I know it was the voice of God and God's timing because that was my deep-rooted emotional reason why, like, I wanted it that bad. And you get a lot of people, even you know, with what we do in the film and TV industry, man, like you gotta have a deep-rooted emotional reason as to why you want to do it. Well, hello there. Welcome back to another episode of the AJ Buckley Show. On today's episode, my next guest is Remy Adalike. He is a former Navy SEAL, an author, a filmmaker, a preacher, a father. This guy's life is something that I don't think many men on this planet could have gone through and survived. His story is of grit perseverance, his journey back to his faith, um, and and understanding what his purpose really is. He is a true warrior at heart. He is a role model, he is um someone I call a friend, and I'm very grateful that he's on our show. Please welcome to the show Mr. Remy Badalake. He's totally kidding seriously. Bro, welcome to the show. I'm so glad we connected again, and and uh I'm always keeping up with you on on Instagram and stuff. And uh how have you been, man? How how how is life? You look great. I was just saying before the show, you look young age in a second. Hey, curious case going on. Set for them grays, brother. Set for them grays, man. That's right. Um man, I I appreciate you for having me on, man. Um always appreciate you, man, ever since uh I got to have a little, little, little, little, little piece in uh in your show, uh SELT, man. It was always a blessing working with you and connecting with you. So uh thank you for having me on the pod, man. Um things have been great, man. You know, uh just been working on a bunch of different projects in a bunch of different spaces. I acquired a stake in an AI company. I'm sure we can get into that later. I uh, you know, I'm still, you know, writing uh and and and uh aspiring to be a filmmaker. So we've raised a signal about 8.5 million in film finance for trafficking. You're not a you are a filmmaker. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me see. Yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right. You are you are a filmmaker. I just try to be humble, man, because I know there's people in the industry that's gonna be listening to this and gonna be like, what's he talking about? But um sleep is non-negotiable. Better days, better recovery, go to ghostbed.com forward slash buckley at the checkout put buckley B-U-C-K-L-E-Y for the code word. Get yourself a discount. And I'm telling you, the better days are ahead, better sleep, better everything. You're gonna wake up in the morning with a big old smile on your face because you slept through the night. Three pillars of discipline spirit, mind, body, in that order. That right there is the foundation of a company I started called Born of Discipline. It's incredibly important to me, this company incorporates my faith. The lessons I learned from my father on discipline, pain from regret, or pain from discipline is something my dad always said to me. And I've incorporated that into my life, and I want to share it with you. Go check it out at bornofdiscipline.com. But yeah, man, we we're about to hopefully close out this financing on this organ trafficking film. Um, I'm heavily involved in the anti-trafficking space. I was just made um the uh uh um an ambassador to the blue campaign, which is uh DHS's um national campaign against trafficking. So I'm I'm working with them and family's good. Have you gotten involved with Tim Tebow at all? You know, um I just was at his foundation dinner and and and there was his what he was doing with his foundation and stuff like that. I was like, uh in my mind, I was like, they should have more former team guys like helping on the front lines going door to door with this because it's crazy what what is going on out there. Yeah, yeah. No, I I've I uh connected with Lantern Rescue, so they're um actually endorsing our organ trafficking film because they do a lot. They've employed special operations guys and they do a lot, not just in the sex trafficking space, but also in the forced labor and the organ trafficking space, which is what I focus my attention on the most. And then even in child sacrifice. Um and so lantern, yeah. Oh yeah, it's a it's a big thing. And so lantern rescues. What is organ trafficking? So organ trafficking is essentially people getting their organs taken, taken and sold on the black market. Or, for example, um, there's been uh there was a ring that was uh that was uh essentially investigated along the American uh Mexico border where you had traffickers that were working with nurses in the U.S. And when nurses would find out that somebody was on a kidney transplant waiting list or some other uh transplant waiting list, they would contact the traffickers down in Mexico and Mexico would find people and uh would essentially get their organs, whether witting or unwitting, and then and then that nurse would then provide the contact information for the person on the transplant waiting list, and then that person would get a phone call saying, hey, we we know you have about two months to live. Again, I'm paraphrasing for the sake of time. Um, but uh we found an organ for you down here in Mexico, and you know, these people are very desperate here in the I mean not just in America, but all around the world, because it's like, hey, you don't get an organ, you die. Um, about four to six thousand people die every year on the kidney transplant waiting lists. Um, and so, you know, there are when somebody gets the opportunity to continue their life and they get a phone call about a particular organ, they're gonna go take it. Um, there's so many stories that I can go down, but it is a massive issue. Egypt is considered the organ trafficking capital of the world. India has a huge organ trafficking issue. It's an issue here in America and along the American-Mexican border, Costa Rica has an organ trafficking issue, so it's a very, very real thing. Um, and that's why I wanted to focus my my short film, which is was released called The Unexpected. Uh, I wanted to focus that on organ trafficking, and then that's what essentially ultimately led to the feature film because it got a lot of buzz in the industry, and a lot of people were like, Man, I didn't know this was real, I didn't know that this existed. And uh terrifying. That is terrifying. Yeah. So do people just in the sense of you know, I mean, it's it's so obscure that, you know, and dark in the sense, and and then there's what you said there made sense too. It's like what would you do to l to to to to you know continue living? Like what what how far would you go? And and and on one sense, if you're like, well, I'm a dad and I've got kids, I'll do anything to stay alive. So, but then the flip side is like, how did you get that to you know what what happened to the other person? Was that person then they die? Like so like in one sense, like when you you you said like if they got it from Mexico, are you said unwilling or so? You have different you have different ways that it happens. You have the unwitting, you have the witting, and then you have essentially the bait and switch. So I'll start with the bait and switch. There was a um American girl who traveled down in the Dominican Republic um for tummy tuck. She had a couple of kids. She was in her late 30s, was not going to have any more kids. She wanted to go get a tummy tuck. Um, she found out about this uh plastic surgeon through social media, and somebody connected her with this uh plastic surgeon uh um through social media. She flew down to DR to his surgery ward, um, went and got her tummy tuck. A couple days later, she gets back home and she's just not feeling like herself. Um, she goes to the hospital eventually. Doctors run a bunch of different tests, eventually they do a CAT scan. They're like, hey, did you ever were you born with one kidney? She says no. They asked, Were you, did you ever give up your kidney? No. Well, you only have one kidney. So what had happened was she when she went to go get the tummy tuck, the surgeon pulled out one of her kidneys and ended up selling it on the black market. This is a true story. And uh, once once the investigation started between DHS and uh other organizations, um, that entire social media page had been completely washed and disappeared. Um, even the surgical ward um that where she went to go get her surgery in DR was gone, disappeared. Everybody was in the wind. And so that's an example of somebody that that gets to bait and switch. They go to a particular place for a procedure and then they end up getting duped. Another example of that is a uh is a woman in India. Again, these are all true stories. You can give your audience can look them up. There was a woman in India. I love this. Don't stop. Yes, sir. She was in a very low caste system. As you know, India has a caste system, and in a particular caste system that she was in, she wasn't able to essentially get a job like in the city, right? And so she ends up getting a uh a phone call one day or contacted one day. I can't remember exactly how it was, and they said, Hey, we have a job for you in Mumbai. And she was just like, What? She couldn't believe it. Um, and she was told, Hey, you have to go to this particular place uh in Mumbai. Um, we'll pay for you to get there, and then you know, you could start your work. So she gets to that place in Mumbai. Um, as soon as she gets there, uh her handler says, Hey, we just need you to go do a physical um so that that way you can start work. And, you know, because the cast and system she was in and the slum that