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Speaker 1: Ah, beaut force. If it doesn't work, you're just not

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Speaker 1: using enough. You're listening to Software Radio, Special Operations, Military

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Speaker 1: news and straight talk with the guys and the community

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Speaker 1: softrep dot com on time on Target. UM. So last

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Speaker 1: episode with myself and Luke Ryan and I don't know

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Speaker 1: what I could reveal. I said on the last podcast

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Speaker 1: that you did some type of media involving you know,

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Speaker 1: you're speaking about Wayne Simmons. It's a it's a mini

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Speaker 1: series like podcast mini series that's being produced, UM about

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Speaker 1: Wayne Simmons. And are you allowed to say with who? UM.

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Speaker 1: I don't think it's a secret or anything per se,

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Speaker 1: but it's not my work. It's being produced by a

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Speaker 1: reputable journalist, UM, somebody who's worked on the story before.

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Speaker 1: And uh, it sounds like they're doing a pretty you know,

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Speaker 1: in depth, you know, deep dive long form podcast series

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Speaker 1: like some of these other series that are that are

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Speaker 1: done in podcast form where they really go eep into

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Speaker 1: a subject like they did on UM Like you know

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Speaker 1: there's that one on burg doll Um other subjects like that.

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Speaker 1: And everyone's familiar at this point with how popular those

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Speaker 1: types of podcasts have gotten. So that'll be great. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's not gonna come out until, um, later this year.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how much of you know, they interviewed

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Speaker 1: me for like maybe an hour, hour and a half, um,

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Speaker 1: and I don't know how much of that's gonna get

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Speaker 1: used or what isn't. But I think it'll come out well,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's gonna be pretty interesting. You are

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Speaker 1: a good source on it because, as I mentioned to

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Speaker 1: Luke last episode, like you told me years before it

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Speaker 1: came out publicly that Wayne Simmons was full of shit. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And I mean that's one of the things that you know,

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Speaker 1: like they asked me when they interviewed me, They're like,

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Speaker 1: how did Fox News not know? How did d O

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Speaker 1: D not know? Um? You know, and I and I

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Speaker 1: you know, told him. I was like they knew all along. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean Fox News didn't know I was a d

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Speaker 1: O D. In the CIA knew all along. Fox News

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Speaker 1: just didn't have any interest in vetting the guy. But also,

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Speaker 1: how do you vet the guy that like they don't

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Speaker 1: have a staff at Fox News that are guys like

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Speaker 1: you or guys who are former CIA. Well, if you

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Speaker 1: are running a giant, multimillion or billion dollar news outlet

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Speaker 1: like Fox news and you don't have the resources to

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Speaker 1: reach back and verify someone's credentials. That does not speak

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Speaker 1: very highly of what you do, I guess, but I

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Speaker 1: mean as someone who's booked guests for like multiple organizations

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Speaker 1: and and I did book Wayne Simmons, I've said this before.

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Speaker 1: If you see a guy who's a book out there,

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Speaker 1: Donald Rumsfeld quote on the cover, other people tell you

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Speaker 1: this guy's legit, I'm gonna believe he's legit. That's how

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Speaker 1: con artists work. They work by association, So they'll try

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Speaker 1: to be like friends with me. Get my picture taken.

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Speaker 1: I'm just using myself as an example. Could be somebody, ideally,

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Speaker 1: someone of a much higher stature than myself. Um, and

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Speaker 1: I get pictures taken with them and so forth, and

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Speaker 1: then they can show that. And Wayne Simmons used that

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Speaker 1: type of logic like, look, here's a picture of me

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Speaker 1: and Don Rumsfeld. If I wasn't in the CIA, I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't be there hanging out with Don Rumsfeld. Therefore I

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Speaker 1: must have been in the CIA. And not only a

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Speaker 1: picture a quote on his book quote on that's a

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Speaker 1: big thing, Like that's pretty big. I would not think

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Speaker 1: Donald Rumsfeld gives his name out to everybody. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I can't think off hand too many books he's blurbed,

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Speaker 1: you know. Um, But they met each other on the

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Speaker 1: Military Analysts program, which in itself is crazy, and how

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Speaker 1: did he get onto that? Which is interesting? And I've

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Speaker 1: some of the research I did, it appears that his

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Speaker 1: sister works at the Pentagon. I have to wonder if

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Speaker 1: she didn't pave the way for him a little bit.

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Speaker 1: But I really don't know. That is where I depart

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Speaker 1: from you a little bit. Though. I don't really blame

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Speaker 1: Fox News for or any organization for having him on,

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Speaker 1: Like I just as someone works in the media, like,

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Speaker 1: they don't usually have this apparatus there of they don't.

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Speaker 1: But if you're putting somebody on air every day saying

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Speaker 1: this person is former c I A. And they're speaking

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Speaker 1: from their their their experience as an intelligence professional, you

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Speaker 1: have a responsibility to your audience to verify that person

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Speaker 1: and not just put con art If you can't just

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Speaker 1: put con artists up on twenty four hour news and

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Speaker 1: have them spouting off all kinds of crazy ideas and theories, uh,

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Speaker 1: and not take responsibility for that. Yeah, I mean it

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Speaker 1: makes me wonder, who do you do you think they

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Speaker 1: should have a department there for that type of thing,

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Speaker 1: because a guest booker is not going to know. I

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Speaker 1: think there should be somebody working in the office that

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Speaker 1: like checks up on this kind of stuff. I've been

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Speaker 1: on all kinds of TV news, I have been quoted

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Speaker 1: in newspapers and things like this. The only paper the

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Speaker 1: only time anyone has ever asked to see my credentials,

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Speaker 1: like Jack, I need to see UM your certificate from

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Speaker 1: when you graduated the Q course. That has only happened once.

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Speaker 1: It was a journalist at the Wall Street Journal, and

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Speaker 1: and he was almost like apologetic, like I'm sorry, I

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Speaker 1: might you know, I really I have to make sure

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Speaker 1: that I cover all my bases. And then I was like, dude,

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Speaker 1: don't apologize. You're doing the right thing. You should ask

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Speaker 1: for that. You should ask everybody for that, because there's

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Speaker 1: so many people out there that you know are not trustworthy. UM.

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Speaker 1: But it speaks very poorly for UM, the news media.

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Speaker 1: I think it even speaks poorly for the Department of

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Speaker 1: Defence and for the CIA that they allow these types

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Speaker 1: of people to kind of roam around. And it took

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Speaker 1: so long before any sort of action was taken and

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I mean d o

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Speaker 1: J I think they got him on what was it fraud?

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Speaker 1: It was like real estate fraud. It wasn't because he

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Speaker 1: was pretending to be a CIA officer. Yeah, so be

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Speaker 1: on the lookout for that, um. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to having Neat Boyer on. We have

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Speaker 1: a great email here that was sent to soft rep

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Speaker 1: dot Radio, a softwarep dot com that you would definitely

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Speaker 1: be better to answer than my elf. This is from

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Speaker 1: Matt from the Bronx. Hey, guys, love the show. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for doing two shows a week and putting it out

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Speaker 1: for free. I listened to them and I'm grateful to you.

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Speaker 1: Try trying to keep it brief. War journalist Ralph Pezzulo

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Speaker 1: was recently on The Adam Carolla Show and expressed a

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Speaker 1: very interesting narrative about Benghazi. Pezzulo claimed to have a

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Speaker 1: source who is former British SPS that was part of

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Speaker 1: one of the CIA teams who were purchasing weapons in

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Speaker 1: Olivia and smuggling them to the rebels in Syria. According

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Speaker 1: to Pezzulo, the SPS cat alleges that his team had

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Speaker 1: been purchasing weapons from a specific a Q commander in Libya.

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Speaker 1: As the story goes, during one transition, the a Q

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Speaker 1: commander pulls guns and threatened his team Because the US

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Speaker 1: had captured his brother, the a Q commander demanded his

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Speaker 1: brother's return and wanted a formal apology from Ambassador Stevens.

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Speaker 1: Pezulo then went on to allege that the only reason

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Speaker 1: Stevens was in Benghazi was because he was ordered by

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Speaker 1: the State Department to actually deliver that apology to ensure

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Speaker 1: the weapons kept flowing. Then, obviously all hell broke loose.

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Speaker 1: You guys wrote the book on the topic, meaning you

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Speaker 1: and Brandon. I'm just wondering if you think this is

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Speaker 1: credible or if you've heard this story before. I looked

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Speaker 1: up Puzzuo and he seems pretty accomplished. Since this claim

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Speaker 1: was broadcast on one of the most widely listened to

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Speaker 1: podcasts on the planet, I thought you might have some thoughts. Again,

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Speaker 1: thanks for all you do. Once again, Matt from the Bronx. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean I couldn't say one way or the other

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Speaker 1: for a fact, because I haven't talked to this alleged

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Speaker 1: British SPS guy. Um, maybe you'd be a good guest.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like a war story to me, just to

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Speaker 1: be honest, I mean, it doesn't. It sounds like a

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Speaker 1: Hollywood script. It doesn't sound like, you know, like, who

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Speaker 1: was that guy that went on that Laura Laura Logan

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Speaker 1: had on sixty minutes and turned out he was telling

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Speaker 1: war stories about how I was on the compound and

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Speaker 1: I was but stroking rebels and all this stuff, and

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Speaker 1: it turned out he was a total fraud. Um. I

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Speaker 1: don't know, it doesn't really sound realistic to me. What

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Speaker 1: about when we had Evan Barlow on who says like

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Speaker 1: he was told We're going to kill your investador. It

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Speaker 1: was pretty cool a lot of people. It wasn't like

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Speaker 1: some huge secret that Ambassador Stevens was under threat. I

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Speaker 1: mean he he knew he was under threat. He wrote

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Speaker 1: in his uh in his diary, which we published excerpts

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Speaker 1: from on soft Reap. You know, I think the last

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Speaker 1: line in the diary was like ever going or NonStop

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Speaker 1: security threats dot dot dot. I mean, it was it

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Speaker 1: was a known factor. Um, and steven took those risks

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Speaker 1: though he believed in what he was doing, and he

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Speaker 1: believed in the importance of what he was doing. Libya. Um,

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Speaker 1: And you know, sadly you know he paid a price. Yeah, alright, Well,

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Speaker 1: if you have any other emails like that, keep them

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Speaker 1: coming to soft rep dot Radio softwarep dot com. I

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Speaker 1: checked them all out. I'm not able to read all

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Speaker 1: of them, but I read what I can. I guess

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Speaker 1: the new uh the biggest news of today. And I

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Speaker 1: talked about this on the podcast with Luke, but it

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Speaker 1: was before the actual pick was announced. Um, the new

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court justice nominee, you know who has to be

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Speaker 1: approved is Bright Cavana. I think I'm saying that right,

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Speaker 1: But yeah, I'd basically talked a bit about on the

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Speaker 1: podcast with Luke Kavanaugh Kavanaugh Okay, Well, I talked about

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Speaker 1: um on the podcast with Luke. How I'm already seeing

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Speaker 1: like a million articles about Israeld versus way of gonna

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Speaker 1: get overturned, Like that's the big issue that people are wondering.

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Speaker 1: But I think that even if I talked about this

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Speaker 1: on the last show, But even if ro versus Wade

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Speaker 1: does get overturned, it's not the way that I think

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Speaker 1: the left in the media would like to make it sound.

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Speaker 1: If that decision gets overturned, it doesn't mean abortion is

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Speaker 1: suddenly illegal. Throughout all of the United States. It would

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Speaker 1: be handled much like the gunwalls in America. Yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's almost like one of those dog whistle issues, like

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Speaker 1: you just bring it up and people start freaking out. Um,

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Speaker 1: I don't see it being overturned, even if they get

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Speaker 1: very conservative Supreme Court justices nominated. I mean, there's been

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Speaker 1: so many Supreme Court rulings on this issue, so many

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court rulings on like gun rights. Like if you know,

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Speaker 1: if you had it the other way around and you

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Speaker 1: started getting liberal justices nominated, I mean, that's not really

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Speaker 1: how the Supreme Court works. Like they don't just got

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Speaker 1: like willy nilly, like strike things from the record, and

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Speaker 1: it is a group of justices that all have to

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Speaker 1: weigh in on these decisions. I mean, I'm not quite

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Speaker 1: as panicked as some people. I mean, but we do

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Speaker 1: typically know how these guys are going to vote, you know,

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Speaker 1: And that's why people went so crazy when Um was

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Speaker 1: it Roberts when he um basically approved Obamacare, and you know,

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Speaker 1: people are like, wow, this is a Bush appointee. We

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Speaker 1: can't believe that he went this way. And because typically

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Speaker 1: we know what's going to be, like a five four decision.

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Speaker 1: How these guys are going. I mean, maybe they're just

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Speaker 1: making impartial decisions and they're not, you know, being activist judges.

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Speaker 1: But you know, as Trump has said he wants he

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Speaker 1: said it before he when he appointed the last Supreme

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Speaker 1: Court justice, but you know that he wanted someone in

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Speaker 1: the mold of Anton and Scholia. And I think we're

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Speaker 1: gonna continue to get justice under Trump, which we might

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Speaker 1: even get another. You know, Ruth Bader Ginsburg extremely old,

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Speaker 1: you know, like talking, is she talking about retiring? She

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Speaker 1: may have I don't know. I mean, she's she's getting

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Speaker 1: up there in terms of me. Yeah, she's she's pretty old. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So you know, I think he does want to appoint

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Speaker 1: more school a type judges who are like gun rights advocates,

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Speaker 1: anti abortion, which you know, It's the thing is, I

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Speaker 1: don't think people should ever be in a panic over

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Speaker 1: this stuff. But at the same time, when we elect

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Speaker 1: a president, this is like the biggest change that happens

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Speaker 1: to the country because it's it's not a four year

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Speaker 1: or eight year decision. These people have a lifetime appointment.

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Speaker 1: It can be, it can be, and I mean, of

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Speaker 1: course it's it's good to be politically engaged in these things. Um,

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Speaker 1: even if we're not going into panic mode. But I

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Speaker 1: mean it could be one of the more important things.

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Speaker 1: President can do a number of other things in the

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Speaker 1: interim chaos, but it can be struck down four years later,

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Speaker 1: eight years later. These people are there until they die.

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Speaker 1: What I'm saying is like if you invade a country

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Speaker 1: like a rap, that's not something you can't really put

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Speaker 1: the genie back in the bottle. Yeah. Absolutely, Um. And

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Speaker 1: by the way, for those wondering, you know, I mean

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Speaker 1: this does affect the military as well. I remember a

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court decision years back, but you know, for example,

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Speaker 1: doing like underwater testing for the Navy, and there was

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Speaker 1: a whole animal rights issue about like it hurting, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, the hearing of like Wales in difference, you know,

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Speaker 1: and there were liberal justices who are like, yeah, we

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Speaker 1: don't want this being done, more conservative judges saying it's fine.

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Speaker 1: So it does affect like what you guys can do

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Speaker 1: having hands tied behind your back, that type of thing. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they're making rulings on what is and is

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Speaker 1: not constitutional. I mean, it's it's the fundamental fabric of

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Speaker 1: our society or remember Sonya Soda Mayor, who in her

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Speaker 1: um life working at a college, was against the military

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Speaker 1: recruiters coming on college on college campuses. She really Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I believe it was Sodomier because there was two justices

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Speaker 1: appointed by Obama, right, Um, I'm gonna fact check myself here. Um, yeah,

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Speaker 1: she was one of them. Yeah, no, she was. But

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Speaker 1: I'm wondering it was her or the other one with

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Speaker 1: the military recruiting. It might yes, No, it was Elanna Kagan. Um,

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Speaker 1: Elana Kagan, And I'm looking at the New York Daily

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Speaker 1: News here, um grilled over military recruitment at Harvard. Supreme

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Speaker 1: Court nominee Atlanta Kagan, who was now on the Supreme

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Speaker 1: Court was forcuately put on the defense of Tuesday when

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Speaker 1: the top Republican grilled her over banning military recruiting at

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Speaker 1: Harvard University. So but this was before she was a

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court justice, of course. Yeah, yeah, this is when

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Speaker 1: she worked at Harvard. But when you talk about like,

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Speaker 1: are these people going to be activist judges, that says

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Speaker 1: something about their activism to be. If you don't want

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Speaker 1: military recruiting on camp, that tells me something about how

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Speaker 1: you feel politically. Uh, it may yeah, but it may

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Speaker 1: also not speak to the decisions that they make as

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Speaker 1: a judge. I mean you can have um, you know,

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Speaker 1: sort of like being a soldier in the sense that

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Speaker 1: you can have a political identity and political beliefs, but

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Speaker 1: when you put the uniform on and you go to work,

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Speaker 1: you're not really serving as a Democrat or a Republican. Yeah. Well,

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Speaker 1: but I think that's what we hope to find in

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Speaker 1: the Supreme Court judge anyway. UM may not always be

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Speaker 1: the case, but we hope to find somebody who's impartial

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Speaker 1: and they they look at um, you know, our founding documents,

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Speaker 1: they look at the law, they look at uh. I

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Speaker 1: don't think um legal precedents doesn't have as much importance

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Speaker 1: when they make their decisions on the Supreme Court doesn't.

