SPEAKER_03 0:00

Had he not been that positive male role model for me, I don't know what I would have done.

SPEAKER_08 0:04

What was his thoughts when you were leaving?

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Instant father. She had a three-year-old son. And uh I fell in love with him. Yeah. He's a good kid, man. Yeah. And uh just a boy myself, you know. What's up, everybody?

SPEAKER_08 0:23

Thank you for all the support on our first official podcast back as the AJ Buckley Show. The response has been awesome, and uh, I love the comments. And please don't forget to like, subscribe, and share. It means the world and it helps out a lot. But our next guest, I'm even more excited about, keep getting more excited, and just keep getting excited and excited and excited and excited to lay burst. But um, our next guest, I first heard about when I was watching the Sean Ryan show. Tom Morgan is a former Delta operator. And on the Sean Ryan show, which I highly recommend you go and check out, he talks about this event at this hotel in Mali, the Radisson Hotel, where he had to go. And it was an active shooter situation, and it was basically him and very few people in this hotel, and he had to do a big hostage rescue. I highly recommend that you go in and listen to the Sean Wine show. It's uh it's a it's a pretty intense podcast. But I ran invited to do his podcast, and and I was freaking out because I have such respect for this guy um and what he's done in his military career. And I was already a fan of the black and blue podcast. So when I got to go up there, we hit it off straight away a minute, um, his Amazing Wave Erica, um, which we talk about in the podcast another minute in Myrtle Beach, which is such a great place. Myrtle Beach has a funny rep, uh a funny reputation, but it's a great place to go, especially a great place to meet your wife. And this was a really fun podcast. We um talk about situational awareness. We talk about you know being sober in Vegas, which I've done before, and it is tough. Being a shot show and being sober, it is it is not easy. Just his journey post-military career, his journey back to his faith and how important that it is to him, his relationship, his uh his relationship with his family and how he's a leader. And being a leader, what I learned from that is also acknowledging your your flaws and being open about it and working through those problems. It really is an honor to have this guy on the show. It's an honor to come on a friend. Please welcome to the AJ Beckley show. AJ Beckley. Please welcome to the show, the AJ Buckley Show, Mr. Kamorgan.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Welcome to the Buckley Summer.

SPEAKER_09 3:06

Just keep going for a second. Don't go into the actual podcast yet. I got something weird going on. Just go, just keep going with you're doing. What's going on? I'm getting just like this weird focus tracking thing. You're good. You can just keep keep your conversation. Just I don't want you to like this isn't gonna be the start of the podcast.

SPEAKER_08 3:20

Um and uh or is it? Or is it? We just we can you can keep this in. This is all part of it, right? Remember what Craig said? Just use this.

SPEAKER_09 3:30

It just looks terrible when you hear my voice over everything.

SPEAKER_08 3:32

That's true. We don't want to hear Sean. Yeah, yeah. But Sean's voice. Yeah, that's terrible. Sean's voice is like taking a shit in the morning.

SPEAKER_09 3:44

That's one of my that's one of my favorite times of things to do.

SPEAKER_08 3:46

I mean, it is enjoyable, but all right.

SPEAKER_09 3:49

I think we're good.

SPEAKER_08 3:50

We're good.

SPEAKER_09 3:50

Yeah, it was just hunting really heavily.

SPEAKER_08 3:52

All right. But uh, uh Tansy, Eric Tansi, um, definitely check out the book. And you should 100% I'll introduce you guys. He's going on your show. He's awesome. But uh I trust your judgment. He he is a he's a great dude. And um, he introduced me to the ghost bed people. And no joke, um the bet, and I've had tons of back issues, I'm sure as you have, um, from being a fake seal. Um I got I got injured uh probably I wasn't a seal at all. So you got that on me. Well, you know, you saw my medals. You saw I you thought I was decorated how decorated I was, stacked. Um, you know, from seven years serving, seven years of makeup and and and uh and fake explosions. That's what I heard. But uh real quant consequences. Real consequences, yeah. If I didn't know my life of rubber, dude. They were not. We actually did have when we No, you're not. I'm not. No. No. I I thought I was there. Isn't there a weird point in your career or I guess in your life where you you all of a sudden start to hurt in a way that you didn't when you were younger? Today. Yeah. Like just getting up. I got hurt getting out of the truck. And just like your bite through the bag on my shoulder, I'm like, ugh. Oh, isn't it weird? And then I'll see my boys. Now I gotta go sit in a chair for a few hours. I know, right? And then like I'll I'll watch my twins and they will literally jump off things, oh yeah, smash into walls. Like, yeah, even yesterday, we went and saw my daughter. Um, she had this play that she was in, uh, Little Mermaid. And uh the boys are running across the field, and it's like rocks and grass and everything like that. And as they're going, Bodie or Ranger just decides to just like take him out. Like, take him clean out. And he like bounces, does a full roll. And they're both like if that happened to me running across the field now, I broke an arm or something. They just rolled and they both just started laughing their asses off. And that was so funny. Where it's like, all right, and they just get up, but there's like two little those two boys like how old they are? They're eight. Yeah, they're just they are they wake up in the morning and they just want to fight. Yeah, that's all they want to do. The second they wake up and chose violence. Yeah, yeah, that's it. It's like they'll look at me and like, Dad, do you want to fight right now? I'm like, No, they're like, come on, dad. And then they'll one would one will like I'll go do something, and they love to scare me, like jump out and think that's the new thing, and it it kills me. Yeah, like and so one will like go over here, and then when it goes real quiet, I'll think it, I'm like, oh, they're over here, and they're getting so good. They'll they'll set a decoy and walk around here, and like, or if I go into my go to my uh closet in the morning to turn before I turn on the closet, they've already gone in there, so every time turns like I'm like, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

Dude, that's a phase. Yeah. Because uh when you start clapping back, oh yeah, yeah, that's when they're gonna be like, okay, well, this game kind of sucks.

SPEAKER_08 6:38

So yeah, that's actually kind of scary too. I've got I've got them I've got them a good couple times. Taking it over the top.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Yeah, we got those. You turn your hat around, you're like, over the top.

SPEAKER_08 6:46

They they've seen the couple times they got me, and I was just like, What are you gonna do now? What are you? What's next? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You better, you better finish your dinner. This episode of the AJ Buckley Show is brought to you by Ghostbed. Let me tell you something. When I got sent the Ghost Bed mattress, not that I had my doubts, but I was like, it's a mattress. It's not just a mattress. I'm telling you, I have had horrible back injuries over the course of my career, and this bed has gotten me to the REM every night REM sleep. Look it up. I had to look it up because I'm like, why am I glowing? Why do I look so handsome when I wake up with no morning breath? My morning breath actually disappears. It's true, it doesn't exist anymore. Ghostbed is a private sponsor of the AJ Buckley show. For 10% off, go to ghostbed.com forward slash buckley. And also use the code to check out Buckley. Code word goes word buckley. There's uh there's uh there's these great skits on.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

I still gotta watch that movie. Um that came out when you filmed with us. It was coming out. Um, hunting season. Yeah. Sorry, I gotta watch it. Um I've been meaning meaning to watch it, but have you what's what's been like the you know, uh uh I don't know what you call that. Not reviews. The reviews it was good reviews. How do you feel about it?

SPEAKER_08 8:06

I guess I feel good. I mean, uh you know, for me, it's like I'm interviewing you now. No, I love it. I love it. Uh for me, anytime you do a project, there's and now being on the other side of the camera, you don't know what's gonna happen, right? So when you finally get to see it, and and the the fact that it like it tracks and it, you know, it's a good performance. For me, the highlight was getting to work with Mel Gibson. The fact that I actually got to sit there with him and like you know, hear stories of him doing Braveheart, and you know, and I I fanboyed so hard on him out of anybody because he's just one of those guys that that was my childhood. You know, like every from Lethal Weapon to Braveheart to Apocalypto, you know, I mean just of the Patriot. I mean, but him as a filmmaker, you can you know, people can say what they will about Mel Gibson, but him as a filmmaker, he is by far one of the greatest filmmakers that's ever lived. I mean, two of the movies that he did, he did with languages that don't exist anymore. Yeah, you know, and then getting to I I I knew Jim Cavizel, uh I've known Jim Cavizel, um and I I met him just before it was just after the Passion of the Christ. And man, like and then and then he was actually cast. Did I ever tell you this? He was cast, Jim Cavizel was cast as the lead, and yes, yeah. We talked about that. We talked about that, yeah. So um, but he was fun fact. Yeah, there you go. You have to watch the black and blue podcast, yes, which which by the way, which was what by the way, I was gonna say, man, dude. I had so much fun on your podcast. That was a like a great, a really fun day and getting to the the uh meeting your son and your family, and we've kind of a similar setup.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

So uh uh I'm glad that this is like this is something that you were talking about then, yeah, as far as you know making this a home studio, yeah. And uh it looks great. Thank you. Um, I look good. You look that's all that you look very handsome.

SPEAKER_08 10:02

Sean, doesn't he look very handsome right now? Say something, Sean.

SPEAKER_09 10:06

Yeah, he looks great. He looks great. And again, I got a mic this this season. There you go.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Yeah, I know. Our Starship has a mic. Starship. Starship is the best. He hasn't graduated to a camera yet. No, no, he refuses it.

SPEAKER_08 10:21

Let's talk about born of discipline. Go to bornofdiscipline.com and get yourself some merch. The staple merch of the AJ Buckley show. It's something that I really believe in. It starts with spirit, okay? Then it's the mind, then it's the body. Spirit leads, get your mind right, body will transform. This is the ethos of bornofdiscipline.com. Sean and I got introduced through a buddy of mine, Craig, and uh we just hit it off, and then we drove to to Texas, to Houston together.

