Speaker 1: If you're in my hot seat, that's what you want
Speaker 1: to go in, little challenge. I don't want to be challenged, right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's doing his best.
Speaker 2: Well, we don't have to worry about dad when.
Speaker 3: He was a kid. So what a you're do when
Speaker 3: you grow up and you said, I'm going to take.
Speaker 2: All your joke all your jobs used to laugh and
Speaker 2: jokes as well?
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, well that really works.
Speaker 1: And now you're working together and love that. A team,
Speaker 1: family unit, family team, that's what.
Speaker 2: Well, if you can't trust your family, well who can
Speaker 2: you trust?
Speaker 1: No one?
Speaker 2: No, no, apparently not. That's what that's what we live by.
Speaker 2: So we are we're out of your studio here and
Speaker 2: where you record your podcast? Head Game?
Speaker 1: That's right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah yeah, So run us through. What it's about.
Speaker 1: The head Game is just talking to ordinary people that
Speaker 1: have extraordinary stories. So what I do is I tap
Speaker 1: into their mindset on how they've overcome certain situations, the
Speaker 1: mindset they utilized, and you know, whether that was fear panic,
Speaker 1: whether they were facing a certain phobia. Because the people
Speaker 1: that I interview are left with one option in life,
Speaker 1: and it's almost like a do or die and sometimes
Speaker 1: it is that serious they've got to make a decision
Speaker 1: otherwise they're not going to make it through. But also
Speaker 1: do or die with decisions about work, decisions about family.
Speaker 1: You know, all these hard choices and how they got
Speaker 1: through certain situations. So it's fascinating because everyone has a
Speaker 1: story yet has well.
Speaker 2: I imagine sports people and military people. You know that's
Speaker 2: your strength, like that's they're the probably people you relate
Speaker 2: to most. Who's surprised you of the guests you've had on.
Speaker 1: Do you know what? I've had all sorts of guests,
Speaker 1: And this is where Nova's so good at just you know,
Speaker 1: hand picking these these individuals because I like to really
Speaker 1: not do too much homework. I like to just take
Speaker 1: them at face value, really tap into their story. And
Speaker 1: I might have have certain questions for example, and then
Speaker 1: I've asked none of them users like you've asked none
Speaker 1: of these questions. But what a hell of a podcast
Speaker 1: because we just go off on a tangrum and I
Speaker 1: just really feel where they're going and try and extract
Speaker 1: their story of raw emotions. So I've had I've had
Speaker 1: people that have had their faces ripped off by by
Speaker 1: bears in Canada. I've had people stuck in minds, you
Speaker 1: know that where the oxygen's diminishing and they're slowly dying,
Speaker 1: but they're having to really dig deep psychologically and put
Speaker 1: on certain emotions, whether that's family, whether that's loved ones,
Speaker 1: whether that's just the sheer will to survive. And what
Speaker 1: I love about my podcast is these people are left
Speaker 1: with one option, you know, and when you're left with
Speaker 1: one option in life, you'll be amazed at what you
Speaker 1: can achieve, et cetera.
Speaker 3: Isn't when you look at things like you know, and
Speaker 3: we always liking it. Sport, it's people say, you know,
Speaker 3: when you go into professional sport, you've got to do
Speaker 3: one thing. You're going to make sure. You've got to
Speaker 3: plan V. Well, sometimes you want to make it. Don't
Speaker 3: have a plan B. That's all or.
Speaker 1: Nothing, matty, You are bang on there. And it's the
Speaker 1: same in the military. As long as there's a plan,
Speaker 1: there's a there's a way through. You know, a lot
Speaker 1: of people are so risk adverse nowadays. What they want
Speaker 1: they want to plan, they want they want the solution,
Speaker 1: the option, and then they want to plan a, B, C,
Speaker 1: D and E around it, and they go right, as
Speaker 1: long as you've got three or four plans around it,
Speaker 1: then we can execute what needs to be done.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: Is there an option? Is there one option forward?
Speaker 3: Here?
Speaker 1: If there is, go for it.
Speaker 2: Well we've had an amazing life. But more recently, you
Speaker 2: just got back from Everest base camp as well. Because
Speaker 2: the big fella here, Matthew, mate, he's he doesn't like
Speaker 2: toot his own hole and he's very humble, but he
Speaker 2: went to I do Yeah, he went to base camp
Speaker 2: as well with a few of his ex teammates.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well we did actually to what happened, and we
Speaker 3: did it, and then we went and celebrated after we
Speaker 3: hit it. And then a guy come to the come
Speaker 3: to the tea house and said, listen, there's one further
Speaker 3: up color Batan, why don't you do then? This one's
Speaker 3: not too hard, And me and my old captain we
Speaker 3: went and did it. I got to say it. I've
Speaker 3: got so much respect for you your military guys, because
Speaker 3: I remember doing it. Get un in the morning, just filling,
Speaker 3: that's sick in the stomach, and I'm walking up and
Speaker 3: I'm saying to my old captain Chief, I said, I'm exhausted,
Speaker 3: I'm sick in the stomach, I'm deteriorating quickly. Can imagine
Speaker 3: being in war. We're in carbull and there might be
Speaker 3: someone hiding in a cave and everything. It's just like
Speaker 3: it shows the mental tough and of you guys.
Speaker 1: Do you know what Matti just to do? Every space
Speaker 1: camp is no easy feat. People think that it's at
Speaker 1: the base of a mountain. It's three hundred meters on
Speaker 1: the way to Mount Everest, which sits just below nine
Speaker 1: thousand meters, so you're more than halfway up Mount Everest.
Speaker 1: It's higher than most of the seven summits. So just
Speaker 1: to get there with the lack of oxygen that you know,
Speaker 1: and the lack of knowledge. And I always say to
Speaker 1: my to my clients, because I took ten clients recently
Speaker 1: up to every space camp, Listen to your body. Be aware.
Speaker 1: The altitude will pinch you in the ass at a
Speaker 1: certain time that you won't expect it. Your emotions will
Speaker 1: be everywhere. You feel like you can't breathe, you start
Speaker 1: to panic and fear will kick in, and that's when
Speaker 1: you know that you need to really really listen to
Speaker 1: your body. It's no easy feet makes the hats off
Speaker 1: to you and the isummated Mount Everest actually to the
Speaker 1: top in twenty eighteen, so you under the top. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I went to the top in twenty and eighteen, and
Speaker 1: then I just took ten clients on a sort of
Speaker 1: VIP expedition to every space company.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you've been to the top, how like when
Speaker 2: you do base camp? I imagine, do you not feel
Speaker 2: like the a climate, like the lack of oxygen since
Speaker 2: you've been to the top, is your like white blood
Speaker 2: cells that you must have not really felt anything going
Speaker 2: to base camp then or No.
