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

Clay JensenApril 1, 2023
Signal Interceptor in Combat | Special Forces Linguist | 82nd Airborne | Clay Jensen
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About This Episode

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

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

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

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

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

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

Show Notes:

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!

Featured Guest

Clay Jensen

Chapters

  • 00:00Intro
  • 01:02Guest Introduction (Clay Jensen)
  • 02:15Interview begins
  • 02:48Impressions on Iraq 20 years later
  • 04:57Japanese upbringing
  • 09:24Bilingual for Defense Language Institute
  • 11:31Interest in the Military
  • 12:58Joining the Military
  • 14:57Recruitment
  • 18:15Working with Agencies
  • 19:24Training for the Signals and Intelligence
  • 23:38Joining the 82nd
  • 24:40Linguistics in regular MOS
  • 28:089/11
  • 31:051st Deployment to Afghanistan
  • 37:28Supporting the battle as a Linguist
  • 40:08Navigating the outcome of a battle
  • 44:06Transfering to Special Forces
  • 46:11Proving yourself
  • 47:20Definition of SOT-A
  • 49:33Difference between standard MOS and Special Forces
  • 51:21The Raid for Zawahiri
  • 01:09:33Columbia
  • 01:16:59The importance of Vocabulary
  • 01:19:37Funny things
  • 01:24:19Relationship with Interpreters
  • 01:27:03Getting involved in the Afghanistan Evacuation
  • 01:34:57Most courageous act
  • 01:38:26Best and worst MREs
  • 01:40:07Sentimental items
  • 01:41:22Would you do it again
  • 01:43:09Listener comments and shout outs