SPEAKER_09 10:53

And San Antonio.

SPEAKER_08 10:54

Yeah, San Antonio. Just got back from San Antonio, and we did it. Uh, we we drove and I drove the whole way, he slept, but I was like, I knew that we'd be good business partners, and he'd be great, great work. Because like, you know, if you're in the car for somebody for like 20 plus hours, and we were that one time, right? We did straight, we drove that drive straight.

SPEAKER_09 11:11

Yeah, I think we did like 14 or 15, the first one.

SPEAKER_08 11:14

Yeah, and Louisiana's the worst. Yeah, oh, it is, right? The roads, it just I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Yeah, it just Louisiana is a it is a weird state. The roads. I don't know, I haven't spent much time in Louisiana, but driving through it's weird that drive from North Carolina to Texas, I've done it several times, pulling a trailer, yeah, always just on the other side of Louisiana or in it. Yeah, you get a blowout. Yeah. Did you watch?

SPEAKER_08 11:37

You went you went to a shot show. You were going just before I saw you were heading to SHOT Show.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

We did um quickly. Yeah. And we went because one of our our primary sponsors, Roka, performance I work. Um they check them out at roca.com. Use our code BLE watch our podcast. Um, they they so they're they've been in the the athletic space for a long time. Like uh Iron Man's and wetsuits and and um a lot of sponsors.

SPEAKER_08 12:06

You gave me a pair, they're they're awesome. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

So they've really transitioned to just like performance hour now. And my my prescription glasses are roca, like everything, and I've been using them for years, but we've established, you know, last year, beginning of last year, a formal sponsorship. And um, it's been great, man, because you know, they they want to get more into the protective uh space, so uh protective glasses, which is a set that I gave you, was the was like shooting glasses or training, you know, firearms and tactical training glasses. I like them that they just sit on your face, like they don't feel like they have yeah, they won't fall, yeah. The they grip really well. Grip, they're customizable the nose pads, different sizes and such. But I helped them develop the SR1 EPs, which is thinner through the temple. So if you wear headphones or I uh ear pro over the ear helmet, it's just more comfortable for long periods of time. Long story short, is they um making that transition, not transition, like essentially a new line of effort focusing on you know, tactical, focusing on prepared citizen, protective, um and them, you know, kind of last minute saying, Hey, I think we're gonna get a booth at Chacho is a big deal because they've never done that before. Um, they're established in the in the athletic, you know, Iwear space. Um but for them to do that, I was like, of course I'll be there to help support. So I I went out there with Erica for about a day and a half and spent a day, basically like four hours, um, one day where it's like scheduled time, yeah, meet and greet, for lack of better terms, but using any influence God's given me to to help them um uh establish more of a foothold in the in the space that I'm in, yeah as one of their sponsored athletes, really. Yeah. Um I mean, my name is up there next to like these four or six time uh CrossFit Games champions, Olympic athlete. It's just yeah, it's humbling. That's great, but they you know, they are they are trying to help like they're trying to focus on on the law enforcement and and military, you know, getting uh getting their eyewear more out into this space. So that's why they hired me. That's great.

SPEAKER_08 14:20

Did you see that's why we went. Did you see any crazy uh new technology at SHOT Show?

SPEAKER_03 14:26

Man, I uh if you've never been and you get a chance to go, highly encourage you to go. And SHOT Show is like the biggest gun. It is it's an exclusive event that you have to have a reason to be there. It's not like anyone can just buy a ticket and go. So you it's an industry event. They don't sell, you can't sell anything. Yeah, um, but everyone shows off. Um, whatever they're working on, current projects, a lot of a lot of companies will release the thing they've been, you know, behind the scenes working on at SHOT Show. So if you're that, you know, that type of enthusiast and you get to go, man, you could spend the whole four days when the floor opens, basically Tuesday through Friday, and you probably won't see everything you want to see. Um, there's just so much to see. Now for me, this is my that would have been my fourth time going. Yeah, the first two times it was some sort of work trip that also allowed us to go out there. Yeah, it was essentially a boom doggle.

unknown 15:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

So we'd go out there and I was hung over, you know, 90% of the time and I was still drinking. So the last two times I went, last year and then this year, um, went sober. And Vegas sober is I had a very different experience of what I thought was, you know, I gotta be intentional about like, you know, I don't I don't travel by myself. I made this little excursion to come to come sit with you because this is a quick trip down and back. Yeah, but like if I had to stay overnight for some reason and and Erica couldn't go or someone from my team, I just I'd have to reschedule. Yeah. So I'm just um, you know, the childish ways of thinking and acting at the same time.

SPEAKER_08 16:01

But I respect that because it's I'm Kyle Morgan, by the way. It's like where you're they know, buddy. You're no you know who you are. We're not even doing we don't do intros on this show. People come in this show, everybody knows. Um but uh no, I I I respect that because one of the biggest things. Um one one of the biggest things is um you know, for for for anytime with sobriety or or any of those things, or anytime if I feel like the biggest you know what puts you in a situation that is gonna end up not turning out the way that you need it to be. And the times that I have not unless you're in denial. Yeah, exactly. But it but it takes you that it's like someone said just play the tape. And I was like, What's play the tape? Just play the tape. If you do this, what's gonna happen? And I was like, Well, odds are what? I'm like, well, and I'm like, okay. So and so precision, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:00

So I I did our fellowship last night. Uh we do I do it every week. I switched it this past month or month and a half ago to every Thursday night instead of Friday night. So at Thursday night, 8:30 Eastern, I do a fellowship and I lead it. Well, we just finished a four-week kind of short series on mental health where one of our patrons is actually a PhD uh, you know, cognitive therapist and talk therapist, uh, former law enforcement background uh Dr. Trevor Wilkins, check him out. He's angry, angry Viking therapist on social media and he consults and stuff. Yeah. And he fits that model too. Yeah. Yep. Angry white man, just suck it up. Okay. Stop being a pussy. But the thing is, is like he he's he so you know, he's he's walked this walk that he that he's had, and he did 20 years in public service, and a majority of that was law enforcement. And even the way that he ended his career, like he speaks about uh, you know, he was so angry that it impacted everybody around him and and drinking and and all these things, and he's really taken that uh not being college educated to to transitioning out of law enforcement and working on himself, and then well, he's like, Well, why don't I learn how to do this? You know, however, all the different ways he's gotten help. And uh man, he's he's um there's a lot of there's a lot of people out there that are in in that world of uh you know psychology or talk therapy or cognitive you know therapy type things, but he's definitely someone that can speak to um certain a certain demographic. Yeah, and that's the same way for me. Like my message isn't necessarily for everybody. I try to make it to where it's like anyone can receive it if they're ready to in some way, even a small part, regardless of what I used to do. Um, I just align with him in a lot of ways, and and he's just been uh a patron on our Patreon. So he's he's been listening in and and oh so you do it with you do it with Patreon. Yeah, so I do it through through Patreon. Not that I want to charge for our fellowship, but there's uh there's essentially three tiers to our Patreon, Bluebearing Solutions Patreon. Uh the five dollar tier is fellowship, so that gives you access to the weekly Google Meet Meet. It's not just like a live stream, it's a it's an interactive video call. We don't record it. Um, so that way we can keep the the the space safe and that's great, you know. Uh what's stay what's shared there kind of stays there, but we do something with it. It's bigger than a small group. We'll have anywhere from 20 to 40 guys on, just depending on the week.

SPEAKER_08 19:34

And are they all walks of life?

SPEAKER_03 19:35

All walks of life, all walks of life, and and some women too. It's not just exclusively a men's group. I am a man though, so I speak to from my position. Thank God, because that'd be weird. Yeah. Well, it's it's also like I I I love when guys have their wives with them in the room or um, some will be on the call, like on the on camera, but I encourage guys because I don't want things things to happen, oh, this is just my thing, you know, because we all we have to have our things, like we have to have things that that are are uh make us that recharge us, right? Yeah individually, but as a as a partnership, like those things aren't aren't things I'm hiding a part of myself to do. Now I may prioritize them and with the partnership, it's like, hey, this is important to me. So if it's important to me, it should be important to you.

SPEAKER_07 20:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

And that's hard to say the other way. Yeah. Like if it's important to her, it's gotta be important to me. Fake the fun, fake it till you make it, yeah. If you find it is because here we go, dude, tangents.

SPEAKER_08 20:38

If you find it where the the ability to understand like what the other your partner's saying to you and what how you're taking it as opposed to some because sometimes I'll be knee-jerk and I need to just listen as opposed to like being like, you don't understand, you know, like, or here's the simple way to do it, or here's like, you know, but rather I was about to do it right then. Yeah, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

I was about to just say something.

SPEAKER_08 21:01

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 21:01

But like that's the thing of like what I've learned is like it's better to sometimes listen and and not, you know, it's not it's like one of those things, it's not like it's not like it's occasionally better, it's always better. Yeah, and it's one of those things where especially because we speak differently, we're wired differently than women. Like, if you've chosen and that you guys have chosen each other, you've you've got into this partnership, this marriage, this covenant, like you're becoming one, but you're still two individuals. And what's helped us, uh, well, what's redeemed us, redeemed our marriage, uh, is Christ. So like us both chasing Christ in our own personal relationship, but collectively, me as the the spiritual leader. And she's always wanted that. Um, and now I get to do it. Um, but listening, because me leading, a lot of to me, like leadership is is if you put it into one word, there's a lot more words that that encompass leadership, but But caring, I think, is one of the most impactful things. I care enough to lead you. And if I if I've actually never thought of it like that, if I'm gonna lead you, then I'm gonna lead you well.

