Jocko Podcast 356: We Can Determine What Manner of Men We Will Be. With Ed Thelander

2022-10-20T21:00:36Z

Underground Premium Content: https://www.jockounderground.com/subscribe Join the conversation on Twitter/Instagram: @jockowillink @echocharles @edthelanderforcongress8628 Ed Thelander is a retired Navy SEAL, small businessman, volunteer firefighter, reserve deputy sheriff, loving father, and devoted husband. He has never sought political office before but is answering the call to serve his country once more.

AI summary of episode

But you never let that competitiveness, you know, it's like taking, you know, politicians are like taking the firing pins out of, you know, the rifles so that they, they, they look better than the other guy, you know, you know, it's, it's, it's like a sales team, you know, you know, cutting the cord to the copy machine before the other sales team gets to print out their, their briefs, you know, it's, that's the competitive that's going on in politics. I don't, you know, I'm happy to talk to anybody, you know, um, you know, cannabis, you know, uh, folks, uh, medically, you know, so on board with it, recreationally, it's legal and main, let's tax it and move forward and, and, uh, protect the, the end, it's, it's, you know, those folks are still buying stuff, uh, and, uh, you know, Republicans aren't normally about that. So you better treat them kind and like family, you know, and I know a lot of these folks, they use us as a, you know, a bit of a prop, you know, hey, let's get going, you know, or interject here and there, and it's, it's, there's some, you know, some of these guys are skilled sales folks and they're doing some act and, you know, you take it on it. And uh, you know, I had a great time there, uh, you know, um Um, first platoon that you know, um mark muck crampton bob edwards, you know, um folks that you remember, you know, uh, miss mark, you know Mark was friggin awesome, man. And some folks that, uh, been signing up for, uh, some training by Ashel on front and a couple of folks going to the musters, uh, as I'm, you know, going to the, uh, um, these job fairs, you know, talking to the, the, not only the students that they're going to some of these high school, uh, job fairs, but the employers too, you know, um, and I, I mentioned earlier, uh, uh, the camp was rolling, but, uh, yeah, the, uh, the Republican national committee, um, the executive director, uh, issues, uh, the field manual for discipline equals freedom to everybody that comes on board. You look at some of those cats um, and I remember, you know, I was A class corpsman, you know sending dudes to the hospital with encephalitis, you know, their hands are just, you know Big giant puff balls and their feet, you know, uh, it's uh, and we didn't get any sleep in hell week You're supposed they're scheduled to sleep, you know, uh But we did not get that Although I didn't put it in there uh with the pat the Uh, the guy running that the the diving portion, you know, we were doing some sniper shots with uh diving our gear and doing some pretty complicated, uh, um You know, we'd get the Coast guard involved or the auxiliary which really is your personal boat, you know A bunch of older older dudes that that just wanted to do good with their personal boat and doing indigenous, you know We had a blast doing down to north carolina and doing a live fire shot, you know Um in town And you are trying to speak in their language to whatever degree you can It's tiring Um, and uh, I mean I can speak, you know to the Cabo to the corporal and I can speak to the you know, uh, Secretary of State uh in Spanish, you know, and I have you know, so it's varying degrees of Spanish, you know, uh, What's the MOTJ? Um, you know the uh The c-130 that they had um, it got shot by You know npa or some farmer didn't like flying to serve in their jack or what you know, whatever Uh, uh, and uh, so it it took a round through and through the plane We never knew they they landed it patched it is their exercise and that thing was back up in the air When when an air force bird, you know breaks Um, and it's in a nice place like hawaii uh Yeah Not a top performer by any means, uh, but just kept going forward, you know, and uh, you know, just All you had to do is perform, you know, um pass, you know, but perform, you know not tying um Normally no factor We did it in the dive tower That's not to mention, you know, how they say, and I don't know, because obviously I'm not in politics at all, but they do say, I've heard people are saying that if you go, let's say, you know, like, um, like Tulsi, you know, had this happen to where she'll go in the, I don't know, Democratic party, whatever, she'll go in and she'll start doing stuff that's like against, quote unquote, against the party, then they'll get drummed out by the party itself. It's a what when when you were in school are you into school you're getting good grades getting decent grades, you know into the sports, you know Football wrestling and then track kind of drop track off at the end and just concentrated on football and wrestling You know like school, but not crazy into it, you know like the math, you know decent grades. um, you know two e-fives you had to bring us a chief on board to Um certify the shot with good and safe and all that stuff, but we were just you know, you know, it was good, you know made Uh, you know adept winners got involved with it It's like the Secretary of State and uh, Secretary uh, uh, Justice uh, All wrapped into one dude and you know as a chief, um, you get to talk to these folks and you're talking about how to Develop, you know ranges in Panama or wherever But man at the end of the day Your brain is tired Because all the colloquialisms for the different countries, um, They all come into play you say one thing one country that that means something else in another another country And you can get yourself in trouble You know, but but it's a whole different animal once you get to speak Uh, but uh, so the total time at DLI was how was the total time at DLI learned in Spanish? We were training our folks up and you know, we were in the middle of 30 dudes um, you know plus on this uh hike Uh, and uh, uh, we never saw anything, you know, uh, we went in dry hole and and back out this marine uh lieutenant Read a book were seals Don't wear socks Uh, and uh that dude's feet were cas wrapped Just trash I made the mistakes I made and uh Then it's a you know, so I didn't make it through and then where do you want to go and uh, you know seal team four uh, just because the reputation and uh, um, I wanted to get to the east coast You know so they I think I put you know two and four and they said they'd give them whatever I wanted You got to vote it in and, uh, yeah, you know, uh, I do reach across the aisle, you know, and, uh, you know, I'm, you're, you're typical Republican, uh, conservative, you know, doesn't have purple hair. and they had, uh Uh a pistol course we were running there was a pipe you had to crawl through that had bullet holes in it and uh, you know, you know dug on my knee and you know, I I never even used lidocaine because I wasn't I taught that in core school You know, and I hadn't been through Um the empty course where you got all that Yeah, you know, we had k-pox, you know, a big giant, you know horribly uncomfortable life jackets, uh, and uh Wow now they got helmets, you know, I dude I I noticed they took the stump jump completely out I'm explaining to you like, you don't know, even though I do know that you do know energy drink usually has sugarcane, uh, uh, preservatives, you know, poison. still Yeah, uh Yeah, you know, um Remember remembering all the wild things about about hell week, you know, you know, what was your worst, you know, thinking hell week Tuesday I've talked to the clients a lot, you know, they need to build rapport and be kind to their security personnel and their drivers and things so that, you know, they love them, you know, their family, because you're asking them to take, you know, when I'm, it's, the deal is, I'm gonna stick my neck out for these people and this father's gonna risk his life for these folks, and so are those folks. but but I'm there and uh, uh, the triage nurse, you know says, uh, hey, I'm ed, you know, I'm uh, uh, You know, so yeah, just dropped me off at Balboa I'll get it, you know, and they you know did a couple, you know Basically you get into going to Balboa on a saturday night What do you got there a whole bunch of colds a whole bunch of you know And if you nod it off You're gonna get a jalapeno You know, so ed being from michigan and you know roast beef and mashed potatoes, you know Peppers like the ultimate spice and you sparingly my mom's, you know, french canada. And so that was awesome to get those lessons learned and just different breaking points, you know, how long someone can take it and, you know, everyone's gonna eventually break, but, you know, how much, you know, how long are you gonna go? You know, there's, you know, uh, districts, you know, three quarters of a million people, main smaller being there's six, it's 680 plus thousand, you know, can't reach all those folks. And the folks that are augmenting us, they just have this militant look about them, you know, including having sleeves rolled up, and like, you know, even, you know, cargo panties, you know, pants and stuff. And a lot of ways to do overseas, you know, I'm making sure the law enforcement that's there is that they, and I don't know them very well, so it's, you know, because we're jumping into a lot of things, but I'm making sure they feel right, you know, that they're not nervous themselves. And it hasn't changed much, you know It's that's one thing I miss from you know jumping over to the east coast was seeing these young frog, you know Men wannabes just get after it and and try and figure out, you know How to negotiate their obstacles on their own time after training and yeah, You know, if you're there a long time, I'm making sure the driver is the same feel today as he had yesterday and the day before, you know, so that, you know, he wasn't threatened and told to make a left-hand turn, you know, when he's supposed to be going straight. You know, you know, lion's lope, you know, the uh You know getting mad at my paddle. Hey, cool it uh, you know, they'd like um Um Pull comp, you know, that was another one where you know, and I had uh, um One of the mean instructors We never had a new TV ever we fixed all those old tube TVs, you know and change the channel with the pliers, you know We fixed our cars, you know from fixing our bicycles when we were young young and then we got motorcycles, you know little My lily on it was up in virginia beach Uh, learning english Okay, and uh Yeah, so so I was trying to learn spanish, you know, I took a couple little, you know classes on it, but uh um, so I you know We were in, we were in Columbia once, and actually doing, you know, kind of something, you know, going in, you know, and the locals sat down on a hive, an underground, you know, ground hive, and jumped up and ran and left all their guns. It's not about the lobster man, you know, take a look at it and everybody jump on board, you know, cause you know, they're, you know, it's so frustrating. Back then we didn't have the training that they got now You know, and I could have got some more of that, you know, uh, but I mean the first stitches I ever ever did other than on a You know, uh fruit Was my own knee Workup out of niland Uh, yeah, uh, you know summer hell weeks, you know, just They're warmer, um, you know, uh Sir Please don't move and they strapped me into a backboard when you know x-rayed my neck, you know, what else hurts, you know This is 10 hours after the fall Everything hurts And they x-rayed me they didn't find anything, you know, they didn't x-ray everything There was more things that hurt than than my wrist and my my ankle, Yeah, so they put us put us to bed and um Um, somebody had a watch hidden you're not allowed to have a watch you have no concept of time or day or anything Uh, and uh, you're always trying to figure out what day it is a little bit, you know, uh, you know Trying to remember what meal you count for meal to meal basically um And uh, yeah, so 22 minutes. You know, I ended up, I ended up doing a lot of briefing too, you know, it wasn't as, you know, cool as what I, you know, was expecting, but, you should have stayed in E5 is what you were thinking. I remember though my paddle is not, you know, you know making us go I'm crying hard, you know, that this paddle should make me go faster, you know, So so pull-ups was one, you know running not a great runner, you know swimming, but you know you're swimming, you know, Um and uh, which again was just crazy wrong, you know from what they get a platoon guy now had more training The regular platoon guy now has more than than what I had there so squirt away and uh, you know I never tied a knot on a human, you know a stitch and so everybody's watching You know, he gets a large degree, you know, he was, since he was, you know, that tall, you know, he was, dad, this is made in China in it.

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Episode transcript

[00:00:00] This is Jocko podcast number 356 with echo Charles and me jockel willing good evening echo good evening
[00:00:07] Gettysburg was a great battle
[00:00:10] Its action its tension its hazards its consequences
[00:00:16] In it were involved questions of gravest import the decision of which makes history
[00:00:23] interests social political moral personal of
[00:00:27] Gravest import for ourselves for others for our country for man everywhere
[00:00:36] For the present time and for the future for which also we hold a trust
[00:00:44] The pressing question before us was whether we had a country
[00:00:50] Whether we were a people or only a populace
[00:00:53] Whether we were a mere chance partnership only holding only by human will or a nation
[00:01:02] constituted in the purpose and calling of divine providence bound together for the noblest ends of living by ties of mutual
[00:01:11] interest and honor
[00:01:13] bonds both of love and law
[00:01:15] All the great ruling sentiments which have their vital source in this idea
[00:01:23] patriotism loyalty self devotion for the sake of others
[00:01:27] Nay what we consider the supreme of earthly blessings largest scope for individual life
[00:01:34] endowments powers genius character
[00:01:38] These were the prize for which we wrestled in that terrible arena
[00:01:42] more than this
[00:01:46] Involved here, too
[00:01:48] Were the widest human interests
[00:01:51] We fought for the worth of manhood for law and liberty
[00:01:56] Which mean freedom for every man to make the most of himself with goodwill of all others
[00:02:04] Without oppression or depression
[00:02:07] We had a deep inward vision of this at the time though unspoken and perhaps unclear
[00:02:15] But no man even now can realize in thought or recognize in fact all the reach of good coming forth out of that struggle
[00:02:24] and that victory for the country and
[00:02:28] for mankind
[00:02:30] And that right there is a quote
[00:02:36] from a speech by Colonel Joshua Chamberlain
[00:02:40] And he was at a banquet to honor the 16th Maine Infantry and
[00:02:45] The fifth main light artillery battery knows a 16th Maine
[00:02:50] Who on July 1st 1863?
[00:02:54] They were ordered to hold a position at Chambersburg Pike
[00:02:58] But this element of men was eventually overrun and as they were being overrun
[00:03:06] They took down their flag their regimental flag and
[00:03:11] They ripped it to shreds so that it wouldn't be captured
[00:03:17] by the Confederates and
[00:03:19] Of their sacrifice of their 275 men 11 were killed 62 were wounded 159 were taken prisoner
[00:03:26] but
[00:03:27] Because they did that because they held the line as long as they did it allowed
[00:03:32] 16,000 other Union troops to retreat and regroup around Gettysburg
[00:03:39] And of course it was the next day July 2nd when the 20th Maine
[00:03:45] Under the charge of Joshua Chamberlain was able to hold the Union's left flank on little round top with a bayonet charge
[00:03:52] That stopped the Confederates the Confederate Army's best chance for victory in that battle
[00:03:57] and
[00:03:59] Essentially at that point turned the or at least started to turn the tide of the war
[00:04:06] And it's no surprise
[00:04:08] In my humble opinion that these soldiers from Maine accounted themselves so well
[00:04:14] They're from a state that has
[00:04:17] harsh winners
[00:04:19] rugged terrain and a culture of hard work and self-reliance and
[00:04:25] And today we have someone with us that has become a manor
[00:04:31] After retiring from the SEAL teams and is now looking to serve his country and his state again
[00:04:37] His name is Ed Thielander and he's here with us tonight to share some of his experiences and lessons learned Ed
[00:04:44] Thanks for joining us man. Hey, thank you very much for having me on. This is awesome. It was awesome to get out here
[00:04:50] You know, I went out to Coronado last night
[00:04:53] and
[00:04:54] Watch some, you know some tadpoles playing on the on the old course
[00:04:59] And it hasn't changed much, you know
[00:05:02] It's that's one thing I miss from you know jumping over to the east coast was seeing these young frog, you know
[00:05:09] Men wannabes just get after it and and try and figure out, you know
[00:05:14] How to negotiate their obstacles on their own time after training and yeah, and yeah Washington run back and forth to Chow
[00:05:22] You know, you run six miles a day just to go eat in boots
[00:05:27] That's not kind of work out that's just to go eat and watching that was pretty cool
[00:05:33] So yeah, it's great to be back out on the west coast check it out for a little while and I'll be popping back over to these coasters
[00:05:40] Tonight. Yeah, the O course is all fenced off now. Yeah, I just walk out there and do it
[00:05:45] And I mean back in the day a civilian could basically walk out there and just run the O course and now it's all fenced off
[00:05:52] Which is a bummer because you know, it's kind of cool that you could just roll out there and run that thing
[00:05:58] Yeah, that's a pretty brutal O course
[00:06:01] And we'll get into that look before we get there before we talk about your buds your teams experience and all that let's start at the beginning
[00:06:07] Let's start where you came from where you grew up. What was going on? You're from originally from Michigan. Yeah, yeah Romeo, Michigan
[00:06:13] So so what was going on growing up?
[00:06:16] So, yeah
[00:06:17] Born in Marquette. My dad
[00:06:20] It was going to school up there
[00:06:22] You know, my dad did six years in the Navy and then what do you do in the Navy?
[00:06:25] He was a missile tech, you know subs. He wanted he was trying to talk me into go be in a nuke. Dang
[00:06:32] It's a hard conversation
[00:06:34] You keep telling me yeah, you get steak and lobster, you know, and you don't even have to get up to get a drink
[00:06:41] You know because you know people yeah, that's because you can't get up to get a drink
[00:06:46] It's so crowded. Yeah, and then you run out of fresh milk on you know with the fifth day and
[00:06:52] You know, they never turn the lights off or
[00:06:55] In the hallways, you know, it's it's or I'm sorry in in birthing in birthing
[00:07:01] They never turn them on except once a week to clean and then they go in there and pull up all the deck plates and get food out
[00:07:06] Did you ever do sub ops when you when you were in? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was at SDV
[00:07:10] Oh, gosh, so I mean which is just funny
[00:07:12] Yeah, you know team guys with nothing to do because we're kind of all ready for whatever we're gonna go do and we've got nothing to do except make jokes
[00:07:18] and cause trouble, you know, we were on the Dallas and
[00:07:24] We're the first ones, you know getting ready to eat because we're ready to go do our little gig and there's this little S-turn
[00:07:30] and
[00:07:32] So we all line up and there's this pipe that sits right about head height right about here
[00:07:37] And we all lined up. So you had to hit it
[00:07:41] But all the sub guys
[00:07:43] Now they just you know shifted the head around it. It was every diver and team guy that whacked right into that thing
[00:07:51] Yeah, that submarine life is is a different kind of life. Yeah respect to the guys that do it. I mean, it's I
[00:07:58] Could I I would I think the longest I was ever on a submarine four was like maybe a
[00:08:04] Week and a half or something like that. We were on we went on to go do some to go get inserted somewhere and bad weather came
[00:08:11] And I wouldn't launch us. So we were just stuck there, right? That was my first experience with hot racking, right?
[00:08:17] You know, you know what that is echo? No, I'm racking. It means when you share a bed with someone
[00:08:22] So like you're you're working one shift when you get done
[00:08:27] I when you go to work I get in your bed. So we share a bed. Yeah, take turns. Yeah, take turns
[00:08:33] Yeah, yeah, it's yeah, you can have two to three guys. Yeah
[00:08:37] Not cool. So so when you get on with the SDV, you know
[00:08:42] The SDV is a little wet submarine for folks that don't know and they put this basically this garage on the back of a submarine
[00:08:48] And it is it's wildly awesome because you that whole thing is dedicated from moving, you know
[00:08:55] To or six guys from point A to point B this big giant garage door opens up
[00:09:00] The SDV goes out, you know, 10 12 20 hours later that thing comes back
[00:09:05] it's pretty wild but
[00:09:08] We bring a bunch of folks on there to help us out and get everything ready. So they clear out a rack of torpedoes and
[00:09:16] That becomes your bear with your beds, you know, it's just so I gave up my bed to one of my guys
[00:09:22] because I was getting off and he was gonna stay on and work the comms problem and
[00:09:28] I'm you know decent sized guy. I can't turn in under that torpedo rack because the next torpedo above you
[00:09:36] I actually have to squish my shoulders in tight and
[00:09:40] And they in the
[00:09:43] Torpedo area they do not turn the lights off. Yeah, that thing's just always on everywhere else. They kind of cycle daylight
[00:09:51] In the work other working areas except the torpedo area. So you're just in there
[00:09:56] You know, they do put up a curtain it means nothing your shoulder to shoulder head to head with you know, whatever it is 20 other dudes
[00:10:04] And your dad's trying to convince you that this is the way to go. Yeah, go be a yeah. So was he a Submariner?
[00:10:10] Yeah, yeah, he did six years. No, he was a torpedo man. He was trying to talk me into being a nuke
[00:10:16] And those nuke guys they work hard man
[00:10:20] It is no joke. Yeah, that job is a tough
[00:10:24] Grueling in the friggin nuclear engine room or what I don't know what you call it the reactor room, right?
[00:10:31] So to work out on a submarine
[00:10:34] You got to put your dosometer on because you got to walk past the nuclear reactor and then they've got it's they're all quiet
[00:10:39] Workouts they did have a square block of
[00:10:42] dumbbells, you know
[00:10:44] Which is you know, they all wear tennis shoes so you don't make noise
[00:10:47] You know so you don't get no noise can hear you from above and then it's you know, it's an elliptical not a treadmill
[00:10:54] So, you know, I don't want to pound in other feet
[00:10:56] It's yeah, you can do pull-ups on something and you got those dumbbells in it and elliptical
[00:11:02] Yeah, it is check an ideal life for a guy that has a more of a propensity to be a seal, right?
[00:11:09] Right. All right. So your dad. So what'd your dad do after he got out of the Navy?
[00:11:13] So, yeah, he went went to college up in northern Michigan Michigan Tech in
[00:11:19] So driven in three years working two jobs. He got his bachelor's and his master's
[00:11:26] and you know
[00:11:28] with with three boys and then moving down to
[00:11:32] Southern Michigan teacher electronics teacher. So
[00:11:36] It was a good in high school high school high school electronics teacher. Yeah, and it was legit. I we were
[00:11:42] You would do all this after-school work and weekend work with his kids
[00:11:46] You know his students and we'd be in there climbing in and around all the electronic gear
[00:11:51] And he'd have us making circuit boards it what I remember to be a ridiculously young age a good ridiculous, you know
[00:11:59] I mean like five years old burning circuit boards
[00:12:03] You know it we made stuff
[00:12:07] flashing lights whatever
[00:12:08] But it was all fun and games and then all of a sudden we can do some wild stuff, you know
[00:12:12] we were always forced to
[00:12:14] Figure things out. I took electricity in high school with the teacher. I don't we all ever called him Scotty
[00:12:22] But that's where I learned how to like wire houses, you know
[00:12:25] Yeah, and it to this day like I mean at one of my houses
[00:12:29] I this is when I was still in the teams like took a weekend
[00:12:32] And redid put an electrical sub panel redid all the wiring in my kitchen cuz all jacked up and like such a great skill to have
[00:12:39] Oh, yeah, and it's yeah, it's all stuck with me, you know, I figure stuff out
[00:12:45] We never had a new TV ever we fixed all those old tube TVs, you know and change the channel with the pliers, you know
[00:12:53] We fixed our cars, you know from fixing our bicycles when we were young young and then we got motorcycles, you know little
[00:13:02] You know wisey 60s
[00:13:05] And we tore those down to nothing and put them all back together again first truck, you know
[00:13:10] That was given to me to use
[00:13:13] You start that thing up at a cloud of smoke and then we tore the whole thing down
[00:13:18] You know in high school on the weekends because they had a lift and all that stuff
[00:13:23] So did you go to school where your dad taught? No, no
[00:13:27] He was like like the the big high school north or south of us, you know 2000 plus kids
[00:13:35] We were like the the smallest of the big schools, you know
[00:13:40] So so 32 mile center of town was paved
[00:13:43] 33 mile road was dirt so we live close to the dirt road
[00:13:46] It's a what when when you were in school are you into school you're getting good grades getting decent grades, you know into the sports, you know
[00:13:56] Football wrestling and then track kind of drop track off at the end and just concentrated on football and wrestling
[00:14:04] You know like school, but not crazy into it, you know like the math, you know decent grades. I was a b-ish student, you know
[00:14:14] nothing definitely
[00:14:16] Not way into it. Were you thinking you were going to go to college or what was your dad steering you towards or your mom steering you towards?
[00:14:21] So I was getting steered towards the navy college navy college navy college, you know
[00:14:27] My dad really, you know
[00:14:29] Went up to ferris state university division two school as a college first year
[00:14:33] I was there became a university whatever that jump that's weird that so you would end up going to college one-year college
[00:14:38] Yep, and you said you got a scholarship. No. Oh, no, no
[00:14:43] Um, no just my dad went up there. They just me get me on the wrestling team wanted me to you know do that, you know
[00:14:50] Good team. So you're a good wrestler decent, you know, I enjoy a high school state wrestling did not make the states messed up my knee
[00:14:57] in
[00:14:58] Ended up having surgery on it
[00:15:01] Yeah, I just had like two-thirds of menacex taken out
[00:15:04] When you're like 17. Yeah. Yeah
[00:15:07] so so
[00:15:09] I had that surgery
[00:15:11] And in two weeks I went to wrestling camp
[00:15:16] So was that your senior year? Yeah, that was my senior year
[00:15:19] It and then you healed up enough that you could go up and you walked on to this wrestling team at ferris state university
[00:15:25] Yep, and I was a red shirt, you know, I did not compete
[00:15:29] But I stuck it all the way out. I mean I started we started out with like 90 kids and it was like 17 left it
[00:15:35] You know at the end, but I
[00:15:36] I was good weight for my coach. What weight were you? 163?
[00:15:39] 165 whatever it was in college
[00:15:42] So you're just scrapping with the yeah, our coach was was you know number one in the nation
[00:15:48] You know who I when I came out here to to san diego his big rival
[00:15:53] um
[00:15:54] Butler was
[00:15:56] You know, they were number one number two. I remember my coach in college was number two butler was number one
[00:16:01] uh, and uh
[00:16:03] It was cool because I was working out out under butler at the time. I would go work out at uh
[00:16:08] Uh, san diego community college and russell there, you know where dean actually ended up going
[00:16:14] We had the same coach a couple years difference
[00:16:18] That's a while. Yeah. Yeah, uh, so you say you only went to you only went to college for a year. Yeah
[00:16:25] halfway through and I was on a
[00:16:29] Plastics engineering program that there wasn't room for everybody to do all all the plastic classes
[00:16:34] So I was on a waiting list. So I was taking my english my math. I took a 300 level metallurgy class as a freshman
[00:16:41] And uh, I got out of there halfway through the year. I said yep, I'm gonna go do the option
[00:16:46] You know finish this year out strong and then I'm gonna go be a seal
[00:16:50] How'd you hear about the teams did your dad tell you about them? No, uh
[00:16:54] Adam I guess you say adam Blake good dude, um in high school. He was reading men with green faces
[00:17:00] Yeah, like the only book about seal teams at the time and I go hey
[00:17:05] What's that about?
[00:17:06] He goes, oh, that's a seal teams, you know, blah blah blah. I go. Oh, that's cool
[00:17:10] He was trying to talk me into joining the Marine Corps with him
[00:17:13] Which he eventually ended up doing
[00:17:15] But I said hey, how come you don't want to go do that? Oh, that's crazy. You know, that's so hard. It's not really possible
[00:17:23] check
[00:17:24] And then so that put it in my head. That's what I want to do and I'll go and do the college and then you know
[00:17:30] Can't quit anything never allowed to quit anything as a child, you know
[00:17:33] So I finished the year out strong and I signed up
[00:17:37] For the late entry I worked out a little bit in the summer did a couple of
[00:17:41] Triathlons, you know because I didn't know anything about what I was really getting
[00:17:45] There were no books about it. There was nothing really no prep courses. No, what the recruiters say to you
[00:17:50] Um, come on in. Yep. Sounds great. Looks like you're gonna make a great seal. Great. See, you know, he tells everybody else
[00:17:57] Right, right. Uh, yeah
[00:17:59] So, you know, it took the asfab and all that happy stuff and you know smoke that qualified to be a new qualified to do whatever
[00:18:06] Um, and uh, was your dad like see son? Yeah, new. Yeah, you're still trying, you know
[00:18:11] What'd your dad say once you told me you're gonna try and go on the teams?
[00:18:14] Oh
[00:18:16] Yeah, cool. But at the same time, hey, you you really want to look in and you know
[00:18:19] Be in a nuke. Yeah
[00:18:22] You know being on subs is cool, you know the whole steak and lobster thing and you know, you don't have to get up to get a drink
[00:18:27] and you know, they're all a bunch of good dudes, but uh
[00:18:31] Yeah, I don't belong in a submarine
[00:18:34] I get on the sub to get off the sub to go do something
[00:18:38] And then so did they have dye fair were you died for the dye fair? That's what I was too. No, so yeah, you get a guarantee
[00:18:45] to
[00:18:46] Take a try out. Yeah
[00:18:48] In boot camp
[00:18:51] And then whether you pass that test or not
[00:18:54] You are in the navy for six years. Yeah, it's a great recruiting tool
[00:18:58] It is a great recruiting tool and that's the the seal teams is a great recruiting tool. Oh, yeah
[00:19:03] because it if you know, they say that the the attrition rate is like
[00:19:08] 80 people quit or whatever something like that, right? But if you start taking all the people that
[00:19:13] Came in the navy to try and go to the seal teams. I mean, there's
[00:19:19] Most people don't even make it, you know two butts or at least a bunch of people don't make it two rights
[00:19:25] So they're the navy is getting a lot of a lot of people
[00:19:29] We're just you know blue angels. They mean that's on all the commercials. That's true, too. Yeah, who gets to do that seven of them or something like that
[00:19:35] You know and it's cool to be on the blue angels changing tires, but but that's not what they're advertising
[00:19:44] All right, so you join the navy you have no house boot camp. You're no factor. You a wrestler
[00:19:49] Yeah, no boot camp was just something to go through is it was pretty wild to go to Orlando or Chicago
[00:19:55] Yeah, oh, that's where all the die fairs when it's time. Okay. That's where I went to so I guess that makes sense
[00:20:00] It's wild seeing all these folks come from you know that that
[00:20:03] Boot camp was a factor like a wow factor either the teamwork part of it, you know
[00:20:09] People getting authority as a recruit that like yeah, you never have to you should never have authority
[00:20:16] and that and and see people stressed out about the
[00:20:21] simplest of things
[00:20:23] and that was wild to see those differences in people that that
[00:20:27] Uh, um, wow, you know, so yeah boot camp off the books, you know
[00:20:33] Boot camp navy boot camp is different. It's a lot about isolation and staying on a ship
[00:20:39] You're only allowed off the ship one time, you know for like the recruit weekend or something like that
[00:20:45] uh, you have you know
[00:20:48] That's what the navy's about. You're stuck on a boat and the navy's about like blue collar
[00:20:53] Industrial work. That's what most of the navy is sure and that's why navy boot camp is a lot about attention to detail
[00:21:01] Sure, you know following directions to a tee
[00:21:04] You know checking what you checking your work because you know if you're working on an aircraft
[00:21:07] You're working on a engine or you're working on a parachute like all these jobs
[00:21:12] They're industrial jobs. Yeah, and you got to be squared away at that thing, you know, as opposed to the army or the marine corps
[00:21:18] A lot of those are field jobs. You got to be doing something in the field. I mean, of course the marine corps has
[00:21:23] aircraft mechanics and everything else too and so does the army but that the navy is
[00:21:28] vast majority of it is industrial work people that know how to work on engines people that know how to work on
[00:21:34] Electronic equipment. That's what it is. Right. So that's what the navy boot camp is geared to
[00:21:37] I think it's it's come a long way now if you go watch like a navy boot camp video
[00:21:42] They have a simulator
[00:21:44] In Chicago like a ship simulator that fills with water and you gotta fight fires and so that I think they did
[00:21:51] Do a good job. It looks like they've done a good job at making it more
[00:21:55] A little bit more combat related or at least like navy war fighting to at least get you that mentality
[00:22:01] Because you should have that mentality if you're in the navy. So I think they've done a good job moving in that direction
[00:22:05] But essentially it's a bunch of industrial work that you're learning how to do. Yeah, you know
[00:22:10] You know thick thin thin thick. Yeah, yeah, I don't type the t-shirt the way you fold the t-shirt
[00:22:15] This is the echo Charles. So when you fold the t-shirt for navy boot camp standards
[00:22:19] There's like a certain way to fold it and it ends up looking like there's a thin layer
[00:22:23] Then the thick layer then there's a thin layer a thin layer and then another thick layer
[00:22:27] And then you got to learn this and you do it like following orders
[00:22:32] Tension of detail tension of detail before you get to play with the nuclear reactor
[00:22:35] We want to make sure you can fold the t-shirt wait. What's thick and what's thin?
