00:00:02 Bella
This is Isabella Jenke recording my father Michael Jenke and my.
00:00:07 Bella
My my Storycorps interview assignment, so I'm going to begin.
00:00:15 Bella
What is your name?
00:00:18 Mike
Mike Jenke
00:00:20 Bella
When and where were you born? Mike Jenke.
00:00:23 Mike
I was born in 1962.
00:00:29 Mike
In Pennsylvania.
00:00:32 Bella
What events of historical significance have you been a part of or witness?
00:00:39 Mike
Been a part of her witnessed well.
00:00:42 Mike
I was in the Sandinista Contra wars in El Salvador.
00:00:49 Mike
I was in the invasion of Panama.
00:00:52 Bella
Right?
00:00:53 Mike
I was in the.
00:00:56 Mike
The Rwandan genocide, huh? I was in the Balkans, war, Bosnia, Kosovo.
00:01:09 Mike
I was in the.
00:01:12 Mike
Of course, Middle East with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan I was involved in.
00:01:24 Mike
When Yemen tried to overthrow its government.
00:01:32 Mike
A lot of.
00:01:35 Mike
Nation shaping.
00:01:38 Mike
Events in the last.
00:01:42 Mike
30 something years 35 years uhm, I started in the military.
00:01:49 Mike
Be at.
00:01:52 Mike
19-20 years old.
00:01:55 Bella
OK, well before we go into that, let's talk about any refugee experiences you may have.
00:02:02 Bella
Personally, like, have you not saying that you were a refugee, but anyone you've known in your community who was a refugee or anyone like refugees at the time?
00:02:17 Mike
I had
00:02:17 Mike
And a started a company.
00:02:21 Mike
And that worked for the US government and other governments like the British, Australian Canadian.
00:02:31 Mike
During the Iraq War of Afghanistan and in Pakistan and.
00:02:38 Mike
Some of my employees in both Iraq and Afghanistan that were interpreters after a certain number of years, they were granted.
00:02:53 Mike
Into the United States.
00:02:55 Mike
Uhm, one Afghani and his family. Two Iraqis but.
00:03:02 Mike
I also three years ago.
00:03:07 Mike
Two former, this was the Newsweek article.
00:03:10 Mike
Two former Russian.
00:03:13 Mike
Spies the former KGB.
00:03:17 Mike
Which is now called the FSB.
00:03:23 Mike
Defected to the United States a husband and wife.
00:03:27 Mike
And myself and some retired intelligence officers and special operations guys got together to help them.
00:03:37 Mike
They were working for our intelligence service in the FBI and then were stranded in Oregon of all places can.
00:03:44 Bella
You talk more about those Russians.
00:03:46 Bella
Can you tell us their full story and your encounter with them?
00:03:50 Mike
Well, they were a husband and wife. Both of them were FSB agents, which is.
00:03:59 Mike
Uh, you know a post cursor of the Russian KGB.
00:04:04 Mike
And a lot of people don't know that the FSB.
00:04:08 Mike
He is kind of works really closely with the Russian mob and mafia, and the husband Jan. His life was threatened.
00:04:19 Mike
They got fake passports, flew to the Dominican Republic.
00:04:24 Bella
Why was his life threatened?
00:04:28 Mike
As an FSB agent.
00:04:31 Mike
He was part time working for one side of the.
00:04:36 Mike
Russian mob
00:04:39 Mike
Uhm, and there was some. His superior was supporting and getting money from another side.
00:04:48 Mike
Long story short, uhm.
00:04:52 Mike
He was basically told he needed to get out, so he took his wife, who also worked at the FSB.
00:04:57 Mike
And they.
00:05:00 Mike
Defected, they went to first Dominican Republic and they contacted the CIA and the CIA. Got him by a boat to Miami. From there they flew into Virginia.
00:05:12 Mike
Yeah, and they worked a couple years for the CIA and then for the FBI, but due to some paperwork snafu, they didn't have any work or they didn't have, you know, lifetime retirement and the Newsweek reporter wrote a big article.
00:05:32 Mike
It was.
00:05:36 Mike
Part of it was on the cover of Newsweek three years ago. You can still search it.
00:05:41 Mike
And uhm.
00:05:44 Mike
We helped them.
00:05:46 Mike
I actually.