SPEAKER_08 22:09

I've actually never thought about it in that sense where you're coming from a place of love to take the leadership. Yeah, love first, to then be to as opposed to where are we going with this? Why am I following this person? Why is this person leading me in the wrong direction? But if your intentions are pure and good, and and it's like I feel like sometimes I I because I make mistakes, so it's like I never want to lead somebody the wrong way or make the you know, um but if I'm open with that, it's like I think I've made a mistake.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

That's leadership.

SPEAKER_08 22:47

Is it okay? Oh yeah, just it owning it.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

100% healing out loud is huge. What does that mean? Healing out loud. So a lot of people think healing is just like, oh, I have dealt, I'm dealing with this trauma, guys. I'm got so much going on. Like, oh, woe is me. Like, that's something different. Healing out loud looks a lot like, hey, I'm I'm really sorry for for the tone that I just said that. Like that, that's not how I want to show up. That's not how I want to lead. Um, please forgive me for that. That's that's essentially I'm healing a little bit of my of myself. I'm asking, I'm inviting God into this situation that I've now made this about my own pride, my own, you gotta hear me. You know, you better hear me. And so much of what we have to provide, well, we have to provide this for our for our wives and for our children is safety and security. And I never really understood like how much that actually entails versus just physically protecting them. Like they've, I don't think, doubted that I would put myself in harm's way to protect them, any any of them, in a in a in a like without a doubt, right? Yeah. Um now what's what I what I lost sight of is the fact that because I wasn't expressing myself in healthy ways and and I and I was I wasn't healing, I was I was projecting a lot of the things I had going on, even just with my tone, with my demeanor, with my aura, all these things. And it made it become unsafe. It felt unsafe. I'd walk in and everything would go, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 24:22

And that's a problem. And would you because I sometimes I would be so overwhelmed with other things that are going on that I wouldn't I didn't I didn't tell people what was happening, but I just I'm like would just be like little zinnies? Blue bearing. Blue bearing. Um but the uh like I 18 pounds. Uh I I've tried those once and I started to sweat and then like had the spins. It was it was it felt good for about 30 seconds and then I you want one? No, no, I mean it depends how weird we want to get because that's I would just start sweating and puking. Let's see how far this goes. But um, no, I feel I feel like where it's I will I'll not I'll just uh assume that they know all the stuff I'm I'm worried about, as opposed to taking a beat me. Like the times I've said to my kids, like, hey, dad's like re-stressed out about a couple things right now. I'm sorry if I'm a little, but I'm just dealing with some things, and most of the times my kids will come over and get me a help, be like, it's okay, dad. But the times that I didn't know that's healing out loud? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:29

That example is is exactly that. Right. It it there's there is more to it, yeah. But the fact that you're being vulnerable in front of your wife and and and and your children, yeah, is giving them an example because like your vulnerability is an asset that you you can become, it can become an asset because because of being capable and vulnerable to me is a warrior. So the times where I'm like, oh, went over the top there. I'm sorry. What what it like let me let me just start over. How was your day? You know, like that that's actually like I'm working through it, I'm healing out loud. It's not like it's not like there has to be this huge like explosion, and then you come back and say, I'm sorry, you absolutely need to do that when that when those things do happen. And that's why cussing, like me stopping myself, I say me, me being an intentional with with trying to stop cussing. I did you know one burpee per cuss word, and that I did a lot of burpees in the beginning. If you watch the Sean Ryan show I did, you know, almost four years ago, a little over three and a half years ago, like I cuss every other minute. Um, it's taken a lot of intention, but but that's where the renewal of my mind, you know, I'm looking at this this world from this biblical view, and the transformation is the work, uh, getting into God's word. But the the listening piece is so important because we're coming back, guys, to the how we got here was that whole like active listening that you've you've may have heard of, or people have heard of, like, remain curious, right? So to me, it's like if I come in and the first thing that people experience is like, I had a horrible day, or I had such a wonderful day, and they're in the middle of something and I couldn't see it just because I I'm the biggest thing in the world.

SPEAKER_07 27:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:19

I'm home now, let's celebrate, or let's all be upset because I'm upset, right? That's um selfish. That's not caring, that's not leading. So that's the challenge of being a leader, whether it's through what I do at Blue Bearing or at home, is I'm not the main effort. I'm I'm leading on in this mission, but the but I the main effort is is that my family thrives. The main the main effort is that my marriage is is is not just um okay, that it is thriving. Um the my company is that we thrive. Everyone, every single person that's in my company, they know I'm in charge, but delegation of uh of authority is is is what I give them, not responsibility. Oh, okay. You can't delegate responsibility.

SPEAKER_08 28:08

So delegation of authority. Can you explain what you mean by that?

SPEAKER_03 28:11

So like if if if I'm saying that I'm responsible for as a as an entrepreneur, starting blue bearing, everything that it does and succeeds in or fails to do, I am responsible for. So I'm responsible for everything we do. So at the end of the, at the end of the road, when something doesn't go the way it's supposed to, or something does, that's my responsibility. Now, everything in between, I can delegate authority to execute these tasks or this this scope and give people the authority to to make to empower them to make those decisions without me being there. That's micromanaging. If I have to do everything now, if I if I've given them a job title that comes with responsibilities, those are theirs like for that position. But ultimately, all of it comes back to me. So as the leader of our homes, as men, um, and this is by no means me saying that my wife is behind me. No, she is the strongest person I've ever known in my life, and that God has blessed me. She led me to Christ. She's the reason I'm still here. She picked up that mantle in my absence, like physically and physically not there, and also just you know, checked out. So I owe her everything that I do in my life to do it well, to honor her everywhere I go. The most important thing in my EDC is this ring.

SPEAKER_07 29:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

And um, I used to never view it like that because I was still, I was still like immature. I was still hiding behind a lot of a lot of the things. When you were a victim.

SPEAKER_08 29:46

When you were a kid, were you childhood? Were you were you like were you grown up with God or or like or like this sort of approach with your family? Did your was your dad like uh like that?

SPEAKER_03 29:58

My dad did construction, so we you know, I was born in central Florida and moved up to New York, upstate New York. His family's from up there, he grew up there. My mom's family grew up in Florida. Um, he did um uh roofing, so like concrete tile, especially in Florida. It's big. Um, but it's uh it's hard. Yeah, it's for the heat. Yeah, so you know, he got a job up in up in New York, so we moved to New York. We got a job in Virginia, so we moved to Virginia. So I spent, you know, bouncing around from from when I was born through like kindergarten, first grade up in New York, and then basically like second through eighth grade in Virginia, and then back to Florida for for all of high school. So bounced around a lot. Um, not a lot of stability there. But as far as like the household itself, my mother worked the only time she ever worked was so we could have insurance, medical insurance. Yeah. Um but it wasn't something that she, I don't think she enjoyed doing. And she would work, you know, these low, low wage positions just to get whatever benefits. Um, but it was extremely, I mean, unstable, like physically as far as like bouncing around. Yeah. But then I got to be the new kid everywhere I went. You know, it was a lot of like transitions. I went to five different high schools. Brother sisters? I have a sister that I grew up with, yeah, and she's uh a year and a half older. And then I have a brother, he's my half-brother, which is cool because we didn't grow up together. But you know, when I graduated high school, I met him. Um, I mean, I'm sure we met when I was really little, but we didn't grow up together. And the towards the end of high school, I got to meet him uh because he was living in Florida. And what's really cool is just through my military career, I've reconnected with him, you know, once or twice. But then really, since I've gotten out, like um, and that's a longer story, but I'm really proud of him. He has I have two nieces, they live out in California. Uh, he's actually a uh coach for human performance coach.

SPEAKER_08 32:04

It's funny being an uncle in it.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

Yeah, I hate that they're across the country because I don't get to see them as that often, but I'm really proud of him. Um because for I'm I mean, the first eight years of their lives, he was a stay-at-home dad.

SPEAKER_07 32:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

And he is just poor, very opposite of our father.

SPEAKER_07 32:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:22

Um, now our father worked and he didn't experience this like I did, but our father never not worked. So, but what ended up happening was he would come home, you know, he'd give his paycheck to my mom. She she was a very micromanaging, like uh a codependent. And these are adult words, you know. But back then I was like, that's just what happens, that's what we do. Yeah. And then he would hide a little bit of little bit of money for his own alcohol fund. And she'd be like, How I gave you this much for a six pack and you've got 24. How did you know they would just turn into this like yeah, very volatile uh environment, like very unsafe. Um, a lot of physical abuse and and verbal. Um it is what it is. Yeah, it it it it's but but to me, it was like, well, that's just what we do. We don't talk about it. We don't talk about that business. And my father definitely didn't grow up in the church or anything like that. My mother um was she grew up, she was raised by her grandmother in a Pentecostal, like deep, deep Pentecostal church. Like she had to wear jeans, skirts, and oh wow, couldn't play sports and stuff. And um, my only experience with church was occasionally, you know, uh a Sunday here and there with family that we we live near. Um and then when I was like 18, I went to uh um uh a nativity scene for Christmas, you know, and uh like the birth of Christ. And and and it was at that church, and I they started doing all these things and speaking in tongues, and I was just like, hey, don't ever ask me to come here again. I know, but if you looked on my dog tags, yeah, it said Christian. Yeah, and so yeah, I mean I'm an American, I'm a Christian, you know. I that flag is um I bleed red, white, and blue, you know. Like I worshipped a a piece of cloth. Yeah, but but the thing is, is like I was also looking uh for someone to guide me into what what to truly worship and what to prioritize. And I'm extremely grateful for my for my service and the opportunity to serve this country, but I did make it about um something else, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 34:41

You know, the first especially the first the majority of my how how like what what made you I will I'm always so curious, you know, and and I I got to work with a really amazing group of guys over the eight years that I did SEAL team.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

You're in SEAL team?