[00:22:39] I don't know. It's the folds. Yeah, there's other material under there. So the first fold is
[00:22:44] Thick the next two folds are thin and then there's another thick one. It's just the way it's just a
[00:22:49] It's it's this funny thing that you know, I mean that was 1988
[00:22:54] I don't know if they still have it, but I know life babbon still folds his shirts like in a navy manner
[00:23:00] Yeah, I was like bro. He went to the naval academy. What the hell is that? I saw his stuff folded. I was like, yeah
[00:23:05] I was going over here. Yeah, it's stuck. It is a little attention to detail things. But you know, some of these folks couldn't
[00:23:12] There was this
[00:23:14] Brilliant, you know young man kid
[00:23:17] And he wigged out in the end started crying. Oh, yeah, you definitely see some people wig out. I mean, I just don't doubt about that
[00:23:24] Wow
[00:23:26] I mean, I understand some other things, you know what I like I wouldn't have wigged out for that
[00:23:29] But I get it, you know sears school and you know, and it's anybody wig out the teams
[00:23:33] But I saw him see it wig out in sears school. But uh, not navy boot camp. They yell at you. You know, that's an expectation
[00:23:41] Should be
[00:23:42] You know, but but some people just aren't used to that in their life, you know and
[00:23:47] Wow, yeah, I think also people get the impression that this is what the whole navy is going to be like for the rest of my career
[00:23:51] People are gonna be yelling and screaming and right and you think
[00:23:55] I can't take this and leave or you know
[00:23:57] I just want to make sure you can stand up to a little bit of stress because eventually something might get stressful
[00:24:01] Yeah, for sure
[00:24:03] Uh, so you get down. So do you go straight to buds after that? Would you go to a school? Yeah, kormin eights
[00:24:08] So remember maps, right? Yeah, your military and processing
[00:24:12] Yeah, put a fifth choice down because I put all I only I only wanted to be a seal
[00:24:17] You know our source ratings you had to pick a source rating because if washed out you would go to the navy and do that
[00:24:23] Uh, so I put down, you know three choices in an alternate
[00:24:27] Well, I still didn't pick kormin yet. So I said why don't you put down a fifth alternate?
[00:24:33] And so I got the fifth alternate core school, but it was the navy. Yeah last easy class
[00:24:37] It was only eight weeks
[00:24:39] next class shifted like 14 weeks and uh, you know trudged through that and uh
[00:24:45] Off to what should have been buds, but they messed my orders my orders up and sent me to balboa
[00:24:51] You know because they were like we're not a my
[00:24:53] Class 163 didn't start till whatever it was april whatever so they weren't going to get me there till like a week before
[00:25:02] You know, but you still had pre-training and they didn't care they needed somebody to go work
[00:25:06] You know somebody at the hospital was saying hey, we need some bodies
[00:25:10] Damn, so they sent me there and I was working for a really good senior chief and I said hey, you know, uh
[00:25:16] This is what I got going on. I don't think it's quite right
[00:25:18] And you know, I'm just a new kid in the navy and I'm still like hey, this isn't right. Um, can we check it out?
[00:25:25] And so I what I would do is I would go run down to rtc from balboa and I found you know
[00:25:31] Senior chief billy hill and and gobbled and I said hey, uh, you know senior chiefs
[00:25:35] Can I get a little help here because I don't think this is right? I think we yeah, that's not right
[00:25:39] Go get your swim in we'll fix it
[00:25:41] And so they fixed my orders, but it took a couple weeks
[00:25:44] So then I I got to buds and a week and a half later I classed up and started damn
[00:25:50] And you know class 163. Yeah
[00:25:53] And you classed up a week and a half after you got there. Yeah, you said that's uh, that's a little bit of a
[00:26:00] Quick start
[00:26:01] Yeah, because I didn't know anything, you know, I'm seeing everybody there. They like got their you know that rope around their belt
[00:26:07] You know and say hey, what's that about? Oh, yeah, we're doing underwater knot tying tomorrow
[00:26:11] Jack. Yeah
[00:26:13] Were you a good swimmer?
[00:26:15] I was a decent swimmer, you know, um, you know, I sink like a rock
[00:26:18] I basically, you know beat the water into submission
[00:26:21] Everybody's ever been a tried to be a real swimmer. You cannot beat the water into submission and go faster, you know
[00:26:28] It yeah, they sound like you sound like my kind of swimmer. Yeah, it's me against me fighting the water
[00:26:34] Yeah, uh, somewhat vertical through the water plane. Yeah
[00:26:38] I sink like a stone, but you are comfortable like not time when it did come
[00:26:41] Yeah, I do as a kid, you know, but you know not tying
[00:26:46] Okay, how do you tie that? You know those series of knots, you know, I didn't know and you know, that's what we're doing tomorrow
[00:26:52] Okay, how do you tie those knots?
[00:26:55] How was hell week for you and your class?
[00:26:58] Uh, yeah, uh, you know summer hell weeks, you know, just
[00:27:03] They're warmer, um, you know, uh
[00:27:06] Uh, these these other guys that are thinner are they are gonna suffer before I was because I was I'm you know, the mesomorph
[00:27:13] You know, I'm naturally heavier guy. Um, so basically they
[00:27:19] Kept that boat on your head longer and you know, my neck will tell you about that today still
[00:27:25] Yeah, uh
[00:27:26] Yeah, you know, um
[00:27:28] Remember remembering all the wild things about about hell week, you know, you know, what was your worst, you know, thinking hell week
[00:27:33] Tuesday
[00:27:39] So, uh
[00:27:44] Ryan Zinke what was uh
[00:27:47] Our first phase officer
[00:27:49] And at at uh chow times eat four times a day at chow time
[00:27:54] He would go around and make sure no one fell asleep
[00:27:57] And if you nod it off
[00:27:58] You're gonna get a jalapeno
[00:28:00] You know, so ed being from michigan and you know roast beef and mashed potatoes, you know
[00:28:07] Peppers like the ultimate spice and you sparingly my mom's, you know, french canada. There's it's a lot more bland food
[00:28:13] I've never had a jalapeno in my life and your lips are blistered, you know
[00:28:19] So it eats the jalapeno check
[00:28:23] And I threw up
[00:28:25] You know, it's a one mile run with a boat on your head
[00:28:28] I threw up for a mile and a little bit because we ran all the way to the oak horse
[00:28:32] And we did the oak horse with our boat
[00:28:34] And I threw up all the way through that oak horse hauling the boat around and then I've got no
[00:28:41] Fuel in the tank
[00:28:43] That was a long long day
[00:28:46] Yeah, I remember that, you know, and then remember the other things about, you know, the hallucin is a you know hallucinating
[00:28:51] You know, you know, lion's lope, you know, the uh
[00:28:55] You know getting mad at my paddle. I remember though my paddle is not, you know, you know making us go
[00:29:01] I'm crying hard, you know, that this paddle should make me go faster, you know, uh
[00:29:07] Yeah, remembering paddle prayers, you know
[00:29:12] What's paddle prayers?
[00:29:14] So they would put us together around in a circle. Oh, it's we have paddle above the other guy's head
[00:29:20] You got your paddle
[00:29:21] So you got your paddle so you're like this and when you fall asleep you try and catch yourself and you whack the tune
[00:29:29] Is that in the program?
[00:29:33] Yeah, uh, you know, I was a really motivated young, you know, uh number one bow line man
[00:29:39] You know the guy the guy that jumps out on the rock portage and and here's the boat
[00:29:44] I wanted to be that guy, you know, uh, that's the spot man. That's the spot get in there
[00:29:49] Let's do this and when that boat's upside down on your head, uh, that's spot too because you're taking some serious weight
[00:29:55] Yeah, that's a dangerous evolution in big waves man. Good old rock portage, you know, we didn't have helmets
[00:30:01] Yeah, you know, we had k-pox, you know, a big giant, you know horribly uncomfortable life jackets, uh, and uh
[00:30:09] Wow now they got helmets, you know, I dude I I noticed they took the stump jump completely out now
[00:30:14] Yeah, but they reduced the stumps first
[00:30:17] And now the stumps are all gone and they're tight as you know, and that's kind because that's a mental thing
[00:30:23] you know, um, everybody knew the right stump to jump on
[00:30:27] it's just that
[00:30:29] All the fear of falling. Yeah, and I don't remember anybody falling. I you know, I don't know that somebody fell and they hit their head
[00:30:34] I don't know what the echo this is on on the obstacle course
[00:30:39] One of the first was I guess was this actually the second obstacle you go across that dip bar thing, right, right?
[00:30:44] and then you hop off and there'd be
[00:30:46] Telephone poles caught off at various heights in the ground like stumps
[00:30:51] And you would have to jump from stump to stump to stump and they'd kind of increase in heights and the last one
[00:30:56] Was a little was depending on which route if you took the right route, which everybody knew right last one was the tallest one
[00:31:03] Had to jump a little bit further for it. And then you could jump you jump up onto this
[00:31:08] Grab this wall this low wall, which was probably like 10 10 feet. Yeah something like that from the stump from the stump
[00:31:13] Oh, yeah, but it did take
[00:31:16] It did take like a what's commitment right commitment to jump from stump to stump and a guy you used to
[00:31:25] Committing right and now it's just tires like you see on a football field, you know, you run the tires
[00:31:29] Oh, yeah, you're right about that psychological part right right there. There's a fear of falling
[00:31:33] It's just like, you know, if you focus on the the stump that you might fall on you're not looking at the stump that you want
[00:31:39] You know like if you're are you skiers?
[00:31:42] Yeah, you know if you ski with a helmet on
[00:31:45] And then you take your helmet off
[00:31:47] There you see you ski slower, especially if you ski in the trees. I mean you're skiing in the trees and
[00:31:54] If you're looking
[00:31:56] For the gaps you're good to go if you're looking for the trees that you don't want to hit you're gonna find that tree
[00:32:02] You know and it's the same kind of thing. It's it's it's it's a psychological thing
[00:32:05] You know to get you moving forward. Yep
[00:32:08] And they got helmets now too that they wear all the time which is weird too because like even during hell week they wear helmets
[00:32:15] Really?
[00:32:16] Which is to me the agony of that boat grinding on your head was like a huge part of of what's oh, yeah
[00:32:25] Yeah, guys
[00:32:27] You're getting you know your head getting some serious sunburn. You don't have a whole bunch of hair. Yeah
[00:32:33] It's yeah, your head's getting blistered
[00:32:36] It's a psychological part of it man that that
[00:32:40] Yeah, I don't know if I'd want to wear a helmet or not actually
[00:32:43] I keep you a little warm, you know, I don't know any other so once you got done with hell week
[00:32:47] You're in the rest of the buds. Was there any other major challenges for you there?
[00:32:51] Um eating dry out at the island
[00:32:53] Would you say eating dry? Yeah, so, you know
[00:32:57] At least one meal a day you had to either do the pull-ups the frog hill run or the rope climb
[00:33:03] What did you suck at something pull-ups?
[00:33:05] Okay, I could not yeah gravity, you know rope climb is fine because you use your legs technique
[00:33:11] But man, I ate wet a lot pull-up day
[00:33:16] It was funny because because for whatever reason I never did pull-ups growing up and uh, yeah, that was uh
[00:33:23] The island was second phase for me. Yeah, uh, then it switched eventually. Yeah, we're back to it. I guess so
[00:33:30] Yeah, eventually. I mean I became a pull-up freak, you know as a big guy, you know, I think uh
[00:33:37] Even after my shoulder surgeries. I did, you know, 26 pull-ups like six months later. It's like it's personal challenge
[00:33:44] But uh, yeah
[00:33:46] So so pull-ups was one, you know running not a great runner, you know swimming, but you know you're swimming, you know, uh
[00:33:54] Yeah
[00:33:56] Not a top performer by any means, uh, but just kept going forward, you know, and uh, you know, just
[00:34:03] All you had to do is perform, you know, um pass, you know, but perform, you know not tying
[00:34:11] um
[00:34:13] Normally no factor
[00:34:15] We did it in the dive tower
[00:34:18] How deep?
[00:34:19] Well the ropes stay the same depth
[00:34:22] The uh 10 feet Zinke took me down to 50 feet
[00:34:28] And we just hung out there and looked at each other
[00:34:31] And uh till he was you know tired
[00:34:35] And then we came up to the top and there is a set
[00:34:39] You know, it's all set what you're supposed to be doing. Uh, and uh
[00:34:44] I was like
[00:34:45] Okay, yeah, you're ready to go. Yeah ready to go. Yeah, you know
[00:34:48] And we went down and uh, and then we we came back up, you know, and bam next knot
[00:34:57] They were back down again and back up and down. So I failed that
[00:35:02] Yeah, uh, you know, that's one thing that's interesting what I remember about some of the breath holding stuff
[00:35:07] Like 50 meter underwater swim you go on a budge. You're like, ah, it's no big deal. I could do that
[00:35:12] but
[00:35:13] And not tying I'll take what's in nine feet go down there tie knot but you're in in buds because of everything that's going on
[00:35:19] You're constantly like beat down. So you almost always have a cough
[00:35:23] You kind of have a cold you kind of have like you guess you're always like that you're always tired like like a four mile time run
[00:35:30] four mile time run
[00:35:32] First phase was 32 minutes four mile time run. You look at that on paper on the outside. You're like, whoa, what's that?
[00:35:38] That's a freaking. Well, you know, I like to do that. No problem
[00:35:40] Then you get in there. You got boots on you got pants on you're running in the soft sand
[00:35:45] And the run is not four miles. It's like 4.2 miles for point four miles 4.5 miles
[00:35:51] right
[00:35:52] And then and and what'd you do the night before the night before that morning four o'clock in the morning four mile time run
[00:35:59] You did, you know, a thousand eight count bodybuilders or you did buddy carries up and down the burn. So everything is
[00:36:05] Harder than it then you think it's going to be in buds. It's not what's on paper. It's what what actually happens is harder
[00:36:13] Yeah, no
[00:36:14] And you didn't get to eat but you had to run to chow and you had to go through the line and touch the hamburger that you want to eat
[00:36:21] Um, but there was no time to actually eat it, you know, you wasted time running all of it
[00:36:25] But you that's what you must go there to do that
[00:36:28] But there's no time to actually sit down and eat and then you run and you go do the evolution because you have to be at the evolution on time
[00:36:33] Did you get rolled for anything? No, no first time every time. Yeah, it's uh, um, well, I mean I fail that but but my lungs were messed up from
[00:36:43] From hell week not times right after hell week. That's that's that's the kind of thing that makes it hard
[00:36:48] He's like you get done with hell week. You're jacked up man
[00:36:50] Right and now you got to go do these knots underwater and you're like you can barely even hold your breath for 10 seconds
[00:36:56] or socks
[00:36:58] And then you get taken down to the bottom. Yeah, you know 50 feet going down to 50 feet is no joke. I mean that's a that's a legit
[00:37:05] That's a legit swim, right?
[00:37:07] Subsurface swim that takes a that takes a decent amount of time just to get down to 50 feet
[00:37:13] Right and now you got to do your little
[00:37:15] Happy time with us right now in the tower. Yeah, the tower was 50. We went to the bottom sat
[00:37:20] Do you see it's gone now the tower? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
[00:37:23] Yeah, yeah
[00:37:24] I drove around there just checking everything out and so what are you are you like a seaman?
[00:37:29] Apprentice at this point or just a e3. Yeah. Yeah, it was there happy to be there check. Yeah, I mean
[00:37:35] Knowledge of the navy knowledge of what I'm you know other than I'm signing up
[00:37:40] I'm you know, I'm gonna get to shoot blow things up skydive scuba dive serve my country. Hell. Yeah, you know, uh,
[00:37:47] Let's rock and roll. That's right. Hey, cool
[00:37:49] it uh, you know, they'd like um
[00:37:52] Um
[00:37:54] Pull comp, you know, that was another one where you know, and I had uh, um
[00:38:00] One of the mean instructors
[00:38:02] Uh, uh, uh, and was he a senior chief at the time? Yes, he was
[00:38:06] I know exactly what you're talking about
[00:38:08] Yeah, and uh
[00:38:11] Hey great respect, you know, um
[00:38:14] But he ripped my mask off at the beginning, you know, so basically you got your your you got these old scuba tanks on with
[00:38:20] Uh flexible hoses that you can tie knots into not modern gear. They're actually soft hollow
[00:38:27] Hoses so you can tie knots into them to cut the air off
[00:38:30] uh, and uh
[00:38:32] You know, he takes my mask off and leave but leaves it on my head
[00:38:36] And I said, okay, I'm not gonna put it back on. I'm just gonna keep he's just swim back and forth
[00:38:41] And you get to the end you turn around and while they're doing that they're just coming in on you and wrecking your gear
[00:38:47] And you have to do everything procedurally correct
[00:38:50] And uh, I did everything procedurally correct, but since my mask was accessible
[00:38:55] I should have put it on
[00:38:57] fail
[00:39:00] There you go
[00:39:03] So I had to do that again, uh, uh, and I got even harder instructor. Uh, we considered harder but fair in my mind, you know, uh
[00:39:11] Superdude, but he uh
[00:39:13] um
[00:39:14] Yeah, I got put through the ringer again, but but you know, I put my mask on one day was available
[00:39:20] And uh lesson learned lesson learned. Yeah, I was a whole bunch of learning because I didn't do any of the
[00:39:25] You know, well, they didn't teach you that prehens because that was third phase for me, you know, I've been there, you know
[00:39:31] You know back into shape again
[00:39:33] It takes like a year is what they say to recover from hell week. You look at some of those cats
[00:39:39] um, and I remember, you know, I was
[00:39:41] A class corpsman, you know sending dudes to the hospital with encephalitis, you know, their hands are just, you know
[00:39:48] Big giant puff balls and their feet, you know, uh, it's uh, and we didn't get any sleep in hell week
[00:39:54] You're supposed they're scheduled to sleep, you know, uh
[00:39:58] But we did not get that
[00:39:59] Yeah, I think the scheduled sleep might be a couple hours total something like that
[00:40:04] Yeah, there's two blocks of it and you're supposed to get dry first
[00:40:08] um
[00:40:09] That one I know my class got because
[00:40:12] They you know, they tell you some story like hey the
[00:40:15] The the the skipper said we're being too hard on you guys where we have to stand down for eight hours
[00:40:21] You guys go get dry and you guys can go to bed and we'll wake you up tomorrow
[00:40:26] And I mean, you know, it's bullshit
[00:40:27] But you still you put on dry clothes and then you go and you actually get in your bed
[00:40:33] And this is probably probably tuesday. Yeah, and and then you know
[00:40:36] A half an hour later they come in and they get you up and hit the surf and right
[00:40:41] But but guys quit because it's it's a smart move to get people to quit
[00:40:44] Oh, yeah, because they go into the comfort zone, right?
[00:40:47] And then they bring you back out, you know, you gotta watch out for that comfort zone, bro
[00:40:50] That they go grab a hold of you. Oh, yeah, that's like when you're doing a long rock march. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
[00:40:55] If you stop you got to stop for like
[00:40:57] Five minutes eight minutes 10 minutes at the most then you got to get your ass up and start walking again because
[00:41:02] You start going into that 15 minute break 20 minute break your body gets cold and you're screwed getting back up
[00:41:10] But uh, yeah, so I we slept that point and you know, you fall sometimes you're just falling asleep
[00:41:16] I mean, there's nothing you can do about it. You're gonna fall asleep. Yeah, the uh, so they got us into dry clothes
[00:41:23] And we had a kid in our class that um quit on tuesday, you know
[00:41:29] Whatever 20 class or whatever, you know years before came back and uh, so he had knowledge up to tuesday
[00:41:40] And so we kind of you know, he knew something about that
[00:41:43] So we got dry, but then they put us on the grinder
[00:41:46] and uh on the pavement where we worked out and you know, we started doing flutter kicks and uh
[00:41:53] Instructors up there doing our flutter kicks. He brought the class leader up there
[00:41:57] And uh headed the class leader started leading us and then the instructors walked away
[00:42:03] And we're on our backs. We're in dry clothes. That's the standard
[00:42:08] um
[00:42:09] class leader would not let us go to sleep
[00:42:12] it's like
[00:42:14] Yeah, I go, you know, he's trying to go around making us say our social security numbers or birthdays
[00:42:18] You know trying to keep everybody awake and it's like
[00:42:21] I go and I'm
[00:42:23] I am a kid
[00:42:24] You know, I go you're doing the job for them
[00:42:31] And uh
[00:42:33] So then they at the end because they they're you know in that first phase corner office
[00:42:40] Just giggling I I imagine you know, uh, and then they uh, let us you know said I they're probably trying to figure out how to make that officer quit
[00:42:48] Yeah
[00:42:50] They weren't gonna make that guy quit that guy's a haas
[00:42:53] He's doing the underwater swim you gotta swim you gotta swim tight up
[00:42:59] Um, and you gotta do a flip into the water and then you swim 25 meters flip and then turn around and come back
[00:43:06] Without a mask on
[00:43:09] So he did it flutter kicking
[00:43:11] Damn
[00:43:12] Yeah, no, no, no, this is not not the tight up one the one you just the water swing the 100 meter
[00:43:17] Um tight up one, you know, uh, but but you have a mask on I think on that one
[00:43:23] Uh, but the other one you didn't have a mask. He's flutter kicking it and he swam off course
[00:43:29] Finally got back on course made it there and back
[00:43:32] It hard hard hard to stone. Yeah, uh college football player, you know, uh, but
[00:43:39] Yeah, so they put us put us to bed and um
[00:43:42] Um, somebody had a watch hidden you're not allowed to have a watch you have no concept of time or day or anything
[00:43:48] Uh, and uh, you're always trying to figure out what day it is a little bit, you know, uh, you know
[00:43:55] Trying to remember what meal you count for meal to meal basically
[00:43:58] um
[00:43:59] And uh, yeah, so 22 minutes. That's what we got for hell week
[00:44:03] Of sleep. It's not a lot of sleep
[00:44:05] Oh legit, so you graduate from buds and what did you want to go where did you end up going team three?
[00:44:14] You went to team three, right? Yeah, I went to team three
[00:44:16] So you get the dream sheet and you know, I put like all I wanted to go to Maine because I I love the snow and
[00:44:24] And it was like
[00:44:25] Start goes. Yeah. No, you can't do that
[00:44:27] That's stupid because you can't you got to go to a team first, you know, we have four billets up there in Maine
[00:44:32] That's how I eventually got up there. Uh, but I put team. I want to do cold weather. I want to put team two
[00:44:37] um, you know, I
[00:44:39] Put team four. I don't remember what else I put but you put all east coast teams
[00:44:43] I think so and the navy said west coast shielding three
[00:44:50] And uh, you know, I had a great time there, uh, you know, um
[00:44:53] Um, first platoon that you know, um mark muck crampton bob edwards, you know, um folks that you remember, you know, uh, miss mark, you know
[00:45:02] Mark was friggin awesome, man. Yeah, dude. Uh crazy. You know, we can talk about that just a whole
[00:45:08] We got to watch uh mark mark, you know, say it, you know committed suicide and uh, completely unexpected totally
[00:45:15] I mean that dude was solid as stone. Yeah, it's just an awesome mentor to so many people. I mean mentor
[00:45:21] Yeah, wow
[00:45:24] A smile on his face
[00:45:26] Every single time
[00:45:28] I interacted with him which was sometimes on a daily basis, but I mean for his whole career
[00:45:34] He just always had a good attitude about everything right about everything that was going on
[00:45:39] And yeah, so totally unexpected. You know, he retired. He's been retired. He had been retired for
[00:45:45] quite a few years
[00:45:47] maybe
[00:45:48] What do you think five years seven years something like that something like that? Yeah, I mean he kept on just
[00:45:53] Moving on up and doing good things for the teams and and everybody around him. I mean always uh self motivated
[00:46:01] Self improvement guy always looking for that next thing to make him and everybody around
[00:46:05] Yeah, and helping uh, I'm not not just the teams or he would like help kids that were wrestling had like a wrestling club
[00:46:10] He's just doing everything right. Yeah
[00:46:13] no, but yeah, that was that was uh, uh
[00:46:16] That was a great platoon
[00:46:17] you know, uh west back, you know did uh
[00:46:21] So where'd you deploy to the pi or'd you go? Where'd you go? P. I um, p. I
[00:46:26] Penotubo hit
[00:46:28] Oh, you know just after we left and we came back. I came back with foxtrot platoon
[00:46:34] And uh, you know the ashes everywhere
[00:46:37] So you weren't in the pi when penitubo hit. No. No, I was not
[00:46:41] You came how was the work up and everything your first platoon being a new guy
[00:46:44] Uh, what oh, yeah, oh you were a corman. I was a corman taking the hits, you know, uh
[00:46:50] We had a good bunch of new guys
[00:46:53] You know, uh, yeah, gino bam bam
[00:46:58] We can ghost man dave casper lost him to cancer
[00:47:01] Recently, I don't remember these guys were still around there at the time
[00:47:06] Yeah
[00:47:08] Just a good yeah, uh, but legit, you know we
[00:47:11] You
[00:47:13] You make a mistake as a as a new guy back then, you know, you're gonna pay for it. I really didn't get too much grief
[00:47:20] I mean one day out at niland, you know with the old niland, you know with the trio woe and uh,
[00:47:26] they were they were, you know, uh
[00:47:29] Tune in some folks up. I was on watch, you know, it was untouchable
[00:47:33] Dave the ghost man Casper
[00:47:35] Um, they were going after him and they chased him
[00:47:39] He got up on top of the mill bands and the rsu's that were over by the fence
[00:47:44] And that's there's a gap big enough to drive a semi tractor trailer and unload it
[00:47:49] He jumped over that barb wire and made it out into the desert and spent the night up freedom freedom
[00:47:59] Right on and then so what'd you do on deployment back then, uh, you know, I I deployed training, you know, uh fed, uh,
[00:48:06] You know, did you go to any cool countries?
[00:48:08] Yeah, uh, I had a blast in, you know, South Korea, um, you know, we went to Japan did some sub ops there. We did, uh
[00:48:17] Shoot where else did we go?
[00:48:19] I mean, there wasn't a whole bunch of traveling, you know
[00:48:22] Golf kicked off we deployed early
[00:48:25] You know, I did not we didn't do did you backfill someone that went to the golf or something
[00:48:28] Yeah, yeah, uh seal team five worst job ever in the teams. Hey, we just need you to backfill for the guys that are going to war
[00:48:34] You're like, no
[00:48:35] So yeah, I missed out, uh, you know
[00:48:37] Well significant parts of the work up, you know as a new guy too, you know and as a corpsman
[00:48:44] Back then we didn't have the training that they got now
[00:48:47] You know, and I could have got some more of that, you know, uh, but I mean the first stitches I ever
[00:48:52] ever did other than on a
[00:48:55] You know, uh
[00:48:56] fruit
[00:48:59] Was my own knee
[00:49:01] Workup out of niland and they had, uh
[00:49:03] Uh a pistol course we were running there was a pipe you had to crawl through that had bullet holes in it
[00:49:08] and uh, you know, you know dug on my knee and you know, I
[00:49:12] I never even
[00:49:14] used lidocaine because
[00:49:16] I wasn't I taught that in core school
[00:49:19] You know, and I hadn't been through
[00:49:21] Um the empty course where you got all that
[00:49:24] Yeah at this point in the work up and so
[00:49:28] A whole platoon watching me because I'm the doc in the platoon
[00:49:31] Um and uh, which again was just crazy wrong, you know from what they get a platoon guy now had more training
[00:49:38] The regular platoon guy now has more than than what I had there so squirt away and uh, you know
[00:49:43] I never tied a knot on a human, you know a stitch and so
[00:49:47] everybody's watching
[00:49:49] And uh, you know figured it out
[00:49:52] Yeah, herk herk herk doc. Uh, yeah doc herk was you know supervising me and uh,
[00:50:00] I figured it out, you know
[00:50:03] Cleaned it cleaned it out myself
[00:50:06] and that was you know, but
[00:50:09] They were you know, we came back second platoon. We were like getting ready to get uh,
[00:50:13] Corazon Aquinas out, you know 92 time frame 91 92 and that was
[00:50:20] That was a fun little, uh, you know
[00:50:22] Jump into the deployment. We jumped into doing that and you you've done the quick ducks where you're uh, um
[00:50:28] In recoveries where you're driving right into the back of a 47. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we were doing in the back of 53s
[00:50:36] That's why I wrote her. Yeah. How's that work? That's gotta be sketchy
[00:50:40] Especially when you're by yourself, but I you know
[00:50:43] Um, what are they like? Hey, you got this you drive it in there. We'll we'll wait
[00:50:48] Yeah, so so we you know, everybody goes out and uh, no big deal, you know, but they're um, it's uh
[00:50:54] It's fully inflated just about or it was a
[00:50:59] Drive take everybody on shore and then recover back onto the same helo by yourself
[00:51:04] It's 240 not rotor wash
[00:51:07] from uh
[00:51:08] A 53. Yeah, so echo just to explain what he's talking about
[00:51:12] So a ch 53 is a big giant helicopter
[00:51:16] But you ever seen the helicopters that have two big rotors on top, right? That's what we would normally do this on
[00:51:22] Well, that's called a 47 or a 46 is a little small but a 47 is big
[00:51:28] But the 53 has a tail rotor like a normal helicopter. So when you drive in the back
[00:51:34] You're coming close to this thing for sure. Oh, yeah. No, you come in you're coming in at a 45
[00:51:41] Um, and you've got to make sure your your engine's on tilt
[00:51:44] You're coming in at a 45 to void the tail rotor. Um, because that's legit
[00:51:48] Uh, again that rotor wash can flip that boat. I put anything extra in it, uh into the bow of the boat
[00:51:55] And I would lean forward and holding on to the tiller it leaning forward into the boat
[00:51:59] You punch through that and it's a wall when you get through it. There's dead space
[00:52:03] So so you you've got a you got to make a right hand turn
[00:52:08] And gun it one more time until you're and you're in you're inside the helicopter
[00:52:12] It's like by yourself. It's pretty wild to do
[00:52:14] Um, and as a new guy, I mean this is my second platoon
[00:52:18] Uh, without a workup. So that was that was pretty wild and that whole so that those were air force spec ops guys
[00:52:25] And I know there was their big, uh
[00:52:28] Thing and it was uh, yeah, we did exercise with those guys too in the philippines. Um, you know the uh
[00:52:36] The c-130 that they had
[00:52:38] um, it got shot by
[00:52:40] You know npa or some farmer didn't like flying to serve in their jack or what you know, whatever
[00:52:47] Uh, uh, and uh, so it it took a round through and through the plane
[00:52:52] We never knew they they landed it patched it is their exercise and that thing was back up in the air
[00:52:59] When when an air force bird, you know breaks
[00:53:03] Um, and it's in a nice place like hawaii
[00:53:06] You're there for a couple days
[00:53:08] We never knew it even got hit. Yeah, you know, and this is training again. I'm not you know, it's uh
[00:53:14] um, yeah, that was that was
[00:53:16] Pretty wild now this didn't you fall somehow like a oh, yeah, what was that all about?