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Speaker 1: But it does for a lot of that, does it

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Speaker 1: for the Supreme Court? Yeah? But it's you know, the

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Speaker 1: whole idea is I mean, there's basically two factions of

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Speaker 1: people when it comes to the Supreme Court. There's people

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Speaker 1: who think we should just be constitutionalists and yeah, there's

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Speaker 1: the and you know, or who are often called originalists,

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Speaker 1: who are like, just look at the document itself, go

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Speaker 1: by you know what we have written our founding document.

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Speaker 1: I believe sometimes they even depending on the person, sometimes

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Speaker 1: they will even look at like the documents that influenced

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Speaker 1: the founding documents, like the Federalist papers and things like that.

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Speaker 1: And then there's the people who are the more left wing,

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Speaker 1: left wing people who will say, you know, this was

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Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six, We're in eighteen times change, we have

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Speaker 1: to change things. And I remember even Ginsburg saying like,

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Speaker 1: we should start looking at international law for some things,

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Speaker 1: which is pretty crazy. But yeah, it is crazy. Um.

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Speaker 1: But on the topic actually of courts and justice and

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Speaker 1: all that, I was messaging with you about this yesterday.

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Speaker 1: How about the fact that no, no matter where you're standing,

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Speaker 1: this illegal immigration stuff going on, that we now have

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Speaker 1: one year old children taking the stand in court and

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Speaker 1: literally a judge saying to them like, do you understand

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Speaker 1: the proceedings that are coming before you? And they're separated

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Speaker 1: from their parents. You know, I'm sure someone's gonna think

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Speaker 1: I'm some type of social justice or if you're saying

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Speaker 1: we should have one year old system is broke, and

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty I'll be honest, I'm pretty um conservative on

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Speaker 1: the issue of illegal immigration. We've talked about this before,

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Speaker 1: but I there's absolutely no reason I should. I would

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Speaker 1: see that a one year old should be on the

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Speaker 1: stand for the actions of their parents coming here legal.

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Speaker 1: I also believe strongly in the rule of law and

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Speaker 1: uh that we should have borders, that we should have

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Speaker 1: border security, all that good stuff that we should have,

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Speaker 1: That we should have legal immigration, that there are avenues

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Speaker 1: for people to apply to immigrate to the United States.

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Speaker 1: I totally believe in all of that. But the system

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Speaker 1: as it currently exists is broken and fought and when

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Speaker 1: you have families being separated, kids being uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: putting into these prisons and separated from their parents, I mean,

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Speaker 1: things are fucking broken and we just need to be

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Speaker 1: look in the mirror and be like, God, damn, what

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Speaker 1: are we doing. And we need to start fixing some

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Speaker 1: of these issues and figure out how we can. I mean,

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Speaker 1: there's always going to be illegal immigrants coming into the

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Speaker 1: United States and one shape or form, and we have

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Speaker 1: to we've got to do a better job and treating

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Speaker 1: them in a more humane manner um. You know, some

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Speaker 1: of them are criminals. Sure we're gonna throw them in prison,

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Speaker 1: but some of them are just normal. A lot most

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Speaker 1: of them are just normal people trying to come here

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Speaker 1: and find work. I just wonder how do you fix

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Speaker 1: the just a specific issue of having a one year

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Speaker 1: old done the stand because from what I read articles

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Speaker 1: about it, and like the judge himself that he was

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Speaker 1: clearly uncomfortable doing this, and like, how do we just say, well,

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Speaker 1: this is what the president is. You know what what

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Speaker 1: was the scenario that the one year old had been

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Speaker 1: separated from the family. Yeah, they're they're having all of

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Speaker 1: these people in court. The one I was reading there

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Speaker 1: was a Huffington Post one and yes, I know it's

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Speaker 1: more left wing, but there were several articles about this

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Speaker 1: um but I'll read it right here. Uh this from

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Speaker 1: Huffington Post. A one year old boy was in federal

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Speaker 1: custody who appeared in immigration court without his parents and

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Speaker 1: Phoenix briefly played with a ball, drank a bottle, and

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Speaker 1: then cried hysterically as he was about to leave the

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Speaker 1: courtroom Friday, according to the Associated Press, but he was

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Speaker 1: eventually granted a voluntary departure order so the government can

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Speaker 1: fly to han Doris, where his father has already been sent.

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Speaker 1: The little boy identified in court as only. Johan was

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Speaker 1: one of the children who appeared in the Arizona court

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Speaker 1: Friday without parents. One boy held up five fingers when

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Speaker 1: the judge asked him his age. Judge John Richardson said

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Speaker 1: he was embarrassed to ask if John understood the proceedings ape,

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Speaker 1: he reported, I don't know who you would explain it to,

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Speaker 1: unless you think that a one year old could learn

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Speaker 1: immigration law, he told Johan's attorney. Um Immigration advocates have

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Speaker 1: complained about children going to court, calling it stressful and

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Speaker 1: frightening people. In immigration proceedings, even children are not guaranteed

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Speaker 1: an attorney, although most unaccompanied miners do appear with representation,

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Speaker 1: so I can go on. But the point is, like

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Speaker 1: I feel like I'm in that Idiocracy movie. We should

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Speaker 1: have the common sense that you don't put a one

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Speaker 1: year old on the stand, just send him back to

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Speaker 1: Honduras with his parents, Like, what what is the fucking

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Speaker 1: point of having him in accord about this? He doesn't

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Speaker 1: understand what's going on. He's a one year old? Uh,

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Speaker 1: what are we doing? I mean, I would look at

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Speaker 1: this and if I were in politics, if you know,

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Speaker 1: I would look at this whole situation, be like we

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Speaker 1: need to fucking tear up our entire legal framework, um,

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Speaker 1: perhaps even law enforcement framework for border security in rewriting,

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Speaker 1: like like, this is so broken, we need to start

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Speaker 1: over again from scratch and completely unfunck this situation. I'd

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Speaker 1: be like, listen, immigration law, you're on a safety stand down.

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Speaker 1: We're having safety stand down Tuesday here, and we're gonna

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Speaker 1: unfunck this entire situation because everything is so screwed up

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Speaker 1: right now. I think it's you know, you have one

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Speaker 1: side who has talked about granting amnesty for everyone who's here,

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Speaker 1: which is a political tool because these people are going

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Speaker 1: to vote for Demo crats, so that's why Democrats are

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Speaker 1: for this. And I don't think it's a good idea.

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Speaker 1: So then you have people on the right that are like,

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Speaker 1: how do we push back against this? And you know,

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Speaker 1: you're not having any logical idea of how to fix

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Speaker 1: it well, And and then it descends into the left

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Speaker 1: calling ice Nazis and saying that we have concentration camps

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Speaker 1: in America and I was like, what the fuck? And

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Speaker 1: in those scenarios where it's like these extremes and these

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Speaker 1: zero sum games, um, where you think that the people

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Speaker 1: you're arguing against our literally Nazis, and you are lining

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Speaker 1: yourself to you know, like the Jewish resistance or something

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Speaker 1: in World War Two. It's like, okay, now we have

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Speaker 1: left reality, Like we have left reality behind, and nothing

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Speaker 1: productive is going to come out of that, Uh, that

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Speaker 1: rhetoric and that sort of debate because it's just two

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Speaker 1: people screaming past each other. Yeah, yeah, that's what it's become. Um,

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Speaker 1: all right, I guess with that we should get over

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Speaker 1: to Nate Boyer. I'm I'm excited to interview him because

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Speaker 1: the Alan Kaepernick issue and the kneelinger in the National anthem,

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Speaker 1: and it was such like a heated debate, especially like

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Speaker 1: this past year. It's going to continue to be as

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Speaker 1: the football season comes. And I think that the Nate

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Speaker 1: Boyer story and we'll talk about it with him, is

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Speaker 1: so underreported because people have forgotten the fact that originally

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Speaker 1: Colin Kaepernick was sitting down and it was Nate who

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Speaker 1: suggested to him that he kneel yes. And it's interesting.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think Nate's an interesting guy

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Speaker 1: because he's trying to be the adult in the room

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Speaker 1: and kind of lead the way and not be that

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Speaker 1: person we were talking about before. We're just screaming at

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Speaker 1: people and making these bombastic comments. A sense that he's

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Speaker 1: trying to um have a have an adult conversation. So

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Speaker 1: I think it's going to be interesting to talk to him.

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Speaker 1: So let's get him on joining us on the show

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Speaker 1: for the first time. Really excited to have him on.

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Speaker 1: Nate Boyer Uh. Nate is a former staff Sergeant UH

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Speaker 1: six years in the Army, multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Speaker 1: Also a former pro NFL player with the Seattle Seahawks.

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Speaker 1: We of course want to get into the national anthem stuff,

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Speaker 1: but I first want to get into your background and everything,

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Speaker 1: and it's just applied to you to have you on. Man,

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Speaker 1: it's good to be here, very good to be here.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys having me and and your services

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Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, thanks Nate. You know it's great to

427
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,160
Speaker 1: have you on too, Because I was saying the ean earlier.

428
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,200
Speaker 1: We live in, you know, very politically charged times, and

429
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,720
Speaker 1: I think, what are the sense I get from you

430
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:35,760
Speaker 1: is that you've been trying to lead an adult conversation

431
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:40,720
Speaker 1: about about politics and public life. Yeah. I don't think

432
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 1: politics and adult conversations go together. The more I've more

433
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:49,200
Speaker 1: I've become involved in on this stuff, which I think

434
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:53,359
Speaker 1: we all kind of knew that, but it's uh yeah,

435
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 1: and it's not a new thing, you know. I'm not

436
00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:00,280
Speaker 1: I'm not knocking the uh you know, the cur Rent

437
00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,720
Speaker 1: or even the former administration. I mean, it's been like

438
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,479
Speaker 1: that forever. It's just, uh, it's kind of silly, you know.

439
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,560
Speaker 1: And and we're all better than that, and we can

440
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 1: do better than that, and we know that, and then

441
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 1: a lot of times we just refused to I think,

442
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,880
Speaker 1: and it's it tearing us apart at this point. Yeah,

443
00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,400
Speaker 1: it's like we're choosing the the emotion, that little serotonin

444
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 1: addiction that makes us feel good when we we shout

445
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,159
Speaker 1: at somebody totally you know. Um, I mean that's what

446
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,080
Speaker 1: I was just talking about that yesterday with a bunch

447
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:35,760
Speaker 1: of veterans that are part of a charity I'm I'm

448
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:39,359
Speaker 1: pretty involved with, and you know, we we we talked

449
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 1: about a lot of stuff when when we get together

450
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,640
Speaker 1: in the bad community, and you know, hopefully at this point,

451
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,200
Speaker 1: more and more of us are becoming vulnerable enough to

452
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:52,080
Speaker 1: admit we've got some issues of our own and all that, um,

453
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 1: and things don't always easy, and you know, we can't

454
00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:56,399
Speaker 1: just suck it up and drive it on drive on

455
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,679
Speaker 1: all the time. But we also, you know, we were

456
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,760
Speaker 1: talking a lot about I mean just yeah, the social

457
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:10,879
Speaker 1: media era, and um everything is just super bipolar on

458
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:15,159
Speaker 1: social media. There is no like you know what you

459
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:18,119
Speaker 1: do today, Oh you know, I went and got the

460
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:22,000
Speaker 1: mail bank, you know, my wife out the dinner, played

461
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 1: with my kids. Exactly. It's like everything that happened today

462
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,360
Speaker 1: was either a hundred or zero, you know what I mean.

463
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,919
Speaker 1: It was just the worst thing ever, or it was incredible.

464
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:35,879
Speaker 1: And that is not normal and not healthy. And I

465
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,160
Speaker 1: think it's bleeding into all of this stuff that we're

466
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 1: about to get into. Yeah, I would agree, for sure.

467
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 1: But before we get into all that, though, I think

468
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,199
Speaker 1: the audience probably like to hear just your background as

469
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,400
Speaker 1: a Green Beret and how you got into the army

470
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,360
Speaker 1: and all that. Yeah, yeah, I um so, I grew

471
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,600
Speaker 1: up mostly in the Bay Area in California. Actually, um

472
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 1: I was born in oak Ridge, Tennessee, out right next

473
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,439
Speaker 1: to not Phille where the University of Tennessee is. That's

474
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 1: where my dad went to veterinary school. He's a Raceforce veterinarian. UM.

475
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 1: And then when I was really young, we moved to

476
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 1: the Bay Area and he started working at a track

477
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,160
Speaker 1: up there called Golden gate Fields. And my mom got

478
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:19,119
Speaker 1: her PhD at Berkeley and environmental science. So both my

479
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:24,040
Speaker 1: parents were you know, really educated, really motivated, um, and

480
00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:29,239
Speaker 1: definitely didn't force anything upon me. But um, I mean

481
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 1: partly I felt pressure to succeed in some way, but also,

482
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 1: you know, they encouraged me to to not be average.

483
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,199
Speaker 1: And that was just sort of I mean, it's how

484
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,080
Speaker 1: they are, you know. They they're both they're both from

485
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:47,159
Speaker 1: working class families and like just worked very hard and

486
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,919
Speaker 1: put themselves through school and and and did it you know,

487
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:55,239
Speaker 1: the good old fashioned way, and and so you know,

488
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:59,360
Speaker 1: as I went on, though, I obviously I love sports. Um,

489
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,480
Speaker 1: that's something that was a huge part of my life. Um.

490
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:06,119
Speaker 1: Actually didn't play football growing up. Played played baseball, basketball,

491
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 1: every other sport and was a decent athlete and worked

492
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,360
Speaker 1: pretty hard at it, but never it was great, right, Um.

493
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: And you know, I get into high school and I

494
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: think I'm trying to I'm starting to see the writing

495
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 1: on the wall that I'm probably not gonna be able

496
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,879
Speaker 1: to play one of these professional sports or even in

497
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:27,240
Speaker 1: collegiate sports. And I sort of through in the tal

498
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,320
Speaker 1: on school too, you know, I stopped putting in that

499
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,360
Speaker 1: kind of effort and and I kind of just coasted

500
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 1: by I was. I tested pretty well on stuff, but

501
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:41,960
Speaker 1: I wasn't working hard. And I finished high school. I

502
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 1: didn't want to go to college, didn't want to I

503
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,600
Speaker 1: didn't want to further my education, didn't know what I

504
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,159
Speaker 1: wanted to do. I moved down to San Diego, started

505
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,560
Speaker 1: working on a fishing boat, UM and just you know,

506
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it. I just kind of wanted to have

507
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:56,359
Speaker 1: that blue collar life, I think, and earned my way

508
00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:02,159
Speaker 1: kind of like my parents did maybe. And so I

509
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,879
Speaker 1: worked on the boat, ended up moving up to Los Angeles.

510
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:08,440
Speaker 1: Was interested, um in the film industry. You know, I

511
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,880
Speaker 1: think that it's obviously such a powerful medium, the storytelling there.

512
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 1: And I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do

513
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 1: with that, um And it didn't matter, because happened, and

514
00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 1: it's sort of shifted my thinking, as it did pretty

515
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:27,120
Speaker 1: much everybody's thinking. UM And and for me it wasn't

516
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: the military right away, but it was getting outside my

517
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:34,159
Speaker 1: comfort zone, getting outside the box, thinking more globally and like,

518
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,880
Speaker 1: what am I really doing now today in my life?

519
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,479
Speaker 1: That was making you know, a damn bit of difference

520
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 1: to anybody. And I ended up and I struggled quite

521
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 1: a bit back here at home with different things, and

522
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 1: we don't have to get into the details on that,

523
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 1: but y'all can imagine. And uh, you know, eventually, I

524
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: just I had to get at it. I had to

525
00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: get out of this bubble. I had to get away

526
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 1: from from America for a bit, and um it wasn't

527
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 1: a really patriotic person at the time. Ended up going

528
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 1: over to the Darfur and doing some relief work over

529
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 1: there along the Chattian border next to Sudan at the

530
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,880
Speaker 1: height of this genocide. Man, and it just completely changed

531
00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:23,720
Speaker 1: my life, changed my perspective on things. Um, I gained

532
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 1: my patriots patriotism over there and really started to appreciate

533
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,200
Speaker 1: the opportunities but also how fortunately was to have what

534
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 1: I have here, but also how much of a beacon

535
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 1: of hope we are for much of the world, not

536
00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:44,160
Speaker 1: just the developing world, but the world. And man, I

537
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 1: like to see how appreciative people that had absolutely nothing

538
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 1: and we're dying and starving that an American would just

539
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: come over there and help for a little while. Um

540
00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:57,760
Speaker 1: it meant so much to them, and it made me

541
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 1: realize and understand how important we are as Americans and

542
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,320
Speaker 1: what we do overseas, no matter what that may be.

