1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: Everyone, It's me Steve alas Fruri, host the software at Radio. 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: I want you to know about this new app to 3 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:10,040 Speaker 1: how We Reached coaching tool downloaded and learn how to 4 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: reach out to friends going through a really hard time. 5 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: Thanks to the app, you can now get helpful information 6 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: on how to talk to friends who are really struggling 7 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 1: and can help them find and the help that they deserve. 8 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: We all need help and support sometimes. Go to Reach 9 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: dot gov that's r E A c H dot gov 10 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: to learn the steps everyone can take to prevent suicide. 11 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: Check out the how We Reach coaching tool today. Thank 12 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: you very much, because it doesn't work, you're just not 13 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: using enough. You missing to Soffer that Radio Special Operations, 14 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: Military and straight talk with the guys in the community. Hello, 15 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: Gonna everyone, Welcome back to Soffer Radio. Soffer Bradio on 16 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 1: time on Target. I'm youna host this afternoon, Steve Alstoria. 17 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: We have a very special guest with us. I know 18 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: I say that all the time, but today it really 19 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: is kind of cool because we're gonna be talking with 20 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: and Brad Thomas. And he Brad was a former Ranger 21 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: and the third Ranger bad He served in Mogadi shoot 22 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,480 Speaker 1: during the battle there. He was also a member of 23 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: the Delta Force for about twelve years I believe it was, 24 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: and before retiring. And now he's a musician. He has 25 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: a band called Silence and Light. Um it's a band 26 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: full of veterans. And we're gonna talk to him about 27 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: all that stuff. But before we go any further, I 28 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: just wanted to welcome him too the podcast. Bred Thanks 29 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,239 Speaker 1: for taking the time this afternoon and talking with this. 30 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: I know it was a little hectic for you this afternoon. Yeah, yeah, no, 31 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: thanks for having me and uh, super happy to be 32 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:26,639 Speaker 1: on talking with you. And we we chatted for a 33 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: few minutes about you know, our backgrounds and kind of 34 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,799 Speaker 1: some common people that we know. And it's a small community, 35 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: so glad to be on talking with you. Man. Yeah, 36 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: it is a small community. We were almost neighbors, I 37 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: guess we were talking at one point outside of four Brags, 38 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: so you know that seems to be the area where 39 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: all the special Obs guys lived anyway, but yeah, we 40 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 1: were probably we were probably within a half a mile 41 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: of one another, but but being in different units like 42 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 1: never cross paths probably feel off in the I was 43 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: probably the guy driving like an asshole. That would be hilarious. 44 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: You know, I've had that thought about U, you know, 45 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: writing a film that has to do with a person 46 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: that crosses paths with all these people, but then how 47 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,079 Speaker 1: he interacts with them later in life, not knowing that 48 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: he'd already crossed paths with them. Yeah. I think that 49 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:31,519 Speaker 1: would be a blockbuster because it's like, you know, because 50 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: you talk to people and like, like we were talking 51 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: about earlier, I mean, you know, we lived within a 52 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: very close proximity to each other. We've never met, and 53 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: but you know we've probably been in that same grocery 54 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: store as we talked about, in the neighborhood where we 55 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: used to live right there, you know, fasten each other 56 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: in the aisle. Yeah, you probably smelled my grill. Yeah. 57 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: And likewise, I like, is that a Ariaki marinade? Amazing? Yeah, 58 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: It's it's interesting when you know, we talked about the 59 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: community and just it's such a small, you know, tight 60 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: knit community, special operations community, and you run into people 61 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: and and it's interesting when people are like, hey, you 62 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: know so and so, you know so and so, and 63 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: you don't know somebody. You know, generally speaking, you can 64 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: adjust to date on something and you can figure out 65 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: you know, oh yeah, we crossed paths here. I went 66 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 1: to ranger school with that guy, or you know. But 67 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: when when a name comes from out of nowhere and 68 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: nobody has heard of this person, it's pretty easy to 69 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:43,800 Speaker 1: determine very quickly. And uh so stolen valor stuff seems 70 00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: to be like I don't know, uh, very very easy 71 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: to root out. Well, it was funny because, uh, in 72 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 1: the early eighties, we went to the Rolling Thunder thing 73 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: up in d C. And one of the old SF 74 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: guys that was there, we were sitting there talking to 75 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 1: him at a bar and then he was like, hold 76 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: on a second, and there was this guy telling a 77 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: story and we're like, what's up. You know that guy? 78 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,160 Speaker 1: And he's like no, but he's talking about me like 79 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: it's him. So I gotta go over there and listen 80 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 1: to this. So we went over there and this guy's 81 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: telling the story and this real SF guy that we 82 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: had been talking to him this bar and he was like, 83 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 1: that's a fascinating story. I don't remember you because I 84 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: was on that team, and he goes and I knew 85 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 1: everybody on that team. Of course, there was only ten 86 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,039 Speaker 1: of us, and I don't remember you, and the guy 87 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,559 Speaker 1: played a beer down and walked out the door. Better 88 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: better to get out before anything else. I get. I 89 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: get that a lot with rangers that served in Mogadishu, 90 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: and it seemed like anybody that was in the army 91 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: at that time or maybe even after, you know, served 92 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: in Mogadisho. Most recently, somebody sent me a picture of 93 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: a guy and they were like, his first name is 94 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: such and such and here's his picture. And I asked 95 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: how current the picture was, and it was like, you know, 96 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:15,279 Speaker 1: his wife just sent it to me or something like that. 97 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: And I'm like, are you stupid that, Like, there's no 98 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: way he could have been there based on his age, 99 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: based on the picture. Like it's not even a question 100 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,919 Speaker 1: of knowing the guy or not, it's he would have 101 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: He would have been like four when when that happened, 102 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: you know, you know, so anyway, yeah, that was and 103 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: again talking about that was such a sad day for 104 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: us because we knew a lot of the people that 105 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: were there obviously, I mean we, like you said, there 106 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: was a lot of crossover between SF and the guys 107 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: over and Delta and you know, my partner and Dave 108 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:03,279 Speaker 1: and I. We were working in Bolivia at the time, 109 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: but which is two of us. We heard about it 110 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: on the news and then we got to a television 111 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: and we were watching only what they were showing at 112 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: the time. That was a sad day when we heard 113 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: about that. Interestingly, because I told this story on something 114 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: else that I did, and I'm not going to get 115 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: into the super details of the story, but after the 116 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,119 Speaker 1: battle the next day, you know, the battle still raged 117 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: through that morning and at about nine thirty or ten 118 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,040 Speaker 1: in the morning, we ended up in a stadium and 119 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: that was kind of a safe spot and we reconsolidated 120 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: and reorganized and got the wounded guys met it backed out, 121 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: bringing helicopters in and things like that, and getting getting 122 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: the guys that have been killed out of there as well. 123 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: And I had the ended up on the vehicle package. 124 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: We ended up having to drive vehicles back to the hangar, 125 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: and you know, it wasn't like this is all secure 126 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: outside of the hangar or outside of the the stadium, 127 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: so you know, that was that was kind of you know, 128 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: keep your fingers crossed and hope that everybody does the 129 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: right thing when we get back to the hangar and 130 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: in the back corner, there was a TV and it 131 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: was hooked up to you know, at the only time, 132 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: the only news channel at the time was CNN. And 133 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: we got back to the hangar and we offloaded our 134 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: gear and everybody kind of hugged each other and we're 135 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 1: looking around, you know, who who was still around and 136 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 1: who wasn't and all of that, and all of a sudden, 137 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 1: everybody in the hangar started running into the back corner 138 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:40,960 Speaker 1: and you know, we get I get back there and 139 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: I look at the TV and it was the video 140 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,520 Speaker 1: of of some of the crew members being dragged through 141 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: the streets that had been killed. And we had no 142 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,240 Speaker 1: idea that that was even a thing. We didn't know 143 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: that there were people missing. We didn't know that there 144 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: were people that still hadn't been recovered. You know, it 145 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: was a different era of military, It was a different time. 146 