Speaker 1: You always have to acclimatize. Once you're a way from
Speaker 1: from the mountains, let's call it, once you've sort of
Speaker 1: come down from the mountains, there's probably a two to
Speaker 1: three week period that you were acclimatized. So say I
Speaker 1: came down from Mount Iris and I wanted to go
Speaker 1: and jump on let's see the fourth biggest mountain in
Speaker 1: the world or the fifth you know lots say for example,
Speaker 1: which is I think it's it's at eight at eight three,
Speaker 1: I will be acclimatized to go and do that. However,
Speaker 1: if I'm away from the mountains for two three weeks
Speaker 1: and I have to reacclimatize so I have to go
Speaker 1: back into the process of making sure that I take
Speaker 1: my time, making sure that you know that I'm well
Speaker 1: fed and well nourished, because the high you get, the
Speaker 1: lack of oxygen sort of suppresses your hunger. It suppresses
Speaker 1: you know, it suppresses all of your main organs. Therefore
Speaker 1: your body is slowly shutting down.
Speaker 2: Well, this is now. Look, I haven't done Everest, but
Speaker 2: I've been an air locker, so I don't. Oh, well,
Speaker 2: I haven't. Okay, this is such a such a wrong
Speaker 2: ruin to bring this up, but I did air the
Speaker 2: other day.
Speaker 3: I'll get a journator call. This is an amazing story
Speaker 3: leading on.
Speaker 2: Mate, They'll make documentaries about this shit. I went to
Speaker 2: and look, I've been retired from rugby league for a
Speaker 2: year and a half, two years, so I talked about
Speaker 2: a climatization for training. I'm not well acclimatized to get
Speaker 2: back in the gym, but I went and did air locker.
Speaker 2: Holy hecker. When they like stripped the oxygen out of it,
Speaker 2: it is that tough, like the lack of if you
Speaker 2: do a big effort on an assault bike or something
Speaker 2: and then you're trying to get your breath and recover.
Speaker 2: You just don't get it. You actually just cannot get
Speaker 2: your breath back. Like it was tough.
Speaker 3: I spewed.
Speaker 2: I spewed, not proud of it, but I spewed everywhere
Speaker 2: in that airlocker gym, and people were like scoffing at.
Speaker 1: Me, good mate, as you were working.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, it wasn't like that because it was
Speaker 2: like five minutes in well.
Speaker 3: Okay, speaking about mental toughness. So and you learned a
Speaker 3: lot about life, mental toughness about people through the military.
Speaker 3: It's tough as it gets seventeen years of age. Now
Speaker 3: you served Northern I on Macedonia, Afghanistan. He did security
Speaker 3: work in Africa. I can imagine they're all so different.
Speaker 3: What was what was it? What was the I'm trying
Speaker 3: to scary is that I don't want to use the
Speaker 3: most unpredictable. What what did you find the most challenging?
Speaker 1: Do you know what? Throughout my career, I suppose I
Speaker 1: was introduced quite correctly into the process. So when I
Speaker 1: when I passed, when I was seventeen, i passed. I
Speaker 1: was in the Royal Engineers but then I passed pea
Speaker 1: company which I became a para engineer. So I had
Speaker 1: my maroon beret, had my parachute wings and I deployed
Speaker 1: to Northern Ireland. But it was a piss up. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna lie here. I was. You know, we were
Speaker 1: winding down from the from the day, from the you know,
Speaker 1: from the sort of early eighties, late seventies and really
Speaker 1: just handing over so that but that was my first
Speaker 1: sort of peacekeeping tour, you know, where I sort of
Speaker 1: eased into the process. And the Macedonia was a little
Speaker 1: bit harier. You know, we were to prevent a civil
Speaker 1: war from happening, therefore collecting arms from from locals and
Speaker 1: from rebels, so you know there's a bit of hostility there,
Speaker 1: there's a bit of action there. And then the Afghanistan
Speaker 1: was just a completely different ballgame. You know. I went
Speaker 1: from joining I went from going into from them being
Speaker 1: a power engineer to then joining the Royal Marines, which
Speaker 1: is the elite of the conventional forces and again not
Speaker 1: special forces of the conventional forces. And I've done a
Speaker 1: tour of Afghanistan as Section commander there and yeah, it
Speaker 1: was kinetic. You know, you're seeing IDs go off, You're
Speaker 1: seeing your muckers getting blown up, and that was like, wow,
Speaker 1: you know you want to play soldier? This is this
Speaker 1: is it?
Speaker 2: What's your role in that as well? Like are you
Speaker 2: are you like on the ground, are you sniper?
Speaker 4: Are you?
Speaker 1: So at this stage, I was a section commander, so
Speaker 1: I was in control of seven other men. There's eight
Speaker 1: in a team. So I'm I'm patrolling around. I'm giving
Speaker 1: and given an area of operations that I have to
Speaker 1: patrol and that I have to have to take ground
Speaker 1: and then keep the ground. And it's my job with
Speaker 1: my team to maneuver us through this through this maze
Speaker 1: of compounds basically and obviously through the maze of compounds
Speaker 1: where the enemy know we're going that During that time,
Speaker 1: it was id central. You know, it was just like
Speaker 1: you just you know, sometimes you just hope and pray
Speaker 1: that you know that you weren't the one that's going
Speaker 1: to get blown up into the air. I mean.
Speaker 3: Winston Churchill he once said, you go way back to
Speaker 3: that time, and there's been a lot of lessons learned
Speaker 3: since then. He said, one of the two biggest rules
Speaker 3: of war is don't invade Afghanistan and don't invade Afghanistan.
Speaker 3: And that was before the Soviets before we went in there.
Speaker 3: What makes it so difficult A lot of the nature
Speaker 3: of the people.
Speaker 1: Now, do you know what's it's the terrain. The terrain
Speaker 1: is vast. You know. These guys are you know, so
Speaker 1: sophisticated when it comes to tunneling, when it comes to
Speaker 1: cave caving, and you know, building a fortress within the
Speaker 1: mountains which you can't see. So ultimately it's all well
Speaker 1: and good, you know, facing an enemy, but then trying
Speaker 1: to chase or hunt down an enemy that you're in
Speaker 1: their backyard. You know, you're going up to these caves,
Speaker 1: and they're well versed in the mountains.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: We used to know that if we had an operation
Speaker 1: in the mountains, that we were we were up against
Speaker 1: it in the in the villages, in the in the towns,
Speaker 1: not so well trained, but in the mountains where they
Speaker 1: cached all their weapons, they cached all their I D. Stuff,
Speaker 1: they case, they cached absolutely everything. They were hardened fighters.
Speaker 1: You could tell, you know, you could tell the difference
Speaker 1: of train Soon as I knew that we were hitting
Speaker 1: the mountains and then we had to obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: scale up the mountain to attack. And then they disappear,
Speaker 1: and then you'd look down certain you know, certain caving
Speaker 1: holes and certain tunnels, and you could just tell it
Speaker 1: was I a d central. You know, you wouldn't booby
Speaker 1: trapped up to you. You wouldn't even dare go down there.
Speaker 1: So they were so good at that maneuvering and evading.