she lived in, it was very it was infested with all kinds of diseases. And so she goes to the uh medical facility and uh uh and they start, they asked her to undress, she undresses, doctors and nurse leaves the room. She's the the walls were so thin as she's undressing, she's able to hear what they're saying. And they didn't know that she knew how to speak the local language, right? Because they're like, oh, here's this poor, you know, moron from this lower caste system. She's not gonna know another language, but she had she had somehow knew the other language because there's multiple languages spoken in in India. And uh they were like, Yeah, this girl is given this organ, this organ, and this organ, this is and so she heard that and she got dressed, boogied out of the uh out of the hospital, alerted the police. True story. Um police raided the uh the the clinic and they uncovered a multi-billion, multimillion dollar organ trafficking ring hit that had been going on for years. So again, that's another example of the bait and switch, the un the un and and and and somewhat of the unwitting, right? But going into the unwitting, there was another story um of this woman from Mexico. She started dating this guy on this um on this app, dating app, met him, and uh the guy was like, hey, come down to uh come down to Peru so that that way, you know, we could go on a date or and and get to know each other. She goes down to Peru and disappears. Um I want to say a couple weeks later her car corpse uh washed up on the beach. It was just her upper torso. Um all her organs were gone. And uh that guy who she was quote unquote dating, um, he was actually a med student, and he got caught because he got caught selling her organs on on social media. Um and so that's the unwitting. That's somebody who's like, I'm not, I'm just gonna go see somebody, and then they get they essentially get murdered and they get their organs taken. Um and then there's the there's the witting, and the witting is is as egregious, in my opinion, as the unwitting because it's essentially you're you're playing on people's poverty. You know, we talked about desperation earlier, and where people are so desperate because they don't want to die or they don't want their child to die, they're willing to pay whatever it costs in order to get an organ. But you'll get people who are very, very desperate and they have no money. They're in just utter poverty, poverty that we cannot comprehend, and they're willing to do absolutely anything to do better in life. And so um, this the story I told you earlier that um that Vice uh did a story on um along the Mexican-American border, what the c what the uh um organ traffickers were doing was they were identifying very poor people in in Mexico and saying and having them go to clinics and get blood tests to ensure that they were a match for the people in America. And they would say, hey, you know, here's three thousand dollars or here's four thousand dollars for your kidney. And these people are so poor, they've never seen that kind of money ever in their life, so they give up a kidney, right? And so that's that's the winning version, and that happens a lot. It happens a lot also in um in Egypt uh and Libya uh of all places, because you get a lot of migrants from Africa that will move up through, you know, move up uh north to try and get into Europe, and they'll try to go through Egypt, Libya, and some of those countries up there, and they'll end up getting stuck. Uh and and that's why Egypt is considered the organ trafficking capital of the world, because you get a lot of migrants that get stuck there and then they get contact. Hey, you want a kid, you got a kidney, got a partial liver, got this, we'll help you get into uh Italy, or we'll help you get into, you know, this country, and they they pay the cost, and then they end up, you know, you know, in some cases they get into those European countries, in some cases they don't. You know, it never happens. It's so crazy too when you think about it because there's desperation on both sides. Like for the for the for the women, like where like where they're like, I've never seen this sort of money before. This money will change my life if I give you a kidney. Yeah. And that but they don't know now that what the like the damage that they're but they're doing anything to get them the money with to what they think will make their life better. And the person on the the opposite side is got the same intentions and doing, but it's like the person in the middle is selling them both wolf tickets, and it's like exactly Oh, dude, that's so intense, man. How did you fall into this? Like, how did you discover this? Yeah, so I was uh I was partnering with uh human trafficking nonprofit that went down into South America and the Caribbean to rescue kids trapped in sex trafficking rings and to bring to justice Americans who traveled to these places to pay for sets with these underage girls, man, and boys in some cases. And we're talking about like we're talking like eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve years old. And we were in this particular slum where the parents and DR to be specific, where the parents were selling their daughters to traffickers, and the traffickers would take the daughters to the northern part of DR, and that's where Westerners would come and pay for sex with these kids. Going back to the desperation part, I mean, when I say slum, like we were, I mean, uh dude, words can't really even describe how bad. You've been all over the world. You've been all over the world. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I've been all over the world. This was this was horrible. I mean, I mean, it was trash everywhere, and I've seen this in the Middle East, you know, but yeah, but not to this scale, you know what I mean? Because, you know, because the DRs are like it's an island, right? So it's just like beautiful island in the career. I think all exclusives and you know, like, and and and you know, fluorescent wristbands be like, I have another prenatal. Exactly, exactly, exactly. You got you got you got palm trees and the weather's beautiful, you got all this stuff, and there's just that dark under there. But but in in the midst of this oasis, you have this utter poverty, you know, this just just and so the parents, man, they the reason why they were selling their kids, and our guide explained this to me was because, you know, their that was their plight. And, you know, either they sell one of their kids and the rest of their kids have have food and water, or they don't, and all their kids die. And my guide, he, you know, saw how perturbed I was and he took me into this chapel that was like the size of like two handicapped toilet stalls, and at the end of the chapel was a dead baby in a casket. And uh he explained to me that that baby died because the mother's breast milk ran out, um, because she wasn't getting enough food and sustenance, and this baby was like six, three, three to six months old. And uh he said that she mixed formula that she got with the local water, and that's what ultimately killed the baby, right? And uh, and so he's like, again, Remy, like this is their situation. Either they sell a daughter and they have more opportunities for their kids to live, or they don't, and all their kids die. Doesn't justify it, but again, it goes back to the desperation piece. So after that trip, man, I got back to the states and um uh I had a bunch of missed calls from Michael Bay's producing partner, Mike Case, uh, because Bay was starting his next movie, Six Underground. He was gonna be shooting in Italy and uh in Abu Dhabi. And Case was like, Remy, where have you been? We're about to start this movie, Ryan Reynolds and Corey Hawkins, all these people are in it. We want to get them trained up. You know, Corey's gonna be playing the sniper, so I want you to train. I want you to train all the other actors on weapons and stuff like that, and then I want you to be on set. And I was like, man, I was just out in DR. I was like, what are you doing? I was like, I was dealing with some crazy stuff. And so, um, long story short, after I got off the call, that's kind of when the two worlds collided, this world of filmmaking and the world of trafficking. And and then from there, that's when I was like, you know what? I want to immerse myself in this world of organ trafficking because this, I mean, I mean, you you mentioned that Tim Tebel's involved in the sex trafficking piece. There's so many other anti-trafficking nonprofits out there that deal with the sex trafficking piece, but they're not there's not a lot of awareness and there's not a lot of work around the organ trafficking piece, which is a multi-billion dollar industry. So that it was like it was after that um that trip and that phone call. I was like, all right, I want to use it's a global issue which requires a global response. The best way to respond is to engage as many people as I can. How can I engage as many people as I can? Well, through film or through story, because people won't read a book about it or read news New York Times articles about it, but people will be more inclined to essentially watch a film, even if it's a short film, and get educated in that way. And the more they get educated, the more they're gonna want to raise their hand and say, hey, I want to be involved in combating this. And then that's how we can make a difference because it's such a massive issue. And and again, that's when I decided to focus my attention on the organ trafficking because it was just so underserved. Nobody's nobody's