00:05:48 Mike
Hired them both into my company in LA until things were straightened out and they came back to Washington DC to work, but in a sense where they're refugees. You know somebody who defects is kind of like a refugee.
00:06:05 Bella
OK, now let us talk about your personal military experience.
00:06:12 Mike
Well, I was a Navy SEAL.
00:06:15 Mike
For many years my last.
00:06:20 Mike
Nine years in the SEAL, teams was at SEAL Team Six, which is the counterterrorism SEAL team.
00:06:28 Mike
I left there. That's where I had most of these experiences in El Salvador and elsewhere.
00:06:35 Mike
Iraq and Afghanistan. I left there and I went to work for the intelligence community.
00:06:42 Mike
I I didn't like that very much.
00:06:45 Mike
I did about a year.
00:06:46 Mike
And I left and started a company that.
00:06:51 Mike
Provided former special operations guys.
00:06:55 Mike
Back to our U.S. government.
00:07:00 Bella
OK, where were you at 9/11?
00:07:03 Mike
I was actually in Santa Fe, NM.
00:07:09 Mike
Holding you.
00:07:11 Bella
What was your first impression when you heard this?
00:07:20 Bella
Were you surprised?
00:07:22 Mike
Yes. What was I surprised that we were attacked by terrorists. No, I was surprised at how that such a coordinated.
00:07:34 Mike
Audacious attack could be carried out, but it also demonstrated how.
00:07:44 Mike
Our security apparatus.
00:07:47 Mike
That has so many intelligence agencies that don't share.
00:07:54 Mike
Signals or things that could have been picked up to pass through.
00:07:58 Mike
So I was shocked.
00:08:02 Mike
By the magnitude of what these people were able to pull off in our country.
00:08:08 Bella
Has there any been? Has there been any personal civil actions that you took on yourself to be part of the community or help others?
00:08:21 Bella
Uhm, how about that woman that was in the car and he ripped the seat off and she was going to die.
00:08:26 Mike
Oh well, that's that's a little different.
00:08:30 Mike
Helping people, yes.
00:08:35 Mike
Because in the SEAL teams I had an EMT license. There's been people having heart attacks on airplanes that I've assisted car accidents.
00:08:47 Mike
Vehicles rolled over in a ravine. I've helped.
00:08:50 Mike
But I think most people who are firemen or policemen or ambulance or medics end up doing that kind of thing anyways. But as far as civil, you know and organized.
00:09:06 Mike
Type of thing no.
00:09:09 Bella
You saved quite a few lives though, right? Like with a heart attack victims you mentioned.
00:09:14 Bella
Have you ever done CPR on someone? Have you ever saved someone's life other than working in the military?
00:09:21 Mike
Yeah, there's varying degrees of it, I mean.
00:09:24 Mike
And I've done CPR on people that have died or.
00:09:30 Bella
Didn't make it.
00:09:31 Mike
They were going to die anyways and I've done CPR on people that didn't make it.
00:09:36 Bella
Did they make 'cause of you?
00:09:38 Mike
I'd like to think so, but I think it was a combination of things. You know I've applied people that had from, you know, arterial bleeding, been able to put a tourniquet.
00:09:52 Mike
Uhm, but.
00:09:55 Mike
You know the there was a one incident?
00:09:58 Mike
That you're aware of, it happened just outside of Sedona AZ.
00:10:03 Mike
We were driving.
00:10:06 Mike
And a woman.
00:10:08 Mike
About a mile ahead of us had gone off this hillside into a ravine, and her car had rolled. I don't know 10 times into the ravine and was upside down. She had a broken leg, but it was leaking gas.
00:10:26 Mike
And there was a bunch of cars up top and people taking pictures, but nobody went down into the ravine, so I went down.
00:10:35 Mike
Broke the there was a Jeep. Cherokee broke the rear window. Went in cut her seat belt off.
00:10:45 Mike
Drugged her out.
00:10:47 Mike
Carried her up the hill and the whole time she's screaming about a cat that's stuck in the car and there's gas leaking and The thing is, smoking.
00:10:57 Bella
So you saved her life and her cat's life.
00:10:59 Mike
I went down in and the cat was all the way up towards the windshield and was hissing at me and I was able to grab it, pull it out of there, go up top and by that time and ambulance it was on its way up.
