thank God. But it is such a huge part of the battlespace. It was always an interesting moment when the terp or FO or RTO would hear everything coming in on the Icom chatter and say they're moving in mass to come kill us. Such a joy to hear. Great interview is always. RLTW 3/75
Great, you are right up my alley. I have been a ham op. for 54 years. I'm 74 yo. I have ran a lot of CW. And have listened to a lot of the super snup stuff years ago. And copied stuff the bad guys were sending. Had fun doing it.
Would like to have worked at this job.
"This is war...this is war right now, hehe"
-Clay Jensen
...after being in a helicopter, on fire, and going down.
😅😅😅
Great stories Clay, thanks! I’ve always wondered how the teams were used in the GWOT so it was great to hear that many of your experiences were consistent with the missions we were doing.
I’ve seen Clay before. Really cool guy. He and others like him have saved Shrek, Bob Keller, your, and many others bacon more times than we’ll ever know. Great interview 👍👍👍
Huh, sounds like an L3 Harris Stingray, given your time-in-country when the helo went down.
20 yrs later, we can talk about this stuff. ICOM was an interesting game. Cryptolinguistics...
This was just running in the background, but I got hooked, stopped doing what I was doing and watched the whole thing. This guy was amazing.
Great story, thanks Clay and Reyn
Good listen ! Thx gents
Love this man
I remember Goodfellow. San Angelo Texas ! Be Blessed.
This type of work is fascinating.
Quality content everytime man, another great episode and another great guest
Nice to see the other side of the combat story love the interview looking forward to the next one
Thanks Ryan for another great episode hearing clay story definitely brings back memories of having to have speedball dropped to you because an op went longer than expected.
Thank You Ryan for giving these beautiful Warriors a voice!
WOW !! I loved this one !! Fascinating 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Really interesting getting this alternative angle into the battle. Unsung hero and a role I can't believe hasn't featured on any of the military podcasts I subscribe to. Great episode guys.
Cool story! I've never heard of a signal interceptor before!
Clay is an amazing guy. Great interview.
Was 09L Farsi, and picked up Dari. Learned Farsi from my mom, Kurdish bloodlines.
Fantastic episode, great guest. Just a note on the production side - I love how you now cut to video or images while the relevant story is being told, as opposed to just showing them all at the beginning. Keep up the amazing work!
A HUGE amount of respect for men like these! 🙂 I'm an electrical engineer and understand SOME of the the signals and communication part... but doing it under stress when lives are at stake like these guys?
Awesome interview. I don’t think we had these dudes in the Marine Corps but I’m sure the Navy was listening during United Shield.
In the Marines you have the Radio Battalions. Each MARDIV has a few Radio Reconnaissance Detachments (BRC qualified), and MARSOC has embedded SIGINT (NSA SOF operators), just like SOT-A, Ranger OST, or SEAL/CST dudes, in each team. I’ve worked with a bunch of them.
@@claytonjensen4047 I think maybe they didn’t have them in the 90s, but I was a helicopter crew member on 46s and never heard of signet stuff making it to our side but we did have the Somali ware lords son on the ship with us and I’m guessing they were listening to what was going on from the ship. S/F
Thank you guys !, have never heard about the 2007 attempted hit on bin Laden before, thank you !
Been listening to your interviews for a couple years now, I think I may be one of the first 10,000 subscribers (I could be way off lol). But I absolutely love your videos!!!
Back when I was remodeling houses (a job that I hated lol) I would connect to the Bluetooth speaker and it would seem like the day would fly by, especially when I was painting. It would almost be like I’m not even at work, you have no idea how grateful I am for that, so big thanks for that. I’ve since changed careers (One that I’m I actually enjoy) but I’m not really able to listen to them while I’m working, but when I come home and hop on the game ill listen one of your interviews while I play, it’s like a stress reliever lol.
You and your guests have been bringing enjoyment to my days for years now and for that, I give thanks to you and to all of your guests, not only for sharing stories/experiences, but for your service/sacrifice for our country! I hope to enjoy your content for many more years and hope your channel continues to grow! Stay safe and much love!!
Don't you shake your head at people who don't know about surface prep for painting. I hate painting.
As a Morse guy from the 80s, I can relate to the mind-numbing grind of AIT!
There is a village Dunkirk on the A2 road from Canterbury to Faversham in Kent where 3 Aerials stood from the battle of Britain. Of course Dunkirk in France, Near Ashford Kent was a Military intel etc training place ? Be Blessed
Hej soldiers i so busy cooking for me now 😃 thanks for the best freedom Country songs
Lol... Gen Flynn, then Col Flynn was my brigade commander lol... i officially feel old.
Thanks for the best freedom Country dear
hit a damn land mine there as well same time they would mark mine fields with red rocks which well ya cant see color at night
Early Iraq time frame. Looking for WMD did you work with the CBRN from the teams then.
Hahaha Berlitz! I used that to study vietnmanese way back when
I'm allergic to not eating Meat! HAHAHA!
Substitute teacher?
Former SF?
Sounds familiar...
I may have missed it but did he get the girl permission to come to the USA ?
Come eating with me now take care of yourself and do your best
clay was you ever in the prophet?
Was he in his own for a week or was he with some dudes...? Can't be both😮
love of god dont talk about the sa7 they swear wasnt in country ya get bad talked and called a lie, im like mfer we can see it
All this! I am so d@mn America🇺🇸 proud. And then comes effin’ Biden. And it’s all over.
With due respect im shamsol houda i was work with ODA under (special force unit whith you are) since from 2009 til to 2011 as a security guard. I have all documents which i will attach to this email. Dear respective sir as you know the current situation of afghanistan is bad and going worst day by day thats way i not seen hete my and my family life better here. I applied for siv programme to move from there so kindly for siv programme for eglibilty i need upatde HR and Recomandition letters. Please provide me update HR an...
What? This is CZcams......If you have a beautiful daughter 18 or older, I will give her a better life here in the USA
@@NotOnDrugs Have some respect man. Being edgy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
@@OleMisss Yeah it is lol
I scored a 93 on my asvab test and was told i could have any job and I wanted to do military intelligence and I was so excited untill i found out i am at the top 1% of color deficient people and my options went down to about 10 jobs it absolutely crushed me and i cursed god for making me color blind. But it set my life down a different path and i went in as an MP and i still think about how things would be different if i wasnt colorblind because there has been many times in my life that it has bit me in the ass.
Signal Intelligence
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Learning Japanese with your *Teacher* mr. Wilson 🤣 so different but v. cool We have all had an influential educator [eg IN "pay it forward" ] in our lives. 🥾🥾🪂