[00:53:22] ouch just um, so
[00:53:25] I always went off to uh, um, josh woodtree
[00:53:30] Or I had a while to go climbing on the weekends, you know, uh, Lou Langlis, you know talk. We were all in a
[00:53:35] Um
[00:53:37] Andy rios lou, um, who else was in the barracks? Um, you know
[00:53:43] Go off climbing on the weekends, you know, we were still in the barracks and the teams at that time
[00:53:48] Um, and so, you know off camping
[00:53:53] And I was a pretty decent climber right off the bat
[00:53:55] You know, my uncle up in canada would take me climbing
[00:53:58] And uh once in a while as a kid and uh, rarely but um, I just liked it and uh
[00:54:05] I went up there. No one no one could go climbing with me. So not cool. I just go find somebody when I get up there
[00:54:11] so
[00:54:12] I had the soloist, you know, it's a self-bolay device you tie off to the bottom and as you progress you keep putting
[00:54:18] Um pro in it's a camping unit. Um, and I did like a 5-8 and I funny. I remember the names of the climbs because
[00:54:24] I was like, uh, uh, Mike's books. It's on intersection rock right there in uh, in joshua tree
[00:54:30] And then I just hung dog this I got to the top set up a top rope
[00:54:35] Making it safer. Uh, and I just did like a Mike's books like a 5-8 and then the next one was like a 5-11
[00:54:43] Which is above my what I could do. I was a 10c ish climber
[00:54:47] Um, so I just kind of cheated my way up on that literally, you know, because you can you can hang on your pro
[00:54:52] Hang on your whatever. Yeah, well, you just pull on your rope a little bit because it's I'm self-bolaying top rope again. Okay
[00:54:58] Get to the top and and uh, you know, there's uh
[00:55:03] Lady who wants to go climbing with me. I'm like check, you know
[00:55:08] So it's all downhill from there. Yeah, so I throw my rope down and uh, I go do the down climb and I look up
[00:55:16] And there's my rope. It's caught in a crack
[00:55:18] All right, I gotta hurry up. I got the four pieces of pro that I set that top rope up with and
[00:55:26] I climb up there get to the rope put it back through the belay device and when you're when you're using that soloist if you're off track, um
[00:55:35] It drags so I'm in this bowl and there's a uh
[00:55:39] There's an overhang so I gotta reach out and around
[00:55:43] um, and
[00:55:44] I was doing it and it's actually a pretty easy climb is like a five seven
[00:55:49] Um, but I didn't feel comfortable with it and I had no idea what was really up above me. It was really
[00:55:54] It was dumb
[00:55:57] And so I said nope not gonna do it
[00:55:59] So I jumped back into that bowl
[00:56:01] But I took up the slack and that one piece of pro that I set in kept my feet from planting
[00:56:07] Um, but it popped that pro and I flipped out of there backwards and I uh
[00:56:15] You know, I'm 40 feet up
[00:56:17] And I I come against the vertical face
[00:56:21] I palm the rock broke my left wrist
[00:56:23] um tucked into a
[00:56:25] Good plf and I landed in this standstone wash and it
[00:56:30] Folded me like a book separated both my shoulders
[00:56:33] Um chipped my ankle and whatever else
[00:56:37] Um, that was a train wreck
[00:56:39] Um, and there was a class for guides just uh
[00:56:45] 100 feet away and they got me the rest of the way down or they didn't have a part to go and uh
[00:56:51] I called, you know, and
[00:56:53] Ranger said hey, you know
[00:56:56] We've had a lot of people fall from there
[00:56:58] They either land here in the sand because if I went if I would have pushed off a little bit further
[00:57:03] I would have landed in the sand probably wouldn't have been happy either
[00:57:06] Um, and he said yeah, they usually live in the land over here or they land where you do and they don't
[00:57:12] Uh, just by chance I landed right in the middle of the wash. I was tucked into a tight plf parachute landing fall
[00:57:17] Um, you know just not recent graduate of uh, because this is my this is before my first platoon. Okay
[00:57:23] I was not gonna not deploy
[00:57:26] um, so
[00:57:27] I didn't want to go to 29 palms and get stuck out there. I called Gina whoop. Gina came pick me up
[00:57:34] and uh, was another team guy and uh, you know, so yeah, just dropped me off at Balboa
[00:57:38] I'll get it, you know, and they you know did a couple, you know
[00:57:42] Basically you get into going to Balboa on a saturday night
[00:57:45] What do you got there a whole bunch of colds a whole bunch of you know
[00:57:49] That's what they have for an option to get their kids taken care of and uh
[00:57:53] And go up to the nurse. You're gonna say when I've had to go Balbo
[00:57:56] I'm like a sat depending on what time it's like saturday at two o'clock in the morning
[00:58:00] It's like drunk sailors that are gotten fights beat up. It's like such a disaster. No, this this is this is early
[00:58:08] Our late evening. Yeah, so you're all right. They haven't gotten drunk enough to get end up in the hospital yet
[00:58:13] Yeah, but but I'm there and uh, uh, the triage nurse, you know says, uh, hey, I'm ed, you know, I'm uh, uh,
[00:58:20] You know, I I fell and I hurt my you know
[00:58:23] I got I'm banged up whatever I said
[00:58:26] It was fill out this clipboard and come back to us
[00:58:29] And my neck is jacked up. I can't turn, you know, and I sit down and I start to think about filling it up
[00:58:36] And I'm looking, you know, I'm looking like this
[00:58:39] You know, I can't turn my head and I go I just stand back up and said ma'am
[00:58:43] Um, I fell 40 feet and a rock fall and my neck hurts. Sir
[00:58:48] Please don't move and they strapped me into a backboard when you know x-rayed my neck, you know, what else hurts, you know
[00:58:55] This is 10 hours after the fall
[00:58:58] Everything hurts
[00:59:00] And they x-rayed me they didn't find anything, you know, they didn't x-ray everything
[00:59:03] There was more things that hurt than than my wrist and my my ankle, you know
[00:59:09] But uh, yeah, um later on I found out so
[00:59:12] I went climbing two weeks later with my this is three weeks before deployment, but I had no strength in my left wrist
[00:59:19] I didn't know why
[00:59:21] And my little brother wanted to go pre-deployment leave we went up to canada went climbing, you know
[00:59:28] young kids
[00:59:29] Drive, but I deployed in
[00:59:32] And I think a total of three weeks. I got acupuncture like the next day because I could not raise my arms above my head
[00:59:37] Uh, you know, but I got acupuncture stuck a needle in my from an acupuncture student in Coronado, so that's good
[00:59:45] It worked. She's you know
[00:59:47] Anyway, yeah, yeah stuck a needle in my hand and my shin and
[00:59:52] All of a sudden I can raise my hands above my head and you know, we went on deployment
[00:59:57] And I had to do we had to do a prt
[01:00:02] And I'll tell you it on camera here I cheated I did not do the pull-ups
[01:00:06] I kind of cycled around but I did the run probably the slowest I ever ran three miles at that point in my life
[01:00:11] but I was able to pass everything and
[01:00:15] um
[01:00:16] Yeah, I so wrestling tournament the fleet comes into town
[01:00:20] and uh
[01:00:22] Carrier group so they all kinds of activities that don't go out in town and cause trouble. You know and uh
[01:00:30] So I'm wrestling in this tournament
[01:00:32] And I I re-agitated the break in my wrist in the first match
[01:00:39] And then in the finals I separated my shoulder
[01:00:43] And uh, I yeah, I bowed out at that time happily took second
[01:00:47] So I kept separating my shoulders like every three months one or left one of the right one left one of the right one
[01:00:53] You know, uh, just a young kid keep moving forward and uh, I was the corpsman
[01:00:58] But I didn't really know a whole bunch. You know, so
[01:01:00] Yeah, keep moving forward keep going. Yeah, so what'd you get do when you got done with that second platoon that team three?
[01:01:07] so
[01:01:09] second but so in between
[01:01:11] uh, those platoons I screened for for dev group. Oh, okay, and uh
[01:01:17] Yeah, they said we don't want you as a corpsman. Can you cross right? I said yes because I didn't want to be a corpsman
[01:01:26] I could have stayed, you know with more training and all that
[01:01:29] Okay, but but I just want to be a you know, arch-eyed team guy
[01:01:32] You had to cover your own evolutions back then and I never did because I always found somebody else to cover them
[01:01:37] You had to work at it though and I said I should not have to work to have someone else cover my platoon evolutions
[01:01:43] That's just the way it used to be from moons ago
[01:01:45] um, and so I screamed positive I jumped right into uh, uh
[01:01:51] Foxtrot platoon
[01:01:53] uh, did that the end of their work up really and then jumped right onto the deployment and uh
[01:01:58] I came back from that and
[01:02:01] young kid, you know, we never did a cqb work up. I made the mistakes I made and uh
[01:02:09] Then it's a you know, so I didn't make it through and then where do you want to go and uh, you know seal team four
[01:02:14] uh, just because the reputation and uh, um, I wanted to get to the east coast
[01:02:21] You know so they I think I put you know two and four and they said they'd give them whatever I wanted
[01:02:25] And I said let's go go to four and you know south america and uh, so I went and did that
[01:02:31] And then you so you show up at team four just back into platoon life. Yep. Um, hey, can you deploy in two weeks?
[01:02:37] check
[01:02:38] Have your uh, are you a six gunner?
[01:02:41] I am now
[01:02:43] So that's your for you're your third platoon if you get assigned as a pig gunner. Yep. Uh, uh, well, I mean
[01:02:48] I mean as a corpsman I wanted to carry the pig medical gear and everything else, you know
[01:02:55] Again happy new guy, but so so yeah, um, you know, I can work the pig and so I went out and uh
[01:03:02] Bought myself some uh, you know 200 round uh pouches
[01:03:07] and uh figured out made some gear up and off to deployment I went um
[01:03:11] And uh, yeah, can you be the diver up? Yeah, I could be the diver up. Uh, uh, you know, I was diving since I was a kid
[01:03:19] You know, um, I died. I think I qualified when I was 15 or 16 very comfortable in the water
[01:03:27] And uh, yeah, so so we I got dengue fever
[01:03:32] Bad deal. Oh, so what's the deal with that? Yeah, um, you know, uh, get bit by a mosquito and uh,
[01:03:41] You know, I got up to 106.5 temperature
[01:03:44] Bad deal, uh, not at that point though. So we were in Panama and I got I didn't know what I had
[01:03:50] I was just trashed, you know, um, just hot spikes
[01:03:55] Um, colds, I mean can't walking outside just go put a piece of mail in the mailbox, you know outside the barracks
[01:04:01] And I'm freezing and it's 98 degrees
[01:04:04] Um, and then you know go back inside the air conditioning and I'm just all of a sudden, you know, just up and down and up and down
[01:04:10] But then I got better
[01:04:12] So there's a trip to Colombia
[01:04:16] Can I get on there? Yeah, throw them on the bird
[01:04:19] When we landed in Barranquilla
[01:04:24] And they literally kicked our pallet off at the end of the runway because it was a very hot area
[01:04:28] Um, it just hit again, you know, I got better for like a couple of days and um,
[01:04:35] We got
[01:04:37] Can't trace a scheme or something
[01:04:39] Uh, the town we're in
[01:04:41] And my fever got up to 106.5 and uh, you know, it was the other new guy Corbin. I wasn't a Corbin anymore
[01:04:48] But uh, it's like, you feel good. I think I'll get better a little bit, you know, but yeah, I was iced in
[01:04:54] Luckily we were there with the SBU guys and uh
[01:04:59] Um, they brought an air conditioner, you know, we put an air conditioner in the building. We're in we're talking one dirt road town
[01:05:04] You know that tees into the river
[01:05:06] And uh, yeah, that was uh, does dengue fever stick with you for the rest of your life like uh,
[01:05:12] Not not you don't get this. Um, if you get it again, it's supposed to be really really bad. Uh, but no, it's not like malaria
[01:05:20] Um, but man, it takes forever to recover. So on that treasure month-long trip
[01:05:27] Um, so this is why I don't like freaking travel, bro. I'll stay right here. Well, I don't like leaving America
[01:05:32] My wife's always like, hey, let's go to this place. I might know. Well, how about you want to go somewhere?
[01:05:37] Panama's how about freaking northern california? How about, you know, how about we go to tecula?
[01:05:41] How does that sound? Yeah, she wants to go to some foreign place?
[01:05:45] Bro, I did all that. Yeah, and I didn't get dengue fever and I don't want to get it. No, I mean bad deal. Um,
[01:05:50] From from from seal team four. I've known somebody who's had everything like leachmen isis. Yeah, so back in the day
[01:05:57] In in the 90s. Well, even before that the teams were geographically oriented. So
[01:06:03] Seal team one was southeast asia seal team two was europe seal team three was europe
[01:06:09] Seal team one was southeast asia seal team two was europe seal team three was supposed to be southwest asia seal team four
[01:06:17] was south america
[01:06:18] And seal team four, you know had had done the stuff in panama had lost guys in panama had, you know, the
[01:06:25] The combat experience really right of the of the era
[01:06:29] Um, so I can imagine that probably played into your mindset of wanting to go to team four and and it spanish speakers
[01:06:36] Were going to team four right and I mean there was still, you know
[01:06:41] All the snow cap ops that they were legit doing, you know, whether it was just
[01:06:45] You know, I'm sitting on a mountain top of the radio or getting involved with the da. I mean that was happening
[01:06:51] Um
[01:06:52] And this was one of those gigs where we were going in to train in these folks and then we were going to go in as a radio relay
[01:06:59] Um, so at the end we were going in as a radio relay
[01:07:03] They sent me walked an insane amount and
[01:07:07] um, and I'm the 60 gunner and I've weakest snot from from dengue fever and
[01:07:15] um
[01:07:16] Sun up to sun down we did
[01:07:20] Ridiculous, so it's not it was not through the jungle. It was through the edges of open fields that had all these
[01:07:26] um
[01:07:27] Lava rocks, you know softball size a little bigger smaller
[01:07:31] To get into columbia at that time frame
[01:07:34] The marines controlled the mill group so to get access to the country you had to go through the marines
[01:07:39] Marines are trying to build the river in assault teams or rat teams
[01:07:43] So you had to take a marine fighting force with you, you know
[01:07:47] an 01
[01:07:49] you know uh
[01:07:51] staff sergeant and uh, you know a corporal um, so we
[01:07:55] tagged on and
[01:07:57] Yeah, two stayed back what you had your platoon right so you have a squad and how many guys did you have this was a squad?
[01:08:04] Okay, but but then we had all the sp you guys and we were so we were training the sp you guys was training their folks up
[01:08:10] We were training our folks up and you know, we were in the middle of 30 dudes
[01:08:15] um, you know plus on this uh hike
[01:08:18] Uh, and uh, uh, we never saw anything, you know, uh, we went in dry hole and and back out
[01:08:29] this marine uh lieutenant
[01:08:32] Read a book were seals
[01:08:35] Don't wear socks
[01:08:37] Uh, and uh that dude's feet were cas wrapped
[01:08:41] Just trash
[01:08:43] Yeah, bad bad
[01:08:45] bad deal
[01:08:47] Yeah, how far of a hump was it?
[01:08:50] ridiculous
[01:08:52] It was it was
[01:08:54] It was like 20 clicks we walked from sun before sundown. We did two hours in the daylight
[01:09:00] Through the night and then came up two hours after and we never stopped we got there dry hole turn around go
[01:09:06] You know the foot was open field, you know foot thing like 20k you got to condition your feet
[01:09:11] Oh, yeah, like a lot and then there's some advantages to it because socks hold water
[01:09:17] And if you're like working in the jungle, you can get used to it and you can be a good thing
[01:09:21] But if you roll out for your first time no socks
[01:09:24] Yeah, but but you guys were doing that because they weren't walking anywhere. Yeah, that's that's another thing
[01:09:30] literally, I mean swimming up the edge of the stream or the river
[01:09:36] You know 50
[01:09:38] Tops yards if not 50 feet
[01:09:41] Um doing the hit and back in the water again. There was reason for it. Um that this was known to be a long walk
[01:09:49] And uh, yeah, no his feet were not serviceable
[01:09:55] So you're you're down there. How many platoons do you do you end up doing at team four?
[01:09:59] uh
[01:10:01] Three I know one of the one of these platoons you meet your wife, right?
[01:10:04] Uh in between actually, okay. Well, how'd that go down? Yeah, uh, eod's uh explosive ordinance disposal guy married to uh, uh
[01:10:13] Spanish lady. My lily on it was up in virginia beach
[01:10:16] Uh, learning english
[01:10:19] Okay, and uh
[01:10:20] Yeah, so so I was trying to learn spanish, you know, I took a couple little, you know classes on it, but uh
[01:10:27] um, so I you know
[01:10:29] Yeah, it was perfect. You know, how did she get to become the virginia beach to learn spanish to learn english funny
[01:10:36] She knew uh another team guy's wife
[01:10:40] Um, and it was going to stay with them and it ended up staying with cheese
[01:10:44] uh, branquiseo and uh and his wife and then
[01:10:49] However, uh, uh the od guy and his wife introduced us
[01:10:55] Yeah, and she's from where?
[01:10:56] Venezuela
[01:10:57] Okay. Yep
[01:10:59] So she's got an interesting viewpoint on the way things go down from a governmental perspective
[01:11:04] Yes, she does and see what's happened to her now. She sees it's coming here man. She sees it's coming here and uh
[01:11:11] Um, yeah, we'll get into it later. I'm sure but definitely the big push to do this thing that we're doing now
[01:11:17] Yeah, that's gotta be crazy. Um, so you end up so you end up getting married to her. Yep
[01:11:22] uh
[01:11:23] Yeah, we got married and uh, you know, I was always trying to not get married because I'd like exactly what I do because I was always in a platoon
[01:11:30] you know and
[01:11:32] um, and at this point, you know, um
[01:11:36] Still happy being a platoon our first, you know first six months of marriage was all you know, I was in a platoon. I was on deployment
[01:11:44] Get back from that and
[01:11:48] At that point we still had training
[01:11:51] um
[01:11:52] at the teams and uh
[01:11:55] and so
[01:11:56] Team four it used to just be rotate out do a stint in training and then back
[01:12:01] I mean it was as really a crazy quick handover team four, you know, this is just before we started putting it to the groups
[01:12:08] And team four said no you're in training for 18 months
[01:12:12] Uh, which is right. I didn't have to like it, you know, uh, so I was in training and
[01:12:17] Marops I was like
[01:12:19] You know and and and diving I was like not what I want but but I made
[01:12:25] What I ended up doing with it is training it into, you know, even though there
[01:12:30] we had
[01:12:32] Turnover which was uh, you know minimal turnover of platoons back then too
[01:12:35] So we had a lot of folks could just do things, you know, you could do ops right at the beginning of platoon work up
[01:12:41] It wasn't gonna be perfect, but they'd figure it out. So I took um
[01:12:44] Marops and basically we ended up doing um
[01:12:50] Some down pilots with it, uh and other things we'd
[01:12:54] You know, it was any five and they just needed somebody in there
[01:12:57] They could you know, because what was any live fire in it?
[01:13:00] Although I didn't put it in there
[01:13:02] uh
[01:13:03] with the pat the
[01:13:05] Uh, the guy running that the the diving portion, you know, we were doing some sniper shots with uh diving our gear and doing some pretty complicated, uh, um
[01:13:15] You know, we'd get the
[01:13:18] Coast guard involved or the auxiliary which really is your personal boat, you know
[01:13:22] A bunch of older older dudes that that just wanted to do good with their personal boat and doing indigenous, you know
[01:13:28] We had a blast doing down to north carolina and doing a live fire shot, you know
[01:13:33] Um in town
[01:13:35] um, you know two e-fives you had to bring us a chief on board to
[01:13:39] Um certify the shot with good and safe and all that stuff, but we were just you know, you know, it was good, you know made
[01:13:46] Uh, you know adept winners got involved with it
[01:13:48] He was the the captain of the team captain at the time and he loved it
[01:13:51] And he loved the brief because I was always doing these curve balls in there
[01:13:54] Just not not straight on you get to have a happy successful training mission, you know, there's always a curve ball and I
[01:14:00] He wanted, you know, I briefed it that way and we did it that way and uh, he actually had his brother who's uh, I think uh
[01:14:08] He navy pilot, you know a 14 pilot at the time. I think it'd be the down pilot for us one time
[01:14:15] You know we're doing a bunch of stuff out in town
[01:14:17] um instead of just around the base and then you know
[01:14:22] Turned in rectangles and triangles out in the ocean. We actually were doing ops. We went out to ches light
[01:14:28] You know over the horizon
[01:14:31] Launched off the whole piece
[01:14:34] PCs and over the horizon
[01:14:37] over the beach into back bay and
[01:14:41] All the 75 nautical miles and actually did a pilot recovery
[01:14:46] In the intercoastal waterways on a piece of property that I was going to buy and then later on a property that I bought
[01:14:53] had him do reconnaissance on it
[01:14:55] and uh
[01:14:56] Just try to you know, um
[01:14:58] It wasn't going to be regular old. Yeah more ops. Yeah, that's that's what it takes is guys that are going to take the training
[01:15:04] And just step it up to the next level. It's always awesome. And the next folks took it even higher than that for me
[01:15:10] That's the idea, you know always better better better
[01:15:13] Uh without getting too many crazy drift into it. Then you end up you end up going to dli, right? Yeah. Yeah
[01:15:21] My shoulders are getting really bad. Um, you know, I literally could move
[01:15:25] You know like refrigerator magnets around anymore and uh, so I went out there and rehabbed
[01:15:30] You know, that was the idea rehabs right there on the did you have to get surgery? Yeah, so I
[01:15:35] I I didn't get soldiers. Yeah, they wouldn't do it. Um
[01:15:39] I wanted to do it right off that deployment
[01:15:42] And um, they wouldn't do it. They wanted me to do rehab first
[01:15:46] And I got orders dli for the basic and the intermediate and I went out there with this is 97 ish
[01:15:52] Uh, uh, something like that. Um, and uh, um
[01:15:59] Yeah, taking her out there without fast computers and these you know phones you can talk to to translate for you
[01:16:04] I mean dli's six and a half hours of Spanish a day every day
[01:16:09] um and four hours of homework a night
[01:16:12] uh and uh
[01:16:14] Legit, I mean I can I I can speak and uh definitely with you know with my mother-in-law living in their house at
[01:16:20] So various points in father-in-law. I mean I got it down and would your wife speak Spanish to you all all the time
[01:16:27] When you got home from dli? Yeah, I mean so she spoke better English
[01:16:32] When we met that I spoke Spanish so our natural language together was English
[01:16:37] Um, it was kind of like the go-to when my brain got tired
[01:16:40] But but uh, yeah for the most part I could say hey, how do you say this?
[01:16:44] You know instead of you know
[01:16:46] Um looking it up in the dictionary and figuring out how to you because you couldn't right now you just talk to your phone
[01:16:51] And I'll tell you so so that was and that was cool
[01:16:55] It takes you about four months to get it to click where you can actually go out and see you know, um
[01:17:03] Yeah, Monterey and and everything else out there
[01:17:06] Um, but man that that that was a great experience and it was just us no kids
[01:17:10] It you know us and a dog when you're speaking when you're speaking Spanish now. Do you think in Spanish?
[01:17:13] I can yeah, yeah, I don't speak it as much as I used to I am we're right now my mother-in-law is living with us
[01:17:20] So it's it's back in the game again
[01:17:22] Uh, because it's she speaking any English. She does it just it's never clicked with her, you know
[01:17:28] I'm she's older and uh, she's always taken the the the classes. I mean
[01:17:34] Genuine effort it's just not clicking, you know, um, but she can't and she can't get along but
[01:17:40] She wants a brain to rest, you know, if you go when you go to a foreign country
[01:17:44] And you are trying to speak in their language to whatever degree you can
[01:17:50] It's tiring
[01:17:52] Um, and uh, I mean I can speak, you know to the Cabo to the corporal and I can speak to the you know, uh,
[01:17:59] Secretary of State uh in Spanish, you know, and I have you know, so it's varying degrees of Spanish, you know, uh,
[01:18:05] What's the MOTJ?
[01:18:09] Ministeria de Justicia and Gobierno. It's like the Secretary of State and uh, Secretary uh, uh, Justice uh,
[01:18:14] All wrapped into one dude and you know as a chief, um, you get to talk to these folks and you're talking about how to
[01:18:22] Develop, you know ranges in Panama or wherever
[01:18:26] But man at the end of the day
[01:18:28] Your brain is tired
[01:18:30] Because all the colloquialisms for the different countries, um,
[01:18:34] They all come into play you say one thing one country that that means something else in another another country
[01:18:38] And you can get yourself in trouble
[01:18:40] You know, but but it's a whole different animal once you get to speak
[01:18:44] Uh, but uh, so the total time at DLI was how was the total time at DLI learned in Spanish?
[01:18:50] Uh, 10 months. Yeah, I graduated the basic class early to because the
[01:18:55] Intermediate class was was going to overlap
[01:18:58] And so I jumped into that and then uh,
[01:19:00] Again, it's just us two and a dog and a cat eventually
[01:19:07] And uh, yeah, um drove back across the country
[01:19:11] And uh said hey my shoulders are trashed so we cut on
[01:19:17] Cut on both shoulders seven weeks apart
[01:19:20] Um, just as I gained enough function with uh, my left hand, um, you know, they did the right one or whichever one it was
[01:19:28] Um, and I've had it tuned up since I had another one done a few years ago. Um,
[01:19:32] Yeah, it's uh, it's an ongoing problem
[01:19:36] And we're and then obviously you go back to team four after you get done with DLI
[01:19:40] I went back to team four, um, and uh,
[01:19:43] Yeah, I went into uh, you're a chief now. No, uh, no, um
[01:19:48] First class maybe first class. Okay. No second class. I was not
[01:19:53] Not a rate grabber. I was not a
[01:19:55] I was happy where I was. I mean, I it was, um, happy with the leadership, you know, and uh,
[01:20:00] I'm not always completely happy, but uh, I always say it. Um,
[01:20:04] Yeah, you know, you really shouldn't be if you're happy with what's going on. Hey, uh, and it's working your team. Um,
[01:20:11] Be happy with it. Uh, but when you finally decide at the end that you're not happy with it. It's kind of too late
[01:20:19] So you're an e5 and now you go back to the team
[01:20:23] for and then jumping into another platoon your shoulders healed healed up enough. Um,
[01:20:29] So
[01:20:30] I was an echo platoon knowing that I was going to get the surgery. They were a, uh, a cd counter drug platoon, you know doing stuff
[01:20:37] mostly in the Caribbean and, um, the mass chief said, yeah, hey, we broke you. We'll fix you. And it was just the with the idea. Hey, um,
[01:20:43] You know ed squared away. He'll do the paperwork whatever stick in the background.
[01:20:46] And you know, he's a good guy. He's a good guy. He's a good guy. He's a good guy.
[01:20:51] I let me do the paperwork whatever stick in the background. I got theßer surgery done you get a month. Um
[01:20:57] Congolese, lean and I, you know, uh, I literally
[01:21:01] I did the surgeries without any anesthesia. Just just the, um, the nerve block
[01:21:06] Off the table and went
[01:21:08] To the team, you know to to give them whatever paperwork and check him without I was just an you know, I was excited
[01:21:14] the chief said that and I never took leave.
[01:21:19] I just wanted to get signed up to start my physical therapy.
[01:21:22] I did physical therapy twice a day at work.
[01:21:26] Our medical's right in the middle of the compound
[01:21:30] and I'd get a full session
[01:21:33] and then I would get like a partial session
[01:21:36] and then I brought my wife in.
[01:21:38] They taught her how to do all the exercises.
[01:21:41] I built a pulley at home, you know,
[01:21:43] to pull my arm up and down, I built a finger board
[01:21:45] so you can climb the wall with your fingers
[01:21:48] and I mean, six months, you know, I did the PRT
[01:21:53] and legit though, you know, they cut,
[01:21:55] so they did a fully open, they did rock blazes
[01:22:00] the same week, same doctor and they did his,
[01:22:03] they scoped his but mine were pretty much
[01:22:07] kind of collar bones were tent stakes
[01:22:08] and you know, kind of big piece of cauliflower
[01:22:12] so you wanted to get his big hands in there
[01:22:14] and trim them down.
[01:22:15] They remove your deltoid and I'm awake
[01:22:19] and they have a Makita drill check
[01:22:23] and they drill two holes at 90 degrees of each other
[01:22:26] and then lasso that thing entire deltoid back down.
[01:22:30] So it's because they want to get in there and see it all
[01:22:34] and six months later PRT with, you know,
[01:22:39] a very stern master chief there,
[01:22:42] that's very strict on pull ups.
[01:22:46] Yeah, 26 pull ups, 105 push ups,
[01:22:49] the whole swim and everything.
[01:22:50] So you were pretty much good to go six months later.
[01:22:53] Yeah, I mean, I was tuned up and ready to go
[01:22:56] and yeah, into the platoon, you know,
[01:22:59] I even built before all the cool Connick's
[01:23:04] box workout boxes, I went over to SDV
[01:23:07] and got them to weld some stuff up, weld the bench,
[01:23:10] they would collapse up and fit in one of those ISU 90s,
[01:23:13] you know, built to pull apart
[01:23:15] and go across the doors when you open it.
[01:23:18] And should have patented that stuff.
[01:23:20] Yeah, buddy, hey, you know, team guys are pretty innovative.
[01:23:23] You know, Dane, a guy in my second platoon,
[01:23:26] you know, he kind of invented the camelback, you know.
[01:23:32] But what did he use, like an IV bag or something?
[01:23:34] He used a two quart collapsible canteen and an IV tube,
[01:23:40] you know, and had it on his back.
[01:23:42] But hey, you know, you can,
[01:23:44] it's cool to come up with the idea.
[01:23:46] There's innovation, you know,
[01:23:48] inventives and innovation, you gotta get it to market.
[01:23:50] Yeah, well, there's the other's execution too,
[01:23:52] because you gotta be able to actually do it,
[01:23:53] you actually make it happen.
[01:23:55] I always, you know, this sounds so obvious now,
[01:24:00] but I was a radio man, right?
[01:24:02] And so when I was carrying the radio,
[01:24:03] I was gonna have my little flashlights
[01:24:05] and do regular AA flashlights, little AA flashlights.
[01:24:08] You put the red lens over them, you tape them all up.
[01:24:10] So you'd be like a little pinhole of light.
[01:24:13] Right, right, right, right.
[01:24:14] But still you gotta worry about the batteries.
[01:24:16] I mean, you go like on a four day recon,
[01:24:19] your batteries are gonna, so it's a pain.
[01:24:21] And I remember looking at the pilots with their lip lights,
[01:24:25] just the little LEDs, and thinking, wow,
[01:24:28] I wonder what that thing is.
[01:24:29] And then by the time the war started,
[01:24:32] someone made those little just LED click flashlights,
[01:24:35] I was like, oh, that's the smartest thing ever.
[01:24:37] Yeah.
[01:24:38] And I had two ideas in my freaking head,
[01:24:42] and they didn't connect together to say, hey man,
[01:24:46] it's real obvious, here's a cool little flashlight
[01:24:49] you could use and make it into like something
[01:24:51] everybody could carry.
[01:24:52] Yeah, you know, until somebody comes up
[01:24:56] with the limpid backpack,
[01:24:58] team guys were swimming with these bomb, with magnets
[01:25:02] on their hands.
[01:25:04] I've seen the drawings of that.
[01:25:06] Rico, he invented the limpid backpack.
[01:25:13] Simple idea.
[01:25:16] A backpack with a metal plate in it
[01:25:19] that you stuck this limpid explosive mine on it,
[01:25:22] and you would swim with it on your back.
[01:25:24] It seems so obvious.
[01:25:25] It's so obvious because somebody invented it.