543
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: And uh So my last weekend country there, I got

544
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: really sick. I actually got malaria. And I'm listening to

545
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 1: this little radio. I'm listening to the BBC and it's

546
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 1: like the second Battle of Fallujah is happening, and it's

547
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: like the play by play for that, you know, and

548
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 1: it just like I don't know if I was delirious

549
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 1: from being sick or what, but I was like, I'm

550
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: I'm joining the military when I get back. That's exactly

551
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,080
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. And I came back and I didn't

552
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:35,360
Speaker 1: know what I was gonna do in the military, but

553
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:39,480
Speaker 1: found out about the Army Special Forces and at eighteen

554
00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:41,640
Speaker 1: X ray program for the Green Berets where you could

555
00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:47,280
Speaker 1: coming off the street, um and if you've tested well enough,

556
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 1: you have an opportunity to go to a Special Forces

557
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 1: selection after basic training and airborne school and potentially go

558
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,640
Speaker 1: right into um, you know that training to be a

559
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,960
Speaker 1: Green Beret. Uh. Just a few months after enlisting, and

560
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 1: I did that program and you know, obviously worked remind

561
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:06,520
Speaker 1: my butt off and got through it, graduated to get

562
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:08,200
Speaker 1: my green beret about a year and a half later,

563
00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:11,080
Speaker 1: and then you know, started deploying. So that's sort of

564
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 1: my my journey into the into the military. So that

565
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 1: experience in Sudan, it was something that really made you

566
00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:21,320
Speaker 1: want to, I guess, participate in what was happening in

567
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 1: the world and in a new and different way. Is

568
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:28,040
Speaker 1: that right? Totally completely? I mean, you know I was

569
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:29,800
Speaker 1: living in I was, and I'm living back in Los

570
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: Angeles now with a different mindset, but I think I

571
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,160
Speaker 1: was letting. Now. That was a time we've just gone

572
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:39,960
Speaker 1: to Iraq, um, you know, not long before, and there

573
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:41,920
Speaker 1: was a lot of I mean, I guess it's before

574
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:46,600
Speaker 1: social media, but it was still you know, there was

575
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 1: a lot of people upset about that, UM. And in

576
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 1: a town like this, Ah, there's a lot of pointing

577
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,520
Speaker 1: fingers at people in power, like it's you know, and

578
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:02,000
Speaker 1: it's always blame shifting for any any problem you having

579
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:07,080
Speaker 1: your own life. UM. But also it's just popular to

580
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 1: you know, be anti whatever and kind of go against

581
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 1: the kind of go against the against the grain somewhat.

582
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,080
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I just fed into I was

583
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 1: a kid, you know, I just I fed into it.

584
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't really understand it. I didn't care to, um.

585
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 1: And it's probably just angst I had going on in

586
00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:31,400
Speaker 1: my own life, and so I just bought into all

587
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:34,400
Speaker 1: that that that, you know, what we were, what we

588
00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:39,920
Speaker 1: were doing in Iraq specifically, was just coming from a

589
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:44,000
Speaker 1: place of of like imperialism and evil sort of, and

590
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,320
Speaker 1: it's absolutely not the truth, especially once I was over there,

591
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,440
Speaker 1: you know. UM, but I had to learn that lesson

592
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,960
Speaker 1: and I had to learn it for myself. And UM,

593
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,360
Speaker 1: if I didn't go over there and and and work

594
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:03,120
Speaker 1: at those camps, which is kind of counter intuitive to

595
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 1: what you would think would happen. I mean, a lot

596
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:05,840
Speaker 1: of people come back, they're like, I'm gonna join the

597
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 1: Peace Corps, do this for the rest of my life.

598
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:08,840
Speaker 1: And I was like, now I want these people need

599
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: somebody to fight for them, like that's what they need.

600
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 1: So yeah, it was it was a I mean, everybody

601
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,120
Speaker 1: has an interesting it's an interesting time in almost anybody's

602
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 1: life in their late term, late teens and early twenties.

603
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: But it was definitely a big shift for me. And

604
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,920
Speaker 1: then in special Forces, did you end up getting deployed

605
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 1: to Iraq? Yeah, that was my first My first employment

606
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 1: was to Iraq actually, and I was in uh I

607
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,239
Speaker 1: started out actually in the first Special Forces group out

608
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 1: in Okinawa and then uh it's a whole another podcast,

609
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: but I used my way into a tent Special Forces

610
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 1: group and I was able to deploy to Iraq with them,

611
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:49,240
Speaker 1: um with an O D A out of the third Battalion,

612
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 1: and it was awesome, it was it was incredible. Man,

613
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,000
Speaker 1: it's keep touching a lot of those guys from that

614
00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 1: team and um, it was a you know, it was.

615
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:02,440
Speaker 1: It was an interesting time there too. I mean it

616
00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:05,280
Speaker 1: was two thousand and eight by the time I finally

617
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 1: got over there, and uh so and where we were

618
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 1: we were in the Shiite Holy City in the job

619
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,320
Speaker 1: and it was we had this this kind of small

620
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,359
Speaker 1: team house and we were sort of out on our

621
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 1: own and it was a lot of it was a

622
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 1: lot of key leader engagements, you know, it was a

623
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,000
Speaker 1: lot for the first few months there, it was a

624
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:31,000
Speaker 1: lot of trying to work with local government and like

625
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,600
Speaker 1: get approval to go out on these missions because we

626
00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:36,120
Speaker 1: had so many bad dudes kind of betting down there

627
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:38,239
Speaker 1: because it was like this, and they were talking about

628
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 1: renegotiating the sofa around that time exactly. Yeah. Yeah, And

629
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:47,719
Speaker 1: so it was you know, it was a delicate It

630
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,200
Speaker 1: was like a delicate mission that we had. You know,

631
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:55,719
Speaker 1: we were eventually able to work with the local authorities,

632
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:59,320
Speaker 1: I guess we'd call them and UH and the local government,

633
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 1: the local of province, UM, you know, and conduct some

634
00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 1: some pretty impactful missions, and especially towards the back end

635
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,879
Speaker 1: of that deployment, UM really gets some good work done

636
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,840
Speaker 1: and and and get some some of those high value

637
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 1: targets taken care of. And so it was that it

638
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:21,879
Speaker 1: was cool. I learned a un about UM, you know,

639
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:25,319
Speaker 1: being a warrior diplomat, which is what we ultimately have

640
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:29,480
Speaker 1: to be in their special operations, especially in this war, UM,

641
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,440
Speaker 1: because it's definitely a complicated one. Were there any like

642
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: key takeaways from your experience in Iraq? I'm just curious

643
00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:41,920
Speaker 1: because I was in Iraq my second time in in

644
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, So I mean, I think the

645
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:50,360
Speaker 1: political situation we experienced over there was probably fairly similar. Yeah,

646
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,000
Speaker 1: I mean it's it was my first it was my

647
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,239
Speaker 1: first deployment, you know. I mean, I I'd obviously been

648
00:35:55,239 --> 00:36:01,719
Speaker 1: to some kind of wild places before, but um, you know,

649
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:05,360
Speaker 1: it was it's it was. It was very interesting to

650
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:11,640
Speaker 1: me how and I don't want to come off and

651
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:18,760
Speaker 1: it's sound arrogant or anything like that, but just how um,

652
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:25,799
Speaker 1: I guess uneducated and um corrupt and backwards. So much

653
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:29,040
Speaker 1: of of you know, what was going on in local society,

654
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:34,600
Speaker 1: there was in local government. So just how you know,

655
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,960
Speaker 1: how sometimes just like a really simple suggestion or answer

656
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 1: would solve this problem that's been hampering people for years

657
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,440
Speaker 1: and years and years. And sometimes they take the advice,

658
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,000
Speaker 1: sometimes they don't, you know, and it's just it comes

659
00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: back to this. It was really cool about what we

660
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:55,480
Speaker 1: have here is the separation of church and state, you know,

661
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: and they don't have that there. Um, and it's it's

662
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,440
Speaker 1: like it's same problem in Afghanistan. It's like the type

663
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:06,600
Speaker 1: of oppression I think that is most prevalent, is this

664
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:11,839
Speaker 1: educational oppression? Or if we just kind of keep everybody,

665
00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:17,680
Speaker 1: you know, they're they're not gonna uh fight us, They're

666
00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:19,160
Speaker 1: going to just go along with what we say because

667
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 1: they don't know any better, you know. And it makes

668
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,560
Speaker 1: them dependent on you know, the Sheiks or the Malas

669
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 1: or whoever's running the show exactly exactly, and then they

670
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:30,720
Speaker 1: should be you know, those should be spiritual advisors period.

671
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:35,680
Speaker 1: They should not you know, people that run our our

672
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,200
Speaker 1: our way of life and determine the equality of life.

673
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:41,640
Speaker 1: Do we have well? And it's also a question of

674
00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:44,600
Speaker 1: how do you have how do you cooperate with one

675
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:47,839
Speaker 1: another in a nation state? If everything is viewed through

676
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:52,000
Speaker 1: a religious lens, Uh, there's no opportunities for Sunni and

677
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,439
Speaker 1: she had to work together. If you're the entire lens

678
00:37:54,520 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 1: you see society through is through a religious one, right, Yeah,

679
00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:04,480
Speaker 1: you know, and I think people would argue that here too,

680
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:07,239
Speaker 1: But it's like that level and the extent of that

681
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:10,760
Speaker 1: is not even comparable. I mean, it's just so different.

682
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 1: And also I mean just the the the the the

683
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,319
Speaker 1: oppression of women and just you know what, last night

684
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:24,640
Speaker 1: I talked to a I got to hear the story

685
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:27,279
Speaker 1: from he was he was not an interpreter used in

686
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:31,480
Speaker 1: Iraqi contractor um that drove. He was driving trucks for

687
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:34,360
Speaker 1: us over there, right, he's working with the Marines, and

688
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:42,280
Speaker 1: you know he was talking about um how just grateful

689
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:46,120
Speaker 1: he was to be here, but also like it really

690
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:48,800
Speaker 1: hurts him that people don't appreciate this country moren to

691
00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:54,239
Speaker 1: understand how absolutely amazing it is. Because he was like,

692
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,600
Speaker 1: you know, and he was like nonchalantly telling me the story,

693
00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:01,960
Speaker 1: and he's like, yeah, you know, I got I got

694
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,319
Speaker 1: rolled up at a checkpoint, um, and I wasn't with

695
00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:07,840
Speaker 1: any of Americans at the time, and some of the

696
00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:12,120
Speaker 1: people working there knew I was working for them. And

697
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,719
Speaker 1: you know, he got detained put in this room with

698
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:17,680
Speaker 1: like three other guys, I think one of them was.

699
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:20,160
Speaker 1: It was like a couple of his best friends and cousin,

700
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:23,120
Speaker 1: and you know, they got him in there and they're

701
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:25,960
Speaker 1: questioning him, and they just start cutting off one of

702
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:28,200
Speaker 1: the dude's heads, like just right in front of them,

703
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:32,840
Speaker 1: you know, and there was no blindfold and just you know,

704
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:34,680
Speaker 1: doing that, and then it does it to the next guy.

705
00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:37,359
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, you know, he hears

706
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:41,040
Speaker 1: helicopters in the distance. There's a big boom at the door,

707
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 1: and Marines kicked the door down and might save he

708
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:46,759
Speaker 1: saved this guy, you know what I mean. And uh,

709
00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:48,360
Speaker 1: and he's and he's like the way he's telling the

710
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,720
Speaker 1: story though, is it's not for shock and awe value.

711
00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:54,080
Speaker 1: It's just reality. It's part of life. Yeah, it's just

712
00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 1: part of life. And and he's just like, and it

713
00:39:56,760 --> 00:39:58,040
Speaker 1: was a group of bets of us there, so he's

714
00:39:58,040 --> 00:39:59,799
Speaker 1: looking at all of us. He's like, so thank all

715
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,279
Speaker 1: you guys, thank you so much for you know, doing

716
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:03,920
Speaker 1: this for me. I'm like, We're like, dude, we didn't

717
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,920
Speaker 1: do that for you like that. That is insane, you

718
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,279
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like, I mean, somebody in the

719
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,520
Speaker 1: military didn't. And god, that's you know, it's a it's

720
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:14,279
Speaker 1: a crazy story. But like the fact that he was

721
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:17,440
Speaker 1: so appreciative, appreciative of us who I mean, some of

722
00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 1: the people sitting in that room, you know, work in

723
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:25,200
Speaker 1: the chow hall. I mean, it's just different. But to

724
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 1: hear that from, you know, from one of those guys,

725
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:30,480
Speaker 1: and I've heard countless stories and experience counless stories were

726
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:32,520
Speaker 1: there from a lot of the you know, the interpreters

727
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 1: who worked with and stuff like that, and some of

728
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,319
Speaker 1: the other um and people in society. But that that

729
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:41,600
Speaker 1: was just like the way that he told that story

730
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:46,239
Speaker 1: and just how appreciative he was and understanding that this

731
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,040
Speaker 1: is there's not a lot of places like this in

732
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:51,799
Speaker 1: the world, you know, and I don't. This is a

733
00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:53,920
Speaker 1: matter of perspective, but a lot of people don't. They

734
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:56,960
Speaker 1: don't get it. There. There yes so many memories that

735
00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:00,920
Speaker 1: just like stick out that we're driving through the city

736
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:02,680
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night and it just looks

737
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:05,400
Speaker 1: like mad Max out there. I mean literally like people

738
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 1: warming their hands over a fifty five gallon drum with

739
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:10,240
Speaker 1: a fire lit in it, and you're like, what planet

740
00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:14,280
Speaker 1: am I on right now? I remember we hit one target.

741
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 1: Uh they're supposed to be an h VT there. He

742
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:19,319
Speaker 1: wasn't home, it was it was a dry hole in

743
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:24,080
Speaker 1: that sense. Um. As we were clearing the structure, there's

744
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:27,480
Speaker 1: a closet, a closet that was locked up and there

745
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:29,600
Speaker 1: was like these uh like a little like you know,

746
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:33,000
Speaker 1: um like little window in the door that had like

747
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:37,360
Speaker 1: iron bars on it, and there was a mentally disabled

748
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,640
Speaker 1: child locked in the closet and he was reaching his

749
00:41:40,719 --> 00:41:42,920
Speaker 1: hand out from in between the bars like trying to

750
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:45,839
Speaker 1: swat it. Guys as they walk back and I mean,

751
00:41:46,719 --> 00:41:49,279
Speaker 1: you are on a different planet. I mean, this is

752
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:54,240
Speaker 1: a totally different society. They do not have the mental

753
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:59,520
Speaker 1: health care UM or medical or social infrastructure that we

754
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,120
Speaker 1: haven't a country. I mean I say that as you know,

755
00:42:02,239 --> 00:42:04,600
Speaker 1: my mother is a social worker and would have to

756
00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:06,839
Speaker 1: go out to people's homes and try to help them

757
00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:09,240
Speaker 1: out and things like that, and that sort of stuff

758
00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:13,640
Speaker 1: just doesn't exist Interack and uh, just going to what

759
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:15,680
Speaker 1: you were saying a little bit, Nate, is I think

760
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:20,759
Speaker 1: sometimes people in America are not really appreciative of our

761
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:26,360
Speaker 1: society and sometimes how delicate civilization can be. Yeah, I

762
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:31,640
Speaker 1: mean there's there's really five basic things that every human

763
00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:36,480
Speaker 1: in their core probably craves and really needs um aside

764
00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:41,440
Speaker 1: from anything emotional, and that's you know, clean water, food, shelter,

765
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:47,560
Speaker 1: basic education, and basic medical care. And much of the

766
00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:49,719
Speaker 1: world does not have those things. You know, some of

767
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:51,520
Speaker 1: them doesn't have some of them don't have any of

768
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:55,080
Speaker 1: those things. And we have all of those things. And

769
00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:57,919
Speaker 1: I know, I mean obviously there's a situation Flint last

770
00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,680
Speaker 1: year where we didn't have clean water for a while

771
00:42:59,719 --> 00:43:02,279
Speaker 1: and and they're still working towards that. And there's I mean,

772
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:06,560
Speaker 1: there's obviously our our education system isn't perfect and all that,

773
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:10,719
Speaker 1: but like taking things into perspective, and there's no reason

774
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:13,840
Speaker 1: to not try to improve those things here, fight for

775
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:17,880
Speaker 1: that stuff. I get it. But I mean we most

776
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:23,400
Speaker 1: of us did nothing to earn being born here or

777
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:27,000
Speaker 1: you know, even many that that we're able to get

778
00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:33,120
Speaker 1: here um later, there's very having someone like him, I

779
00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:37,360
Speaker 1: think deserves to be here more than me anyway, and

780
00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:41,719
Speaker 1: more than a lot of people as far as um

781
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:43,759
Speaker 1: what they've done for this country. You know, there's a

782
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:45,920
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of interpreters I worked with it.