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: There wasn't you know, everybody had a radio and everybody 147 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: knew what was going on. It was complete chaos, and 148 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: there really wasn't a chance or a place for you know, 149 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 1: the typical military dissemination of information to happen. You can't 150 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: do that in the middle of the street when bullets 151 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: are flying, so we didn't even know. I guess the 152 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:22,640 Speaker 1: bigger point was, we didn't even know really kind of 153 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:25,839 Speaker 1: the magnitude of everything that had happened until we got 154 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: to the hangar and recognized that we still had people missing, 155 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: and and and then obviously surprised even further one day 156 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: or two later when Mike Durant showed up on CNN 157 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 1: also and we realized that we had a guy that 158 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 1: was a prisoner of war or detainee or whatever you 159 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: want to call him hostage. But yeah, interesting times, they say, 160 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: the least absolutely so as Phil our listeners in. I mean, 161 00:09:55,240 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: I know you grew up musically inclined, but I know 162 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: you were in bands and stuff, But tell tell our 163 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: listeners your story of how you ended up in the 164 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: army and how you ended up where you were. Yeah, 165 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 1: it's it's kind of interesting. Um. You know, I grew 166 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,480 Speaker 1: up in as early as I can remember, was making 167 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: up songs and singing songs. And you know, my father 168 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: would be in the car driving me somewhere we'd be 169 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: on vacation, and he'd be screaming at a guy in 170 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: the buick, and I would start singing a song about 171 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: a guy in a buick. You know, stuff like that, 172 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,319 Speaker 1: and and uh, you know, crack my family up and 173 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:37,760 Speaker 1: was always, you know, a pretty happy and positive kid. 174 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: I had a great childhood and upbringing and one of 175 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: the one of the best things that my parents did 176 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: for me. Uh And I don't think that they had 177 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,360 Speaker 1: any inclination other than the singing of songs and things 178 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: like that, but they took me to see a lot 179 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,600 Speaker 1: of live music. So at a very early age, I 180 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 1: got to see, you know, some of the bigger, bigger 181 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,239 Speaker 1: known acts at the time, like Barry Manilow and Chicago 182 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: and the Beat Boys and things like that. And yeah, 183 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: I mean that's right when all of his stuff, I 184 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 1: mean from seventy four to like seventy seven, he was 185 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 1: all over the radio and uh, you know, we kind 186 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: of laugh about him now. That guy was incredibly talented. 187 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: And most people don't know this, but he wrote, you know, 188 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: like the Dr Pepper jingle he wrote. He worked the 189 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: building and I forget the name of the building, but 190 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 1: it's a famous building where they you know, basically wrote 191 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: all the music for commercials and jingles and things like that, 192 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: for advertisements, and um, there are so many things like 193 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: a good neighbor, state Farmers there that song he wrote that. Yeah, anyway, 194 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,560 Speaker 1: he and a live performance would do a medley of 195 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: all of his different jingles that he written he had written, 196 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,959 Speaker 1: and it was kind of interesting. But anyway, Um, as 197 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 1: soon as I saw, you know, the first concert and 198 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: experience that I was, I was kind of like, yeah, 199 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: that's what I want to do. That's you know, that's 200 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: all I want. And my parents agreed to buy a 201 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,319 Speaker 1: piano if I agreed to take lessons, and that ended 202 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 1: up lasting you know, four or five years. And at 203 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: the same time, maybe after a few years of piano, 204 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,360 Speaker 1: was when uh school music in school, uh school of 205 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,320 Speaker 1: music in school. UH band in school became a thing, 206 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: and I think in fourth grade, you know, that was 207 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 1: something that was almost mandatory. You were either in the 208 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: chorus or you were in the band, you know, and 209 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: learned an instrument and things like that. So I picked 210 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,319 Speaker 1: up the saxophone and played that for a number of 211 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 1: years in the school band, the school pep band, my 212 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,320 Speaker 1: church orchestra and things like that. So um, you know, 213 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: kind of at the end of that, maybe after four 214 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:47,560 Speaker 1: or five years now early eighties, and you know, I'm 215 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: listening to Van Halen and Arrowsmith and a CBC and 216 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: all the stuff that was, you know, just kind of 217 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: coming out at the time and and pretty big. And 218 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 1: you can't play that on the saxophone. You can't play 219 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:04,559 Speaker 1: that on the clarinet or the piano. And we had 220 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: an acoustic guitar in my house and at some point 221 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,880 Speaker 1: I picked up the acoustic guitar and just started figuring 222 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: it out. And uh so that's that's kind of how 223 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: how I got into music, at least all the way 224 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: up to the point of guitar. That's cool. And you know, 225 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 1: so you were in a band and something happened to 226 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 1: where you decided to go to it. It's kind of 227 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,680 Speaker 1: you know, my bandmate Jason Neverman, he's the cat that 228 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: was in Nirvana and Sound Garden prior to prior to 229 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:38,320 Speaker 1: join in the Army and being a ranger and then 230 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 1: an SF guy. Um, we had a very similar trajectory 231 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,080 Speaker 1: in terms of kind of trying the music thing and 232 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: then you know, it being a very unfulfilling type of 233 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: uh you know, whether it was the right people or 234 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:54,560 Speaker 1: we were with the wrong people or whatever it might be. 235 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:56,400 Speaker 1: He just happened to be in a band that was, 236 00:13:56,559 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: you know, huge two bands that were huge as soon 237 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: as he left. And you know, it takes It's like 238 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,160 Speaker 1: building a team. You know, you can get you can 239 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: get new guys all day long, and it takes a 240 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:12,680 Speaker 1: long time to figure out if the guy is the 241 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 1: right guy or not. And then you're dealing with egos, 242 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: and you're dealing with people that are passive aggressive and 243 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: can't directly communicate that you know, hey, I don't like this, 244 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:26,560 Speaker 1: or you know, I want to change something. You know, 245 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: so you get people that stand around and you know, 246 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 1: don't put their all into something, and it takes a 247 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: long time to build that. Um. You know. So I 248 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,440 Speaker 1: I put a band together and and and put multiple 249 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: bands together, probably from the time that I was twelve 250 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: until the time I joined the army, and it kind 251 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: of all unraveled at the very end, and I was 252 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: left pretty much heartbroken, and you know, at a loss 253 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 1: of what to do. Do I do? I spend another 254 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: two years trying to find the right people, um, you know, 255 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: practicing and doing nothing more than practicing. Do I do 256 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: something else? And so there was kind of a trifecta 257 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:11,160 Speaker 1: of things that happened. One the band fell apart and 258 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,440 Speaker 1: and it was a good group of tudes and we 259 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:17,280 Speaker 1: all got along and everything was track, and one guy 260 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: created issues that kind of funneled the whole thing. Um, 261 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: the invasion of Panama happened, and that was so December 262 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 1: of eighty nine. And then a buddy of mine that 263 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: had joined the Air Force and had just finished basic 264 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: training and a I t for E. O D School 265 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,120 Speaker 1: came home from you know, on block leave more or less. 266 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,160 Speaker 1: So those three things kind of happened all about the 267 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: same within the same couple of weeks. And my Air 268 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,000 Speaker 1: Force buddy I was talking to him or having some 269 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 1: drinks and having fun and you know, catching up and everything, 270 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,600 Speaker 1: and he tells me about at the end of basic 271 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 1: training there was a group of guys that came around 272 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: to recruit for a special un it in the Air Force. 273 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 1: And I said, well, what do the what's the special unit? 274 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: And he said, well, they jump in behind enemy lines 275 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: and they rescued down pilots and you know, do that 276 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: kind of thing. And I was like, wow, that sounds cool, 277 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: and you know it kind of it intrigued me. So 278 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:18,040 Speaker 1: within a few weeks I went and talked with the 279 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: Air Force recruiter and was kind of on track. To 280 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: join the Air Force actually signed UM all the paperwork 281 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 1: with the Air Force to join, and I was leaving 282 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 1: one day kind of upset because the recruiter had told 283 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: me that he would give me some sort of contract 284 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 1: that guaranteed me the right to try, which was all 285 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,359 Speaker 1: I was asking for. You know, I know I can't 286 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 1: necessarily be guaranteed that I'll make it into this unit, 287 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: but at least the opportunity to try. And I'm leaving 288 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: one day and the Army guy says, hey, what do 289 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: you What are you doing? And I said, this Air 290 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,160 Speaker 1: Force guys give me the run around. And he said, 291 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:57,600 Speaker 1: what do you want to do? And I said, I 292 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: want to do something like Delta Force. And I don't 293 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: know why that came out of my mouth. I hadn't 294 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:07,720 Speaker 1: necessarily other than the movie that came out in UM. 295 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:09,960 Speaker 1: It's not like I had any interaction. It's not like 296 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,719 Speaker 1: there was an Internet where you could read about, you know, 297 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 1: what Delta Force was or anything like that. So I 298 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: told the recruiter I want to be a Delta Force 299 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: and he said, well, you can't do that. You gotta 300 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:21,560 Speaker 1: do something first, like Special Forces. And I said, okay, 301 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:23,400 Speaker 1: I'll do that. He said, well, you can't do that either. 