Speaker 3: Sorry, how did you feel, given the time you send
Speaker 3: over there, spent over there, given the fact that your
Speaker 3: lost comrades and friends, how did you feel of that
Speaker 3: scene when we were rushing to get out and people
Speaker 3: were rushing to get on the on the planes. How
Speaker 3: did that make you feel?
Speaker 1: Do you know what? On one hand, I felt proud
Speaker 1: because twenty years ago, you know, no one was rushing
Speaker 1: to get out of Afghanistan. So when you looked at
Speaker 1: it from a you know, bird's eye view, you think
Speaker 1: to yourself, oh my god, this is absolutely horrendous. You know,
Speaker 1: they're holding onto planes, they can't wait to get out.
Speaker 1: They weren't doing that twenty years ago. It's only because
Speaker 1: we came in and we started educating their women. We
Speaker 1: started putting schools in for their children, and we started
Speaker 1: building infrastructure. You know, we started giving them clean water,
Speaker 1: We started painting a normal life for them, So when
Speaker 1: that was stripped away from them, they weren't running from that.
Speaker 1: They were running because they were used to twenty years
Speaker 1: of used to a semi normal life. They were used
Speaker 1: to structure, they were used to a bit of discipline,
Speaker 1: they were used to having infrastructure around them, good schools,
Speaker 1: good education, and all of a sudden that's whipped away.
Speaker 1: Of course they're going to be running, running for the
Speaker 1: hills because because they know that all of that's going
Speaker 1: to get stripped away from them as well. So on
Speaker 1: one hand, I thought to myself, what are they doing?
Speaker 1: And I almost wanted to, you know, put my hands
Speaker 1: over my eyes and go a cringe, you know, by
Speaker 1: what are you doing? And then on the other hand,
Speaker 1: I was just like, look what you created. You know,
Speaker 1: they now know what normality is, and they now know
Speaker 1: what civilization is. You know, they're blessed with that. So ultimately,
Speaker 1: what they're doing is they're fighting for that, which for me,
Speaker 1: you know, I took a sense of pride out of
Speaker 1: that because I thought I was part of helping them,
Speaker 1: you know, realize what life is all about.
Speaker 2: One of my favorite movies, American Sniper, Right, I always
Speaker 2: think about this as how accurate it is as a
Speaker 2: depiction when he's up on this and he's trying to
Speaker 2: get an idea of whether the kids are civilian or
Speaker 2: he's carrying a bomb, and he has to make a
Speaker 2: decision to shoot to save his soldiers or whether they'll
Speaker 2: leave him. Because imagine there's a lot of accountability as
Speaker 2: a leader of a group you in that role, did
Speaker 2: you ever have those especially when you're in Afghanistan, Like, well,
Speaker 2: you don't know if they're a threat or you, or
Speaker 2: they're a civilian, and how do you make that choice?
Speaker 1: Absolutely, especially when I went from being so I've done
Speaker 1: three tours of Afghanistan. One is a section commander in
Speaker 1: the War Marines and then two. Then after I got
Speaker 1: back from my first tour of Afghanistan, I went on
Speaker 1: Special Forces selection pass and within two weeks of passing selection,
Speaker 1: I went straight back out to Afghanistan as a Special
Speaker 1: Forces operator, not a conventional force. Special Forces hunting down
Speaker 1: high value targets, nighttime operatations. Only mvgs go in get
Speaker 1: the job done, you know, harder rest missions where we
Speaker 1: would have to capture certain individuals to get information out
Speaker 1: of them to prevent a bigger devastation from happening. So
Speaker 1: my world sort of turned into this sort of let's
Speaker 1: James Bondie and beyond, you know, and then talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, the enemy using women, using children, you know
Speaker 1: these I'll give you an idea of just how how
Speaker 1: far they will go. You know, we we were after
Speaker 1: an ID facilitator high value target HVT. And the reason
Speaker 1: we knew he was in country because what they do
Speaker 1: they go over to the border and then they come
Speaker 1: back in organize their troops and they nit back over
Speaker 1: the border where they think they can't be touched. And
Speaker 1: I had a really big ID went off and it
Speaker 1: killed something like eight raw marines. And this ID was
Speaker 1: a kid with a willlborrow as a wheelborrow bomb. But
Speaker 1: a kid in a field, farmer in a field, kid
Speaker 1: in the field, not knowing what he's pushing, pushing it
Speaker 1: past the patrol. The patrol doesn't think anything of it.
Speaker 1: You know, it's got haste, hay over it, Boom, the
Speaker 1: whole thing goes up. Children collateral, Right, this child was
Speaker 1: just collateral. Eight dead. And that's just one example of
Speaker 1: making that decision right. They got that wrong that day.
Speaker 1: You know, they should just probably have. And it's easy
Speaker 1: to say they probably should have stoped the child anywhere
Speaker 1: near you will burrow, you know, but again, you know,
Speaker 1: these are young Marines. You know, they're they're eighteen, nineteen,
Speaker 1: twenty years old. You know, they're you know, they're kids themselves,
Speaker 1: so they're just like, yeah, come through, kid. It's the
Speaker 1: same with us. We used to hit targets and we
Speaker 1: used to go into rooms deal with the hvt's sort
Speaker 1: of security. If you wish becauld they, you know, there'd
Speaker 1: be that that'd be our first line that we needed
Speaker 1: to penetrate in order to get to the high value target.
Speaker 1: And the closer you got to the to the HVT,
Speaker 1: you'd come up against you know, they're just run past,
Speaker 1: grab a kid, to give a kid or women. They
Speaker 1: were very good at giving women weapons because what we
Speaker 1: do naturally, because we're elite, good soldiers and good men,
Speaker 1: we would go in and if it wasn't if it
Speaker 1: was a woman or children, we would naturally and I
Speaker 1: hate doing it. You'd naturally pause, you'd naturally go, what
Speaker 1: will this is? You know, because of the humanity, I suppose,
Speaker 1: because of what we've been brought up in society, you know,
Speaker 1: to look after our children, to look after our women.
Speaker 1: So there was always that and it was one of
Speaker 1: those you know, do I pause and potentially put my
Speaker 1: life at risk and my powers life at risk, or
Speaker 1: do I do I neutralize what's in front of me
Speaker 1: that is that is that could potentially take a life.
Speaker 1: So I was met against We were met up against
Speaker 1: that all the time, and they were very good at
Speaker 1: doing that.
Speaker 3: Like can imagine, like I think sometimes now and I've
Speaker 3: got a careful word this, but I just don't know
Speaker 3: these days how much incentive there is for young people
Speaker 3: to go into military, given the fact that in the
Speaker 3: society we live, when they come back, they're put in
Speaker 3: those situations like that, and if they make a mistake,
Speaker 3: they come back and we've seen situations where they're put
Speaker 3: on war crimes. We have no thought to what the
Speaker 3: scenario they've been put into.
