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Speaker 1: Luteus. If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to soft Rep Radio Special operations, military news

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Speaker 1: and straight talk with the guys in the community. Hey,

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Speaker 1: what's going on? This is another episode of soft Rep

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Speaker 1: Radio and I am your host rad and I am

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Speaker 1: kicking it today with former major of the United States

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Speaker 1: Marine Corps OH three eleven. That is Infantry Lee Stucky,

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Speaker 1: who also is running a hero USA dot org or

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Speaker 1: if I could better say participating working with I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: let Lee say hello, So go ahead and introduce yourself. Yeah, hey, man,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you all have me on the show.

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Speaker 1: I want to thank Zack Armstrong for connecting to us,

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Speaker 1: a long long classmate for Mary Military Institute. We won't

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Speaker 1: go into why I went there. Wonderful. Yeah, Zach was

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Speaker 1: a great guest. I look forward to talking to him again.

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Speaker 1: I actually, you know what a great episode. Go check

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Speaker 1: that out. If you're listening to the SOFTWAREP I also

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Speaker 1: just want to say real quick to those of you listening.

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Speaker 1: You can save half off your SOFTWAREP dot com membership

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Speaker 1: right now if you go and register with podcast offer.

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Speaker 1: If you go to SOFTWAREP dot com Force Last podcast

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Speaker 1: Offer which is because you're listening to me and Lee talk.

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Speaker 1: We'll give you half off, so make sure you go

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Speaker 1: check that out. So let's kick off this interview. Yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: so Lee, you joined the Marines, because why set it

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Speaker 1: back up a little bit. A couple of years before that,

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Speaker 1: I always missedievous. We'll leave it at that. And I

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Speaker 1: was offered the opportunity to go to military school. My

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Speaker 1: parents said, you can go to military school or JUV

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Speaker 1: and I chose A So I to military school. And

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Speaker 1: while I was at military to school, I remember specifically

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Speaker 1: a staff Sergeant Sutton, who was a reconnaissance Marine, and

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Speaker 1: I mean the guy knew exactly what he wanted to

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Speaker 1: do all the time. The way he carried himself, just

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Speaker 1: everything about him was what I admired. And after I

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Speaker 1: graduated from Marion Military Institute, I went on to Auburn.

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Speaker 1: I had a really good time at Auburn. My freshman year,

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Speaker 1: I had a negative g p A and I told

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Speaker 1: myself at this point, if I continue with a negative

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Speaker 1: g p A, I'm not gonna amount to anything. And

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Speaker 1: I look back on my life and remember Staff Staring Sutton,

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Speaker 1: and I went and joined the Marine Corps. My parents

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Speaker 1: were terrified. My dad. My mom asked me who I

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Speaker 1: was going to visit at Parris Island and I said, no, Mom,

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Speaker 1: it's not an island, it's it's boot camp. And uh,

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Speaker 1: my dad said, I will buy you a new chap,

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Speaker 1: I'll buy you a new four wheeler. I'll buy you

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Speaker 1: whatever you want. You're not goining the Marine Corps And

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Speaker 1: I said, Dad, I'm not. I'm not right now. At

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Speaker 1: some point in my life I'll be able to buy

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Speaker 1: my own truck and buy my own foiler. But I

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Speaker 1: need a change or I'm never going to be successful.

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Speaker 1: And as soon as I went off, when I came back,

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Speaker 1: he went from you know, concerned parent to proud father.

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Speaker 1: And after that, my older brother joined a year later

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Speaker 1: in one of the Marine Corps as well. So we

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Speaker 1: were the first Marines in the family. And it went

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Speaker 1: fair to admiration within that first couple of years. And

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Speaker 1: so when you went in, you went in to be

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Speaker 1: a oh three eleven, which is infantry. And what transpired

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Speaker 1: from that, you know, what was your weapon of choice?

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Speaker 1: Tell my listener that's listening, like, what you've got to

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Speaker 1: do this? Yeah? So I started three eleven and one

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Speaker 1: was a machine gunner. Actually, I was a contract mortarman,

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Speaker 1: oh three forty one. So back then when we went

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Speaker 1: through school infantry, you had to finish the complete you know,

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Speaker 1: infantry course, and then after that you went to especially weapon.

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Speaker 1: And I showed up and on my paper and said

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Speaker 1: mortim and I didn't know what the mortar was. And

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Speaker 1: the sergeant came up to me and grabbed me and said, Stucky,

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Speaker 1: do you want to shoot a potato gun or do

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Speaker 1: you want to shoot a man's gun? And I was

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Speaker 1: like a man's gun. He's like, you're gonna be a

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Speaker 1: machine gun. You're not gonna shoot potatoes. And so he

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Speaker 1: made me a machine gunner in that interaction. And so

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Speaker 1: I became a machine gunner after that. And I towed

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Speaker 1: it to to forty Bravo, which shoots about a thousand

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Speaker 1: rounds per minute on the site. Right. I told you

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Speaker 1: that thing for about six six and a half years

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Speaker 1: to a point where I walked like this permanently for

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Speaker 1: a while from carrying it on our backs and heights.

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Speaker 1: But I love that weapon, and I knew that weapon

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Speaker 1: in and out, actually slept in. Yeah, the cruisal picks

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Speaker 1: carry pumping it through like Vietnam on your should Yeah right, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was my best friend and I literally slept in

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Speaker 1: the sleeping bag of that thing for years. Oh wow. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the two Bravo, that's like a seven point six to

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Speaker 1: round right, like by fifty four. Maybe I'm wrong, Craig,

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Speaker 1: and we actually have, Yeah, the golf and then the Bravo.

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Speaker 1: The golf, you would have to adjust the regulator, the

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Speaker 1: gas regulators, so at the at the fastest it will

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Speaker 1: shoot about nine fifty thousand bullets a minute. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you're you know. The terrible thing that I'll tell you is,

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Speaker 1: by the way, you're not just carrying that on flat land.

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Speaker 1: There's a thing called machine Gun Hill out in twenty

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Speaker 1: nine Palms, California, and you gotta run straight up the

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Speaker 1: hill with all the m oh yeah, it's it gets

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Speaker 1: it gets challenging. But I'll say my my fitness has

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Speaker 1: never seen a better time than the Marine Corps. I

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Speaker 1: bet right, pull up King probably, sir. Yeah, Now, it was.

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Speaker 1: It was a good though, you know, through through being enlistening,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be enlisted, and I wanted to know

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Speaker 1: what the Marines were going through, and you know what

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Speaker 1: it felt like the start at the bottom, and then

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Speaker 1: as I got to where I was getting promoted to

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Speaker 1: sergeant and looking at picking up staff and CEO. I

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Speaker 1: wanted to be an officer. And I served with some

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Speaker 1: officers in one of the tours and I didn't really

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Speaker 1: appreciate them and some of the eth school and world

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Speaker 1: decisions they made. And I wanted to be a good one.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be one with ethics and morals and

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Speaker 1: I want to make sure that I was taking care

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Speaker 1: of my marines. And that's the reason I got a commission.

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Speaker 1: I was at a point to where I started fighting

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Speaker 1: professional mixed martial arts. I was looking, you know, I

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Speaker 1: had that dream to be on the next Ultimate Fighter

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Speaker 1: and I was gonna get out and fight, and that

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Speaker 1: was gonna be My focus is running a restaurant with

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Speaker 1: my brother who got out and helped run Zoe's Kitchen,

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Speaker 1: and I was going to be a restaurateur and U

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Speaker 1: n an a fighter and trying to get into the UFC,

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Speaker 1: and I told myself, you know, I need to give

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Speaker 1: it a chance. I want to get a commission. I

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Speaker 1: want to be in a position to where I can

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Speaker 1: take care of of the marines under me. If I

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Speaker 1: don't enjoy it. I'll get out at four years as

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Speaker 1: a captain and I'll go on and continue fighting and

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Speaker 1: run restaurants. If I like it, I'll stay. And I

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Speaker 1: ended up staying in and doing twenty three years. Twenty

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Speaker 1: three commendable years. Wow that well, thanks, you know, from

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Speaker 1: a grateful nation. Appreciate it. Yeah, you know, how tall

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Speaker 1: are you? Because they usually give the two forty to

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Speaker 1: someone who's like five six. I'm just curious here when

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Speaker 1: I started carrying, but I lost three yeah, yeah, brought

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Speaker 1: you down. Yeah. I got a good friend he was

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Speaker 1: five too, he had he was also three eleven here

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Speaker 1: from Utah. I'll give him his call signs Razor. Give

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Speaker 1: him a shout out. And he just sent me a

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Speaker 1: picture one time of him with his entire ruck sack

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Speaker 1: the same size as him, you know, and he's got

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Speaker 1: to go up the hill, you know. And I'm just like,

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Speaker 1: I've never had so much more respect for Marines, even

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Speaker 1: coming from an Army son to join the Air Force myself.

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Speaker 1: You know, in the military family, we always joked about Marines.

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Speaker 1: But man, no, no, no chesty, all right, Lord and

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Speaker 1: savior of all war, all right for everyone, CHESTI watches

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Speaker 1: over and if you don't know, you will know because

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Speaker 1: that's who's really watching over you as CHESTI. So IE's

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Speaker 1: gonna put that out there Marine Corps, right, Oh yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: so I'll tell you. One of the things that made

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Speaker 1: me want to get from a did more than anything

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Speaker 1: is in a machine gun team, you have three people.

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Speaker 1: You have the gunner, the team leader of the ammo guy.

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Speaker 1: The ammo bear carries all the ammo. Ammo bear, and

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Speaker 1: so they don't tell you they're gonna fill up your

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Speaker 1: pack with all the ammo. And I remember looking like

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Speaker 1: a turtle like your friend probably looked at that giant

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Speaker 1: pack Phil And I was running up the hill and

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Speaker 1: as I'm running straight up the hill, I went backwards

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Speaker 1: and fell back down the hill and I couldn't even

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Speaker 1: get myself up where my team had to get me

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Speaker 1: up and like unload the m O and pick me

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Speaker 1: back up. And from that day four and I was

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Speaker 1: gonna be in it. I was gonna be a gunner.

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Speaker 1: I'm moving up to the gun. I want to stay

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Speaker 1: at gunner. I didn't care about being a team leader,

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Speaker 1: but I'm not carrying this ammo anymore. Ye. Wow, that's crazy.

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Speaker 1: That's crazy. So you spent twenty three years, you enlist,

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Speaker 1: you learned the ranks, you hear what your men need,

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Speaker 1: and you become the leader that you probably were inspired

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Speaker 1: by some others or that didn't have quite what you're

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Speaker 1: looking for to be that. And and now you're you've

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Speaker 1: gotten out, you've decommissioned from the Marine Corps little bit,

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Speaker 1: and you saw a need to create or help me

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Speaker 1: understand a hero USA dot orgon before you do, I,

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Speaker 1: I know there's outdoors in hunting and fishing and sports,

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Speaker 1: and you just connect people with with all sorts of opportunity.

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Speaker 1: Tell us about this please. Yeah. So when we started

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Speaker 1: a hero, so I went through three combat appointments. I

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Speaker 1: went so I actually deployed two thousand three to the

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Speaker 1: invasion of Iraq. I went over there as a machine gunner.

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Speaker 1: So did that deployment obviously a pretty kinnetic deployment. And

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Speaker 1: then fast forward getting the commission. I deployed as an

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Speaker 1: officer from two thousand and seven to two thousand and eight,

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Speaker 1: spent thirteen months over in Iraq. From my second combat apployment,

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Speaker 1: extremely connetic, and then the last one was in Mosel, Iraq,

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Speaker 1: when I was actually a liaison officer with a three

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Speaker 1: one calv and it was a very very bad place.

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Speaker 1: So MOS was definitely the most connectic combat I saw.