302 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:25,159 Speaker 1: You've got to do something before that, like a ranger. 303 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:29,440 Speaker 1: And that's that's where it all started. So that was 304 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 1: about May and and that's where the start of my 305 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:37,959 Speaker 1: military career happened. Yeah, and then you went to the 306 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:43,199 Speaker 1: third range of bad afterwards and um, well now that 307 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: was when they were still pretty uh, I was gonna say, 308 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: in their infancy of being reactivated, wasn't it. Yeah. It's 309 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,640 Speaker 1: interesting because at the time, you know, when you're when 310 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,040 Speaker 1: you're a twenty year old or when you're a when 311 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: you're a five year old, a year is the fifth 312 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: of your life, right, And the older you get you 313 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:06,640 Speaker 1: realize that, like a year isn't that much, you know. Um, 314 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 1: But at the time, I think Third Battalion stood up 315 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: in four and so you know, I got there at 316 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: the very beginning of ninety one, so it wasn't that 317 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,879 Speaker 1: that much longer. Uh, you know, after the whole thing 318 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: it stood up. When I look back at that now 319 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: and I think, oh, wow, is there. You know, only 320 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,159 Speaker 1: a few years later that it seems like such a 321 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: short period of time. But at the time then it's 322 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,359 Speaker 1: sounds you know, it seemed like forever. They were different uniforms. 323 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:36,120 Speaker 1: Back then they had O G one oh seven's and 324 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: none of our guys had that by the time we 325 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 1: got there and things like that. But yeah, so that's 326 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,200 Speaker 1: where that's where I spent the first four years in 327 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:48,280 Speaker 1: the military. What was that like in the range of that, 328 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 1: I know, when you're young, Uh, when you're first there, 329 00:18:53,119 --> 00:19:00,159 Speaker 1: you're kind of guy. Yeah, it's it's uh til you 330 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: get that trust factor in after you've been there a while. Yeah, 331 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 1: there there's a lot of hazing and there was a 332 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,119 Speaker 1: lot of uh, you know, it was it was a 333 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: tough time. It was a really you know, staying there 334 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: for the number of years that I did. I guess 335 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,239 Speaker 1: I was there for just about five years. Um. That 336 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: was actually you know, they say it when you get 337 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:24,400 Speaker 1: to Delta Force, and the saying is selection is an 338 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:28,119 Speaker 1: ongoing process, Like you don't get somewhere and then just 339 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: rest on your laurels because you made it. You know, 340 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:34,240 Speaker 1: you have to perform every day, and very much the 341 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: same thing in the Rangers. And I think that kind 342 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,480 Speaker 1: of it didn't necessarily take me by surprise, but I 343 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: think it was a little disillusioned in books that I 344 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: had read, and you know, maybe movies that I had 345 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,440 Speaker 1: seen that depicted things, and I was expecting it to 346 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: be smaller teams, you know, going in, sneaking in, blowing 347 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: up a bridge, disrupting stuff, you know, things like that, 348 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: and um, you know, it was a great time and 349 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:02,200 Speaker 1: I would say it was a great place to start 350 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: a military career because it kind of gets you all 351 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:08,359 Speaker 1: the basics that you need. Being on Fort Penning. We 352 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: were in the field if we if we weren't doing 353 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,399 Speaker 1: like an airfield seizure or something that was at that 354 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: time like really secret and special. Um, you know, we 355 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:19,680 Speaker 1: were in the in the swamps of Fort Penning and 356 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,359 Speaker 1: it sucked and there was nothing fun about it. You know, 357 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: go out to the field for four days, jump in 358 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 1: road march somewhere, spend you know, spend every night pulling 359 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,679 Speaker 1: security on pine trees, no bad guys, you know nothing 360 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,199 Speaker 1: and uh and you know, sticking it out in the 361 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,919 Speaker 1: swamps and then road march eighteen miles back to the 362 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: barracks Friday morning, clean your weapons and then have a 363 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 1: weekend off. You know. It was it was an ask 364 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: kicker physically, and uh, yeah, that was that was definitely 365 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: a challenging time. So when you're a private you know, 366 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 1: on top of just being able to hang, you're getting 367 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:02,159 Speaker 1: harassed every you know, every couple of minutes about something. 368 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: You know, what are the five colors of the map? Thomas, 369 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: what's this? What's that? You know? Too slow? Do push ups? 370 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: You know, you're just constantly so um. You know, once 371 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: you're a part of the part of the crew and 372 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,080 Speaker 1: you're a part of the team, it's a little different 373 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:19,399 Speaker 1: and it and it lightens up to some degree, but 374 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:23,399 Speaker 1: you still have to perform, you know. Oh yeah. We 375 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,879 Speaker 1: used to tell guys that because I worked at the 376 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:32,240 Speaker 1: selection course for s up and selection doesn't stop when 377 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,359 Speaker 1: you passed the queboard. You're you're you're being you know, 378 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,920 Speaker 1: basically assessed every day for the rest of your career. 379 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:43,480 Speaker 1: And the higher up you get, the harder people look 380 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,159 Speaker 1: at you. Really, yeah, I mean, I'm sure it was 381 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,240 Speaker 1: the same in Delta. I mean, you know, the higher 382 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: up you get, I mean, the more people expect that, yeah, 383 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:55,440 Speaker 1: that you you can't just show up at the range 384 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 1: and not shoot, you know, and not be you know, 385 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: when you get to a team at Delta, your goal 386 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,560 Speaker 1: is to be the best shooter on the team, and 387 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: you know, you're competing against dudes that have had multiple 388 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: professional instruction and or shooting time, and you could ever 389 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 1: imagine and you know it just again like you don't 390 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:15,880 Speaker 1: want to be the bottom guy, So now I gotta 391 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: outperform this, and oh now we're gonna do something physical, 392 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: and like I don't want to be the last guy 393 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,960 Speaker 1: to finish the run. You know, It's it's constant, so 394 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,120 Speaker 1: you know, there there's a lot of pressure to that. 395 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,959 Speaker 1: And you know most people, Um, I get hit up 396 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: on social media a lot by kids that are talking about, 397 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:36,639 Speaker 1: you know, hey, I want to go to Delta. What 398 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 1: should I do? Should like a Rangers? Should I go 399 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: eighteen X ray? And it doesn't really matter, Like you 400 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:45,240 Speaker 1: have to you have to make it through that before 401 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,879 Speaker 1: you can even think about attending a selection course for 402 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: a special mission unit. So how about just make your 403 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:55,160 Speaker 1: goal being a good ranger or being a good SF 404 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: guy for four years and then and then see where 405 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: you are and see if you think you want to 406 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: still do that. You know, that's that's really kind of 407 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,200 Speaker 1: what it's all about. I was the same way. I 408 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 1: was ready to get there, you know. So the other 409 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: thing they'll ask me is, you know, it must have 410 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: been like such an accomplishment when you've made it through 411 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,159 Speaker 1: selection or you made it through O T C or 412 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: and it's not. I I finished selection for Delta, and 413 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:23,360 Speaker 1: all of a sudden it hit me like a ton 414 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:26,239 Speaker 1: of bricks, like, oh, ship, now it's for real, Like 415 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: now I'm going to the training course that's almost a 416 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:33,680 Speaker 1: year long and I'm gonna make it through that. And 417 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,119 Speaker 1: then when I finished that, it's like, oh man, now 418 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:38,320 Speaker 1: I'm going to a team and I'm excited about that. 419 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:42,120 Speaker 1: But I got to prove myself to everybody again. And 420 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,480 Speaker 1: it's just it never stops. So there's never really a 421 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: sense of accomplishment. Yeah, it's it's always that, um, there's 422 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 1: that error, not error, but there's that error I guess 423 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: of you know, we're not good enough. You always have 424 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: it in the back of your mind because always striving 425 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:05,359 Speaker 1: for that next levels thing. Yeah, okay, I made it 426 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,440 Speaker 1: to this point, but this is not where I want 427 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:09,879 Speaker 1: to be. I want to be here. And you