00:11:17 Mike
You know, I put her in a shock position, checked her leg and vitals, her leg was broken in a couple places, but it wasn't arterial bleeding or anything.
00:11:27 Mike
And the car never blew up. It just smoked and leaked gas. It's not like a movie.
00:11:33 Mike
And the ambulance came and medics were all over her and I got in the car and drove away. But years later I got contacted by the lady, which was interesting.
00:11:46 Bella
Cool, can you name me the most influential or most important parts of your life?
00:11:53 Bella
Uhm, in terms of historical events like which historical events were you in part of and which historical events affected you the most?
00:12:03 Mike
Well, that's tough too.
00:12:06 Mike
Separate what was more historical than one or the other. I would say, in my personal view, the genocide in Rwanda received.
00:12:20 Mike
Global coverage, but it didn't really cover the extent.
00:12:27 Mike
Of how monumentally atrocious.
00:12:31 Bella
Regardless of the atrocity or the popularity of the event, which events affected you the most?
00:12:31 Mike
That was.
00:12:40 Mike
I would say that I would say Somalia.
00:12:44 Mike
I I would say El Salvador.
00:12:47 Mike
Uh, I think as far as globally, I think the.
00:12:55 Mike
Kosovo Wars was a time that, you know.
00:13:02 Bella
Was historical OK and what were your thoughts and feelings you experienced during these times? Did it change you?
00:13:10 Mike
Sure everything.
00:13:12 Mike
Changes you in some way, even though.
00:13:14 Bella
But what were your thoughts and feelings during them?
00:13:16 Mike
Ah, honestly, I think it's.
00:13:20 Mike
That it never ends that humans.
00:13:24 Mike
Continue to do the worst to each other. For religion, power, sex and money and it's been going on since recorded history and it's still going on today. It's not meant to be depressing, it's just as a, uh.
00:13:44 Mike
As a creature on this planet, we continue to relearn the lesson over and over, and.
00:13:50 Bella
Over again, is that what your thoughts were when you saw the arms cut off in the Rwandan genocide of the children? What were you thinking when you saw the the stumps of the arms put into the tar?
00:14:03 Mike
Absolute anger and.
00:14:07 Bella
Just anger so your anger angry what? What would you have wanted to say to the government?
00:14:15 Bella
The Rodan government, who were telling the.
00:14:18 Mike
It wasn't the Rwandan government so you had a tribal, the.
00:14:18 Bella
People will do this.
00:14:24 Mike
Hutus and the Tutsis.
00:14:26 Bella
Well, the sovereignty that ever made.
00:14:27 Mike
There wasn't a sovereign at that time, it was utter chaos of two different religious groups fighting, trying to wipe each other out.
00:14:37 Bella
Well then, who was making the kids cut their arms off?
00:14:40 Mike
Well, both sides did these type of atrocities. My anger was.
00:14:47 Mike
At everything that how could people do this? How did it get to this situation and how could anybody hurt a child?
00:14:55 Bella
What was the biggest event in your life of all of including the Rwandan or the Bosnian, whatever.
00:15:03 Mike
I think after all of that, having a daughter.
00:15:07 Bella
The historical events historic.
00:15:09 Mike
The historical event they were all in some way.
00:15:13 Mike
Had their own piece of history, but if you're asking me.
00:15:18 Mike
What was an event? I think that kind of changed the way I looked at things was having a daughter.
00:15:21 Bella
The chains do the most.
00:15:25 Bella
But it has to be historical event event that you were in part of like a war or a military assignment.
00:15:34 Mike
I think.
00:15:35 Bella
Or some perspective that you saw. Like maybe you saw something which changed you.
00:15:39 Mike
I think Somalia changed the way.
00:15:43 Mike
Ah, I viewed.
00:15:46 Mike
How humans interact with each other. How so well it was. One of the IT was the second it was after El Salvador.
00:15:56 Mike
Nine is 9394 ninety three.
00:16:03 Mike
I, I think, just the sheer.
00:16:09 Mike
Realization that humans would treat each other in such a way.
00:16:14 Bella
How were you involved in Somalia?
00:16:19 Mike
I don't think you evolve. I think you're affected and.
00:16:21 Bella
How were you involved?
00:16:24 Mike
I was in.
00:16:26 Mike
In missile teams, and I was a sniper.