[01:25:28] The chest seal, the Ashman chest seal,
[01:25:30] this team guy invented that.
[01:25:31] Yeah, the Ashman, yeah.
[01:25:32] Made this thing that everybody carries now.
[01:25:35] It seems kind of obvious, but you know,
[01:25:38] everybody was happy with a glove.
[01:25:39] Yeah, like a credit card.
[01:25:41] Or a credit E-I-D card.
[01:25:42] A credit E-I-D card, that's what I always tell it as an EMT.
[01:25:45] Yeah, what a brilliant thing.
[01:25:46] Yeah.
[01:25:49] Not everybody comes up, well,
[01:25:50] sometimes you come up with a great idea.
[01:25:51] So you made your ISU 90, you're out there,
[01:25:54] you're ready to work out of a box.
[01:25:56] Yeah, and back with a platoon again, tuned up.
[01:26:00] And you guys are doing counter drug.
[01:26:03] What was that deployment like?
[01:26:05] So it was just a bunch of little deployments.
[01:26:07] They had the CD money, you know,
[01:26:09] and then you named everything you bought
[01:26:10] was a counter drug stapler, you know, a cow.
[01:26:13] Ha ha ha ha ha.
[01:26:16] You know, it was a different pot of money,
[01:26:18] and you're going down, and...
[01:26:19] You're doing recon's.
[01:26:21] What are you doing?
[01:26:21] No, we're just working with the locals.
[01:26:23] It's really fit for an internal defense, really.
[01:26:26] Just getting them tuned up and some huge exercises.
[01:26:32] We would island hop for some of them.
[01:26:34] And, you know, the Army has more commission ships
[01:26:39] than the Navy, which is pretty wild.
[01:26:42] Our Army's a big machine, you know.
[01:26:45] Is it still like that?
[01:26:47] I don't know, someone said it's not.
[01:26:49] And I, no desire to confirm it or not,
[01:26:51] but it's just a wild stat.
[01:26:53] They have more helicopters than the Air Force.
[01:26:55] I mean, they're a monster.
[01:26:56] They're huge.
[01:26:57] The big green machine.
[01:26:58] So we would island hop on their LSU-2000,
[01:27:05] the big giant landing craft,
[01:27:08] and we'd get off there and go stay in a hotel
[01:27:10] and go teach, you know.
[01:27:11] And then another year we went to Belize,
[01:27:14] and they had us staying in the middle of a soccer field
[01:27:18] with countries, you know,
[01:27:20] and a line of outhouses, not as nice.
[01:27:25] Belize the islands, you know,
[01:27:26] vacation land, inland, different animal.
[01:27:30] And that was wild.
[01:27:32] You know, there were some countries
[01:27:34] that did not want to be there.
[01:27:36] They just wanted the gear,
[01:27:37] and they weren't there because they were told.
[01:27:38] And, you know, that was like a hurricane disaster,
[01:27:43] giant exercise where, you know,
[01:27:46] terrorists take over the local school
[01:27:48] while, you know, everything's going on.
[01:27:49] And a huge monster exercise.
[01:27:53] My first bout with Killer B's, you know.
[01:27:57] Have you ever seen a swarm of Killer B's?
[01:28:01] I think I've, no, actually no.
[01:28:04] I've driven, remember in San Diego for a while,
[01:28:07] Echo Charles, there was like bees?
[01:28:09] Like so.
[01:28:09] Yeah.
[01:28:10] I've driven through some swarms of bees, you know.
[01:28:13] And I don't know if it was quite the murder,
[01:28:14] wasp, or whatever those things were.
[01:28:16] But no, I've not dealt with actual legit Killer B's, no.
[01:28:20] Cloud just coming across.
[01:28:22] And yeah, one guy just screamed,
[01:28:25] get in the vehicle or lay down flat.
[01:28:28] And this cloud came over the entire field
[01:28:31] and then just went away.
[01:28:32] It was the craziest thing.
[01:28:33] Did anyone get attacked?
[01:28:35] No one got hit, significant that I remember.
[01:28:37] It was just the weirdest thing.
[01:28:40] But that happened.
[01:28:40] So they weren't really living up to the rep.
[01:28:42] No.
[01:28:44] We were in, we were in Columbia once,
[01:28:46] and actually doing, you know, kind of something, you know,
[01:28:51] going in, you know, and the locals sat down on a hive,
[01:28:59] an underground, you know, ground hive,
[01:29:01] and jumped up and ran and left all their guns.
[01:29:06] And I don't, you know, literally,
[01:29:08] I mean, it was horrible.
[01:29:09] It was a cloud again.
[01:29:11] And we're in a bad spot, actually.
[01:29:14] You can't be without your gun.
[01:29:18] And so I've got-
[01:29:19] Unless you're getting attacked by bees,
[01:29:20] then you said hell with it anyway.
[01:29:22] But it's also where these guys live.
[01:29:25] Yeah.
[01:29:26] You know, I mean, it's just, yeah,
[01:29:29] just outside of Cartagena,
[01:29:32] they take the mother ship down,
[01:29:34] that's, you know, it's a sandbagged, big giant ferry,
[01:29:39] and they take it down and in and go in,
[01:29:40] and it's bad guy land.
[01:29:43] Don't drop your gun.
[01:29:44] But they did.
[01:29:46] And so I've got my beekeeper's hat that I, you know,
[01:29:49] when you want to relax in the jungle,
[01:29:51] you throw that beekeeper's hat on,
[01:29:52] it's your turn to relax.
[01:29:53] It's so nice.
[01:29:54] Yeah.
[01:29:55] Don't like breathing the air back in on me,
[01:29:57] but hey, I'll take it, you know,
[01:29:59] and I've got my gloves and I got the, you know,
[01:30:02] the tips cut off of index finger and thumb and middle finger.
[01:30:07] And so Ed's gonna go get the guns.
[01:30:10] And I've got my hands clenched, hiding those little exposures.
[01:30:15] As soon as I reached out to grab one of the rifles,
[01:30:19] I got whack, whack, whack, whack.
[01:30:20] It was a great, they are just honed in.
[01:30:24] And we spoke the area too,
[01:30:25] to kind of try and calm them down.
[01:30:26] The idea was, I don't know how much it worked, but yeah,
[01:30:30] legit, not cool.
[01:30:35] So what happens, you get done with Appletune.
[01:30:37] So I got to fix my error, you know,
[01:30:41] and I'm going back to Green Team.
[01:30:44] And yeah, a lot going on in the household at that time.
[01:30:49] I was building a house,
[01:30:52] and I had drafting in like half a semester in ninth grade.
[01:30:57] So I drew the complete plans to a house.
[01:31:00] And yeah, not a great plan.
[01:31:05] The house plan was great.
[01:31:07] Green Team planned not so much.
[01:31:09] Not at the same time.
[01:31:10] Her dad was sick in the house.
[01:31:11] So our first child was being born all at the same time.
[01:31:17] And we're out at Shaw's doing a CQB.
[01:31:21] And everybody's taking a nap,
[01:31:23] and I'm talking to the plumber who's trying
[01:31:25] to put a bathroom in the closet, literally.
[01:31:31] The city held us up back because the city employees
[01:31:36] disagreed with the guy with PhD in dirt
[01:31:39] and said the septic field had to be this.
[01:31:41] And so it held everything back.
[01:31:43] And I'm doing this, I got 110 days leave
[01:31:47] that I took to do this thing.
[01:31:48] And I'm doing it in blocks.
[01:31:50] You know, I'm relinquishing, you know,
[01:31:53] what I'm doing, it's tilting for,
[01:31:55] and just set a trip up, do the trip,
[01:32:02] take two weeks of leave,
[01:32:05] and just knocking it out.
[01:32:07] Cause I'm talking, I'm digging the foundation.
[01:32:09] You know, I've cut trees down, milled the trees.
[01:32:12] I built the cabinets.
[01:32:14] I built from scratch the stairwell.
[01:32:16] You know, all the cabinets, all the window trim
[01:32:19] on the first and second floor.
[01:32:22] It cost 180-ish thousand to build it,
[01:32:25] and it appraised for 720.
[01:32:28] I sold it the next year when I'm up in,
[01:32:32] or several years later.
[01:32:33] So I refinanced it when I moved to Maine
[01:32:37] cause I didn't want to have two home loans.
[01:32:40] And yeah, so I did the refi for 720,
[01:32:44] sold it the next year for 610.
[01:32:47] Put it on the market that day,
[01:32:48] and sold it in a day, half a day.
[01:32:52] So I did very well with the house,
[01:32:54] but smashing everything together,
[01:32:56] Green Team and Tommy being born.
[01:32:58] And yeah, I went home to see him.
[01:33:02] He actually heard his birth over the phone,
[01:33:05] and then flew in to make sure everything's all good.
[01:33:10] I was supposed to try and be there,
[01:33:12] but on the plane, pre-911.
[01:33:16] Yeah, not a great plan.
[01:33:20] But it worked out.
[01:33:22] So where'd you go after that?
[01:33:23] SDV-2.
[01:33:24] Did you want to go to SDV?
[01:33:26] Yeah, we were told we were going to be the snipers
[01:33:29] for all group two.
[01:33:31] And yeah, you said you heard that too.
[01:33:36] Got to tell all the group two first.
[01:33:39] All kinds of interesting things.
[01:33:41] Yeah, you know, SDV's awesome.
[01:33:43] Went to the SDV school,
[01:33:45] which everybody there gets qualified to drive that.
[01:33:49] And even though the plan was to be in the back,
[01:33:53] just to get out of it and go do something and come back.
[01:33:55] But it was neat to go to the school, learn all of that.
[01:34:01] I did a platoon there, the war kicked off.
[01:34:05] And we ended up, no one from the East Coast was going.
[01:34:11] We deployed with Team Two, and I think they sent a squad.
[01:34:16] At four, they sent a squad to Afghanistan.
[01:34:20] And no one was going.
[01:34:23] And we went to Kosovo.
[01:34:25] And we were doing reconnaissance there.
[01:34:27] Some of us were a little sketchy.
[01:34:29] We were getting to use some cameras and do some things.
[01:34:31] We were looking for specific people.
[01:34:34] Some of it was walking around town, playing closed,
[01:34:37] which we really hadn't had anything at that point
[01:34:40] to just be a team guy in a foreign country.
[01:34:45] That was easy enough.
[01:34:47] Were you at SDV when September 11th happened?
[01:34:51] Yes.
[01:34:52] 600 yard line getting out of the van
[01:34:54] at Sniper School.
[01:34:58] You were going through Sniper School?
[01:35:00] Yep.
[01:35:01] So when you heard that SDV was gonna be a Sniper's
[01:35:04] for everybody, you said, oh, if I go there,
[01:35:06] I can go to Sniper School?
[01:35:07] They said you will go to Sniper School right away.
[01:35:10] And that's cool.
[01:35:12] Yeah, I know, Sniper School, I won't say it was easy,
[01:35:16] because it's not, it's very difficult.
[01:35:18] But our workups at Team Four were basically,
[01:35:21] a lot of it was, especially the basic warfare part,
[01:35:25] was mini Sniper School.
[01:35:27] Really good marksman, really getting after it.
[01:35:29] The month of field craft, and then another month
[01:35:33] of land warfare, and then you get it all over again,
[01:35:36] going back into the jungle.
[01:35:38] That field craft that you needed, Sniper School,
[01:35:40] was all there.
[01:35:41] All the math was there for the shooting.
[01:35:44] It was all taught to us over and over and over and over again.
[01:35:47] So, yeah, I missed Honor Man by half a point.
[01:35:53] For Sniper School?
[01:35:54] Yes.
[01:35:55] That's a bummer.
[01:35:59] Yep.
[01:36:01] And, you know, it was, yeah, a little bit
[01:36:07] of love-hate relationship there,
[01:36:08] because I was always trying to get the guys
[01:36:11] on the reconnaissance side more reconnaissance work,
[01:36:14] and not as TV support stuff.
[01:36:18] So, then I became the LPO for all of it,
[01:36:23] the whole task unit, and I had to shift,
[01:36:26] and be nice to everybody.
[01:36:28] You know, when you fight for your squad,
[01:36:30] you fight for your potential.
[01:36:31] So, you were like a recce squad.
[01:36:33] Yes.
[01:36:34] You were the LPO of the recce squad at first,
[01:36:35] and then you became the LPO of everything.
[01:36:37] Yeah, a whole task unit.
[01:36:40] That was a good shift, too.
[01:36:41] Did you guys go on deployment somewhere?
[01:36:43] Yeah, we went to Spain, and from Spain,
[01:36:45] we went to Kosovo for whatever it was,
[01:36:49] couple of months, just doing reconnaissance.
[01:36:51] But this is post-September 11th.
[01:36:53] Post-September 11th.
[01:36:54] So, you're freaking chomping at the blame.
[01:36:57] Like, I went back to a team to go help out
[01:37:01] where help was needed, and that should've been
[01:37:05] where the war was.
[01:37:06] And it wasn't happening for the East Coast for a while.
[01:37:10] It was these Tuesdays.
[01:37:11] And then,
[01:37:14] then Buddy Miner was running the sniper school.
[01:37:18] Solid Stone, and he said,
[01:37:20] yeah, you come here and we will send you over
[01:37:22] as soon as an opportunity, you know?
[01:37:24] So, I went,
[01:37:27] you know, would be the scout course manager,
[01:37:29] and eventually the sniper course manager
[01:37:31] managed the compound.
[01:37:34] And, yeah, first opportunity, you know,
[01:37:36] deployed to Afghanistan, took my whole,
[01:37:39] you know, crazy sniper suite with me.
[01:37:42] And,
[01:37:43] 37 weapons.
[01:37:44] 37 weapons.
[01:37:45] Hey, it's, you know, yeah, you're Mark 11,
[01:37:48] you're Mark 12, you know, you're 10 inch upper,
[01:37:51] you're 16 inch upper, you're 300 win bag,
[01:37:53] you're 50 cal sniper rifle, you know,
[01:37:56] yeah, you're Mark 23, yeah, name something else.
[01:38:01] And who'd you attach to when you got over there?
[01:38:04] SEAL Team 2 and the CG SOTA, you know,
[01:38:06] and I would just try and get out on everything
[01:38:08] I would just try and get out on everything I'd get out on.
[01:38:11] You know, I ended up, I ended up doing a lot of briefing too,
[01:38:14] you know, it wasn't as, you know, cool as what I,
[01:38:17] you know, was expecting, but,
[01:38:18] you should have stayed in E5 is what you were thinking.
[01:38:20] Yeah.
[01:38:22] Yeah, yeah.
[01:38:24] It was, you know,
[01:38:27] but, you know, I learned a ton,
[01:38:29] and, you know, I was happy to get out there and support
[01:38:33] and be part of it.
[01:38:34] And it's a wildlife experience, you know,
[01:38:38] but yeah, I came back from that
[01:38:41] and finished up at Snipers, I'll tell you what,
[01:38:45] teaching folks and, you know, working with the cadre,
[01:38:49] that that's a wild, wild experience too,
[01:38:51] because our sniper school is legit.
[01:38:54] Our sniper school is awesome.
[01:38:55] Yeah.
[01:38:56] And our snipers are awesome.
[01:38:58] Oh yeah, no, you know, Brian Sargent came on board,
[01:39:01] you know, shortly after I got back and took over
[01:39:04] the sniper school, and that was awesome.
[01:39:09] We just took it to crazy levels.
[01:39:12] We were getting some 100% graduation rates,
[01:39:15] which had never been done before,
[01:39:16] usually lose 10% per major grade at the evolution.
[01:39:20] And we were just like,
[01:39:21] How'd you guys get it to 100%?
[01:39:23] We learned how to teach better.
[01:39:24] And we made sure the cadre was on the students, you know,
[01:39:29] but we learned how to talk, you know,
[01:39:33] don't think I'm being soft.
[01:39:36] I'm gonna tell you right now,
[01:39:37] Brian Sargent's one of my, you know,
[01:39:39] longest friends in the teams.
[01:39:41] And I know for a fact he was not being soft on himself.
[01:39:44] He's not soft on anything.
[01:39:46] He's not soft on himself and he's not soft on anybody else.
[01:39:48] So if he's saying somebody did it, they did it 100%.
[01:39:52] And yeah, learning how to talk to people right, you know,
[01:39:56] assigning the right instructor, the right students,
[01:39:58] we had the one-eyed sniper, you know.
[01:40:01] Adam Brown?
[01:40:02] Adam Brown got shot in his dominant eye.
[01:40:04] And what does this team guy decide to do
[01:40:07] when he gets shot in his dominant shooting eye?
[01:40:10] I'm gonna go to sniper school.
[01:40:11] Let's see if he's trying to get his eye healed, you know.
[01:40:15] And so we teach him how to shoot left-handed.
[01:40:19] Hydro became his, you know,
[01:40:21] who's a freak of a human fighting brain cancer right now.
[01:40:25] But a freak of a human and a crazy instructor
[01:40:29] and taught the dude to shoot iron sights left-handed
[01:40:34] and smoked it.
[01:40:37] But he cleaned the shooting test, you know,
[01:40:43] with the scope rifles, both of them, I believe.
[01:40:44] That's awesome.
[01:40:45] You know, you're talking out to a thousand yards,
[01:40:48] just pinging on steel.
[01:40:50] It's incredible.
[01:40:52] And you know, snaps and movers out to 800 yards
[01:40:56] with a 300 win mag at the time.
[01:40:58] It was incredible, you know.
[01:40:59] But, you know, Hydro found what he needed to say,
[01:41:03] how he needed to say it to him, you know.
[01:41:06] And Hydro's always someone that's on top of the students too.
[01:41:10] You know, he's not gonna leave them
[01:41:12] and go have a sidebar with a couple of instructors
[01:41:14] figure out what they're gonna do tonight.
[01:41:15] Yeah.
[01:41:16] You know, and the instructors, you know,
[01:41:19] a lot of them really wanted to, you know,
[01:41:22] it's not as hard as it was when I was in.
[01:41:24] And I go, yeah, dude, it's harder.
[01:41:26] You're just instructing better.
[01:41:28] And so we made up this test that wasn't graded,
[01:41:37] but we were, under the training command,
[01:41:43] you get three strikes.
[01:41:45] And we don't think that's right for sniper school
[01:41:47] because you can't have a third strike in a sniper shot.
[01:41:50] And so we had, you know, a guy that made it, you know,
[01:41:52] it was third time every time.
[01:41:55] We made up an exercise, basically briefed the students
[01:41:58] in the morning, hey, pull your rifles out.
[01:42:00] This is what you're doing.
[01:42:01] We're gonna put you in an urban hide.
[01:42:03] And the base was awesome.
[01:42:05] The base worked with us so incredible on everything.
[01:42:08] I had a 20 foot bullet trap made on a trailer,
[01:42:11] six and a half foot tall.
[01:42:14] I made two of them that you could back together,
[01:42:16] get a 40 foot runner.
[01:42:18] So I would drive around the base
[01:42:21] and made all the SDVs worked out, SDZs worked out,
[01:42:26] where they would shoot a blank.
[01:42:30] I would back the trailer up to where the blank was shot.
[01:42:33] And I would go stand next to the target
[01:42:35] and load a live round.
[01:42:39] And I would stand there with my binaus, three, two, one,
[01:42:43] execute.
[01:42:44] And so we had to have trust that student
[01:42:48] would not hit the window sill,
[01:42:49] not hit the fence of the tree that it was weak.
[01:42:51] This was short shots, 150 yards.
[01:42:54] I mean, sniper easy shots.
[01:42:55] But not when you're under pressure
[01:42:57] and not whatever you did the night before, the day before.
[01:43:02] But we wanted to be able to tell, you know,
[01:43:05] parent commands, hey, yeah, he did.
[01:43:07] He passed everything, but let's take a second look at it.
[01:43:11] He's not safe enough to do this evolution.
[01:43:14] And so I don't know where that went.
[01:43:15] We did it when I was there.
[01:43:16] I don't know where it went to after that.
[01:43:18] So where are you standing with your binaus
[01:43:20] as this shot's going?
[01:43:20] Right next to the target.
[01:43:21] Like two feet away from the target?
[01:43:24] Yeah.
[01:43:25] Yeah, that's a high level of trust right there.
[01:43:26] Yeah, I did it all day.
[01:43:29] They're my students.
[01:43:30] Yeah, and our snipers are freaking awesome, man.
[01:43:33] Yeah, and you're not, I mean,
[01:43:34] so these guys are already qualified on the weapons
[01:43:36] at this point.
[01:43:37] They've got some stocks to do.
[01:43:39] And they got like 50 cal week to do.
[01:43:41] They're really qualified on the weapon.
[01:43:43] This is where the question was,
[01:43:46] can that guy, when we wanted to do it,
[01:43:49] make the shot first time every time?
[01:43:51] Because that's what you want for our snipers.
[01:43:52] But they were my students.
[01:43:54] And so I had to have the confidence in them
[01:43:58] that they would do it, and I did.
[01:44:00] And it was, yeah, I don't know.
[01:44:05] So sniper school's morphed throughout the years
[01:44:07] is all kind of just about the same.
[01:44:09] Everybody tries to take it up to another notch
[01:44:11] and make it better.
[01:44:12] They're always fighting with the parent command
[01:44:14] that wants more snipers through.
[01:44:16] And, you know, but we'll always do it
[01:44:18] without lowering the standard.
[01:44:20] Yeah, I mean, obviously I had 13 snipers
[01:44:25] when I was a task unit commander.
[01:44:27] And like what a blessing from God
[01:44:29] to have 13 snipers in the battle or a modium.
[01:44:32] And you just can't ask for anything else.
[01:44:36] So, and the performance was epic.
[01:44:38] You know, the way the guys shot.
[01:44:40] I mean, I had guys take shots at enemy fighters
[01:44:46] holding children.
[01:44:50] And using children as human shields.
[01:44:54] And those kind of shots, shots through windows,
[01:44:57] through vehicle windows, and just hitting the driver
[01:45:00] and no one else in the vehicle.
[01:45:01] Like just awesome, unbelievable professionalism
[01:45:04] from the snipers.
[01:45:05] It was just outstanding.
[01:45:07] And you know, I always sit, when you start,
[01:45:08] when you look at the schools that we run,
[01:45:10] it's what you talked about earlier, you know,
[01:45:12] when you were running Marops, you're like,
[01:45:14] hey, how can I take this next level?
[01:45:15] How can we do a little bit better?
[01:45:16] How can I get more people more squared away?
[01:45:18] When you look at seal breaches,
[01:45:20] like the breaching schools, just awesome.
[01:45:23] The sniper schools, awesome.
[01:45:24] Just anything that you take a seal and you put them,
[01:45:29] you let us run a course, it's just gonna get good.
[01:45:32] We're just gonna get better.
[01:45:33] Just constantly trying to improve.
[01:45:35] And that's such a benefit for our community.
[01:45:37] It's one of the best things about our community.
[01:45:38] Oh yeah, the idea that the peer pressure,
[01:45:44] that you're not gonna let the standard drop,
[01:45:46] and that you are gonna provide something
[01:45:48] that they've never had before.
[01:45:50] And I mean, your reputation in the teams is all you have.
[01:45:54] I don't care what you did yesterday.
[01:45:56] You do something stupid a day,
[01:45:58] everybody's gonna remember you for that.
[01:46:00] You know, and if you slack off and you get,
[01:46:03] you make an easy training for jungle warfare,
[01:46:09] you're gonna get called on it.
[01:46:11] I mean, those trainings that we got, all of them,
[01:46:14] they've all been taken up another notch.
[01:46:16] And the biggest challenge as a leader
[01:46:20] is to make sure they don't get out of the lane too much.
[01:46:23] That instructor drift.
[01:46:24] Yeah, making stuff a little bit too crazy.
[01:46:27] Kinda happen from time to time.
[01:46:29] So you wrap up your time at Sniper School, what's next?
[01:46:37] Then I'm off to Maine.
[01:46:39] Ah, you finally get that goal.
[01:46:42] Well, I hadn't had short duty
[01:46:44] in what became 21 years a little bit.
[01:46:49] And so, and I'm kinda broken at this point too.
[01:46:51] You know, a ton of weight gain,
[01:46:54] couldn't figure that out.
[01:46:57] Like how much weight gain?
[01:46:58] I was up to 275-ish.
[01:47:01] Oh, dang.
[01:47:02] Does that ish mean 283 or something?
[01:47:05] Could be, you know?
[01:47:08] I just couldn't figure it out.
[01:47:09] My gut quit working, the anthrax vaccine, you know?
[01:47:13] That was a series of six shots.
[01:47:15] And all of a sudden, like I can have one beer.
[01:47:21] And I really didn't figure it out.
[01:47:22] We all went on the Atkin, the Fatkins diet, I call it.
[01:47:28] And when we went to Kosovo on that deployment.
[01:47:33] So I wasn't having any gluten, you know?
[01:47:37] And when we got back, we went to-
[01:47:40] And what effect did the Atkins diet have on you?
[01:47:44] Did you shred off a bunch of fat?
[01:47:46] We got crazy strong.
[01:47:48] And I didn't know what was going on at the time.
[01:47:52] So, and that was for several months.
[01:47:55] Did you lose fat though, on the Atkins diet?
[01:47:57] On the Atkins diet, probably.
[01:47:59] I just noticed we got really strong.
[01:48:01] I mean, no real notice to losing crazy amounts away.
[01:48:05] That's the purpose of that.
[01:48:06] I mean, that guy Atkins made that diet for people.
[01:48:08] And it did.
[01:48:09] I lost fat.
[01:48:11] We're eating meat and fat.
[01:48:13] Not to say that we followed it very strictly as far as,
[01:48:16] I mean, the whole percentages and all that.
[01:48:19] Like for the keto diet,
[01:48:21] I'm like a keto kook and I'm rigid.
[01:48:25] But definitely no bread, you know?
[01:48:27] No gluten, no beer, no nothing, no pasta.
[01:48:31] We go to Germany.
[01:48:33] So you feel good too?
[01:48:35] Feel good, okay.
[01:48:36] And then we go to Germany, you know, decompress, debrief.
[01:48:41] And how comes the Hefeweisen?
[01:48:44] Out for some pasta and beers and Bubeligen in Germany.
[01:48:48] And I didn't even make another restaurant.
[01:48:51] I just started going to Heven.
[01:48:53] And it basically shuts my gut down.
[01:48:57] And it was years.
[01:48:59] We didn't, you know, I wouldn't got my gut checked out.
[01:49:01] Yeah, yeah, a little ulcer in there, you know.
[01:49:04] Yeah, still stressed.
[01:49:05] I don't know, you know, couldn't figure it out.
[01:49:08] And I just kept throwing up all the damn time
[01:49:10] and gaining weight and I'm eating healthy, you know?
[01:49:14] I'm not drinking.
[01:49:15] I'm working out like a nut.
[01:49:17] And I'm just puffing up, the joints are getting,
[01:49:19] you know, the head's getting foggy.
[01:49:21] But at this point you're eating normal food.
[01:49:25] Normal, regular, healthy American diet, you know?
[01:49:29] Meat and potatoes, salad, you know, pasta, you know?
[01:49:34] And just couldn't, but it's all healthy.
[01:49:37] A ton of fruit.
[01:49:38] And what are you walking around at right now weight-wise?
[01:49:40] Right now, 205.
[01:49:41] So you want to, you are 70 pounds heavier than this.
[01:49:44] Oh yeah, plus, yeah.
[01:49:46] And this is when you get orders to go up to Maine?
[01:49:48] Yeah, yep, yep, I was gonna stay warm.
[01:49:51] Yeah, you were extra layers.
[01:49:54] Still, I mean, it's still strong,
[01:49:56] but the swelling started, you know,
[01:49:58] with the joints and everything like that.
[01:50:00] You know, I mean, I'm dumbbell pressing 145s.
[01:50:05] I mean, I was still freaky strong.
[01:50:08] And that's picking up off the ground, sitting back,
[01:50:11] and then sitting back up again
[01:50:12] and sitting back in the racks, legit, you know, press.
[01:50:16] That's funny, because I always drop those, whatever.
[01:50:19] If we're over 120, they're getting dropped, I don't know.
[01:50:22] They can't do it, respect to the dumbbells.
[01:50:24] Okay, cool.
[01:50:25] And no, it wasn't till, I don't know, maybe,
[01:50:32] so we're talking 99, we got the anthrax vaccines,
[01:50:36] and they cut mine off at the fifth shot,
[01:50:38] they never gave me the sixth.
[01:50:40] They just stopped doing it,
[01:50:41] because it was causing a lot of problems for a lot of people.
[01:50:43] Apparently it was a lawsuit too.
[01:50:45] A lot of aviators had to stop flying,
[01:50:49] but what it did to me.
[01:50:50] Yeah, I don't know, I got it, no factor,
[01:50:52] I never noticed it.
[01:50:53] Yeah, no, so people are different, you know?
[01:50:55] And yeah, it definitely,
[01:51:00] something there that caused something different for me.
[01:51:03] I think I got it when I went into boot camp though in 1990.
[01:51:06] Was it, is that possible?
[01:51:08] I don't think it was getting pushed then.
[01:51:09] Okay.
[01:51:10] It was the same one that they were giving the farmers.
[01:51:12] You know?
[01:51:13] Okay.
[01:51:14] Dairy farmers used to get,
[01:51:15] or still get the anthrax vaccine,
[01:51:16] but not, apparently not this one.
[01:51:19] Okay.
[01:51:20] And once I figured it out,
[01:51:23] Doc just said, hey, why don't you cut gluten out?
[01:51:26] And this is 2012 timeframe,
[01:51:29] so I'm walking around gaining weight,
[01:51:31] and getting sore, you know, crazy headaches,
[01:51:35] cut gluten out, bam, instantly lose 25 pounds.
[01:51:39] No kidding.
[01:51:40] And I kept on, you know, losing a little bit,
[01:51:42] and now I'm a keto kook.
[01:51:45] I mean, I'm strict.
[01:51:46] Like there's no, there's no pizza night.
[01:51:49] Nothing.
[01:51:50] I don't substitute.
[01:51:51] Not even just ordering an extra meat pizza,
[01:51:55] and just scraping the cheese, pepperoni,
[01:51:57] and sausage off into a bowl, and eating that,
[01:51:59] because I'm known to do that right there.
[01:52:01] Hey, that's all keto, and that's good to go.
[01:52:03] I know it's good to go.
[01:52:04] Yeah, I do the meat pizzas.
[01:52:06] Yeah.
[01:52:07] And, you know, with a side of guac or something,
[01:52:11] you know, butter in my coffee when I'm traveling,
[01:52:13] instead of MCT oil.
[01:52:15] Figure it out, your diet's huge.
[01:52:17] You've gotta figure out something.
[01:52:19] You know, I never stop working out,
[01:52:22] even though some things got, you know,
[01:52:23] caused me crazy headaches, I find something else to do.
[01:52:26] You know, find, you know, the blood flow restriction stuff,
[01:52:29] and some sort of suspension trainer.
[01:52:32] That will fire you up, you know, you use less meat.
[01:52:35] The blood flow restriction trainer,
[01:52:36] that's the, where's the katsu, right?
[01:52:38] Katsu, katsu.
[01:52:39] Katsutsu, K-A-T-S-U-U.
[01:52:41] Right?
[01:52:42] Correct.
[01:52:43] It's like a little system, you put it on,
[01:52:44] it's like a really strong,
[01:52:49] what is that called, blood pressure.
[01:52:51] Right, right, right, right.