know, 428 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 1: it does wear on you after a while because you're 429 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 1: constantly pushing yourself beyond your limit. Yeah, perceived limits, I 430 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: should say. Interesting. Yeah, and then and then the second 431 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: part of that and you mentioned I'm glad you mentioned it, 432 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 1: but that is challenging yourself. And so when I when 433 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:30,159 Speaker 1: I got to Delta, I I saw these guys that 434 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,719 Speaker 1: had been there, you know, twelve years, sixteen years, and 435 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: they were legends. I mean, these these are guys that 436 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:40,400 Speaker 1: were just absolute physical specimens and you know, had done 437 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:44,080 Speaker 1: all these different operations and oh this guy was you know, 438 00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:46,040 Speaker 1: we would see the dude in the they call it 439 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 1: the spine. You'd be walking down the spine, you see 440 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 1: a guy and then I'd be like, that was guided, 441 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,920 Speaker 1: you know, did this and it was like legends. And 442 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: it wasn't until I was there for probably three or 443 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 1: four years and I realized that, you know, this is 444 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:02,760 Speaker 1: a training cycle. Everything is a training cycle or a 445 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: deployment cycle, and it's very repetitive. And you know, once 446 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,360 Speaker 1: I had kind of proven myself and deployed a few 447 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: times because when I got there pre war by about 448 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:16,639 Speaker 1: three years. Um, you know, once once you do that 449 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: a few times, it's like what else can I do? 450 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,159 Speaker 1: What else? How can I challenge myself? And that was 451 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,040 Speaker 1: really kind of the second half of my time in 452 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 1: the military. Um, you know, it was really spent kind 453 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,080 Speaker 1: of asking those types of questions like what am I 454 00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:35,119 Speaker 1: doing next? How can I you know, how can I 455 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: better myself? What what can I do? And you've got 456 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: a family, and you've got other stuff happening and things 457 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,400 Speaker 1: that are eating up all your time. But yeah, interesting 458 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:50,440 Speaker 1: interesting times. Now did you did you stay past your 459 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: twenty or did you get out at now? I did 460 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:58,439 Speaker 1: twenty years and eighteen days, literally as soon as I 461 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,159 Speaker 1: could get out the door. And it was for no 462 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 1: other reason for me other than exactly that I wanted to, like, 463 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,439 Speaker 1: what's the next challenge? What can I do next? And 464 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: what can I get into and how can I improve 465 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:15,240 Speaker 1: and and do something more? And I elected because I 466 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: came in at twenty one, so I wanted to if 467 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:21,400 Speaker 1: I if I had spent more time in, then I'm 468 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: like getting a later start on whatever. The second half 469 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,159 Speaker 1: of my life is outside of the military. And I 470 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 1: viewed that as I would rather start that at forty one, 471 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,360 Speaker 1: then start that at fifty one, or start that at 472 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,680 Speaker 1: forty six, or whatever it might be. So I was 473 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:38,679 Speaker 1: kind of ready to get on with it and and 474 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: ready to try something different and not have to answer 475 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,480 Speaker 1: to the man every morning. And you show up exactly 476 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: where I'm told, when I'm told to be there in 477 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 1: wearing a certain type of shoe or doing whatever else 478 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: I was, I was ready to kind of move on. 479 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,440 Speaker 1: I think, I don't know what it was like for you, 480 00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 1: but I know when I was making that last trip 481 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:03,520 Speaker 1: out of Fort Bragg and I couldn't wait to get 482 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 1: the hell out of there. I'll be honest. But as 483 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,359 Speaker 1: I was making that trip, as I'm driving, I was 484 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: going down Yadkin Road, So I'm sure you know that 485 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,760 Speaker 1: quite well. I'm going down to the Yadkin five hundred 486 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 1: in the afternoon, and I'm thinking to myself, this is 487 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: the last time I'm gonna be making this trip in 488 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:28,159 Speaker 1: the beautiful and it was a really strange feeling. It's like, 489 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 1: holy sh it, not what am I? I mean, I 490 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,480 Speaker 1: knew what I wanted to do, but it's like it's 491 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 1: a strange feeling, isn't it. Yeah? Yeah, when you're you know, 492 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:42,359 Speaker 1: finishing up all those years in the military. I was 493 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:47,439 Speaker 1: driving down All American to go to a retirement party 494 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:53,840 Speaker 1: at one of the bars uh downtown, and I remember 495 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:58,640 Speaker 1: kind of being emotional about it, and I remember thinking 496 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 1: to myself, like, what's this all? About you know, you're 497 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: ready to move on. And I started to think about it, 498 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: and I'm like, I don't think that I expected myself 499 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,679 Speaker 1: to be intact or alive at that point. You know. 500 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 1: It was kind of it was kind of like, wow, 501 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:15,879 Speaker 1: I got I got both my legs and both my 502 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,879 Speaker 1: arms and all my pieces and parts except maybe a 503 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:23,160 Speaker 1: little bit my brain. You know, but you know that's 504 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: it's something that I didn't necessarily expect it. And then 505 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you're there and you're like, wow, man, 506 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: it's over, Like that thing is over, and uh, it was. 507 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,679 Speaker 1: It was an emotional blink of an eye. You know. 508 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,520 Speaker 1: All those years go by really really fast. Yeah, yea. 509 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:44,160 Speaker 1: When I think back on the entirety of my career, 510 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: you know, it always comes back to I've had this 511 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: conversation multiple times recently. And I'm curious because I think 512 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: when guys joined the army, and they say a man's 513 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:01,200 Speaker 1: brain doesn't fully develop until he's like twenty. Even so 514 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: when you join the army that first, if you're in 515 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,960 Speaker 1: for a certain length of time, or you joined the 516 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 1: police department or you're a fireman or whatever, it might 517 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 1: be like your brain is still developing. And so what 518 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: you're doing almost becomes a part of like really who 519 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: you are, not not a job, not you know, it's 520 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: it's an interesting thought, and that was the conversation I 521 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: had with with a handful of folks recently. But when 522 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: I think back on my early time in the military, 523 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: it feels like the longest portion was, say that first 524 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,160 Speaker 1: thirty six to forty eight months in the range of battalion, 525 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:47,320 Speaker 1: feels like that was fifteen years long. The bond that 526 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,440 Speaker 1: we had, you know, the tough times that we were 527 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: living in, everything else, it feels like it was fifteen 528 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: years long. And then I realized I spent more time 529 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: on one team with a handful of guys then I 530 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: spent in the range of Italian you know, when I 531 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,360 Speaker 1: was at the unit, they're like, oh ship, Like, no, 532 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: the time isn't that. It's almost like the time is reversed. 533 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: It's weird. But the only thing I can equate it 534 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,840 Speaker 1: to is that maybe it's because the brain is still 535 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: in development when you know, when you're young, and it 536 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,160 Speaker 1: becomes a part of you in a way that's different 537 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:22,960 Speaker 1: than when you're older. By the time I got to Delta, 538 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: I'm my own person. You know. I'm a twenty nine 539 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 1: year old. I've got a son, I'm married, I've got 540 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:32,520 Speaker 1: a house and drive nice cars. I'm not like multiple 541 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: piece of clay. I am who I am. I'm either 542 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: I do the right thing when I'm told to do it. Uh, 543 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: you know, etcetera, etcetera. It's not like a nineteen year 544 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,520 Speaker 1: old kid who's just showing up at the Rangers and 545 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: he's young and impressionable and you can kind of mold 546 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: him into being a good leader or a good soldier. 547 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, that's a that's a great point. So 548 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: and now you're you're out of the military, you reach 549 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: out of Delta and tell us all about how you 550 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,880 Speaker 1: got back into the music business, because I uh, I 551 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: think our listeners will love this. Yeah. Well, first of all, 552 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:13,960 Speaker 1: I think I think there are a couple of things. 553 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,640 Speaker 1: And I've talked a lot about on other podcasts that 554 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:20,720 Speaker 1: I've done in other media and articles I've written and 555 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,920 Speaker 1: interviews and things like that. I I've talked a lot 556 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: about people transitioning and kind of this loss of identity, 557 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 1: and that's something that whether you're a doctor for twenty 558 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: years or whether you're a fireman for twenty years, you know, 559 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,920 Speaker 1: when you're done doing that, there is kind of this 560 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,840 Speaker 1: refiguring out who am I now? You know? What am 561 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 1: I now? How do I challenge myself? How do I 562 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:49,240 Speaker 1: find purpose in meaning in the things that I'm doing now? 563 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: How Because in a lot of ways, it's never going 564 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 1: to be as important as the thing that you may 565 00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:56,400 Speaker 1: have done while you were serving, or while you were 566 00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 1: a doctor, whatever it is that you were doing. And 567 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: for me, I think one of the things I didn't 568 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 1: I didn't really have a tough time transitioning out of 569 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: the military. I think number one, I was ready. I 570 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 1: see a lot of people that struggled that that had 571 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: that taken away from them because maybe they got injured, 572 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:19,040 Speaker 1: maybe they lost a limb, and they're not able to 573 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,680 Speaker 1: continue to serve, and so something got taken away from them. 574 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 1: It's a lot different than voluntarily leaving UM. But I 575 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: didn't really have a tough time. And one of the 576 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,400 Speaker 1: things I can equate it to is that I always 577 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 1: identified as things other than being a Delta Force operator. 