really, and I think in part because people don't know how to talk about it. Yeah. I mean that that that's that that's the one thing I and it's so crazy. There's just so much so much darkness in this world. There's it's there's really a fight between good and evil right now. And it's like I and maybe it's like the more that I uh I have kids or the more that I've gotten back in my faith, you know, that's and then the fear of anything happening to my kids and like seeing you know the the the the the the the piranhas uh the piranhas out there like just circling, waiting for, you know, and and it terrifies me to the to like to the core where there was one thing where a person had said like and I I was at fault for this where you would hear you know horrible news about kids or things going on, I'm like, oh man, I I don't want to hear that, like I can't handle it. But then I realized that that's part of the fucking problem is that you're going you're you're denying learning about this to then get purpose to do it, which is the problem. We're like, I know this that reminds me too much of kids, and then you turn it off. Yes, and we and we choose to live in this bubble when you're seeing like that we go to Dominic and we see palm trees, but literally across the street, there's some shit going down. There's cries that you don't hear, and that just like that's the stuff that that keeps you up at night, and I and it should. It should keep everybody up at night because the thought of a child being hurt in any way, yeah. Yeah, like you can be at a park and you can see some other kids, some other parents' kids fall and cry, and you're like, oh man, like you see them hurt, and you're like, you just want to help a kid. Empathy, yeah. You just right away because they're kids. You know, and they and then they're cute when they're little snop bubbles when they start laughing again, you're like, ah, you're good, you're back. You know, so but it's it's a crazy, it's such a do you do you feel that moment there seeing that baby passed away that that was you were supposed to be in that moment to tell that story? Like, do you feel like that you're really connected on such a bigger level now? Yeah, no, a hundred percent. I think I was more connected beforehand. Um I had watched a documentary um before I even started working with this particular tra anti-trafficking nonprofit. And uh and that's what really was like because I didn't know interestingly, I didn't know much about trafficking um in general. Um when I when I uh when I got out of the military, when I got into this, I started getting contacted, interestingly, by various anti-trafficking nonprofits saying, Hey, we're doing this fundraiser. We heard your story, we'd love for you to come share your story so that we can raise funds and stare share my story for what human traffic. What's human traffic? Oh, it's this, this, and I was like, oh wow, I didn't know that. And then, you know, and then another anti-traffic, as a matter of fact, um um Lindsay Snyder, she's the uh uh the uh not the founder, but the CEO of and owner of In N Out Burger. And uh she has an anti-trafficking nonprofit called Slave to Nothing. And so she was she reached out to me and she was like, hey, I'm doing this this fundraiser. Can you come you know participate? Yeah, and so it just kept on happening, you know, back to back. And then uh another one sent me a documentary that I mentioned a second a few seconds ago and about trafficking, specifically the sex trafficking side of things. And I was just like, wow, man, like I gotta do something. Like, here I am, you know, I got out of Teams. I still have that drive and that purpose to protect and defend those, you know, uh who can't defend themselves. Um Psalms 82, 3, said 2 through 3 says, give justice to the poor and an orphan, uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute, rescue the poor and helpless, deliver them from the grasp of evil people. And I truly believe that God gave me my story, my path. Um goosebumps, bro. Oh sick. Amen. Amen. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, blonde hair is just a big thing. That's what the word does. That's what the word does, brother. Um has given me my path, you know, and the and the hard upbringing that I had in Nigeria and the Bronx and all of that to prepare me to be a warrior. And then it all made sense once I became a SEAL. And then after I got out, you almost kind of you still had that that you know fight in you. It's like, man, what's my next mission? Who's my next? And so after watching that doc, that's when I was like, this is what I want to focus my energy as it relates to fighting, you know, for those who can't can't defend themselves. As we get older, it is so important to stay on top of our blood work. That's why I'm incredibly proud to have Pure RX, one of our sponsors of the show. Go to AJ.purex.co, type in time to shine in the notes, and you will get 50% off your blood work. It's summertime. You want to go camping, you want to go off-road and get your truck, a lift kit, go to total off-road. TJ and Dan are my guys here in Charleston. They're the best. Huge thank you to them for being sponsors of the show. You got a Paver and Princess, head to Total Off-Road, get your truck lifted like a real man. And and you're you're back, I mean, from you're born in Nigeria, right? Yeah, yeah, I was born in Nigeria. And then it was the Bronx, then you had some you were on the streets for a little bit, you know, and then you went into to to become a SEAL. I mean, and now Hollywood, I mean, you've had there's no straight line in your life. It's kind of like, you know, so can you take me back to like this path to like where we are right now? If you were just a sort of as a kid back, you know, from leaving Nigeria going to the Bronx, like knowing where you are now, right? And even the audience just hearing this story, be like, You came from where? Can you just walk us through this story? Because this is insane. And it it it's it's it's it's a true story of of purpose and discipline and and uh and a higher calling, and and and and through all this journey that you've been in, you've someone is sort of singing you up, like, I need your help right now. You need to come fight with us. Yes, sir. So you sort of you you sort of walk me through where did where exactly were you born? Absolutely. So I was uh I was born in Nigeria um into a very wealthy family. My dad was a multimillionaire, self-made. Um, he was also chief in the Yoruba tribe. In Western culture, we we refer to royalties king, queen, princess, princess, Dutch, that sort of thing. But in Nigerian culture, in a lot of African culture, uh royalty is referred to as chief, which is almost like king, and then um, and then your last name. So my last name, Adde Leke, Adde means crown, and Leke means is supreme. So that's like one of the top names you could have in the Yoruba tribe. And then my first name is what's that? It sounds pretty badass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The crown is supreme. And then my first name is actually a lot of people don't know this. My first name is actually Adde Remy. Oh well. Adde Remy means the crown has appeased me. And so um, so that was a life I was born into. Um traveled the world. We had the nannies, we had drivers, we lived on a compound in Victoria Island, which is like this very luxurious island um in Nigeria. And uh my dad, he he engineered one of the first man-made islands in the world, which exists to this day, is now known as Banana Island, but it was known as Lagoon City. He had invested millions of dollars into it, and there's a lot of corruption in Nigeria, tons of corruption. I mean, it's just such a systemic issue. And due to the corruption after the land had formed, the uh Lego state government came in and said, hey, the federal government wasn't supposed to sell him this swamp that that the land, that the swamp that there was no land there, so I can't even say that the land sat on, but the land was now on, you know, they and and they conveniently waited until the land had formed. And uh and so, you know, my dad went to court, was fighting the Lagos state government, and then he was poisoned a few weeks later um and killed, and because all of his assets and his finances were wrapped up in this in this island, because my mom, she's American. My mom was actually born in New York City and and uh her family is from Eatington, North Carolina. And my mom would tell my dad all the time, I don't trust this system. You know, you should put some money back in the States because if anything happens, we're gonna lose everything. At least if we have money in the States, we have something to fall back on. But my dad was so passionate about developing um Lagoon City into an African version of Wall Street that he was like, Hey, my priority is is is Nigeria for now. Let's let's get this done. Um, and once we start, you know, doing business, then I'll start putting money back in the States. So that didn't end up happening because he ended up dying, and then when he died, and all his assets and money was wrapped up in Lagoon City, now known as Banana Island, um, we went from rich to penniless. Like to literally nothing, like absolutely nothing. And so my mother being American, she was not gonna raise my brother and I in Nigeria. Like no way. Um, so she brought my brother and I back to New York City. Um, and I grew up in the Bronx. Um, you know, at first the transition wasn't as um potent because my mom did a really good job of masking the reality of what had happened. She had a lot of my dad's art that she kept in