Speaker 1: Do you know what I've always gone into Because when
Speaker 1: I joined the Special Forces, because I'd done so well
Speaker 1: on selection in the jungles point man, because I just
Speaker 1: loved that vol. I love to be sort of a
Speaker 1: leader in my own right, you know, And even though
Speaker 1: I wasn't the team leader, I was leading the team.
Speaker 1: So that. I always loved doing that, and I've always
Speaker 1: wanted to, you know, because I know my capability with
Speaker 1: on the battlefield. I'd always say, rather me than someone else,
Speaker 1: because you know, I've just you know, maybe wired a
Speaker 1: little bit differently. You know. I love being point man.
Speaker 1: I was really really keen and purposeful and driven to
Speaker 1: to to do what's right as well and being point
Speaker 1: man in the Special Forces, and that the missions that
Speaker 1: we do, we're in firefights every single night. You know,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt about it, you know, whether it's close
Speaker 1: border operations, whether it's you know, in the province itself.
Speaker 1: But I always I came up with a with an
Speaker 1: ideology that really really worked for me. Now, I believe
Speaker 1: that no one has the god given right to take life.
Speaker 1: I truly believe that. You know, however, if you think
Speaker 1: that you've got the right to take someone else's life,
Speaker 1: I will simply deny you that right by taking your life,
Speaker 1: therefore saving a life. So it was always I always
Speaker 1: So when people say to me and was it like
Speaker 1: taking a life, I'm like, well, I can tell you
Speaker 1: what it's like saving a life. And you know, as
Speaker 1: long as that saving a life was there, then I'd
Speaker 1: have no problem pressing the trigger. And I've been in
Speaker 1: situations before, and you know, we'll go over the situation
Speaker 1: time and time and time again where I've been there
Speaker 1: behind you know, we've breached a compound. I've seen you,
Speaker 1: I've got my MVGS on. I've seen someone in a
Speaker 1: doorway with a weapon and I've had my laser on
Speaker 1: their on their head, you know, and it's and I'm
Speaker 1: just like and every instinct in me, this is how
Speaker 1: I knew, how I know I was a good soldier
Speaker 1: even though I could pull the trigger. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: had every right to because we we were you know,
Speaker 1: I was of engagement. Are a little bit different. And
Speaker 1: the compound that in question is is you know, is
Speaker 1: full of full of high value targets. I just I've
Speaker 1: never done it. I was never a bullievable weapon. So
Speaker 1: you know, it's like and I think to myself, well,
Speaker 1: that that was the high value target that we then
Speaker 1: went in and captured and that we put through the system,
Speaker 1: and now it's back out two months later being processes.
Speaker 1: Now we're going after the same guy. You know, I
Speaker 1: think to myself, should I pressed the trigger? And but
Speaker 1: then it's like, no, because in that moment, in that
Speaker 1: time that I wasn't denying him the right of not
Speaker 1: taking a life. So therefore, what life was I saving? None?
Speaker 2: You seem like the kind of blake that's got a
Speaker 2: good read on people. And we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: says in a minute, but before we move on to that, like,
Speaker 2: did you see people that you served with? You can
Speaker 2: tell you have a conscience by how you thinking about
Speaker 2: your actions over there, how you justify taking a life?
Speaker 2: Were there people there who had tendencies Like if they
Speaker 2: weren't in the military and they weren't channeling that energy
Speaker 2: into that, like they'd be killers in general society.
Speaker 1: Like, but let me tell you something. You know, when
Speaker 1: when you train and train and train and train, it's
Speaker 1: like you guys will know, like you train because you
Speaker 1: want to play in that cup final. You want to
Speaker 1: play in that playoff. You want to you want to
Speaker 1: win that trophy for us going into a kinetic kinetic
Speaker 1: you know, into the deep dark corners where where the
Speaker 1: fight is at its highest order. We want that, right,
Speaker 1: This is what we trained our whole lives to do,
Speaker 1: especially going through the through the ship of becoming a
Speaker 1: power and marine. I was a sniper. I was a
Speaker 1: primary fires operator, you know, I controlled bombs in the air,
Speaker 1: I controlled drones, I controlled aircraft's. I was a point man.
Speaker 1: You know. It's it's very hard when you and again
Speaker 1: just putting it bluntly, when you when you taste blood,
Speaker 1: to not be like a dog on a bloodlust. You know,
Speaker 1: it's when you when you punch that hole and you're
Speaker 1: like and you're in the moment, and it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's like at first you're like, you know, you're you
Speaker 1: are literally you need you need you or your your
Speaker 1: mucker to recognize that. And this is in the heat
Speaker 1: of the night to recognize that, to fucking pull you
Speaker 1: back into check, which we were doing also, you know,
Speaker 1: very first few missions, pulling each other back, going fucking
Speaker 1: look like calm you know, once that room was clear, right,
Speaker 1: fucking calm yourself down, room clear, Let's regather, let's regather
Speaker 1: our thoughts. Where we go in next right into the
Speaker 1: next door and tell straight away people could tell with me.
Speaker 1: And it's but that's where teamwork comes into play. It's
Speaker 1: not just a case of me having your back and
Speaker 1: you're having your back. Is me grabbing you because I
Speaker 1: know that this fucking firefighters has got the better of you.
Speaker 1: And and it's really the psychological side behind being a
Speaker 1: Special Forces operator goes way beyond the mission. You know,
Speaker 1: people say, you know what, be dedicated and committed to
Speaker 1: the cause. I'm like, we're Special Forces operators. You better
Speaker 1: believe we're dedicating and committed. That's not an added extra.
Speaker 1: We don't come into work and go, let's be dedicating.
Speaker 1: That's already ingrained. That's in my DNA, that's in my blood.
Speaker 1: It's about being dedicated and committed to each other, right
Speaker 1: because the mission, the mission is there. It's about you know,
Speaker 1: getting everyone through that mission, being dedicated and committed, just knowing,
Speaker 1: you know, knowing that something's not right and pulling you
Speaker 1: into check. That's what it's about.
Speaker 3: And I was watching last time. I was watching Blood
Speaker 3: Diamond first time. Soon love that film.
Speaker 5: I love that film and Liberia and I'm watching the
Speaker 5: film and you're dealing with child soldiers and like so
Speaker 5: many levels of tragedy.
Speaker 3: You you were a VIP security in Africa.
Speaker 1: So that was after so I was. I actually done
Speaker 1: a tour of duty in sarah Leone when I was
Speaker 1: in the rural Marines. So the private security stuff came
Speaker 1: after due to the contact that I made in sarah Leone.
Speaker 1: So I was out there in two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: two thousand and six doing a short term training team,
Speaker 1: so teaching them elite jungle warfare tactics basically. You know,
Speaker 1: it's sarahly onions a great people. They've got a wonderful
Speaker 1: country full of minerals, you know, very rich, but just
Speaker 1: very corrupt unfortunately. But their military are great. And when
Speaker 1: I left the military, I got a phone call from
Speaker 1: the Attorney General saying, you know, we are now part
Speaker 1: of NATO. Can you can you come and train our
Speaker 1: first ever snipers to deploy to Somalia. So I took
Speaker 1: that contract on straight away. So I trained their first
Speaker 1: ever snipers in Seraly and I trained three batches of
Speaker 1: them to send over to Somalia. So that's where that's
Speaker 1: sort of when I left the military, I went straight
Speaker 1: into sort of like a government military job anyway, So
Speaker 1: that was my role in serah Lyone. But what a
Speaker 1: great country, great people, and it is my favorite country
Speaker 1: in the world.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what was it like working with NATO compared to
Speaker 3: what you were used to? You know, given there's a
Speaker 3: lot of red tape as far as NATO's concerned.