00:16:29 Bella
And what was your duty as a sniper?
00:16:35 Bella
Protection and defense against two this mauling government.
00:16:39 Mike
No, so there were a group of warlords.
00:16:44 Mike
Basically, at that point, Somalia didn't have a government, and the warlords were fighting for power and most of the populace.
00:16:57 Mike
Chewed a narcotic root.
00:17:00 Mike
And you had these warlords?
00:17:04 Mike
Fighting for power and the US government.
00:17:10 Mike
Went in to try to stabilize Mogadishu, the capital.
00:17:18 Mike
But it was not a good situation.
00:17:23 Bella
Uhm, if you could give advice to young people of today, what would it be?
00:17:30 Mike
I would say.
00:17:33 Mike
Go out and see the world, the good, the bad and ugly. Just don't.
00:17:37 Mike
Travel to Paris and London.
00:17:40 Mike
And have that as your view of the world.
00:17:44 Mike
Go to Africa.
00:17:46 Mike
Go to Eastern Bloc, go down to Central America and there's so much good down there, you know, yeah, we talked a lot today about some of the bad.
00:17:59 Mike
But get a true sense of the world. Don't form your political opinion from sound bites on a television show. Whatever you are, whether you're Democrat or Republican, go out and form your own opinion based on experience.
00:18:18 Bella
Uhm, can you tell me about someone other than me who had a big influence on your life? Would you tell me about some of the most important lessons that person taught you?
00:18:31 Mike
So I I know this sounds cliche, but probably my dad so my dad was in the Korean War and he was wounded and uhm.
00:18:44 Mike
He came back.
00:18:46 Mike
And he was a farmer. Very simple life.
00:18:50 Mike
But he never let.
00:18:53 Mike
His experience in the Korean War.
00:18:58 Mike
The way he helped and felt about other humans.
00:19:02 Mike
I think that helped me in some way.
00:19:06 Mike
Look at, you can be jaded by things.
00:19:12 Mike
I'm not a very sociable person anyways, but
00:19:15 Mike
Uhm, what did he?
00:19:17 Bella
Teach you though the most important thing that he taught you.
00:19:19
Know what is that?
00:19:22 Mike
I think.
00:19:25 Mike
And that there is good in the world.
00:19:30 Bella
Come can you describe one of your happiest memories?
00:19:36 Mike
One of my happiest memories well.
00:19:39 Mike
Other than having.
00:19:42 Mike
A daughter having a child.
00:19:47 Mike
I think.
00:19:52 Mike
The first company I started.
00:19:55 Mike
When a big company bought it because all the people that had believed in me.
00:20:01 Mike
One everybody made money and so I felt.
00:20:06 Mike
A sense that.
00:20:09 Mike
Kind of completion.
00:20:10 Bella
What accomplishment are you proudest of? What does it make you feel proud? Why does it make?
00:20:16 Mike
You feel proud again. This might be cliche.
00:20:20 Mike
But as your dad, I've seen you.
00:20:23 Bella
I mean like a not not not a child.
00:20:24 Mike
As a baby.
00:20:27 Bella
No, not a child.
00:20:27 Mike
Not a child. Not having a job. OK, so we're deflecting from you here, OK?
00:20:34 Mike
What accomplishment?
00:20:39 Mike
I think I would say that.
00:20:44 Mike
Now at this age, being able to to build and start seven companies and not have it.
00:20:53 Bella
So starting seven companies.
00:20:56 Mike
Not have anybody?
00:21:00 Mike
Say that I've done business wrong or screwed somebody over for money.
00:21:06 Mike
But I would also say.
00:21:11 Mike
Being able to adapt.
00:21:13 Mike
In a very fast moving world.
00:21:19 Mike
And education I don't have a college degree.
00:21:25 Mike
It's hard to adapt in a in a very fast moving world.
00:21:29 Bella
OK, and how would you like to be remembered?
00:21:36 Mike
It's just a good man.
00:21:39 Bella
Uhm, last question. If this was to be a very last conversation, is there anything you'd want to say to me?
00:21:47 Mike
I love you.
00:21:48 Bella
OK, thank you so that was my father. We are in Thailand, Maryland. I am Isabella Jenke again. I'm 17 years old and today is February 12th Tuesday 2019 UM.
00:22:07 Bella
Yeah, yeah, and that's all.