our apartment, kept our apartment clean and pristine. And, you know, she was really good at like educating my brothers and I as well. She had her master's in education. She also taught as a teacher in the South Bronx. And it wasn't until I started getting a little bit up in age, like 9, 10, 11, where I was able to now venture, venture out of our our little oasis on my own. And I was exposed to the street life. You know, I was exposed to drug dealers and just, you know, just that environment, you know, gangs, um, hustlers. I mean, then hip-hop was very, it was like at its at its peak as well. And so now not only did I have music to listen to me to influence me, but I also had music videos that I could look at and see these guys who look like me and came from my environment, and they became successful in my eyes. And uh and and they became successful in doing the things that they rapped about, which was selling drugs and and doing doing other things. And so I figured that's the blueprint. So I uh I got involved in that life, man. I started out stealing from my mother, and then that progressed to stealing from stores, that progressed to to, you know, uh running, you know, selling drugs, you know, I'm not proud to say it, you know, and then um, and then that progressed to like running like high-level white-collar crimes where I was essentially taking people's information and um activating uh cell phones via lines of credit and then selling those cell phones to to drug dealers. And the drug dealers like the cell phones because they would stay on for 90 days, and then after 90 days they would cut off because obviously the bill wasn't paid, and then I would then get uh more credit information for people in hospice on their deathbed, and then I would activate phones and I would sell them for between 300 to $1,000 a pop, depending on the phone. And I was just making crazy money doing that, and uh, and that's kind of that was, you know, that was not a I'm not a proud of that time period in my life at all. Um I was, you know, no excuses. It was me. I made those decisions, nobody forced me to do it. Um, but I I'm grateful to God that, you know, I didn't end up dead or in prison. Um because, you know, I do have friends who ended up in prison. Um, there were people who were doing what I was doing, and they ended up in federal prison because it was a federal crime. Um and it's people friends I grew up with who are dead, you know, and uh from that life. And so, you know, one thing that my mother always instilled in me was consequences for actions. Yeah. And uh I always knew that there's going to eventually be a consequence for my actions. Like I'm not gonna get away with this, I'm not gonna skate, you know, for the rest of my life. And I ended up, you know, selling a drug dealer a bunch of phones that were supposed to last for 90 days. They only lasted for 30 days. Um, my life was threatened, my mother's life was indirectly threatened, and that was my wake-up call. That was when I was just like, all right, I need to get out of this life. I made the guy's money back, and then I I was just like, I'm done with this. I'm not, I don't know what I'm gonna do. But uh but uh I'm not gonna do this anymore, you know. And uh I was also I'll show you this. I was also laundering the money through this, through a record company. I keep this on my desk as a reminder. That's that's me right there at uh at 18. 18. That's a rap. I started a record company called. You look younger now, dude. You look younger now than. Yeah, look younger. Yeah, all the stress, man, all the stress of doing evil, man. And then uh uh and so yeah, that was a huge wake-up call for me, brother. And then um, you know, six months later, June of 2002, I just felt I like I was I had fluctuated between atheism and agnosticism. And then uh I had I so I didn't believe in God at all, you know, at this time period. I was 19, June, gonna turn 20 in August. And I heard this voice tell me, you need to get out of here, you need to join the military. I was in my bedroom, it was in the morning, it was a male type voice voice, it wasn't a female voice, and I heard the voice say it to me a couple of times, you need to get out of here, you need to join the military. And I got up, looked around my room, I was like, Where did that come from? Well, and in retrospect, I truly believe it was the voice of God, you know, guiding me. And I remember um, you know, later after I came to faith in Christ, I read this scripture of um uh Samuel, I believe it was Samuel, and uh and he was a kid and he was in bed, and uh he was saying he heard a voice say, uh call his name. And then and then he said, Here I am, and then he got up and looked around, and there was nobody there. Isaiah 6, 6, 8. Or is that Isaiah, Isaiah 6, 8? No, this isn't this is in the book of Samuel. Oh book. This is in the book of Samuel. Yeah, it's in the book of Samuel. And then um and then he got up and looked around and there was nobody there. So he went to his uh to the prophet who was training him, and the prophet said, I didn't call your name. So then he goes back to bed and then he hears his name again, and he sits up, he's like, Here I am. And then uh there's nobody there, so he goes to the prophet, his training. The prophet's like, I didn't call your name. So then the third time it happened, he goes to the prophet, he's like, it's prophet realized that's God speaking to you. That's that's that's God calling you, not me. That's God calling you. And so um that story, that story, you know, when I read that, I was like, oh man, like that's that's kind of what happened to me. Yeah, so yeah, and I know it was a voice of God because, you know, I didn't I didn't want to have anything to do with the military, brother. Like, I hated the police. I associated anybody in a uniform as the police. I hated authority. I would make fun of the ROTC kids in my school. It was totally contrary of everything I searched for. I like my clothes baggy, my hats backwards, I still wear my hats backwards. And so I was not trying to join. And but, you know, I was like, you know, screw it. What else do I have to lose? Like everything that I have done has amounted to nothing. And here I am, you know, 19, about to turn 20. And so I went to went to the Navy, went to the Marine Corps recruiter's office first, ran down the street I grew up on. And in New York City, the strip malls are kind of indoor because it gets so cold in the wintertime. And so there was this indoor strip mall, and all the recruiters were in there. You had like Marines, Air Force, Army, then there was a staircase, and then you had Navy and and Coast Guard. And uh I went into the Marine Corps recruiter's office first, and I sat there for like 15 minutes. There was nobody there. Um, there was coffee on the desk, door was open, but nobody was there. Um and then I walked out, went to the Army recruiter's office, like, hey, is this Marine guy coming back? Because I want to join the Marines. And he kind of blew me off and I was felt disrespected. So I said something I probably shouldn't have said. I went back to the Marine Corps recruiter's office, sat there for another five minutes. I was like, screw it, I'm out. So then I went like three doors down to the Navy recruiter's office, and there was this beautiful Navy uh recruiter in there named Tiana Nadine Reyes. And I'm I'm on, I'm like, I don't know if I'm gonna get the Navy, I'm gonna get the I'm gonna get me a girl. Because she was from the Bronx too, you know. She had just done her time in the Navy and then came back to serve as a recruiter, and uh, she saw right through me, she saw me as the fool that I was, and she was like, all right, whatever, I'm gonna get this fool in the Navy. And uh she had me take a practice ASVAP, pass the ASVAP, and then um, and then she had me take uh, she ran my background. And when she ran my background, she discovered that I had two warrants out for my arrest. I had a warrant in New York and a warrant in New Jersey. And uh I got up, ran towards off the door, and she she told me to stop, turn around, and I was like, what's going on? She was like, You have a suit? I was like, no. She said, Do you have a nice collar shirt and some nice pants? I said, I'm sure I could find something. She said, Come back tomorrow. I said, for what? She said, just come back tomorrow. I said, for what? And she snapped at me. She said, Stop being stupid and just come back. And uh, and I came back, man, the next day, and she was in her dress uniform, and she took a took me to the judge in New Jersey, advocated on my behalf, said, Hey, this kid's trying to join the military after an after war 9-11 had just happened nine months earlier, but he can't join the military with with warrants and a record. Um, so can can you expunge this record? And that that judge expunged my record. Um, and then she took me to the New York judge and then New York and and the New York judge um court was like right like a few blocks from ground zero. So it was like all crazy how it all worked together. And the judge was like, Yeah, man, if this guy's serious about joining the military, turn his life around, I'll expunge his record and clear his warrants and you know, and and do what needs to be done so that he could join the military. And then she went a step further, fudged the paperwork to sneak me into the Navy. And that's how I got into the Navy, because even though my record had been expunged, like I still wasn't like there was still supp some hurdles that I would have to jump through, like getting a letter from my congressman and all of this other jazz jazz, but she