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Speaker 1: So after coming back from that comm at deployment two

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Speaker 1: thousand seven, I was blown up by a hunter pound

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Speaker 1: I e D. And that second deployment, so you know,

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Speaker 1: for two thousand seven to two thousand nine, I really

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Speaker 1: didn't tell the complete truth when you do your post

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Speaker 1: deployment assessments, and uh, you know why why leaders think

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Speaker 1: it's a good time to give you a post deployment

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Speaker 1: assessment right before you're going to leave. You know, the

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Speaker 1: one thing between you going on leading, it's filling out

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Speaker 1: the sheet of paper. So I just you know, you're

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Speaker 1: not honest on those things, and I would be it's

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Speaker 1: hard to find somebody who's actually honest and all that

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Speaker 1: how many drinks have you had or how much trauma

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Speaker 1: did you have in combat? You just want to go

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Speaker 1: on lead. So from two thousand seven and two thousand nine,

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Speaker 1: I had a gap, you know, of a year from deployment,

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Speaker 1: but I was blown up and I was blown up

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Speaker 1: and went through a lot of other attacks during two

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Speaker 1: thousand seven, two thousand and eight, employment, and I didn't

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Speaker 1: deal with it the right way. I was focused on

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Speaker 1: getting promoted. I was focused on, you know, being the

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Speaker 1: first guy to work, the last person to leave, making

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Speaker 1: sure I state, you know, in top shape and and

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Speaker 1: be competitive to pick up captain and following to pick

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Speaker 1: up major. And so I didn't tell anybody I was

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Speaker 1: having issues. And I was sleeping barely at all, having

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Speaker 1: a lot of nightmares. When I would sleep, they said

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Speaker 1: I was having night tears. I thought I was wet

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Speaker 1: in a bed for a long time, and I was

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Speaker 1: very embarrassed, obviously a single guy dating a girl and

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Speaker 1: when she wakes up, the bed's wet, and I thought

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Speaker 1: I was wetting to bed. But I was having night

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Speaker 1: tears and my body actually thought, you know, it was

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Speaker 1: I was burning, and so I would just sweat profusely.

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Speaker 1: So I didn't say anything to anyone for a long time.

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Speaker 1: And two years of not sleeping really was not great

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Speaker 1: for my health. Going to deployment in two thousand nine

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Speaker 1: to Mosel, and again I just dealt with it. I

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Speaker 1: dealt with not sleeping. I drank extra caffeine, extra rippitts

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Speaker 1: or whatever we drink over there, and I came back

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Speaker 1: in two thousand nine on recruiting duty and it all

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Speaker 1: hit me. You know, I went from Mosel, Iraq to

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Speaker 1: you know, Marine Corps recruiting duty in Alabama. And I

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Speaker 1: was back in my house, in my cabin where I'm

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Speaker 1: sitting right now, actually about three ft in front of

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Speaker 1: where I'm sitting, and I drank and drank and drank

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Speaker 1: and tried to sleep and tried to sleep, and I

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Speaker 1: was using alcohol to sleep and alcohol to cope and

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Speaker 1: alcohol to numb. And I went and I drank one night,

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Speaker 1: and as I was drinking, I made a decision to

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Speaker 1: kill myself and take my life. And at that night,

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Speaker 1: on Thursday and two thousand nine, I went to shoot

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Speaker 1: myself for the glock, and as I went to pull

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Speaker 1: the trigger, my cell phone was in front of me

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Speaker 1: on the counter, and it said mom, and my mom

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Speaker 1: must calling my phone. And she calls me once every

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Speaker 1: two weeks, but God told her to call me at

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Speaker 1: that time. And you know, a glock doesn't have a safety,

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Speaker 1: so she had that much time to call me, and

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Speaker 1: it rang through and I answered the phone and I

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Speaker 1: was crying, and my mom was concerned, so she came

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Speaker 1: out here and I didn't do it, took my guns,

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Speaker 1: and you know, she went and got me help, and

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Speaker 1: I went and saw people in my commander at the time,

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Speaker 1: the major was like, why didn't you ever tell me?

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Speaker 1: So I didn't want to tell anybody was weak. And

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Speaker 1: I'm a Marine officer. I'm supposed to be, you know,

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Speaker 1: the alpha male. I'm supposed to portray this person at strength.

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Speaker 1: I didn't want to tell anyone I was going through

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Speaker 1: these issues, and so I just did and I'm asked

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Speaker 1: it until it was almost too late. And so after

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Speaker 1: I went through getting help and and figuring out what

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Speaker 1: was wrong with me, I questioned myself, why am I assisted?

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Speaker 1: Why am I so weak? You know? Why am I

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Speaker 1: not being a man and a stronger person? And I

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Speaker 1: finally thought about it for a long time and realized

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Speaker 1: that if you go through a lot of trauma, if

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Speaker 1: you go through combat, if you get blown up, or

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Speaker 1: even if you're a civilian and you just go through

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Speaker 1: a catastrophic event or something that it scars you and

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Speaker 1: you don't have issues, you're actually probably a sociopath. And

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Speaker 1: so the fact that I was having issues after I

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Speaker 1: had gone through combat and after I was struggling meant

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Speaker 1: that I was a normal person having to go through

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Speaker 1: add normal events in my life. And so now I

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Speaker 1: realized that I've had to go through those things. So

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Speaker 1: now how can I put the pieces of the puzzle

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Speaker 1: back together? Because I'm not a weak man. I'm a

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Speaker 1: person who had to go to combat, and I'm a

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Speaker 1: person that was sent over there to take care of

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Speaker 1: others and and and lead marines. And and now when

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Speaker 1: I come back, I've got to put the pieces of

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Speaker 1: the puzzle back together. And so I immediately went out

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Speaker 1: and saying, if I'm going through this stuff, I have

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Speaker 1: other Marines that are going through stuff. And it's not

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Speaker 1: sucking up Buttercup. It's not Hey, you know, marines, keep driving.

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Speaker 1: We gotta take a time out and take a knee

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Speaker 1: every once in a while and really take an assessment

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Speaker 1: of our marines and our soldiers and our airmen, and

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Speaker 1: we gotta look at them and say, hey, listen, I

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Speaker 1: make mistakes. I've been hurt. I've gone through trauma. This

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Speaker 1: is how I got through my trauma. And as I

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Speaker 1: got older, and as I started realizing how powerful it

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Speaker 1: was to tell people you were having issues, I realized

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Speaker 1: then that this was my purpose, and so I opened

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Speaker 1: up the farm. I had a hundreds and four acres

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Speaker 1: at the time when I bought this farm from from

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Speaker 1: the invasion of a rap money. I use that I

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Speaker 1: never told anyone I had a farm. This is my

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Speaker 1: bow hunting place, and I was, like, nobody knows about it.

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Speaker 1: Once I opened this farm up and I started letting

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Speaker 1: veterans come out here and hunt white tail, God blessed

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Speaker 1: me with just enough money to buy the farm next door.

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Speaker 1: And once I opened up that property, God blessed me

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Speaker 1: with just enough to buy the next place. And now

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Speaker 1: the farm has grown exponentially, and now the programs have

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Speaker 1: gone from hunting white tail to hunting in forty countries

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Speaker 1: and eight or forty states and eight countries and doing

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Speaker 1: everything from you know, when we started, it was white

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Speaker 1: tail hut because that's what I love to do. But

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Speaker 1: I quickly realized that everyone doesn't like to hunt white tail.

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Speaker 1: Some people like to fish, some people like to ride motorcycles.

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Speaker 1: So we started programs, and we started growing programs at

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Speaker 1: a hero which is America's heroes enjoying recreation outdoors. And

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Speaker 1: we want to cover any any thing that we could

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Speaker 1: possibly do to connect veterans in first fort ponders together

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Speaker 1: so they can heal together. If it's a cup of

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Speaker 1: Joe for a hero, that's a coffee program will pay

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Speaker 1: for you wherever you live to go have coffee with

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Speaker 1: veterans and first responders to start the conversation. If it's

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Speaker 1: equine programs will connect you to an equine program so

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Speaker 1: you can get healed. You know you can heal through horses.

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Speaker 1: Whatever it is is not the important thing. The important

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Speaker 1: thing is getting like minded individuals together so we can

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Speaker 1: heal together, so we can realize, Hey, you're not you're

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Speaker 1: not alone. We're all going through this stuff. By the way,

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Speaker 1: this is what I was taking from the v A

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Speaker 1: thirty six pills. This is what I'm taking now nothing.

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Speaker 1: I'm sleeping so much better. And you know, I'm gonna say,

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Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor, so I'm not telling anybody out

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Speaker 1: there to not take medicine. But when you're when your

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Speaker 1: pills have all these warning labels on the side of

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Speaker 1: them and they give you a grocery bag full of them,

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Speaker 1: and you don't know which color does what, which thing

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Speaker 1: mixes with this thing will kill you, which thing this

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Speaker 1: might highten suicide? Why would you pour that in a

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Speaker 1: bucket and see when the bomb's going to go on.

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Speaker 1: So just the ability to bring veterans together and first

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Speaker 1: responders and say, hey, listen, these are the mistakes I've made.

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Speaker 1: This is how I got through them. This is the

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Speaker 1: obstacle that I came in contact with. This is how

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Speaker 1: I got through that obstacle. And just educate our veterans,

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Speaker 1: our first responders, and our families on how we can

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Speaker 1: heal together. We're never gonna be a hundred percent. I mean,

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Speaker 1: let's face it, after twelve years old, we're losing percentage

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Speaker 1: after that. But how can we get you as close

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Speaker 1: to as possible? Because you give yourself at a hundred

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Speaker 1: percent to the military. You know, when you go through

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Speaker 1: you know, processing and can you do a pull up? Hey? Come?

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Speaker 1: Can you run? Hey? Can you run faster? Can you

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Speaker 1: do this job? Quicker? Can you do this? Can you

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Speaker 1: do this? You give yourself a hundred percent to them,

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Speaker 1: and then sometimes you come out maybe not physically broken,

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Speaker 1: but you know, below the surface, there's just something that's

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Speaker 1: just been you know, that has been broken and and

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Speaker 1: it's okay to bring that to light and to get

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Speaker 1: help about it and to you know, like you said,

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Speaker 1: you said it best take a knee. It's like, can

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Speaker 1: you take a knee for just a second and catch

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Speaker 1: your breath because you have endured a lot. You did

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Speaker 1: three tours. You you're like, oh, y f one or

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Speaker 1: two Operation and Enduring Freedom. You're like, oh three is

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Speaker 1: like the first wave in you know, and then you

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Speaker 1: went back into oh seven, and then again you spent

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Speaker 1: thirteen months over there, right, and then Mosel that wasn't

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Speaker 1: And this is just you. And there's so many veterans

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Speaker 1: who have been through so much, even from like Granada

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Speaker 1: in the eighties, still who are out there like Desert Storm,

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Speaker 1: Desert Shield, uh, you know, dealing with you know operations Serpent,

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Speaker 1: Gothic Serpent, with Mogadishu, where these guys still have you

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Speaker 1: know issues, you know, these these combat storties where they've

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Speaker 1: been involved, you know Kosovo in the nineties, late nineties,

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Speaker 1: you know all of this. It's just like I'm really

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Speaker 1: just talking to you. If you've had any experiences out

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Speaker 1: there and you're you're listening to our our podcast session,

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Speaker 1: you know, I would just say that you know there

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Speaker 1: is someone out there can help you. We could be

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Speaker 1: your mom call right now. So like if you're waiting

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Speaker 1: for your mom to call, where it put it down,

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Speaker 1: step away from the pills. Okay, to think that I'll

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Speaker 1: add to that rat is I've never known anyone who's actually,

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Speaker 1: I hate saying successfully completed suicide, but I've never known

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Speaker 1: anyone that's done. Now. So everyone that I've known that

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Speaker 1: has completed suicide has been intoxicated or on a substance.

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Speaker 1: And you know, the biggest, the biggest way to just

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Speaker 1: continue the chaos is to add alcohol to it. And

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Speaker 1: I've gone to treatments twice. I finished treatment successfully. And

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you right now, I love the Marine Corps

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Speaker 1: and I'm Marine Corps through and through. But if if

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Speaker 1: we are the most fierce fighting force on this entire planet,

390
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Speaker 1: what if we were so? And that's what drives me

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Speaker 1: not so. I mean, we celebrate the Marine Corps birthday

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Speaker 1: and the whole goal is to see who can get

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Speaker 1: the most hammered that night. And we were we were,

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Speaker 1: you know, we we focus our traditions on you know,

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Speaker 1: Ton Tavern were born in a bar and all this stuff.

396
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Speaker 1: But meanwhile we're letting our young, long, young marines poison

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Speaker 1: their bodies with all of this stuff. And then you know,

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Speaker 1: if they get in trouble, if they get a d UI,

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Speaker 1: or if they get you know, drinking alcohol whatever, we

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Speaker 1: hammer them and we smoke them if they get in trouble,

401
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,359
Speaker 1: but we don't go to the problem, which is just alcohol.

402
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Speaker 1: And I'm not trying to. You know, God bless people

403
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Speaker 1: who can have a beer two and be okay. But

404
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Speaker 1: I've never seen any good things come on outcome. And

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Speaker 1: I've never been hammered and somebody walk up and say, leave,

406
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Speaker 1: you just made a great decision. But I've made some

407
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Speaker 1: really bad ones and I've destroyed a lot of relationships

408
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:49,800
Speaker 1: or somebody else has been drinking. But there's always alcohol involved.