783
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:50,320
Speaker 1: They fought in Afghanistan for the Americans for fifteen years,

784
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:53,799
Speaker 1: you know, and they're still not there and they're they're

785
00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:55,480
Speaker 1: they're fighting to get over here, you know, and then

786
00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:58,239
Speaker 1: once they do get here, they're driving uber and they

787
00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:03,960
Speaker 1: love it. So like, let's just let's just remember that

788
00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:06,279
Speaker 1: every we got to remember, gotta wake up remembering that

789
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:09,359
Speaker 1: before we go up on a tire. A few of

790
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:14,719
Speaker 1: my interpreters were Yazdi from sin Jar and they immigrated

791
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:17,560
Speaker 1: here with their families. And I was very happy to

792
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:19,400
Speaker 1: be one of the people to be able to write

793
00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:22,160
Speaker 1: like letters of recommendation to the State Department and things

794
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:25,120
Speaker 1: like that for these guys, and uh, they were able

795
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:29,520
Speaker 1: to come over here with their families. Um, maybe three years,

796
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:33,839
Speaker 1: four years before everything happened in Sinjar when Isis came

797
00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:36,279
Speaker 1: through and I mean the rest is history. I mean

798
00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:42,960
Speaker 1: wiped off the map basically. Yeah, that's uh, I you know,

799
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:46,719
Speaker 1: I it's crazy. I mean, I got I got a

800
00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:49,960
Speaker 1: couple a few buddies that were that were terms in

801
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 1: Afghanistan during my last deployment and they, you know, they

802
00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:59,239
Speaker 1: live up in dree Month, California. Now is there's quite

803
00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:01,680
Speaker 1: a few actors, a pretty big app and community up

804
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:07,359
Speaker 1: there aftern you know, um, you know, immigrants and dude,

805
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:10,799
Speaker 1: they are they're still trying. They're trying to get their

806
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:12,759
Speaker 1: families over here, and they're dealing with all that and

807
00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:15,120
Speaker 1: it's like, I mean, it's obviously tough. It's not an

808
00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:18,400
Speaker 1: easy solution there, the immigration issue thing. It's just it's

809
00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:22,279
Speaker 1: it's been broken, complicated for a very long time. This

810
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,400
Speaker 1: is not a new thing America. You know, this is

811
00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,399
Speaker 1: not one person just deciding now that we're just we're

812
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:30,960
Speaker 1: screwing over a bunch of people. Like our immigration policy

813
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:36,400
Speaker 1: has been challenged for many, many, many years. Yeah, it

814
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:40,880
Speaker 1: really has. Absolutely. Um So getting into you know, the

815
00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:45,000
Speaker 1: next transition here you go from that to becoming a

816
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:50,839
Speaker 1: professional football player, with the NFL. Yeah, well, first there

817
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:56,600
Speaker 1: was college, so um I finish. I guess in two

818
00:45:56,600 --> 00:45:59,319
Speaker 1: thousand and ten, I had the decision I had to

819
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:02,360
Speaker 1: make whether to you know, to reenlist on active duty

820
00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:07,440
Speaker 1: and I'll continue down down that path or go to college.

821
00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:09,400
Speaker 1: And you know, at that time, I had not been

822
00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:11,920
Speaker 1: to Afghanistan. I'd just been to Iraq, and Red Rack

823
00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 1: was pretty much over, or at least we were shutting

824
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:19,800
Speaker 1: things down. And so I made that. I made that decision,

825
00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:20,960
Speaker 1: you know that I was going to do that. And

826
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:27,360
Speaker 1: I got into the University of Texas and decided I

827
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:29,720
Speaker 1: was going to do the one thing that I didn't

828
00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:32,520
Speaker 1: do growing up that I regretted, which was played football,

829
00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 1: or at least try to play football. And so I went,

830
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:39,279
Speaker 1: you know, I went out for the team. I was

831
00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:44,920
Speaker 1: a twenty nine year old freshman, and um, I go

832
00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:48,040
Speaker 1: out there during tryouts and just you know, go a

833
00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:50,840
Speaker 1: hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction. Uh, you

834
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:54,080
Speaker 1: know all the time though, just continuing to just I

835
00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:58,000
Speaker 1: didn't really befriend anybody. I just kind of, you know,

836
00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:01,200
Speaker 1: put my head down and hustled and figured, you know,

837
00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:03,320
Speaker 1: this is my best shot at least getting on the

838
00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:06,480
Speaker 1: on the scout team. I mean, Texas is a huge program.

839
00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:09,440
Speaker 1: They had just been to the National Championship game the

840
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:12,399
Speaker 1: year before and all this stuff, so um, and sure

841
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:15,279
Speaker 1: enough I and I was able to earn spot on

842
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:18,880
Speaker 1: the team. And I was, you know, just on the

843
00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:21,480
Speaker 1: scout team that first year as playing safety, learning how

844
00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:25,920
Speaker 1: to play safety. And then I also made the decision

845
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:28,000
Speaker 1: to come back into the military. You know, I re

846
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:31,320
Speaker 1: enlisted in the Texas National Guard in the nineteen Special

847
00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:35,640
Speaker 1: Forces Group. And the deal we sort of struck was

848
00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 1: they wouldn't, you know, during football season, I wouldn't have

849
00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:43,360
Speaker 1: to you know, go to drilled like that because I couldn't.

850
00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:46,480
Speaker 1: We had games every weekend. Um. But then I'd make

851
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:48,400
Speaker 1: up for it in the spring, and then in the summer,

852
00:47:48,719 --> 00:47:51,840
Speaker 1: I'd make myself available to go back overseas, whether it

853
00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:56,760
Speaker 1: was you know, training exercise and in Bulgaria or Greece,

854
00:47:57,120 --> 00:47:58,799
Speaker 1: which I went to, or if it was going back

855
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:02,920
Speaker 1: to Afghanistan, which I happened to do before my junior

856
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:07,560
Speaker 1: and senior years. Um. And that was really interesting, really interesting,

857
00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:11,600
Speaker 1: you know, to to go to college in a great

858
00:48:11,719 --> 00:48:14,000
Speaker 1: a great city like Austin with a lot of mostly

859
00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:17,800
Speaker 1: young younger students, UM. And then to take off for

860
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:20,319
Speaker 1: about three and a half months and go back to

861
00:48:20,360 --> 00:48:23,840
Speaker 1: Afghanistan and be back on a team. And part of

862
00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:28,279
Speaker 1: you know, part of the last commando mission out there, UM,

863
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:33,120
Speaker 1: with the with the Afghan commandos was it was pretty wild,

864
00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:36,160
Speaker 1: you know, but I I loved it, and I think

865
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:39,560
Speaker 1: most people that have that it served in that way

866
00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:42,920
Speaker 1: would agree, like, that's a pretty cool life. Is that

867
00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:46,080
Speaker 1: like super jarring for you though, Nate to go from

868
00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:49,600
Speaker 1: you know, deploying the Afghanistan and going into college life

869
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:54,359
Speaker 1: with uh, you know, were predominantly young student body. I

870
00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:57,680
Speaker 1: think one of my you know characteristics or traits or

871
00:48:57,719 --> 00:49:01,759
Speaker 1: whatever is that I love change. I like when things

872
00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:05,040
Speaker 1: are moving. You know. I'd much rather fish in a

873
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:07,960
Speaker 1: river than fish in a lake. Um That's just how

874
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:11,319
Speaker 1: I am. And so that helped. But still, yeah, there's

875
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:15,640
Speaker 1: definitely some tough stuff, you know, transitioning with that and

876
00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:18,719
Speaker 1: UM trying to like sort of you know, turn it

877
00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:21,279
Speaker 1: off or whatever you want to call it. UM is

878
00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:24,280
Speaker 1: you know, you're in deployment mode, You're in a different mode. Everything.

879
00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:26,880
Speaker 1: At least for me, everything is very regimented. I love

880
00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:32,360
Speaker 1: the routines, UM, you know, I work out like crazy

881
00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:36,200
Speaker 1: because I need I need like these other things going

882
00:49:36,239 --> 00:49:41,160
Speaker 1: on to take me away from just becoming overly obsessed

883
00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:43,880
Speaker 1: with you know what happens on missions and going on

884
00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:46,960
Speaker 1: going on our missions and doing them, doing the job. Um,

885
00:49:47,239 --> 00:49:50,360
Speaker 1: and then to come back and like you know, you

886
00:49:50,440 --> 00:49:56,720
Speaker 1: also gotta being around women, you know, not really around women. Um,

887
00:49:56,960 --> 00:49:58,560
Speaker 1: when you're when you're on a twelve min o d

888
00:49:58,719 --> 00:50:04,280
Speaker 1: A and you're working with afghan you know, special forces

889
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:08,759
Speaker 1: and and you're in the in the middle of the

890
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,719
Speaker 1: mountains at Afghanistan at war. It's just like you you

891
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:17,600
Speaker 1: talk differently, different things are okay and acceptable to say.

892
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:20,279
Speaker 1: And you know, I know that's probably not popular during

893
00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:22,719
Speaker 1: the Me Too movement to say that stuff. But it's

894
00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:26,399
Speaker 1: different than being deployed to say, Costa Rica. Yeah, it's

895
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:31,120
Speaker 1: very different. Yeah, I get done and I'm not condoning it.

896
00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:33,160
Speaker 1: But it's just what we do. I think, it's just

897
00:50:33,239 --> 00:50:38,800
Speaker 1: how we sort of cope and um, and and you

898
00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:42,480
Speaker 1: come back and you just have to think before you

899
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:45,440
Speaker 1: speak and think before you act, and it's just it's

900
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:49,279
Speaker 1: very different. So so that kind of stuff, I don't know.

901
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:53,160
Speaker 1: I think I do have a good I'm good at

902
00:50:54,320 --> 00:50:58,040
Speaker 1: reading people and kind of understanding situations. Um, I'm bad

903
00:50:58,040 --> 00:50:59,680
Speaker 1: at a lot of things, but I'm decent at that,

904
00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:04,040
Speaker 1: so uh that helps. That help with that whole thing.

905
00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:06,840
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean to come back to, you know,

906
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:08,279
Speaker 1: the first week of school and I'm sitting in the

907
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:11,960
Speaker 1: back of the classroom and like every laptop open is

908
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:14,880
Speaker 1: like on Facebook and not even paying attention to this,

909
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:18,520
Speaker 1: like first class education we're receiving. And I just came

910
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:21,680
Speaker 1: from a place where they would do anything to have

911
00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:25,760
Speaker 1: an education. Was just you know, And I didn't blame

912
00:51:25,800 --> 00:51:28,399
Speaker 1: any of those kids I went to college with, Like

913
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:31,000
Speaker 1: I get it. I fall into those traps too. Stuff

914
00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:34,440
Speaker 1: is great here, Life's easy and comfortable. And you know,

915
00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:39,319
Speaker 1: once uh, once we get back and get accustomed to

916
00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:41,080
Speaker 1: that stuff, and when we do the same things, you know,

917
00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:45,160
Speaker 1: we bitch about stuff we shouldn't bitch about, um because

918
00:51:45,239 --> 00:51:49,480
Speaker 1: we forget me. And you were also comparatively old men

919
00:51:49,520 --> 00:51:52,480
Speaker 1: when we went to college. I was twenty seven when

920
00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:57,000
Speaker 1: I started, thirty one when I finished. Um, you know,

921
00:51:57,120 --> 00:51:59,320
Speaker 1: if you or I went to college when we were eighteen,

922
00:51:59,360 --> 00:52:04,839
Speaker 1: we probably would been doing the same thing. And I'd

923
00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:07,040
Speaker 1: probably be Muslim. If I was born in Iraq. So

924
00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:12,399
Speaker 1: it's just like it's one of those things. Man, it's

925
00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:14,960
Speaker 1: exactly that's exactly the case. Though it's exactly the case.

926
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:18,520
Speaker 1: So how how does the journey appen that you go

927
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:22,120
Speaker 1: from you know, playing on your college team to becoming

928
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:24,840
Speaker 1: And this is also another thing, is Jack is saying,

929
00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:28,279
Speaker 1: you know, you're comparatively an old man in college. That's

930
00:52:28,360 --> 00:52:34,359
Speaker 1: comparatively also an old start to become a pro athlete. Yeah, Um,

931
00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:38,560
Speaker 1: so I finished it. I graduated at thirty three and

932
00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:44,880
Speaker 1: I and this was in two thousand and four and

933
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:48,480
Speaker 1: two thou fourteen into two thousand and fifteen, so technically

934
00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:54,319
Speaker 1: I ended. My et state from the military was two

935
00:52:54,440 --> 00:52:59,520
Speaker 1: thousand and fifteen February two fifteen. So I decided at

936
00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:03,040
Speaker 1: that point I just turned thirty four then to uh

937
00:53:03,080 --> 00:53:06,000
Speaker 1: to hang it up and uh, you know and sort

938
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:10,360
Speaker 1: of just move forward to do something else. And I

939
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:17,160
Speaker 1: it was interested in circling back into this film and

940
00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:21,480
Speaker 1: television world, and um, I've always had this dream of

941
00:53:21,520 --> 00:53:24,160
Speaker 1: having my own production company, and that's something that's still

942
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:27,600
Speaker 1: a far cry from where I'm at now, but um,

943
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:30,080
Speaker 1: something I'm working towards and and you know, be able

944
00:53:30,120 --> 00:53:33,960
Speaker 1: to create my own content. And now, after all these experiences, like,

945
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:37,760
Speaker 1: I want to make stuff that's very causal, right, and

946
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:42,080
Speaker 1: and that tells important stories to help a certain situation

947
00:53:42,280 --> 00:53:45,359
Speaker 1: and actually make a difference in the world. Um, so

948
00:53:46,400 --> 00:53:48,279
Speaker 1: I decided, Okay, I'm I'm gonna move back here. I

949
00:53:48,320 --> 00:53:51,000
Speaker 1: was actually finishing up my master's degree. And I did

950
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:55,040
Speaker 1: an internship out here with Peter Berg and Peterberg's film

951
00:53:55,080 --> 00:53:58,239
Speaker 1: director and writer and actor. And yeah, he did like

952
00:53:58,320 --> 00:54:00,680
Speaker 1: Lone Survivor, Friday Night Lives, and two of his most

953
00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:03,640
Speaker 1: most famous movies. He did a movie called The Kingdom,

954
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:06,640
Speaker 1: and you know, a bunch of stuff that a bunch

955
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:08,640
Speaker 1: of vets have seen. I've been I've been over to

956
00:54:08,680 --> 00:54:10,640
Speaker 1: that office before as years ago now, but I had

957
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:14,680
Speaker 1: a meeting with one of his producers. Yeah yeah, yeah,

958
00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:19,879
Speaker 1: um yeah, film forty four. So yeah, so I interned there, man.