Speaker 1: Do you know what being a private contractor is great,
Speaker 1: but you haven't got the top cover. You know, you
Speaker 1: haven't got the top cover of the military, especially the
Speaker 1: special forces. You know, the missions that we've done were
Speaker 1: so highly kinetic and dangerous but safe at the same
Speaker 1: time because you know, above me, I had two apaches.
Speaker 1: The gunship, I had a fixed wing, that's it. I
Speaker 1: had two drones I had you know, I could cool
Speaker 1: him fast air. Whenever I wanted, I could call in
Speaker 1: the apaches to take out and neutralize a direct target,
Speaker 1: you know, so they were constantly at our disposal. When
Speaker 1: I left the military, that top cover just went You're
Speaker 1: al yeah, you're almost out there by yourself. So even
Speaker 1: though I'm training these these these soldiers that the I
Speaker 1: am the top cover. You know, it's it's a whole
Speaker 1: different world and you don't feel unsettled by it, but
Speaker 1: you know, you're out there by yourself.
Speaker 3: Says Australia. Yeah, it's a fantastic show. First question someone
Speaker 3: that we're very close to, Sam Burgers. Sam Burgers, how
Speaker 3: could Sam burge How long would it take? Sam Burgess,
Speaker 3: do you think or to become a Special Forces.
Speaker 1: He'd have to shrink his head first, because he is
Speaker 1: a sniper's dream. And talk about American sniper. I could
Speaker 1: hit that head from two k from the hip. You
Speaker 1: know what when he when he got stuck in the tube,
Speaker 1: it was his shoulder that got stuck. It was his head.
Speaker 1: I remember just looking through in his bolder heat. Now,
Speaker 1: do you know what someone like Sammy is? Do you
Speaker 1: know what?
Speaker 3: It is?
Speaker 1: Disciplined. That's what differentiates us, the British Special Forces from
Speaker 1: from the rest. Is not that we've got no different weapons,
Speaker 1: no different tech. It's just the the attention to detail
Speaker 1: through being consistently disciplined at a level where that grain
Speaker 1: of rice is out of place, that that that is outplay.
Speaker 1: You know, that is so finicky and you're you're you're
Speaker 1: sort of acted from such a young ages as the
Speaker 1: military in general. And then what I didn't realize when
Speaker 1: I joined the Marines is that I was being pushed
Speaker 1: down the special Forces route due to my potential, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera. But the attention to detail that we have
Speaker 1: and the minor details and the psychological work that we do,
Speaker 1: which you know is the biggest, best kept secret of
Speaker 1: the United Kingdom Special Forces is way beyond what anyone
Speaker 1: else does.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 2: You see, like from sporting background, particularly Sam, you see
Speaker 2: sporting teams always draw on military for inspiration above for lessons,
Speaker 2: like we used to do army camps when I was
Speaker 2: at the Melbourne Storm. And the biggest lesson you take
Speaker 2: from is when and it's actually hard in today's society,
Speaker 2: pushing pushing players and pushing people past a breaking point,
Speaker 2: like you know, for safety reasons. But back in those days,
Speaker 2: particularly Sam would have experienced when you push someone so
Speaker 2: far beyond a breaking point, the less you take from yourself,
Speaker 2: like the lessons you learn about yourself. When Sam went
Speaker 2: on that show, you can see that's a bloke who's
Speaker 2: just done. He's had so much work, particularly psychologically, so
Speaker 2: mentally resilient. Like that bleeds through the TV, like the
Speaker 2: whole audience sort of could notice that.
Speaker 3: Mate.
Speaker 1: I got in his face as well. I was calling
Speaker 1: him a big headed more on and you fucking perfetic,
Speaker 1: you have failed this course. And I was spitting in this,
Speaker 1: you know, because I was just waiting for a crack.
Speaker 1: All I want, all I want from people, and I'm
Speaker 1: not waiting for a crack in a in a in
Speaker 1: a bullying type of way, or in a crack in
Speaker 1: your personality that needs developing, right, it's got nothing to do.
Speaker 1: I want to develop your weakness, so you know, I
Speaker 1: don't want to play to your strength. So I know
Speaker 1: where your strengths are. I'm happy with that. You know,
Speaker 1: I can almost go. Do you know what? That's seventy
Speaker 1: percent of you done. That's what I do. That's what
Speaker 1: I do with every single recruit. I go right where
Speaker 1: their strengths. You're happy with that, you don't need to
Speaker 1: work on that. Where's their weaknesses, where's their insecurities? You know,
Speaker 1: where where their cracks? And all I want to do
Speaker 1: is dig into them and find the tools that they
Speaker 1: need to develop that. And that's exactly what I was
Speaker 1: doing with Sam. And you know, the one time that
Speaker 1: Sam cracked is when he silly couldn't get through that tube.
Speaker 3: That was awful to watch. I feel claustrophobic watching it.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you this story about this and just
Speaker 1: quickly so we've got we start off. We we're there
Speaker 1: two three weeks before you know doing I'm doing everything.
Speaker 1: I'm jumping out the helicopters doing all the rehearsals, making
Speaker 1: sure because everything we put them through we go through.
Speaker 1: But then when the tubes came up, you know, going
Speaker 1: through there and and you know, this is about cluster,
Speaker 1: it's about you know, facing your fears and phobias, and
Speaker 1: that one was claustrophobia. Darkness had loads of loads of
Speaker 1: things in there. And when we first got there, there
Speaker 1: was two big two tubes, one big tube and one
Speaker 1: small tube. And I said to the to the producer,
Speaker 1: I said, why have you got two tubes here? They said,
Speaker 1: because some people are bigger than others, because I don't
Speaker 1: want to know who's on the course at this stage.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, no, that's that's you know, we've
Speaker 1: got got to be one tube. It's a small tube.
Speaker 1: And they're like, but you know, we've got some big people.
Speaker 1: And so so I know I'll get Foxy. I go, Foxy,
Speaker 1: come over here, and there's a bit of tube laying
Speaker 1: down and he sort of all he does is he
Speaker 1: he's I think he just puts his shoulders in there
Speaker 1: and then he comes out and I said, look, fox
Speaker 1: he's a big guy, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: I said that foxy can fit in there, anyone can
Speaker 1: feel So get rid of the big tube. We're going
Speaker 1: with the small tube. So and at this stage I'm
Speaker 1: putting people through. They're wizzing through, and then you know
Speaker 1: these and then all of a sudden, I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, God, Sam's a big guy, and I say,
Speaker 1: I say to him, right, and I put him last
Speaker 1: on purpose. So when he gets stuck in the tube,
Speaker 1: the moment he he says, stuff, I'm stuck.