SPEAKER_08 34:55

Yeah, man. Fucking Sonny Quinn, bro. Fucking greatest people the greatest fighter of all time on television. You gotta talk to Sonny Quinn? Hey man, welcome, welcome to the AJ Bug Show. Jason, you better answer. Call him back again. We're calling calling again. Jason, I'm calling again. I'm calling Jason, who's the owner of Pure X, and you better answer. He's like a very important person, but I'm his number one client.

SPEAKER_06 35:18

All right, Jason. Look, I'm doing a commercial right now for Pure X.

SPEAKER_08 35:22

And since you're one of the owners of it, I wanted you to say something. Jason, next time I call your FaceTime 17 times in a row, pick it up and meet I'm doing the podcast.

SPEAKER_06 35:32

I'll call you right after this. Oh, he's doing a podcast. Oh, he's doing the podcast. Jason's doing the podcast. You're not getting the lady bug show. I'm trying to I'm trying to promote, I'm I'm really recording in the head for you right now. And I want to get the owner of pyramidics on the phone to tell me about what a great company it is.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Pyramids is really unique because um, you know, we're we're taking the white love instrument, um, the the actors, the elite athletes, and have always had access to some of the best medications in the world, the treatment programs, implementation, coaching. Uh we've made it available to the masses.

SPEAKER_06 36:08

All right, Jason, thank you so much. Thanks for being a sponsor of the show. Um, make sure you go to www.purrx.co.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

Let's do one more thing for you. I'll tell you one. If you go on our website, we'll put them up there until the end of this month. If you schedule a free consultation, put in the notes time to shine. Do you put in the time to shine? And uh we're gonna go ahead and take care of your labs.

SPEAKER_06 36:28

This is on the spot. So it's if you type in time to shine, they will take care of your labs. Go do it now. I promise you.

SPEAKER_08 36:34

By summertime, you're gonna be so shredded, you're gonna be wearing your speto, and that package yours is gonna be looking glorious. It's so funny when I run into people and they hear my regular voice and they're like, You're not Texas. No, some of it breaks you break my heart right now. So, but um only thing, only two things that come from Texas. Sonny Quinn and Sonny Quinn. Sonny Quinn and Sonny Quinn. Um, but uh the I I might have this. Like, I think you you could, you know, do it.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

Next up on SEAL team is Sonny Quinn faces.

SPEAKER_08 37:17

That was my call sign. Almost. Um, but the guys that I I I worked with, I you know, over the years, I always would ask them like what was their their moment to to to join. And it's it I really believe people are born warriors. Like there's other, there's the people that, you know, if you look at the history of our world, there's the men that were like that just had it in them. And you know, what you guys have done, you know, what what are are are a lot of those guys didn't have a choice. Yeah, that's true. That's true. But it within within to be governed or to be like, nah, dog. Yeah, but I mean here's your T. Within like the the time frame that I've been alive, right? Yeah. Um, um, and some people said 9-11, but even just as like, I want to that's where I want to go right now. I want to go overseas and and do that. What was that moment for you that you like how old are you, like what was going on in your life that you decided I want to go the military, but then also sort of chase it to the the tip of the spear?

SPEAKER_03 38:16

Yeah, so my um yeah, my high school time frame, I I well backing up, I played, you know, different sports since I was five, like basketball, football, baseball. I realized in middle school I'm not really good at baseball, so let me just give that one up. Um basketball wasn't tall enough, wasn't good enough. Um, so really focused on football, but played football, and that was my favorite anyways. Um but then you know, jumping around from school to school, my grades just were constantly just on the cusp of not being good enough. Um and then it came to a point where it was like in between my sophomore and junior year of high school that my grades fell below uh 2.0, so I couldn't be on the team. So my whole that summer plus my whole junior year, all I did was like, hey, you guys want to go skip school?

SPEAKER_08 39:13

You were that guy?

SPEAKER_03 39:14

I'm cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:15

I'm that dude. Yeah, like did you have long hair? No, I kept it pretty tight. Tight, yeah, you were tight. Yeah, I should show you a photo of me back then.

SPEAKER_08 39:24

I'll find it. Yeah, find it. We'll post it up on the the mid the mid mid-show.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

Mid show. There's a zen. Um, but my point is is that um wanted to fit in. I got my I I you know, like I said, I was a new kid. Were you a scrapper? Yeah, yeah. I was. Um, I never really started fights. Yeah. Like I would never really have to pick fights, but like I had a you know, the family thing. It's like nobody messes with any of my cousins. Yeah. When I went back to Florida for high school, there's a lot of my um you got I gotta find this photo. That's it. Um but because this this will tell this is like a picture paints a thousand words or whatever. Um did you have like an Urvana t-shirt on? No, man.

SPEAKER_08 40:08

No, I don't find it. Yeah, it's crazy. There's this there's this thing that's going on in on the internet right now. It's like where it goes, Dad, what were you like in the 90s? It shows all this episode of the 90s kid. Oh man, it's just I've uh I've yet to do that post, but there are some gems. There are some gems. Here it is. Can I send it to you? Yeah, I sixty-five pounds of uh just solid just man, the good old days of uh eat whatever you want. And oh, here we go, dude. Well, look at you.

SPEAKER_09 40:39

Stand by, stand by. We gotta give it to everybody here.

SPEAKER_08 40:43

Oh my, look at you, bro. No tattoos. You got you got the baggy jeans on, got the Adidas, whatever those were.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

Yeah, what's that shirt say? You got that leather belt, something wrestling club. Did you wrestle? A little bit. It wasn't too big in Florida, but like in Virginia. Yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_08 41:01

I got my boys doing jujitsu, but I want to put it so jitsu to do jujitsu. Exactly. That was Asian and it's a Brazilian, so that was terrible. Um, but uh my boys love the jujitsu, but I would love them to get into wrestling because I feel like the wrestling I did some wrestling.

SPEAKER_04 41:16

You see the pager on my hip? Sorry. No, I had a pager on my hip.

SPEAKER_08 41:22

Oh, back in on the picture? I was like, oh, did it I had a pager with a chain. I had a I had a pager with a chain on it. Cool. You know, and I would I travel around with quarters in my car because if my agent ever called me, because I felt like they were, which they didn't really ever. When I was in Los Angeles, I would rush to a payphone. Yeah, and uh I would uh that was probably because I was dealing drugs.

SPEAKER_03 41:42

Were you dealing drugs? Uh good stuff, weed, probably.

SPEAKER_08 41:45

Just the weed back then, back then. But uh it was a crazy, it was a crazy, it was a crazy time back then too, because pagers and the communication, there was no like people didn't record each other.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

It was just a lot more it's which is funny because the that photo, I didn't have tattoos on my arms yet, but I had my first tattoo. I got my first tattoo when I was 15, about 216. In Florida, you could have your you know, legal guardian signed for. And my one of our cousins passed away in a car accident, he was the same age. So that actually is why we ended up going to the high school that he was at, and that's where I finished my junior and senior year. But uh man, it was get that first tattoo is on my chest. It's the only one I haven't I just haven't messed with. It's just a first old and has a lot of meaning. But uh after that, it was just like, oh, can I get another one? Oh, can I get another one? Yeah, I ended up having like nine tattoos before I was 18.

SPEAKER_08 42:37

I want to get they're all stupid. I want to get more besides that one. I want to get some more for sure. But um when when you got with with your servers and stuff, how did you choose the army? Like how did how did that go?

SPEAKER_03 42:46

So that's the the part about that whole junior year, you know, I was still uh making friends with the team and the for the football team and the coaches and stuff and helping out at practices and you know, hoping that I they'd just be like, oh, whatever, come on, you know. Um didn't focus on my grade, so they only got worse. But one of the coaches uh just kind of took me under his wing. And the summer between my junior and senior year, he just was like, Hey man, do you want to graduate high school? I'm like, Yeah, sure, I'm here. Why wouldn't I? You have to pass your classes to graduate. I was like, Oh, okay. Yeah, so he he helped me um get on a schedule uh where a lot of guys are doing yeah, whatever it's called, co-op, co-op, or where they're working half the day. Like I was doing all the core classes that I just bombed. And um, but he also served in the Ranger Regiment in the 90s. So just getting to know more about him, seeing photos in his office and stuff, and like, what's this?

SPEAKER_02 43:46

Oh, what's this? Did he have a mustache?

SPEAKER_03 43:48

Training. Uh, I can't remember. He might, he might have, dude. He might have. He actually, I think he did.

SPEAKER_06 43:53

Yeah, of course he did.