578 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,240 Speaker 1: You know, being a Delta Delta operator was a part 579 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 1: of who I was, but it's not who I am. 580 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 1: I'm a musician, I'm a father, I'm a husband, I'm 581 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:50,480 Speaker 1: you know, all different types of things, creative, you know, 582 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,400 Speaker 1: you name it, and so I always identified with those 583 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:57,400 Speaker 1: things as well during my time of service. So the 584 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,600 Speaker 1: music thing never really stopped. I always is always played, 585 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: and you know, always was playing stuff, uh, you know, 586 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,680 Speaker 1: doing things like that. And it wasn't seven. I think 587 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:09,320 Speaker 1: when I had young kids, it was a little bit 588 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:14,720 Speaker 1: tougher because you know, my family, I put my family first, um, 589 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: you know, but it was a very easy kind of 590 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: you know, slide back into it because it never really 591 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: went away. It was always a part of me. So 592 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 1: you still kept your guitars with you. Well, I kept 593 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,440 Speaker 1: when I joined initially, I got rid of all my stuff, 594 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:34,280 Speaker 1: so I had to re acquire and rebuild and uh, 595 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:39,160 Speaker 1: you know, I've gone through tens of thousands of dollars 596 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:43,640 Speaker 1: worth of equipment since then, and uh, I have finally 597 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,880 Speaker 1: kind of settled on some stuff. But anyway, for me, 598 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: I guess to take it to the next level and 599 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: not just be a guitar player, but to say, form 600 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 1: a band, release an album, you know, go about it 601 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,360 Speaker 1: the right way, and do all the right things like 602 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: a real band would do. That's that's kind of the 603 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 1: next level for me, and so to get into that, 604 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: it was it really took a while for me to 605 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: figure out exactly what I wanted to do in that way. UM. 606 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,239 Speaker 1: I knew that I wanted to give back to the community, 607 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 1: and I didn't want to, you know, start a foundation 608 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:23,879 Speaker 1: or you know, start something charitable organization. I felt like 609 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:28,439 Speaker 1: there were already enough really great things out there. UM, 610 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: I would rather contribute money to those organizations. I would 611 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 1: rather bring awareness to those organizations than for me to 612 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: start my own. I didn't. I didn't want to do that. 613 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,839 Speaker 1: So I came up with the idea of writing and 614 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:47,520 Speaker 1: releasing an album and taking the music royalties and the 615 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:52,759 Speaker 1: profits they're they're from and contributing those two special you know, 616 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:58,439 Speaker 1: special operations, charitable organizations or first responded charitable organizations, whatever 617 00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:00,759 Speaker 1: it might be. So that was kind of where the 618 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:07,759 Speaker 1: idea started. That's great, and you know, you got in 619 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 1: touch and you met Jason Everham, who was in as 620 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,280 Speaker 1: you mentioned earlier, was in both Nirvana and Sound Garden, 621 00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:17,799 Speaker 1: and then later on went to the range of Bad 622 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,880 Speaker 1: as you did, and became an SF guy and funning. 623 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:26,640 Speaker 1: Um Afghanistan, I think he went to Iraq as well. Yeah, 624 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 1: he did a couple of trips. Yeah, so you guys 625 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:35,919 Speaker 1: meet and talk to us about that. Yeah, I knew 626 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:40,040 Speaker 1: I knew Jason for a number of years and we 627 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,319 Speaker 1: were pretty close friends. And he was coming into town 628 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,080 Speaker 1: into New York to to see a concert with me, 629 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,880 Speaker 1: and we were going to see Mastodon at Hammerstein Ballroom 630 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: in Manhattan. And I think he knew one of the 631 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,040 Speaker 1: one of the guitar players and they have been roommates 632 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:58,960 Speaker 1: at some point or something along those line. So we 633 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:01,600 Speaker 1: were going to hang out with those acts and uh, 634 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:03,239 Speaker 1: you know, meet up with them and see the show. 635 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:06,880 Speaker 1: And the idea came to me kind of right before 636 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:10,200 Speaker 1: that concert, the day before, and so it was very 637 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:13,359 Speaker 1: easy for me to approach Jason and say, you know, hey, 638 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 1: I've got this idea. I don't know exactly what it 639 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,480 Speaker 1: looks like just yet, but you know, I want to 640 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 1: make music and I want to take the proceeds of 641 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,719 Speaker 1: the music royalties and give those two, you know, some 642 00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:27,960 Speaker 1: special operations charities or give it back to the Ranger Regiment, 643 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:31,360 Speaker 1: you know, their foundation or whatever it might be. And 644 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:34,120 Speaker 1: he was like, yeah, man, that sounds great, let's do it. 645 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,600 Speaker 1: So that's kind of where it started from there, I 646 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:41,279 Speaker 1: stood up. I had a social media page at the time, Um, 647 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 1: it wasn't anything significant, but I kind of started to 648 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:45,640 Speaker 1: put out the word on social media what I was doing, 649 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:48,400 Speaker 1: and it just grew and it grew and it grew 650 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:52,000 Speaker 1: and it grew, and pretty soon, you know, other guys 651 00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 1: hit me up and said, you know, hey, I played, 652 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:58,319 Speaker 1: how can I be involved? And you know, now we've 653 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 1: got a bass player, and you know, it just it 654 00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 1: grew organically. So it was it was really interesting to see. 655 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,160 Speaker 1: And I think if you put it out there and 656 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 1: you're and you're true and you're altruistic, I think people 657 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:11,680 Speaker 1: can see that. If this was like a fake thing, 658 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:14,239 Speaker 1: I don't think it would have come off the same way. 659 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,560 Speaker 1: But even our producer came about the same way. He 660 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:20,239 Speaker 1: hit me up on social media and said, you know, hey, 661 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: I'm a Grammy Award winning producer and I would love 662 00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 1: to produce your first album, and let's let's make it happen. 663 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:30,080 Speaker 1: So it did, and uh, you know, it just kind 664 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: of continues to grow. It's amazing to get a Grammy 665 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:38,319 Speaker 1: Award winning producer to hit you up instead of the 666 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:41,600 Speaker 1: other way around. Yeah, it turned it was interesting. It 667 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: turns out he was a veteran also, so he he 668 00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:46,080 Speaker 1: did four years in the Marine Corps and was in 669 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:49,120 Speaker 1: the process of trying to go to a force recon 670 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:52,759 Speaker 1: when that was still a thing and got hurt and 671 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:54,880 Speaker 1: so he elected to just get out of the Marine 672 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,160 Speaker 1: Corps and he did so. Anyway, you know, when I 673 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,279 Speaker 1: first saw him and I saw the direct message, I 674 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:03,040 Speaker 1: had to google him just to see if he was 675 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 1: a legit person or not. And I was like, let's 676 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,360 Speaker 1: let's see who who does he produce? Oh? Justin Bieber, 677 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:12,839 Speaker 1: oh Ship, who else? You know? And it was just 678 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,720 Speaker 1: like one after the other. And the guy is literally 679 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:19,800 Speaker 1: probably the one of the hottest you know, pop producers, 680 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,880 Speaker 1: uh in the music industry. But he grew up listening 681 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:25,760 Speaker 1: to all the same stuff that that I liked, Alison 682 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: Chains and Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots and you know, 683 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,759 Speaker 1: stuff like that. So it was it was a good fit. 684 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,480 Speaker 1: And it was, you know, an amazing experience working with 685 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:37,320 Speaker 1: him and just kind of seeing his work ethic and 686 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:39,960 Speaker 1: you know, we did it for real. It wasn't it 687 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 1: wasn't you know, we didn't take a half past approach, 688 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:46,359 Speaker 1: just like everything that I do. I'm I'm all in. 689 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,160 Speaker 1: You know, if I'm gonna do something, I'm going all 690 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,959 Speaker 1: in with it. I'm not gonna half acid. So yeah, 691 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:57,280 Speaker 1: that's great. And those fans you mentioned, I remember loving 692 00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,520 Speaker 1: all that music we say, you know, cover bands used 693 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,760 Speaker 1: to play that stuff down with the Flaming Munk and yeah, 694 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,160 Speaker 1: all the time. That was like that was the hangout, 695 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,360 Speaker 1: you know, back in the day. But so what was 696 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:14,000 Speaker 1: it like? I love hearing about the creative process. Now 697 00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:17,360 Speaker 1: you got your music, you have a producer, you have bandmates. 