Speaker 3: I can't get through.
Speaker 1: I lifted up the flat, which kept it dark in there,
Speaker 1: and I was like, what do you mean You're stuck?
Speaker 1: But I'm not. I'm not shipping around. I'm not joking
Speaker 1: about I am stuck. I went, I went shut the head.
Speaker 1: I just told him to calm down. So at this stage,
Speaker 1: my whole career is just flashing from Front Health and Safety,
Speaker 1: you know, and Middleton kills blah blah blah. I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: you know, in order to get this tube out, we're
Speaker 1: going to have to dig it out and crane it
Speaker 1: out and crane Sam's big fat head out of there.
Speaker 1: So Michaels, So I left up the flat nice and cool.
Speaker 1: When I say to him, I say number. I forgot
Speaker 1: the number. He wasn't number twelve. I think, so number
Speaker 1: number twelve. I said, I shouldn't be telling you this,
Speaker 1: but do you not think that we've put someone bigger
Speaker 1: than you through this fucking tube?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: And you see him, he's looking up, he's got these
Speaker 1: little puppy dog eyes at this day because he is
Speaker 1: literally dying. You need for your sake now, I needed
Speaker 1: to talk about psychological mind games, so I say to him,
Speaker 1: and you can see something just tweaked inside of him.
Speaker 1: And I've been stuck in it what's called smarty tube before,
Speaker 1: with all my kit on it down at Limbston through
Speaker 1: raw marine training, and all I'd done to get out,
Speaker 1: I literally couldn't move, but I just pushed my toes.
Speaker 1: All I've done with my toes was wo bend them
Speaker 1: back and just inch myself inch by inch. And then
Speaker 1: when I said that, you know, do you not think
Speaker 1: we put it? That gave him that sense of hope,
Speaker 1: that sense of belief right which change. I could see
Speaker 1: it in his eyes. I could literally And then when
Speaker 1: I told him the technique to push with his toes,
Speaker 1: he'd done that for about forty five minutes until I
Speaker 1: could reach in grab his hand and sort of put
Speaker 1: him out of the tube. And then obviously my career
Speaker 1: came flourishing back to me. O. Yes, but that was
Speaker 1: that was the moment that I thought to myself, Ah,
Speaker 1: you know, this is where you know claustaphobia, tight spaces,
Speaker 1: This is a fear and phobia.
Speaker 2: It's funny when the human mind, when the human mind
Speaker 2: knows see someone else to or knows someone else has
Speaker 2: done It's like the form minute mile that hadn't been cracked.
Speaker 3: Someone cracked someone training in air lock. Yeah, it can't
Speaker 3: be done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think they stripped all the oxygen
Speaker 2: out of the day when I was doing it. But
Speaker 2: when somebody, you know, somebody breaks the formulut, my people
Speaker 2: think it's not possible. And then I think, within twelve months,
Speaker 2: like another three or four people did it. Just the
Speaker 2: belief of someone doing it.
Speaker 1: But he's purely psychological, you know, Mattie, when you look
Speaker 1: at it, it's purely psychological. And that's what I say, you know,
Speaker 1: when that's why we demonstrate everything I go wrong. I'm
Speaker 1: going to tell you this once once only watching to
Speaker 1: the demonstration. We're going to explain it once it's over
Speaker 1: to you and that we do it, and they go, right,
Speaker 1: it can be done, and then it's a case of right,
Speaker 1: he's done it his way, how do I do it
Speaker 1: my way? So then then there's that, and then there's
Speaker 1: like if I do it my way, do I trust myself?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: Am I capable of doing this? All this self doubt
Speaker 1: comes in that you put on yourself. And this is
Speaker 1: the interesting psychological aspect of the show. And this is
Speaker 1: why I love love doing it because when you it's
Speaker 1: so much more when I first started out there, like
Speaker 1: the production cup, just do a boot camp, you know,
Speaker 1: just no, no, no, no goes so much, don't you know,
Speaker 1: don't belittle me, you know, don't don't don't you go
Speaker 1: so much deeper than this. And then when you Sackly
Speaker 1: see it, like you said, you thought you in that tube,
Speaker 1: you thought that's what the show's about.
Speaker 3: You're right now the other the other end of the
Speaker 3: uh spectrum on that show, that series, which I actually
Speaker 3: had done, be too hard because actually I think towards
Speaker 3: the end he really redeemed himself and you saw the
Speaker 3: dooms he was battling. Was Mark phillipursas. But the bit
Speaker 3: that I still laugh when they're all about all the
Speaker 3: contestants are about to go into into the water a
Speaker 3: swimming challenge. I forget exactly what it was, but everyone's
Speaker 3: got their their gear and they go, okay, is it
Speaker 3: one ready? And Phils go, can I just say something?
Speaker 3: What he goes, I've just got a sandwich in my bag,
Speaker 3: is aye gon plastic bag that I could rap it.
Speaker 1: I love it when things are because normally it's one
Speaker 1: of the other dsque They wouldn't dare say it if
Speaker 1: I was if I was running the stance. So normally
Speaker 1: it's one of the other ds running it, you know.
Speaker 1: And so and I'm in the background of my ears
Speaker 1: prick up and I'm just like step aside. And that's
Speaker 1: what I love about it as well, you know, And
Speaker 1: people say, you know, and are you like this in
Speaker 1: real life? You screaming?
Speaker 4: I'm like, no, this this is this is the the
Speaker 4: the disciplinarian military instructor, you know, I dealt this is
Speaker 4: why the all the instructors are so different. You know.
Speaker 1: Olie's got a softer approach. Foxes, you know, more of
Speaker 1: a sort of sit back, take it all in person,
Speaker 1: I'm in your face, you know, up your rs as such,
Speaker 1: because I dealt well with that in the military, when
Speaker 1: I had a military instructor that was on my ass
Speaker 1: telling me if I didn't get to the front of
Speaker 1: the group, they were going to kick my head in,
Speaker 1: that he was going to, you know, pummel me in
Speaker 1: after this, and you know, how dare you know? And
Speaker 1: he's in my my ears ringing. I reacted well to that.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's what made me actually go, I don't
Speaker 1: want this guy on my ass, you know, and I'd
Speaker 1: get to the front of the group. Where some people
Speaker 1: don't deal well with that. Some people you know more
Speaker 1: of a right. You know, you're better than this. You
Speaker 1: know you've old you've let yourself down, and you've let
Speaker 1: the team down, exactly, you let your family. So that's
Speaker 1: that's that's why I do it, because that's how I
Speaker 1: reacted well in the military. So all I'm doing is
Speaker 1: reciprocating what worked for me, and then then then that
Speaker 1: might be your time to step in and go right,
Speaker 1: that's not working for him. This is where Foxy steps in,
Speaker 1: This is where Olie steps in.