409
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Speaker 1: And you know, now that I'm forty two, what did

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Speaker 1: it do for me? And so that's one of the

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Speaker 1: things as far as veterans, if you're listening, I can

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Speaker 1: promise you if you roll back to a year A

413
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Speaker 1: when I was going through retiring out of the Marine Corps, depression,

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Speaker 1: everything else that I I mean, I spent twenty three

415
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Speaker 1: years in the Marine Corps. That's what I did since

416
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:10,960
Speaker 1: I was nineteen years old. I went through depression and

417
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Speaker 1: I went through alcohol issues the last part of my career,

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Speaker 1: and where I was a year and a half ago

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Speaker 1: to where I am now is night and day. And

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Speaker 1: I changed one thing. I stopped drinking. That's the only

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Speaker 1: I went verily remembering to brush my teeth. And now

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Speaker 1: I run three nonprofits to LLCs and managed seven acres

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Speaker 1: and I did all that with one thing I changed.

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Speaker 1: That's it. And again I'm not sitting here saying you're

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Speaker 1: gonna go to hell if you drink a beer, but

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Speaker 1: I'm just telling you I'm living proof of I've stopped

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Speaker 1: one thing, whether it's a substance or whatever I mean,

428
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,680
Speaker 1: and I'm it's night and day. So it kills me

429
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:55,080
Speaker 1: because see people celebrating it and to see the new

430
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:57,920
Speaker 1: you know, every commercial you see is is sex and alcohol.

431
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:00,359
Speaker 1: And we got to stop teaching or young people with

432
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,840
Speaker 1: stuff because it doesn't make you cooler. It just makes

433
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:06,000
Speaker 1: you where you have no clarity, you make stupid decisions,

434
00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:08,640
Speaker 1: and then once you fall in your face, that's when

435
00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,000
Speaker 1: you know who your real friends are. You know, the

436
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,400
Speaker 1: ones who put their hands their foot on the back

437
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,160
Speaker 1: of your head are the ones who actually pick you up.

438
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:19,000
Speaker 1: So if you're listening and you're thinking about drinking. Don't start.

439
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:21,919
Speaker 1: If you've been drinking and there's chaos in your life,

440
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:24,080
Speaker 1: just stop it for a little while and watch it

441
00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,560
Speaker 1: clear up. I just try to go as long as

442
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,480
Speaker 1: you can. You know, telling you to be a quitter,

443
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:30,200
Speaker 1: and you just say, hey, I don't want to drink

444
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:32,840
Speaker 1: right this second. Give me thirty more seconds. Maybe that

445
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,520
Speaker 1: thirty seconds turns into two more minutes. Maybe that two

446
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,120
Speaker 1: minutes last a thirty minute session, and you're not having

447
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,760
Speaker 1: a beer. Maybe you can go to bed without having

448
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 1: that last beer. Maybe you can just wake up without

449
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,160
Speaker 1: having another beer. It's almost like when I quit smoking cigarettes.

450
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 1: I just kept my pack of like half a pack

451
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,359
Speaker 1: in my car, and if I wanted one, I was

452
00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:53,520
Speaker 1: a man enough I could choose to have one. But

453
00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:55,760
Speaker 1: I also told myself I was mad enough to not

454
00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 1: want one. I was like, I don't need one if

455
00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:59,120
Speaker 1: I don't want one, and I just like I had

456
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,159
Speaker 1: them there, I feel here. If I threw it all away,

457
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:03,160
Speaker 1: I would go and buy it again because I didn't

458
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:04,320
Speaker 1: have it, and I was like, well, I need to

459
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:05,879
Speaker 1: have it, so I'd go buy it. But if I

460
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,399
Speaker 1: had it, I could say I was stronger than it

461
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,680
Speaker 1: and I quit a cigarettes seventeen years ago, super hard

462
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,800
Speaker 1: to quit, addictive, addictive auditives you know, totally wants me

463
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 1: to keep smoking. You know, they wanted camel cash bro okay.

464
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,320
Speaker 1: I mean like, I was like, this is how much

465
00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:25,520
Speaker 1: money am I spending on this every day? And at

466
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: the time, it was like three dollars and thirty cents.

467
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:31,800
Speaker 1: Today their their packs are like twelve dollars some places.

468
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,720
Speaker 1: And so I quit smoking and I took all of

469
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,359
Speaker 1: that money every day and I bought combat gear and

470
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:40,040
Speaker 1: I would resell it. And now I have two stores,

471
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,000
Speaker 1: a full indoor arena that that was a kill house

472
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,520
Speaker 1: because about seventeen years ago, I took the money that

473
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 1: I was spending on my one habit, my one thing,

474
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:54,040
Speaker 1: and I flipped it into a positive. And now today

475
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,639
Speaker 1: I swear it's because I quit smoking cigarettes and I

476
00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,720
Speaker 1: bettered myself. I helped I got healthier. I was doing

477
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 1: war games on the every weekend and I was always

478
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,480
Speaker 1: heavy breathing smoking. I was like, this is killing me.

479
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,159
Speaker 1: I want to be active. I'm fighting against like nineteen

480
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 1: year olds and I was thirty maybe no seventeen years

481
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:11,639
Speaker 1: I was like twenty something plus. You know what, I

482
00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:14,439
Speaker 1: didn't want my kids to see me smoking cigarettes. So

483
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,000
Speaker 1: whether it's alcohol or smoking, I just kind of wanted

484
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 1: him not to see that, you know. So I had

485
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 1: a lot of reasons to kick it. So I did it,

486
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:22,680
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, it's not easy, and I'm just

487
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,159
Speaker 1: trying to be vulnerable and open up and say, you know,

488
00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,600
Speaker 1: nobody's perfect. We all have vices out there, and all

489
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:30,760
Speaker 1: you have to do is just try your best to

490
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,520
Speaker 1: just kick it. And uh, yeah, you know it just

491
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,160
Speaker 1: it takes a dumb moment with alcohol. You know, it's

492
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,639
Speaker 1: just a dumb moment. It really does. Think about this,

493
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:45,720
Speaker 1: I think about let's let's just pretend the military combat

494
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: pretty stressful job. Regardless of what branch gonna put that is,

495
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,359
Speaker 1: that's a pretty high risk job. Then we're gonna add alcohol,

496
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,200
Speaker 1: so they've probably got trauma, they're probably gonna drink. Now,

497
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:03,560
Speaker 1: now we've got alcohol end a high intensity, high risk occupation.

498
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 1: And then we're gonna sprinkle in some medications from a

499
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 1: psychiatrist that sees you once every two years. They have

500
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 1: warning labels and we're just gonna see if everything works out.

501
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 1: Good luck. It's just crazy. And you know now that

502
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,880
Speaker 1: I'm on this end of it, I realized that when

503
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,159
Speaker 1: they were giving me Ambient, and I took Ambia for

504
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,320
Speaker 1: thirteen years, and after my last UH, I was at

505
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:30,239
Speaker 1: Wounded Warrior Battalion when died War to the East. When

506
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:33,000
Speaker 1: I retired from the Marine Corps, one of the psychiatrists

507
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,159
Speaker 1: that I end up saying said, you're not supposed to

508
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 1: take Ambian for longer than six months if you don't

509
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:45,080
Speaker 1: have a traumatic brain injury or post traumatic stress. This sword.

510
00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:49,440
Speaker 1: If you have a traumatic brain injury or post traumatic stress,

511
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: you're never supposed to be prescribed Ambient. I had both,

512
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:58,480
Speaker 1: and I was on Ambian for thirteen straight years. They said,

513
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 1: the Navy has probably killed you. You're before you would

514
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 1: have died. It's crazy, but that's all I'm saying. Like

515
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 1: he's magic. There's are such thing as a magic pill.

516
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,280
Speaker 1: There's not. Well, now that you know he's led your

517
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 1: He played the Joker in Batman and he died on

518
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 1: that movie set because they said he was taking sleeping

519
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: aids and like mixed it with a drink. You know,

520
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:18,199
Speaker 1: he probably just like went bam, ties it back and

521
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,480
Speaker 1: went to bed and didn't wake up. I mean, that's

522
00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 1: something you know, that's just not to be kind of

523
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 1: mixed up, like you said. They just give you these

524
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:26,560
Speaker 1: things and say take these and we'll see how you

525
00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:28,119
Speaker 1: do in two more years when we see you again,

526
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,439
Speaker 1: if we see you again. For people out there that

527
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:34,479
Speaker 1: all listen, I just hope that you really look at

528
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:36,800
Speaker 1: the pills you're taking it. And so for American for

529
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,560
Speaker 1: he wrote for our program, what I had to do

530
00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, about four years ago, is

531
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 1: we made an alcohol free All of our events are

532
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 1: alcohol free. People who participate in our event, even if

533
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:52,280
Speaker 1: it's not a veteran, is alcohol free. It's because I realized,

534
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:55,720
Speaker 1: like we realize a liability. I don't know if you're

535
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,560
Speaker 1: a veteran that's been sober for two years that had

536
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 1: a previous alcohol issue. And so the last thing I

537
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,800
Speaker 1: want to do is put together a veterans retreat that's

538
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,920
Speaker 1: supposed to make you healthier and happier, reconnect you to veterans.

539
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,880
Speaker 1: And then I just happened to get alcohol donated because

540
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: I've been to some veteran nonprofits that alcohol is flowing

541
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:18,240
Speaker 1: and it's just a bad, bad deal. And so if

542
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: I invite this person, like I invite rad I didn't know.

543
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,280
Speaker 1: You've been sober for a couple of years. Your wife

544
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 1: lets you come. You come to the event and I

545
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: offer you to alcohol, maybe peer pressure a little bit.

546
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:30,959
Speaker 1: You know, Hey, it's just a few drains, and then

547
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,000
Speaker 1: you fall off the wagon and my nonprofit vent. The

548
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,679
Speaker 1: donors are paying for this booze. It's all bad. So

549
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:41,199
Speaker 1: we removed alcohol from everything. There's no alcohol period. I

550
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,840
Speaker 1: make them sign waivers. I enforced it. I want you

551
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,399
Speaker 1: to come to an a Hero event. I want you

552
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,600
Speaker 1: to remember the connections you made. I want you to

553
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:52,960
Speaker 1: remember the time you had, and I want you to

554
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 1: have clarities throughout the event. And I want to look

555
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 1: at you in the eyeballs with a sober face and

556
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,520
Speaker 1: say we're gonna help you, and I'll connect you to

557
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,679
Speaker 1: the resources and you'll remember it. Instead of me flying

558
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 1: you somewhere for four days, you get boozed up for

559
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:08,920
Speaker 1: the whole weekend, and then at the end of it,

560
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,199
Speaker 1: you don't remember. At the top, that's not what we

561
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 1: do with donation dollars. And so if people are listening,

562
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,120
Speaker 1: if you're donating to a nonprofit, you need to check

563
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:19,360
Speaker 1: and see if they've got an alcohol policy, because if

564
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,040
Speaker 1: not you might be paying for them to get boozed

565
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:26,080
Speaker 1: up and take bills. Yeah, kind of counterproductive to the

566
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,800
Speaker 1: situation when you're trying to, you know, advocate for stopping

567
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:31,920
Speaker 1: that and then having it on hand. And again, you

568
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:33,879
Speaker 1: don't want to be the reason why somebody, you know,

569
00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 1: jump back on the wagon. Yeah, but it's a cultural thing,

570
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: you're right, because it's the Labor Day barbecue, it's the

571
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: you know, it's a cultural thing, right, It's the fourth

572
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,640
Speaker 1: July with the grill and a cold one. It's the

573
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 1: ballpark with the cold one and a hot dog. It's

574
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,640
Speaker 1: the you know, we see it. You know, it's everywhere.

575
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,000
Speaker 1: There's a capitalism involved with it, of course, right, you know,

576
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 1: we can't get away from brand names of the stuff.

577
00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 1: No matter where you turn right, whether you're driving down

578
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,040
Speaker 1: the freeway, it pops up on a billboard and it's

579
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,960
Speaker 1: like time for a cold one or that little I

580
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,800
Speaker 1: want to say trigger that they're everywhere, which is why

581
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 1: it's such a hard thing to kick with alcohol, which

582
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,320
Speaker 1: is why what you're saying makes sense. If you're gonna

583
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 1: come to the event, you come to the event to

584
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 1: be a dry event, right, Like, yeah, okay, cool, I'll

585
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:18,280
Speaker 1: have some Mountain Deer or whatever other things you want

586
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: to have, but at least just not the alcohol. Like

587
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 1: now about a second boy, a second day at the event,

588
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 1: I can usually tell if somebody's bad, and I'll tell everybody,

589
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 1: like I'll tell everyone open kimono, like, hey, I've been

590
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 1: to treatment. I liked it so much, i went twice.