just bypassed all of that, fudged the paperwork, and that's how I was able to get into the Navy. And that's why I've gone back. I know it was the voice of God in God's timing because uh I I get contacted by kids all the time because they've heard my story and they're just like, hey, can you please like help me? Like, what do I do? Like, no recruiter won't touch me. My recruiter has tried everything, nothing has had, like, I can't get into the military. I'm just like, it's all about the recruiter that knows the rules and can really skirt those rules and get you in. Like, there's nothing really I could do. And um, and I I I say I believe it was the voice of God because like as he he spoke, I obeyed, I went to the Marine Recruiter's office first, nobody there, went to the Navy recruiter's office, walked into the office of the one person who was willing to, you know, break the rules to get me in. If that Marine Corps recruiter was there and ran my background, I'd have probably been screwed because that's what happens to a lot of young people. And um, because once you, once they find that out, then they essentially blacklist you from the service and the system. And and and hear this woman, and and she died two years later of an automobile disease. And I found out um many years later that that's what she would do. She would drive around the Bronx and say, Hey, listen, I see where your life is going. Let's stop drug dealing, let's get off the streets, and let's come join the military. Like, there's so much, so many benefits from joining the military. So that's what she would do. So here God led me to the one person who was in the office by herself so that she could break the rules at that specific time in order for me to be able to join the military and completely change change my life. So that's kind of how it all and he made her beautiful, so you're like, hey, what's up? Exactly, exactly, exactly. He pulled you right in the room. He got pulled me right in. He knew exactly what he needed. Yeah. I know how to get the room here. Exactly. I know how to get that fool. Dude, that's and so what year did you deploy? Man, so my first deployment was in 2005. Um, and my second one was in 2010, and then my third one was in 2012. Well, that's crazy. Do you know? I I we talked about this when we were on set this day, and and people have asked me about this, about my character. And I'll always give you credit for this. So we were in this, remember that we were shooting that scene where we're all all everybody was together in that big room, and you and I go over to the left, and you had your collar popped. And I was like, that's a cool look right there. I'm like, that's a cool look. I like that. Yeah, and you're like, oh, um, and and I'm like, I'm like, that's a cool thing. You're like, no, you just you wear that up because the rounds go down the back of your thing. Yeah. And I was like, and I was like, oh, but it looks cool though. And I was like, and I so I've pop so I've from that day forth, I always pop my thing because I thought it looked cool, but it was because of it was because you talked about it. That's funny. That's awesome. Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, man, yeah. I was like, man, because that hot brass, man, it's down and it gives me the embersy, man. I have so many. I have so so many ones from the 249 and 556. I I did one one thing where God, it was so early on. I mean, I mean you guys like when we were because we were season one. We were just we were still learning. Like we were understanding. There was so many great guys that were on set, and and and and we we were just like anybody that I could talk to about stories and just the life or what it was, or um, and I I always remember we were talking about you you were telling me a story about um it was like a the guy he like ran at the back, uh we were chasing him. Um it was like a squirter. I can't remember I forget what it was, but it was like there was something going on in the scene, and I I didn't understand what a squirt that like what it meant when like somebody leaving, somebody going out through the back. And you told me had told me a story of what what like what was happening, but it was like just all the little lingo in the dialogue that was such a foreign, you know, a whole nother language when you're going through, and I just was like, what is what is tick? You know, like you know, you know, uh uh uh troops of contact, yeah, all these different things, but it was a whole nother like world of dialogue. But it it the the one thing that you know I when I was observe and watch in that first season, when you guys were on set, it was just like the boys. You know, just like everyone was just hanging, doing and you guys had lived the life and like had been to it, but there was this true brotherhood and authenticity, yeah. Yeah, and there's this this memory lane everybody would go down because some people you would know of each other, but you hadn't served, or you were on a you were on a uh deployment, or some of the Marines were there, you were attached to their units. And it was such a beautiful thing because there was so much camaraderie, but like it just felt like guys sitting around a fire catching up all the time. But there was always a laughter. There was through all the friendship, you guys always found these br beautiful stories that you would just be laughing your balls off about. Like it was non-stop. And and looking back in that sort of the journey of I mean your tip of the spear to be to become a seal, did you realize like during BUDS this is gonna be the greatest journey of my life? Like were you were you'd you have were you during BUDS were you going, okay, this what what why did I decide to go during Log PT? Were you like were did you question your choices on that sort of first journey in? Nah, you know, interestingly, um I was just head down, bro. I was just it just sucks so it's so funny because uh this past weekend, uh my wife's friend uh who she grew up with, she was down here with her two sons, and her two sons, they're young, they're like uh eight and ten, and they were like, we want to go to we want to go to the Navy SEAL base. Yeah. And so I took I took them down, I took them to Bud, I took them to the SEAL teams, and then I took them to Buds and just walking on the grinder. And see, I was like, I was just like, man, this place was horrible, horrible. I got so many horrible memories of just getting hammered, bro. And um, you know, just going back to that time period, like even now, there's times where I'm just like, how the heck did I make it through all that? Like, like how did that happen? Like, I like I still can't fatten. Like, I couldn't do it now with all of the injuries in my age now. Like mentally I could, but physically I couldn't. But yeah, man, at that time period, I couldn't. It was just like, I want to get through. I want to be an operator. I want to get through. Like, I couldn't even think that far ahead. There was no quit in you. You that didn't you were just No, not at all. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and it because I think for me, it's like I have failed so much in my life as a son, as a um, you know, as a brother, you know, as a as a person in in in a society that I had grown up in, uh, I had just got tired of failing. And for me, it was just like, I can't fail anymore. Like, I like that will not happen. Like that was my deep-rooted emotional reason why. Like I wanted it that bad. And you get a lot of people, even, you know, with what we do in the film and TV industry, man, like you got to have a deep-rooted emotional reason as to why you want to do it. Like in buds, if you if you if you're not anchored in something deep, if you have super there are superficial reasons as to why you want to be a seal or why you want to be an actor or why you want to be a filmmaker, like when the storms and the winds of life blow hard, you're gonna get blown away. Yeah. Or in buds, you're gonna quit because you're not anchored in something deep. But when those trials come, the rejection over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, or that pain on that log, and you know, the serf torture, all of that stuff, guys quitting left and right. You when you're anchored in something, there's no way you're gonna go away. You're gonna just keep fighting and fighting and fighting. And so that was a mindset that, you know, I had uh there. And then I was anchored in my deep rooted emotional reason why, just as I'm sure you've been anchored in your deep root rooted emotional reason as to why you want to be an actor and and and do what you do. And so I think that kept me focused on the objective. I I think m my deep-rooted being anchored, I I've only, you know, and I've said this before, like, I'm only just figuring out who I am. Like I've just started to go like, um, this is who I this is who I am. Like, and that's only happened in the last I th I mean I thought I kind of knew who I was, and and then but I came back to layers and I saw things that I didn't like about myself. I'm like, I've got to work on this. Like, if that's not, I don't and uh it's like it's like you we have these sort of evolutions of ourselves of like who we are, and then I feel like when we really dig in and are really challenged and and put in front of things, yeah, a part of us we lose a part of ourselves for this this new idea of what we want to be. Yeah. Um evolution. That evolution. Is there was there something in in you that you had to really sort of let die to to in order for that growth to to go forward? Oh a hundred percent, man. Um