SPEAKER_03 43:55

But um, you know, so my senior year, I remember I can't Remember what class it was, but I remember sitting in class and and 9-11 happened and they're putting it up on the TVs, and we're all like, you know, watching and uh in between the first and the second tower being hit. And uh I just man, I just went to it was very somber, very visceral feeling, you know, of feeling exposed. And um everyone's kind of frantic. And I went to him, I don't know if it was that day right away, but it was pretty shortly thereafter. I went to him and was like, hey man, how do I how do I do what you did? You know, I want to go serve the country, I want to go fight these terrorists. And and he just was like, All right, well, are you sure? And I was like, Yeah, I'm sure. I know everything. Yeah, and um, you know, he set me up with a meeting with a recruiter for the army, and and you know, he didn't he didn't guide my decision making, um, but he definitely opened those doors and the conversations. And had he not been that positive male role model for me, I don't know what I would have done. How would it have ended in the same conclusion? I don't know. Yeah, but that's what led me to sign up. And I I remember signing up, I had to go to MEPS and all that. On the it's the it's what was called, or maybe they still do it, the delayed entry program. Because I was 17 and I had to graduate. So I had to graduate and then I turned 18 and then I left for basic training. So but I signed up December of 2001. Wow. So um with the airborne infantry in my contract. Actually, even had Fort Bradley.

SPEAKER_08 45:38

So where were we in the war at that point in 2001?

SPEAKER_03 45:41

I mean, 9-11 happened and shortly thereafter we were in Iraq. No, Afghanistan. Oh, Afghanistan, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So um by the time I got to my unit, I went to the 82nd Airborne. Uh, I got there like towards the very end of 2002, and that was tough because my platoon company battalion had deployed to support Operation Enduring Freedom, or whatever it was called for the very first you know, pumps in uh to Afghanistan. So they had came back and they were all like steely-eyed and yeah, you know, combat tested, and yeah, and then there's just PV2 Morgan, just hard as rocks, man. And um still had a lot of uh growth and maturing to do. Um and it was hard though, because they they hazed the crap out of me. Yeah, like in an in an unprofessional and and was anybody in your family had your military history at all, or my father had no, it's not in my like lineage or whatever, but my father did serve in the army um towards the end of Vietnam. Oh wow, but he was he didn't deploy uh he was a uh turbine engine repair mechanic. And um, I guess man, he was he went AWOL. So he he was just like, man, all we were doing was working on the same training engine, and they wouldn't, they were pulling everybody out. So he was just like, this isn't one, I don't want to do this, this is stupid. And he just went, he just left. So he's never he he passed away last year, but he's never done anything to to try to, you know, not to say that he was he was right by doing that. It just maybe he could have got a different type of discharge other than dishonorable. Yeah. Um, but he also stopped caring for himself over time, too, and and just lived uh lived a very, very hard life on himself.

SPEAKER_08 47:42

What did he what was his thoughts when you were leaving when you said you were being deployed?

SPEAKER_03 47:46

I mean, when I so I deployed the first time I deployed was actually uh it was like April of or May of 2003. It was to go into Iraq. So not during the initial invasion, but like two months after we were the brigade that went on top of the the first brigade that went in from the 82nd. And um, I I just that's the thing that we were the family, my family, my mother, sister, my father, they what brought us together, and I think what what it really was is like I was kind of the glue for the family because a lot of things were super inconsistent uh between everybody relationally. But I was kind of the glue in in our family. So I mean, it was a big deal when I signed up and left. Like they were like they were there with me. They when I left for Iraq, they were there. When I came back, they were there. Uh my first paychecks, because uh you couldn't spend any money in basic and and AIT because it's all one long thing in the infantry. Well, I gave all my money to them because I was tired of everything we had as a child, like through my whole childhood. Would I we'd have a nice thing, whether it was a car, a TV, whatever, we'd have a nice thing and then it would disappear. And I'd be like, where'd that go? Oh, well, just uh the people came and got it back. Because they would do this whole like you know, Rena Center and uh all those things, and it was just super those those things are set up for to to get you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and I just kind of grew up with that, a very very materialistic in in a way about like as long as we put on nice clothes, yeah, everything's okay. As long as we have nice things, everything we're doing great.

SPEAKER_07 49:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:40

But what are we measuring that against? Yeah, we're measuring against everybody else, and we don't have the ability to sustain sustain that. So we're living outside of our means, and it becomes super unstable for for any child. So um when I got all that money, a couple grand, I was like, here you go. I gave every bit of it to them. Yeah, I was like, what do I need? Like I they get they pay for my food, my my lodging, like you're good to go. Yeah, and just in that mindset of like, um, well, it's my family, that's what we do. Yeah, it's what that's what we do. Um but then you know, deploying to Iraq, I saw a lot of things that was just like very young. I was like, man, nobody knows what we're doing. Yeah, like it was it was just kind of chaotic. And um during the initial, you know, that basically June through 03, all the way through April of the next year, I was over there and saw a lot, uh, experienced a lot as a 19-year-old boy, young man. 19. Yeah. Well, yeah. So I mean I turned I turned 19 over there.

SPEAKER_08 50:45

Wow. And see, in Canada, in Canada, you would be you could go have a uh a Canadian, a Molsen Canadian in Canada, but in States it's uh 21. That's the crazy thing, is you can I always always like you can't drink in America till you're 21, which is actually now you know, but it's such a good thing. But uh but you can no but the choice though, like if you can sign up for the military, you should be able to legally drink.

SPEAKER_03 51:11

Like that's like you have enough enough capacity, enough maturity to sign your life away.

SPEAKER_07 51:16

You can have a beer.

SPEAKER_03 51:17

You can have a beer, yeah. Um which always which I don't condone. Yeah. But uh, you know, but I agree with you, yeah, 100%. And because coming back, it's like you're still a you're still a you're not an adult. Yeah. But I just I just spent almost 10 months in at war. Yeah. And it was um a very uh humbling and but also like what am I what are my values? And I was like, well, I want to be the best I can be.

SPEAKER_08 51:49

And this is is this where so for people that don't understand, like in the in the military, to go to the top, in a sense, it's it is it, it's is it do you have to point your ship in that direction or are you constantly being watched?

SPEAKER_03 52:04

I think there's people that good leaders are assessing guys for potential and they see something in someone, even though maybe it takes them away from that place. Yeah, and they're gonna help them, you know, come to that uh uh or help them uh support them in that goal.

SPEAKER_08 52:19

And what are those physical is it a physical activity?

SPEAKER_03 52:20

But there's a lot of guys that I think physical is huge. Yeah, like if you're physically able to um endure a lot and to perform, that sets you apart. And the big thing is like, you know, I thought I mentioned I got hazed a ton and a lot of it's physical punishment, but I was extremely uh strong uh and you know, cardiovascularly, you know, I had a lot of endurance and you know, I could run the the army PT test like uh an 1115, 1120, two mile, and bang out a hundred and something push-ups and hundred and something sit-ups. Like I would blow it out of the water, like on that scale to be that young. And um it did help because when we took the first like four record as a company PT test, and I I beat everybody by a lot on the extended scale, like it was ooh, let's let's maybe invest in this this kid. So they stopped kind of messing with me as much. It's like that's but it did it opened a lot of doors to my to that point of like it it is one of those things where you know if you can control your fitness. So if you are physically fit and you and you're hungry to learn, like it's gonna create a lot of more a lot more opportunities for you, regardless of the route you take. But I also think seeing, you know, over over in Iraq in that first deployment, it was like seeing why are these guys different? You know, we we didn't work hand in hand with like special forces or navy SEALs, but there was times where we would support them and I didn't know who they were, I didn't even know those terms. Yeah, I was just like beards. Why do they look different? Yeah, why do they not just look different, but the way they carry themselves, like just more mature um and just kind of even keeled. Uh, and that was my outside perspective of that. And I was like, well, how do I do that? Yeah. And um just remaining curious about that through my you know younger, younger uh phases of my career. But when I came back, um I right away signed up for you know the 82nds pre-ranger uh training. So to go to ranger school, you have to do uh the 82nd airborne, you have to do their pre-ranger, and then you get put onto a list, an order of merit list, um, based on how you did. And I got like second on the OML in the division, which was a big deal, yeah, being a PFC, you know, now private first class, E3. And um, so I got a slot to go to ranger school, but then there's the the catch 22 is in between pre-ranger and uh ranger school, or either right before pre-ranger, I met Erica. It changed my life. There you go. And uh, but yeah, funny story about that. I was in a club with a fake ID, just put putting on my dance moves in Myrtle Beach. Hey, man, dirty Myrtle.

SPEAKER_08 55:20

I love Myrtle Beach. Yeah, it's cleaned up a lot, but I love Myrtle Beach. Just be real dirty. It's so fun.