[01:52:52] Cuff, that squeezes hard,
[01:52:54] and cuts the blood flow off to your lip.
[01:52:56] Right, the idea is you cut it by 80%,
[01:52:59] and then you work it.
[01:53:00] Right, and then you work out with 20% of the weight.
[01:53:04] So you're taking a load off your body,
[01:53:06] but you're still getting a hard,
[01:53:08] a mentally hard, and physically hard workout.
[01:53:11] So you're not causing all that stress and damage,
[01:53:14] and you're getting a legit workout.
[01:53:16] I mean, the thing I do is 30 minutes,
[01:53:18] I'll do some other stuff too, like with katsu bands,
[01:53:22] you know, you can do the rower for 20 minutes, legit.
[01:53:26] You're hurting.
[01:53:27] Yeah, you mentally have to fight to finish.
[01:53:31] Especially your arms,
[01:53:32] because you can, arms you gotta watch,
[01:53:34] you can cut the blood flow off,
[01:53:36] your brachial arteries are easier to get to
[01:53:38] than your femorrhoals.
[01:53:39] Femorrhoals you literally can't cut it off
[01:53:41] with a real tourniquet.
[01:53:44] But there's some training to go along with that, of course.
[01:53:46] I mean, just don't go ahead and start,
[01:53:50] cut the blood flow off.
[01:53:51] You all know what you're doing.
[01:53:52] And my workout partner's awesome, Pat.
[01:53:54] I mean, legit.
[01:53:56] I was his client first,
[01:53:58] as taking care of my neck, taking care of my hip,
[01:54:01] shoulder rehabs, hip and knee rehabs,
[01:54:05] and became a workout partner.
[01:54:08] And so I've got a pro that brought me into it,
[01:54:13] blood flow restriction stuff.
[01:54:14] And there's crazy Doppler systems that,
[01:54:17] a lot of it was pre-amputee.
[01:54:19] This one system, can't remember the name of it right now,
[01:54:21] but it's four grand, you know.
[01:54:24] But it actually has a Doppler,
[01:54:25] tells you what your blood flow is.
[01:54:26] Oh, God.
[01:54:27] You know, he was thinking of bringing
[01:54:28] something on board for clients.
[01:54:30] But you have to,
[01:54:33] you really have to know that it's okay,
[01:54:37] because the pain you're gonna feel in your arms, legit.
[01:54:41] And you question it,
[01:54:43] but if you have this Doppler, it says, oh, it's okay.
[01:54:46] You know, if you do your capillary refill,
[01:54:48] you get three seconds on it, you know, then you're okay.
[01:54:51] You know, it just gotta know you're not,
[01:54:53] it hurts, but you're not harming yourself.
[01:54:56] Yeah.
[01:54:56] Any workouts that cause questioning
[01:54:59] are good, you know.
[01:55:01] Like that 20 rep squat workout,
[01:55:04] that causes questioning of life.
[01:55:06] And like whether you wanna be, you know,
[01:55:08] I've been doing that workout where I'm literally questioning
[01:55:11] if I even wanna be strong.
[01:55:12] If I even wanna be a man, I'm just like,
[01:55:14] well maybe I could just hang up on everything,
[01:55:17] just call it good, I'm just gonna become a whatever.
[01:55:20] So, you know, take on a different course,
[01:55:23] a different path in my life.
[01:55:24] Oh yeah.
[01:55:25] So workouts like that are good.
[01:55:27] Yeah, no, no.
[01:55:28] I mean, you've gotta do something.
[01:55:29] That's like the greatest thing about,
[01:55:31] you have to have some little piece of adversity, you know.
[01:55:34] I don't care.
[01:55:35] In Maine, you gotta go get the mail,
[01:55:37] and you gotta, you know, and it's really cold outside.
[01:55:40] And you know, we got chickens, or we had chickens.
[01:55:43] I'd like to get them again,
[01:55:44] because kids gotta get the eggs.
[01:55:47] You can come into the house when you get off the bus,
[01:55:49] or you can go get the eggs and come in the house.
[01:55:52] But if you come in the house,
[01:55:53] you're still going to get the eggs,
[01:55:55] and you gotta put your boots back on.
[01:55:56] And in the morning, before you get on the bus,
[01:55:59] you gotta go change out, make sure the water's,
[01:56:01] you know, not frozen, and replace it.
[01:56:05] Good little responsibility for them.
[01:56:07] Yeah, yeah, but it's a piece of adversity
[01:56:09] that's easy, easy to overcome.
[01:56:11] You gotta have something in your life
[01:56:13] that makes and makes decisions.
[01:56:18] Yeah.
[01:56:19] So going back, you get this billet up to Maine,
[01:56:23] which for people who don't know,
[01:56:24] probably wouldn't, why would you know this?
[01:56:25] There's a Sears School survival,
[01:56:27] evasion, resistance, and escape school up in Maine.
[01:56:30] And it's where the whole Navy, is it just Navy?
[01:56:33] Is there any Marine Corps?
[01:56:34] And then you get a couple, you know,
[01:56:36] foreign nationals in there once in a while.
[01:56:38] But they come like, for instance, aircrew.
[01:56:40] If you're a pilot or you're aircrew,
[01:56:42] you gotta go up to this school
[01:56:43] and learn how to survive, how to evade,
[01:56:46] how to resist interrogation, and how to escape.
[01:56:51] I know I went, when I went to SEAL Team One,
[01:56:53] when I was a new guy,
[01:56:54] the first thing they did was send you to Sears School.
[01:56:56] Great.
[01:56:57] I went to the one that's out here on the West Coast.
[01:57:00] And very, very good training, very thorough training,
[01:57:04] very cool training.
[01:57:06] But you ended up being an instructor
[01:57:08] up there at that school.
[01:57:10] And you show up there what's cool about this school,
[01:57:13] kind of like being a Bud's instructor,
[01:57:15] which I was never a Bud's instructor,
[01:57:16] but you get a glimpse into human psychology.
[01:57:19] Oh, man.
[01:57:19] That, you know, I was talking to Andy Stumpf the other day.
[01:57:24] He was like debriefing me on, you know,
[01:57:26] he was a second phase dive instructor at Bud's.
[01:57:29] And he could just know when he's doing pool comp
[01:57:32] on something, he had all these different,
[01:57:34] you know, he could just watch the way a person's
[01:57:36] moving their body and know exactly what they're gonna do.
[01:57:38] Oh, he's getting ready to bowl.
[01:57:39] Oh, he's gonna pass out.
[01:57:41] Oh, this guy's panicking.
[01:57:42] You just see it over and over again.
[01:57:45] And so same thing at Sears School,
[01:57:47] you're gonna watch people from a detached perspective
[01:57:50] because you're an instructor,
[01:57:51] you're not all freaked out or engaged in it.
[01:57:53] And you get to see how they respond
[01:57:55] and you get to learn how, well,
[01:57:57] the interrogation piece is huge as far as human interaction.
[01:58:00] Oh, wow.
[01:58:01] Everything.
[01:58:03] So we conduct training to 50 below zero.
[01:58:06] And just the idea of that for some point.
[01:58:09] And we modify it.
[01:58:10] You know, I mean, you don't just do the same thing.
[01:58:13] The instructor's huge responsibility.
[01:58:16] And you've got folks that have been cubicle warriors,
[01:58:19] they're pilots, they signed on to be a pilot
[01:58:22] or an air crew with a, you know,
[01:58:24] a coachy seat and an airplane.
[01:58:25] Oh, they definitely liked that.
[01:58:26] And, you know, you get some,
[01:58:29] you got some Marine recon to go through, you know,
[01:58:31] used to get seals go through, still do.
[01:58:33] Like we've talked about, they got their own course now.
[01:58:38] And they're doing some things that are legit.
[01:58:43] You know, you're making a snow cave
[01:58:45] and that's where you're staying tonight.
[01:58:47] And you watch people.
[01:58:49] And this one, he was, you know,
[01:58:52] going through to be a C2 pilot.
[01:58:55] And he did not want to stay outside that night.
[01:58:58] And he was trying to sleep
[01:59:00] because you have these Adirondack shelters,
[01:59:02] which is actually going to be colder
[01:59:04] and you're cramped in with all these other people.
[01:59:06] But there's, it's off the ground
[01:59:09] and there's only insulation under the floor.
[01:59:11] So you're just, you're going to freeze.
[01:59:12] You make a snow cave and you're going to be happy as happy.
[01:59:15] You're going to be, your body's going to warm it up.
[01:59:17] You just have to have the confidence to do that.
[01:59:19] And watching somebody try and slow roll it.
[01:59:22] And I go, hey, tonight you're sleeping here.
[01:59:26] Whether you get this done in the daytime
[01:59:28] or you get it done at night, you'll be happier.
[01:59:32] I'm doing you a favor.
[01:59:34] And you, but watching their minds work,
[01:59:37] watching people try and attach themselves to people
[01:59:39] so they can get through, you know,
[01:59:42] like, cause there were still team guys going through.
[01:59:46] And, you know, people want to attach themselves
[01:59:49] to that team guy cause they're going to drag them through.
[01:59:51] But if you can't do what that team guy's going to do,
[01:59:55] especially when you go on two brand of Asian,
[01:59:58] you know, it's, yeah, it's wild to see.
[02:00:01] And when they are in the captivity portion,
[02:00:05] you know, watching what happens,
[02:00:09] you know, either diamond people out,
[02:00:10] then you don't need, people really get into the problem.
[02:00:13] And they really, I mean, there's a little made up language,
[02:00:17] you know, it's got like 150 words.
[02:00:19] And they don't come out of character at all.
[02:00:23] The first time you see some of these people
[02:00:26] cause they hide them and they come into the back of the building
[02:00:28] that students never see them in the classroom portion.
[02:00:31] And the first time they see them, they're in character.
[02:00:33] And yeah, it's, it's-
[02:00:35] Are you guys doing the Eastern block thing still?
[02:00:37] Yeah, man.
[02:00:38] They couldn't get away from it.
[02:00:40] You know, it's a vehicle.
[02:00:42] But I was like, you know,
[02:00:44] that's what the war is going on right now.
[02:00:46] I was telling you, I mean,
[02:00:48] when I went to Sierra school and you get,
[02:00:50] you have to turn, if you don't get captured by certain time,
[02:00:51] you gotta turn yourself in.
[02:00:52] They put me in a truck, they pull us out.
[02:00:54] They put me against the wall.
[02:00:56] And this guy's like, they asked me a question.
[02:00:59] And you know me, I'm freaking 19 years old, you know,
[02:01:02] just got out of buds and I'm just like,
[02:01:04] what's this dude's gonna do to me?
[02:01:06] And I gave him some wise ass answer.
[02:01:08] Bwack!
[02:01:09] He slapped me as hard as he could.
[02:01:13] I mean, look, I've been punched.
[02:01:14] I've been slapped many times,
[02:01:15] where I've been punched in the face.
[02:01:17] This was as hard, you know, this was an open-handed slap.
[02:01:20] And he did it like three or four more times.
[02:01:22] And I was like, okay,
[02:01:23] I guess I'm gonna have to freaking chill out a little bit
[02:01:26] because my bro right here is ready to get it on.
[02:01:30] Yeah, basically, if you're getting some extra treatment,
[02:01:34] then you're not doing it right.
[02:01:36] Something, you know, because it's not about being tough.
[02:01:38] You're a punk as well.
[02:01:39] Well, from my case, what I was not doing right
[02:01:41] was I was not being humble and respectful
[02:01:44] and treating the thing as if it was real.
[02:01:47] I was just like, whatever.
[02:01:49] Okay, okay, 100%.
[02:01:53] I'm in.
[02:01:53] There's, you know, the tough marine mentality, you know,
[02:01:56] which is good to have, but you gotta know when to say,
[02:01:58] hey, that's not gonna work in this situation.
[02:02:02] And using those tools and techniques, you know,
[02:02:04] to be polite, you know.
[02:02:08] Give me a rundown of interrogation techniques
[02:02:10] that you like.
[02:02:12] I like the nice guy interrogator.
[02:02:13] I said I wouldn't go do the hard side, you know.
[02:02:17] Basically, I taught the camping part first, you know,
[02:02:20] and then I went and did that deployment we talked about,
[02:02:23] you know, I've never been away from,
[02:02:24] we get in that later, but I like the simple soft sell approach,
[02:02:31] just talking to folks.
[02:02:33] And it's really the way you order questions, you know,
[02:02:36] that read technique where you really give somebody
[02:02:38] a reason why they did something they did wrong.
[02:02:42] Kind of give them a way out,
[02:02:44] but leading them to admit to something they did wrong.
[02:02:47] It's, that soft sell is magic.
[02:02:52] It's really just a conversation.
[02:02:53] Cause I'd be like the first person that they've seen
[02:02:56] that's nice to them after they've, you know.
[02:02:59] Been slapped around and all of a sudden you're doing cool.
[02:03:02] Like, hey, I understand.
[02:03:03] I understand why, you know, you've been isolated
[02:03:08] and kept away from everybody.
[02:03:09] You heard probably the coughing, you know,
[02:03:11] so we have to keep you away from everybody
[02:03:12] and we had to take away all your stuff
[02:03:14] and make sure you're all clean and good.
[02:03:17] And, you know, and there's purposely a camera
[02:03:20] with a red light on it that they can see.
[02:03:22] And they're admitting to different things.
[02:03:24] And it's really, it's wild to see.
[02:03:29] It's way beyond what a lot of the instructors think it is.
[02:03:33] It's how to get through roadblocks,
[02:03:36] how to get yourself out of a ticket.
[02:03:38] It's how to, you know, it's everyday instances.
[02:03:43] It's a job interview.
[02:03:45] It's really sitting across the table right now
[02:03:48] and thinking slowly, you know, sometimes if I ask a question
[02:03:51] I might swallow or take a drink of water
[02:03:52] so I can think for a half a second
[02:03:54] and come up with that, you know, better,
[02:03:56] polite or answer.
[02:03:57] It's keeping that military bearing
[02:03:59] and not, you know, being starting a fight, you know,
[02:04:05] that helps you out a crazy amount.
[02:04:08] Yeah, we've had some POWs on here,
[02:04:11] mainly from, actually I think all the POWs
[02:04:14] have from the Vietnam War.
[02:04:16] And it's incredible to hear their stories
[02:04:18] and what they went through.
[02:04:20] And they came back and put injected their lessons learned
[02:04:24] into the Sierra Schools.
[02:04:26] And so that was awesome to get those lessons learned
[02:04:29] and just different breaking points, you know,
[02:04:32] how long someone can take it
[02:04:33] and, you know, everyone's gonna eventually break,
[02:04:37] but, you know, how much, you know, how long are you gonna go?
[02:04:40] And even when they break, they give bad information
[02:04:42] or useless information and pretty heroic stuff there.
[02:04:46] Did you say you went on a deployment
[02:04:47] while you were at Sierra School?
[02:04:49] Yeah, so originally I was gonna go out the door
[02:04:52] with Seal Team two and do my re-enlistment there with them
[02:04:57] and get it all happy and tax-free.
[02:05:00] And that got denied because I needed there at the school.
[02:05:06] You know, there's only a couple of seals there.
[02:05:08] And really, you know, there's some Marines there too,
[02:05:10] but then the rest are all air crew and pilots.
[02:05:13] That's not what they do for a living.
[02:05:15] So, and then later on, you know,
[02:05:18] it kind of made a little better, better stink about it,
[02:05:20] a little better sales pitch to go.
[02:05:22] And I was gonna go on deployment with Seal Team eight
[02:05:25] to Iraq and it was all worked out.
[02:05:28] I was even gonna stay there longer.
[02:05:30] I was gonna really do some things,
[02:05:33] Seal related there, you know, maybe not,
[02:05:36] but I was gonna be in task unit and I was bringing up
[02:05:38] my snack.
[02:05:39] Well, I mean, we were capturing a lot of guys
[02:05:41] throughout the war and having, you know,
[02:05:43] at a point we kind of transferred to having our own,
[02:05:47] well, not our own seals, but other seals,
[02:05:49] due interrogations and due intel gathering.
[02:05:51] They were freaking great, man.
[02:05:53] They were awesome.
[02:05:54] So it was really good to have guys
[02:05:56] that were able to do that kind of stuff.
[02:05:58] Yeah, and it's, and I probably wouldn't have been doing that,
[02:06:02] but actually working in, you know,
[02:06:05] the pitch from our side of recovery,
[02:06:08] but really I was just gonna be working with a task unit
[02:06:11] and I was gonna be an extra gun and work whatever,
[02:06:14] you know, worked it out with the Command-Mash Chief.
[02:06:18] Have gun, we'll travel.
[02:06:20] Yep, and all worked out, ready to go.
[02:06:23] So I get, I'm on my way down to Virginia Beach
[02:06:27] and the civilian ops guy says,
[02:06:30] hey, we have this requirement in Columbia, you know,
[02:06:33] the agency guys got wrapped up down there
[02:06:36] and they're trying to get them out
[02:06:39] and we need a Spanish speaker.
[02:06:41] Okay, so I was on my way down there
[02:06:45] and they got released, but I was already on my way down,
[02:06:55] so I went to go work with the front Teresa
[02:06:58] and was attached to Debt South
[02:07:00] and stayed down there for four months
[02:07:03] and that was pretty wild
[02:07:05] because I hadn't been to Panama since it closed
[02:07:10] and went into the Darien, you know,
[02:07:14] just checking some things out
[02:07:16] and you see an entire boat load of gateway computers
[02:07:22] going, making its way into the Darien.
[02:07:25] You can't miss those boxes, you know,
[02:07:26] the white and black boxes.
[02:07:30] And then you see a whole, you know,
[02:07:32] Cayuca, you know, dug out Canoe Load,
[02:07:34] come of empty El Panama, you know, beer coming back out.
[02:07:41] A lot goes on in the Darien Gap, you know,
[02:07:43] where it's really a national forest,
[02:07:44] you can't go in there.
[02:07:46] There's no vehicle traffic in there
[02:07:48] unless you, you know, narco-terrorist.
[02:07:51] And so, yeah, there's definitely a ton that goes down there,
[02:07:53] a whole bunch of, I'll leave it at different things
[02:07:56] to get funneled through
[02:07:57] and it was really neat to see and be part of that
[02:08:01] and try and get the front Teresa online
[02:08:03] to, you know, help us out
[02:08:05] and keep things from coming north.
[02:08:08] And that ends up being your last deployment in the teams?
[02:08:11] Yeah, and then back up to, you know,
[02:08:15] back up to finish my time out at Sears School.
[02:08:18] Tunne Learn though, watching the different interaction
[02:08:21] with, you know, the Chinese that were down there,
[02:08:25] you know, getting their fingers into everything, you know.
[02:08:29] Yeah, you know, yeah, I'll leave it at that.
[02:08:32] There's definitely some work that needs to be done there.
[02:08:38] You see, then it next up is retirement.
[02:08:40] And what are you planning to do when you retire?
[02:08:42] So this is now 2009 you're gonna retire?
[02:08:44] Or you retire?
[02:08:44] Yeah, new year's year 2009.
[02:08:49] Start the new year unemployed was a plan.
[02:08:52] Gotta go Whittlewood in Maine.
[02:08:54] And I had, you know, nest egg settled up.
[02:08:57] I didn't need to work for a few years
[02:08:58] if I didn't need one too, you know.
[02:09:00] And that never happened.
[02:09:03] You know, the call started coming
[02:09:05] and I started doing some training back with the teams.
[02:09:08] Just contracting?
[02:09:10] Yeah, we're gonna sit X's, work some different training pieces,
[02:09:14] ended up doing some research, test development stuff.
[02:09:18] And then, then I'm going to Yemen,
[02:09:23] not with the teams, the contractor there,
[02:09:26] and, you know, administrative, the security guy.
[02:09:30] And that was pretty wild, cause that's the, you know,
[02:09:34] AQAP, you know, al-Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula,
[02:09:37] the hot, hot spot, we were right in the hot spot
[02:09:40] of the hot spot.
[02:09:41] So really learning how to use my words
[02:09:44] cause we didn't have a gun.
[02:09:46] And you've got, you got to run around blowing up our wells.
[02:09:50] And it's, the stories are pretty weird
[02:09:55] because they're that dumb.
[02:09:57] Everybody's gotta understand they're all stoned.
[02:10:00] Everybody in Yemen choose cotton, you know,
[02:10:03] which is a hallucinogenic and phenamine.
[02:10:07] And they're all, you know, in the city,
[02:10:09] they start chewing it, you know, about four o'clock
[02:10:12] in the desert, they chew it earlier.
[02:10:14] In the desert, it's got a whole bunch of
[02:10:19] different fertilizers in it.
[02:10:20] And it's, it's, it winds them up a little bit more.
[02:10:24] And so you try, you know, we don't want to get a,
[02:10:28] doing everything at the same time, all the time.
[02:10:30] You leave in the gate, you know,
[02:10:32] but you try and get things done in the morning
[02:10:34] cause they're wound up in the afternoon.
[02:10:36] And so that's different.
[02:10:37] And we've got three different facilities we're checking out,
[02:10:40] trying to keep the oil flow into the job.
[02:10:43] Your inner security is the tribe
[02:10:47] and the outer security and all the outposts
[02:10:50] are the Yemeni army and they hate each other.
[02:10:54] The Yemeni army has a drinking problem.
[02:10:57] They make their own hooch along with a cot.
[02:11:00] And the State Department contract for pilots,
[02:11:05] pilot training, you will not chew cotton while flying.
[02:11:10] So that kind of sets the quesa of it.
[02:11:12] That actually has to be written in a contract of,
[02:11:16] and literally we had millions of dollars
[02:11:20] of oil production slowed or stopped
[02:11:22] because they didn't get their tea and crackers.
[02:11:26] And literally, cause the driver guards
[02:11:28] want their tea and crackers.
[02:11:30] Well, their cousin hijacked the truck
[02:11:34] that has the tea and crackers in it
[02:11:35] and took it back to the town, Bahan.
[02:11:38] And we'll tell your cousin to let it go.
[02:11:42] And eventually just let him and Ha on it for a while
[02:11:48] cause the sharing agreement gets pushed to the right
[02:11:52] and they're not really losing money, it's just delaying it.
[02:11:56] And so you eventually resolve it.
[02:11:57] Hey, we'll go ahead and give you money
[02:11:59] to buy your own tea and crackers
[02:12:01] and we'll get, you know, things going again.
[02:12:04] Eventually they say okay.
[02:12:05] And then eventually they come around to say yep,
[02:12:08] we're happy getting the raise
[02:12:09] and now we want our tea and crackers again.
[02:12:11] It's, but you get run down in the desert by a guy
[02:12:15] who just got, his brother got drawn to the desert
[02:12:18] cause he's running around with Al Qaeda.
[02:12:20] And his brother wants payback or his dad
[02:12:24] through his brother wants payback for his son.
[02:12:28] He wants his back pay cause he used to work for the army
[02:12:34] but he now he worked for Al Qaeda when he got,
[02:12:36] you know, got the drone strike.
[02:12:39] And he wants back pay and medical benefits from the company
[02:12:43] cause he used to work for the company also
[02:12:46] but he was blowing up the pipeline and the wells, you know,
[02:12:51] one day he got it below the restrictor, the cutoff.
[02:12:55] And so it wouldn't stop.
[02:12:57] You know, normally it'll just cut itself off the fire.
[02:13:01] So you got to bring wild oil in it like four
[02:13:03] or five million a day.
[02:13:05] Day.
[02:13:06] Yeah.
[02:13:07] There's a bill.
[02:13:09] And this guy runs you down in the desert.
[02:13:12] I know there were a couple of shots over your head
[02:13:15] to just kind of chest bump, you know,
[02:13:19] not really intended to shoot at you
[02:13:21] but shoot at you pretty close.
[02:13:23] And they outnumber us and they've got better firepower.
[02:13:27] So you stop and you talk it out, you know.
[02:13:31] And, you know, hey, we'll work on this.
[02:13:33] And, you know, I make the fake glass in the air
[02:13:36] and they look like I'm looking for the drone.
[02:13:38] And my security guy is like their cousin, you know,
[02:13:44] but he's sworn to take care of me and it's legit.
[02:13:48] And there's two guys with belt fed, you know,
[02:13:50] RPKs and yeah, it's you learn to use your words.
[02:13:58] It's serious school help with that.
[02:13:59] And I'm doing it through an interpreter too.
[02:14:02] You know, Helo pilot has a stroke that works
[02:14:07] for the oil company because they're spiraling up
[02:14:11] to 11,000 feet to get out of the range of the fire.
[02:14:15] Cause I'm there during the Arab spring.
[02:14:17] And the guy has a stroke that later that day
[02:14:23] in the chow hall and they come find in me, you know,
[02:14:25] hey, Mr. Ed, you know, he just had a stroke.
[02:14:29] All right, let's load them up and, you know,
[02:14:32] get one of our vehicles.
[02:14:33] He didn't work for us.
[02:14:34] He works for a separate company that's not taken care of him.
[02:14:37] Like, I mean, those people are taking care of me
[02:14:40] and we're taking care of everybody.
[02:14:41] And so load them up, take them to the hospital.
[02:14:46] I didn't go, you know, just provided what he needed.
[02:14:50] And then next day, Mr. Ed,
[02:14:53] they're not letting us into the hospital.
[02:14:55] You know, it's free, this free medical care,
[02:14:57] but you got to bring your sheets and your food every day
[02:15:00] and go out in town and get the medicine
[02:15:02] that they're prescribing for you and bring it back.
[02:15:05] Well, that day, President Sala got blown up, you know,
[02:15:10] and one of the shakes that got blown up in that mosque
[02:15:14] was in that same hospital.
[02:15:16] So that tribe took over the hospital
[02:15:18] and they've got it sandbagged in.
[02:15:21] They've got, you know, literally,
[02:15:24] RPGs walking through the hallways, you know,
[02:15:28] good times, good times.
[02:15:30] And, you know, I'm this 200 and,
[02:15:34] probably 65 pound white guy, you know,
[02:15:37] blonde hair guy at this time, you know,
[02:15:39] and then, yeah, get me this interpreter.
[02:15:44] And we're going to the hospital.
[02:15:47] I said, hey, here's what you're gonna say.
[02:15:49] You're gonna say how I say it.
[02:15:51] You got to tell them that you're very happy
[02:15:54] that they're there.
[02:15:55] You're very sorry about their shake, you know,
[02:15:59] getting blown up and we've got a guy in there too.
[02:16:03] You guys are taking care of your guy.
[02:16:05] We want to take care of our guy.
[02:16:06] Please continue to make the hospital secure,
[02:16:09] but we'd like to go in there
[02:16:10] so we could take care of our guy also.
[02:16:12] Could you please let us in?
[02:16:14] And it worked.
[02:16:15] They were getting shut down, you know,
[02:16:16] and would not be allowed in.
[02:16:18] So we go in there and it's a trade.
[02:16:20] They've got all these old overpressure blast folks
[02:16:22] that are just smoked.
[02:16:23] And then this guy's in there with, you know,
[02:16:26] I had a stroke, you know, grown man diaper
[02:16:28] and not getting taken care of.
[02:16:30] And so we get them all set.
[02:16:32] They run out in town to go get the medicine
[02:16:34] and I stayed there with him and they come back
[02:16:38] and they call me up and said,
[02:16:39] they're not letting us in again.
[02:16:41] What would you do?
[02:16:42] Well, we just want in.
[02:16:44] Start all over again.
[02:16:46] You're happy to there.
[02:16:47] They're making the hospital secure.
[02:16:49] Not really happy, but you're telling them they're happy.
[02:16:52] You got your guy, we got our guy.
[02:16:53] We want to take care of our guy
[02:16:55] like you're taking care of your guy.
[02:16:56] And up, you know, then they come back in
[02:16:59] and it's, yeah, the ability to find something.
[02:17:04] The common piece, your guys hurt and our guys hurt.
[02:17:06] We're happier here.
[02:17:08] You know, you're going through a checkpoint, you know.
[02:17:11] Man, I'm happy you guys here.
[02:17:12] Have you guys seen anything?
[02:17:13] Is everything good?
[02:17:15] You know, is anything we need to be aware of?
[02:17:17] You know, because, you know,
[02:17:20] you're not happy to there, but you got to explain that.
[02:17:23] You know, get that, find something that's in common
[02:17:27] that may or may not be.
[02:17:28] Yeah, build a little quick relationship.
[02:17:30] Yeah, a little rapport.
[02:17:31] Yeah.
[02:17:32] So, ton of that.
[02:17:34] Yeah.
[02:17:35] So how long did you do that contracting stuff for?
[02:17:39] It's just kind of continual since I retired.
[02:17:42] You know, it really started working
[02:17:44] to get for Brian, Sergeant, you know.
[02:17:46] And he'd get me set up on all kinds of, you know,
[02:17:49] name of companies, but it was fantastic.
[02:17:51] You know, everything from going to the Olympics
[02:17:53] to the World Cup, living out town with the athletes.
[02:17:56] And, you know, as team guys, you're just not a monkey.
[02:17:59] You're setting everything up,
[02:18:02] squaring everything away,
[02:18:03] way beyond what security guy does.
[02:18:06] And making sure everything flows smoothly,
[02:18:08] picking up, you know, gaps without dropping security.
[02:18:11] And security is a civilian, especially executive stuff,
[02:18:16] is you really have to have a really,
[02:18:21] you know, easy but hard mentality at the same time.
[02:18:24] I'm trying to look like somebody
[02:18:25] that you don't want to bother,
[02:18:27] and you're going to go, you know,
[02:18:28] bother the other watch company, you know,
[02:18:32] because that one's not worth hitting.
[02:18:34] And at the same time, you know,
[02:18:36] they might want you sitting at the table with them
[02:18:37] when you'd rather not, because that's not your job.
[02:18:40] But it is to them.
[02:18:42] So you gotta make a bunch of assessments.
[02:18:44] And, you know, yeah, do some stuff you wouldn't normally do,
[02:18:49] but you do the assessment.
[02:18:50] And, you know, it's really interesting, super, super flexible.
[02:18:55] And you have to be super personable,
[02:18:59] be able to talk with, you know, heads of state
[02:19:03] that these, you know, top, I mean,
[02:19:07] I've been to F1 races in the absolute most,
[02:19:13] without naming the company, as good as it gets.
[02:19:15] And you're talking to some wild people.
[02:19:17] And, you know, they want to talk to you,
[02:19:20] because you're the seal, you know,
[02:19:22] and they're proud to have you with them,
[02:19:24] and they're showing you off.
[02:19:26] I got a job to do still.
[02:19:28] But it's a wild mix.
[02:19:32] And if you are the grumpy guy,
[02:19:35] because I was with, you know, a rock band,
[02:19:38] and who's really good people, super, you know,
[02:19:44] yeah, just, that was super enjoyable.
[02:19:46] But we got some, we're always augmented overseas
[02:19:49] by somebody else.
[02:19:51] And the folks that are augmenting us,
[02:19:57] they just have this militant look about them,
[02:20:01] you know, including having sleeves rolled up,
[02:20:03] and like, you know, even, you know,
[02:20:07] cargo panties, you know, pants and stuff.
[02:20:10] And that's not the look we want, folks.
[02:20:12] And a lot of ways to do overseas, you know,
[02:20:14] I'm making sure the law enforcement that's there
[02:20:17] is that they, and I don't know them very well,
[02:20:24] so it's, you know, because we're jumping
[02:20:26] into a lot of things, but I'm making sure
[02:20:28] they feel right, you know, that they're not
[02:20:31] nervous themselves.