first thing, you know, was I had to one of my biggest issues was every failure that I had, I had was always somebody else's fault. It was never me. You know, it wasn't until you know I got to to got to to to buds that I really started to take responsibility for my actions and and really say, hey, and that's in the and a big part of that too was like I didn't have a father growing up, right? I didn't have a, and this is why fathers are so important, right? Because I didn't have a man to teach me how to be a man, you know, teach me the whole importance of of responsibility and ownership, teach me to say what I mean and mean what I say, teach me to be respectful to women and be respectful to peep people, teach me to be on top. I didn't have any of that. And it wasn't until I got to BUDS and I had these BUDS instructors who were SEALs, that I began to really get the proper example of what it meant to be a man, right? Uh and so it was like almost indirectly my BUDS instructors became my new fathers, right? And that's when I really learned, hey, you need to take ownership and responsibility for your actions. Not, it's not your mother's fault, it's not your brother's fault, it's not this person's fault, it's not that, it's it's you. You know what I mean? It's you. Yeah. And uh that was the first thing that needed to die was, you know, I needed to, I needed to stop blaming other people and really look in the mirror. And then, you know, the second thing was when I came to faith in Christ, man, and that was huge for me because that's when like my whole past life had to die. You know what I mean? Like I had to die to something scriptures say, you know what I mean? Yeah, man, and really be who God knew, who God saw when he looked through eternity in a time and saw me. You know what I mean? And uh and I had to give up a lot, bro. I had to give up, you know, I had to give up the womanizing Remy, the the you know, the foul language Remy, the the lying Remy, the the you know, the manipulating Remy, the, you know, like all of these, like I had to kill all of that. And it was hard, man, because it's like when you're so used to doing life a specific way, you know, change is hard in general. I'm a professor at a university. I teach at the University of Charleston, West Virginia part-time. And uh I teach at the School of Business, Business and Leadership, and I teach a class called Change Leadership. And we go through the cycles of change, and a big part of the change cycle is resistance. You're always going to face resistance when it comes to change because we're so used to doing things a certain way, and change is hard for people, and that's why our natural human response is to resist the change, right? Because we're comfortable in the way things are. And so I had to really fight through hey, that old life doesn't work and it hasn't worked. And yes, while it's comfortable, I need to stop and to step into what's uncomfortable so that I can have this new life and be who I'm intended to be and accomplish what I know God has for me to accomplish, if that makes sense. What what is something that that you know God protected you from that that that you understand now in a sense? Like, is there is there? Oh man. Yeah. Sorry. No, go ahead. Yeah. Is it like is there something that you now see that like, oh, okay, this is this is this is why? So much, man. I mean, so much. I mean, protect me from bad relationships, um, or protecting me from like, you know, there was a girl who like I I really wanted to be with, and you know, and it and I thought that she was the one and all this, and there's a lot to the story, but yeah, and and I'm being vague for a reason, but in short, man, like she wasn't right for me. I couldn't see it at the time, and God protected me from that. And she can't have kids, you know what I mean? Like she can, she can't, like even to this day, she can't have kids, right? And I have four kids now, so that's one thing. Like, you know, my legacy was protected, you know, because my kids are my legacy, you know what I'm saying? They're a big part of my legacy, and so that's one small thing. There's so many other things, man, protecting me from death, you know, where I should have been dead multiple times, you know what I mean? Um, even like in the teams, bro. Like, you know, without going into too much detail, man, like I was supposed to go on. Um I was supposed to do a specific job, and I'm just gonna be super vague for a reason. I didn't get that job. I was pissed about not getting that job. I was angry. Um, and then somebody else essentially got that job, and that somebody else ended up passing away, you know, um, on that job, you know, and so God protected me from that. There's so many other things. I mean, even to this day, man. Like last year, people don't know this, but I was contracted with the agency last year. Really? And I was in Gaza, you know, the top of at the top of 20, the top of 2025, January, February, right? And there were so many things that that, you know, God protected me and guided me through there as well. I was in Gaza, you know, Hamas, Hamas controlled, Phil, Gaza, you know what I mean? Um financial decisions. Have you had you not to cut you up, but had you been to Gaza prior to when you were deployed? No. Nope, nope, never. Never. And uh, and yeah, it was an eye-opening experience, man. And all the guys that were out there were all former operators. Some of them worked for GRS, some of them worked for Ground Branch. Um, but it was an operation that kind of got greenlit like the night before Trump's inauguration. Um, and uh, and you know, it's like, hey, you know, certain things need to be handled and taken care of. We need operators, but there could have been military boots on the ground in Gaza. Um, and so they were just like, hey, we could use we could use contractors, right, who have have specific skill sets, right? And so, yeah, man. How how uh how did becoming a father influence your decisions of going and you you know working for the agency or going overseas or or or that sort of things? And and I preface this by saying, you know, on on our show, um, you know, between uh Neil's portrayal, which I thought he did a phenomenal job, and and David, they they really with the family and and you saw like, you know, when a child was born, you know, um, and the baby was there, and then the father's going to deployment or all those things that you struggle with, which you don't think about when you're young. But then when you see life for the first time, like I the first time I ever thought about dying was the first day I met my kid. Yeah, I don't want to die. You know, I never really thought about it before. And then I saw them, I'm like, oh, I got I gotta I gotta be here for this. I keep, you know, I gotta take care of myself. Um so uh being a father in in and being a true warrior at heart, how did that change your perspective in in that journey of just saying, I'm gonna go, um, here I am, send me to to now I've got to look at my kids and and make those decisions? Well, that one is such an interesting question because uh I got out because of my first two sons, right? So my first son was born in 2014, my second son was born in 2015, having had a father die when I was five, you know, I wasn't fearful of death. It was more about me being away and I wanted to be damn present in my kids' lives, right? And so that was why I got out, right? So I get out in 2016, I'm gonna be a father. I start my consulting business, finish up my master's in education. Then, you know, the Hollywood opportunity happens. Interestingly, like I had gotten out, and my wife was happy that I got out. I was happy because I was able to be there with my kids. I didn't really have to work because I wasn't using post-9-11 GI bills, building my businesses and stuff like that. And then um I like I want to say in in like the end of April of 2016, I started getting an itch, and I was like, man, like I gotta freaking, I gotta like, I gotta get back to it, man. So that's when I actually applied for GRS, well, um, you know, for the agency. And uh I went to start the interview process and all of that stuff and sending my paperwork, my DD214, all of that stuff in. And then all of a sudden I stopped hearing from the recruiter. So I was like, man, maybe this, maybe I didn't qualify, maybe something happened. And then like a month later is when I got hit up to work on Transformers. I had no desire to be in the film and TV industry. I it was like nothing anywhere on my radar. And uh, and so when when I got that call, this lady was like, hey, based on his next movie, um, Transformers tomorrow, and he's shooting up in LA somewhere, and he needs like he needs a former seal for consulting and to be on camera. Are you available? I was like, Yeah, sure. And so I went up the next day. That one day turned into three weeks, went to Arizona Film and did the consultant, went to Michigan for a few weeks film, and then at the end of like two weeks in Michigan, they were like, hey, Bay wants to keep you on. And so I stayed through the production in Michigan and then I flew to London to film out there, work on a project out there. And when I was in London, I got a an email from a new recruit recruiter from GRS, and he was like, Hey, the guy who had been handling your case, he uh he like quit or got fired, something happened, and he was like, I'm just now getting caught up to your package. Are you still interested? And at that point, you had the crab service table and you like at your feet up. I'm at the I'm at this nice hotel in London, man. It was like, I can't remember the name