698 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: What was it like going into the studio and put 699 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:24,840 Speaker 1: it all together? Yeah? Even even then, Um, you know, 700 00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:28,600 Speaker 1: I started writing songs and I would send him to 701 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:30,920 Speaker 1: you know, one of one of my other bandmates is 702 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,799 Speaker 1: kind of like my first line supervisor in terms of 703 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:38,560 Speaker 1: approving or disapproving an idea, and so I would send 704 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:41,160 Speaker 1: him something and if it passed, if it passed the 705 00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:44,200 Speaker 1: Mustard test and you know, hey, I like this, then 706 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:46,320 Speaker 1: I would kind of continue to work on it until 707 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:49,200 Speaker 1: it got to the point where okay, now it's pretty 708 00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:51,960 Speaker 1: much a full song. I would send that out. You know, 709 00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:53,759 Speaker 1: you can do that right on your iPhone. It doesn't 710 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:56,880 Speaker 1: take anything special. I would send that to all the guys. 711 00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,160 Speaker 1: So by the time we would get together in person 712 00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:03,080 Speaker 1: to rehearse, you know, we'd already know the material. It's 713 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:05,360 Speaker 1: not like you had to you know, we had to 714 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:07,719 Speaker 1: stand there and learn it together. We had to learn 715 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:10,560 Speaker 1: how to play it together, and learn how to transition 716 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,560 Speaker 1: from one part to the next, et cetera. So it 717 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,120 Speaker 1: took us, you know, basically from the time we met 718 00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:19,360 Speaker 1: until the time we went into the studio. That whole 719 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:23,080 Speaker 1: time was just trying to get enough material together to 720 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:27,000 Speaker 1: go record, and we had to figure out what kind 721 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:29,960 Speaker 1: of band are we? Are we hard rock band? Are 722 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:35,600 Speaker 1: we ah? You know? Are we a modern sounding band? 723 00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:39,120 Speaker 1: Are we what are our songs like? You know, what's 724 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:41,799 Speaker 1: our sound? All of that. We had to kind of 725 00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:44,239 Speaker 1: like figure all that stuff out on the fly. And 726 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:47,359 Speaker 1: it wasn't something where you know, we were playing little 727 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:50,920 Speaker 1: clubs and oh hey, people like that song and you know, 728 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,000 Speaker 1: explored it that way. So we really had to kind 729 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,839 Speaker 1: of kind of just go by if we all like 730 00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:00,080 Speaker 1: what what we're playing, and there's five of us, if 731 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:02,440 Speaker 1: we all like it, then then it can't be it 732 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:06,680 Speaker 1: can't be that bad. Um, it's all together different when 733 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:09,000 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, now you're in front of you know, 734 00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:13,200 Speaker 1: multi Grammy award winning guy and it's like a dick 735 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:16,080 Speaker 1: measuring contest, you know, and it'd be like literally like 736 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:19,840 Speaker 1: you're exposing a part of yourself, you know, lay it 737 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:21,720 Speaker 1: out there on the table, Let's see what you've got, 738 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:26,120 Speaker 1: and you either got the goods or you don't. And 739 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: it really was kind of it was eye opening in 740 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,120 Speaker 1: that regard because he was just trying to take something 741 00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:36,200 Speaker 1: and make it even better. And so we would go in, 742 00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:38,040 Speaker 1: you know, when we went into the studio, we have 743 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:41,399 Speaker 1: like kind of an eighty five or solution, and he's 744 00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:46,040 Speaker 1: the guy that's taken it to you know, that's gotta 745 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:49,760 Speaker 1: be I mean there's an art to that and those people, 746 00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:53,040 Speaker 1: you know, the creative people that do that stuff in 747 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:57,480 Speaker 1: the producers. I mean I've seen, you know, films of 748 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 1: how they put stuff like that together. I always go 749 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:02,960 Speaker 1: back to when I was a kid, George Martin with 750 00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:05,200 Speaker 1: the Beatles. I mean, you know a lot of that 751 00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:09,239 Speaker 1: Beatles sound was because of him. I just think it's 752 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:13,120 Speaker 1: fascinating and uh, I think that's really really cool. I 753 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:16,600 Speaker 1: I know, like one of the other Delta guys, I 754 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,040 Speaker 1: don't know him personally, but I love his videos. Pat 755 00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:24,959 Speaker 1: McNamara's yeah, that loves his He loves his hard, hard 756 00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:33,640 Speaker 1: metal stuff, so you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, well I'm 757 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:35,759 Speaker 1: a friend of his, you know, so we really yeah, 758 00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:38,799 Speaker 1: well yeah, well we'll communicate every now and again kind 759 00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:42,200 Speaker 1: of thing. And we were in the same squadron for 760 00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:45,520 Speaker 1: for a short period of time before he ended up leaving. 761 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:50,560 Speaker 1: But um, I was a very creative guy. And that's 762 00:42:50,680 --> 00:42:52,640 Speaker 1: I think one of the things when people ask me, 763 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:56,279 Speaker 1: you know, what's something that you would say people would 764 00:42:56,280 --> 00:43:00,360 Speaker 1: be surprised about, you know, Delta guys, or surprise about 765 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:04,239 Speaker 1: special operations people, and I always say the same thing, 766 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:07,200 Speaker 1: and that's creativity. And it doesn't have to be art. 767 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:11,200 Speaker 1: But special operations are kind of the only place in 768 00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:14,719 Speaker 1: the military where you can adjust on the fly and 769 00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:18,000 Speaker 1: if something doesn't work, or hey, we need to change 770 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:20,680 Speaker 1: a tactic, how can we be more creative than the enemy? 771 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:24,680 Speaker 1: How can we outsmart you know, the bad guys that 772 00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:27,239 Speaker 1: are now caught onto what we're doing or how we're 773 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:30,040 Speaker 1: doing something. You've got to be one step ahead of that. 774 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:31,920 Speaker 1: And the only way to do that is to be creative. 775 00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:34,680 Speaker 1: And you know, It's one of the one of the 776 00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:38,360 Speaker 1: traits that I think a lot of guys within special 777 00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:41,840 Speaker 1: operations have, you know, whether it's a dude that plays guitar, 778 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:44,759 Speaker 1: or whether it's to do the draws or you know, 779 00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,000 Speaker 1: whatever it might be. There's there's a lot of that 780 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,879 Speaker 1: out there, and that was a surprise to me. That's 781 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:54,200 Speaker 1: an artist, isn't he. Yeah, Yeah, he's He's an amazing artist. 782 00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:57,640 Speaker 1: And a bunch of the going away plaques and things 783 00:43:57,719 --> 00:44:00,600 Speaker 1: like that, there there are prints that were on prior 784 00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:04,120 Speaker 1: to you know, Jim Deed's being an amazing artist and 785 00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:06,200 Speaker 1: doing a lot of that stuff. There are a bunch 786 00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:08,919 Speaker 1: of them that Pat had done and for years that's 787 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:11,160 Speaker 1: one of the things that would give you when you left, 788 00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:15,240 Speaker 1: there was like a print that Pat had done. But yeah, amazing, 789 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:22,880 Speaker 1: amazing artist, you know. And yeah, yeah, and then videos, 790 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:28,759 Speaker 1: Yeah it's basic dude stuff. Yeah, basic dude stuff. There's 791 00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:32,480 Speaker 1: another guy that I've recently caught on Instagram and it's 792 00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:36,000 Speaker 1: it's it's be a Man and it's this guy from Boston, 793 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:40,719 Speaker 1: and they're all very short, they're like five or six 794 00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:44,799 Speaker 1: second long videos. But he'll say things like if you're hurt, 795 00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:50,360 Speaker 1: don't go to the hospital. Just die. Be amazing. And 796 00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:54,320 Speaker 1: he's doing it in this Boston accent. It's fucking hilarious. 797 00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:58,040 Speaker 1: But yeah, if you're if you're on Instagram, check the 798 00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:01,000 Speaker 1: guy out. Be a man. Yeah, I'll check that out. 799 00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:03,120 Speaker 1: It's like being a man in Boston or something like that. 800 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:07,440 Speaker 1: Is a riot. If you don't know how to if 801 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:09,520 Speaker 1: you don't know how to fix something, just throw a 802 00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:15,040 Speaker 1: fucking wrench across the room. Be a man. Yeah. Some 803 00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:19,680 Speaker 1: of those people might be my relatives and that thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 804 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,200 Speaker 1: you can't fake that accent. You know. It's funny now 805 00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:24,359 Speaker 1: because I talked to people and they were like, oh man, 806 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:28,800 Speaker 1: you have But when I go home, my relatives sell me, 807 00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:31,719 Speaker 1: oh man, you sound like you've been living in the 808 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:37,759 Speaker 1: South your whole life, isn't it weird? Yeah, well you 809 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,760 Speaker 1: don't have an accent though, No, you know, well, you're 810 00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:43,880 Speaker 1: the person with the thick Boston accent. You're saying I 811 00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:47,000 Speaker 1: don't have an accent. But my my wife thinks because 812 00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:49,800 Speaker 1: she's from Long Island, so she's got a really strong 813 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:53,640 Speaker 1: Long Island accent, and she'll imitate me and she's like, 814 00:45:54,719 --> 00:45:59,279 Speaker 1: I'm bred, I'm brad, I'm from the South and and 815 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:01,480 Speaker 1: I'm like, don't hear it at all. I feel like 816 00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:04,920 Speaker 1: I have a very neutral accent, and there might be 817 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,160 Speaker 1: a word here there that comes out that's a little 818 00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:10,760 Speaker 1: twiny or something, but yeah, I think I'm pretty neutral 819 00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:15,279 Speaker 1: in terms of accent. Yeah, that's funny. But you know, 820 00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:20,080 Speaker 1: one of the things you mentioned was the the influence 821 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:22,959 Speaker 1: your parents had on your music, and you know, grow 822 00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:26,640 Speaker 1: it struck your core with me because growing up, you know, 823 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:31,480 Speaker 1: my parents were into Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and 824 00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:35,120 Speaker 1: to this day, I still love that music because I 825 00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:37,839 Speaker 1: used to hear it every weekend when my mother would 826 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:41,000 Speaker 1: be cooking Sunday dinner. You know, Sunday dinner is a 827 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:44,360 Speaker 1: big thing with the Italians in Boston. So yeah, my 828 00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,480 Speaker 1: mother would be listener in Sinatra and Dean Martin records, 829 00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:51,000 