[02:20:33] You know, if you're there a long time,
[02:20:35] I'm making sure the driver is the same feel today
[02:20:38] as he had yesterday and the day before, you know,
[02:20:41] so that, you know, he wasn't threatened
[02:20:44] and told to make a left-hand turn, you know,
[02:20:46] when he's supposed to be going straight.
[02:20:48] It's a ton of that.
[02:20:49] I've talked to the clients a lot, you know,
[02:20:52] they need to build rapport and be kind
[02:20:56] to their security personnel and their drivers and things
[02:20:59] so that, you know, they love them, you know,
[02:21:03] their family, because you're asking them to take,
[02:21:06] you know, when I'm, it's, the deal is,
[02:21:08] I'm gonna stick my neck out for these people
[02:21:10] and this father's gonna risk his life for these folks,
[02:21:13] and so are those folks.
[02:21:15] So you better treat them kind and like family, you know,
[02:21:19] and I know a lot of these folks, they use us as a,
[02:21:22] you know, a bit of a prop, you know,
[02:21:25] hey, let's get going, you know, or interject here and there,
[02:21:28] and it's, it's, there's some, you know,
[02:21:32] some of these guys are skilled sales folks
[02:21:33] and they're doing some act and, you know, you take it on it.
[02:21:36] Yeah, but he knows that I know also, you know,
[02:21:40] so okay, it's, again, it's a wild ride
[02:21:43] if you're not flexible and you don't have a mentality
[02:21:46] that can roll with it a little bit,
[02:21:48] yeah, you're not gonna be very successful at it.
[02:21:50] And I've had some wild clients, I really enjoyed that part.
[02:21:53] I like taking care of folks and I'm, yeah, admittedly,
[02:21:57] I'm saying I'm pretty damn good at it
[02:21:59] because they keep calling me back, you know,
[02:22:02] and you know, and Brian's keeps feeding stuff
[02:22:04] and I haven't done it in a while.
[02:22:06] I started doing a lot of already, you know,
[02:22:08] RDT and research, testing development with teams
[02:22:11] and some other fun things.
[02:22:12] So yeah, you know, became a firefighter, you know,
[02:22:16] a volunteer firefighter and all,
[02:22:17] or was rather an Alma until we moved from there.
[02:22:20] Then I became a reserve deputy sheriff in Lincoln County.
[02:22:25] And so you're doing some contracting,
[02:22:28] you're doing some firefighting,
[02:22:30] you're doing some reserve sheriff activity.
[02:22:32] At what point do you get roped in
[02:22:36] to the political arena?
[02:22:39] Yeah, and I'm doing all that.
[02:22:41] I bought an excavator, you know,
[02:22:43] I'm grading driveways and digging foundations for folks,
[02:22:47] I'm doing some diving for folks.
[02:22:49] I mean, I've got all these things going on,
[02:22:51] I'm getting my, I got my private pilot license,
[02:22:54] I'm about to start getting my commercial license.
[02:22:57] And yeah, it's, you know, 14-ish months ago,
[02:23:01] people have been asking a lot for us to get involved,
[02:23:04] for me to get involved in the politics
[02:23:06] and because things are going sideways.
[02:23:09] And I kept saying nope, nope, nope.
[02:23:11] And things got to the head and they asked again,
[02:23:15] again I said no and tell a story over and over,
[02:23:18] and my wife said yes you will.
[02:23:21] And her, she's from, and she was yes, yes, yes you will.
[02:23:24] We talked about it, her being from Venezuela
[02:23:26] and seeing that, you know, that leadership gap
[02:23:31] in Venezuela, you know, caused it to spiral down.
[02:23:33] People don't realize it was Venezuela.
[02:23:36] We used to get 17% of our oil from Venezuela.
[02:23:38] Oh yeah, more than any other country.
[02:23:39] I mean, they were, they were a wealthy country.
[02:23:44] And now they are, you know, again,
[02:23:47] just like the hospital in Yemen,
[02:23:51] you had to go out in town and get medicine
[02:23:53] and provide your sheets and provide your food in hospital.
[02:23:56] There's no medicine out in town now either.
[02:23:59] You had to go to Columbia.
[02:24:00] Her family's a big part of it's originally from Columbia.
[02:24:03] Well, they escaped the Narco State and went to Venezuela
[02:24:06] and now they're fleeing back to the Narco State.
[02:24:08] They had to go to Columbia to get medicine
[02:24:10] for her uncle who was in the hospital.
[02:24:12] And yeah, hey, we've got kids, you know,
[02:24:16] we've got two in college and one in high school.
[02:24:20] And there where we're doing it.
[02:24:21] We sat down as a family and we talked about it.
[02:24:23] We had to make sure everybody was good to go with it.
[02:24:27] And, you know, to varying degrees to, you know,
[02:24:31] what does my 15 year old know about it?
[02:24:33] You know, he gets a large degree, you know,
[02:24:36] he was, since he was, you know, that tall, you know,
[02:24:42] he was, dad, this is made in China in it.
[02:24:44] That's not right, you know.
[02:24:47] So he gets a lot of things and he gets this to a degree.
[02:24:50] My older sons helped me write stuff, you know,
[02:24:52] he helped me write that pledge, you know,
[02:24:53] may take an ownership of the condition of our country
[02:24:57] because I have not participated, you know, in this.
[02:24:59] I've always served, but never this.
[02:25:01] He helped me write that.
[02:25:02] He helped me write my first speech.
[02:25:04] No one could write for me.
[02:25:05] It all comes from the heart.
[02:25:07] I free flow just about everything
[02:25:10] because it's from the heart.
[02:25:11] It's legit.
[02:25:12] You know, this is not what I would normally do, you know.
[02:25:17] I say it over and over again too, you know,
[02:25:19] I grade my church driveway, you know,
[02:25:21] I show up there when nobody's there, you know,
[02:25:23] and I grade it.
[02:25:25] It's a steep dirt hill and make it all pretty again,
[02:25:30] load my tractor up and I go away before anybody comes back.
[02:25:33] And now I'm doing a selfie while I'm doing it.
[02:25:35] That is not who I am.
[02:25:37] It is now.
[02:25:40] Was there a straw that broke the camel's back
[02:25:42] as far as making you say, yeah, I'll do it?
[02:25:45] Or was the straw just your wife said, you better do this?
[02:25:48] It's all the crazy divisiveness, you know.
[02:25:50] In Sears school, you know, we actually taught
[02:25:55] how not to get indoctrinated and not,
[02:25:57] how not to allow these divisions happen
[02:26:00] while you're a captive.
[02:26:01] You know, in the Korean War, there were 14 Americans
[02:26:05] that were taught in captivity that America's bad
[02:26:08] and they did not, these captors convinced them
[02:26:12] to stay in North Korea.
[02:26:13] That's insane.
[02:26:15] That's happening here in America.
[02:26:16] How many ways are they trying to divide people?
[02:26:18] Whether you're vaccinated and unvaccinated,
[02:26:20] you're taught you're bad and evil if you're not vaccinated.
[02:26:23] And you're taught, you know,
[02:26:26] you deny the election or you think we need an election
[02:26:30] integrity to take a look at the election, you know,
[02:26:33] then you're a traitor to the country.
[02:26:36] Hey, let's just take a look at it.
[02:26:37] Make sure the people that think it was stolen understand it.
[02:26:41] You know, I'll take that's an okay stance to have.
[02:26:44] All this division in the country is insane.
[02:26:47] It's not comfortable.
[02:26:49] You know, I've complained about it
[02:26:51] and it's the only thing I can do to make it right.
[02:26:56] So we're stepping up and we're definitely stepping up
[02:26:58] as a family.
[02:26:59] My wife is a huge part of the campaign.
[02:27:02] I mean, driving force and couldn't do it.
[02:27:06] You know, wouldn't want to do it without family buy-in.
[02:27:09] But yeah, it's a legit push, you know,
[02:27:13] I was gonna go get my commercial pilot's license.
[02:27:15] I was gonna do one more thing that was gonna be fun.
[02:27:17] I had Joy flying.
[02:27:19] That's on hold for a little bit.
[02:27:20] What's been the biggest surprise
[02:27:22] about entering the political arena?
[02:27:25] Confirming all that divisiveness, you know,
[02:27:28] because I walk up and I will talk to anybody.
[02:27:31] I go to these fairs, all the farm fairs and all that,
[02:27:37] agricultural fairs and I walk, I give my spiel.
[02:27:42] You know, I always start with a retired Navy SEAL
[02:27:45] because no one wants to talk to a politician
[02:27:46] and I am definitely not that.
[02:27:48] So I said, I'm at the Atlanta Retired Navy SEAL
[02:27:51] running for U.S. Congress.
[02:27:52] You have time for me to tell you about the campaign?
[02:27:54] Great, I did 21 years in the Navy,
[02:27:56] all of the SEAL teams, I'm a volunteer firefighter,
[02:27:58] I'm a reserve deputy sheriff.
[02:28:00] I never wanted to run for office, I'm running
[02:28:02] because I was asked to.
[02:28:04] And the guy goes, oh, hey, that sounds great.
[02:28:09] Who's the president of the United States?
[02:28:10] You know, I have to like it,
[02:28:14] but Joe Biden's the president of the United States.
[02:28:16] And he asked me, you know, was the election stolen again?
[02:28:21] And I go, hey, we need to work on election integrity
[02:28:24] so everybody's comfortable with the results of the election.
[02:28:27] You know, whatever happened,
[02:28:29] everybody denies that the election,
[02:28:31] you know, Hillary Clinton, you know,
[02:28:33] is still denying that her election was legitimate.
[02:28:37] You know, the hanging chads and floor, all that stuff.
[02:28:41] We gotta have something.
[02:28:42] That man called me a traitor.
[02:28:45] Volunteer firefighter, reserve deputy sheriff,
[02:28:47] 21 years in the SEAL teams.
[02:28:49] I want to check the election integrity
[02:28:51] so everybody's comfortable and I'm a traitor.
[02:28:54] Not cool.
[02:28:56] So a lot of that, you know,
[02:28:59] building the campaigns pretty wild, you know,
[02:29:01] we're definitely money visits main.
[02:29:05] It doesn't stay there so we don't get, you know,
[02:29:06] the donations don't flow in.
[02:29:09] Although we're working our tail off.
[02:29:11] We're out raising, you know,
[02:29:13] somebody's been in DC for 14 years.
[02:29:17] It had been in politics for 30 plus years
[02:29:19] and we're out raising our three to one in human money.
[02:29:22] But she gets 91% from PACs and, you know,
[02:29:25] so she's got smoke in us and coin.
[02:29:28] You know, and mostly out of state.
[02:29:32] That's a wild thing, you know,
[02:29:33] cause you can look at all that stuff in the FEC website.
[02:29:36] That was a second quarter file.
[02:29:38] That's gotta be like just so crazy to think
[02:29:42] if you live in Maine, which obviously I got companies
[02:29:44] up in Maine, you know, but, and I don't live there,
[02:29:47] but if you live in Maine and you think that the people
[02:29:50] that are trying to get someone elected don't live in Maine
[02:29:54] and have no interest in Maine,
[02:29:55] but they wanna wanna change what people are gonna vote for.
[02:30:00] That's kinda crazy, right?
[02:30:01] Yeah, and I don't know the right answer to fix that, you know?
[02:30:04] And that was actually started by a Republican,
[02:30:06] you know, the super PAC thing, which is, you know,
[02:30:09] they can do unlimited expenditures in your name.
[02:30:12] It's, no, definitely not right.
[02:30:16] And I, you know, I'm definitely the weirdo.
[02:30:18] I'm gonna probably go a lot, learning about who I am also.
[02:30:23] Because I've never put full thought
[02:30:25] into all these ideas that conservatives have.
[02:30:28] And now I have to, because it comes out of my mouth,
[02:30:32] and it's on film or recorded forever.
[02:30:36] And so, you know, and it's also, you really have to think
[02:30:39] about, you know, just like when I was in the platoon
[02:30:42] and I became the recce guy, you know, squad,
[02:30:46] and now I'm the task unit, you know,
[02:30:48] or the whole task unit, those are all my folks now, you know?
[02:30:53] So now I'm representing all of district one,
[02:30:56] and I will represent district one.
[02:30:59] So I gotta think about, you know,
[02:31:01] what's gonna be right for everybody.
[02:31:03] And, you know, I'll admit default.
[02:31:05] I'm not, you know, that's how we fix things.
[02:31:08] That's how we fix things in the teams and military.
[02:31:10] If you can't say, hey, let's look at the result of that.
[02:31:15] And, oh, that might have not been the right thing.
[02:31:20] You're gonna keep going down there.
[02:31:22] Politicians never do that.
[02:31:24] They never admit to wrong.
[02:31:27] I'm not that guy.
[02:31:28] I am not polished.
[02:31:30] But I've never run for office.
[02:31:32] You'll notice I am, and, you know, and, hey, check.
[02:31:37] But I'm honest, and I'll keep my integrity.
[02:31:42] You know, I'll keep my beliefs.
[02:31:44] And learning a lot about me is part of it
[02:31:50] because you really have to think your decisions
[02:31:55] are gonna weigh in and make affect lives.
[02:32:00] Yeah, it's crazy with the politicians.
[02:32:01] The number one to come out and say,
[02:32:04] hey, this is the right answer.
[02:32:07] About whatever.
[02:32:08] You can say it about anything.
[02:32:09] Right, right, right.
[02:32:10] And anything, like, hey, this is the right answer.
[02:32:11] This is what we need to do.
[02:32:12] And then it doesn't work out as good
[02:32:14] as they thought it would, or maybe it's even bad,
[02:32:16] or whatever, but instead of saying,
[02:32:18] hey, you know what, that is what I thought we should do.
[02:32:20] It turns out there were some other factors
[02:32:22] that were involved, and here's some adjustments
[02:32:24] we need to make.
[02:32:25] Instead, they just ride that parachute into the ground,
[02:32:28] right?
[02:32:29] Like, hey, this is the plan I came up with.
[02:32:30] We're sticking with it.
[02:32:32] And even when you come up with something,
[02:32:34] I've been in leadership positions for a long time now.
[02:32:37] I mean, I guess for at least 25 years
[02:32:40] or something like that.
[02:32:41] I've been in leadership positions.
[02:32:43] And to say, hey, this is 100% right,
[02:32:49] everyone else should be quiet is such a bad move.
[02:32:52] Because the chances that you're so smart,
[02:32:54] or that I'm so smart, that I'm gonna figure out
[02:32:56] the best way to conduct this operation,
[02:32:58] I'm gonna figure out the best solution
[02:32:59] to this business problem we're having,
[02:33:01] or I'm gonna come up with the problem-solving move over here.
[02:33:07] The chances that I am just so smart
[02:33:10] that I figure it all out.
[02:33:11] No one else can figure it out,
[02:33:12] but I figured it all out.
[02:33:13] And by the way, when I figured out,
[02:33:15] I calculate all the variables in the future.
[02:33:19] Right, that's what I'm, I'm so smart
[02:33:21] that I figure out all the future variables.
[02:33:23] And I'm gonna get all those right as well.
[02:33:25] That's how smart I am.
[02:33:27] So why would you make statements
[02:33:29] that you're 100% right about anything?
[02:33:31] It's a dumb move.
[02:33:32] And then when you're not, which is okay,
[02:33:34] right, why would you not say, hey, you know what?
[02:33:36] Here's what I thought was gonna happen.
[02:33:38] Here's the plan we went with
[02:33:40] because of that's what I thought,
[02:33:41] and that was the consensus, and then it was wrong,
[02:33:44] and here's the adjustments we're gonna make.
[02:33:45] No big deal.
[02:33:46] Right.
[02:33:47] No big deal.
[02:33:48] I've worked for bosses, and I know you've worked for bosses
[02:33:50] that pretended like or thought
[02:33:52] that they had the 100% solution.
[02:33:54] And then they won't back down from their decision,
[02:33:58] even when it's wrong.
[02:34:00] And they think their respect is gonna go down,
[02:34:04] that people respect them less if they say, hey, I was wrong.
[02:34:06] But it's absolutely the opposite is true.
[02:34:09] When I say, hey, I screwed this up,
[02:34:11] people go, oh, okay, police, Jock was humble enough
[02:34:12] to admit that he was wrong,
[02:34:13] and he's gonna make some adjustments now.
[02:34:15] Nothing wrong with that.
[02:34:16] We haven't, politicians have not learned that lesson yet.
[02:34:19] Right.
[02:34:22] The fear of the sound bite, the fear that, you know,
[02:34:26] well, you should step down
[02:34:27] because you made that bad decision.
[02:34:29] No, that was a wrong decision.
[02:34:33] I admit it's wrong.
[02:34:34] We're gonna move forward.
[02:34:35] And, you know, I'll make mistakes.
[02:34:38] And I'll admit it and we'll figure something out
[02:34:41] to find what's better.
[02:34:43] But that's not happening right now.
[02:34:45] It's not happening and it's got to, you know,
[02:34:48] if anybody thinks it was okay to mask kids up
[02:34:52] that are, you know, born when this thing started
[02:34:55] and they've never seen a human face
[02:34:58] except their parents for two plus years, that's insane.
[02:35:02] Hey, you know, the development, you know,
[02:35:06] been slowed down in all our children.
[02:35:08] And was that really worth it?
[02:35:10] You know, was that worth shutting down businesses?
[02:35:14] You know, we got folks that their business was shut down
[02:35:19] and they sold out and they're never gonna
[02:35:21] open them back up again.
[02:35:23] And was that really worth it?
[02:35:26] You know, while saying that everybody can go to work
[02:35:28] in the big box stores and you're actually having
[02:35:30] more people in the big box stores?
[02:35:32] Is that right?
[02:35:34] You know, instead of spreading it out
[02:35:36] to all the other stores while keeping them
[02:35:38] because that's a human, that's that individual's decision.
[02:35:42] Yeah.
[02:35:43] And you go, look, sometimes you're in a scenario
[02:35:46] you don't know what's gonna happen.
[02:35:48] Like, hey, there's a bunch of people dying in Adelaide.
[02:35:50] Like, okay, well, we're gonna lock some stuff down here.
[02:35:53] Okay, well, okay, got it.
[02:35:56] And then like a few weeks go by and then a month goes by
[02:35:59] and you say, hey, it seems like in other areas of the world
[02:36:02] this isn't that bad and all of a sudden you can't,
[02:36:07] no one says, hey, we need to adjust our thought process
[02:36:10] right now.
[02:36:11] Right.
[02:36:12] We made some rash decisions early on
[02:36:14] because we didn't know what was going on.
[02:36:16] And you know, if you're my boss and you make a rash decision
[02:36:20] because you don't know what's going on
[02:36:21] and I don't know what's going on, I go, okay, well,
[02:36:22] hey man, let's give it a try.
[02:36:24] So no one knows what's happening.
[02:36:26] Let's err on the side of safety.
[02:36:29] But then when you start seeing, you know,
[02:36:31] other information come in and you say, wait a second,
[02:36:33] this doesn't seem like it's as bad.
[02:36:35] And we had people just holding the line on stuff
[02:36:38] that didn't make any sense.
[02:36:39] I mean, there's some kind of a,
[02:36:41] there's something in California going on right now
[02:36:44] where the Indian casinos stayed open.
[02:36:50] And the other casinos are mad.
[02:36:53] I don't know if I know enough about it to talk about
[02:36:56] because I saw an advertisement or read an advertisement
[02:37:00] about it, but the other casinos are mad that they were open
[02:37:04] and that they were able to make money.
[02:37:05] They said, they profited when the other casinos shut down
[02:37:08] and I'm like, thinking to myself, hey,
[02:37:11] if I was in charge of a casino
[02:37:13] and there was a bunch of casinos that were open
[02:37:15] and everything was okay, that seems like an indicator to me
[02:37:19] that maybe it's okay.
[02:37:20] Like when we had the Super Bowl in Los Angeles, California
[02:37:23] and there was 90,000 people in the arena
[02:37:27] and it was no super spreader, there wasn't a bunch of people.
[02:37:32] And yet they went back to masks again.
[02:37:34] It was like, you can't make this up.
[02:37:36] Right.
[02:37:38] The roller coaster of, you must do this
[02:37:44] and then you see the politician doing that,
[02:37:47] doing exactly what they said, don't do.
[02:37:50] And it's like, hey, it's very disturbing.
[02:37:55] Yeah, it's very disturbing.
[02:37:58] And again, I have the, well, I live in California,
[02:38:02] Echo Charles lives in California,
[02:38:03] where we were like ground zero
[02:38:05] for the politicians saying one thing
[02:38:07] and doing something completely different,
[02:38:10] which you can, Americans will only stand for that stuff
[02:38:16] for so long.
[02:38:18] And it was actually longer than I thought in many cases.
[02:38:21] It was sometimes like, hey man,
[02:38:23] like, we had a revolution against England
[02:38:31] because they raised the taxes two cents on our bushels of tea.
[02:38:36] And we're like, all right, you know what, that's enough.
[02:38:38] We're done.
[02:38:39] You know?
[02:38:40] And so there's only so much Americans can take.
[02:38:43] I think they definitely got pushed to the limit of that.
[02:38:46] They took more than I thought, you know?
[02:38:48] Especially as time dragged on.
[02:38:51] But what's really disturbing is just the decisive,
[02:38:55] the divisiveness that you mentioned already,
[02:38:59] where it's like, well, it doesn't seem like in retrospect
[02:39:03] that putting masks on little kids was a good idea
[02:39:07] for two years.
[02:39:09] And inside of people going, yeah,
[02:39:10] that definitely seems like it was a bad idea
[02:39:12] and we should try and learn from that in the future.
[02:39:14] Instead they're like, no.
[02:39:16] Right, no.
[02:39:17] You're like, hey man, what reality are you in?
[02:39:21] Right.
[02:39:22] What reality are you in?
[02:39:23] Well, watching them from afar dump sand
[02:39:28] in the skate parks of California.
[02:39:31] And put two by fours across basketball hoops.
[02:39:34] And I was up in Baxter State Park.
[02:39:40] It's a 13 mile ski uphill to get where you can stay
[02:39:45] and sleep for, take a break.
[02:39:48] And then it's another three miles up much steeper terrain
[02:39:52] to where you're gonna start to do actual,
[02:39:54] you know, ice climbing and all that.
[02:39:57] So we made it 16 miles in uphill.
[02:40:01] There's nobody in the park.
[02:40:03] You know, that's the cool thing about Baxter
[02:40:05] is in the winter is you cannot drive in there.
[02:40:09] You've got very limited people
[02:40:11] and they only allow so many people in there.
[02:40:13] We're away from everybody.
[02:40:16] Park Ranger comes up very sad.
[02:40:19] You have to go home now.
[02:40:21] We just made it here.
[02:40:24] There's nobody, there's nobody within, you know,
[02:40:27] 50 miles from us.
[02:40:28] I mean, you know, and so we had to, you know,
[02:40:33] ski out of, you know, back down the hill of the mountain.
[02:40:39] And that was so insanely disturbing.
[02:40:43] And it came down from the Secretary of State,
[02:40:46] I believe is what they said.
[02:40:48] And that was so, we were isolated.
[02:40:52] We were away from everybody.
[02:40:54] You know, a lot of this has to do with the ecosystem
[02:40:59] that, and really the digital ecosystem
[02:41:03] that a human being lives within.
[02:41:04] Right.
[02:41:05] Because I know people that were in the ecosystem of,
[02:41:10] you know, COVID was the most heinous disease
[02:41:15] that ever came to the world.
[02:41:18] And these are people that are friends that I know
[02:41:20] are normal, like logical people,
[02:41:23] but their digital ecosystem,
[02:41:26] the word inside there, the truth inside
[02:41:30] that digital ecosystem was just so closed loop
[02:41:35] that there was no other perspectives coming in whatsoever.
[02:41:39] And it was very disturbing to see,
[02:41:43] to see people that their world was so closed loop
[02:41:51] that they couldn't comprehend another viewpoint at all.
[02:41:56] And part of that ecosystem was to protect itself
[02:42:01] from outside thought.
[02:42:02] And so anybody that offered some other perspective
[02:42:05] was immediately attacked.
[02:42:08] Right.
[02:42:08] It wasn't a, you couldn't have a conversation
[02:42:11] with someone in that other ecosystem.
[02:42:13] You couldn't have a conversation with them about it
[02:42:15] because they would go on the attack
[02:42:20] and they would utilize the truths in air quotes,
[02:42:25] the supposed truths from inside their ecosystem,
[02:42:28] which they truly believed that they were true.
[02:42:32] And it was, honestly, it was very sad to see.
[02:42:36] It was very sad to see people going through that.
[02:42:39] And I would try and address it a little bit with people,
[02:42:44] maybe mention to them something from outside
[02:42:47] their closed loop and they would go on the attack
[02:42:51] and go super defensive and it wasn't worth it.
[02:42:54] I want to maintain a relationship with a person
[02:42:56] that I've known for 10 years or 12 years or 20 years.
[02:42:58] They're your friend.
[02:43:00] And I don't want to fight with them over this thing.
[02:43:03] It's like, okay, if you want to continue to live,
[02:43:05] like literally quarantine yourself inside your house
[02:43:09] and we met at an outdoor place to say hi
[02:43:15] and just mentioning that, well, hey,
[02:43:17] just so you know, like I'm training Jiu-Jitsu.
[02:43:20] Right, and I've been training Jiu-Jitsu with my friends
[02:43:22] and all the time and like none of us are sick
[02:43:25] and everyone's okay and just to see the look of horror
[02:43:28] in their eyes, almost as if I was one
[02:43:32] of the worst human beings ever,
[02:43:34] it was really sad to see, but again,
[02:43:37] I think a lot of it has to do with,
[02:43:40] you know, you got to open up your perspective.
[02:43:42] You know, you got to open up your perspective
[02:43:44] and you got to listen to more than one
[02:43:48] more than one ecosystem of information.
[02:43:51] Otherwise, you're not seeing everything.
[02:43:53] And look, you can go far to the other side
[02:43:55] of the spectrum as well.
[02:43:57] And you can get just as wrapped up in that ecosystem
[02:44:00] where you don't listen to anybody else.
[02:44:02] So it's a very strange time and I think, you know,
[02:44:08] I always find that people run into a problem
[02:44:11] with their ego, right?
[02:44:12] Same thing that we just talked about
[02:44:13] if I'm a politician.
[02:44:13] My ego won't allow me to say I was wrong.
[02:44:16] My ego won't allow me to say,
[02:44:18] hey, I don't know what to do,
[02:44:19] but this is what I think we should do.
[02:44:21] Let's try this.
[02:44:22] My ego says, no, you know everything.
[02:44:23] I know everything.
[02:44:25] I'm not gonna make any mistakes.
[02:44:27] Well, the same thing happens
[02:44:28] when it comes to processing information.
[02:44:30] You get your root idea that you believe
[02:44:34] and you don't want to admit,
[02:44:36] hey, you know what?
[02:44:37] I was actually wrong about that.
[02:44:38] I was actually, that wasn't a good idea.
[02:44:40] Or you know what?
[02:44:41] That's what I thought a month ago.
[02:44:44] And clearly there's new information
[02:44:46] that I should process and pay attention to.
[02:44:48] And people just unfortunately aren't thinking
[02:44:51] that way anymore.
[02:44:52] And it's like this weird tribalism
[02:44:54] that takes hold that's crazy to see.
[02:44:57] It's gonna be Rwanda, dude.
[02:45:00] You have to know somebody
[02:45:01] to actually know that they're different than you.
[02:45:03] And that didn't go very well.
[02:45:06] I mean, they had to know each other.
[02:45:08] What's going on with the lobstermen up in Maine?
[02:45:12] I'll tell you what.
[02:45:12] Just because I look, this is such a huge deal in Maine.
[02:45:17] What is this?
[02:45:18] A $2 billion industry in Maine?
[02:45:20] $2 billion, yeah.
[02:45:22] $2 billion industry.
[02:45:23] This is, when you think of Maine, you think lobster.
[02:45:29] Of course, hey, I hope you think OriginUSA.
[02:45:32] I hope you think about making jeans, right?
[02:45:34] 100%.
[02:45:35] I hope you think about boots.
[02:45:36] I hope you think about the best Jujutsu geese in the world.
[02:45:38] You're gonna think about that stuff too.
[02:45:39] But before that, I have to admit,
[02:45:42] you're thinking about lobster
[02:45:44] because Maine is the epicenter of lobster.
[02:45:49] It's life in Maine.
[02:45:52] And so what is going on?
[02:45:54] Yeah, no one wants a Massachusetts or a Canadian lobster.
[02:45:57] I've never seen an advertisement
[02:45:59] for fresh Massachusetts lobster, right?
[02:46:02] No, they want Maine lobster.
[02:46:03] No offense to Massachusetts.
[02:46:05] No offense to Canada, but you want Maine lobster.
[02:46:08] So they're coming up with all these ideas,
[02:46:11] the right whale up there,
[02:46:13] which is not even in the Maine waters.
[02:46:15] They haven't seen it.
[02:46:16] And they had an entanglement.
[02:46:19] Hold on, I'm just gonna clarify this.
[02:46:20] So it's called the right whale.
[02:46:21] This is a breed of whale called the right whale.
[02:46:25] Yeah, it writes itself, when it dies,
[02:46:28] it writes itself in the water and it floats.
[02:46:32] So if there are a whole bunch of dead right whales,
[02:46:35] they're gonna all be floating.
[02:46:36] You know, they actually, history,
[02:46:39] they used to chunk it up and bring it on the ship in pieces
[02:46:43] because it would be just floating there.
[02:46:45] And that's the other part of the,
[02:46:48] one of the parts of,
[02:46:49] hey, it doesn't make sense what you guys are talking about.
[02:46:54] They're coming up with all these ideas to,
[02:46:57] save the right whale,
[02:46:58] but they're looking at the lobster man.
[02:47:00] The lobster man, not the problem.
[02:47:02] Everything from the size of the pectoral fin,
[02:47:05] and they don't have a notch in it,
[02:47:06] where the humpback whale has a notch
[02:47:09] and a huge pectoral fin that would get caught
[02:47:11] in a horizontal rope.
[02:47:13] All these things they wanna do don't need to be done.
[02:47:16] It's ship strikes that kills them.
[02:47:18] And it's Canadian snow crab gear that does it.
[02:47:22] The main lobster man have done all these things
[02:47:25] to take care of it and get it out of the way.
[02:47:27] And some of the things that they do, for instance,
[02:47:29] is they put like breakaways in the lines, right?
[02:47:32] So if I was a right whale,
[02:47:34] and I got caught up in a main lobster man's line,
[02:47:39] it's designed to break.
[02:47:41] And I get out and I'm fine.
[02:47:43] You're good.
[02:47:44] And they've already done that.
[02:47:45] They've already done that.
[02:47:46] Well, all the ropes are all identified.
[02:47:48] So if it does get caught in a main lobster man gear,
[02:47:52] it's identified as main lobster gear.
[02:47:55] And they put several breaks in it.
[02:47:57] It's all been done and taken care of.
[02:48:00] And it really was, hasn't been a problem ever.
[02:48:04] But the National Marine Fisheries Services,
[02:48:10] they made a decision that if a whale dies in Canada,
[02:48:16] we take credit for it.
[02:48:17] We're half credit for it.
[02:48:19] So one died there and we're getting blamed
[02:48:22] and we're gonna shut down our industry.
[02:48:24] And no one made, they're under NOAA, right?
[02:48:27] Explain what NOAA is.