of it, but it was like some super nice hotel in London, man. I'm just like, bro, I'm living a life. And and that's when I really even more so I got passionate about storytelling. I got passionate about storytelling. And going back to your question earlier, what did God protect you from? Like, that was one thing that God protected me from because I was on the verge of going, you know, did you not granted I still would have to go through the training pipeline, the selection pipeline for it, and then make it through that, and then I would get assigned. But God protected me from that by giving it. I'm noticing these patterns. I don't know if you ever noticed this. Yeah. So when you went to the recruiting center, there was an empty room, and then there was another room, and then the third room, right? Yeah, and then you submitted your thing, and you end up in another place, but that because that one room was there was no one in that room. And then now you're it's it's sort of this pattern, you know? It's like we're it's this, you're supposed to go this way. So anytime there's an empty room, you're like, I'm out. You know, as a as a saying goes, man, God closes doors and no man can open, and God opens doors and no man can close. It's so true. Uh yeah. Yeah, so so so so so that was kind of so that was uh so so I was once I I I finished that project, I was like focused. Like, here's what I'm gonna do. I want to be in the film and TV industry. I had no desire to be an actor, still had no desire. I was like, all right, I want to be a filmmaker, I'm just gonna use being on set as my film school, right? And uh, but then like I got hit with the anti-trafficking documentary. And that's when my me and my wife talked, my wife, my wife's a doctor. She was she started out in community medicine, and she saw it too. And so she's seen a lot of stuff as well. She's like, you're sealed, they need your help, go do it. Like, and obviously, granted, now we're not talking about six-month deployments or anything like that. We're talking about like go for two weeks or a week, come back, you know? And so that's kind of when I started to get pulled back in. And then um, fast forward, like when when the Gaza thing jumped back on, it was really hard for me. Um jumped up, popped up. It was hard for me to take that job because to your point, I had now four kids. You know what I mean? And uh but I I still had this passion that never leaves you to go, you know, do the job that I was trained to do. And I was just like, you know what, this will be my last hour. That's kind of how I rationalized it. This will be my last hoorah, get it all out of my system, and and then I won't, I won't I won't go back to that life again. And and and I won't do it for my kids, I won't do it for anything. Like if I survive this thing, I won't do it. And yeah, man. So And then and then you're back now now. If you had an opportunity right now to sit across the room from, you know, Remy in the Bronx at that age, and what you know now, what what would the conversation you had five minutes with yourself, what would you, what would you say to yourself? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You gotta live this life. Because I know because I know I know that I wouldn't listen, the old me wouldn't listen to the the young me wouldn't listen to the old me. The young me wouldn't listen to anybody. The young me had to go through all of the pain, all of the rejection, all of the fallout from the stupid decisions that I made, all of that to finally get, you know, finally get the lessons to get to where I'm at. You know, I I worked on a TV show called um uh Special Forces uh Fox, Special Forces World Stuff or Sunday. You were in Jordan before we was in Jordan. You hooked us up, you hooked us up with the barber. Your barber. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, my bar is a good dude. He just actually got citizenship in Canada, man. He's a guy, I'm happy for him, man. He's a good dude, he's a good dude, man. He did he did good because Neil was like, we gotta, he's like, I got a barber. Remy's hooked us up. I was like, all right, cool. Yeah, yeah, man. Yeah, he was a good dude, man. We still stay in contact. Um, but yeah, man, um and and on that TV show, Rudy Reyes, he has a saying, pain retains. And it's so, so true, man. And so back to your question, I wouldn't say anything because I know that the young Remy, even the old Remy, even the Remy today, like the lessons that stick me, stick with me the most that help me grow are the most painful lessons. Not just literally, figuratively, you know, emotionally, mentally. Those painful lessons stick with me the most, you know. Who would you say your your North Star has been in your life? The Jesus, man. Yeah. Jesus, without a doubt, man. Um, especially now, you know, um, and everything that I do, man. Get up, I have my get up at five, five and around five, between five ten and five thirty in the morning, have my devotional time, go hit the gym, um, have my work day, and then before I go to bed at night, reading the word, praying, praying with my kids, read the word, praying by myself, and that's it. That's my North Star. That's like I can't do anything without him. I wouldn't be where I'm at without him. Like just the miraculous doors that he is opening my life. Like, I depend on him regardless of how much I've regardless of having been a seal, regardless of all of the stuff that I've done. Like, you know, I still need the Lord every day, and that's my North Star. Do you because I st I you know my journey is is fairly new back into I but I still struggle with, you know, um understanding the sort of the journey that I'm on, you know, uh in the in the deeper, like I I I'll still make mistakes, I'll still, you know Yeah, we always will. Yeah. I I like I I I haven't read the whole Bible. It's very very big book, and there's a lot of copies that I found out. Yeah. But I got the bot this app that like breaks it down. And um actually I just got this new one and it's uh and I got it from my kids, but it's like the comic book one. Have you seen that one? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have the comic book one. Yeah, yeah. Dude, it's awesome. Oh my god. I read comics, I was like, I love this. Yeah, yeah. Because it's like did see for me, my brain, because it the Bible jumps all over the place. I'm like, okay, where where so the way with the Bible app, and then I have this other daily devotion when it pops up every morning and I read it. Um my buddy uh Eric Tanzi, uh um, he got me onto that. But it it at least explains, but I will I feel like when I I drift and get wrapped up in the bull and and not focus on that is when I start losing again. You know, when I can be structured and disciplined into putting you know that first and keeping that as part of my thing and like I'll get to that later and push it to the side. That's when I always drift off and and shit goes wrong again. But it's like it's such a great center piece. How do you how do you how do you find how do you find and stay locked in on that anchor? Like, how is that? Because I always feel then guilty. I'm like, man, I just did it again. It's like Yeah, I mean it's it's it all comes back to you know, I tell people all the time, like Christianity isn't religion. Like Jesus came to dispose of religion. Christianity is relationship. It's the difference between between saying you're a Christian and having a relationship with God, right? And and just like you would have a relationship with anybody, your spouse, your kids, whoever, right? It takes giving your time to that person. I do. You know what I mean? You gotta do the work. It's I tell people all the time it's a partnership with the Lord, right? And the story when I when I when I preach on this, I talk about the story of Moses when they just came out of the uh out of the wilderness, they were attacked by the Amalekites. Uh and and God told Moses, go to the top of the mountain and hold up the staff of God. And as long as the staff of God is in the air, um Joshua is going and his troops are going to defeat the Malachites. But when your arm drops, then the Malachites are going to beat back the Israelites, right? Wow. And so um, so the point was, hey, keep your keep the staff up. And what was God doing through that? He was showing that this is a partnership. He's like, God's saying, I'm gonna do my part as long as you do your part. Wow. See, religion is more like God's doing his part, God's doing his part, and then you, you know, and and and or whatever. Like you gotta earn the work to do. It's either religion, is either God's doing his part or you're doing your part, right? You're doing these rituals and all of this other stuff, and that and that's it. Relationship is God's gonna always do his part, and we have to do our part. And when we both do our part, everything works out, right? And so that story is a reminder. So that's why for me, like I have to be dedicated. I have to be like, hey, in the morning, I'm gonna read the word, I'm gonna pray. I set my timer for 15 minutes. I'm like, this is my time to communicate with the Lord, right? That's what this time is for, right? And that's what helps keep keep me anchored. And then, you know, it's having good people in my life, man, good people who love the Lord. You know what I mean? Like, even my wife, you know, accountability, like her being a Christian as well, like, and her like praying for me. Like, like that, like that's something that's so huge. A lot of couples don't understand. Yeah. Is the like God's given us each other in our relation in our