591
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:36,920
Speaker 1: I'm very open with everyone about it, you know, And

592
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: I tell everybody I went through this stuff. And and

593
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 1: this is the reason you're not drinking this weekend. If

594
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 1: you have any issues throughout the weekend, if you have

595
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:48,320
Speaker 1: dt S, if you're shaken, if you don't feel good,

596
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:50,440
Speaker 1: and you are a heavy drinker, please come see me

597
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 1: in confidence. And then I've actually taken people from that

598
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,080
Speaker 1: event and flowing them out to Warrior's Heart within a week,

599
00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 1: which is a fabulous place out in Texas in San Antonio,

600
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: Texas called Warriors Hard and I'll flown veterans out there

601
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,480
Speaker 1: within a week to go get treated because they needed treatment.

602
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 1: It's I'm not gonna judge anyone who's going through issues.

603
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,120
Speaker 1: The whole purpose of coming to an a Hero event

604
00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:17,160
Speaker 1: is for me to find out what that perceived gap is.

605
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,000
Speaker 1: What that thing is that you feel is just killing

606
00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:25,280
Speaker 1: your life or ruining progression. And then I'm gonna connect

607
00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:27,960
Speaker 1: you to that resource to where that that issue is gone.

608
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,880
Speaker 1: Whether it be anger management, whether it be alcohol treatment,

609
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,000
Speaker 1: whether it be finances, getting you in touch with the

610
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: financial counsel, VA benefits, whatever those things are, our team

611
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,040
Speaker 1: will connect you and work to connect you with that

612
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 1: thing to get help in that area. So when you

613
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 1: leave on Sunday, you have hope, You have hope, and

614
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 1: you have resolution. Company, my folks, is a Shawn Spoon,

615
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: Senator in chief of software dot Com, just here to

616
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 1: say thank you for listening to the Software Radio podcast.

617
00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 1: We sure appreciate you giving us your time. And here's

618
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 1: a special offer for were you if you're a new

619
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 1: member off your annual membership to soft rep. Just click

620
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:06,240
Speaker 1: the link at the bottom of the page that brought

621
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:08,760
Speaker 1: you to us today, and from all of us here

622
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 1: at soft Rep, thank you for listening. That's a wonderful

623
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 1: thing that you do. Now. Is there is there a

624
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,280
Speaker 1: way that you know through is it a hero USA

625
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,200
Speaker 1: dot org that you know a veteran or first responder

626
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 1: like out there listening can reach out and you know

627
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 1: start the process to open up to you guys and

628
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:30,040
Speaker 1: say hey, what's up. Yeah, a hero USA dot org.

629
00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,800
Speaker 1: And we started with just purple Heart recipients from Afghanistan

630
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 1: and Iraq. And then after doing that for a couple

631
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,760
Speaker 1: of years back in two thousand and ten, we realized

632
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 1: that we were we weren't taking care of our Vietnam

633
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 1: vet and so we opened that up. And then we

634
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:46,360
Speaker 1: realized that there were people who didn't have a purple

635
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 1: heart who would commit suicide. So we opened it up

636
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:53,040
Speaker 1: to combat veterans. And then at this past year, I

637
00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 1: had a really good friend of mine, Jeff Parker, who

638
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 1: works at Yeager Pro is one of their marketing directors,

639
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 1: and he said, late, we don't have are relaxing time

640
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 1: coming back. When you all go to war, you come

641
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 1: back as a military member and you're safe at home.

642
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,840
Speaker 1: In America, we go to combat every day as police

643
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:13,680
Speaker 1: officers were constantly in harm's way, and we don't have

644
00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,560
Speaker 1: a VA. We don't have the resources veterans do. And

645
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:19,440
Speaker 1: so that made me think about it, and I pulled

646
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,240
Speaker 1: my board in and it was a unanimous bode and

647
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 1: we open it up the first responders and we're gonna

648
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 1: help them, there's not a v A form. We're gonna

649
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,280
Speaker 1: support them, We're gonna resources to help them. And so

650
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:34,360
Speaker 1: now we support veterans and first responders, and today we

651
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 1: brought in about eleven thousand veterans and we've stopped hundreds

652
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,360
Speaker 1: of suicides with the fantastic community that we have an

653
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:43,640
Speaker 1: eight hero And it's not me, It's not least stuck you.

654
00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 1: There's no way I can do this, you know. It's

655
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 1: all of the people that give of their time. It's

656
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,520
Speaker 1: all the boat owners in Pensacola and Orange Beach, It's

657
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:54,760
Speaker 1: the people who open up their farms and making County

658
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 1: and Shorter Alabama. I mean people all over the country

659
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,120
Speaker 1: that open their arms up for a hero because they

660
00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 1: know that we're just trying to save locks. So yeah,

661
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,680
Speaker 1: I mean you can absolutely go there. And our board

662
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 1: is all volunteer. I probably make negative eighty thousand dollars

663
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 1: a year being the CEO of A here. I'm the

664
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 1: janitor to the CEO of I mean, none of us

665
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,640
Speaker 1: get paid. We're all volunteers. And my farm where we're

666
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 1: sitting right now, we've had over eight thousand vetterans stay

667
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,120
Speaker 1: in this cabin right here, and I don't know if

668
00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 1: you've ever made eight thousand bump beds, but it ain't fine.

669
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:32,520
Speaker 1: But this place you can hear this picture of how Carpenter.

670
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 1: This is a picture from Kyle Carpenter in the White

671
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,600
Speaker 1: House when he got his Medal of Honor, and Kyle

672
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: stayed here, and so I've had some history books stay

673
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:44,240
Speaker 1: in this cabin and the people that we've had walk

674
00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:48,640
Speaker 1: this farm or I mean, this is Holly Grant. We've

675
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 1: named all of our green fields after a renter and

676
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:53,240
Speaker 1: who's either been killed in action or wounded in action.

677
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 1: I've had Navy Cross recipients, Medal of Honor recipients, people

678
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:02,160
Speaker 1: who have actually given their life for America, have died overseas,

679
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:06,000
Speaker 1: been brought back miraculously, have come out here and enjoyed

680
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:09,200
Speaker 1: outdoor recreation. And so I'm just very humble to be

681
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,439
Speaker 1: the gatekeeper and pay the light bill to bring these

682
00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:15,120
Speaker 1: well deserving veterans and first responders out here to enjoy this.

683
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:20,160
Speaker 1: It's a very commendable thing that you're doing. And you know, uh,

684
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 1: and it's true. You know that's cool. The picture you

685
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 1: have over their Carpenter right in the gold frame right there,

686
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:27,480
Speaker 1: Maybe you can tug your camera just a little bit

687
00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,400
Speaker 1: so we can see that because it's just right there. Now.

688
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:33,880
Speaker 1: That's cool, No, that's way cool. And so thus and

689
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:36,880
Speaker 1: different veterans coming through your cabin that you're at right now,

690
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:40,200
Speaker 1: let alone all around the country. And you've said eight countries,

691
00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:42,840
Speaker 1: but you've you go and shoot whitetail. You guys go

692
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:46,239
Speaker 1: fly fishing, probably river rafting. Uh. You know what I

693
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,400
Speaker 1: find to be fun is I find solace working with

694
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,880
Speaker 1: veterans here locally in Utah is we do air soft

695
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,560
Speaker 1: war games. And so you know, this gives them that

696
00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:57,560
Speaker 1: opportunity to come out and put some of that battle

697
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,399
Speaker 1: rattle that they've worn all the time, you know, bump

698
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:04,280
Speaker 1: the elbows with people who maybe could never join because

699
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:07,000
Speaker 1: of asthma, but they would be Captain America if they

700
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 1: had a chance. So this guy who maybe went and

701
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:13,399
Speaker 1: did that, he becomes this professional football player, if you will,

702
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,439
Speaker 1: a baseball player to these guys and they're like, oh

703
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,359
Speaker 1: my gosh, dude. He's like, yeah, hey, let me teach

704
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 1: you how to wear your boots a little better, or

705
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 1: let me teach you how to like, you know, blouse

706
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:24,000
Speaker 1: up your don't get no bugs inside your uniform, you know,

707
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,320
Speaker 1: while we're playing war games with these these younger kids,

708
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 1: and so they almost become a mentor immediately out there,

709
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,399
Speaker 1: you know, with their stories and their heroic here was heroics,

710
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:36,160
Speaker 1: you know. I've worked with also thousands of different veterans

711
00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,279
Speaker 1: over the course of twenty years running war games here.

712
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,560
Speaker 1: It's just been a huge, you know, outlet for him.

713
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 1: I've got guys who are former Green Berets, we've been

714
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,759
Speaker 1: blown up. Who are you know, doing courses again being

715
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,759
Speaker 1: able to teach and give some you know, like room

716
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:55,880
Speaker 1: clearing knowledge to individuals who are eager to learn from them,

717
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,960
Speaker 1: just in a simple sporting of like war games. And

718
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 1: with you having all these acres, all you would need

719
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,200
Speaker 1: is like a couple of acres to host some trench

720
00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 1: warfare air soft war games. You let me know, because

721
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:12,239
Speaker 1: I I know a guy. Okay, I know a guy.

722
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 1: I I swear it, come out there and play some

723
00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:19,680
Speaker 1: war games. The disclaimer though, So I got back from

724
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:22,000
Speaker 1: the invasion of Iraq in two thousand three and we

725
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:25,760
Speaker 1: did military Operation Urban Terrain. So we were raiding houses

726
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,719
Speaker 1: for seven months, raiding villages for seven months, and I

727
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:31,279
Speaker 1: came back and I've been back in the stage for

728
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,360
Speaker 1: maybe a week, and my body invited me to play paintball,

729
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 1: and I've never played paintball. I didn't even know what

730
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 1: I mean, I kind of knew what it was, I

731
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,400
Speaker 1: didn't know, and so I was chest kicking people and

732
00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 1: just laying the law down. I killed everybody out there.

733
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:46,360
Speaker 1: My body comes up in shapes and he's like, dude,

734
00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:48,920
Speaker 1: this is my ten year old cousin's birthday. What are

735
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: you doing. I was just waking kid. Be careful who

736
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:58,399
Speaker 1: you invite the birthday parties. It's the Marines. No, it's

737
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:00,200
Speaker 1: the Marines. And I'll tell you right now because I

738
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:02,319
Speaker 1: I sell air soft guns, right, And so every time

739
00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:04,520
Speaker 1: a marine comes in and I find out that a marine,

740
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,719
Speaker 1: I'm like, don't pull the charging handle, Like the first

741
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:10,520
Speaker 1: thing you do, you like, please, don't pull the charging handle. Okay,

742
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:12,520
Speaker 1: let me let me show you. Just pull it back

743
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:14,640
Speaker 1: a little bit. It's an air soft gun. Because I

744
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:17,000
Speaker 1: had a marine just like wham, pull it back and

745
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,480
Speaker 1: it's He's like, did you want the springs and stuff

746
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:22,680
Speaker 1: out of that? And I was like, so there is that,

747
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:25,439
Speaker 1: you know. I had another guy come home and straight

748
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:27,520
Speaker 1: from Afghanistan and he put the night vision on We're

749
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 1: doing a night game and he dropped night vision and

750
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:31,920
Speaker 1: we have tracer rounds, so when you're shooting them through

751
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,400
Speaker 1: the night vision, it just looks just like tracers. And

752
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:36,359
Speaker 1: so he had to go sit down for a minute.

753
00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:38,239
Speaker 1: He's like, you know, it just sucked me right back

754
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:41,400
Speaker 1: into the nods and to that tracer environment. And I

755
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:43,840
Speaker 1: was like, okay, cool, well you're home around brothers. We

756
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:46,600
Speaker 1: got you. We'll get you home again. That's the point.

757
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:49,239
Speaker 1: You know your home. You know, if you need help,

758
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:51,960
Speaker 1: you can reach out. I'm available, and I say it

759
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:56,040
Speaker 1: on all of the podcast episodes. It's rad Rocking on Instagram.

760
00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:57,880
Speaker 1: You can hit me up and say, hey, Rad you

761
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,200
Speaker 1: know I was listening and you said you can reach me.

762
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 1: And it's two in the morning. I'll try to respond.

763
00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:04,480
Speaker 1: Just if I don't respond it too in the morning

764
00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:06,480
Speaker 1: and you're tripping out, just give me a minute to

765
00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:08,120
Speaker 1: wake up and I will respond. So you have to

766
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,759
Speaker 1: wait to me for me to answer. Okay, don't do

767
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:15,640
Speaker 1: anything until I reply. I'm gonna take you up on

768
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:17,960
Speaker 1: the air. So we got plenty of places I hear

769
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:20,240
Speaker 1: at the farm, so my deer get a little freaked

770
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:22,320
Speaker 1: out they're usually spold, so I don't know how they

771
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,040
Speaker 1: take to it, but we'll adjust. I have stalked deer

772
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:28,640
Speaker 1: thinking it was people in the war games here in Utah.