SPEAKER_03 55:26

Um, she was celebrating her uh friend's birthday, so it was a group of her friends and then a group of our friends, uh my friends. And you know, long story short, is like I she I got that dance and uh walked her all the way to her hotel, and I heard her, she had like this sweet country accent, but she had you know this olive complexion, and I was like, She's gotta be Latina. And I was like, and then I heard her speak Spanish to one of my buddies that was from California, and I was like, Okay, I love you. It was just like, all right, you got the little of that twang going and the the Spanish. I was just like, hmm. I was like, Well, do you know actually, do you know how old I am, really? And she's I don't know, 21. And uh, she's a little bit older than me. I won't say hold, but um I had to come clean because I was like, this is I I don't know, but I this is different. And um I told her, I was like, Well, I'm 19 actually, I'll be 20 in a couple months. I just got back from Iraq. Oh, and I'm I am in the military if you didn't already figure that out. What do you think? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you think? Yeah, and uh overwhelmed her, had a kiss goodnight, and that was that was that. And um, you know, I stayed in touch with her and I could see her distancing herself a bit. I invited her to, we had like a military ball or something coming up. Um, I was like, Would you like to be my date? We have to dress up. And she's like, Oh, that sounds cool. Let me think about it. Cricket, cricket. It was just like, yeah, so she ghosted me, and then and then I went to pre-ranger and then ranger school because it was back to back. So this all happened like post-deployment from Iraq in 04. And then I went and now, you know, because I went the only way you should go that's straight through. I didn't recycle anything. Yeah, praise God, because that sucks. But um uh so I did come back and it was probably like August, September, and I had a voicemail on my phone, and uh it was one of them was from her from her. And uh I look at my buddy and I was like, hey, that's that's the girls we met in Myrtle Beach, you know, back in earlier this year. I'm like, she was hot, right? And uh I'm sure she loves when I say that. But um I mean, I don't know, we just she was just asking, hey, we just we just thinking about you guys, hope you guys are doing okay, and just thought I'd leave leave you a message, and I was like, Yes. So man, we dated after that, and uh my life changed, like because I raised my I mean instantly started um instant father, like she had a three-year-old son, and uh I fell in love with him. Yeah, he's a good kid, man. Yeah, and uh just a boy myself, you know, and they she he needed a father and she needed a husband, and and I was just like we dated for like four months, and I was like, I'm gonna marry you.

SPEAKER_07 58:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 58:32

It's just like a win. Yeah, yeah. So a very unconventional kind of didn't get on a knee. I just said, I'm I'm gonna marry you. I'm gonna live the rest of my life with you. And uh got married in a courthouse in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and um I mean, uh on she worked full time, was going to school for her bachelor's at the time, and and was raising our son, and during the week, she'd get up with me for the formation before the formation, like at five in the morning. Yeah. She'd drive all the way back to western North Carolina where she lived, go to work, and then And were you preparing then to go back again?

SPEAKER_08 59:16

You know, there's places you can go, you can take your truck, you can get things done, and you you you leave and you're like, eh, it was good. It was good. I was introduced to Total Off-Road and more about a year and a half, two years ago when I got my Ford F-150 trimmer. And let me tell you something. First of all, it's like a family, and people say the family, but these are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. TJ and Dan and the rest of the crew, Total Off-Road Moore, Trumeston, are some of the best guys. I had my sister, her timer blue, she happened to be outside the store. I I literally called Dan and was like, My sister, who's gonna my mom is gonna go talk to me. How much time do you store? Can you help? They literally saved her. Everything. Like, these are just great people. So if you're in Charleston, you need something done with your truck. If you're anywhere in America and you need something done in your truck, they have stores across the country. This is the best place to go anytime, anyplace. It's a family, it's good people, they do good by you. And uh, we all work hard for money. And when we put something into our truck that we love or whatever we're building, we want to make sure that it's done right. And these guys at Total Up Road and more, they do it right.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:26

I was actually on this pipeline to go, I was in um EMT school. So I finished Ranger School, did EIB right away, true blue for our infantry folks, um, which is expert infantrymen badge, it's a bunch of tests you got to do and physical assessment, land out and such. And then they kind of had me on this track to go from EMT basic, so a civilian school, like to get EMT, you know, basic qualified. And then I was slotted to go to army sniper school, and then jump master, then pathfinder. They were setting me up to like this golden child. I could care less about any of that stuff once I started dating her. I was just like, and now I'm in a school, a classroom environment, which I did not do so well in in the past. I've proven track record with that. And I just didn't apply myself to the academic parts of the EMT stuff and failed the failed the the class. And I had to go talk to the man, and they were like, You just failed this slot that we gave you as a gift.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:32

So now we're gonna punish you. And uh they took all those other schools from me, and and I went into like, and they were like, Yeah, you're leaving on this date to go down to this core this thing for uh a pre-mission training, we're deploying in this window. And mind you, we got married in January of 2005, and she got pregnant in like February.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:55

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:55

With our with our oldest daughter, yeah. And man, once she got pregnant with her, I was like, I'm gonna do anything and everything to avoid missing any part of this. Yeah, yeah. So actually, I left the 82nd for for about 11 months, almost less than a year. Uh, there was an a recruiter from the old guard, which if you're unfamiliar, that's uh it's the oldest active in infantry regiment, but they do all the ceremonial stuff, like they do all the burials in Arlington and the tomb of the unknown soldier and all that. It's extremely difficult to do in its own way, like uh the drill and ceremony aspects of it. The attention to detail is just like is there. So I got a lot from that, but I use that as an opportunity to make sure I didn't miss uh my oldest daughter's birth. Good for you. And I didn't, yeah, I haven't missed a single one of my children's births. Yeah. And I'm really proud of that. Yeah, I've missed a lot of things, but you know, and what it really did, because I met my my best friend up there, and he was an 18 X-ray originally, which is like the special forces like off the street, come and try it out, and and had got kicked out or got failed selection for whatever land nav or whatever it was. Got put there in the old guard, and I was his team leader as an E5 uh Ranger tab, combat, you know, uh combat deployed, yeah, infantry dude there. There wasn't a lot of those there at that time, especially. And um I was like, who is this punk? Punk from the Pacific Northwest. And uh, I'm just so proud of him, too, man. He just retired recently, but um, you know, he he those I I started having those conversations about that deployment, and I was like, Yeah, maybe that was probably some special forces ODAs because I didn't know anything about it. Yeah, so he was talking to me about all of it, and I was like, Well, are you gonna go back? He's like, I want to. I was like, let's go.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:51

So him and I just we trained for SFAS for special forces assessment. And then actually, I went to uh, so Kyla was born November 2nd, 2005, and then I went to SFAS January of 06. So I went, I probably got up there like uh July of 05. So I went up there, she was born, and then we went to selection, which is back at Bragg. Yeah, and then we made it and reported back to to Fort Bragg.

SPEAKER_08 1:04:27

Now is is selection for the people that that uh in the audience that don't know what that is, uh to be selected to go, selection, and to make that, that would be the equivalent of like that's the the top of the top.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:44

Like the it's it's I mean it I don't know what the percentage is, but like let's call it the one percent of the of the army, or maybe the that number skewed, but to become a special forces soldier, there really is only one special forces, just to clarify this with everybody, and it's a green beret. Yeah, like everyone calls everybody special forces, special operations, yeah. Special operations is actually the right term for everyone. Okay for the for the umbrella that encompasses like Navy SEALs, rangers, special operations, special forces all fall in that special operations course. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:18

But special forces is green berets.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:20

But that term, yeah, special forces is only there's only one special forces. It's the uh Green Berets. So the operational attachment alphas, the ODAs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:29

Um there was I I I get to there was so many three little things. I was like, what? Like, and I I when I was memorizing lines, I'm like, I would go to our tech advisors, you know, I'd be like, Well, what is this? And they would tell me to go in one ear and out. It would always blow me away how quickly you could, you know, and every branch was different. There was all these different terms and stuff like that. So did you I'm always curious about mindset. Did was there a moment during selection you're like that I I might not make this, or you're like, I'm making this. This is was it harder? I mean uh I

SPEAKER_03 1:06:00

I was gonna, I've always had that mindset of whatever hard thing I've done is like, man, what an opportunity this is. So I could complain about this sucks. But yeah, what it's a privilege. What a privilege it is to be able to see what I'm made of, you know, and to endure. That's a great way to look at it. What a privilege to get to see. I like hard things. I don't know. I've just always like like challenging myself, and and the army has just fine-tuned that. I think I've all I was kind of like this untapped potential as an adolescent, unharnessed and just all over the place. But you know, the path that you know God had for me led me to the military, which helped form me to become the man I am. But anytime something there was no wasn't no was like for them. They can tell me no. Yeah, I'm not gonna tell myself no. Yeah. Regardless of what I'm doing, don't know how to do it. I'm gonna try to do that well, whatever that is. So, you know, there's a lot of that go I go back to the physical, like if you are physically prepared, yeah, um, that allows you to to that frees up a lot of margin for yourself to problem solve.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:17

Now, when you got in, was there a moment there where you're like, this is the best job in the world? Or were you best job ever had? Was it or like, or just like, you know, there's that there's like the highs and the lows, but there's a moment like, oh shit, I'm I'm I'm at the top. I I've made it past. I'm I'm with I'm with the best in the world.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:35

When I got to the unit, yeah, that was I mean, that's the hardest place for anyone to get to and to stay at and to leave. Yeah. And that's the first time I've ever felt like this is where I'm meant to be. Yeah. You know, in special forces, like I definitely felt, man, what an honor to to don the Green Beret. I was so, so and I'm very proud to be a Green Beret. I am. Um, but even through my experiences on an ODA, I was on a on a dive team in seventh Special Forces Group. Like I I got to experience a lot of different things, you know, different training missions down in uh Colombia, training with the Bacoa and the Lanceros, so the the Bataillon de Commandos for you, Ablanos speakers. Um Pero ustedes pueden hablar and Espanol. Um I'm trying to remember Spanish. So uh in the Lanceros, so um, and that was at a time when the FARC was taking, you know, the hostage and the uh ransoms, and uh we were doing they were partner-assisted missions to go get them, uh the hostages, but um, you know, and then being able to deploy uh twice to Afghanistan with that same ODA. So a trip to Colombia and then two trips to Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010, um, and 2008 to Colombia. But uh got to experience a lot in a very short amount of time. But one of the things I experienced um every time was I never had a a great senior non-commissioned officer, like a team sergeant in charge of the ODA. So they have team leaders, the captain, they're the hired help, they're there for two years and then they move on. I but I've had phenomenal captains um and great team members, senior Bravos, senior Echoes, that's all the different MOSs on an ODA. But never a good great team sergeant to to emulate, to model. And I was like, man, there's got to be somewhere that that exists. And not that it doesn't exist in special forces, but from my experience, I didn't get to experience that. So on my last trip to Afghanistan with that um with that ODA, or maybe it was that first trip to Afghanistan, I better get better get my facts straight. Better get my facts straight. Um I got to had I had the honor of working with the asymmetric warfare group. Uh had a a contractor that used to be in the unit, didn't know a thing about the unit, about Delta Force. Nothing. Other than Chuck Norris. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. And the unit, the show.

