In one of the wildest music-meets-military stories you’ll hear all year, Blink-182 frontman Mark Hoppus just revealed in his new memoir, Fahrenheit-182, that he may have played an unexpected role in helping the U.S. military locate and capture Saddam Hussein.
Yes, the same guy who gave us pop-punk anthems like All the Small Things may have also helped take down one of the most wanted men in modern history.
Back in 2003, during a USO tour in the Middle East, Hoppus found himself aboard an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, chatting with a high-ranking Navy admiral. That’s when the bassist-turned-tactician pitched a bizarrely brilliant idea.
“Sir, what about flying drones in a grid pattern across the region, broadcasting ultrasonic time codes—inaudible to humans but recordable by video cameras,” Hoppus suggested. “Then when Saddam drops another video, you extract the data, match the code, and triangulate his location.”
The admiral was reportedly stunned. Hoppus claims the idea was so compelling that the admiral said he might bring it up to the Joint Chiefs of Staff the following week.
Fast-forward four months, and Saddam Hussein was pulled from a spider hole near Tikrit.
The band played two shows for the troops shortly after that fateful conversation—one at a base in Bahrain and another atop an aircraft carrier in Kuwait. Hoppus recalls being blasted with wind and sand while performing, but it seems the experience left more than just a gritty memory.
While Hoppus has alluded to the moment before online, his new book finally lays out the whole story, painting a surreal picture of punk rock, military intelligence, and a rockstar possibly changing the course of history.
Who knew the guy behind What’s My Age Again? might’ve helped bring down a dictator?
Rock on, Mark.