marriage. He's giving your spouse, giving me my spouse. Like, it's a partnership. We're supposed to come together as one, right? And the Bible says if a man um a man Who cannot love his own wife can't love himself, right? And so, like a big part of it is like me praying for her, her praying for me, like, you know, us trying to read the Bible together, read the Bible as a family. But all of those things are what keeps me anchored. It's all about that consistency, nurturing that relationship through word, through going to church, through fellowship with other people, um, and through listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, man, when he's guiding us, man. But it all comes back to setting those that time aside, in my opinion. Do you through becoming a father and and a husband and um this journey that you've been on now with with your sons um and their journey in in their own struggles of what becoming a young man and stuff like that? How is how is your perspective with faith and the the road that you've been on and and and the trials and tribulations, how have you then uh approached fatherhood with them with with openness and understanding, or how is how does that structure work? Yeah, man, yeah. I just again I try to raise them up because I never had a father to set an example for me, right? And so I try to look use the word, look at the word as my guiding tool, you know, or scripture as my guiding tool, like how to love, like, you know, just just I have to because I I you know, in in general, even if you have a father in your life, being a parent, as you know, doesn't come with a manual or winging it. You know, yeah. So so uh, you know, the only manual that I could go to really is is the Bible, right? And so with my kids, it's all about like I try to keep them away from all the mistakes that I made. At the same time, I try to give them the things that I didn't have. So like my kids go to church on Sunday, like I'm the one that's like, hey, let's be on time. Like, not my wife. Like, let's be on time. Get up, get dressed, get your Bible, all that other stuff, right? Yeah. So it's it's it's doing that so they see that example. Like, big thing I tell my kids is you gotta keep your word. That's like, that's like a big lesson that I kind of hammer home with my kids. And, you know, like like we'll play basketball games, and I'll say to my kids, I was like, hey, you beat me in this basketball game, I'll take your in-and-out burger. They know that they they play hard because they know daddy's gonna keep his word. They know daddy's gonna take them the in-and-out burger, right? And so when when they say that they're gonna do something and then they begin to retract, I'm like, hey, listen, as a man, because you guys are not, you guys are gonna be men one day. I got three boys and one girl. I was like, as a man, you have to keep your word. That's all you have. If you don't keep your word, that people will not trust you and you're not gonna be able to build a relationship with people and you're gonna end up alone and by yourself. You have to keep your word. And so when they're like, when they make a when they say they're gonna do something and they begin to regress, I'm like, hey, keep it when they're like, oh yeah, I gotta keep my word. I did say that. My youngest son, he'll smile. He'll be like, oh Hollywood must drive you crazy that it's like it's like it's like you said they're like, Well, I don't I didn't say anything like that. What are you talking about? Yeah, it's like there's tons of oh it's the frustrating part, man, and Dylan in the industry. But but but the thing is with with with with that though, it's like just never waver from that because then you're the guy that keeps the word. It's like break that mold, you know, and then it then people will know that you're that guy because everybody just I feel like in Hollywood accepts the fact that everyone just breaks their word, so they it becomes acceptable behavior. But it's if you're consistent within that, then you you're not ex- that's that's not how it works over here, you know. It's like you can't and I think when you hold that standard, you hold that line, then people will approach you with such a different thing because they know that that's not gonna that's not gonna fly. No matter where you're at on the call sheet or no matter what it is, I I think it's such a good thing to push back on when people don't keep their word or they give their version of what how Hollywood's gonna work for you, which is always interesting. Um exactly. Now, now now your book, uh I remember your your your book for um um uh um dude can you can you just tell me a little did the for the audience where they can find you? Just give me just a how did you how did how did that happen? Yeah, that's a crazy yeah, so uh man, I got out uh and I became really good friends with Kathy Lee Gifford's son and uh um Cody Gifford, really good dude, man. Phenomenal guy's dad was Frank Gifford, played for the Giants, and his mom, Kathleen Gifford. And uh long story short, Transformers had come out, and she was like, I want to have you come on a today's show because she was still hosting the Today Show on NBC. And so I went on a today show, and and I'm thinking we're just gonna talk about Transformers, but she was like, You need to share your story, your story is incredible. So I started sharing my story uh in the interview, and then she says right there live on camera, she's just like, You need to write a book, and then your book needs to be a movie. And I've had like so many different offers and uh on the table for my film to be a movie uh, you know, since then. But uh, but after we got off the set and we get backstage, she was just like, I'm serious, Remy. She was like, You need to write a book and your your story needs to be a movie. Uh and I was like, uh, I was like, nah, I don't want to do that. Because you know how it is in our community with guys and writing above. I was like, nah, I don't want to do that. She's like, why? I was like, explain to her, you know, how that's taboo in our community. And she was like, but Remy, like, I know that you wouldn't be writing your book to like pump yourself up. You'd be writing your book to inspire people. She was like, You got a really inspiring story. And she was like, I'm gonna call on my publisher. So she called up her publisher, Harper Collins, and was like, Do you need to sign this guy to a book deal? If not, I'm gonna take him to another publisher. They're like one of the biggest communities, like just not just any publishing house. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And that's how it all, that's how it all came about, to be honest with you, man. And that was my first book transformed, yeah. And I I have it uh up in my office. I have it up on my desk. And uh I I see you constantly on my desk. You're you're popping in my mind. Well, Remy, man, I just I just I really mean it, man. I even get to to chat a little further with you today and hearing hearing your journey. Dude, you got you gotta you got a presence about you, man. Like you, you've got the work that you do that anytime that your name is brought up, how loved you are, um, even what what you're doing, you know, and and what you want to do with the the trafficking. If I can ever help out any in on a on a fundraiser way with the that the organ thing, you know, I'm freaked out by it, but it's it is an awesome thing. I I I just I'm I'm so uh I have so much respect for you and I've got so much love for you. And and I I think your your your story that you're writing right now as a filmmaker, um, because you are a filmmaker, is just beginning. And I and I feel like that there's there's there's such a world where your voice and and your journey and and your life um is is is being written on such a bigger level. Thank you, brother. I appreciate you, man. Thank you, man. Yeah, and anytime, dude, if you're in South Carolina, I want you to come into the studio and and hang it. Yeah, whatever. I'm sorry I can get out there this time, man. But yeah, when I'm out there for sure, man. Yeah, I'll take you to my church and stuff. It'll be it'll be it'll be awesome, man. Um, but I got nothing but love for you, dude. And I'm so grateful you came on the show today. And uh um thank thank you so much, my man. Thank you, man. Much love to you, much love to the family, brother, and thank you for having me on. It's been an honor and a blessing. And we'll put uh we'll put all your what what's your handles and stuff? Uh uh, where can people find you on Instagram? Remy Adelec. Yeah, I know it's a weird day to spell, but R R E M I A D E L E K E. The crown is the pleasure. Yeah. I love it. Well, I appreciate you, brother. Thanks for coming on the show. Well, thanks for watching another episode of the AJ Buckley show. I greatly appreciate all of you. I always, after a show, kind of sit here and try to take in each episode. And there's some ones just like the this one I just did right now with Remy, that it it just sits with you. Just the organ industry and and and the darkness that's in this world. But if it isn't for guys like Remy, for for their bravery, and for you know, the other warriors that are out there, um, I know where we'd be. Um and wherever you are out there, whatever you're going through, take a beat and listen. Because whatever trouble you feel like you're in, there's a way out. And uh Remy's story today really showed that and proved that. And uh listen when you hear the calling. Hope you have a wonderful day. Hope you had a great weekend, hope you have a great week. I'll see you Friday. Much love.