959
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:22,560
Speaker 1: And it's funny, you know, I was just I've done

960
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:24,680
Speaker 1: all this stuff or whatever, but you know, I'm sitting

961
00:54:24,719 --> 00:54:27,080
Speaker 1: in there and I'm reading scripts and taking notes next

962
00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:31,760
Speaker 1: to some twenty two year old student from you usc

963
00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:34,520
Speaker 1: um that's doing the same thing, and you know, and

964
00:54:34,560 --> 00:54:37,440
Speaker 1: I'm happy to do it. It was just it was

965
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:40,239
Speaker 1: it's funny. I think a lot of people. I think

966
00:54:40,239 --> 00:54:41,719
Speaker 1: a lot of people in our community we do have

967
00:54:41,719 --> 00:54:45,480
Speaker 1: an issue with like veteran entitlement, especially special operations, and

968
00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:49,280
Speaker 1: it's like, dude, I got an opportunity and that's all

969
00:54:50,200 --> 00:54:52,120
Speaker 1: I got. You know, I had to work to earn

970
00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:55,000
Speaker 1: anything from there. And I'm cool with that. Like I

971
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:59,759
Speaker 1: shouldn't just jump people that have put, you know, well

972
00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:02,719
Speaker 1: the sweat and tears into into that same line of

973
00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:05,440
Speaker 1: work just because I did something cooler or you know,

974
00:55:05,600 --> 00:55:07,799
Speaker 1: or serve my country or whether I feel like a

975
00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:09,719
Speaker 1: lot of us get out and you know, we we

976
00:55:09,840 --> 00:55:12,600
Speaker 1: have our own arrogance we carry around with us, but

977
00:55:12,640 --> 00:55:14,680
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of us get out and

978
00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:18,840
Speaker 1: we feel like because we were in the military special forces,

979
00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:21,880
Speaker 1: that we should be the equivalent of special Forces in

980
00:55:22,920 --> 00:55:25,960
Speaker 1: you know, whatever civilian application or civilian job, Like we

981
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:28,720
Speaker 1: should be the Special Forces of film in that case,

982
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:31,759
Speaker 1: or the Special Forces of finance or whatever it is

983
00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:33,520
Speaker 1: you're trying to go into. And it's like, no, that's

984
00:55:33,560 --> 00:55:35,959
Speaker 1: not the case, Like you need to start over again

985
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:40,520
Speaker 1: and you need to learn this trade or skill or career, right, Yeah,

986
00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:44,080
Speaker 1: I completely agree. I mean there's guys that transition into

987
00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:47,160
Speaker 1: you know, the police forces, and and you don't just

988
00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:49,759
Speaker 1: go straight to swat because you were a seal, Like

989
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:51,680
Speaker 1: you gotta be a cop, you know what I mean,

990
00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:53,640
Speaker 1: You gotta you gotta go to the academy and start

991
00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:55,600
Speaker 1: a ground with like that's just how it works. You

992
00:55:55,680 --> 00:56:00,120
Speaker 1: may have UM you may be promoted quicker, and you

993
00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:01,880
Speaker 1: have an advantage I think in a lot of ways,

994
00:56:01,920 --> 00:56:03,600
Speaker 1: but it doesn't mean you're not going to be the

995
00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:07,640
Speaker 1: CEO next week because you were the team sergeant, you know,

996
00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:11,960
Speaker 1: back in Iraq. So anyway, so I was doing that

997
00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:15,440
Speaker 1: and at the same time, UM I had actually in

998
00:56:15,560 --> 00:56:20,279
Speaker 1: January played in this all star game UM out in

999
00:56:20,360 --> 00:56:22,600
Speaker 1: Charleston called the Medal of Honorable And that was really

1000
00:56:22,600 --> 00:56:26,560
Speaker 1: cool because it was UM it was all seniors around

1001
00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:29,560
Speaker 1: the country. UM. They've got like every year, they got

1002
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:32,680
Speaker 1: about four college football All star games, right, the big

1003
00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:35,319
Speaker 1: one is called the Senior Bowl, And I did not

1004
00:56:35,360 --> 00:56:37,120
Speaker 1: get invited to that one, but this was one of

1005
00:56:37,120 --> 00:56:42,319
Speaker 1: the next year UM All Star games. And to be

1006
00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:44,200
Speaker 1: the to be the long snapper, you know, I guess

1007
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:49,680
Speaker 1: I failed to mention. My sophomore year at Texas, UM

1008
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:51,759
Speaker 1: I started long snapping. I taught myself how to long

1009
00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:54,960
Speaker 1: snap when I was basically thirty one years old, is

1010
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:58,239
Speaker 1: when I snapped my first football, and um, I went

1011
00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:00,120
Speaker 1: when I went overseas, I brought a couple of was

1012
00:57:00,200 --> 00:57:02,400
Speaker 1: with me and worked on it and came back and

1013
00:57:02,440 --> 00:57:05,600
Speaker 1: actually won the starting job and then started for for

1014
00:57:05,680 --> 00:57:09,200
Speaker 1: three years at Texas as the long snappers. So um,

1015
00:57:09,239 --> 00:57:12,960
Speaker 1: which is like a thankless niche job that I was

1016
00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:14,560
Speaker 1: happy to do. I just wanted to be on the field,

1017
00:57:14,680 --> 00:57:17,840
Speaker 1: you know. And because I think because I was a

1018
00:57:17,840 --> 00:57:20,120
Speaker 1: decent baseball player and I had pitched and I knew

1019
00:57:20,120 --> 00:57:22,160
Speaker 1: how to throw throw a ball pretty well. Like if

1020
00:57:22,160 --> 00:57:24,360
Speaker 1: you can do that, you can figure out long snapping.

1021
00:57:24,360 --> 00:57:27,920
Speaker 1: You just gotta mess with it for a while. Um.

1022
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:30,280
Speaker 1: And so that's what got me into that All Star

1023
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:32,280
Speaker 1: Game was because I was gonna be the long snapper

1024
00:57:32,280 --> 00:57:34,440
Speaker 1: for one of the teams until I go out and

1025
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:37,880
Speaker 1: and I play in that game. And they have about

1026
00:57:38,240 --> 00:57:43,520
Speaker 1: a hundred NFL scouts go to these games from various teams. Um,

1027
00:57:44,040 --> 00:57:48,280
Speaker 1: four different teams approached me and I had meetings with

1028
00:57:48,280 --> 00:57:51,920
Speaker 1: me and we're actually interested even though I was pretty

1029
00:57:51,960 --> 00:57:56,120
Speaker 1: small and very old. Um for the NFL to at

1030
00:57:56,200 --> 00:58:00,920
Speaker 1: least potentially give me, give me a shout or give

1031
00:58:00,960 --> 00:58:03,640
Speaker 1: me a look. And so I came out. When I

1032
00:58:03,680 --> 00:58:06,760
Speaker 1: came out here to work with intern at film forty

1033
00:58:06,760 --> 00:58:11,560
Speaker 1: four with with Peter Burgh, I I started uh training

1034
00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:15,600
Speaker 1: at a gym here called Unbreakable Performance Center. And I've

1035
00:58:15,640 --> 00:58:18,120
Speaker 1: heard about this gym because it was owned by a

1036
00:58:18,160 --> 00:58:22,400
Speaker 1: guy named Jay Glazer who works uh, you know, he's

1037
00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:25,280
Speaker 1: worked for Fox Sports for years as a as an

1038
00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:31,200
Speaker 1: NFL and m M a analyst, um. And I came

1039
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:34,680
Speaker 1: into the gym and met him and just was like,

1040
00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:38,720
Speaker 1: you know, a week later, I'm like training with like

1041
00:58:38,920 --> 00:58:41,920
Speaker 1: Jadeveon Clowney and all these crazy NFL guys that are

1042
00:58:41,960 --> 00:58:45,600
Speaker 1: in here in their off season, and you know, I'm

1043
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:47,720
Speaker 1: not afraid to be the least athletic person in the room.

1044
00:58:47,760 --> 00:58:52,800
Speaker 1: Doesn't bother me. And I just started kind of grinding

1045
00:58:52,880 --> 00:58:55,720
Speaker 1: and and and hustling on that. And you know, every

1046
00:58:55,800 --> 00:58:58,120
Speaker 1: day was like, you know, get to the gym at

1047
00:58:58,120 --> 00:59:01,840
Speaker 1: six am and be done training at about ten and

1048
00:59:01,840 --> 00:59:05,200
Speaker 1: then go into the internship or whatever. And that was

1049
00:59:05,240 --> 00:59:08,040
Speaker 1: just sort of my life for a few months. And um,

1050
00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:12,040
Speaker 1: the draft rules around in May, and I'd like I

1051
00:59:12,120 --> 00:59:14,080
Speaker 1: put on a crazy amount of way because I was

1052
00:59:14,160 --> 00:59:17,240
Speaker 1: told I needed to weigh you know, closer to two

1053
00:59:17,360 --> 00:59:20,680
Speaker 1: thirty um to even get a look at long snapper

1054
00:59:20,680 --> 00:59:23,160
Speaker 1: in the NFL. And I in college I played at

1055
00:59:23,200 --> 00:59:25,680
Speaker 1: like one ninety at the top end. You know, I

1056
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:28,680
Speaker 1: was not a big guy, and so I got all

1057
00:59:28,680 --> 00:59:33,280
Speaker 1: the way up to like I felt horrible, but it

1058
00:59:33,400 --> 00:59:38,080
Speaker 1: was necessary way and uh you know, I I get

1059
00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:41,000
Speaker 1: out there, um at our pro day out in in

1060
00:59:41,080 --> 00:59:43,520
Speaker 1: Austin and you know, perform once again in front of

1061
00:59:43,760 --> 00:59:48,360
Speaker 1: coaches and gms, this time after scouts. And then as

1062
00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:51,960
Speaker 1: soon as the draft ends, I get a call um

1063
00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:55,280
Speaker 1: from Pete Carroll in the Seattle Seahawks telling me that

1064
00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:58,920
Speaker 1: they were they wanted to sign me um as a

1065
00:59:58,920 --> 01:00:01,120
Speaker 1: as a free agent, you know, to the to the

1066
01:00:01,200 --> 01:00:04,160
Speaker 1: roster there, and UM give me an opportunity to give

1067
01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:07,880
Speaker 1: me a shot despite my my age and and everything,

1068
01:00:07,960 --> 01:00:12,840
Speaker 1: and um so ah, I went out there to O

1069
01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:15,040
Speaker 1: T s and training camp and was with the team

1070
01:00:15,040 --> 01:00:16,720
Speaker 1: for about five months and I got to play, and

1071
01:00:16,920 --> 01:00:19,360
Speaker 1: I got to play in one game actually, and then

1072
01:00:19,400 --> 01:00:23,920
Speaker 1: we had a our backup quarterback, Cup got injured. They

1073
01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:25,840
Speaker 1: had to bring in another quarterback and they had to

1074
01:00:26,200 --> 01:00:29,320
Speaker 1: free up a roster spot. So I ended up um

1075
01:00:29,360 --> 01:00:31,760
Speaker 1: only playing in that one game, which was pretty wild.

1076
01:00:31,960 --> 01:00:34,600
Speaker 1: Still got to be crazy though You're you're over a

1077
01:00:34,640 --> 01:00:38,960
Speaker 1: decade older than most of these guys, Like I was

1078
01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:43,320
Speaker 1: the oldest guy on the team in Seattle, and I

1079
01:00:43,360 --> 01:00:46,280
Speaker 1: was also the oldest rookie in NFL history, like it was,

1080
01:00:46,800 --> 01:00:49,880
Speaker 1: and you know what I mean, understand the team and

1081
01:00:50,160 --> 01:00:52,560
Speaker 1: like I just started playing football like five years ago.

1082
01:00:52,720 --> 01:00:54,960
Speaker 1: You know what, did you even think it was possible

1083
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:57,600
Speaker 1: that you'd be able to become a legit pro athlete

1084
01:00:57,640 --> 01:01:00,720
Speaker 1: at that point? Like it just sounds unfathomed, first of all,

1085
01:01:00,760 --> 01:01:04,800
Speaker 1: to find legit, I mean you played in the National

1086
01:01:04,840 --> 01:01:08,320
Speaker 1: Football Yeah, that's leg um. Yeah, of course I believed that.

1087
01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:10,840
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think, uh, there's no way I

1088
01:01:10,840 --> 01:01:13,120
Speaker 1: would have been able to do it if I didn't

1089
01:01:13,160 --> 01:01:17,600
Speaker 1: believe it. I also understood what how impossible it sounded,

1090
01:01:17,720 --> 01:01:20,840
Speaker 1: and that it uh was not going to be easy,

1091
01:01:21,080 --> 01:01:26,400
Speaker 1: and that, you know, I would have to like be

1092
01:01:26,520 --> 01:01:29,640
Speaker 1: willing to be a long snapper, to do that thankless job,

1093
01:01:29,720 --> 01:01:31,439
Speaker 1: to do these other little things, to be a leader

1094
01:01:31,440 --> 01:01:33,080
Speaker 1: in the locker room, Like I had to bring other

1095
01:01:33,120 --> 01:01:35,400
Speaker 1: things to the table. I couldn't just be like, all right, man,

1096
01:01:35,440 --> 01:01:38,720
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go, you know, be a wide receiver or whatever,

1097
01:01:38,760 --> 01:01:43,840
Speaker 1: because I'm just slow and old, and there's just i mean,

1098
01:01:43,960 --> 01:01:49,040
Speaker 1: science is working against me. Uh and so you know,

1099
01:01:49,040 --> 01:01:51,520
Speaker 1: I had to understand all that stuff, and and and

1100
01:01:51,920 --> 01:01:54,320
Speaker 1: but we also realized that like, people have done way

1101
01:01:54,360 --> 01:01:57,400
Speaker 1: more impossible things in the world, right, people have done

1102
01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:02,960
Speaker 1: way crazier things, and and um, thousands and thousands of

1103
01:02:03,000 --> 01:02:06,000
Speaker 1: people over the years have become NFL players, and they're

1104
01:02:06,040 --> 01:02:08,520
Speaker 1: just human beings like me. You know. They may have

1105
01:02:08,760 --> 01:02:11,720
Speaker 1: different levels of athleticism, but they're just people. They're not

1106
01:02:12,400 --> 01:02:15,280
Speaker 1: cyborgs or something greater than I am. So like, why

1107
01:02:15,360 --> 01:02:17,920
Speaker 1: can't I You're you're I mean, it's just obvious that

1108
01:02:17,960 --> 01:02:21,040
Speaker 1: you're a very humble guy though, because it's like, regardless

1109
01:02:21,040 --> 01:02:24,200
Speaker 1: of what position you're playing, how many games played, they

1110
01:02:24,200 --> 01:02:27,280
Speaker 1: don't just let any guy who's you know, like mildly

1111
01:02:27,360 --> 01:02:30,840
Speaker 1: talented to be in the NFL. It doesn't work that way. Yeah,

1112
01:02:30,840 --> 01:02:33,440
Speaker 1: it's a business. It's definitely a business. I mean, and

1113
01:02:33,480 --> 01:02:36,760
Speaker 1: I discovered that three days after that game I played,

1114
01:02:36,760 --> 01:02:39,120
Speaker 1: and when I came when I got cut, you know,

1115
01:02:39,400 --> 01:02:41,120
Speaker 1: but it's just that's just how it is. I mean,

1116
01:02:41,160 --> 01:02:44,600
Speaker 1: that's it's a business. It's a very expensive business. And

1117
01:02:45,480 --> 01:02:51,240
Speaker 1: um but yeah, I I just I was serious. It's

1118
01:02:51,240 --> 01:02:55,160
Speaker 1: still him today. Just I was so grateful for that opportunity,

1119
01:02:55,160 --> 01:03:00,720
Speaker 1: for that chance. I remember when um, the GM uh,

1120
01:03:00,880 --> 01:03:03,720
Speaker 1: you know, I had to John Schneider's name. He had

1121
01:03:03,720 --> 01:03:07,840
Speaker 1: to walk up and and tell me that it was

1122
01:03:07,920 --> 01:03:13,040
Speaker 1: over in the training facility there. And I could just

1123
01:03:13,160 --> 01:03:16,480
Speaker 1: see the hurt in his face as he approached me.

1124
01:03:16,520 --> 01:03:18,280
Speaker 1: I knew what he was gonna say, so they could

1125
01:03:18,280 --> 01:03:20,200
Speaker 1: just tell by the ways because he just like he knows,

1126
01:03:21,000 --> 01:03:24,720
Speaker 1: he knew how much I poured into it, and you know,

1127
01:03:24,800 --> 01:03:27,720
Speaker 1: not what I'd sacrificed to overseas, just what I'd sacrifice

1128
01:03:27,720 --> 01:03:30,080
Speaker 1: in my life to like make this possible. I mean,

1129
01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:33,080
Speaker 1: and I was that guy at the Seahawks was all

1130
01:03:33,120 --> 01:03:35,200
Speaker 1: the end of Texas. That was like sneaking into the

1131
01:03:35,200 --> 01:03:38,080
Speaker 1: gym late at night, you know, stealing a key or

1132
01:03:38,560 --> 01:03:40,640
Speaker 1: or or coming in you know, using the code to

1133
01:03:40,640 --> 01:03:42,000
Speaker 1: get in there when you're not supposed to be in there,

1134
01:03:42,000 --> 01:03:44,040
Speaker 1: and like doing extra work. I liked being in the

1135
01:03:44,080 --> 01:03:47,240
Speaker 1: gym by myself because I felt like, Okay, at this moment,

1136
01:03:47,280 --> 01:03:51,640
Speaker 1: I'm getting a leg up on everybody. Um, and and

1137
01:03:51,760 --> 01:03:54,160
Speaker 1: you know people and people they noticed that stuff. They

1138
01:03:55,200 --> 01:03:57,439
Speaker 1: get it, you know, they see those things and that's

1139
01:03:57,440 --> 01:04:00,520
Speaker 1: what they want out of those super talented let it guys.

1140
01:04:00,520 --> 01:04:02,400
Speaker 1: And you don't always get that from those people because

1141
01:04:02,560 --> 01:04:03,920
Speaker 1: it's just a little bit it comes a little bit

1142
01:04:03,920 --> 01:04:07,919
Speaker 1: easier to them. So um anyway, but you know, when

1143
01:04:07,920 --> 01:04:09,880
Speaker 1: he came up, it was like, you know, it's like

1144
01:04:09,920 --> 01:04:14,520
Speaker 1: he just he had just lost his puppy or something. Uh,

1145
01:04:14,600 --> 01:04:17,480
Speaker 1: it was, it was it was a tough conversation for

1146
01:04:17,560 --> 01:04:19,600
Speaker 1: him to have. I was fine with. I got I

1147
01:04:19,720 --> 01:04:22,480
Speaker 1: understand it was probably coming. It was going to no

1148
01:04:22,520 --> 01:04:26,280
Speaker 1: matter what it ends at some point. So you know

1149
01:04:26,400 --> 01:04:28,080
Speaker 1: the fact that I got to play in that game

1150
01:04:28,440 --> 01:04:32,560
Speaker 1: was huge. It's huge for everything that's happened since then.

1151
01:04:32,680 --> 01:04:35,400
Speaker 1: It was huge for I mean just that moment of

1152
01:04:36,480 --> 01:04:38,680
Speaker 1: you know, in college, I got to lead the team

1153
01:04:38,720 --> 01:04:41,280
Speaker 1: out of the tunnel with the American flag before every game.