Speaker 3: Coop said before all the things that you've done and experienced.
Speaker 3: Yet you're a great judge of character when when you
Speaker 3: when you're seeing it straight away, when the contestants comes
Speaker 3: through one by one, can you go they're going to
Speaker 3: make it? They're not, do you know? Straight away? Get instinctively,
Speaker 3: you know, straight away.
Speaker 1: I know within the and that's why we thrash them.
Speaker 1: And they're probably giving it away a little bit here.
Speaker 1: But it's a technique that we use, which is called
Speaker 1: when we process them, you know, when we strip them
Speaker 1: down and we give them their numbers and we give
Speaker 1: them you know, there's a whole reason behind that. We're
Speaker 1: not just you know, basically stripping them from being a
Speaker 1: civilian and sort of into into a military individual. I'most
Speaker 1: assessing absolutely. That's why give my main brief and I
Speaker 1: step back from that, because I can just tell by
Speaker 1: their demeanor, by the way they're looking around, you know,
Speaker 1: by the by you know, by their gates, by the
Speaker 1: by the way they're holding themselves, if they're disciplined, I
Speaker 1: can tell if they're if they're here for the right reasons.
Speaker 1: I can tell if they're if they're committed to the
Speaker 1: to the cause, if they if they're just going to
Speaker 1: you know, surrender themselves to the process. I can tell
Speaker 1: that within the first five minutes, just by someone. You know.
Speaker 1: It's just like I can just tell and those people
Speaker 1: that are just there listening in, taking it all in,
Speaker 1: doing their own stuff at the beginning, because that's what
Speaker 1: you do. You want to do your own ship to
Speaker 1: make sure that you're squared away in that processing phase
Speaker 1: because nothing teamwork about it. It's like, right, he's telling
Speaker 1: me how to act, he's telling me how to dress,
Speaker 1: he's telling me how to I need to do things.
Speaker 1: Can I take that in from day dot and then
Speaker 1: from the very first command thereafter? I know who who who?
Speaker 1: The people that are there for the right reasons.
Speaker 3: Right society. And do you think do you think generation
Speaker 3: by generation we are getting.
Speaker 1: Softer, softer physically, yes, but we're getting way more savvy.
Speaker 1: You know, you look at Special Forces selection right now,
Speaker 1: the the you know, you just had to be a hard,
Speaker 1: hard guy, do you know, I mean resilient. You know,
Speaker 1: you put your house on your back, you know, travel
Speaker 1: over the mountains, you know, pick up a weapon, be
Speaker 1: safe with it, get into a firefights. Endurance, resilience and hardship.
Speaker 1: Once you got through that you know, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: you're a hardened soldier. Well, now it's a lot more technical,
Speaker 1: it's a lot more tactical, it's a lot more tech savvy,
Speaker 1: shall we say so, I would say that the caliber
Speaker 1: of individuals now moving with the modern world actually suit
Speaker 1: it quite nicely. But when it comes to the resilience
Speaker 1: and and the hardship and the hard you know, it's
Speaker 1: that is lacking.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: So there's got I like, I like the balance between
Speaker 1: the two. But then you look at the world, you think,
Speaker 1: you know where we headed, you know, are we going
Speaker 1: to ever ever need to suffer such hardships ever? Again?
Speaker 1: You know, you talk about modern day warfare, it's drones, buttons,
Speaker 1: it's technical, it's it's it's tech savvy, it's you know,
Speaker 1: boots on the ground. Yeah, boots on the ground, which
Speaker 1: is always always needed for that, you know, for that
Speaker 1: sort of clarified intel picture. But the way the world's going, yes, softer, definitely.
Speaker 1: But but I think we're I think the younger generation
Speaker 1: are moving in the right direction.
Speaker 3: And I feel sorry sometimes for young men, you know,
Speaker 3: because a lot of words get thrown around these days.
Speaker 3: One that is so overused by people the hero and
Speaker 3: work is toxic masculinitly right now, I get it. I know,
Speaker 3: I know a toxic masculinity is right, I know, but
Speaker 3: just but I've seen situations where a person has saved
Speaker 3: someone and they've gone out and said, oh, it was
Speaker 3: all about there. It's toxic masculinity, and I just think
Speaker 3: it does my fucking head in. Yeah, I just I
Speaker 3: cannot believe it. It's like, okay, you know all those
Speaker 3: people believe in toxic masculinity, but what about if someone
Speaker 3: breaks into your house he's got a gun and you
Speaker 3: require believe or not, like you know, I just say it,
Speaker 3: but a male to actually help you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, absolutely, mate, listens, that's just a word I think. Well,
Speaker 1: I know it's just a fad. You know, lots of
Speaker 1: things have come into play, and you know, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden they're non sustainable. You know, it's like toxic
Speaker 1: what you know, being too masculine, being too you know,
Speaker 1: that's non non sustainable. That's a fad that that's come
Speaker 1: in and it will die out like like all the
Speaker 1: other fads have over the last few years. I don't
Speaker 1: take any notice of it. And at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, when you know, yourself. You know, I know
Speaker 1: that I'm a good man. Yes, I've got I've got
Speaker 1: faults of you know, I've got negative traits about me,
Speaker 1: but that that's a tiny percentage of who I am.
Speaker 1: You know, ninety percent of me is good, is compassionate,
Speaker 1: is loving, is empathetic, is you know, is accepting. You know, again,
Speaker 1: going back to being that bully with a weapon, I
Speaker 1: know that in those moments of pure humanity, life and death,
Speaker 1: that that that I'm a good man. You know, my
Speaker 1: instincts are good. So as long as long as I
Speaker 1: know that, then of course you're going to be charged.
Speaker 1: Of course, people are going to jump on the bandwagon,
Speaker 1: and it's very hard not to react to it. But
Speaker 1: ultimately you're reacting to someone else's ideology, someone else else's
Speaker 1: sort of thoughts and process and and I've learned and
Speaker 1: I've learned not to do that. And that's why people say,
Speaker 1: but myself, you know, I just stay true to who
Speaker 1: I am. When people know me for who I am,
Speaker 1: they know exactly what they're going to get, the exactly
Speaker 1: what they're going to be they're getting themselves in for.
Speaker 1: They know exactly that they're going to get a raw
Speaker 1: authentic version of myself. You know, I'm not really going
Speaker 1: to be around the version, but I'm happy to accommodate.
Speaker 1: But then, obviously, with the media and all of these
Speaker 1: fads coming in and out, you can they try and
Speaker 1: fit you into a certain category. And for someone like myself,
Speaker 1: it would be into that category. And I've taken a
Speaker 1: lot of flat through it. But I'm still here, mate.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's like, it's like, so the storm. As
Speaker 1: long as you the storm will come over you, but
Speaker 1: as long as you stay true to yourself and your
Speaker 1: direction in life, that storm will pass.