773
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,239
Speaker 1: I was moving through like this old pond area and

774
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:33,959
Speaker 1: it was like weeds that are all tan and dried out,

775
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,480
Speaker 1: and I was just moving. I heard this like rustling,

776
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,040
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, I got a couple of guys,

777
00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:41,040
Speaker 1: I'm moving on. Next thing I know, did you right

778
00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:42,840
Speaker 1: in front of me? This deer goes bold right in

779
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:45,239
Speaker 1: front of me. I was literally stalking a deer pitch

780
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 1: black darkness, and I was like, okay, rat deer kill people,

781
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,640
Speaker 1: all right, like they could literally like beat the crap

782
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:53,880
Speaker 1: out of you. Bro ta ta ta ta punching you

783
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:59,000
Speaker 1: air soft gun will do nothing. Yeah, I've seen I've

784
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,560
Speaker 1: seen the video where that eight point buck attacks that guy.

785
00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 1: I wouldn't fight one, but just being out here though

786
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:09,440
Speaker 1: around the farm, you would love to see the farm

787
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,680
Speaker 1: and see how we dedicated the whole farm to the veterans.

788
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,200
Speaker 1: And when you go around, you know it will have

789
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:17,640
Speaker 1: the picture of Kyle. There's an area named after Kyle,

790
00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:19,560
Speaker 1: and in the shooting house it has this medal of

791
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:21,440
Speaker 1: honor citation up in front of it, so when you're

792
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:23,840
Speaker 1: freezing your tail off at four in the morning, you

793
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,719
Speaker 1: can read what Kyle did. And it's also an opportunity

794
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:30,320
Speaker 1: for the family members who have lost their loved ones

795
00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:34,040
Speaker 1: to have a dedicated area and I send them updated

796
00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:36,640
Speaker 1: videos and pictures of their loved ones that were killed

797
00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:39,600
Speaker 1: in combat and say that their name will never be forgotten.

798
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:42,080
Speaker 1: They will always live at a Hero Farms, they will

799
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:45,480
Speaker 1: always be here with us. And so it's very it's

800
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 1: just just a humbling feeling. But yeah, I mean the

801
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:51,680
Speaker 1: programs are read. I'll tell you some of the neatest

802
00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:55,160
Speaker 1: programs I want to get into this is we had entertainment.

803
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:58,480
Speaker 1: We always had music as a part of every weekend,

804
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:01,280
Speaker 1: anytime I had any opportunit. You need to have country music.

805
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:03,200
Speaker 1: I had one of my buddies and friend that lives

806
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 1: down the road, Kevin Adair, come play for the veterans

807
00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 1: and he's been playing for twelve thirteen years. Wouldn't take

808
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:12,640
Speaker 1: gas money and I could call him up at the

809
00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:15,239
Speaker 1: last minute he would come over and play music. And

810
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:18,640
Speaker 1: fast forward to now, in the last couple of years,

811
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:22,279
Speaker 1: we linked up with Operation Song and through Operations song.

812
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:25,399
Speaker 1: We started Music for a Hero and what we do

813
00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:28,799
Speaker 1: is we bring in singers and songwriters Jeff Sylvie out

814
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:33,759
Speaker 1: of Nashville, Kevin, Kevin Adair, Rusty Tabor, Mike Karrada, who's

815
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:37,080
Speaker 1: a retired bring colonel is also a fantastic musician, and

816
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:41,279
Speaker 1: we team up the veterans with the musicians and they

817
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:44,200
Speaker 1: talk about combat, they talk about whatever is bothering them

818
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,040
Speaker 1: and their trauma they went through and they write a

819
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:51,319
Speaker 1: song together and then the musicians play it for the

820
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:55,319
Speaker 1: crowd that night. And so I watched it, and I

821
00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 1: watched healing take place with the veterans, and the vet

822
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,480
Speaker 1: earns were healing through talking about the things they went through.

823
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:06,200
Speaker 1: And then at the end of it, you can see

824
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:09,959
Speaker 1: the admiration from the musicians and they were a part

825
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 1: of this healing process. There was no alcohol involved, there

826
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:17,520
Speaker 1: was no pill needed. They had hugs, they had tears,

827
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,839
Speaker 1: they had happiness, they had stories, and at the end

828
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 1: of it, I'll watch healing take place through music. And

829
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:27,799
Speaker 1: so we've really adopted this Music for a Hero so much.

830
00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:30,320
Speaker 1: We do it once a quarter now and Kevin Adair

831
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,560
Speaker 1: is one of He's the main guy that runs music

832
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 1: for a hero, and I wanted to play for your

833
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 1: listeners if you don't mind. No, I don't as a

834
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:39,879
Speaker 1: matter of fact. And I think I kind of looked

835
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:42,359
Speaker 1: him up just real quick and uh noticed I think

836
00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:46,319
Speaker 1: streams on SoundCloud, right am? I understanding that Kevin does,

837
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:48,600
Speaker 1: and he's here to play for us right now if

838
00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:53,640
Speaker 1: you can get him on. Yeah, dude, let's go ahead. Hey, guys,

839
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:59,520
Speaker 1: mentally welcome, Welcome to Software Radio. Kevin. Hey, thank you.

840
00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:03,560
Speaker 1: It is I am who I am, my friend, but

841
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,279
Speaker 1: no problem. Nice to meet you as well, Kevin. Now,

842
00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:08,000
Speaker 1: I think we can listen to some of your songs

843
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,600
Speaker 1: on SoundCloud. Is that right there out there? Yeah, they're

844
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:13,480
Speaker 1: on SoundCloud. Have a couple of little sites here on SoundCloud,

845
00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:16,839
Speaker 1: reverb Nation and a little small on YouTube one. But yeah,

846
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,960
Speaker 1: you can find them there. And some of the songs

847
00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:21,040
Speaker 1: that we had written with operations, you can find some

848
00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:22,879
Speaker 1: of those songs there too. So tell him the name

849
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 1: of the album. Yeah, so I'm gonna I'm gonna go

850
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:27,480
Speaker 1: ahead introduce you. You can tell us the name of

851
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:30,160
Speaker 1: the album, and you're gonna play us a jam from it,

852
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:32,560
Speaker 1: and you have the undivided attention to go ahead and

853
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:36,000
Speaker 1: introduce it and play it. Sure, yeah, absolutely, Um, thank you, buddy.

854
00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:38,239
Speaker 1: The title of the album coming up is gonna be

855
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,880
Speaker 1: called almost a memorial because it literally was almost a memorial.

856
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:45,879
Speaker 1: I was stricken with a disease about two years ago

857
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:48,320
Speaker 1: and a man right here actually pulled me out of

858
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,359
Speaker 1: a dark spot. I feel so compelled to help these

859
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:54,440
Speaker 1: guys out and listening to their stories and I've I've

860
00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 1: been a part of writing some of the most powerful

861
00:42:56,560 --> 00:42:59,920
Speaker 1: songs and they're true, and they're all true. Is that's

862
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:02,920
Speaker 1: it really inspires me to continue and keep going with that.

863
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:07,080
Speaker 1: We put together a compilation of songs almost memorial, and

864
00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:09,160
Speaker 1: some of those songs I'm going to dedicate a hero

865
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:10,920
Speaker 1: and um, we're gonna try to raise a little money

866
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:13,279
Speaker 1: and help some guys out, help me, help others. That's

867
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 1: what we're trying to do. Okay, Well, let's hear it, dude.

868
00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:18,960
Speaker 1: I love it all right. This is telling the story

869
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,080
Speaker 1: about Pretty Kango. Sure yeah, okay, um, And I think

870
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:24,040
Speaker 1: a lot of folks can actually relate to this when

871
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:27,080
Speaker 1: you really miss somebody. Years ago, years ago, I was

872
00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:30,279
Speaker 1: out playing and you know, just chasing a dream, and

873
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:31,839
Speaker 1: I had the little girl called me in the middle

874
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:33,480
Speaker 1: of the night one time. It was on a Wednesday,

875
00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:36,799
Speaker 1: and she tells me, you know, I can't sleep. I

876
00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,040
Speaker 1: can't sleep, And so I was like, you know, why,

877
00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:41,880
Speaker 1: what's wrong? But she goes, well, I miss you, you know.

878
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:44,719
Speaker 1: And so when your baby girl tells you something like that,

879
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:47,840
Speaker 1: you gotta make a move. And so I did. I

880
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,799
Speaker 1: was in North Carolina and I came all the way

881
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:54,439
Speaker 1: back to Alabama that night, so I saw her before

882
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:56,360
Speaker 1: she went to school the next morning. This song is

883
00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:58,640
Speaker 1: called pretty Thing, and I'm pretty sure a lot of folks,

884
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:00,880
Speaker 1: a lot of our guys over He's right now, they

885
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:03,880
Speaker 1: might be thinking about their pretty thing at home. So

886
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,160
Speaker 1: pretty Thing isn't me. It's not like I mean it

887
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:12,920
Speaker 1: should be. Okay, So this is gonna be on the

888
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:15,920
Speaker 1: album here right comp of the albums called pretty Thing.

889
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 1: I hope you like it, Pretty Thing? You got my

890
00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:42,800
Speaker 1: heart on the stream? Jam us something? Are you doing anything?

891
00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:50,560
Speaker 1: Get a little lonely week right? You know? Really get

892
00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:56,000
Speaker 1: the mission to the sound of your boats lead. Are

893
00:44:56,000 --> 00:45:06,480
Speaker 1: you coming back soon? Are you coming back soon? You

894
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:11,960
Speaker 1: can get pretty Thing? You're sure to make you smile.

895
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:18,120
Speaker 1: Wenna see you. We're gonna hold you a little whin.

896
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:27,040
Speaker 1: I get a little lonely with your not around, and

897
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:30,680
Speaker 1: I really get to miss the sound of your boat

898
00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:36,600
Speaker 1: laid And are you coming back? So? How are you

899
00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:51,319
Speaker 1: coming back soon? To me? Going back? M yeah, pretty thing.

900
00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 1: You've got my hard on the strength. I tell you something,

901
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:06,080
Speaker 1: Joe is good to see you like a little lonely

902
00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:14,560
Speaker 1: way and I really getting mission the sound of both

903
00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:21,480
Speaker 1: late And how are you coming next? How are you coming, Baxon?

904
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 1: How are you coming Baxon? How are you coming back soon?

905
00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:44,640
Speaker 1: We're going pretty thick? That was really nice. Oh that's

906
00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:48,479
Speaker 1: really nice. Yeah, you're very nice. Yeah, No, I like it.

907
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:51,800
Speaker 1: I did, And I think that, Uh, you're the first

908
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:59,760
Speaker 1: song I've had on my episode and so musical act Okay,

909
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:04,120
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. That is fabulous. Yes, and you've just

910
00:47:04,239 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 1: opened the door for more and I love it. And

911
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:10,839
Speaker 1: I thought that was wonderful. So I am now just

912
00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:13,920
Speaker 1: a whole new opening of a show is going to happen,

913
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:22,239
Speaker 1: and I'm so excited. I love this. I'll tell you that.

914
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:25,800
Speaker 1: The thing that made me really look deep into to

915
00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:28,880
Speaker 1: what's going on with Kevin is we've been raising money

916
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 1: for the last eleven or two at this point eleven

917
00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:34,319
Speaker 1: years and I found out he had diabetes, and I

918
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:38,000
Speaker 1: stopped raising money for a Hero and we shifted to

919
00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: raising money for him to help him. He couldn't work,

920
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:44,919
Speaker 1: he couldn't pay for his insulin, and our A Hero

921
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:47,920
Speaker 1: community stepped up and it's kept him alive for the

922
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:51,319
Speaker 1: last two years. Took a point of where I had

923
00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:54,239
Speaker 1: a meeting to talk about a Hero with a guy

924
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:58,799
Speaker 1: named Todd Holt, who owns Point Broadband and one of

925
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:01,160
Speaker 1: the most godly right and then I've ever met. I

926
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:03,759
Speaker 1: sat down with him for the first time and just

927
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:06,759
Speaker 1: wanted to introduce myself, introduced a program and a hero,

928
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:10,600
Speaker 1: and I told him about Kevin. But I really wanted

929
00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:13,160
Speaker 1: to bless Tide because Todd was excited to tell me

930
00:48:13,200 --> 00:48:16,040
Speaker 1: his two boys. Two of his boys were led let

931
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:19,200
Speaker 1: their worship and we're musicians and we were going to

932
00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:22,759
Speaker 1: record an album for Kevin with Jeff Sylvie, who's a

933
00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:27,880
Speaker 1: fantastic producer, singer songwriter. Jeff Sylvie is the man, and

934
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:30,880
Speaker 1: I was I wanted to invite his two sons, and

935
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:34,280
Speaker 1: so I was telling him what Kevin's been through with diabetes.