1154
01:04:41,440 --> 01:04:44,120
Speaker 1: That was something that a lot of football teams do,

1155
01:04:44,280 --> 01:04:46,560
Speaker 1: a lot of college teams especially, do you know, ever

1156
01:04:46,640 --> 01:04:51,320
Speaker 1: since nine eleven and all that, and UM coach Brown, MATC. Brown,

1157
01:04:51,640 --> 01:04:54,520
Speaker 1: you know, had had always said I want somebody who's

1158
01:04:54,520 --> 01:04:57,320
Speaker 1: got family in the military from our team to lead

1159
01:04:57,320 --> 01:05:00,720
Speaker 1: the team out of tunnel with that flag. And for me,

1160
01:05:00,880 --> 01:05:03,520
Speaker 1: they you know, they said, well you were actually we're

1161
01:05:03,560 --> 01:05:05,520
Speaker 1: in the military and are in the military, so you're

1162
01:05:05,560 --> 01:05:08,240
Speaker 1: gonna do it, you know, if you'd like every game.

1163
01:05:08,280 --> 01:05:10,040
Speaker 1: And so I did that. And then when I go

1164
01:05:10,120 --> 01:05:14,840
Speaker 1: up to Seattle, typically they have um for the team

1165
01:05:14,920 --> 01:05:16,880
Speaker 1: runs out of the townel. They have a service member

1166
01:05:16,880 --> 01:05:19,920
Speaker 1: activity service member or a veteran, you know, right out

1167
01:05:19,920 --> 01:05:21,479
Speaker 1: of the tunnel with the flag and leave the team.

1168
01:05:21,520 --> 01:05:23,640
Speaker 1: That's obviously not on not on the football team. But

1169
01:05:25,000 --> 01:05:27,200
Speaker 1: for that game I played and they asked me right before,

1170
01:05:27,560 --> 01:05:28,960
Speaker 1: right before we ran out of the tunnel, if I

1171
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:32,160
Speaker 1: wanted to, you know, the team out with the flag,

1172
01:05:32,200 --> 01:05:34,520
Speaker 1: and I was like, yes, I would, of course I

1173
01:05:34,520 --> 01:05:36,800
Speaker 1: would love to. So the one game I play and

1174
01:05:37,080 --> 01:05:38,960
Speaker 1: you know, I run out of the tunnel with that flag.

1175
01:05:39,840 --> 01:05:43,160
Speaker 1: And in college, we're not on the sideline during the

1176
01:05:43,240 --> 01:05:45,800
Speaker 1: national anthem. We're in the locker room. That's just the

1177
01:05:45,840 --> 01:05:47,400
Speaker 1: way they do things a little bit different in the

1178
01:05:47,400 --> 01:05:51,200
Speaker 1: pregame UM. For for this game, obviously, I was on

1179
01:05:51,280 --> 01:05:54,400
Speaker 1: the sideline for the anthem. And so the one time

1180
01:05:54,440 --> 01:05:57,320
Speaker 1: I've been on the sideline for a national anthem. I'd

1181
01:05:57,360 --> 01:06:01,520
Speaker 1: like completely broke down in te years because I mean

1182
01:06:01,680 --> 01:06:05,760
Speaker 1: part of it was the moment just understanding what I uh,

1183
01:06:06,120 --> 01:06:09,400
Speaker 1: what I'd sacrificed to get there, you know. And it's

1184
01:06:09,440 --> 01:06:12,760
Speaker 1: like this childhood dream kind of coming to fruition that

1185
01:06:12,880 --> 01:06:17,240
Speaker 1: I'm actually a professional athlete on the biggest stage in

1186
01:06:17,280 --> 01:06:21,920
Speaker 1: the world. Maybe, And um, but also man, I thought about,

1187
01:06:23,080 --> 01:06:26,200
Speaker 1: you know, a good buddy of mine, Brad Keys, who

1188
01:06:27,160 --> 01:06:29,840
Speaker 1: I served with intense Special Forces Group, who's passed away

1189
01:06:30,120 --> 01:06:33,040
Speaker 1: in two dozen twelve, And um, you know a lot

1190
01:06:33,080 --> 01:06:36,880
Speaker 1: of other men and women I thought alongside that didn't

1191
01:06:36,920 --> 01:06:39,480
Speaker 1: come back, or that have never really come home, that

1192
01:06:39,520 --> 01:06:42,880
Speaker 1: are still alive, you know, or the ones that have

1193
01:06:42,960 --> 01:06:44,919
Speaker 1: taken their own lives, are the ones that feel they're

1194
01:06:44,960 --> 01:06:49,600
Speaker 1: not capable of what I've believe we're all capable of,

1195
01:06:49,680 --> 01:06:53,440
Speaker 1: which is anything. Um, you know, it's just all that

1196
01:06:53,440 --> 01:06:55,480
Speaker 1: stuff hit me, and I just like it was overwhelmed

1197
01:06:55,480 --> 01:06:57,560
Speaker 1: with emotion, and I just like cried, cried like a

1198
01:06:57,640 --> 01:07:02,440
Speaker 1: baby while they're playing the song and and uh, you know,

1199
01:07:02,600 --> 01:07:04,600
Speaker 1: some of the bunch of the team noticed that, and

1200
01:07:04,640 --> 01:07:07,200
Speaker 1: they came up to me after right after that was done,

1201
01:07:07,200 --> 01:07:09,280
Speaker 1: and was like, you know, kind of rallied around me

1202
01:07:09,320 --> 01:07:11,600
Speaker 1: and like they understood what a huge moment that was

1203
01:07:11,680 --> 01:07:15,120
Speaker 1: for me. And and that sort of I think leads

1204
01:07:15,120 --> 01:07:19,560
Speaker 1: into Yeah, really a year later exactly, I was gonna say,

1205
01:07:19,560 --> 01:07:21,640
Speaker 1: I mean, you can't really make for a better transition

1206
01:07:21,680 --> 01:07:24,080
Speaker 1: to what we want to get into next. So yeah,

1207
01:07:24,160 --> 01:07:27,520
Speaker 1: take us back to that whole time frame of Colin

1208
01:07:27,600 --> 01:07:31,960
Speaker 1: Kaepernick sitting during the national anthem and how you got

1209
01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:37,640
Speaker 1: involved with that. Yeah. So it's literally exactly a year later.

1210
01:07:38,080 --> 01:07:41,000
Speaker 1: Um and and and through the rest of two thousand fifteen,

1211
01:07:41,000 --> 01:07:43,120
Speaker 1: and I got released from the team. UM I ended

1212
01:07:43,200 --> 01:07:46,240
Speaker 1: up with Jay Glazer starting this nonprofit called m v P,

1213
01:07:46,360 --> 01:07:49,360
Speaker 1: which stands for Murdering Vets and Players, where we're bringing

1214
01:07:49,360 --> 01:07:52,240
Speaker 1: together when we're professional athletes and combat vets and helping

1215
01:07:52,280 --> 01:07:55,440
Speaker 1: them walk to walk together through that transition, you know,

1216
01:07:55,800 --> 01:07:59,160
Speaker 1: and find purpose again once the uniform comes off and

1217
01:07:59,200 --> 01:08:02,200
Speaker 1: we lose identity. And I was and I was involved

1218
01:08:02,200 --> 01:08:04,800
Speaker 1: in this clean water project with another NFL player named

1219
01:08:04,880 --> 01:08:07,840
Speaker 1: Chris Long who plays out in Philly, Philadelphia for the

1220
01:08:07,840 --> 01:08:11,360
Speaker 1: Eagles right now, and where we're every year we take

1221
01:08:11,960 --> 01:08:14,840
Speaker 1: we take wounded vets and we take former NFL players

1222
01:08:14,880 --> 01:08:18,000
Speaker 1: to go climb Mount killuman Jaro to raise money for

1223
01:08:18,080 --> 01:08:21,240
Speaker 1: clean water. I mean, I was like constantly looking for,

1224
01:08:21,400 --> 01:08:23,120
Speaker 1: you know, the next mission, which I think of many

1225
01:08:23,160 --> 01:08:26,760
Speaker 1: of us that were the camouflage do when we get home,

1226
01:08:27,200 --> 01:08:29,360
Speaker 1: you know, another way to fight, another way to serve

1227
01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:33,640
Speaker 1: um and to stay involved with the community. And so

1228
01:08:33,720 --> 01:08:36,960
Speaker 1: I had all this stuff going and then you know,

1229
01:08:37,160 --> 01:08:39,760
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it's like, I mean, you know,

1230
01:08:39,800 --> 01:08:43,640
Speaker 1: we've had We've heard the drumbeat of um, you know,

1231
01:08:45,720 --> 01:08:49,640
Speaker 1: stuff involving the excessive force with police officers, and you know,

1232
01:08:49,640 --> 01:08:52,000
Speaker 1: the Black Lives Matter movement, all this stuff for years.

1233
01:08:52,000 --> 01:08:55,280
Speaker 1: This is it wasn't a new thing, but this was

1234
01:08:55,439 --> 01:09:01,000
Speaker 1: during the election cycle, you know, Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton,

1235
01:09:01,080 --> 01:09:04,080
Speaker 1: and it's like this, which side are you one? Thing?

1236
01:09:04,200 --> 01:09:07,479
Speaker 1: I mean, we are just getting pulled apart um. You've

1237
01:09:07,520 --> 01:09:10,439
Speaker 1: got to pick one. You know, you can't you can't

1238
01:09:10,920 --> 01:09:12,840
Speaker 1: be in the middle. There is no middle. It's like

1239
01:09:12,920 --> 01:09:14,559
Speaker 1: are you on the right side of the history or

1240
01:09:14,600 --> 01:09:18,679
Speaker 1: the wrong side of history whatever that is. And it's like, man,

1241
01:09:18,760 --> 01:09:20,880
Speaker 1: it is exhausting and it hurts I think a lot

1242
01:09:21,000 --> 01:09:23,960
Speaker 1: as a as a service member too, to like fight

1243
01:09:24,080 --> 01:09:27,320
Speaker 1: for the United States and it just doesn't feel like

1244
01:09:27,400 --> 01:09:30,439
Speaker 1: it at all when you're here, right, And then this

1245
01:09:30,520 --> 01:09:34,280
Speaker 1: happens and the forty Niners Colin Kaepernick was at That's

1246
01:09:34,320 --> 01:09:36,000
Speaker 1: my favorite team. I grew up in the Bay Area,

1247
01:09:36,120 --> 01:09:39,600
Speaker 1: like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott and

1248
01:09:39,720 --> 01:09:42,280
Speaker 1: Roger Craig. Like these guys are my heroes, right. So,

1249
01:09:43,479 --> 01:09:46,400
Speaker 1: and I pulled for Kaepernick the minute he got to

1250
01:09:46,439 --> 01:09:48,320
Speaker 1: the team, even when he was backing up Alex Smith,

1251
01:09:48,400 --> 01:09:51,120
Speaker 1: because I just thought he was a better athlete. And

1252
01:09:51,120 --> 01:09:53,040
Speaker 1: I just was like, we'd see him play in the

1253
01:09:53,040 --> 01:09:54,639
Speaker 1: preseason and be like, we've got to get that guy

1254
01:09:54,640 --> 01:09:58,479
Speaker 1: on the field. He's amazing. And uh, you know, sure enough,

1255
01:09:58,520 --> 01:10:00,160
Speaker 1: the next year he leads the team to of the

1256
01:10:00,200 --> 01:10:03,760
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, which they almost won. Um and so I'm

1257
01:10:03,800 --> 01:10:07,760
Speaker 1: like the huge Kaepernick fan and boom, there he is

1258
01:10:08,280 --> 01:10:11,920
Speaker 1: on the sidelines, sitting down on the bench during the anthem,

1259
01:10:11,920 --> 01:10:14,640
Speaker 1: and it's like this huge news story and I'm like,

1260
01:10:14,680 --> 01:10:16,320
Speaker 1: what is that all about. I'm like, there's got to

1261
01:10:16,360 --> 01:10:19,479
Speaker 1: be misunderstanding, you know. And then they do the the

1262
01:10:19,560 --> 01:10:21,720
Speaker 1: media around it and the press and some interviews, and

1263
01:10:22,160 --> 01:10:23,600
Speaker 1: you know, he straight up says I'm not going to

1264
01:10:23,760 --> 01:10:28,479
Speaker 1: stand um for a flag that oppresses black people and

1265
01:10:28,560 --> 01:10:31,839
Speaker 1: people of color or a song or whatever it was exactly.

1266
01:10:31,960 --> 01:10:36,120
Speaker 1: I'm probably misquoting slightly there, but essentially it was I'm

1267
01:10:36,120 --> 01:10:38,160
Speaker 1: not gonna I'm not gonna stand for the national anthem

1268
01:10:38,160 --> 01:10:45,959
Speaker 1: because this country is oppressive. And my understanding and and

1269
01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:49,000
Speaker 1: envision and the idea of what oppression is from my

1270
01:10:49,120 --> 01:10:52,080
Speaker 1: experiences is, I think, very different from what he was

1271
01:10:52,120 --> 01:10:55,600
Speaker 1: talking about. And so I think, like a lot of

1272
01:10:55,640 --> 01:11:00,920
Speaker 1: people who fought, it was just incredibly angry, you know,

1273
01:11:01,160 --> 01:11:06,520
Speaker 1: and it really hurt more than anything. It just it

1274
01:11:06,520 --> 01:11:08,360
Speaker 1: It was it was upsetting to see one of my

1275
01:11:08,439 --> 01:11:11,760
Speaker 1: kind of my heroes um say things like that, you know,

1276
01:11:12,120 --> 01:11:15,040
Speaker 1: and when I when I thought, well, that guy doesn't

1277
01:11:15,080 --> 01:11:19,599
Speaker 1: know what he's talking he's no idea of perception of

1278
01:11:19,640 --> 01:11:23,280
Speaker 1: what oppression is. Nate. Just to back up one second,

1279
01:11:23,360 --> 01:11:27,559
Speaker 1: I mean, when we talk about the national anthem or

1280
01:11:27,600 --> 01:11:30,040
Speaker 1: you know, the flag, and the flag is it's a

1281
01:11:30,080 --> 01:11:33,280
Speaker 1: piece of cloth, of course, but it symbolizes something else,

1282
01:11:33,320 --> 01:11:36,520
Speaker 1: the national anthem, I mean, I'm just kind of curious

1283
01:11:36,560 --> 01:11:38,960
Speaker 1: what those things mean to you. I mean to some

1284
01:11:39,040 --> 01:11:43,920
Speaker 1: people there they could be seen as superficial expressions of patriotism,

1285
01:11:43,960 --> 01:11:45,960
Speaker 1: you know, saying the national anthem before a ball game

1286
01:11:46,080 --> 01:11:48,880
Speaker 1: or something like this. I'm just curious from your point

1287
01:11:48,920 --> 01:11:51,960
Speaker 1: of view what that meant to you. Yeah, I mean

1288
01:11:52,000 --> 01:11:58,080
Speaker 1: that's all. That's all, you know, a matter of you know,

1289
01:11:58,160 --> 01:12:01,439
Speaker 1: of our experiences shaping that feeling. Because I felt the

1290
01:12:01,479 --> 01:12:04,639
Speaker 1: same way before I served. You know, I was like,

1291
01:12:05,240 --> 01:12:07,280
Speaker 1: it's kind of this like who cares saying, Oh, we're

1292
01:12:07,320 --> 01:12:09,040
Speaker 1: at a ball game, the national anthem's playing, Okay, I

1293
01:12:09,040 --> 01:12:12,000
Speaker 1: gotta stand. I gotta take my hat off out of respect,

1294
01:12:12,040 --> 01:12:14,640
Speaker 1: of course, but like I didn't care, you know, I

1295
01:12:14,680 --> 01:12:16,840
Speaker 1: just wanted to get to the ball game. Let's just

1296
01:12:16,920 --> 01:12:20,120
Speaker 1: fast forward this part. And it wasn't because I was

1297
01:12:20,320 --> 01:12:24,479
Speaker 1: an American. I just didn't give a damn because I

1298
01:12:24,520 --> 01:12:30,720
Speaker 1: had no experience in my life that had, um, you know,

1299
01:12:31,439 --> 01:12:36,080
Speaker 1: given those symbols meaning really. And then after after serving,

1300
01:12:36,120 --> 01:12:38,960
Speaker 1: after you know, I remember going through sear school and

1301
01:12:39,760 --> 01:12:43,400
Speaker 1: oh yeah, they raised that flag, and it just meant

1302
01:12:43,439 --> 01:12:45,479
Speaker 1: it's just it's just different, you know. From then on,

1303
01:12:45,560 --> 01:12:48,600
Speaker 1: I was like, this means something. This is not it

1304
01:12:48,720 --> 01:12:53,760
Speaker 1: is not just ritual or tradition that we have to

1305
01:12:53,800 --> 01:12:57,960
Speaker 1: do because of our forefathers. Is this like means a lot,

1306
01:12:58,320 --> 01:13:03,120
Speaker 1: you know, and that just stuck with me, right, So

1307
01:13:03,160 --> 01:13:06,800
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's that's my feelings and experience towards that,

1308
01:13:07,080 --> 01:13:14,640
Speaker 1: and you know, I I just there's there's there's so

1309
01:13:14,760 --> 01:13:17,120
Speaker 1: much that goes into that, from the history of the

1310
01:13:17,200 --> 01:13:19,840
Speaker 1: song and the poem originally and all that and what

1311
01:13:19,880 --> 01:13:22,040
Speaker 1: it means, and it can be interpreted in so many

1312
01:13:22,040 --> 01:13:26,720
Speaker 1: different ways and I get that, um but either way

1313
01:13:26,720 --> 01:13:31,080
Speaker 1: you slice it. It It was just like my initial thoughts

1314
01:13:31,080 --> 01:13:34,960
Speaker 1: with Colin was, you know, you haven't gone through anything,

1315
01:13:34,960 --> 01:13:36,760
Speaker 1: you don't know, you know, you know, I just made

1316
01:13:36,880 --> 01:13:41,080
Speaker 1: judgments and decisions and choices for him, judge based on

1317
01:13:41,720 --> 01:13:47,000
Speaker 1: my experiences, not his experiences. And I had to stop

1318
01:13:47,040 --> 01:13:49,200
Speaker 1: myself because I was falling into that trap that we're

1319
01:13:49,240 --> 01:13:52,240
Speaker 1: all falling into in this country of like, Okay, now

1320
01:13:52,280 --> 01:13:54,639
Speaker 1: I'm going to pick a side and just dig in

1321
01:13:55,240 --> 01:14:00,320
Speaker 1: and not listen. And so I decided to not do that.