Speaker 2: It's you talking about how you're a discipline aian because
Speaker 2: that's what worked for you. That's your coaching style. Now,
Speaker 2: I had to coach Craig Bellamy at the Storm. He
Speaker 2: was very much the same that. Obviously, word for him
Speaker 2: had brought the best out of him. So he was
Speaker 2: like that. His favorite saying was making you, making you
Speaker 2: comfortable with the uncomfortable. Put you in situations on the
Speaker 2: sporting field that would be as uncomfortable as it gets,
Speaker 2: and you train that so when you're out there in
Speaker 2: those situations you feel comfortable in it. I was watching
Speaker 2: The Accountant the other day great movie The Accountant, But
Speaker 2: I got thinking to.
Speaker 1: Come out of the air locker? Did you come out
Speaker 1: of the airlocker straight into the account straight into the
Speaker 1: account He actually thought it was a documentary.
Speaker 2: It was, but I was watching it and leading into
Speaker 2: this interview, I got things I wanted to ask you,
Speaker 2: because you are a discipline there, and you're a hard coach.
Speaker 2: You push people hard. In that movie, Ben Affleck, who
Speaker 2: has he plays a character as Aspergess and he's his
Speaker 2: dad had a military background and his theory was, rather
Speaker 2: than bring him up in an environment where he's nurtured,
Speaker 2: he would push his son and put him in the
Speaker 2: most uncomfortable situations to train his mind to be comfortable
Speaker 2: when he was an adult in those situations. And I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously it worked out. He was killing people by the end,
Speaker 2: which we don't condone, not in general society, of course,
Speaker 2: but it just it just made me, you know, I think,
Speaker 2: particularly in the modern society where there is a lot
Speaker 2: of not wanting to put people in uncomfortable city situations
Speaker 2: to nurture them, do you think that's a bit of
Speaker 2: a hindrance Like in some cases some cases it isn't,
Speaker 2: But do you think putting people in those situations.
Speaker 3: Well, I did that for you, Cooper. Do remember I
Speaker 3: never used to let the butler cook.
Speaker 1: For you, and it's to pick it up off the floor.
Speaker 2: And yeah, and now look at me now.
Speaker 1: But do you know what, Cooper, Know, You're exactly right.
Speaker 1: Society doesn't cater for for the uncomfortable. You know, everything
Speaker 1: is done for you. You're you're you're taught where to go,
Speaker 1: you're controlled where to go, you're you know, you're you're
Speaker 1: told how to act, You're you're told how to think,
Speaker 1: especially more and more in modern day society. But I
Speaker 1: always say to my children there's no growth in comfort.
Speaker 1: And what I mean by that is I will give
Speaker 1: my children enough rope to trip up on, but not
Speaker 1: obviously enough rope to hang themselves hypothetically, because that's irresponsible parenting.
Speaker 1: But I know, I know my son's headed heading into it,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like, oh, son, you know, and I
Speaker 1: could go whoa there, but I'm just like, you know,
Speaker 1: and moments where you just go no, no, no, you know,
Speaker 1: to to my wife, just let them figure it out.
Speaker 1: The bomb is, you know, he's he's hit face first,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like dragging him up and going, son,
Speaker 1: are you're good? Right? Listen? You know? And then but
Speaker 1: nine times out of ten, when you debrief your son
Speaker 1: once or your your children or work colleague or whatever
Speaker 1: it may be, when they've when they've taken a hard full,
Speaker 1: they've already debriefed themselves. You know, they've already figured it
Speaker 1: ninety percent of it. They figured it out themselves. And
Speaker 1: all you do is you you use that small five
Speaker 1: percent where you just point in the right direction and
Speaker 1: guide and protect from the rear right, and it's just like,
Speaker 1: oh no, he's going to hang himself in the right son,
Speaker 1: whoa hold on? My daughter? Whoa dunn? You know, look
Speaker 1: at this in a different way, tackle this a different way.
Speaker 1: I can see what's coming through my life experience. And
Speaker 1: they're the hard conversations that we have through life, right,
Speaker 1: good a little step.
Speaker 3: In their own portholes sometimes finally, Mayor of London.
Speaker 1: Oh, the Mayor of London, what do you what do
Speaker 1: you think? Do you know?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 1: Mate? With the Mayor of London's When I look at
Speaker 1: my purpose in life and what I've done and where
Speaker 1: I've been, you know, I'm a server of people. It's
Speaker 1: as simple as that. You know. It's when I was
Speaker 1: in the military, I'd serve my muckers, I'd serve my country.
Speaker 1: I'd serve you know, at the time, the Queen and
Speaker 1: the country men and women of my country. And when
Speaker 1: I look at everything I've done in the media, I'm
Speaker 1: just serving people. And what I mean by serving people,
Speaker 1: I'm there to help you become the best version of
Speaker 1: who you can be. I'm there to help you identify,
Speaker 1: you know where your fears and phobias are, and how
Speaker 1: to overcome them, and how to be emotionally intelligent enough
Speaker 1: and psychologically resilient enough to get through life. And so
Speaker 1: when the Mayor of London, when the Mayor of London
Speaker 1: sort of came up and my name got bantered around,
Speaker 1: I thought to myself, do you know what you know?
Speaker 1: I've served in the military. I'm now, you know, in
Speaker 1: this media space where ultimately I'm still serving the people,
Speaker 1: which I truly believe that I am when you when
Speaker 1: you go deep into it and a career, not so
Speaker 1: much in politics, because even though the Mayor of London
Speaker 1: is a small political role, it's not which I really like.
Speaker 1: And hence why I've been really keen to sort of
Speaker 1: push on with it. I just think, you know, with
Speaker 1: the state of London at the moment and the crime
Speaker 1: and the personal safety that's there and you only have
Speaker 1: to you know, walk the streets and see it that
Speaker 1: I feel the need to serve again. And that's what
Speaker 1: it is. Is not I live a good life, trust me,
Speaker 1: Cooper May I live a good life. I'm happy and
Speaker 1: my kids are happy. You know, they're thriving in life,
Speaker 1: bouncing around the world doing my thing.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: The last thing I believe it or not I want
Speaker 1: to go back to England is you know it is
Speaker 1: the rain is that is the misery of the UK.
Speaker 2: And if you saw in Afghanistan, I was sad. You
Speaker 2: get the politics.
Speaker 1: That's exactly. So listen. It's not confirmed, but it's not denied.
Speaker 1: It's it's something that I'm really considering with the family.
Speaker 1: But when I left the military, I promised my wife,
Speaker 1: which I didn't do. I promised my wife that I
Speaker 1: put the family first. But when I was in the
Speaker 1: military I didn't and that was for obvious reasons. But
Speaker 1: now it feels like I'm going back on that promise.
Speaker 1: If I jump into into this, well, if.
Speaker 3: You do get in just the reason I ask if
Speaker 3: you do get in, I've got a few text problems.
Speaker 1: Haven't we all made? Haven't we all?
Speaker 3: You're a champion mate. We don't take any more of
Speaker 3: your time. We really thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Brother, thank you my man. Guys, thank you m