[02:48:28] Yeah, NOAA.
[02:48:29] Yep, National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration.
[02:48:34] And it's everything from mapping and weather in the ocean.
[02:48:38] And they have subcategories.
[02:48:40] And one is National Marine Fisheries Services.
[02:48:45] And they came up with this study,
[02:48:50] and there's cryptic deaths.
[02:48:53] So if they get one death, they assume there's three more,
[02:48:57] even though these things are gonna float.
[02:48:59] And they stopped, they had crews that were
[02:49:04] detanglement crews, well, they disband them all
[02:49:06] because they're not entanglements.
[02:49:08] They had observers out there
[02:49:11] or they don't have any observers anymore
[02:49:13] because they're not there.
[02:49:15] And still they're trying to get them to modify things
[02:49:18] in a manner that will shut the industry down.
[02:49:21] So give me an example of what the NOAA,
[02:49:25] what do they wanna modify for the lobstermen?
[02:49:29] They're really trying to get them to bite in
[02:49:31] and weigh in on the decisions that are gonna harm them.
[02:49:35] So closures of the prime areas.
[02:49:38] So prime areas of where you drop lobster pots
[02:49:45] and catch lobsters, they wanna shut them down.
[02:49:47] They wanna shut them down, they wanna try ropless gear,
[02:49:51] which is, in the short, remote control,
[02:49:54] a buoy pops up from the trap
[02:49:56] and you've got 10 to 20 traps strung out
[02:49:58] and you're gonna count that this,
[02:50:01] you're dropping it in,
[02:50:02] no one's gonna know where the traps are
[02:50:05] because you might drop them in six knots of current
[02:50:08] in a string and they're gonna drop 150 feet,
[02:50:13] even further.
[02:50:15] How much does a lobster trap
[02:50:18] with some kind of a radio activated?
[02:50:20] Or a sonar activated to get the buoy to pop up?
[02:50:24] Yeah, it's gonna be,
[02:50:25] whatever they end up doing,
[02:50:29] they're about four grand.
[02:50:31] A regular lobster buoy, 10 bucks.
[02:50:34] So who's gonna be able to do that?
[02:50:36] It's gonna be big giant,
[02:50:41] big box store, Walmart, China,
[02:50:43] taking over our lobster industry, can't happen.
[02:50:47] Because regular mom and pop can't do that,
[02:50:51] absorb that cost.
[02:50:54] We were looking at getting another seafood processing plant
[02:50:58] built in Maine instead of shipping it up to Canada
[02:51:02] and that's just like the oil industry,
[02:51:05] they're not gonna build another refinery
[02:51:08] because they can't have a guarantee that
[02:51:10] the oil industry is gonna be around.
[02:51:14] Just so they're not building that seafood processing plant.
[02:51:19] There's a whole other slew of jobs in the construction
[02:51:21] and running of that that are gone.
[02:51:27] It's gonna have a crazy ripple effect across Maine.
[02:51:30] When people come there, to go to Reds Eats
[02:51:34] and stand an hour and a half in a line,
[02:51:37] they'll go eat a lobster roll.
[02:51:40] Yeah, like I said, when you think of Maine,
[02:51:43] you think of lobster 100%.
[02:51:46] Yeah.
[02:51:46] So to shut this down would be insane.
[02:51:48] So what will you be able to do when you're elected?
[02:51:53] Well, the voice has to come out loud.
[02:51:57] You know, we're gonna look at cutting funding
[02:52:01] for the piece that's causing the problem.
[02:52:05] They got a job to do, I got it,
[02:52:07] but if they're looking at it,
[02:52:09] and if they're looking at the lobstermen
[02:52:11] and they're not looking at where they need to look,
[02:52:14] then they're killing right whales
[02:52:16] by accusing the lobstermen of being the culprit.
[02:52:20] You know, once you focus in on one thing,
[02:52:24] you're not looking to take care of the problem.
[02:52:26] You know, it's ship strikes and a lot of pleasure crafts
[02:52:31] and folks trying to get too close to the whales,
[02:52:34] but it's not the Maine lobstermen.
[02:52:36] It's snow crab traps way up in Canada.
[02:52:40] And we get accounted for, like I said earlier,
[02:52:43] death there, that's insane.
[02:52:47] And that's America doing it.
[02:52:50] That's NOAA, that's National Marine Fisheries Services
[02:52:53] doing that.
[02:52:54] Why is this happening?
[02:52:57] Okay, so if I'm, let's say I love animals, which I do.
[02:53:02] Let's say I love whales, which I guess I kind of love whales.
[02:53:04] I mean, whales are cool animals.
[02:53:06] I mean, I can see them from my house and it's awesome.
[02:53:09] You know, I look out and we can see them sprain
[02:53:11] and we see, they come pretty close to the lineup
[02:53:14] sometimes surfing.
[02:53:15] It's pretty awesome.
[02:53:18] So let's say I do, whales are awesome.
[02:53:21] I wanna protect whales.
[02:53:22] And then I start going, oh, well,
[02:53:23] maybe these lobster traps could kill them
[02:53:25] and that seems bad.
[02:53:26] And then I start doing the research
[02:53:29] and I see that they can break out of the lines
[02:53:31] if they get tangled,
[02:53:31] because we put this into place.
[02:53:33] I see that they're counting, what'd you say, mystery deaths?
[02:53:37] Cryptic, they call it cryptic death.
[02:53:39] So if they find one dead, they say there's three more.
[02:53:42] Okay, so now I say I've got, I'm multiplying.
[02:53:46] When I start running the numbers on this,
[02:53:49] it doesn't make any sense to do that
[02:53:51] because this whale floats.
[02:53:52] So why would we say that it's dead?
[02:53:55] So as I start looking at this, I start saying,
[02:53:56] well, this doesn't seem like it's a problem.
[02:53:58] Let's focus on, you know, some other issue
[02:54:01] because apparently the, because it is apparent
[02:54:04] that the lobster traps and the lobster men
[02:54:07] are not the problem.
[02:54:09] So why are they not making this connection?
[02:54:13] Why are they continue to go down this path
[02:54:15] which there's evidence, clear evidence
[02:54:17] that this isn't a problem?
[02:54:19] Well, because you can't have windmills where you're lobstering
[02:54:23] and they want to put windmills in those areas.
[02:54:25] And hey, if they make sense, cool.
[02:54:29] Right now they do not make sense
[02:54:31] and you don't make up a lie, you know,
[02:54:33] even if it's right, the windmills,
[02:54:35] but you make up a lie to make it happen, that's wrong.
[02:54:38] Wait, wait, wait, you're saying that the reason
[02:54:40] that they want to do this is to,
[02:54:41] because they can put windmills out there?
[02:54:43] Can I say that 100% because,
[02:54:45] but that's where they want to put them, you know.
[02:54:48] Okay, so you're saying there is a plan to put windmills
[02:54:52] out in that section of the ocean.
[02:54:54] And it's the, they want to do it on the sea mounts,
[02:55:00] the mountains in the sea
[02:55:00] because that's where all the sea life goes
[02:55:03] because you put the shortest chain on those.
[02:55:06] These are three to one ratio chains, nine foot lengths,
[02:55:11] and 50 fathoms, you know, I think it's 50 fathoms,
[02:55:16] you know, 300 feet, and that's going to rake
[02:55:20] and destroy the bottom and then they're going
[02:55:23] to run horizontal lines.
[02:55:26] You know.
[02:55:27] To get the power back.
[02:55:27] Yeah, to get, well, to string these things together.
[02:55:30] And, you know, that'll catch a right whale
[02:55:34] because they get caught in their mouth.
[02:55:36] And all the pictures that they keep showing
[02:55:38] of the right whale with entanglements,
[02:55:41] you know, it's never been our lobster gear.
[02:55:46] It's bigger braided line and not the problem.
[02:55:51] You know, it's, yeah, you got to really look at it.
[02:55:55] None of it makes sense.
[02:55:56] You know, none of it makes sense
[02:55:58] and no one's going back and saying,
[02:56:00] hey, let's reassess this.
[02:56:03] You know, it should have never gotten to this point.
[02:56:05] They're looking to start and shut things down next month.
[02:56:08] You know, hey, we're going to do a lawsuit.
[02:56:10] Yeah, well, it's getting shut down.
[02:56:12] Who's doing a lawsuit?
[02:56:14] They're saying that the state's going to.
[02:56:18] The lobsterman did one and took it to court.
[02:56:22] And it's all the cryptic deaths.
[02:56:27] And the, you know, we were us taking credit
[02:56:30] for half of theirs.
[02:56:31] They want a 90% reduction in deaths.
[02:56:36] Yet windmills, you know, the new vineyard wind farm
[02:56:41] down in mass.
[02:56:43] They get to do 20 takes.
[02:56:46] It's level B harassment, which is.
[02:56:49] But what's 20 takes?
[02:56:51] What does that mean?
[02:56:52] Taking by level B harassment.
[02:56:53] You can harass them.
[02:56:55] And if it gets taken, you had permission to harass it.
[02:57:00] So you can stop them from breathing, you know,
[02:57:03] by not allowing them to come to surface.
[02:57:06] You can stop them from mating.
[02:57:08] You can stop them from sheltering.
[02:57:10] You can disrupt their migratory path.
[02:57:14] So.
[02:57:15] You can do all that to the whales?
[02:57:17] The windmills can.
[02:57:19] Cause they're going to do some blasting.
[02:57:21] They've got to do some sonic testing.
[02:57:24] Just a vibration of the, you know,
[02:57:25] what is the windmill itself going to do?
[02:57:29] And if you multiply that times all the windmills
[02:57:31] up and down the coast, that's more right whales
[02:57:36] than are alive as they count them.
[02:57:39] You know, so again, it doesn't make sense.
[02:57:42] It's not about the lobster man, you know,
[02:57:45] take a look at it and everybody jump on board, you know,
[02:57:50] cause you know, they're, you know, it's so frustrating.
[02:57:56] And you can look at me as crazy you want,
[02:57:58] cause it's that crazy.
[02:57:59] It doesn't make sense.
[02:58:00] And it's moving forward.
[02:58:04] Crazy.
[02:58:05] That's why we're running.
[02:58:06] Yeah.
[02:58:07] Cause there's so much that, that, you know,
[02:58:10] we just got to, and I don't know what I'm going to do.
[02:58:12] You know, I know I'm going to butt heads
[02:58:14] in my own party too.
[02:58:16] Cause I'm that guy.
[02:58:18] If it doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense, you know,
[02:58:20] and it's about the country, you know,
[02:58:22] it's never about your platoon.
[02:58:25] You're going to fight for your platoon,
[02:58:26] your task unit, your team.
[02:58:27] But in the end, you don't do anything.
[02:58:30] That competitiveness in a platoon and task unit,
[02:58:33] it never supersedes your, your task in the country.
[02:58:38] You know, I love the competitiveness in a platoon.
[02:58:41] You know, it's, it's awesome.
[02:58:43] Cause you're all fighting.
[02:58:44] You all want to be the, you know, when,
[02:58:46] when the building's burning, you want to be, you know,
[02:58:50] the squad that gets called to go in.
[02:58:51] And you don't, you know, firemen don't want the fire,
[02:58:55] but they're all, all the men are competing
[02:58:57] so that they can be the guy on the team
[02:58:59] that goes in and helps, right?
[02:59:02] But you never let that competitiveness, you know,
[02:59:04] it's like taking, you know, politicians are like taking
[02:59:07] the firing pins out of, you know, the rifles
[02:59:10] so that they, they, they look better than the other guy,
[02:59:13] you know, you know, it's, it's, it's like a sales team,
[02:59:18] you know, you know, cutting the cord to the copy machine
[02:59:21] before the other sales team gets to print out their,
[02:59:24] their briefs, you know, it's, that's the competitive
[02:59:27] that's going on in politics.
[02:59:28] It's, it's, I've got six years is what the,
[02:59:32] what the family agreed to is to do this for six years.
[02:59:36] And I believe in term limits, you know,
[02:59:38] I will definitely self-impose
[02:59:39] because I got an awesome life I want to get back to.
[02:59:41] And that's what, you've got an objective
[02:59:46] and when you, when you transfer to one command to the next,
[02:59:49] you know, you've got a limited time there
[02:59:51] and you're going to take that piece of string
[02:59:53] and you're going to pass it off as a rappel line
[02:59:55] and then pass it off as a howler's line.
[02:59:57] And, you know, you're going to have an objective
[03:00:00] at the end of that time that you're going to be successful.
[03:00:03] You're going to have made America better.
[03:00:06] And that's not happening.
[03:00:08] It's a whole bunch of politicking
[03:00:10] and a whole bunch of saber rattling to get the next,
[03:00:14] you know, election, you know, spun up, fund,
[03:00:18] you know, funded and everything else.
[03:00:21] Yeah, finding that common ground and getting it done.
[03:00:25] If they weren't so worried about getting their next,
[03:00:27] you know, seat in Congress, the next term set up,
[03:00:30] they probably wouldn't be spending money
[03:00:32] and sprinkling it all over the place, you know,
[03:00:34] making people happy with a little bit of money here,
[03:00:36] a little bit of money there.
[03:00:37] Hey, you know, this party's trying to do that to you
[03:00:41] and that party's trying to do this to you,
[03:00:43] you know, when that's not true, you know,
[03:00:47] definitely these hot button topics.
[03:00:51] You look at the mailers that come in, you know,
[03:00:54] where they're teaching hate, you know.
[03:00:58] And these are like mailers for different candidates
[03:01:02] up in Maine.
[03:01:03] Yeah, in Maine, everywhere.
[03:01:05] You know, you know, the,
[03:01:09] even broach the subject,
[03:01:10] because it's, you get demonized, you know, abortion, you know.
[03:01:14] One side thinks it's a baby,
[03:01:16] the other side thinks it's a woman's right.
[03:01:18] And basically that topic is either side thinks the other person's
[03:01:24] completely evil and that's not the case.
[03:01:28] Each side was taught something different, you know,
[03:01:32] you know, Republican women don't wanna take away
[03:01:34] women's rights, they're strong Republican women.
[03:01:37] And they're strong, they believe in women's rights,
[03:01:39] but they also believe it's a baby, you know.
[03:01:42] And on the other side, they were taught something different.
[03:01:47] And people are trying to make laws right now,
[03:01:51] they're saying they want to,
[03:01:52] but it's not legal to make a law federally about it
[03:01:58] because it just got, it has to go back
[03:01:59] through the Supreme Court.
[03:02:01] And both sides are saying the other side's gonna do something
[03:02:06] evil to your side.
[03:02:07] Well, no, you actually can't.
[03:02:09] So why are you campaigning on it?
[03:02:11] You know, and that's, I get,
[03:02:14] you will, this conversation is older, over, done.
[03:02:20] When I say, you know, my stance on it in pro life,
[03:02:23] but I will not legislate on it.
[03:02:26] I'll vote no, either way, it comes to me.
[03:02:29] You know, it's, I mean, saying this on air right now
[03:02:32] is crazy questionable
[03:02:34] because some people that will just shut down,
[03:02:37] shut down both sides, you know,
[03:02:41] because the people think I should take my position
[03:02:45] and use it to what they want, you know?
[03:02:48] But that's not constitutional.
[03:02:50] So your statement pisses everyone off.
[03:02:52] Yeah, yeah.
[03:02:54] So you got that going for you at the lender.
[03:02:56] But you know what, I'm honest about it.
[03:02:58] And it's not constitutive, it belongs at the state.
[03:03:01] That's how the country gets along
[03:03:02] is we have all these little countries
[03:03:04] that unified and became a federal republic.
[03:03:07] And, you know, there's different laws
[03:03:10] in Massachusetts and California and Maine
[03:03:14] and the people vote on them, the representatives,
[03:03:18] you know, represent them.
[03:03:20] And that's how we get along.
[03:03:22] Otherwise we would tear ourselves apart a long time ago.
[03:03:25] You know, and, you know, we're not going back to the 60s.
[03:03:29] You know, segregation, we're not, you know?
[03:03:31] That gets, I get so much gets thrown at me.
[03:03:34] And I'm just gonna be honest, you know?
[03:03:37] And it's that hate, and I mean it's hate.
[03:03:43] They're accusing one side or the other of, you know,
[03:03:50] taking away women's rights.
[03:03:52] The other side just thinks it's a baby.
[03:03:54] Everybody knows it's life.
[03:03:56] It's just when it's become human life.
[03:03:58] And we go so far left and right of it, you know?
[03:04:02] There's only three countries in the world
[03:04:04] that have late-term abortion, you know?
[03:04:09] China, North Korea, and America.
[03:04:12] And again, I don't care where anybody stands at.
[03:04:15] I don't hate anybody for their thought on it.
[03:04:17] I know that people have been taught different about it.
[03:04:20] You know, so I have no idea
[03:04:23] if we should be going down this route.
[03:04:25] Honestly, uh-uh, because it, it's crazy.
[03:04:31] I've been doing my lobster boat swims.
[03:04:33] Did I tell you about those?
[03:04:35] No, tell me about your lobster boat swims.
[03:04:36] My lobster boat swims.
[03:04:38] So I'm swimming, you know, they have the Lop,
[03:04:41] they had a rally, a concert on the water,
[03:04:43] all the lobsters come around.
[03:04:45] And 60 degree water, and I got my campaign material
[03:04:51] in a dry bag.
[03:04:53] And I'm swimming boat to boat, skinning it.
[03:04:55] And I'm, hey, I'm Ed Thielander,
[03:04:57] retired Navy SEAL, running for U.S. Congress.
[03:04:58] Mind if I come on board and tell you about the campaign?
[03:05:01] I hit 50 boats one day, like three and a half, four hours
[03:05:04] in the water.
[03:05:05] I did it five times.
[03:05:06] Swimming with the sharks.
[03:05:08] And, uh, and Harpswell, the great whites are out
[03:05:12] tearing SEALs apart, not this one.
[03:05:16] And, you know, I'm campaigning boat to boat again.
[03:05:20] And, you know, it's just neat getting a lot of love.
[03:05:24] And, yeah, hit the news guy.
[03:05:29] He's on the float.
[03:05:30] And, uh, I won't say what channel.
[03:05:33] I really want to.
[03:05:34] But, uh, you go, hey, I'm Ed, you know?
[03:05:38] And, uh, yeah, I know who you are.
[03:05:40] Hey, great, I said, you know,
[03:05:42] be great to get on camera.
[03:05:44] No, I won't cover you.
[03:05:47] You know, that's a crazy wild thing, too.
[03:05:49] You know, it never has that been done before.
[03:05:52] And, uh, pretty disappointing.
[03:05:56] You know, that's, yeah, that's another crazy disappointing
[03:05:58] thing is, uh, that, that slant on it is pretty tough.
[03:06:03] Well, that's a good way for people to keep their
[03:06:05] intellectual, media, uh, loop closed.
[03:06:10] Yeah. Yeah.
[03:06:11] Well, I'm just not going to put you on.
[03:06:12] Right.
[03:06:13] That's that.
[03:06:14] Not going to let anyone form their opinions about you
[03:06:15] because they're not going to know who you are.
[03:06:16] Craziness.
[03:06:17] Oh, yeah.
[03:06:18] Craziness.
[03:06:20] So, I mean, it seems like that gets us to present day.
[03:06:23] We caught up right now.
[03:06:24] Pretty caught up.
[03:06:25] Yeah.
[03:06:26] Yeah.
[03:06:27] We're, uh, running hard.
[03:06:28] We're, we're, uh, it's, uh, you know, I hit three, four
[03:06:31] events in a day, you know, I mean, I hit three events,
[03:06:34] four events before I had my debate the other day, you
[03:06:37] know, just because I got to get the name out there.
[03:06:39] And we're, you know, uh, we're everywhere all the time.
[03:06:42] Uh, you know, wife included, you know, a kid or two once
[03:06:45] in a while and, uh, just driving hard, you know, and
[03:06:49] seeing, uh, what, what comes up.
[03:06:52] And you're down to the wire right now, huh?
[03:06:54] Yeah. We're down to the wire.
[03:06:55] Uh, got another forum or debate on Wednesday as a
[03:06:58] forum, I guess, they haven't given us the format yet.
[03:07:01] Uh, so that's coming, you know, that there's a, uh, a
[03:07:05] third party candidate that just jumped in September 9th.
[03:07:08] Kind of can't figure that out yet.
[03:07:10] He's a right in candidate that activates rank choice voting.
[03:07:13] Um, so yeah, just vote Ed Thielander right across all
[03:07:18] three slots.
[03:07:19] Um, he's the love party.
[03:07:22] Love over violent empire.
[03:07:25] Well, I did say I love whales.
[03:07:26] Maybe I'm part of his thing.
[03:07:28] Yeah.
[03:07:29] It's rank choice.
[03:07:30] It's another crazy thing.
[03:07:32] What's rank choice?
[03:07:33] What do you, so you can put him in order of rank.
[03:07:35] Yeah.
[03:07:36] The top person gets three points or whatever.
[03:07:38] So if, if, uh, if I don't win by 51%, you know, over 50%,
[03:07:46] then it goes by rank choice.
[03:07:48] So, you know, you choose one, two, and three, or you can
[03:07:52] just do one across for, for one candidate and kind of your
[03:07:56] bad, well, it's, you know, uh, doesn't give any points to
[03:07:59] the other people.
[03:08:00] How are the polls right now?
[03:08:02] The polls, uh, you know, the legit poll we have, uh, is
[03:08:07] that we're out raising her three to one in main individual
[03:08:10] people, human donations.
[03:08:12] Okay.
[03:08:13] That's a good sign.
[03:08:14] The other ones is generic.
[03:08:15] Uh, and it doesn't really take an account me cause I'm, I'm
[03:08:19] still very unknown, even though we've been doing it for 14
[03:08:22] months.
[03:08:23] It's amazing.
[03:08:23] You know, there's, you know, uh, districts, you know,
[03:08:26] three quarters of a million people, main smaller being
[03:08:28] there's six, it's 680 plus thousand, you know, can't
[03:08:31] reach all those folks.
[03:08:33] So we're out there.
[03:08:34] We're, we're in the places that, that Republicans don't
[03:08:37] dare to tread cause, you know, they're coming on board.
[03:08:40] Um, you know, our first max donor was a far left Democrat
[03:08:43] and Democrats signing up, uh, um, to help us out.
[03:08:48] The don't, why do you think that is?
[03:08:50] Why do you think Democrats are signing up to help you out
[03:08:52] as a Republican?
[03:08:53] Cause people are tired of what's going on.
[03:08:55] Uh, they, they want to see change.
[03:08:57] There's, you know, tired and scared for the winter.
[03:08:59] You know, Maine is, uh, uh, we heat.
[03:09:03] The fuel prices is going to be crazy.
[03:09:04] Yeah.
[03:09:05] 60% of people in Maine heat with oil and it's over double,
[03:09:10] almost triple what it was, uh, last year, uh, and, and
[03:09:14] going up, you know, um, that's going to people are really
[03:09:18] going to choose between heat and heat.
[03:09:20] Um, and they were making that choice, uh, before, you know,
[03:09:24] uh, it's, it's going to be a very tough winter.
[03:09:27] Um, people don't want to be dependent on the government,
[03:09:30] but it's kind of being forced on them right now.
[03:09:32] And that's wrong.
[03:09:33] We want the Republicans, we want folks to be successful on
[03:09:37] the run.
[03:09:38] We help out, um, but man, it's, uh, it's opportunity and
[03:09:42] freedom, you know, uh, and responsibility and, uh, people
[03:09:46] want that.
[03:09:47] Maine is, you know, very independent.
[03:09:51] Uh, it's, uh, a ton of the voters, most of, uh, of large
[03:09:56] in the state are independent.
[03:09:57] Um, and, uh, they just want to be left alone and, and, uh,
[03:10:02] you know, nobody wants to pay taxes, but they do and, and,
[03:10:04] and they want to work.
[03:10:05] Yeah.
[03:10:06] I don't get people working again.
[03:10:07] It's what they want to, uh, a lot of things have been
[03:10:10] shut down and, and, uh, yeah, it's hard to find workers.
[03:10:13] You're experiencing that, you know, um, working on that.
[03:10:17] And some folks that, uh, been signing up for, uh, some training
[03:10:21] by Ashel on front and a couple of folks going to the
[03:10:23] musters, uh, as I'm, you know, going to the, uh, um, these
[03:10:27] job fairs, you know, talking to the, the, not only the
[03:10:31] students that they're going to some of these high school,
[03:10:33] uh, job fairs, but the employers too, you know, um, and I,
[03:10:38] I mentioned earlier, uh, uh, the camp was rolling, but, uh,
[03:10:42] yeah, the, uh, the Republican national committee, um, the
[03:10:46] executive director, uh, issues, uh, the field manual for
[03:10:53] discipline equals freedom to everybody that comes on board.
[03:10:56] Uh, pretty wild.
[03:10:57] Yeah.
[03:10:58] It's, uh, but yeah, people are tired.
[03:11:01] People are scared and, uh, you know, what's in power right now
[03:11:04] is influencing that, you know, whatever side you're on, uh,
[03:11:08] it's, uh, it's, it's time to make them change.
[03:11:11] If you want change, because you can't keep doing the same
[03:11:14] thing, things aren't going right.
[03:11:15] You got to vote it in and, uh, yeah, you know, uh, I do reach
[03:11:20] across the aisle, you know, and, uh, you know, I'm, you're,
[03:11:24] you're typical Republican, uh, conservative, you know, doesn't
[03:11:28] have purple hair.
[03:11:29] I talked to them, get ton of love off of everybody, you know,
[03:11:32] uh, tattoos up to the eyeballs.
[03:11:34] I don't, you know, I'm happy to talk to anybody, you know,
[03:11:37] um, you know, cannabis, you know, uh, folks, uh, medically,
[03:11:42] you know, so on board with it, recreationally, it's legal and
[03:11:45] main, let's tax it and move forward and, and, uh, protect
[03:11:49] the, the end, it's, it's, you know, those folks are still
[03:11:51] buying stuff, uh, and, uh, you know, Republicans aren't
[03:11:55] normally about that.
[03:11:56] Now I'm stepping on the over the line telling everybody
[03:11:59] right now I am, uh, and that's not, you know, the Republican
[03:12:03] standard.
[03:12:04] Uh, I'm willing to say, hey, you know, uh, yeah, I wasn't,
[03:12:09] I've never tried it, you know, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm not a
[03:12:12] heavy drinker, not never tried any of that.
[03:12:14] Uh, but medically, I know it's helped so many people.
[03:12:18] Um, and, uh, you know, prescribing an 11 year old
[03:12:22] Adderall, not a good plan.
[03:12:24] Uh, you know, there's other alternatives out there are not
[03:12:27] addictive that, that can keep them focusing straight.
[03:12:29] And, uh, we've got to be so much smarter about that.
[03:12:32] So you, so you have different viewpoints from the standard
[03:12:35] and you got an open mind thinking about what makes sense to
[03:12:37] you and not what the party line is.
[03:12:40] Yeah.
[03:12:41] Uh, it's, it's, that's very scary.
[03:12:43] Yeah.
[03:12:44] It's, it's the way I've lived my life.
[03:12:48] That's how I got where I'm at, you know, uh, that's how I've
[03:12:50] got along, you know, from, from childhood to now.
[03:12:54] And, uh, that's what America needs.
[03:12:56] I need somebody that's going to problem solve and get along
[03:12:58] and, and say, Hey, you know, um, I made a mistake there.
[03:13:02] Uh, let's move forward.
[03:13:04] You know, and, uh, can't, you can't not, you know, the
[03:13:08] Oodle-oop, you know, uh, for anybody want to explain that.
[03:13:13] Observe or orient yourself, decide and act.
[03:13:18] And then back to the beginning.
[03:13:19] Don't just keep moving forward.
[03:13:21] You know, small incremental decisions, you know, uh, and, uh,
[03:13:25] yeah, but if you don't admit you've even two to 2% or 100%
[03:13:31] got it wrong, uh, you're never going to improve and, you know,
[03:13:34] do what we did in the SEAL teams and make such an awesome machine.
[03:13:38] Our debriefs in the SEAL teams are brutal, brutal.
[03:13:42] Uh, and, uh, they don't do that.
[03:13:46] You know, uh, well, I'm going to do that.
[03:13:49] You know, uh, I'm concerned to be in my own party, you know,
[03:13:52] uh, uh, that I'm going to get along on a lot of things.
[03:13:56] We'll see, you know, um, you know, and everything I say, um,
[03:14:00] I'm willing to, yeah, check it out and see where, where it really is.
[03:14:04] Um, and I've tucked on subjects that, that, uh, in this podcast
[03:14:08] that, meh, you know, uh, people are going to say, you know, crazy wackadoodle dude.
[03:14:13] Hey, you know what?
[03:14:14] I'm still willing to look at it and, uh, make a decision, uh,
[03:14:18] maybe say I was wrong and, and move forward.
[03:14:21] Can't do it otherwise.
[03:14:23] Well, it's a refreshing attitude to hear.
[03:14:25] Where, where can people, if people want to support you?
[03:14:28] Thelandovercongress.com.
[03:14:30] It's T-H-E-L-A-N-D-E-R for Congress.com.
[03:14:35] Four spelled out.
[03:14:36] And if, and if people want to see you, uh, after you get done
[03:14:39] grading the church parking lot or driveway with that's on Instagram.
[03:14:43] Yep.
[03:14:43] Facebook.
[03:14:44] Uh, yeah.
[03:14:46] Uh, uh, Thelandovercongress at Instagram, Twitter, your Ed for Maine.
[03:14:51] Yeah.
[03:14:52] Uh, Facebook is at Thelandovercongress and you have a YouTube channel as well.
[03:14:56] Yes, we do.
[03:14:57] Uh, Thelander.
[03:14:58] Yeah.
[03:15:00] Echo, what do you got for questions?
[03:15:02] I have none.
[03:15:02] No questions.
[03:15:03] How about the, actually, you know, I'm a massive, so you, uh,
[03:15:07] Come on, he needs practice.
[03:15:08] He's got a debate coming up.
[03:15:10] So you're gluten free then.
[03:15:11] Yeah.
[03:15:12] I'm a gluten free keto kook.
[03:15:13] Wait, do you have celiacs?
[03:15:15] Because you were having celiac symptoms.
[03:15:17] So I got tested for celiacs.
[03:15:18] Uh, and no, um, not celiacs.
[03:15:22] Yeah.
[03:15:22] Just gluten intolerance.
[03:15:24] Gluten intolerance.
[03:15:25] And now I'm a keto kook and, uh, yeah.
[03:15:27] When did you get on the keto program?
[03:15:29] Right about four years ago now.
[03:15:31] And, and you love it.
[03:15:32] Love it.
[03:15:33] You know, feeling great.
[03:15:34] I mean, everything's clear.
[03:15:35] Brain's clear.
[03:15:36] Joints are better.
[03:15:38] You know, uh, how long did it take you to lose 70 pounds?
[03:15:42] Um, well, first 25 was, uh, when I went gluten free, another 50 ish, um,
[03:15:48] was when I went keto and that was, yeah, within a year and a half easy, uh, year.
[03:15:56] I mean, I just, it just came right off.
[03:15:58] And now you stay at 205.
[03:15:59] I can go down if I want to.
[03:16:01] Um, easy.
[03:16:02] Um, I just don't want to buy any more suits.
[03:16:10] Right on.
[03:16:10] That's all I got.
[03:16:11] Yeah.
[03:16:11] I got a couple of pictures in my suit.