1322
01:14:01,479 --> 01:14:05,599
Speaker 1: And part of that was I spoke to I spoke

1323
01:14:05,640 --> 01:14:07,360
Speaker 1: to my parents about this. I spoke to a lot

1324
01:14:07,400 --> 01:14:10,559
Speaker 1: of people in my life that I respected, because I

1325
01:14:10,600 --> 01:14:14,080
Speaker 1: was being approached, you know, by different publications to to

1326
01:14:14,120 --> 01:14:16,560
Speaker 1: write something or to speak out on this issue. Or

1327
01:14:16,600 --> 01:14:18,479
Speaker 1: to come on the news and let's talk about it,

1328
01:14:18,560 --> 01:14:21,960
Speaker 1: because I, you know, was in the Special Forces and

1329
01:14:22,000 --> 01:14:23,800
Speaker 1: I played in the NFL, so like I had that

1330
01:14:23,880 --> 01:14:28,439
Speaker 1: distinction of doing both. Um. And I think I was

1331
01:14:28,479 --> 01:14:31,960
Speaker 1: seeing as this like one of these patriotic symbols and

1332
01:14:32,000 --> 01:14:39,360
Speaker 1: shoulder pads and a helmet and so they I finally,

1333
01:14:39,400 --> 01:14:41,280
Speaker 1: you know, my mom said something really important to me,

1334
01:14:41,320 --> 01:14:44,120
Speaker 1: which was interesting because she doesn't like to get into

1335
01:14:44,120 --> 01:14:46,559
Speaker 1: this stuff, you know, and she's a pretty conservative person

1336
01:14:47,120 --> 01:14:49,880
Speaker 1: just all around. I'm not talking about politic politics. That's

1337
01:14:49,920 --> 01:14:54,439
Speaker 1: just how she is. But she straight up said, you know, Nate,

1338
01:14:54,520 --> 01:14:57,720
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, more hate is the

1339
01:14:57,800 --> 01:15:01,160
Speaker 1: last thing we need in this country. So just remember

1340
01:15:01,200 --> 01:15:04,760
Speaker 1: that before you do anything. You know, that's absolutely last thing.

1341
01:15:06,400 --> 01:15:11,280
Speaker 1: And so I finally agreed to write an open letter

1342
01:15:11,800 --> 01:15:13,720
Speaker 1: for the Army Times. And the reason I picked the

1343
01:15:13,800 --> 01:15:16,640
Speaker 1: Army Times because it was it's not political, it's not

1344
01:15:16,680 --> 01:15:23,439
Speaker 1: a political h what you call it publication? Um. And

1345
01:15:23,479 --> 01:15:25,240
Speaker 1: also it just was like, you know what, I'll probably

1346
01:15:25,240 --> 01:15:28,720
Speaker 1: be able to really I trust these editors were will

1347
01:15:28,680 --> 01:15:31,080
Speaker 1: be able to control my message. I'm not gonna I was.

1348
01:15:31,160 --> 01:15:33,479
Speaker 1: I was nervous to write something for like you know,

1349
01:15:34,280 --> 01:15:37,400
Speaker 1: the USA Today or whatever. And then I send it

1350
01:15:37,400 --> 01:15:38,920
Speaker 1: off and all of a sudden, it's printed the next day,

1351
01:15:38,920 --> 01:15:41,000
Speaker 1: and it's like all chopped up and changed, and it's

1352
01:15:41,000 --> 01:15:44,439
Speaker 1: like things taken out of context. And so I told,

1353
01:15:45,360 --> 01:15:46,840
Speaker 1: you know, the Army Times, I will do this if

1354
01:15:46,840 --> 01:15:50,439
Speaker 1: I can see the final edit and and and that's

1355
01:15:50,439 --> 01:15:52,200
Speaker 1: the only way I promised to agree to do it,

1356
01:15:52,280 --> 01:15:55,240
Speaker 1: and they agreed, And so I wrote this open letter

1357
01:15:56,200 --> 01:15:59,040
Speaker 1: just kind of sharing my experiences but also saying, look,

1358
01:15:59,600 --> 01:16:01,439
Speaker 1: I don't know what you've been through. I don't know

1359
01:16:01,479 --> 01:16:03,880
Speaker 1: what you've experienced. I can only imagine what it's like

1360
01:16:03,960 --> 01:16:07,799
Speaker 1: to be a person of color in this country. Um,

1361
01:16:07,880 --> 01:16:13,240
Speaker 1: and it's and I will never I will never really understand.

1362
01:16:14,880 --> 01:16:16,600
Speaker 1: And so I'm just I just want to listen, and

1363
01:16:16,600 --> 01:16:18,479
Speaker 1: I want to try to figure this thing out, because

1364
01:16:18,520 --> 01:16:20,320
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you know, I want

1365
01:16:20,320 --> 01:16:22,639
Speaker 1: to do whatever it takes to get you to stand again.

1366
01:16:22,680 --> 01:16:25,280
Speaker 1: But stand because you feel the same things that I feel.

1367
01:16:25,320 --> 01:16:28,360
Speaker 1: You feel somewhat this pride in your country, and not

1368
01:16:28,400 --> 01:16:32,120
Speaker 1: because it's a social obligation exactly, not because you have to,

1369
01:16:32,320 --> 01:16:33,799
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, I don't want anybody

1370
01:16:33,800 --> 01:16:36,639
Speaker 1: to stand because they have to. I would rather have

1371
01:16:36,760 --> 01:16:40,519
Speaker 1: somebody that I was doing what they could in the

1372
01:16:40,600 --> 01:16:43,880
Speaker 1: in the community to actually make things better and change things,

1373
01:16:44,520 --> 01:16:47,839
Speaker 1: not stand then someone that just stands out of obligation,

1374
01:16:47,920 --> 01:16:50,080
Speaker 1: but they just live for themselves and they don't care.

1375
01:16:50,120 --> 01:16:52,479
Speaker 1: They just want to, you know, tell everybody else why

1376
01:16:52,479 --> 01:16:54,640
Speaker 1: they should be doing this and that what was right

1377
01:16:54,720 --> 01:16:56,760
Speaker 1: and wrong and everybody else is wrong. Like I don't

1378
01:16:56,760 --> 01:16:58,280
Speaker 1: care about that, you know what I mean. I want

1379
01:16:58,280 --> 01:17:03,160
Speaker 1: things to improve. I want um, I want less crime. Uh,

1380
01:17:03,400 --> 01:17:06,439
Speaker 1: you know, I want safety from myself and my family.

1381
01:17:06,560 --> 01:17:11,120
Speaker 1: I want better policing, I want better everything. Like we

1382
01:17:11,240 --> 01:17:13,479
Speaker 1: are the best, but we should always and that's why

1383
01:17:13,479 --> 01:17:16,599
Speaker 1: we're the best, because we always strive to just fix things.

1384
01:17:16,600 --> 01:17:19,840
Speaker 1: Were never satisfied with being pretty good. You know, we

1385
01:17:19,840 --> 01:17:23,400
Speaker 1: shouldn't be. That's not what our country is about. So anyway,

1386
01:17:24,040 --> 01:17:28,559
Speaker 1: you know, I wrote this thing and and calling actually

1387
01:17:28,560 --> 01:17:31,040
Speaker 1: first America. I responded to this in in a pretty

1388
01:17:31,120 --> 01:17:34,960
Speaker 1: profound way, like nobody reads the Army Times. No offense

1389
01:17:35,000 --> 01:17:37,360
Speaker 1: to anybody that works for the Army Times, listen to this,

1390
01:17:37,400 --> 01:17:40,680
Speaker 1: but like unless you're on an Army base, yeah, exactly,

1391
01:17:40,720 --> 01:17:43,080
Speaker 1: Like the only time I remember seeing it is when

1392
01:17:43,120 --> 01:17:46,040
Speaker 1: I was in the latrine and it's like there's a

1393
01:17:46,080 --> 01:17:48,639
Speaker 1: couple of copies and on the floor there, and I'm

1394
01:17:48,640 --> 01:17:50,760
Speaker 1: pretty sure they're just back up in case we run

1395
01:17:50,800 --> 01:17:53,599
Speaker 1: out of TP, you know what I mean. Like I'm

1396
01:17:53,680 --> 01:17:56,360
Speaker 1: just saying I'm not saying that, I'm not saying it's

1397
01:17:56,720 --> 01:17:59,040
Speaker 1: bad writing. I'm just saying, like we just you know,

1398
01:17:59,400 --> 01:18:02,439
Speaker 1: it's obviously see well a lot of the stuff they

1399
01:18:02,520 --> 01:18:05,280
Speaker 1: put out too, is like, um, it's a you know,

1400
01:18:05,280 --> 01:18:07,799
Speaker 1: it's not political, it's not a lot of opinion pieces.

1401
01:18:07,920 --> 01:18:10,400
Speaker 1: It's just you know, fluff, a lot of fluff, and

1402
01:18:10,439 --> 01:18:12,960
Speaker 1: that's that's okay. That stuff is not that all the time.

1403
01:18:13,600 --> 01:18:17,439
Speaker 1: But um, but like then I woke up. I wrote

1404
01:18:17,439 --> 01:18:20,439
Speaker 1: it that night after he you know, Sanma said that,

1405
01:18:20,560 --> 01:18:22,240
Speaker 1: or the next night maybe after he had said some

1406
01:18:22,280 --> 01:18:25,040
Speaker 1: of those things. And it took me like an hour

1407
01:18:25,080 --> 01:18:26,840
Speaker 1: and a half to write this thing because I just like,

1408
01:18:27,280 --> 01:18:29,880
Speaker 1: I just like it was a stream of conscious consciousness,

1409
01:18:30,200 --> 01:18:32,759
Speaker 1: conscious or consciousness. I can't remember one of those stuff.

1410
01:18:34,280 --> 01:18:37,880
Speaker 1: Obviously I'm not a writer, so um, you know, but

1411
01:18:37,960 --> 01:18:40,640
Speaker 1: I put all that stuff down. I went back and

1412
01:18:40,800 --> 01:18:42,320
Speaker 1: you know, proof read it a couple of times, and

1413
01:18:42,360 --> 01:18:44,920
Speaker 1: I was like I had somebody knew look over it,

1414
01:18:45,040 --> 01:18:47,479
Speaker 1: and I was like, all right, cool, sent it off

1415
01:18:47,520 --> 01:18:50,639
Speaker 1: to them. I wake up in the morning, they've they've

1416
01:18:50,760 --> 01:18:52,439
Speaker 1: they've run the thing already. I was out on the

1417
01:18:52,439 --> 01:18:54,880
Speaker 1: West coast and so you know, I probably got up

1418
01:18:54,880 --> 01:18:57,360
Speaker 1: at like seven or so, and so it's ten am

1419
01:18:57,560 --> 01:19:01,479
Speaker 1: East coast. My phone's got like yeah, I'm saying, like,

1420
01:19:01,600 --> 01:19:05,320
Speaker 1: by then, the news is everywhere everywhere, Like you know,

1421
01:19:05,439 --> 01:19:07,920
Speaker 1: it was. I literally had like a hundred emails and

1422
01:19:08,600 --> 01:19:13,280
Speaker 1: thirty miscalls, wast smails and requests to go on all

1423
01:19:13,360 --> 01:19:16,160
Speaker 1: these you know, it's just nuts that, you know, the

1424
01:19:16,240 --> 01:19:18,679
Speaker 1: social media state you got shared. I think mostly through

1425
01:19:18,680 --> 01:19:21,560
Speaker 1: through Twitter and maybe Facebook. I don't even know. I

1426
01:19:21,600 --> 01:19:24,200
Speaker 1: think mostly Twitter though, But it was like all these

1427
01:19:24,320 --> 01:19:26,880
Speaker 1: journalists and people that work in the sports world, and

1428
01:19:27,439 --> 01:19:34,080
Speaker 1: I think it was because it was this balanced the

1429
01:19:34,200 --> 01:19:37,519
Speaker 1: idea of like, man, this hurts for me to see this,

1430
01:19:37,560 --> 01:19:39,559
Speaker 1: but like I want to understand why, and I want

1431
01:19:39,600 --> 01:19:42,479
Speaker 1: to like move forward, and you know, how can I

1432
01:19:42,880 --> 01:19:46,720
Speaker 1: like help me understand better what what's going on? What

1433
01:19:46,760 --> 01:19:50,360
Speaker 1: I can do to help? And you know, I think

1434
01:19:51,680 --> 01:19:53,599
Speaker 1: of us, I don't know, I feel the same way.

1435
01:19:53,680 --> 01:19:55,519
Speaker 1: For the most part. We may lean left or right,

1436
01:19:55,600 --> 01:20:00,200
Speaker 1: but like that's what you know, we respect the other side,

1437
01:20:00,240 --> 01:20:02,800
Speaker 1: we just don't ever hear those voices because it doesn't sell.

1438
01:20:03,080 --> 01:20:06,800
Speaker 1: You know, the media doesn't doesn't want those voices heard

1439
01:20:06,880 --> 01:20:10,800
Speaker 1: because it's two, it calms down a pretty rational situation,

1440
01:20:10,880 --> 01:20:14,800
Speaker 1: and they want to keep everything irrational and like over

1441
01:20:14,880 --> 01:20:17,160
Speaker 1: the top and highs and lows. I mean, that's just

1442
01:20:17,200 --> 01:20:22,160
Speaker 1: what that's what sells, that's what keeps us watching. So yeah,

1443
01:20:22,240 --> 01:20:25,160
Speaker 1: it was, it was. It was crazy, you know that

1444
01:20:25,280 --> 01:20:28,720
Speaker 1: that day and the one interview, the exclusive interview I

1445
01:20:28,800 --> 01:20:32,240
Speaker 1: agreed to do, was with NFL network because once again,

1446
01:20:32,320 --> 01:20:37,680
Speaker 1: it's not a political you know channel. Um, people might

1447
01:20:37,800 --> 01:20:39,920
Speaker 1: argue with that the NFL, I guess can be construed

1448
01:20:39,960 --> 01:20:44,880
Speaker 1: as political, but it's it's it's less political partisan. Yeah yeah, yeah,

1449
01:20:44,880 --> 01:20:47,759
Speaker 1: and not part of the Yeah, I wasn't. It wasn't

1450
01:20:48,000 --> 01:20:51,080
Speaker 1: CNN or Fox. So because I figured out if I

1451
01:20:51,080 --> 01:20:53,719
Speaker 1: do one of those, everyone's going to make a decision

1452
01:20:54,240 --> 01:20:55,880
Speaker 1: depending on the channel. I went on no matter what.