Speaker 1: and to this day, I still love that music. So yeah, 830 00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:55,080 Speaker 1: it's it's a hoomie feeling, you know. We had Similarly, 831 00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,960 Speaker 1: my my parents had either classical or you know, my 832 00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:02,719 Speaker 1: dad was a little bit wild with bands like Chicago 833 00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:07,160 Speaker 1: or Boston. Boston. Boston was probably is as heavy as 834 00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:10,000 Speaker 1: he could go. And uh, you know, so I heard 835 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:11,920 Speaker 1: that stuff from a very young age, and I just 836 00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:15,120 Speaker 1: was and I had an older sister, and you know, 837 00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:18,000 Speaker 1: when she was a teenager, she starts listening to stuff 838 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:21,160 Speaker 1: and now I'm hearing that, and you know, car rides 839 00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:24,719 Speaker 1: and things before cars had real stereos, um. You know, 840 00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:26,680 Speaker 1: she would bring her like tape recorder in the car 841 00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:32,000 Speaker 1: and play tapes and stuff. And I miss the days. 842 00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:36,759 Speaker 1: You know. I love that on my phone that I'm 843 00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:39,600 Speaker 1: talking to you on right now, I can like jump 844 00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:42,640 Speaker 1: on and find any music I want. I think that 845 00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:46,239 Speaker 1: that's an incredible, you know, gift to be able to 846 00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:50,120 Speaker 1: do that. But what I miss is and at what 847 00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:54,000 Speaker 1: I wish that kids today could And now I sound old, right, 848 00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:57,919 Speaker 1: you kids don't know, Um, I wish that kids could 849 00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:02,080 Speaker 1: understand the social aspect of discovering music like I did. 850 00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:05,440 Speaker 1: So you know, before I was able to drive a 851 00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:08,719 Speaker 1: car and had older friends that were driving, you know, 852 00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:11,920 Speaker 1: we would jump in a car, go to the record store, 853 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:15,239 Speaker 1: spend a couple of hours, you know, perusing all the 854 00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:19,359 Speaker 1: records and tapes and everything else before compact discs even, 855 00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:22,960 Speaker 1: and you know, everybody would leave there was something and 856 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:25,000 Speaker 1: you could buy an album in those days for like 857 00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:29,600 Speaker 1: four and maybe a double album might be like or 858 00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:32,719 Speaker 1: something like that, but we'd we'd leave, we go to 859 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,600 Speaker 1: one of the dude's houses, cracks some beers and guys 860 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:38,920 Speaker 1: got to kind of take turns throwing stuff on the 861 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:43,280 Speaker 1: record player, and it was really kind of this social 862 00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:47,600 Speaker 1: aspect of discovering music, you know, like I remember the 863 00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:49,920 Speaker 1: dude that turned me on the Judas Priest. I remember 864 00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:52,960 Speaker 1: the dude that turned me onto Van Halen, and you 865 00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:54,600 Speaker 1: know how that all came to be, and it was 866 00:48:54,760 --> 00:48:57,600 Speaker 1: it was a group thing. And then as a group 867 00:48:57,680 --> 00:49:00,080 Speaker 1: you would go see live music together and it was like, 868 00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:05,800 Speaker 1: man like, it was just it's amazing time. And I 869 00:49:06,239 --> 00:49:08,759 Speaker 1: wish that there was something like that now. And that's 870 00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:12,240 Speaker 1: that's the only thing that I don't enjoy about music 871 00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:16,600 Speaker 1: being as accessible as it is now. Yeah, especially with 872 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:18,920 Speaker 1: you know, COVID, because I used to when I was young. 873 00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:23,120 Speaker 1: I love going to concerts, you know. Yeah, I saw 874 00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:30,120 Speaker 1: in in Boston, you know, the Eagles and Leonard skinnerd 875 00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:34,439 Speaker 1: when they were first started out ten years after was opening. Yeah, 876 00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:38,800 Speaker 1: and so I'm really dating myself. Jethro Tull then, you know, 877 00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:41,440 Speaker 1: a friend of my wife's and I he was a 878 00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:46,560 Speaker 1: roadie from Metallica a few years ago, and so they 879 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:50,400 Speaker 1: were playing they where the New England Patriots played football. 880 00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:53,600 Speaker 1: They were playing that big football stadium and this guy 881 00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:55,399 Speaker 1: was like, Hey, you want to come down and meet 882 00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:57,680 Speaker 1: us and come in the back of meet the band 883 00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:01,920 Speaker 1: hang out. So we were just like, yeah, that's the awesome. 884 00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:05,400 Speaker 1: So then, uh, you know, we hung out with Metallica 885 00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:09,520 Speaker 1: backstage with Kid Rock was there, and then when the 886 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:12,000 Speaker 1: show started we were they were like where you going. 887 00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:14,759 Speaker 1: We're like, We're gonna go to our seat. They're like, 888 00:50:15,239 --> 00:50:19,360 Speaker 1: come standing on the side of the stage. Oh my god. 889 00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:23,320 Speaker 1: And the perspective is so different. And I'm just staying 890 00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:26,760 Speaker 1: that I got goose bumps again because I remember that feeling, 891 00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:30,399 Speaker 1: and it's got to be amazing as a musician when 892 00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:33,000 Speaker 1: you're in front of people like that and you can 893 00:50:33,160 --> 00:50:37,080 Speaker 1: see that you're you know, resonating with that audience, it's 894 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:40,160 Speaker 1: gotta be really cool. Yeah you you said that, and 895 00:50:40,239 --> 00:50:42,960 Speaker 1: I got goose bumps. That's how much you know it 896 00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:46,960 Speaker 1: means to me. And the power and the energy behind 897 00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:49,280 Speaker 1: stuff when you're playing it and when you see somebody 898 00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:53,840 Speaker 1: like singing your lyrics back to you, it's an amazing feeling. 899 00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:56,960 Speaker 1: It's like it's to some degree validation, you know, I 900 00:50:57,080 --> 00:51:00,080 Speaker 1: get that because of COVID, we haven't really paid to 901 00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:03,240 Speaker 1: do a whole lot, so nobody's been able to do anything. 902 00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:05,920 Speaker 1: But that's one of the things that we're looking forward to. 903 00:51:06,200 --> 00:51:08,759 Speaker 1: I think we're doing some stuff here at the end 904 00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:11,960 Speaker 1: of April, but it's a it's a special benefit show 905 00:51:12,239 --> 00:51:16,520 Speaker 1: with Old Dominion Band and I'm a super familiar with them, 906 00:51:16,600 --> 00:51:19,680 Speaker 1: but they're they're a pretty large act, so we're gonna 907 00:51:19,719 --> 00:51:22,760 Speaker 1: do some stuff with them, and uh, and then hopefully 908 00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:27,320 Speaker 1: last spring we were lining up some USO stuff and 909 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:30,400 Speaker 1: that all fell out due to COVID. I think we 910 00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:33,920 Speaker 1: were going to be, you know, seven countries or seven 911 00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:37,520 Speaker 1: bases in ten days kind of thing, and uh, seven 912 00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:40,839 Speaker 1: shows kind of thing. So I'm hoping to get back 913 00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:44,440 Speaker 1: onto some of that. But we're in the meantime. We've 914 00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:46,320 Speaker 1: written a new album and got it all ready to 915 00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:48,920 Speaker 1: go and done all the pre production rehearsals and kind 916 00:51:48,920 --> 00:51:51,680 Speaker 1: of know and charted it out. It's it kind of 917 00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:55,440 Speaker 1: becomes an Excel document, like, uh, this song called X 918 00:51:55,640 --> 00:51:58,839 Speaker 1: you know, has four guitar tracks and there are two 919 00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:02,560 Speaker 1: bass tracks, and we need to throw this extra vocal 920 00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:04,160 Speaker 1: track on it. You start to kind of chart it 921 00:52:04,239 --> 00:52:06,879 Speaker 1: out so that when you get in there and you're 922 00:52:06,920 --> 00:52:10,080 Speaker 1: paying dollars a day just to be in the studio, 923 00:52:10,800 --> 00:52:13,080 Speaker 1: you know, you're not fucking around trying to figure out 924 00:52:13,120 --> 00:52:16,360 Speaker 1: what to do. So it's uh, I think we dropped 925 00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:19,040 Speaker 1: about thirty five gs recording our last album, and that's 926 00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:23,480 Speaker 1: just just the mechanical recording of everything. That's not including 927 00:52:24,560 --> 00:52:27,200 Speaker 1: all the travel and all the flights and all of 928 00:52:27,239 --> 00:52:30,600 Speaker 1: the hotels and everything else that goes into all that. 929 00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:33,279 Speaker 1: So you know, that's one of the things that a 930 00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:35,680 Speaker 1: part of our messages like we're not doing this to 931 00:52:35,719 --> 00:52:38,200 Speaker 1: get rich. We're taking the music royalties that we get 932 00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:42,200 Speaker 1: from selling music on iTunes or Apple Music or Spotify 933 00:52:42,239 --> 00:52:46,440 Speaker 1: if you stream stuff. Um, it's all going to you know, 934 00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:50,640 Speaker 1: two different special operations, sharitable organizations and first respond to 935 00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:54,080 Speaker 1: organizations too. So if you want to help support us 936 00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:57,319 Speaker 1: and help us offset costs, like buy a T shirt 937 00:52:57,400 --> 00:52:59,920 Speaker 1: on our website or you know, buy a hat or 938 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:02,719 Speaker 1: something along those lines, but that's that's how you can 939 00:53:02,760 --> 00:53:05,359 Speaker 1: help support us. But we'd rather you buy the music 940 00:53:05,480 --> 00:53:08,759 Speaker 1: and have the music, and that's kind of our contribution 941 00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:12,759 Speaker 1: to the veteran community, and we're trying to say, you know, 942 00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:15,399 Speaker 1: the whole reason that I started this saying was to say, 943 00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:20,080 Speaker 1: I've lived through some really tough times and lived through 944 00:53:20,200 --> 00:53:24,279 Speaker 1: some really fierce battles, and you know, struggle with my 945 00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:28,120 Speaker 1: share of you know, aftermath and everything else. And I'm 946 00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:33,120 Speaker 1: taking those negative experiences and I'm doing something healthy and 947 00:53:33,280 --> 00:53:36,520 Speaker 1: positive and creative with it, and I'm giving back to 948 00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:39,560 Speaker 1: the community, which has given me a tremendous sense of purpose. 949 00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:43,200 Speaker 1: So every now and again, I'll post some pictures of 950 00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:46,640 Speaker 1: myself from from my time in the military. And the 951 00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:48,600 Speaker 1: only reason I do that it's not to say like, 952 00:53:48,719 --> 00:53:51,719 Speaker 1: look at me and and things like that. It's to say, hey, 953 00:53:51,719 --> 00:53:54,640 Speaker 1: I'm a real person. I've been there, and if I 954 00:53:54,719 --> 00:53:56,759 Speaker 1: can do it, you can do it too. It's kind 955 00:53:56,760 --> 00:53:59,520 Speaker 1: of that old Ranger you know, motto of rangers lead 956 00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:03,200 Speaker 1: the way, lead by example, and I'm just trying to say, 957 00:54:03,440 --> 00:54:07,160 Speaker 1: I represent the community. I'm doing this and it's given 958 00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:09,439 Speaker 1: me a tremendous sense of purpose and I feel great 959 00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:12,400 Speaker 1: about it, and I love my bandmates and love what 960 00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:16,040 Speaker 1: I'm doing. So you know, find out what what you 961 00:54:16,200 --> 00:54:19,160 Speaker 1: can do, how you can get back and and do it. 962 00:54:19,400 --> 00:54:22,680 Speaker 1: You know, you're doing something great. You're doing software up 963 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:25,520 Speaker 1: radio right, and you're having people on and you're allowing 964 00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:28,239 Speaker 1: them to tell their stories and talk about what they're doing. 