936
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:36,680
Speaker 1: He was struggling to get a pump and he had

937
00:48:36,719 --> 00:48:38,960
Speaker 1: to pay for an insulin pump and he didn't have

938
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:43,120
Speaker 1: the money. And Kevin's always up being Kevin's always upbeating happy.

939
00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:46,080
Speaker 1: And about a week before I sat down with Todd,

940
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:49,120
Speaker 1: I said, Kevin, how's everything going. He goes, well, it's good,

941
00:48:49,120 --> 00:48:52,080
Speaker 1: except I can't get a pump because I can't afford it.

942
00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:53,959
Speaker 1: And I was like, Kevin, how much are They said

943
00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:56,720
Speaker 1: eleven thousand, and I can't do it. And I was like, Kevin,

944
00:48:56,719 --> 00:48:58,840
Speaker 1: eleven thousand and a lot of because I'm not worth

945
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,080
Speaker 1: anything at all. And he looked at me and said

946
00:49:01,080 --> 00:49:03,640
Speaker 1: I'm not worth anything. I was like, yeah, y'all, you're

947
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:06,759
Speaker 1: worth a lot. You're man. I told Todd Hope the

948
00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:09,200
Speaker 1: same story, and he stopped me. And I didn't tell

949
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:11,080
Speaker 1: him this for the reason. I just told him because

950
00:49:11,080 --> 00:49:13,640
Speaker 1: I want to share a blessing with him so his

951
00:49:13,719 --> 00:49:16,879
Speaker 1: sons could record with him and play with him. He said, Lee,

952
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:19,040
Speaker 1: I'm paying for his pump, and I was like, what

953
00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:22,280
Speaker 1: do you mean, sir. He goes, I'm gonna buy Kevin's

954
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:25,919
Speaker 1: insulin pump and out of his personal check. That man

955
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:29,319
Speaker 1: who has never met me until that day, has never

956
00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:32,400
Speaker 1: met him until the other day, wrote a check and

957
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:35,640
Speaker 1: bought him an insulent pump to keep him along. Saved

958
00:49:35,640 --> 00:49:40,040
Speaker 1: my life, saved my life literally probably new diabetes and

959
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:43,320
Speaker 1: knew someone like Kevin and said, if there was a

960
00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:46,560
Speaker 1: chance for me today to help someone again, I would

961
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:49,879
Speaker 1: And he heard it and he answered that call. And

962
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:53,080
Speaker 1: I tell you what, anybody that comes into my my shop,

963
00:49:53,200 --> 00:49:55,400
Speaker 1: of my retail shops, if I see like when they

964
00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:57,320
Speaker 1: reach up, I'll see it like the little pump inserted

965
00:49:57,320 --> 00:49:59,239
Speaker 1: in him or whatever, and I'll say, are you diabetic?

966
00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:01,560
Speaker 1: I said, you type one? Like yeah, it's like I

967
00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:04,680
Speaker 1: give you ten percent off your your purchase. Like what,

968
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:08,040
Speaker 1: I'm like, It's like, you know why, because what has

969
00:50:08,040 --> 00:50:10,400
Speaker 1: it ever done for you? It's always just taken from you.

970
00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:13,879
Speaker 1: Diabetes just takes from the youth and from the younger kids.

971
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:15,200
Speaker 1: And even as you get older, you and you start

972
00:50:15,239 --> 00:50:18,080
Speaker 1: getting into diabetes at that age. I'm not saying it

973
00:50:18,120 --> 00:50:21,160
Speaker 1: discriminates age. I'm just saying, you know, these young kids,

974
00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:23,560
Speaker 1: it's like, here's tempercent off your war game stuff, bro.

975
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:26,279
Speaker 1: And they're like, you know, they cry, they tell me

976
00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:27,719
Speaker 1: they cry, and I'm like, I'm not trying to make

977
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:30,160
Speaker 1: you cry. I'm just trying to give you something back

978
00:50:30,200 --> 00:50:32,200
Speaker 1: because it takes from you, you know, and growing up

979
00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:34,960
Speaker 1: around a whole family of diabetices myself, if I had

980
00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:37,239
Speaker 1: eleven grand to kick down for someone's pump, I would

981
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:41,799
Speaker 1: do it because I get it. And that's awesome. Well,

982
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,160
Speaker 1: and it's you know again, everything that happened for Kevin

983
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:49,000
Speaker 1: is not me, and I'm a Christian. Everything that's done

984
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:52,560
Speaker 1: through me is God, and I'm simply a vessel going

985
00:50:52,640 --> 00:50:54,840
Speaker 1: and doing as I'm told. God tells me where to go.

986
00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:57,720
Speaker 1: Who do you talk to? And as I've gotten older,

987
00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:00,880
Speaker 1: you know, we're kids. Are parents used to say if

988
00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:04,120
Speaker 1: you lay down with dogs, you'll get fleas. I finally

989
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:07,760
Speaker 1: get it now, And it's not miraculous things that continue

990
00:51:07,760 --> 00:51:11,320
Speaker 1: to happen. It's that that with the people I surround

991
00:51:11,320 --> 00:51:14,840
Speaker 1: myself with. And you know, I stopped hanging out with

992
00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:17,839
Speaker 1: people who were no good and I started hanging out

993
00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:21,440
Speaker 1: with a group of people a hero community, my a

994
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:24,080
Speaker 1: hero tribe and family and people who want to join that.

995
00:51:24,719 --> 00:51:26,879
Speaker 1: And I want to spend time with people who want

996
00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:33,520
Speaker 1: me to grow and want to see me grow physically, financially, emotionally,

997
00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:37,319
Speaker 1: and most importantly spiritually. And if you hang out with

998
00:51:37,400 --> 00:51:40,400
Speaker 1: people who want to see you grow and want to

999
00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:45,440
Speaker 1: see their trying be better physically, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

1000
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:48,239
Speaker 1: And every day that's your routine. You're trying to wake

1001
00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:51,640
Speaker 1: up to grow in those four aspects. You're always going

1002
00:51:51,680 --> 00:51:54,239
Speaker 1: to be successful. You're gonna go through struggles, you're gonna

1003
00:51:54,239 --> 00:51:57,040
Speaker 1: go through hard times. But if you keep that core

1004
00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:00,319
Speaker 1: group of people that want to see you happy and grow,

1005
00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:03,759
Speaker 1: you're gonna grow. If you hang out with people who

1006
00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:10,200
Speaker 1: are tirds, you're probably gonna be a term. So you

1007
00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:13,359
Speaker 1: just surround yourself, which really is you know, it really is?

1008
00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:17,240
Speaker 1: It is. And as I've gone through this, I'm not eighty.

1009
00:52:17,239 --> 00:52:19,239
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to pass words of wisdom. I'm only

1010
00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:21,799
Speaker 1: forty two, but I still lived about eighty years and

1011
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:25,960
Speaker 1: forty two. And as I'm going through this life, it's

1012
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:28,799
Speaker 1: like an e K G machine. You know. I used

1013
00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:30,680
Speaker 1: to always you know, think about any time you've been

1014
00:52:30,719 --> 00:52:34,240
Speaker 1: successful and you've had this great thing happened. You never learned.

1015
00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:37,200
Speaker 1: You're just like, look at me, I'm great. Everyone told me, Hey,

1016
00:52:37,200 --> 00:52:40,439
Speaker 1: I got a trophy, I'm successful. But you don't figure out,

1017
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:42,759
Speaker 1: like what happened there and when you get down and

1018
00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:46,000
Speaker 1: like it's a terrible day, week, year, or whatever, you

1019
00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:48,760
Speaker 1: have a pity party. You're like, poor me, life sucks,

1020
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:51,160
Speaker 1: this is so rough. Why am I going through these struggles?

1021
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:54,480
Speaker 1: That's when you should be figuring it out, when you're

1022
00:52:54,520 --> 00:52:56,960
Speaker 1: down at the bottom and when you're going through the

1023
00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:00,640
Speaker 1: lowest part of whatever that perceived issue is what am

1024
00:53:00,680 --> 00:53:03,640
Speaker 1: I supposed to learn? Why did God put me here?

1025
00:53:04,120 --> 00:53:06,520
Speaker 1: What am I supposed to learn? Who am I supposed

1026
00:53:06,520 --> 00:53:09,319
Speaker 1: to meet? How am I supposed to grow from this

1027
00:53:09,480 --> 00:53:14,000
Speaker 1: painful experience? And just soak it up because then when

1028
00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:15,680
Speaker 1: you get back to the top of that mountain and

1029
00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:18,279
Speaker 1: you're high, you're like, I know how I got back up?

1030
00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:22,240
Speaker 1: Heare And if your life is ever like this, you're dead.

1031
00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:31,000
Speaker 1: The k either seems right, so it's never gonna be.

1032
00:53:31,520 --> 00:53:33,880
Speaker 1: It's gonna be one or the other. And don't have

1033
00:53:33,880 --> 00:53:36,200
Speaker 1: a pity party, but really try to learn when you're

1034
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:38,600
Speaker 1: at your lowest and when you're going through those struggles,

1035
00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:41,760
Speaker 1: when you're having a relationship issues, when you're having financial issues,

1036
00:53:42,520 --> 00:53:44,840
Speaker 1: figure out how you got there so you don't repeat it.

1037
00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:47,719
Speaker 1: But don't just have a pity party. And when you're

1038
00:53:47,719 --> 00:53:50,840
Speaker 1: at the top. Don't gloat and give the glory to

1039
00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:53,160
Speaker 1: God and the people that help you get there. You

1040
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:55,040
Speaker 1: didn't get there. You didn't get there by yourself, I

1041
00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:58,880
Speaker 1: promise you. Nobody ever knows. No. Retail stores and businesses

1042
00:53:58,920 --> 00:54:01,400
Speaker 1: don't get there without everybody helping them get there. You know.

1043
00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:04,600
Speaker 1: It takes the community, community buying, you know, from the

1044
00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:08,959
Speaker 1: merchant and having good products and reasonable you know, ideologies,

1045
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:10,640
Speaker 1: you know, like oh I guess like you know, like

1046
00:54:10,920 --> 00:54:13,240
Speaker 1: the customer is always right? Yes, but also how about

1047
00:54:13,239 --> 00:54:16,239
Speaker 1: buy or beware? You know, It's like, oh, I could

1048
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:20,640
Speaker 1: buy this alcohol, I should be aware of it if

1049
00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:23,080
Speaker 1: I do. You should buy or beware on all of

1050
00:54:23,120 --> 00:54:25,600
Speaker 1: these things. I think we forget about that. It's like

1051
00:54:25,719 --> 00:54:27,239
Speaker 1: I er beware. It says it right there on the

1052
00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:33,080
Speaker 1: pack of smokes will kill you. Yeah, yeah, you know,

1053
00:54:33,600 --> 00:54:35,040
Speaker 1: I know I want to be like Chris la do.

1054
00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:38,160
Speaker 1: But maybe the Copenhagen maybe isn't good for me right now? Okay,

1055
00:54:38,560 --> 00:54:41,359
Speaker 1: maybe it's not a good choice. Maybe maybe you can

1056
00:54:41,400 --> 00:54:44,080
Speaker 1: switching and swallower. I get it, you know, but do

1057
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:46,279
Speaker 1: you need that really to rope the bull? You know?

1058
00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:49,640
Speaker 1: Do you? I'm just saying I'm very, very cautious of

1059
00:54:49,680 --> 00:54:52,160
Speaker 1: who I spend my time with, because just the one

1060
00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:55,399
Speaker 1: commodity you'll never get back. Now my parents. My dad's

1061
00:54:55,480 --> 00:54:58,120
Speaker 1: ninety three, my mom's seventy eight, And so now I'm

1062
00:54:58,120 --> 00:55:00,800
Speaker 1: trying to fight to get time back up with my family.

1063
00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:03,320
Speaker 1: And you know, for a long time, I was hanging

1064
00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:05,760
Speaker 1: out with whatever friends it was for that year, whatever

1065
00:55:05,840 --> 00:55:08,080
Speaker 1: girl it was that I was dating. I don't know

1066
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:10,040
Speaker 1: any of those people anymore, know what, do I talk

1067
00:55:10,080 --> 00:55:12,000
Speaker 1: to them? And now I'm trying to get time back

1068
00:55:12,000 --> 00:55:14,840
Speaker 1: with my parents. And you know, I'm very fortunate to

1069
00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:16,760
Speaker 1: have a good relationship with all my siblings and parents.