[03:16:13] Uh, uh, the, the white collared shirt I got.
[03:16:17] Yeah.
[03:16:17] It looks like your dad's shirt.
[03:16:21] Right on.
[03:16:22] They had any closing thoughts before we shut it down.
[03:16:24] No.
[03:16:24] Hey, um, hey, thanks for having me on.
[03:16:26] It's awesome.
[03:16:26] It's awesome to be able to get the word out, you know, and, uh, hey, find that
[03:16:30] common ground.
[03:16:30] Let's move forward and, uh, let's make, you know, uh, the best of, of, of our
[03:16:35] friendships and, uh, yeah, we will make things right.
[03:16:38] Thank you.
[03:16:39] Yeah.
[03:16:39] Appreciate you coming on.
[03:16:40] Obviously thanks for coming out.
[03:16:42] Uh, thanks your service to the country, to the teams.
[03:16:46] Thank you for jumping into this mayhem that you're jumping into now.
[03:16:51] And, uh, I wish you luck in the political arena.
[03:16:53] I just, the fact that you can come on here and, and explain that you have
[03:16:57] different viewpoints than maybe one side or the other side and you agree with
[03:17:01] some and you agree, disagree with others.
[03:17:04] That's an open mind.
[03:17:05] And for me, I think that's what it's going to take to get our country moving
[03:17:08] in the right direction.
[03:17:09] So thanks for what you're doing, bro.
[03:17:11] And thanks for coming on.
[03:17:11] Hey, thank you.
[03:17:12] I appreciate it.
[03:17:13] Thank you.
[03:17:15] And with that, Ed D Lander has left the building.
[03:17:20] Echo Charles.
[03:17:22] Are you happy you're not running for political office right now?
[03:17:25] Yes.
[03:17:25] Currently, I am currently happy that I'm not currently running.
[03:17:27] You kind of had a look on your face during portions of that, um, recording
[03:17:32] that you were kind of happy that you weren't running for.
[03:17:36] Yeah, we were, um, talking beforehand and you know, you want, when you get
[03:17:40] into that arena, this is what I gathered.
[03:17:42] When you get into that arena, you see the curtain kind of gets pulled back
[03:17:45] and you see kind of how things work.
[03:17:47] And then you, so essentially you have a problem in there where it's like, Hey,
[03:17:50] we need to change this.
[03:17:51] How are we going to change that?
[03:17:52] Well, you know, this system is set up to allow this.
[03:17:55] Not necessarily for this, but it kind of allows for this.
[03:17:57] Well, okay.
[03:17:58] We'll change that then.
[03:18:00] Oh, well, but that system has to be voted on by the people who are benefiting
[03:18:03] from that system that allows this.
[03:18:06] And it's like, oh man, so okay, what do you got to do then?
[03:18:08] Then you got to do this.
[03:18:09] And you got to, and it's like this big, like unraveling of a thing with like
[03:18:15] so many unintended consequences.
[03:18:16] And it's like, man, it goes deep.
[03:18:19] And then that's, that's on top of like the obvious stuff.
[03:18:22] I was like, wow, man, I'm glad you're running and not
[03:18:24] me right now.
[03:18:27] Well, good on him.
[03:18:28] I'm glad we could get him out here.
[03:18:31] Because, you know, he's, he's making an effort.
[03:18:35] He's, and he's got a little, he's got like a pledge about taking ownership
[03:18:40] of what's going on, which is sort of, you know, taking ownership and actively
[03:18:44] participating in what's happening with the country.
[03:18:48] I can't make that claim.
[03:18:49] You know, I'm attacking it from a different angle, which for me, the angle
[03:18:54] is trying to bring manufacturing back to America, trying to grow businesses,
[03:18:59] trying to improve our economy through that methodology.
[03:19:02] But as far as jumping into the arena like him, you know, respect.
[03:19:06] So good on him.
[03:19:08] I wonder what, because you know, like taking responsibility for a mistake,
[03:19:11] it kind of seems real obvious from the outside, or maybe because just because
[03:19:14] you talk at all times.
[03:19:15] So now it's obvious to me, but I wonder if there's like some weird mechanism
[03:19:19] in the political world behind the crypto that kind of like doesn't allow for that.
[03:19:25] You know, like the obvious, not an obvious one, but the one that just hit me
[03:19:30] like right away was, let's say I say something dumb, or I say something about
[03:19:35] something or make a decision that's wrong or whatever.
[03:19:37] And I say, well, I'm not like, I made a, I made a mistake, you know, or whatever.
[03:19:41] Is it because everyone will attack them like in the media, you know, media outlets
[03:19:45] have different sides where they'll attack them.
[03:19:48] They'll attack them and then be like, Hey, uh, freaking Jocko.
[03:19:52] Finally, uh, admits he was wrong.
[03:19:55] No, no, no, they'll say it way worse than that.
[03:19:57] They'll say, finally confirms he's inadequate for this decision making
[03:20:02] type or something like this, you know, I think it may have something to do with.
[03:20:05] Do you remember at the monster that we just went to, there was a woman that asked
[03:20:10] it basically, you know, is it okay to say I'm sorry?
[03:20:13] Yeah.
[03:20:14] Yeah.
[03:20:14] I remember and you know, like, of course it's okay to say it.
[03:20:17] You know, when you make a mistake, you say, sorry, apologize for whatever mistake you made,
[03:20:20] but there's people like there's a whole leadership theory that you never apologize.
[03:20:27] Right.
[03:20:27] Yeah.
[03:20:27] I've heard that.
[03:20:28] And, you know, so I think the thing that we're talking about on the political side,
[03:20:33] I think there's something out there that's very similar.
[03:20:36] Never admit that you're right.
[03:20:37] Never admit that you're wrong.
[03:20:38] Right.
[03:20:39] Never apologize to, you know, the opponent and you know, to me, it's the same thing.
[03:20:45] You're just, if you make a mistake, apologize.
[03:20:50] Hey, this is a mistake.
[03:20:51] Here's what I thought was going to happen.
[03:20:52] Here's what actually happened.
[03:20:53] This is, I was wrong about this.
[03:20:55] Here's what I plan to adjust for next time.
[03:20:56] And I learned a good lesson that I can confirm will not happen again if I can prevent it at all.
[03:21:03] Yeah.
[03:21:04] So yeah, I think it's just that.
[03:21:07] I think it's just, and the other thing is nowadays, I mean, I guess it's not even that,
[03:21:12] just nowadays, what is it, Gerbil said that if you repeat a lie enough, it becomes the truth.
[03:21:17] And so I think a lot of people are just like, yeah, you know, I didn't say that.
[03:21:22] No, I did not say that.
[03:21:24] You know, you know, Chaco, it said, do you still confirm the what you said last week
[03:21:34] about the blah, blah, blah?
[03:21:36] And I go, I did not say that it was taken out of context.
[03:21:39] Right. But even though I did say it, you know, but you said, no, I didn't say that it was taken
[03:21:43] out of context. In fact, that reporter has been known to take things out.
[03:21:47] You know, you just go in there.
[03:21:48] In fact, my opponent has worked with that reporter in the past that that's why they
[03:21:52] asked that question because they're actually, you know, nefarious and their activities.
[03:21:57] So that's what everybody does.
[03:21:58] Everyone just denies, makes counter accusations, tells the lie enough time that it becomes the
[03:22:05] truth. And I think that's the standard operating procedure. And I think most people don't have
[03:22:12] time to pull the thread on it. I mean, some of the presidential debates last year were just
[03:22:18] ridiculous. Like they're just, they're just making accusations and then not even defending
[03:22:24] but just making a counter accusation and just, you know, you said that blah, blah, you said
[03:22:30] that the economy would do this. I never said that. You're like, what are you going to do?
[03:22:34] Go look up the quote? No. So it just becomes two people just shouting at each other.
[03:22:40] It's, it's horrible. The political thing is horrible right now.
[03:22:44] Props to these guys that are, these, these guys that are stepping up and doing something about it,
[03:22:48] good on you. And that's where Ed's at. So good luck, Ed. I think he's going to have a rough time.
[03:22:56] He's got, he's got, he's the problem is not a conformist. You know, he's not conforming to one
[03:23:01] side or the other side. He's got one view over here, but he's got another view. He's got one
[03:23:06] conservative view, one liberal view. Yeah. Do you think, because, you know, when you watch it on TV,
[03:23:11] that's like, so you know what happens? He gets shredded by both. That's what happens. Sorry for
[03:23:15] cutting you off. But only on, because I don't know. I don't know. I don't know everybody. Yeah. But
[03:23:20] it feels like, you know that I don't know. Yes. But I feel like when you're kind of like an honest
[03:23:28] person who's like, oh, wait, like, I know I'm supposed to think this because I'm in this party,
[03:23:33] but like, man, I'm still, I'm still kind of like pumping the brakes a little bit before I go hard
[03:23:37] on it because I want to find out more. And oh, I'm sorry. I made that mistake. And hey, this is
[03:23:41] what I'm going to do. Like this is how we're going to fix this mistake. You know, like, you would
[03:23:44] think that your everyday American person would be like, Hey, I think I like that guy. I think I,
[03:23:50] I think I'd really, I don't know him that much, but you're probably correct. And that the extreme
[03:23:55] people on either side were attack. Right. But it's the normal people like, dude, cut, cut him some
[03:24:00] slack. You know, he said something he didn't mean and he adjusted it. And then, but then they,
[03:24:05] at the same time they watch the news who's like kind of like, if you use the cliche word fear
[03:24:11] mongering, but it's like, they'll fear monger, you know, they'll be like, Hey, wait, this guy
[03:24:15] freaking is already making mistakes or something like that. You know, like they'll put it in your
[03:24:20] head that this guy is unreliable because he made a mistake and he even admitted the thing. Like,
[03:24:24] it's like, he flagrantly made him, you know, it's like that kind of stuff. And it's like,
[03:24:28] bro, you framed that as like this kind of scary bad thing. One really most of us kind of think
[03:24:33] that's good. If you did, if this media, whoever the news, whatever, if they didn't say shit,
[03:24:38] bro, we would have liked that guy. In fact, we wouldn't need that. We need that kind of attitude
[03:24:42] actually, you know. So it's like, man, we're all kind of getting washed up in the cyclone, you know.
[03:24:48] Yeah. At some point, someone's going to break through that has like a common sense attitude.
[03:24:53] That's what I felt too. I was like, Hey, you know, that's actually not true. No, I, you know,
[03:24:57] I said that, but I made a mistake. And here's what, here's, here's a more, here's a more
[03:25:02] a holistic look at that issue. So, and boom, you know, but, but again, if that, if the out,
[03:25:10] if the media outlet is against that person, they're only going to sound bite the negative thing.
[03:25:14] Yeah. That's not to mention, you know, how they say, and I don't know, because obviously I'm not
[03:25:18] in politics at all, but they do say, I've heard people are saying that if you go, let's say,
[03:25:25] you know, like, um, like Tulsi, you know, had this happen to where she'll go in the, I don't
[03:25:30] know, Democratic party, whatever, she'll go in and she'll start doing stuff that's like against,
[03:25:36] quote unquote, against the party, then they'll get drummed out by the party itself. Yeah.
[03:25:39] And if they're playing that freaking like kill them game or whatever, like they'll
[03:25:45] drama person out who's like being all honest and stuff. Yeah. Well, Tulsi's a great example.
[03:25:50] She got crucified. Bro. So it's like this hard ass game to like, to improve genuinely, you know?
[03:25:58] Holy cow. Freaking. I don't know. It feels like, I felt it though, like, I think you're right.
[03:26:04] I think like slowly by slowly, people are going to be like, wait, how about let's actually like do
[03:26:09] the right thing? Yeah. How about, like, let's just try it, you know, a little bit. You know,
[03:26:13] some people are crazy too. There's like crazy people. There's people that they're,
[03:26:19] their political beliefs are a religion and they're fanatical religious people, fanatical
[03:26:24] political people, which to me is, is if you're that focused, if you get emotionally upset
[03:26:31] about political things, then I think you should, you got issues, right? You know,
[03:26:38] you know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's people that get emotionally and look, I can understand,
[03:26:42] you know, you get mad about something or there's something that bothers you. Like,
[03:26:46] oh, that's, you know, that's, that shouldn't do it like that. Right? Yeah.
[03:26:50] But if I'm going crazy about it, yeah, like even you heard me talking about California,
[03:26:55] right? California has done so much dumb stuff in the last two years. And I'd be like,
[03:27:00] you are you kidding me right now? Yeah. But I didn't freak out. I didn't get on.
[03:27:05] That's another thing. If you're on social media and that's like a place where you're spending your
[03:27:10] time flipping out on flipping out on people. What was it? I think I was on that podcast with
[03:27:16] Chris Williamson and he asked me something about what was it? Like, how do you, you know,
[03:27:22] I think it was, it was basically either how do you handle negative comments or something like this?
[03:27:27] And I was like, bro, I mean, my recommendation is you don't spend a bunch of time being concerned
[03:27:33] about bots, brother bots. So I think when you're politically outraged about it, because, because
[03:27:42] here's the other thing you gotta remember. Okay. If you're a lobster man and you're about to have
[03:27:47] your, you're about to have your, your entire ability to provide for your family. I can understand
[03:27:54] getting outraged about that. I can understand being like, Oh, you know what? I'm going to protest
[03:27:59] because they're about to take my livelihood away from me. But there's a lot of things that people
[03:28:04] get emotional about that actually really aren't going to have an impact on their life. Yeah.
[03:28:08] No, no, yeah. Or it's like a hypothetical thing or whatever. Yeah. Also to like,
[03:28:14] and then I don't necessarily see people getting outraged about it, but, but being like really
[03:28:19] concerned about it, you know, on a personal level is the one that does make sense to me is like the
[03:28:25] taxes and stuff where like when you know you're going to get less of your paycheck, that makes
[03:28:30] sense to me. Yeah. You know, yeah. Well, if you want to make, if you want to get even more frustrated
[03:28:35] about that, once you realize that the government is taking a bunch of your money and then you see
[03:28:42] what they're doing with it and you, and you say to yourself, wait a second, right? Like, hey, if you
[03:28:47] were building awesome bridges, you know, and the streets were clean, like look at California,
[03:28:54] if you're like, Hey, you know what? I pay a lot of tax in California, but look, look at Main Street,
[03:28:59] you know, Los Angeles, this beautiful place, but you're not saying that you're literally,
[03:29:03] it's disgusting, right? It's disgusting. And then they do other crazy things. So you could start
[03:29:09] to get a little spun up about that, but you know what you do then you leave the state, which is
[03:29:12] what a lot of people have done. How many people are leaving California? Yeah. A lot. Yeah, that
[03:29:17] should be an indicator. And you could look at the federal taxes the same way. You're like, Hey,
[03:29:22] look, I want to pay for the security law, pay for the military, right? Hey, that's cool to pay for
[03:29:25] some infrastructure. I'm good with that. But then when you start pulling the thread on those things,
[03:29:31] we should do a podcast where we just read through some of those expenditures. Oh, it's insane.
[03:29:37] It's totally insane what the government spends money on. You can't make it up. If I tried to
[03:29:43] make up things right now for dumb stuff for the government to spend money on, I couldn't come
[03:29:47] close to the dumb stuff that they actually spend on government spends money on the dumbest things.
[03:29:54] And yet what are you going to do? Well, you do your best to vote for people that want to tax
[03:30:02] less and that want to have a smaller government because big, the bigger the government doesn't
[03:30:09] become more efficient, doesn't solve more problems. Like when you're going to, when you're doing an
[03:30:14] operation, you're going to have this conversation with life life was like kind of in the learning
[03:30:19] mode and you're taking down buildings and you think, Hey, I was put everyone in the building.
[03:30:26] But you can put so many people in the building that they're kind of in the way. Now you got to
[03:30:30] like hire someone you got to advance or promote someone to be in charge of the other group while
[03:30:34] they're in the building. And that means those two people got to communicate. So you got to put
[03:30:37] someone in charge. You see what I'm saying? All of a sudden you got a bureaucracy in a in a in a
[03:30:40] kill house. We don't want that. That's like the big government problem. You know, a big assault
[03:30:47] force, look, you need an assault force. You have enough people to handle the rooms and handle security
[03:30:51] cool. I get it. But you can't just double that and say, Okay, now it's going to be more efficient.
[03:30:57] It might not be more efficient. And if you triple it, you may have some real issues. Now, now you
[03:31:03] have a problem. And now the problem is the assault force itself. You have a chance of creating a
[03:31:09] blue on blue because there's so many freaking assaulters going in. So the same thing happens
[03:31:13] with the government. I mean, here's they just what this bill coming where there's 87,000 more
[03:31:20] IRS agents. I think it doubles the size of the IRS. That's too many assaulters in the room.
[03:31:28] You should have saved like there's too many. Hey, if the tax code, they don't even know really
[03:31:33] what the tax code is, you know, I hire someone, I can't figure out what my taxes are. I can't even
[03:31:40] come close to figure out what my taxes are. I have to hire someone who's got multiple people
[03:31:45] working for him that goes through and figures all that out. Because that's how complicated it is.
[03:31:51] So I have to pay someone who also pays other people to figure out what I need to pay the government.
[03:31:58] It makes sense that if the government is going to bill me for something, they just give me a bill
[03:32:02] and I pay it. You know, I don't go into a restaurant or dinner and I say, hey, you know, how much do
[03:32:11] I owe you? And they say, well, figure it out. Yeah, here's a scale. You better weigh that rice.
[03:32:17] Yeah, here's the cost of rice right now. And by the way, if you don't come up with the right number,
[03:32:23] we're going to have you arrested when you leave the restaurant because you didn't pay the money
[03:32:28] that you owed us. Well, I don't know how much I owe you. Well, you better figure it out. That's
[03:32:33] crazy. What if you overpay the government like your taxes and you like, let's say you overpaid your
[03:32:39] taxes and it rolls forward. It rolls forward. Do they do that automatically though? Or do you
[03:32:44] have to like say, hey, I overpaid and then they do it? I'm not sure, but I know that my accountant,
[03:32:51] shout out Brandon, good to go. Freakin awesome guy. Sometimes he tells, he sends me a list like,
[03:32:57] this is what you overpaid and how this has got rolled up. But I don't know if he didn't do that,
[03:33:00] would they just be taking that money? Probably. I wonder, yeah. So that would kind of make it
[03:33:07] like officially unfair. Bro, it's officially unfair as it is. Right? I think it's officially
[03:33:15] unfair as it is. You are going to charge me. You want me to pay you money, but you won't tell me
[03:33:20] how much because I got to figure that out. And if I get it wrong, you're going to come arrest me.
[03:33:23] How's that work? How did you know I was wrong? Well, why don't you just tell me what that number
[03:33:28] was? Right? I got to pay this other dude and his team to figure out how much money I owe you.
[03:33:36] And if I don't pay you the correct amount, you're going to arrest me, but you won't tell me what
[03:33:39] that number was. That's a crazy talk. You wouldn't think that that made any sense whatsoever. And
[03:33:43] yet that's how it works. And now we got to hire 87,000 more people. 87,000. By the way, when you
[03:33:50] hire 87,000 people at the government, would you get government federal jobs like that? That's a
[03:33:56] lifetime of pay. That's retirement pay. That's health insurance for the rest of all these people's
[03:34:02] lives. It's health insurance for their families. It's a crazy deal. It's not like you hired a
[03:34:09] small number of people and they're going to do some extra work. And when they're done with that
[03:34:12] extra work, they're going to move on and find another job. No, you're hiring someone for their
[03:34:17] life. That's what a federal job is. So these aren't like small budgetary additions. These are
[03:34:26] a total change, a paradigm shift in the size of this tax collecting organization.
[03:34:35] And that's the best you can do. Everything is digital now. And the best you can do is hire 87,000
[03:34:39] more people to help us figure this out. Are you kidding me right now? So you want to talk about
[03:34:44] stuff that can get you crazy? That's one of them. But nonetheless, I'm talking about it right now
[03:34:51] with you. I've never talked about this with you. And I know when I go home, I'm not going to be
[03:34:55] like fuming about it, right? Yeah. There's issues that people get spun up about. And by the way,
[03:35:01] what I just talked about, that's a pretty serious issue. They're taking money that you worked for,
[03:35:06] they're taking it from you and they're spending on things that don't make any sense.
[03:35:08] That's that if there's one thing that could piss you off, that's definitely in the top seven. I
[03:35:14] agree. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I mean, would you be mad if I went in, got into your
[03:35:19] car, took your wallet out, took your money and left? Would you be mad? What if I only took 50%
[03:35:23] of your money? Would you be mad? I would be mad. Yes. And but what if I bought you dinner
[03:35:28] with your money? But I also kind of bought me dinner too. So, so people taking your money
[03:35:35] is definitely one of the top things that can be annoying to you and can piss you off. The government
[03:35:39] does that all the time. So, if there's, but that's the top seven, definitely the top seven of things
[03:35:46] that can piss you off, people stealing from you. Hey, look, it's own, it's not stealing up to a
[03:35:52] certain point. Because when I, when the government takes money and they spend it on things that,
[03:35:58] you know, help, hey, okay, we're going to have a good military, we're going to have good infrastructure,
[03:36:02] we're going to have some reserve, you know, fuel in case something goes, hey, I'm in support of
[03:36:08] those things. Cool. I got it. But that hits a limit. The government doesn't need 51% of my money to
[03:36:14] do that. Doesn't. But they're taking it. They're spending on some other shit. Some, some shit that
[03:36:22] I don't, you know, that is not right. So that's where we end up. Yeah. Anyways, you guys are
[03:36:29] talking about the Oak Horse, how you can't just go in there anymore. You think you could do the
[03:36:34] Oak Horse right now? Yeah, 100%. Would you get a good, what do you guys time it? Or something like
[03:36:40] this? Yeah, no, it's definitely timed. No, I probably wouldn't get a great score because there's
[03:36:44] some technique that I'd be rusty on. Is there a minimum you got to make or something? Can you fail
[03:36:48] the Oak Horse? You can definitely fail the Oak Horse. Okay. Would you fail the Oak Horse? No, I would
[03:36:52] pass it. You'd pass it. Would I pass it? I would need to teach it to you for two days and then you'd
[03:36:57] pass it. Oh, no shit. Yeah. If you're, if you're athletic, like, you, if you can do pull-ups,
[03:37:03] push-ups, dips, and you can run, you're going to be okay. It's, it's a, I'll tell you what, that
[03:37:07] Oak Horse is awesome. When you get done with that thing, you're smoked. Oh, it's hard. So like, oh,
[03:37:11] yeah. Solid. How long does it take? Give it roughly. Seven minutes. Oh, damn. Seven minutes of putting
[03:37:18] out. Seven minutes of putting out hard. Like, you know, uh, you know, the, the taste in your mouth,
[03:37:26] you know what I'm saying? Like the, the, the, I just put out real hard. What is it? Like a
[03:37:32] copper taste in your mouth? You know what I'm saying? You get that 100%. Oh, for real. Even if
[03:37:36] you're kind of chilling, like, let's say, let's say you and I went out there weekend, you know,
[03:37:39] we're in the teams and we're just go out there. We're still going to feel it a little bit. But
[03:37:44] when you go hard because you're trying to pass because you're in buds, but I always liked the
[03:37:50] expression putting out. Yeah. I don't think I ever heard that telling you guys or whatever.
[03:37:57] Check. Cool. Well, speaking of putting out, you got it. You got a fuel. Yes. The output. Yes. I'm
[03:38:03] not going to, going to recommend you do that with some clean fuel. The cleanest fuel,
[03:38:08] jockel fuel. It's true. Physical, mental, integrity. Like these are all important things. So when you
[03:38:16] fuel that, you fuel your integrity. How'd you throw that one in there? I got physical, I got mental,
[03:38:20] tossed integrity. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
[03:38:24] You got a kid and they're not the kids lying in school. We give them some jockel fuel, but
[03:38:28] tighten up the integrity. Yeah. It tells the truth. It's true. No, when you're putting out is what
[03:38:33] I'm saying. I'm going to make a new supplement called integrity. Maybe you should. Let's do it.
[03:38:38] All right. There you go. Book it. Put on the books or whatever the expression is you guys use.
[03:38:42] Anyway, yes. When you fuel that output, when you're putting out all that stuff, you want the
[03:38:49] supplements with integrity. You want integrity, me and supplements, that's something. Okay. Energy,
[03:38:54] for example, energy drink. I'm explaining to you like, you don't know, even though I do know that
[03:38:58] you do know energy drink usually has sugarcane, uh, uh, preservatives, you know, poison. Right.
[03:39:07] Jockel fuel does not have that. Clean, only healthy stuff, clean stuff. Yeah. Integrity. That's what
[03:39:11] I mean. Exactly what I'm talking about. Same thing with the malt protein shakes, protein mix,
[03:39:16] and RTD, no sugar. Sweetened with fruit, not even like, uh, sucrose or fruit, toaster,
[03:39:24] actual monk fruit. Monk fruit. So good. So good. Uh, yeah. So check that actually on the way down,
[03:39:30] you heard Keto. What, what, how did Ed describe himself? Keto. Keto. Kuk. Keto kuk. I said, hey,
[03:39:38] man, you want one of these drinks? He goes, I can't, it's a, I'm, I'm a Keto kuk. And I was like,
[03:39:42] we're good. Good to go. He said, there's no sugar in there. I said, no, there's no sugar.
[03:39:46] It's sweetened with monk fruit. And he's like, I'll go crack one open. Keto kuk. Keto kuk.
[03:39:51] Getting after Keto kuk approved. Yep. Actually says, what does it say? It says something on the
[03:39:55] can about Keto. Keto friendly, maybe? Anyways. So there you go. Get yourself some Jockel fuel,
[03:40:04] Jockel fuel.com. Go to Wawa. Go clear the shelves at Wawa. That's what you got to do.
[03:40:09] Clear the shelves at Wawa. Just go, go in there and buy them all. That'll, that will help the
[03:40:14] campaign to grow. Cause people look at Wawa and they say, oh, it's doing really well in Wawa.
[03:40:20] Cool. So if you want to help, if you want to help the campaign of growth, go to Wawa, clear the
[03:40:25] shelves, vitamin shop. Pink mist is at the vitamin shop. Pink mist has kind of been a big hit.
[03:40:31] Yeah. Cross the board. I had one today and it's good. It's one of those like, if you go to,
[03:40:35] like it's, it's, it's kind of what do you call it when it's safe, you know? Or so you can't go
[03:40:42] wrong. You can't go wrong with that one. Oh, well, that's how you feel. A lot of people feel,
[03:40:45] a lot of people feel that's the one. That's the top of the list. That's because you like that mango.
[03:40:49] Mango is the one by far, my opinion, but I'm with it. I'm with the whole gig.
[03:40:54] Jogglefield.com. OriginUSA.com. Okay. So Ed from Maine, one of the problems up in Maine
[03:41:02] is got to grow the economy. So if you want to help grow the economy in Maine,
[03:41:07] go to originUSA.com and you're going to find blue jeans that were made in America, that are made
[03:41:13] in America, boots that are made in America, jujitsu, geese that are made in America. We also
[03:41:20] have another factory down in North Carolina as well. So American made is what we're doing
[03:41:27] at originUSA.com. Go and get yourself some American made gear and help America
[03:41:35] help manufacturing in America. That's what we're doing. We appreciate you helping us to do it
[03:41:42] and you doing it too. Boom. It's true. Also, Jocco's store. It's called Jocco's store.
[03:41:48] It's a store where you can get your discipline equals freedom, shirts and hats and hoodies and
[03:41:52] stuff. Also, we have the shirt locker, which is a subscription shirt every month. Cool designs.
[03:41:59] No more days where you don't know what shirt to wear. You got one.
[03:42:03] Don't you normally say it's a subscription situation?
[03:42:06] It is a subscription situation, 100%. Whether I say it or not, it's true. Jockelstore.com.
[03:42:12] That's where you get the stuff. Check it out. If you want something, get something.
[03:42:14] Jockelunderground.com. Go check that out. We're putting out podcasts on that and it's also a little
[03:42:21] safe zone. Sure. What is it? Safe space. It's what it is. We're safe in there. They can't take it
[03:42:27] away from us. That's true. It's kind of not the typical term safe space. No, it's an atypical term.
[03:42:34] But I know that freedom of speech is safe inside Jockelunderground.com. Go check that out. YouTube,
[03:42:41] check out that. You want to see some awesome videos that I have
[03:42:46] assistantly directed. YouTube, psychological warfare, flip side canvas, bunch of books.
[03:42:54] You know what they are. I've written a bunch of books. Ashland Front Leadership Consulting Company.
[03:42:58] We solve problems through leadership. Go to ashlandfront.com for details.
[03:43:02] Just got done with the muster down in Atlanta. It was an awesome event. And you know what?
[03:43:08] It was sold out and everything we do sells out. So if you want to come to one of our events live,
[03:43:12] go to ashlandfront.com and check out the events. We also have the online training academy.
[03:43:19] So if you want to learn these principles and you want to train these principles for your business
[03:43:25] and for your life, go to extremeownership.com. And if you want to help service members active and
[03:43:32] retired, you want to help gold star families, check out Mark Lee's mom, Mama Lee. She's got a
[03:43:38] charity organization. If you want to donate or you want to get involved, go to americasmightywarriors.org
[03:43:44] and also check out Micah Fink and Heroes and Horses taking vets into the field
[03:43:52] where they can get lost and there they will become found. Once again, thanks to Ed Thielander
[03:44:00] for coming on the show and to follow him or check out what he's got going on ThielanderforCongress.com.
[03:44:09] The Instagram is ThielanderforCongress. The Twitter is Ed for Maine. Facebook at Thielander
[03:44:17] for Congress and YouTube at Thielander. And if you want to hang out with me and Echo online
[03:44:24] in the zone, right? In the interwebs. We're on there too. Echo's, Echo Charles. I'm at
[03:44:33] Jocko Willings. Just be careful because the algorithm's there and it's not for your friend.
[03:44:38] It's pretending to be your friend. It's going, hey, look at this. Like it's saying that to you.
[03:44:43] Hey, look at this. You're going to show you something. And it's something you want to see.
[03:44:47] Yeah. Well, it's something that your most base form wants to see. You don't want to see it.
[03:44:53] You want to be disciplined. You want to carry on with your life. You want to go execute on
[03:44:57] awesomeness. But instead the algorithms got you like an octopus. I think we need an
[03:45:03] octopus algorithm t-shirt. A bunch of different things trying to tie you up. So there you go.
[03:45:10] Thanks once again to Ed for coming out, sharing your lessons. And thanks for your service to the
[03:45:17] teams and your continued service to America. And speaking of service, I want to say thanks to all
[03:45:23] of our military active duty and retired every branch, every rank out there. Thank you for
[03:45:29] protecting our freedom and our way of life. And thanks to our police and law enforcement,
[03:45:33] firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, border patrol, secret
[03:45:37] service, all first responders. Thank you for protecting us here at home. And everyone else out
[03:45:45] there, since we were talking about Maine, I'm going to go ahead and close with some more of the great
[03:45:52] Joshua Chamberlain quote, we can hold our spirits and our bodies so pure and high, we may cherish
[03:46:03] such thoughts and such ideals and dreams such dreams to lofty purpose that we can determine and know
[03:46:13] what manner of men we will be. And that's right. And quote, we can determine what manner of men
[03:46:24] we will be. And we become that man by taking action. So in the parlance of our time,
[03:46:35] get out there and get after it. And until next time, Zeko and Jaco out.