[laughs]

But, but, but my best friend, he was coming from- Uh, a different group.

We were group, group four, parochial group four, whi- which is the highest and best in Jersey.

And he was, like, coming from, like, group one from a different district.

So, so he was going through, like, you know, he had to go to court for it and all this and this and that.

And they wanted to, like, like, the school was upset that he was leaving 'cause he was that good a running back.

So they tried to, you know, take him to court and everything to make sure he sits his five games.

[laughs]

To have a force that is credible, as you say, that is robust, as you say, how fraught is that though? I mean, how do those troops, if they end up getting fired at in some way, does the Article V collective defense mean that these troops are now part of this larger war?

Well, that's a great question and that's what they're working on right now.

The, uh, this Article V-like, uh, scenario that they're talking about really talks about the nations that are sending these troops into Ukraine, that the understanding would be, and this is again, uh, a best guess because we don't know, but- but it looks like what they're gonna say is that those countries sending in these troops, um, will have to be ready to support these troops, reinforce these troops, give these troops everything they need should the, uh, Russians come across the border.

And Putin needs to know that this will happen, that these troops will not go away.

They won't retreat.

Their countries won't come in and pull them out, that in fact, uh, with this- this kind of guarantee, that if one of those, uh, bits of the coalition is attacked, the others will come in to their defense along with Ukraine as well.

Does any of this work without the US acting as a backstop?

Well, it can work without the US providing a backstop, but the US engagement is part of the deterrent, uh, uh, for Putin.