1070
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:19,960
Speaker 1: I know that's that's not always the case. But be

1071
00:55:20,120 --> 00:55:22,200
Speaker 1: careful and cautious, so who you spend your time with,

1072
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:25,439
Speaker 1: and make sure that that time is helping you grow

1073
00:55:25,480 --> 00:55:28,160
Speaker 1: as a person and get better. And it doesn't mean

1074
00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:30,200
Speaker 1: like somebody has to give you money or or make

1075
00:55:30,239 --> 00:55:33,040
Speaker 1: you successful, but somebody that actually cares about you, that

1076
00:55:33,200 --> 00:55:36,839
Speaker 1: wants to see you be successful, correct, And I think

1077
00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:40,520
Speaker 1: that's what you achieve that a hero USA dot org.

1078
00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:43,399
Speaker 1: And you know, with that said, I would say that

1079
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:45,560
Speaker 1: anyone out there that has a question, they can just

1080
00:55:45,600 --> 00:55:47,239
Speaker 1: reach out to you. Is that right at a hero

1081
00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:49,920
Speaker 1: USA dot org. And you guys will go ahead and

1082
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:52,520
Speaker 1: vet them and go through the whole process of seeing

1083
00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:54,640
Speaker 1: where they would fit or point them in the direction

1084
00:55:54,640 --> 00:55:59,279
Speaker 1: of where they would work best with a team. Correct. Absolutely, Yeah,

1085
00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:02,480
Speaker 1: they they here USA dot org. They can go and

1086
00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:05,880
Speaker 1: register or leave comments. You can also email me at

1087
00:56:05,920 --> 00:56:09,360
Speaker 1: a hero stucky s t U c K E y

1088
00:56:09,440 --> 00:56:12,279
Speaker 1: at gmail. Um. You know, and the biggest thing is

1089
00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:15,399
Speaker 1: we want to stop everybody. We want to be that call.

1090
00:56:15,719 --> 00:56:17,640
Speaker 1: We want to be that phone call that that that

1091
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:20,440
Speaker 1: gets your help or you know, if you're not, you know,

1092
00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:23,600
Speaker 1: contemplating suicide, just wanna get back on the right path.

1093
00:56:24,080 --> 00:56:25,440
Speaker 1: We want to help you do that as well. And

1094
00:56:25,719 --> 00:56:28,680
Speaker 1: the coolest thing we've started in the last year is

1095
00:56:28,719 --> 00:56:32,319
Speaker 1: a parallel effort with a group called Operation Phoenix, which

1096
00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:36,080
Speaker 1: is a nonprofit that we just started that trains veterans

1097
00:56:36,239 --> 00:56:39,720
Speaker 1: and first responders and wild and firefighting and prescribe burning

1098
00:56:39,760 --> 00:56:44,320
Speaker 1: and managing property. So after bringing in eleven thousand veterans

1099
00:56:44,360 --> 00:56:48,959
Speaker 1: and first responders and hearing the usual issue is they're

1100
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:52,120
Speaker 1: not satisfied with their employment, they don't have a purpose,

1101
00:56:52,200 --> 00:56:54,360
Speaker 1: they don't have pride and belonging anymore when they go

1102
00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:57,080
Speaker 1: to work, and so we want to retrain them, will

1103
00:56:57,120 --> 00:57:00,160
Speaker 1: certify them, We will pay for their certification, and they

1104
00:57:00,200 --> 00:57:03,640
Speaker 1: will help them get employed either private sector or federal

1105
00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:07,960
Speaker 1: or state employment as a wild wind firefighter, prescribed burn management,

1106
00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:11,240
Speaker 1: or through some of our new internet companies like Point Broadband.

1107
00:57:11,320 --> 00:57:15,000
Speaker 1: Todd Holt we talked about we're discussing training veterans and

1108
00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:17,520
Speaker 1: first responders in that as well, but really just give

1109
00:57:17,560 --> 00:57:20,720
Speaker 1: you a new sense of purpose. Connect you back with

1110
00:57:20,760 --> 00:57:24,800
Speaker 1: those veterans and first responders, those like minded people, so

1111
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:26,840
Speaker 1: we can help you grow in a better, better way.

1112
00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:29,640
Speaker 1: It's just really exciting stuff. And I'll tell you, after

1113
00:57:29,680 --> 00:57:33,480
Speaker 1: going through this for twelve almost thirteen years running this nonprofit,

1114
00:57:34,320 --> 00:57:37,720
Speaker 1: we've lost some We've lost two through the program, but

1115
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:43,120
Speaker 1: we've saved a lot. And the echoed worst case scenario

1116
00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:47,960
Speaker 1: is always substances, whether it be alcohol or drugs, and

1117
00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:50,840
Speaker 1: it's always a lack of pride and belonging in a

1118
00:57:50,880 --> 00:57:55,400
Speaker 1: lack of purpose. Those two biggest things, their occupational goals

1119
00:57:55,520 --> 00:57:58,200
Speaker 1: and their substant use has been bad. And I buried

1120
00:57:58,200 --> 00:58:00,240
Speaker 1: my grandmother a couple of weeks ago, and she she

1121
00:58:00,320 --> 00:58:03,040
Speaker 1: was ninety eight, so she's back with my grandfather in heaven.

1122
00:58:03,120 --> 00:58:05,840
Speaker 1: And I hated to see her leave, but I'm glad

1123
00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:08,600
Speaker 1: she's happy and she's she's comfortable now. As I was

1124
00:58:08,680 --> 00:58:12,439
Speaker 1: burying her, they did, they cremated her, and they dug

1125
00:58:12,440 --> 00:58:16,120
Speaker 1: a little post hole and they poured her ashes at

1126
00:58:16,160 --> 00:58:20,320
Speaker 1: the cemetery, and I'm looking at the tombstones of my grandfather,

1127
00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:22,920
Speaker 1: who was a US or, a state senator, and a

1128
00:58:23,000 --> 00:58:26,840
Speaker 1: circuit judge for forty something years US Air Force captain.

1129
00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:30,360
Speaker 1: Both of them had accolades on their tombstones. And what

1130
00:58:30,520 --> 00:58:33,360
Speaker 1: really hit home was when they poured the ashes in

1131
00:58:33,480 --> 00:58:36,800
Speaker 1: that hole that was probably this big. That was it.

1132
00:58:37,120 --> 00:58:40,280
Speaker 1: There was no car, there was no house. There was

1133
00:58:40,320 --> 00:58:42,680
Speaker 1: no helicopter. For anybody out there that has a helicopter,

1134
00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:45,960
Speaker 1: that's awesome. There was none of that stuff. It was

1135
00:58:46,040 --> 00:58:50,640
Speaker 1: just ashes. Nothing followed that ash. And so if anyone's

1136
00:58:50,680 --> 00:58:53,560
Speaker 1: out there living for things and living for items and

1137
00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:56,760
Speaker 1: living for material possessions, at the end, you're gonna be

1138
00:58:56,800 --> 00:58:59,080
Speaker 1: put in the ground like a fruit tree. And there's

1139
00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:01,480
Speaker 1: no Mercedes one in the whole week. And this is

1140
00:59:01,520 --> 00:59:03,240
Speaker 1: not a lecture, but it just really hit home to

1141
00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:05,600
Speaker 1: me because I am a person who has a lot

1142
00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:08,120
Speaker 1: of guns. I do like to hunt. I have a

1143
00:59:08,160 --> 00:59:10,760
Speaker 1: weird amount of guns. But it really made me think,

1144
00:59:11,520 --> 00:59:13,640
Speaker 1: what is all? What do we need all these material

1145
00:59:13,680 --> 00:59:16,920
Speaker 1: things for? Just be a good person, because when you leave,

1146
00:59:17,360 --> 00:59:20,600
Speaker 1: you have your legacy, You have how people remember you,

1147
00:59:20,680 --> 00:59:24,480
Speaker 1: and that's you don't take anything else. Relationship, your relationship.

1148
00:59:24,640 --> 00:59:28,280
Speaker 1: So rad we go to your funeral, hopefully fifty sixty

1149
00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:31,360
Speaker 1: years from now, what do you want them to say

1150
00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:35,560
Speaker 1: about you? And if you don't like what you think

1151
00:59:35,600 --> 00:59:39,240
Speaker 1: you're here you got time to fix it. You got

1152
00:59:39,280 --> 00:59:42,400
Speaker 1: time to to to change it and to change your

1153
00:59:42,400 --> 00:59:48,840
Speaker 1: euogy in motion. Oh yeah, I've already found this what

1154
00:59:48,880 --> 00:59:51,080
Speaker 1: you're talking about. I'm forty four, so I got two

1155
00:59:51,160 --> 00:59:57,680
Speaker 1: years on you, little brother. Listen, no, no, no, no,

1156
00:59:57,840 --> 01:00:01,440
Speaker 1: I found this already. I've already came to my agreement

1157
01:00:01,480 --> 01:00:04,240
Speaker 1: that my time on earth is about my relationships that

1158
01:00:04,280 --> 01:00:06,360
Speaker 1: I build with each other and the people around me.

1159
01:00:06,640 --> 01:00:10,120
Speaker 1: I am far past, you know, needing anything of a

1160
01:00:10,200 --> 01:00:13,240
Speaker 1: gaudy nature to accept. Okay, my glasses All right, let's

1161
01:00:13,240 --> 01:00:14,480
Speaker 1: take him off for a second. I'll give you the

1162
01:00:14,520 --> 01:00:17,400
Speaker 1: real met So, yeah, I have come to my own

1163
01:00:18,240 --> 01:00:20,080
Speaker 1: agreeance on like where I'm going to be at the

1164
01:00:20,120 --> 01:00:21,760
Speaker 1: end of this day, you know. And if my dad

1165
01:00:21,800 --> 01:00:24,000
Speaker 1: believed in it and I see him again, then I'll

1166
01:00:24,040 --> 01:00:27,040
Speaker 1: see him again, okay. And if God is there and

1167
01:00:27,120 --> 01:00:29,120
Speaker 1: he looks at me and says, hey, rad welcome to heaven,

1168
01:00:29,160 --> 01:00:33,280
Speaker 1: I'll say, bro, what do you want me to do? Okay?

1169
01:00:33,320 --> 01:00:36,720
Speaker 1: Because there you are, so growing up in a predominantly

1170
01:00:36,760 --> 01:00:40,640
Speaker 1: Mormon state myself here in Utah. I'll tell you there's

1171
01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:43,640
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, Christian beliefs and values around

1172
01:00:43,640 --> 01:00:46,080
Speaker 1: here that I'd like to see be good to go.

1173
01:00:46,920 --> 01:00:49,800
Speaker 1: So I'll just be a positive influence and just always

1174
01:00:50,160 --> 01:00:53,280
Speaker 1: do the Golden Rule onto others and approach him and

1175
01:00:53,320 --> 01:00:55,680
Speaker 1: give what I get, So the respect I want is

1176
01:00:55,680 --> 01:00:57,840
Speaker 1: what I'll give. I think that's the best way to go.

1177
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:02,320
Speaker 1: For some reason, looking at you and your glasses and

1178
01:01:02,400 --> 01:01:05,880
Speaker 1: hearing your name, Rand, I think that they're gonna welcome

1179
01:01:05,960 --> 01:01:08,919
Speaker 1: you into heaven with a stratocaster. Yeah, and they're gonna

1180
01:01:08,920 --> 01:01:17,640
Speaker 1: be playing something. You can hang out with me anytime,

1181
01:01:17,680 --> 01:01:19,400
Speaker 1: I promise, And if I can't quite make it there,

1182
01:01:19,440 --> 01:01:21,320
Speaker 1: just come visit me. Because if you're at the top,

1183
01:01:26,000 --> 01:01:28,000
Speaker 1: I got your backstage pass. You just come on and

1184
01:01:28,040 --> 01:01:31,840
Speaker 1: see me, okay, And Kevin, I just want to say

1185
01:01:31,880 --> 01:01:34,720
Speaker 1: that was very very nice to listen to and uh

1186
01:01:34,760 --> 01:01:36,520
Speaker 1: and pleasing. I just want to let you know, okay,

1187
01:01:36,520 --> 01:01:38,560
Speaker 1: and good tune coming out of your voice. I wasn't

1188
01:01:38,840 --> 01:01:42,439
Speaker 1: thank you. Yeah, you're welcome and it sounded great, So

1189
01:01:42,680 --> 01:01:44,360
Speaker 1: I want to just you know, prop you up a

1190
01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:47,040
Speaker 1: little more. And it's Kevin Adair and that is on

1191
01:01:47,240 --> 01:01:50,520
Speaker 1: reverb Nation and SoundCloud. So we'll put a link in

1192
01:01:50,560 --> 01:01:52,919
Speaker 1: the bottom and you know, anyone that's been listening, we'll

1193
01:01:53,120 --> 01:01:54,560
Speaker 1: be able to go check out some more of your

1194
01:01:54,640 --> 01:01:59,600
Speaker 1: music catalog A hero USA dot org is Yeah, you're welcome.