SPEAKER_08 1:10:29

Yes, yeah, it was a great show. That was a great show. Great show. Snake Doc. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:33

That's right. Your hands you really do like shoot so much, your hands are bleeding. That's why I have catalysts everywhere, just continuing to do it. But um uh very limited knowledge of that unit. And um anyone that maybe had talked about it, they're like, oh yeah, they didn't, you know, it just didn't work for me because uh I had some other things going on. Come to find out, that's all BS. Yeah, like that's all that's probably I'll do that later. Yeah, but because once you get over there, it's like, oh, oh, like no one leaves there. Yeah. Um, as an operator, no, no one leaves unless they get told to leave.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:10

Um now there are other positions that for their own development because they're maybe they get kind of uh cornered, not cornered, but backed into like I can't promote to the next thing. You might see some guys leave um in more of a support role. Yeah. But as an operator, nobody like in running that course, the selection for that, a couple times myself or as my team did. Yeah, like you see all the all the different sides of it. Um it is the most professional course I've ever done. But the reason I went was because of that that that former uh operator that was attached to my ODA in a different capacity. He was he was uh working for AWG, and they um they would go around collecting different um uh uh TTPs on the enemy and trying to consolidate all that all that information and passing it along to the to the soft and and conventional forces. Man, but I just saw this guy was cool as a cucumber. And I was like, thank you. If you're watching this episode, you know who I'm talking about. But he I was like, man, that guy is just like we went on target and he he would uh he was attached to my assault team. So there'd be two ODA guys, so me plus one, and then we had him as an attachment, plus like almost two squads of commandos of Afghan, you know, uh special forces. And uh I was like, hey man, just don't let him shoot me in my back and just make sure we don't lose anybody because he's like, Hey, what do you need me to do? Yeah, boss, what do you need me to do? And I was like, I was like, maybe should you tell me what to do?

SPEAKER_08 1:12:51

Was it was it it was just very humble? Was it in those situations where you guys have had these Afghanis that were partnered with you and whatnot, and you guys performing at this high level, was it unnerving sometimes the way that you guys are used to moving? Like was it we or were every time you you were because it we don't have everybody, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:10

Yeah, so it it truly is I truly believe like being a a great ODA, a good like gelling ODA is one of the most capable force multiplying combat entities that we have to go in and create capacity uh to force multiply, to to train partner, yeah, advise, company, and assist, like all the way through whatever the mission is, and just problem solve, man. So, like I love that aspect of it, but man, there wasn't a single time where I was like, wonder what he's doing. Yeah, I don't have to think about what he's doing. I I mean you're constantly like it's like herding cats. I just kind of say it's like get your kids out ready for school. I mean we've had one of them shoot, shoot one of our guys, and I had to like disarm that dude um deliberately or by accident? He said it was it was a belt-fed machine gun, and he was slinging in it and it got caught on his thing, and he said the safety was on, but yeah, clearly it wasn't. So it was uh I mean we had to we locked or we detained him. I disarmed him, detained him, and said if he moves, then I'm gonna I'm gonna deal with him. And I was like, but I had to go to rendering A, because remember when I said there's only like two of us, plus maybe an attachment. And this is in while she's this is on target under knobs. This is like moving in the infilling at night because a lot of the times we'd have to infill back then, we'd have to infill like one at the a period of darkness, uh, whatever it was an offset, walk in, you know, clear a foothold, and then we would we would essentially strong point that those footholds, and then during the day we would conduct more of the clearance of what we were doing. Uh, and then we'd strong point and have to wait till the next period of darkness to get ex-filled just based on lift. Um resources were were limited. Yeah, and that's the big thing about being on a special forces uh ODA is like, okay, yeah, this sucks. Can we have this? Nope. Can we have that? Nope. Can you have this? Sure. Yeah. And and you just make do with what with what you got. Like, what are we gonna do? Quit? Yeah, yeah. That's that Inglorious uh bastards. I can say that because it's it's a movie title. Um like where he's like, yeah, this sucks. What are we gonna do? Quit? Yeah, you know, and then I I love that aspect of it. And I've had some I worked with some some of the greatest Americans on on those teams or on that team, and but I never had a good team sergeant. Yeah. So, you know, that I deployed to combat with, and and actually I I viewed him as a coward. Yeah, and so did everybody else. And we told that story with Ryan Hendrickson. If you haven't seen that episode, that Ryan um I talked about it in my Sean Ryan episode a little bit, yeah, where he stepped in an ID and I helped save his life and carried him out there. But a lot of that was because we George and I like you know, put ourselves you know second to try to try to try to help our teammate when he was the closest person to him. He's the guy that had his tourniquet and plastic.

SPEAKER_08 1:16:14

Was that was that would you say I mean it not that every day was was agreed with, but there's there's days in particular that you look back and like that was you know, I had to really dig deep inside to get through it, or like your training really came into thing where you just kind of switch on and switch off, and and when you sort of debrief or come back, you're you're still buzzing from it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:39

I mean, I I it's one of those things where when you're in it, yeah, it's like, man, this sucks. Yeah. Like this physically, this is a bad situation, you know, from uh how do you're exposed a bit, you know, and but it's it's problem solving, man.

SPEAKER_08 1:16:56

Yeah, what is the where do you go mentally then?

SPEAKER_03 1:16:58

So you do fall back on your training. Training. Like that you can't rise to the occasion. Um, you can get lucky, but I don't like getting lucky. Yeah. And I have gotten lucky at times. I'm not this just like perfect soldier by no means, but I've constantly I've always took training so serious. And then when we didn't, that's the the other part about being in special forces was, and hopefully this has changed, but it was just so hard to get training stateside, like individual courses, absolutely. And I was the dude. Yeah, like, hey, we got a slot, this guy can't go. Who can go? Me. Yeah, and they were like, Yeah, let's send him because he'll he'll take it serious, he'll pass. So I had a lot of opportunities to train on individual skills. Like I went to the army's or the special forces sniper course, or it used to be SODIC special operations target interdiction course. It's the long special operations sniper course. Um I tried to use it on that last deployment to Afghanistan, but um, it doesn't really help if you don't have a trained spotter, yeah, sniper observer, yeah, like combo thing. And we were just so stretched out all the time. So um, but there's just not a there's not there wasn't a lot of training opportunities outside of infield techniques. Like they would put more of an emphasis on making sure that we stayed qualified on our dive stuff, and I'm like, why do we have to do a dive recall? We need to go to the range, yeah. Like, and then we end up planning this dive recall that we end up just doing in the lake, yeah. Mott Lake, you know, or or whatever lake, you know, and it's like and I get it, because you get paid a little extra to be on a dive team, just like on a Halo team, like you get paid a little extra, so let's keep that pay. But um it just it the only times we really trained a ton was pre pre-deployment, yeah, and on deployment. That's when it was just like, where did we get all these things? Like people would just leave a bunch of stuff, and we just have unlimited amounts of amounts of ammo and training targetry, and there's there's something I want and resources to to train.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:58

There's something I wanted to talk to you about because I feel it applies to very much with what happens is happening today in the world. And you have a a school that can take civilians and and train them. Got a course this week coming up. There you go. I and I I I'm dying to come up and get it done, but um, I'd love to just sort of, you know, there's being a dad and and uh constantly worrying about things, and just in the news how there's constantly, you know, all these threats, these splint, these uh uh There was two yesterday, two yeah, two yesterday. It seems like because of what's happening, you know, right now in the world, there seems to be more in whatever happened on the border and all the people that came in. There's there's a real uh um being aware of your surroundings. And you've said there's a a term that you use, um your operational awareness. Yeah, so situational awareness. So situation awareness, yeah. Can you can you can you sort of talk about what this the course that you do and and then and then just sort of why it's important for us to be aware of what we're doing and because it's something that I feel like every dad out there and and and and and why for people should know what's going on just with the world that we live in right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:09

Absolutely. So the thing about as we look at all these different problems that we may encounter, it can be it can become overwhelming. If we're like, oh, we gotta be prepared for this, like, this coordinated attack by some terrorist organization. I'm like, man, that's a big problem. That a prepared citizen won't necessarily be able to to to do anything about that coordinated attack. Now, what they can do is focus on these things, these three things is is ownership, acceptance, and precision. So if I take ownership of my environment, my home, like I, I, and this is more so the protector mindset is the is the our our flagship course. That's the one that we're running next week. It's the protector mindset 201, so it's a three-day version of what used to be a two-day course, where you have, I mean, I think half the class is active law enforcement and half of it is is uh is prepared citizens. The only thing is 21 and up American citizen and uh you know not a felon. And and have a having a basic understanding of firearm safety and and being able to do uh to to demonstrate that on the move, right? So, because what good is static skills if we're not pressure testing those on the move and figuring out how to apply static fundamentals to movement, right? Because mount because gunfights don't happen from static and the world is moving, you know, at the speed of life. So, you know, it's a it's a it's a lot in a three-day course, but the the biggest thing that I want people to take away from it and that they do take away from it is to take ownership of what they can control. And if I have a tool, just like we talked about fitness a bit, fitness I can take everywhere with me. This mindset of being a protector, I can take away everywhere with me. And if I have any tools or techniques, like what good are they if they're not there when I need them? So it's a it's a it's not a hobby, right? That's an expensive hobby if you come and do these courses and then do nothing with it in between. So leaving individual students with things to um tangible things to work on and capturing those, um, kind of not not trying to make this a transaction of like trying to build a community of protectors. So um, because it's not a matter of it's just a matter of of when, not if you have to you have to re- So our motto at the company is prepare for the known and react to the unknown.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:32