965 00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:31,360 Speaker 1: And you know, that's a great that's a great thing 966 00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:34,879 Speaker 1: in itself because you're giving people a platform to talk 967 00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:37,360 Speaker 1: about what they're doing and make a difference. You know, 968 00:54:37,600 --> 00:54:41,640 Speaker 1: so all good stuff. Well, it's it's great to get 969 00:54:41,719 --> 00:54:45,320 Speaker 1: to talk to different people, especially right now with the COVID. 970 00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:47,960 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we get to talk to people 971 00:54:48,239 --> 00:54:52,400 Speaker 1: every week with different walks of life and and so 972 00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:56,279 Speaker 1: I'm a music lover, so this was really exciting for 973 00:54:56,360 --> 00:54:58,600 Speaker 1: me today. But hold that dot because I want to 974 00:54:58,640 --> 00:55:01,759 Speaker 1: get back to where people can find your music. But 975 00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:04,759 Speaker 1: first have to read a quick ad for one of 976 00:55:04,840 --> 00:55:10,640 Speaker 1: our sponsors. So hello again everyone, it's me Steve Alstreia. 977 00:55:10,760 --> 00:55:13,279 Speaker 1: Once again, I wanted to let you know about this 978 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:17,680 Speaker 1: new app. It's the how We Reach coaching tool. Download 979 00:55:17,760 --> 00:55:20,120 Speaker 1: it and learn how to reach out to friends who 980 00:55:20,160 --> 00:55:22,719 Speaker 1: are going through a hard time. And as we all know, 981 00:55:23,120 --> 00:55:27,600 Speaker 1: suicide prevention is really big right now, especially in the 982 00:55:27,719 --> 00:55:30,840 Speaker 1: Special forces community. We just lost a couple more people 983 00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:34,800 Speaker 1: to that, so this is something that's near indeed all 984 00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:37,600 Speaker 1: of our hearts. Thanks to this app, you can get 985 00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:39,680 Speaker 1: helpful information on how to talk to friends who are 986 00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:43,240 Speaker 1: struggling and help them find the help that they deserve. 987 00:55:43,360 --> 00:55:47,239 Speaker 1: We all need support sometimes. Go to reach dot gov 988 00:55:47,400 --> 00:55:51,160 Speaker 1: that's R E A c H dot gov to learn 989 00:55:51,239 --> 00:55:55,040 Speaker 1: the steps everyone can take to prevent suicide. Check it 990 00:55:55,120 --> 00:56:00,040 Speaker 1: out how we reach coaching tool today. And please to 991 00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:03,040 Speaker 1: do is that folks check out on on your friends 992 00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:06,120 Speaker 1: and your relatives, reach out to them. If somebody struggling, 993 00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:09,839 Speaker 1: be there for him. So with that said, we're back. 994 00:56:11,040 --> 00:56:15,239 Speaker 1: We're talking with Brad Thomas. Uh, former ranger, Delta guy 995 00:56:15,320 --> 00:56:19,960 Speaker 1: and musician. You've pretty much covered the whole much of 996 00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:23,840 Speaker 1: you know, different things to do in your life. But 997 00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:27,560 Speaker 1: tell our listeners where they can find your music, where 998 00:56:27,640 --> 00:56:32,439 Speaker 1: they can buy it from, and what what's coming up? Okay, yeah, 999 00:56:32,560 --> 00:56:35,239 Speaker 1: so anywhere you know, First of all, Google is an 1000 00:56:35,239 --> 00:56:38,880 Speaker 1: amazing thing and I have people that still comments or 1001 00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:41,040 Speaker 1: make comments on social media about you know, Hey, where 1002 00:56:41,080 --> 00:56:44,319 Speaker 1: can I find your thing? Uh, It's on every music 1003 00:56:44,400 --> 00:56:46,800 Speaker 1: platform that you would normally get music. So wherever you 1004 00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:49,160 Speaker 1: normally get music, type in silence and light and you'll 1005 00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:54,759 Speaker 1: find it whether that's iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Um, there 1006 00:56:54,800 --> 00:56:58,840 Speaker 1: are fifty five other fifty seven other digital streaming platforms 1007 00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:01,680 Speaker 1: where you can find it YouTube. If you want a 1008 00:57:01,760 --> 00:57:07,320 Speaker 1: physical CD, they're available on Amazon, so you know, anywhere 1009 00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:11,960 Speaker 1: that you would normally get music, it's available there. Um. 1010 00:57:12,200 --> 00:57:14,640 Speaker 1: So what we've got going on is we just finished 1011 00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:16,760 Speaker 1: all the pre production kind of rehearsals and got all 1012 00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:19,800 Speaker 1: the tunes ironed out for album too, and we'll go 1013 00:57:19,880 --> 00:57:23,840 Speaker 1: into the studio mid June through mid July roughly and 1014 00:57:24,080 --> 00:57:28,240 Speaker 1: get all that recorded. That'll go to mixing and mastering 1015 00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:31,080 Speaker 1: and get get tweaked a little bit from there and 1016 00:57:31,520 --> 00:57:35,080 Speaker 1: hopefully be able to launch it, you know, end of August, 1017 00:57:35,320 --> 00:57:39,560 Speaker 1: beginning of September. That's probably being generous and very optimistic, 1018 00:57:39,760 --> 00:57:44,240 Speaker 1: but that's our goal. So we've got a publicist on 1019 00:57:44,400 --> 00:57:48,880 Speaker 1: board who is uh happens to be Assi's publicists too, 1020 00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:51,880 Speaker 1: so that's kind of cool, uh, kind of a cool thing. 1021 00:57:51,960 --> 00:57:55,280 Speaker 1: But she'll once we get into the studio and start recording, 1022 00:57:55,320 --> 00:57:57,560 Speaker 1: she'll get on board and help starting to promote things 1023 00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:03,280 Speaker 1: outside of uh, you know, veteran and soft related media 1024 00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:05,640 Speaker 1: and things like that. So we're looking forward to kind 1025 00:58:05,680 --> 00:58:08,120 Speaker 1: of being able to tell our story to a community 1026 00:58:08,240 --> 00:58:11,200 Speaker 1: that's never heard of us and and never heard of that. 1027 00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:13,880 Speaker 1: So that's going to be a good time. But yeah, 1028 00:58:13,960 --> 00:58:17,440 Speaker 1: by there's stuff available now. Our first albums out came 1029 00:58:17,480 --> 00:58:22,720 Speaker 1: out in December, and uh yeah, the second second album 1030 00:58:22,760 --> 00:58:24,840 Speaker 1: should be out hopefully by this September, and I think 1031 00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:28,040 Speaker 1: we're gonna do some vinyl and things like that. But um, 1032 00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:31,120 Speaker 1: just to mention again, you know, we're taking a percent 1033 00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:34,800 Speaker 1: of the the royalties music royalties that we're getting from 1034 00:58:34,800 --> 00:58:38,640 Speaker 1: selling music and streaming music. Uh, we're taking a percent 1035 00:58:38,720 --> 00:58:40,920 Speaker 1: of that and given it to two different charitable organizations. 1036 00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:44,160 Speaker 1: And the two charitable organizations that we're giving to one 1037 00:58:44,280 --> 00:58:48,600 Speaker 1: is Warrior's Heart and that's a physical place in Texas 1038 00:58:48,760 --> 00:58:52,040 Speaker 1: that was stood up by a former unit member buddy 1039 00:58:52,120 --> 00:58:56,280 Speaker 1: of mine named Tom Spooner. And they get guys who 1040 00:58:56,320 --> 00:58:59,400 Speaker 1: are struggling, they get them cleaned up because generally ptsd 1041 00:58:59,560 --> 00:59:02,040 Speaker 1: s and just something that you know, it's not a 1042 00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:04,480 Speaker 1: thing that just by itself that's usually wrapped up in 1043 00:59:04,560 --> 00:59:08,520 Speaker 1: a bunch of other things like substance abuse or uh 1044 00:59:08,840 --> 00:59:13,360 Speaker 1: you know, behavior that's not appropriate, whatever it might be. Um, 1045 00:59:13,760 --> 00:59:16,240 Speaker 1: they get guys cleaned up and they get them into 1046 00:59:16,320 --> 00:59:19,040 Speaker 1: treatment and they get them counseling, but they use art 1047 00:59:19,160 --> 00:59:21,960 Speaker 1: as a form of therapy. And I love that. I 1048 00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:26,520 Speaker 1: love that. It could be sculpting, it could be welding, 1049 00:59:26,800 --> 00:59:30,240 Speaker 1: it could be music, it could be drawing, painting, art, 1050 00:59:30,320 --> 00:59:32,680 Speaker 1: whatever it might be, but they use that as a 1051 00:59:32,760 --> 00:59:34,800 Speaker 1: form of therapy. And that's something that you know, is 1052 00:59:34,880 --> 00:59:38,080 Speaker 1: near and dear to me. The other organization is the 1053 00:59:38,120 --> 00:59:42,440 Speaker 1: Marine Raider Foundation, and they are a great group that 1054 00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:46,800 Speaker 1: directly helps families that are in need in the Marsac 1055 00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:51,640 Speaker 1: and Marine raider community. So if if a young Marine 1056 00:59:51,680 --> 00:59:54,040 Speaker 1: raider is killed in combat, you know, they're taking care 1057 00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:58,160 Speaker 1: of the family. They're getting the family travel arrangements if 1058 00:59:58,160 --> 01:00:00,440 Speaker 1: they need that. They're taking care of hotel rooms for 1059 01:00:00,560 --> 01:00:04,040 Speaker 1: family members. Uh, somebody's yard needs to be cut, whatever 1060 01:00:04,080 --> 01:00:07,360 Speaker 1: it might be. They're they're able to take funds and directly, 1061 01:00:08,040 --> 01:00:10,640 Speaker 1: you know, get those two, the families of fallen mars 1062 01:00:10,680 --> 01:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Ock raiders. So those are the two that we're supporting 1063 01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:17,560 Speaker 1: right now. And that may change, uh you know, maybe 1064 01:00:17,640 --> 01:00:20,120 Speaker 1: next year for tax purposes or something like that, but 1065 01:00:21,200 --> 01:00:24,400 Speaker 1: for right now, that's who we're contributing to. That's awesome. 1066 01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:29,200 Speaker 1: And then I haven't heard of the Marine Raider group, 1067 01:00:29,360 --> 01:00:32,840 Speaker 1: but I'll definitely check those guys out. You know, there's 1068 01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:36,000 Speaker 1: so many great as you mentioned earlier in the podcast, 1069 01:00:36,200 --> 01:00:39,120 Speaker 1: so many great foundations that are out there. They're doing 1070 01:00:39,480 --> 01:00:43,440 Speaker 1: great work for our special operators and ours who needed 1071 01:00:43,720 --> 01:00:47,360 Speaker 1: so I you know, personally, I I give to a 1072 01:00:47,440 --> 01:00:50,960 Speaker 1: couple and we encourage all of our readers and listeners 1073 01:00:51,040 --> 01:00:53,320 Speaker 1: to do the same. But make sure you check out 1074 01:00:53,440 --> 01:00:56,880 Speaker 1: Silence and Light with Brad Thomas before we go. I 1075 01:00:57,000 --> 01:01:00,200 Speaker 1: just need to let our listeners know if you want 1076 01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:02,560 Speaker 1: to get soft Reap on your phone, download our free 1077 01:01:02,640 --> 01:01:06,280 Speaker 1: mobile app and get easy access to our articles, podcasts, 1078 01:01:06,320 --> 01:01:10,080 Speaker 1: and gear reviews, all perfectly formatted to your device. Please 1079 01:01:10,080 --> 01:01:12,720 Speaker 1: subscribe to softwarep dot com to get access to our 1080 01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:16,520 Speaker 1: library of the books and our exclusive team room forms 1081 01:01:16,560 --> 01:01:21,400 Speaker 1: and content available on all your Apple and Android devices. Brad, 1082 01:01:21,480 --> 01:01:24,600 Speaker 1: I want to thank you once again being patient. I 1083 01:01:24,720 --> 01:01:28,560 Speaker 1: know it was we had some stuff go haywire on 1084 01:01:28,680 --> 01:01:31,680 Speaker 1: us this afternoon, but it was really great to talk 1085 01:01:31,760 --> 01:01:37,960 Speaker 1: to you and it's, uh, it's pretty interesting what you 1086 01:01:38,040 --> 01:01:41,440 Speaker 1: guys are doing. I think it's great that you guys are, 1087 01:01:41,800 --> 01:01:44,720 Speaker 1: you know, giving back to the community and the fact 1088 01:01:44,800 --> 01:01:48,800 Speaker 1: that a bunch of operators are out there making great 1089 01:01:48,920 --> 01:01:51,600 Speaker 1: music and we encourage all our listeners to check it out. 1090 01:01:51,680 --> 01:01:54,439 Speaker 1: It's really good stuff. So thanks for taking the time 1091 01:01:54,560 --> 01:01:57,440 Speaker 1: with us today. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. And like 1092 01:01:57,600 --> 01:01:59,640 Speaker 1: I said, you know, it's you guys are providing a 1093 01:01:59,680 --> 01:02:02,880 Speaker 1: great service and getting people a voice where they may 1094 01:02:02,960 --> 01:02:06,560 Speaker 1: not you know, be heard necessarily, and you know that's 1095 01:02:06,680 --> 01:02:09,680 Speaker 1: that's a tremendous service too. So we we appreciate you 1096 01:02:09,760 --> 01:02:13,400 Speaker 1: having us on and having me on and you know, 1097 01:02:13,560 --> 01:02:17,000 Speaker 1: help help spread the word. So thank you. Oh, I 1098 01:02:17,080 --> 01:02:20,800 Speaker 1: look forward to the second album and uh yeah, we'll definitely. Uh. 1099 01:02:21,360 --> 01:02:23,560 Speaker 1: I'd like to have you back again sometime in the 1100 01:02:23,680 --> 01:02:27,280 Speaker 1: future when you guys release some more music and maybe 1101 01:02:27,360 --> 01:02:29,880 Speaker 1: we can talk some more about that. Yeah, no, I'd 1102 01:02:29,920 --> 01:02:33,160 Speaker 1: love to. There's the it's gonna be slamming. We took it. 1103 01:02:33,320 --> 01:02:36,400 Speaker 1: We definitely took it up a notch and all around 1104 01:02:36,480 --> 01:02:40,240 Speaker 1: it just more mature songs, better songs everything and sweet 1105 01:02:40,840 --> 01:02:44,200 Speaker 1: found who we are and uh and we're looking forward 1106 01:02:44,240 --> 01:02:46,280 Speaker 1: to getting it out. So I would love to come 1107 01:02:46,320 --> 01:02:49,960 Speaker 1: back anytime. Man. Well for myself, Steve Belchhari Brad Thomas, 1108 01:02:50,360 --> 01:02:54,080 Speaker 1: please check out his band Silence and Light. We'll be 1109 01:02:54,160 --> 01:03:12,960 Speaker 1: back with another podcast here real soon. You've been listening 1110 01:03:13,080 --> 01:03:14,520 Speaker 1: to self red Lydia