1195
01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:04,000
Speaker 1: Is Lee Stuckies, Uh, brainchild and baby and uh. He's

1196
01:02:04,040 --> 01:02:07,360
Speaker 1: a conduit of positivity and a lighthouse and a in

1197
01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:10,160
Speaker 1: a big sea storm. So reach out to him if

1198
01:02:10,160 --> 01:02:13,320
Speaker 1: you need any assistance. And with that, is there anything else?

1199
01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:15,600
Speaker 1: Can I call it a good night show? Are we good?

1200
01:02:15,640 --> 01:02:19,080
Speaker 1: We have it back on another time and talk now. Yeah,

1201
01:02:19,120 --> 01:02:21,000
Speaker 1: it's been great and I'd love to come back on

1202
01:02:21,040 --> 01:02:23,680
Speaker 1: the show. And I really appreciate the opportunity. And shout

1203
01:02:23,680 --> 01:02:26,760
Speaker 1: out to Zack Armstrong for putting up with me in

1204
01:02:26,840 --> 01:02:30,640
Speaker 1: military school and for continuing to grow and and it's

1205
01:02:30,720 --> 01:02:33,760
Speaker 1: it's ironic to think back to where we were back

1206
01:02:33,800 --> 01:02:35,360
Speaker 1: then and where we are now, and I'm glad to

1207
01:02:35,360 --> 01:02:38,320
Speaker 1: see him just be so successful and so much better.

1208
01:02:38,400 --> 01:02:40,920
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you I've fallen on my face enough

1209
01:02:40,960 --> 01:02:43,000
Speaker 1: to where my nose should be flat. But I'm just

1210
01:02:43,040 --> 01:02:44,960
Speaker 1: glad that I had the team around me and the

1211
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:48,400
Speaker 1: people and and support to get up and continue to

1212
01:02:48,400 --> 01:02:51,400
Speaker 1: help people. And I know that without a doubt, God

1213
01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:53,000
Speaker 1: put me on this earth to help people, and that's

1214
01:02:53,000 --> 01:02:54,880
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna continue to do until the day I die.

1215
01:02:55,400 --> 01:02:57,800
Speaker 1: That's awesome. And I just want to give a shout

1216
01:02:57,800 --> 01:03:01,080
Speaker 1: out to a listener that goes I believe I'm probably

1217
01:03:01,120 --> 01:03:03,800
Speaker 1: gonna say the name wrong. It's ni Ma or Nia Ma,

1218
01:03:04,200 --> 01:03:08,280
Speaker 1: and I am okay. She recommended Zach. Zach recommended you,

1219
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:10,120
Speaker 1: so I gotta give her a shout out, and I

1220
01:03:10,120 --> 01:03:12,280
Speaker 1: just want to let her know that I'm listening and

1221
01:03:12,360 --> 01:03:15,280
Speaker 1: I see your comments and I get your feedback, and

1222
01:03:15,600 --> 01:03:18,440
Speaker 1: we appreciate you submitting great talent that should be on

1223
01:03:18,480 --> 01:03:20,640
Speaker 1: SOFTWAREP And if you're listening and you'd like to be

1224
01:03:20,680 --> 01:03:23,360
Speaker 1: on SOFTWAREP Radio, you can hit up the I think

1225
01:03:23,400 --> 01:03:25,439
Speaker 1: I should be on SOFTWAREP Radio and talk with rat

1226
01:03:25,440 --> 01:03:29,200
Speaker 1: about something and maybe we'll pick you. So again, to

1227
01:03:29,320 --> 01:03:31,360
Speaker 1: my listeners who have listened or just joined in, you

1228
01:03:31,360 --> 01:03:35,640
Speaker 1: can go and go ahead, yeah, please please. More thing

1229
01:03:36,360 --> 01:03:39,520
Speaker 1: I've forgotten about, but I think it's important to finish

1230
01:03:39,520 --> 01:03:42,800
Speaker 1: with this for me is you know, we get too

1231
01:03:42,840 --> 01:03:45,160
Speaker 1: called up and figuring out what should be stressful of

1232
01:03:45,240 --> 01:03:47,560
Speaker 1: what should and going through the military, Like when the

1233
01:03:47,600 --> 01:03:49,920
Speaker 1: Marines would come in and tell me how they're stressed out,

1234
01:03:50,400 --> 01:03:53,880
Speaker 1: what they're going through. You know, we're human a lot

1235
01:03:53,920 --> 01:03:55,479
Speaker 1: of times like that's not that big of a deal.

1236
01:03:56,320 --> 01:03:58,440
Speaker 1: I had to stop doing that, and I had to

1237
01:03:58,480 --> 01:04:01,400
Speaker 1: realize after up a lot of veterans going through this

1238
01:04:01,440 --> 01:04:04,640
Speaker 1: process that it doesn't matter if it stresses me out

1239
01:04:04,680 --> 01:04:07,560
Speaker 1: to hear their story. Whatever is stressing somebody else out

1240
01:04:07,640 --> 01:04:10,600
Speaker 1: and whatever it's causing chaos in that person's life, don't

1241
01:04:10,640 --> 01:04:13,880
Speaker 1: discount if somebody maybe isn't a combat that from the

1242
01:04:13,880 --> 01:04:17,280
Speaker 1: war and Falluja or whatever, but they served and they're

1243
01:04:17,280 --> 01:04:20,640
Speaker 1: stressed out and having issues. They still need help. If

1244
01:04:20,640 --> 01:04:24,200
Speaker 1: people are reaching out, don't try to gauge their stress

1245
01:04:24,480 --> 01:04:26,360
Speaker 1: and figure out, well, if that's not really a big deal,

1246
01:04:26,360 --> 01:04:28,240
Speaker 1: it is a big deal to them. And so the

1247
01:04:28,280 --> 01:04:31,440
Speaker 1: more I've done this, the more I realize trauma's trauma,

1248
01:04:31,640 --> 01:04:35,560
Speaker 1: whether it be combat, non combat, whatever, it doesn't matter

1249
01:04:35,600 --> 01:04:38,400
Speaker 1: to me. When veterans and first responders come to me.

1250
01:04:38,560 --> 01:04:41,000
Speaker 1: I don't judge them. I don't try to say, well

1251
01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:43,440
Speaker 1: that that doesn't sound like enough war to come to us.

1252
01:04:44,000 --> 01:04:45,720
Speaker 1: I just want to help people. And I think the

1253
01:04:45,760 --> 01:04:48,640
Speaker 1: more we realize that we're not supposed to judge other

1254
01:04:48,640 --> 01:04:50,960
Speaker 1: people's stress, we're not supposed to figure out why they're

1255
01:04:50,960 --> 01:04:53,840
Speaker 1: stressed out. They're just reaching out because they want help.

1256
01:04:54,240 --> 01:04:56,600
Speaker 1: So just help you, and you'll get a lot farther,

1257
01:04:56,920 --> 01:04:58,720
Speaker 1: a lot of people will listen to you, and you'll

1258
01:04:58,720 --> 01:05:01,000
Speaker 1: help a lot more people that way. I love it.

1259
01:05:01,520 --> 01:05:04,760
Speaker 1: I do, and you know, god, dude, it's just so

1260
01:05:04,760 --> 01:05:06,600
Speaker 1: close to home because right now I got a friend

1261
01:05:07,000 --> 01:05:09,000
Speaker 1: who's been hitting me up on a messenger just like

1262
01:05:09,360 --> 01:05:11,480
Speaker 1: he just got out of a unit, not not like

1263
01:05:11,480 --> 01:05:13,800
Speaker 1: a military well, he was in the Navy, using the submarines,

1264
01:05:14,200 --> 01:05:15,600
Speaker 1: but he's been out for a while. He's got out

1265
01:05:15,600 --> 01:05:19,120
Speaker 1: of like a hospital unit where he was dealing with demons,

1266
01:05:19,160 --> 01:05:20,560
Speaker 1: and he just got out like two days ago, and

1267
01:05:20,600 --> 01:05:22,320
Speaker 1: then he hit me up again last night, and he's

1268
01:05:22,320 --> 01:05:24,680
Speaker 1: just like I think I'm having demons again, and I'm

1269
01:05:24,680 --> 01:05:27,240
Speaker 1: just gonna try to, like, you know, knock him out

1270
01:05:27,280 --> 01:05:29,439
Speaker 1: with alcohol or whatever I can find. I was just like, well,

1271
01:05:29,920 --> 01:05:32,440
Speaker 1: have you tried anything else other than you know, pills.

1272
01:05:32,680 --> 01:05:34,800
Speaker 1: Have you tried any like going outside and doing anything.

1273
01:05:34,840 --> 01:05:36,760
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm gonna sell all my stuff. I'm just

1274
01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:39,600
Speaker 1: gonna get I just had this huge worst relationship. She

1275
01:05:39,640 --> 01:05:41,840
Speaker 1: doesn't love me anymore. You know this a lot. And

1276
01:05:42,120 --> 01:05:45,640
Speaker 1: I'm just sitting here listening to you thinking about him.

1277
01:05:45,680 --> 01:05:47,800
Speaker 1: You know, this is like fresh on my play right,

1278
01:05:47,800 --> 01:05:52,640
Speaker 1: and I'm handling his conversation saying, you know, I got you, bro, Like, um,

1279
01:05:52,760 --> 01:05:54,640
Speaker 1: what you know? I almost want to say, you know,

1280
01:05:54,680 --> 01:05:56,600
Speaker 1: I know you're your own man to make your own choices,

1281
01:05:56,720 --> 01:05:59,480
Speaker 1: and you're I've talked to you so many times. How

1282
01:05:59,520 --> 01:06:01,240
Speaker 1: much more I keep talking to you to tell you

1283
01:06:01,280 --> 01:06:04,439
Speaker 1: that you matter? Because you matter? You know. Maybe often

1284
01:06:05,080 --> 01:06:06,520
Speaker 1: so when they do reach out and they are just

1285
01:06:07,880 --> 01:06:10,479
Speaker 1: and so they're throwing that flag out there like, hey,

1286
01:06:10,680 --> 01:06:11,960
Speaker 1: I'm hitting you up at two in the morning, my

1287
01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:14,600
Speaker 1: messenger rat and I'm like you are, And so when

1288
01:06:14,600 --> 01:06:18,360
Speaker 1: I say hit me up, I'll hit me up right,

1289
01:06:18,400 --> 01:06:20,440
Speaker 1: I got I'll talk to you. It's that easy, right

1290
01:06:20,480 --> 01:06:27,640
Speaker 1: Customer service Yea. The one thing is to go back

1291
01:06:27,720 --> 01:06:31,640
Speaker 1: to our earlier conversation. If the guys dealing with demons,

1292
01:06:32,360 --> 01:06:35,919
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to add spirits to the demon conversation.

1293
01:06:36,920 --> 01:06:45,240
Speaker 1: So so drinking, I know, spirits to the demon. So true,

1294
01:06:45,280 --> 01:06:48,000
Speaker 1: it's so true. So again, let's just you know, hit

1295
01:06:48,040 --> 01:06:51,000
Speaker 1: up a hero USA dot org. If you're listening to me,

1296
01:06:51,080 --> 01:06:53,560
Speaker 1: you know I'm talking about you specifically my friends, So

1297
01:06:54,000 --> 01:06:57,000
Speaker 1: hit up a hero USA dot org and hit up

1298
01:06:57,080 --> 01:06:59,480
Speaker 1: Lee and you know, go listen to some of Kevin's

1299
01:06:59,520 --> 01:07:01,959
Speaker 1: tunes and uh, you know, get to know some fly

1300
01:07:02,040 --> 01:07:05,000
Speaker 1: fishing and maybe trying a fly or riding a horse. Okay,

1301
01:07:05,400 --> 01:07:07,720
Speaker 1: And with that said, Lee and Kevin, thank you for

1302
01:07:07,800 --> 01:07:10,320
Speaker 1: joining us. And uh, I'm gonna say thank you from

1303
01:07:10,320 --> 01:07:14,640
Speaker 1: Software Radio, our listeners and the community. And my name

1304
01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:31,960
Speaker 1: is Rad and I'm gonna say peace. You've been listening

1305
01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:33,440
Speaker 1: to self red Lydia