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:32

So the so in order for something to still be a known for me, regardless of what I used to do, I have to continue to to practice with it. Yeah, I have a lot of little sayings, but perfect practice makes permanent, not perfect makes uh not uh practice makes perfect. Yeah, that's not a thing. Perfect practice, perfect practice makes permanent. So I practice by no means am I perfect, but I practice with intention. And once I realize it's something good for me, I realize that in order for it to be there when I need it to be permanent, um I have to volume, I have to increase the volume and the frequency, just like with fitness. Like, I gotta prioritize it or else ain't gonna happen. So, you know, with all these things, it's it's this mindset of like, man, there's way, way less expensive hobbies. So is this a hobby or a mindset for for you? Yeah. And I asked the students this, but you know, I've got to meet some of the greatest Americans in this process of the past four years since I started it. Our our mission is active threat response training. So our protector mindset course is open to the 101 and the 201 is is open to private citizens as well.

SPEAKER_08 1:23:41

And with everything that's going on in the world and like the media and just stuff, it can get a little toxic with your brain where you're seeing it like this. But those these these terrorist threats, these spinner cells, that is that is like real risk, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:23:53

The thing about the sure. Yeah, sure. Yeah, but uh has it always been? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the the thing about focusing on the spheres of control. So when you're in a big crowd, inner the inner sphere. Well, all the skills that we work on, the hard skills and some of the some of the things that we teach are like how do I learn to safeguard my bandwidth in an in the known of an overwhelming environment. I'm trying to find the one, maybe the two. If we look at data of active threats since 1999, it's been in the single digit percentile that there's been more than one. And when it has been, they've been co-located. So we train towards the what the data shows us. I use lessons I learned at the Radisson Blue Hotel that I responded to, which wasn't an active shooter, it was a terrorist planned uh attack. But essentially, it was I was in the right place at the right time. I'm the right person, I have the ability, so it's my responsibility to act. But it was like by no means was it like pretty. Like there was nothing pretty about it. Um, because I didn't have my team. I didn't I had to build a team on the fly and and and take charge and and put hands on people and say, hey, do this, do this. It was just uh it was a lot, and that's what an active threat environment's gonna be like. So the knowns of like even just processing hands versus looking at your eyes, because the eyes are deceiving. When I when in I don't have time because movement, movement is in the ends of something, uh in the ends of these with movement is is is a is a potential threat.

SPEAKER_08 1:25:27

Got it.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:28

So I'm keying for movement, I'm keying, I'm yelling for hands until I see hands, and I'm trying to find the one through hundreds of people potentially. But learning how to safeguard your bandwidth in that space is it's a it takes a lot of practice. But the thing is, is like in flight, flight, or freeze, the the back of the brain, the limbic system, like overrides the front and it goes into fight, flight, or freeze. So this the front side is where we're problem solving, we're creative, we're doing these things, the prefrontal cortex or whatever. So, but what happens with exposure to these types of environments and and a lot of practice and training, this doesn't, the back of the brain doesn't shut off the front. And now that's where you start to see more. You start to process more, you start to see every opportunity like that as a problem to solve versus just going into fight, flight, or freeze. So if I can expose you in a in a safe training environment to an overwhelmingly stimulating environment and it kicks in that five, fight, or freeze response, because it will, I don't care how many, how long you've been doing this, there's there's a bit of that that exposure to that environment that you'll feel in our course. How long is the course? Three days. And do you really see growth of people in it and thing of like, man, we that sweet spot, man? We we changed the course to to be three days this year for two reasons. We've experienced training with with students over three days in different in different environments, and man, that third day is just like chef's kiss. Something about the the processing all the information and then putting it to practice on the third day has just been really great from a student um perspective. And traditionally, that 101 Protector Mindset was just a two-day course and it was all simunitions-based. We used the unit solution stuff for all of it. But my point is that I would always have to say, like, hey, you have to connect this to live fire on the range. Yeah. So instead of just saying it, we're doing it. So this course, uh day one is live fire.

SPEAKER_08 1:27:22

And where where can people go um uh to find it, like look up, look this up and yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:27

So bluebearing.com.

SPEAKER_08 1:27:29

Bluebearing.com.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:30

Spell Blu bearing.com. Um, if you misspell it, it'll still take you there. But uh our company is Bluebearing Solutions. We focus in active threat response. We do an awesome home defense course. Uh no way. One more this year. Yep. It's a smaller setting, it's more expensive. Our course is more expensive, period. But but like that two any of the 201 courses, lunch is provided, uh, ammo is covered live and all the training, simmunition ammo. Um and our live fire courses, you have the ability to purchase ammo from us just because we can't the sticker price on courses would be way too high if we actually like cover the ammo cost. Yeah, you know, people go to Vegas and they've got to do something with it, or else it's a super expensive hobby.

SPEAKER_08 1:28:18

Yeah, exactly. But I mean, people like even with like your health and and wellness and just you know keeping what you said, like keeping the the this tool that Kage was sharp. Uh they're like, I had so much money. It's like, yeah, but you'll go to Vegas and blow it on drinking and and gambling and killing yourself and not even think about it. So I think those are the important things. Um I I I can't wait to come up and do this course with you. I really can. I know we've we've run out a bit of time here, which sucks because I want to keep going. Um I feel like we just got stuck. I know, dude. I that's it happens these. We didn't we'll do this again. We gotta do it. So uh when I come up and do the course, let's do it again. Um have you back on the black. Yeah, dude, I love it. Let's keep alternating. Yeah, and uh um the podcast, your podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:59

The black and blue podcast, but B-O-K-M-B-O-U.

SPEAKER_08 1:29:02

It is a great podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:04

And uh your Patreon. Yeah, your Patreon. That's a big one. So, like for all of you that are curious about what I find the Patreon is some people can't afford to travel to these courses all the time. Man, join us on Patreon. The tier one unlocks every training video I've ever shot and done, and then I'll continue to do. Um, it's 20 bucks a month where you pay for the year, and it's like 15% off. But it unlocks all the shooting drills, our drills of the month. We do competitions through that. Um, it's a community. It's a it truly is a community. Um in the black and blue tier, it gives you access, like 10 bucks a month. It gives you access to every bonus episode we've ever done on the black and blue podcast to include all the all the chats and then the fellowship tier I talked about earlier. Is there's a signal chat that we do uh with that, truly trying to build a community and and Patreon helps us grow as a company, but it also easier. I've seen significant growth in our students that have gone to a course, came back in a year, did another course, maybe even the same course, and seen no growth. I'm like, what you been doing, man? Yeah, and he's like, Oh, you know, work, life, kids, this and that. I'm like, Well, this is a hobby to you. And um, I need you to take this mindset and take it with you and do something with it. All those videos, I know you're on Patreon, use them. And then that same student comes back to another course and just is answering every question and just moving well, shooting well. And I'm just like, what have you been doing? Yeah, he's like, Man, if you had a ticker for how many times someone's watched like these CQB videos on the Patreon, I would win. Yeah, I'm like, good, it's working. Perfect practice. Yeah, exactly. So it gives you something remotely to also um have a plan. Yeah. The big thing is like training is is there's opportunities everywhere if you know what to look for. Yeah. Um, and that's what our courses expose you to about like help we'll help you be more creative with it to do it safely, um, but have a plan with training.

SPEAKER_08 1:31:00

Well, I appreciate you coming. I appreciate you driving all the way down uh uh to South Carolina from North Carolina. And uh do I just I got a lot of respect for you, man. You're you're a role model. I think more guys need to be like you and and and be open about their struggles and but be sh pointing their ship, their their ship in the right direction. And and I think by you know, I found when I got around other guys that were going through things and were vocal about it, I could relate because I was like, a lot of dudes don't talk about that stuff. So I think by doing what you're doing, I think you're helping a lot of people, and it's probably probably helping a lot more than you you realize. But uh, dude, absolute honor to have you on the show, man. Appreciate you. That's the work worth doing, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:40

It is, it is remember, guys, be to be vulnerable as a man allows you to potentially be hurt. But if you turn that vulnerability into an asset, into a strength, um, because you're doing it to help yourself and to help others, yeah. And and then you're capable, man, that's a warrior. And I'm a warrior for Christ.

SPEAKER_08 1:31:57

There you go. Amen. Well, I appreciate you, brother. Thanks for coming on the show. Well, thanks for having me. Awesome. There you go. That's another episode of the AJ Bucket Show. Thank you for watching. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share. I'm Kyle Morgan, by the way. Thank you so much for watching another episode of the AJ Bucket Show. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, like, subscribe, and share. Share with the world. Okay, that's all I'm asking. It actually makes a difference if you can. So please, please, please, please reach over. See if we can touch fingers right now. And if I hold your finger down here, bing, bing, bing, hit the boom.

SPEAKER_06 1:32:37

Have a good day.