In “The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries,’ Ronnie Adkins and Rudy Reyes seek the truth behind shocking images and footage on their new series on The HISTORY Channel and WE. CAN’T. WAIT. The show’s official background: “Combat veterans Rudy Reyes and Ronnie Adkins unravel the mysteries behind the strangest and most controversial images, sounds, and documents from the modern history of war. Mysteries span the modern era of warfare, including the World Wars, The Korean War, the Vietnam War, The Cold War, The Gulf War, and the conflicts of the 21st century. Assassinations caught on tape, exploding battleships, ghost planes, vanished soldiers, propaganda hoaxes, alleged cover-ups and conspiracies are analyzed and dissected by Reyes and Adkins, aided by a team of top experts, and former members of the military. Each episode lifts the veil of secrecy on the fog of war.”
PREVIEW HERE:
If the plot isn’t enough to hook you, the hosts certainly should be. Reyes and Adkins are fantastic, equally passionate and curious. Adkins’ intel background gives us the, “Let’s take all the pieces we need and analyze this,” combined with Reyes’ combat approach of “Let’s kick these doors down and ask questions later,” the two are the perfect balance of process and action. WATM sat down with the dynamic pair to talk about their upcoming series and why our audience HAS TO (!!!!) watch this show.
WATM: What has this experience been like?
RUDY: I’m so stoked to be working with Ronnie Adkins. My dream has always been to get the next generation of veteran talent front and center telling our stories with our voice. Ronnie has been an incredible co-host and brother. The show is fantastic. Production is a beast. It’s hard work, long hours, and as the days go on, it’s punishing, punishing hours. I think sometimes we thought, ‘How the heck is this going to work?’ It’s somewhere between unscripted and acting. Ronnie really walked me through the confidence course, if you will. The result is incredible.
RONNIE: I grew up watching Rudy and the HISTORY channel – this is a dream come true. I watched Ermey on “Mail Call,” and Rudy was that again for our generation with Generation Kill – the value that brought; it helped us understand the highs and the lows of service and of war. We have Rudy with a tip-of-the-spear perspective and I have this 20,000 foot overview, so the intersection of those two, and then we add the experts. We take something we think is interesting to cover and then we add the real meat and potatoes: we have historians, weapons experts, other veterans with the nuance and the context, and we’re all unraveling these mysteries.
WATM: Tell us about the show.
RONNIE: First and foremost we hope you watch it. There’s almost two years of work that has gone into this. We’re covering history; we’re covering modern war history all the way back to WWII and back to current conflicts that are going on. It’s dynamic so we are constantly updating. We take these mysteries and break them into digestible segments.
RUDY: We’ve got stand-alone mysteries on each episode. We have a crew of people who are constantly fact-checking and digging deep. Like Ronnie said, we’ve got him with the strategic background and me from a tactical, boots-on-the-ground, and somewhere in the middle, with the experts and the incredible subject matter, it’s going to give the audience an insight into military culture and the sacrifices, the danger, and respect for all of our brothers and sisters who have served.
WATM: Do you have a favorite episode?
RONNIE: (Cracks up) Well, how about the time we almost nuked ourselves?
RUDY: (Laughing) What do they say Ronnie, military intelligence is an oxymoron?
RONNIE: (Still laughing) I resemble that remark!
RUDY: There are some really, really incredible stories I’d never heard of. It was fascinating. One of them that stuck with me was the PSYOPS we were using in Vietnam. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. I learned some things. I worked on some things in the Middle Eastern culture when I was in the Middle East running operations. Our HUMINT and cultural intelligence in Vietnam, they were setting us up for success decades later. Putting fear into our enemy with different methodologies, and how to understand the local people so we could ingratiate ourselves to them. There are things about the Soviet rocket program that was also really amazing – I had no idea. Ronnie is quite steeped in his WWII history so he was all over the Nazis; it was fantastic going over those stories with him. You know, we used to only have captain’s logs and journals and with advances of technology, now you’re going to see real imagery and footage, and it’s intense.
RONNIE: There are some disclaimers at the beginning of some of the episodes. Some of it’s heavy. Let’s remember: we sent Hollywood directors in WWII to capture footage. In the right circumstances, a lot of what was consumed most regularly was for the propaganda reels. It’s going to be the hard-hitting, ‘Let’s go get ’em boys,’ stuff, but then there’s the stuff that was captured that’s between that. Like, what’s going on with that B-24 in the sky that’s imploding?
RUDY: It looks like it could be from a Tom Hanks film; it’s so cinematic, but it’s actual footage. Massive explosions on ships. Why did that happen? And then we get into the spooky. Like a C-130 that was danger-close. Feeling the percussion of the Howitzer rounds hitting and the chain gun. Both the beauty of combat and destruction.
RONNIE: There’s a wide range of topics. So much went into this. We think it’s pretty awesome. And entertaining.
RUDY: Honestly, it’s really good. The team did such a great job.
WATM: Why does this series matter?
RONNIE: Obviously it’s a tv show and we want it to be entertaining, but we’re looking at what we’re delivering. With intel, I’m a mile long and an inch deep, but that’s why we have the experts. It mattered to us that it was real. Not just the paranormal, but where is the truth. Like, a pilot was shot down; where is his body? What was his family told? Why did they get the run around? What really happened? It matters to us. It matters to them. We have a few POW stories that are really powerful.
RUDY: These are real men and women who wore the uniform. It matters to everyone on this call but it should matter to everyone in this country. It’s an honor to be able to honor them. I want to bring some good old-fashioned patriotism back to this country. I don’t care what political side you’re on. There’s a connection for every brother and sister in arms and we want to bring that back. There’s a bridge to all men and women who risk their lives for an ideal for their country; who have shared a piece of that pound cake or made a fresh brew of coffee in the dirt, or stayed up all night watching each other’s back. I think this show could go anywhere in the world and I believe the audience will feel that and appreciate it.
The new nonfiction series “The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries” premieres Monday, April 22 at 10PM ET/PT on The HISTORY Channel. A new episode continues to air weekly on Mondays at 10PM ET/PT on The HISTORY Channel.
STREAMING: The series is also available to stream the next day on The HISTORY Channel app, history.com, and across major TV providers’ VOD platforms. It will also be available to own on Prime Video or wherever you purchase your favorite series.
The post Assassinations. Exploding battleships. Ghost planes. Watch Rudy Reyes and Ronnie Adkins unravel military mysteries on The HISTORY Channel. appeared first on We Are The Mighty.