1453
01:20:55,920 --> 01:20:58,879
Speaker 1: I was just so ridiculous, if you make a CNN appearance,

1454
01:20:58,920 --> 01:21:03,759
Speaker 1: they'd be like liberal activists, green beret, bleeding heart, bleeding

1455
01:21:03,800 --> 01:21:07,559
Speaker 1: card or you know, never the opposite. So it was

1456
01:21:07,600 --> 01:21:10,400
Speaker 1: just like I couldn't, So I didn't do that. So

1457
01:21:10,439 --> 01:21:12,240
Speaker 1: I went on the NFL network. I did this interview

1458
01:21:12,360 --> 01:21:15,320
Speaker 1: and like I'm in the I'm in the green room

1459
01:21:15,320 --> 01:21:17,680
Speaker 1: waiting to go on, and it's like gonna be this

1460
01:21:17,800 --> 01:21:19,519
Speaker 1: live interview. And all of a sudden, I get a

1461
01:21:19,520 --> 01:21:25,200
Speaker 1: phone call from from Colin Kaepernick's publicists saying Colin read

1462
01:21:25,240 --> 01:21:27,320
Speaker 1: your letter and he wants to sit down with you

1463
01:21:28,000 --> 01:21:32,400
Speaker 1: tomorrow if you can. I was like, wow, okay, um,

1464
01:21:32,439 --> 01:21:35,240
Speaker 1: all right, let's do it. So I go on the air,

1465
01:21:35,360 --> 01:21:38,800
Speaker 1: do the interview. Don't obviously mentioned that. And the next

1466
01:21:38,840 --> 01:21:43,439
Speaker 1: day they were actually playing the San Diego Chargers in

1467
01:21:43,479 --> 01:21:47,240
Speaker 1: the last preseason game of the year down in San Diego,

1468
01:21:48,240 --> 01:21:51,200
Speaker 1: and so I, uh, you know, I got in a

1469
01:21:51,240 --> 01:21:55,799
Speaker 1: car and went down there, and about four hours before kickoff,

1470
01:21:55,800 --> 01:21:58,879
Speaker 1: I meet Colin and the lobby of the team hotel,

1471
01:21:59,800 --> 01:22:01,840
Speaker 1: and you know, he's got like the afro and he's

1472
01:22:01,880 --> 01:22:04,519
Speaker 1: a huge dude, and he's like six five six six,

1473
01:22:04,640 --> 01:22:09,519
Speaker 1: like there's no hiding what's going on here. And we're

1474
01:22:09,520 --> 01:22:11,960
Speaker 1: sitting in front of the big wind windows of this hotel.

1475
01:22:12,000 --> 01:22:13,880
Speaker 1: It's like in the middle of Horton Plaza in San Diego.

1476
01:22:13,920 --> 01:22:15,680
Speaker 1: If anybody knows where that is, I mean, it's like

1477
01:22:15,760 --> 01:22:21,840
Speaker 1: a very high viz area, and we like sit down

1478
01:22:21,840 --> 01:22:24,080
Speaker 1: and there's no there's no media around, there's nothing like that.

1479
01:22:24,240 --> 01:22:28,120
Speaker 1: Eric Reid actually joined us, who was the person that

1480
01:22:28,200 --> 01:22:32,760
Speaker 1: knelt alongside calling uh in that first game, and you know,

1481
01:22:33,120 --> 01:22:35,640
Speaker 1: we just talked about this stuff, and you know, he

1482
01:22:35,640 --> 01:22:38,200
Speaker 1: even wanted to assure me, like, I'm not this isn't

1483
01:22:38,200 --> 01:22:41,360
Speaker 1: anything against the military. Very appreciative of the military, and

1484
01:22:41,360 --> 01:22:45,000
Speaker 1: he's like, I'm appreciative of a lot of police officers too.

1485
01:22:45,080 --> 01:22:47,720
Speaker 1: I mean, I got people that served, you know, in

1486
01:22:47,800 --> 01:22:50,320
Speaker 1: the law enforcement community in my in my family and

1487
01:22:50,360 --> 01:22:54,160
Speaker 1: all that stuff and our extended family, I guess, and

1488
01:22:54,200 --> 01:22:56,200
Speaker 1: I was like, we you know, in my opinion, you've

1489
01:22:56,200 --> 01:22:59,880
Speaker 1: got to recognize those things. You gotta say, people need

1490
01:22:59,880 --> 01:23:03,599
Speaker 1: to understand that you're not generalizing or painting broad strokes

1491
01:23:03,640 --> 01:23:07,759
Speaker 1: against all cops, because that's exactly what you're fighting against,

1492
01:23:07,960 --> 01:23:12,000
Speaker 1: you know, generalizations and people making judgments because of the

1493
01:23:12,040 --> 01:23:16,559
Speaker 1: way somebody looks, you know, and you gotta be sensitive

1494
01:23:16,600 --> 01:23:18,200
Speaker 1: to that. You gotta be willing to listen if you

1495
01:23:18,200 --> 01:23:19,800
Speaker 1: want people to listen to you. That's just the way

1496
01:23:19,840 --> 01:23:23,040
Speaker 1: it is, and you know previously that some stuff had

1497
01:23:23,120 --> 01:23:27,719
Speaker 1: leaked out about him, you know, wearing the pig socks

1498
01:23:28,040 --> 01:23:31,400
Speaker 1: the cops you know, depicted his pigs on his at

1499
01:23:31,439 --> 01:23:34,360
Speaker 1: a football practice, and the Fidel Castro's shirt, and like

1500
01:23:34,479 --> 01:23:38,080
Speaker 1: the Malcolm X hat and a lot of these sort

1501
01:23:38,080 --> 01:23:43,880
Speaker 1: of I guess militant looking, you know, articles of clothing

1502
01:23:43,880 --> 01:23:45,200
Speaker 1: that he was wearing, and some of the ways that

1503
01:23:45,200 --> 01:23:48,920
Speaker 1: he was talking, you know. And but when I sat

1504
01:23:48,920 --> 01:23:50,599
Speaker 1: down with him, when I want, it wasn't like that,

1505
01:23:50,760 --> 01:23:54,080
Speaker 1: you know, it was very just kind of candidates, like

1506
01:23:54,479 --> 01:23:58,479
Speaker 1: one human being to another human being, Like he was

1507
01:23:58,520 --> 01:24:01,160
Speaker 1: a very reasonable person and sensitive to what I had

1508
01:24:01,200 --> 01:24:03,920
Speaker 1: to say. And I was the same way with him,

1509
01:24:04,000 --> 01:24:06,559
Speaker 1: just like I really just want to understand, man and

1510
01:24:06,760 --> 01:24:09,560
Speaker 1: try to help. And it was it was a very positive,

1511
01:24:09,600 --> 01:24:14,760
Speaker 1: powerful conversation. And through that conversation, um, we got to

1512
01:24:14,840 --> 01:24:18,519
Speaker 1: the matter of not standing for the anthem. Now I'm

1513
01:24:18,560 --> 01:24:22,360
Speaker 1: talking about what that looks like, and I said, you know,

1514
01:24:22,560 --> 01:24:26,240
Speaker 1: straight up, I mean to me and to a lot

1515
01:24:26,240 --> 01:24:29,000
Speaker 1: of people, it looks more like you just don't care

1516
01:24:29,840 --> 01:24:32,439
Speaker 1: than anything. Like you're back sitting away from the team,

1517
01:24:32,800 --> 01:24:35,800
Speaker 1: you know, your head down, sitting on the bench, like

1518
01:24:35,920 --> 01:24:38,080
Speaker 1: you're just like, you know whatever, I'm not into this.

1519
01:24:38,360 --> 01:24:43,120
Speaker 1: You know, Um, it doesn't look like you're taking making

1520
01:24:43,200 --> 01:24:47,920
Speaker 1: any kind of a stance quote unquote uh towards anything

1521
01:24:48,040 --> 01:24:50,439
Speaker 1: or like doing it. It's not very powerful at least,

1522
01:24:51,520 --> 01:24:56,840
Speaker 1: And you know, yeah exactly, And and I said, I

1523
01:24:56,880 --> 01:24:58,920
Speaker 1: think at this point, like everyone's very aware of what

1524
01:24:59,000 --> 01:25:01,680
Speaker 1: you're talking about and do, and like, I think we

1525
01:25:01,720 --> 01:25:05,160
Speaker 1: should figure out a program or or or a plan

1526
01:25:05,280 --> 01:25:06,840
Speaker 1: or what we could do to reach some of these

1527
01:25:06,840 --> 01:25:09,800
Speaker 1: goals and make some measurable goals first, like what do

1528
01:25:09,840 --> 01:25:11,240
Speaker 1: we need to see here? You know what I mean,

1529
01:25:11,320 --> 01:25:15,400
Speaker 1: what's going to get what's gonna what's what's gonna make

1530
01:25:15,439 --> 01:25:20,240
Speaker 1: you feel better about the way things are going? And

1531
01:25:18,960 --> 01:25:23,280
Speaker 1: uh so I suggested standing you know, I said, like, look,

1532
01:25:24,080 --> 01:25:28,120
Speaker 1: I think for a lot of us, it's gonna be

1533
01:25:28,200 --> 01:25:31,080
Speaker 1: hard for people in the military community, and not just

1534
01:25:31,120 --> 01:25:35,960
Speaker 1: the military community, but just people Americans UM to be

1535
01:25:36,040 --> 01:25:38,479
Speaker 1: okay with that because they understand things aren't Things have

1536
01:25:38,560 --> 01:25:40,760
Speaker 1: never been perfect, you know, but we we have come

1537
01:25:40,840 --> 01:25:43,160
Speaker 1: quite a distance, I think in the civil rights movement

1538
01:25:43,240 --> 01:25:47,400
Speaker 1: and whatnot. Um, there's still a long way to go, absolutely,

1539
01:25:47,560 --> 01:25:51,519
Speaker 1: but um, there's there's issues all over the MAP. I mean,

1540
01:25:51,600 --> 01:25:55,040
Speaker 1: I'm a veteran in the veteran you know, the veteran community.

1541
01:25:55,120 --> 01:25:57,640
Speaker 1: We have a ton of issues. You know, there's a

1542
01:25:57,640 --> 01:25:59,599
Speaker 1: lot of things that need to change and improve with

1543
01:26:00,240 --> 01:26:03,240
Speaker 1: people that are fighting for their country, willing to take

1544
01:26:03,280 --> 01:26:05,680
Speaker 1: a bullet, going to war, making not a lot of

1545
01:26:05,720 --> 01:26:09,559
Speaker 1: money and coming back and struggling with the transition and

1546
01:26:09,560 --> 01:26:13,240
Speaker 1: not getting the care that they need. Um. And that's

1547
01:26:13,280 --> 01:26:16,320
Speaker 1: all of our problems as American. That's not the responsibility

1548
01:26:16,400 --> 01:26:18,760
Speaker 1: of you know, the government to just take care of

1549
01:26:19,160 --> 01:26:21,439
Speaker 1: fifteen million of us or whatever. There's a lot of us,

1550
01:26:22,000 --> 01:26:23,800
Speaker 1: and you know, and he understood that, and he was

1551
01:26:23,800 --> 01:26:26,240
Speaker 1: appreciated with that stuff, and he said, Okay, what else

1552
01:26:26,560 --> 01:26:28,120
Speaker 1: I'm not going to stand. I already said I'm not

1553
01:26:28,160 --> 01:26:31,160
Speaker 1: going to stand until I see these changes. And I

1554
01:26:31,240 --> 01:26:34,000
Speaker 1: was like, what changes? Like you got to know? And

1555
01:26:34,400 --> 01:26:37,800
Speaker 1: he didn't really have an answer for that at the time. UM.

1556
01:26:38,200 --> 01:26:41,559
Speaker 1: I think it blew up much bigger than he thought

1557
01:26:41,560 --> 01:26:47,320
Speaker 1: it would. UM, I know it did. And so you know,

1558
01:26:47,479 --> 01:26:50,759
Speaker 1: it got to this matter of the actual gesture itself.

1559
01:26:50,800 --> 01:26:53,960
Speaker 1: And he said, all right, you know, I'm not going

1560
01:26:54,040 --> 01:26:57,040
Speaker 1: to stand, but what else can I do? Um? To

1561
01:26:57,120 --> 01:27:00,280
Speaker 1: demonstrate what else, what's another way I can protest where

1562
01:27:00,400 --> 01:27:05,800
Speaker 1: I'm not hurting you, I'm not hurting you know, other

1563
01:27:05,840 --> 01:27:08,200
Speaker 1: people that served our country and thought and those that

1564
01:27:08,400 --> 01:27:12,439
Speaker 1: ultimately paid the ultimate sacrifice. And I said, well, no

1565
01:27:12,479 --> 01:27:14,160
Speaker 1: matter what, if you don't stand like, people are going

1566
01:27:14,200 --> 01:27:17,400
Speaker 1: to be they're gonna be upset, you know. But I

1567
01:27:17,439 --> 01:27:23,200
Speaker 1: think I think an option, potentially it would be to

1568
01:27:23,400 --> 01:27:27,760
Speaker 1: take a knee instead of sitting. I said, I think

1569
01:27:27,880 --> 01:27:32,679
Speaker 1: I personally, I think it's more respectful, Um, I said,

1570
01:27:32,720 --> 01:27:34,800
Speaker 1: I said, most importantly, I think you need to be

1571
01:27:34,800 --> 01:27:38,880
Speaker 1: alongside your teammates because, um, that's sort of a snapshot

1572
01:27:38,960 --> 01:27:40,720
Speaker 1: of where we're at as a country right now. We're

1573
01:27:40,720 --> 01:27:44,600
Speaker 1: not we're not next to one another. Those that we

1574
01:27:44,720 --> 01:27:48,840
Speaker 1: maybe disagree with, we're not willing to, you know, work

1575
01:27:48,920 --> 01:27:51,799
Speaker 1: alongside them to improve things. I said that, like, visually,

1576
01:27:51,840 --> 01:27:55,080
Speaker 1: that's an important part of this. But also I said,

1577
01:27:55,200 --> 01:27:57,760
Speaker 1: I mean, I think people take a need of pray,

1578
01:27:57,880 --> 01:28:01,040
Speaker 1: People take a need of proposed to their wives. Um,

1579
01:28:01,080 --> 01:28:03,320
Speaker 1: you know, we'll we'll take a knee. You see a

1580
01:28:03,360 --> 01:28:05,800
Speaker 1: common image of a of a war fighter taking a

1581
01:28:05,840 --> 01:28:09,080
Speaker 1: knee in front of a cross um or or a

1582
01:28:09,160 --> 01:28:13,000
Speaker 1: grave of a representing you know a service member that

1583
01:28:13,000 --> 01:28:15,920
Speaker 1: has been lost. I just that's just how I see things.

1584
01:28:15,920 --> 01:28:18,920
Speaker 1: I said, I think if you did that, it would

1585
01:28:18,920 --> 01:28:21,000
Speaker 1: at least show that you're willing to listen and adjust

1586
01:28:21,280 --> 01:28:24,880
Speaker 1: a little bit. Um. If you won't stand, you know,

1587
01:28:24,920 --> 01:28:27,160
Speaker 1: I would, I would ask you to do that. And

1588
01:28:27,160 --> 01:28:29,880
Speaker 1: if you do that, I'll stand. I'll stand alongside you,

1589
01:28:29,920 --> 01:28:34,880
Speaker 1: and I'll stand next to you. And and he he agreed,

1590
01:28:34,880 --> 01:28:37,439
Speaker 1: He said that that he thought that was more powerful actually,

1591
01:28:37,479 --> 01:28:41,800
Speaker 1: and um, and that's what he decided to do that night.

1592
01:28:41,880 --> 01:28:46,000
Speaker 1: And so you know, at the game, it's military appreciation night.

1593
01:28:46,680 --> 01:28:50,280
Speaker 1: It's like the week before nine eleven, I think. Um,

1594
01:28:50,439 --> 01:28:55,120
Speaker 1: and there's like a Seal team jumping into the stadium.

1595
01:28:55,880 --> 01:29:02,519
Speaker 1: They've got an African American naval um, African American sailor

1596
01:29:02,800 --> 01:29:05,800
Speaker 1: that's singing in the national anthem, you know what I mean.

1597
01:29:05,800 --> 01:29:11,040
Speaker 1: It's just very bizarre. And uh, do you think purposely

1598
01:29:11,439 --> 01:29:14,000
Speaker 1: done on some level to say no, no, no, I

1599
01:29:14,000 --> 01:29:18,559
Speaker 1: think that some racist organization. No, I don't think so

1600
01:29:18,600 --> 01:29:20,000
Speaker 1: at all. I think that that was just that those

1601
01:29:20,000 --> 01:29:24,280
Speaker 1: decisions usually are made long before the game, you know

1602
01:29:24,320 --> 01:29:26,160
Speaker 1: what I mean, like creeks before, so I think it

1603
01:29:26,200 --> 01:29:28,720
Speaker 1: was before this even became it was even an issue. Right,

1604
01:29:28,760 --> 01:29:31,479
Speaker 1: It's just you know, and there's a lot of black

1605
01:29:31,520 --> 01:29:34,400
Speaker 1: people in the military, and that's awesome because I love

1606
01:29:34,439 --> 01:29:37,040
Speaker 1: them and I had some on my team, and we

1607
01:29:37,080 --> 01:29:39,480
Speaker 1: always have the we have these images, you know, immediately

1608
01:29:39,479 --> 01:29:41,880
Speaker 1: what pops in our head. When you think professional athlete,

1609
01:29:41,920 --> 01:29:45,599
Speaker 1: we typically think black guy. We think, uh, you know,

1610
01:29:45,640 --> 01:29:48,200
Speaker 1: a member of the military, we think white guy. And

1611
01:29:48,320 --> 01:29:52,240
Speaker 1: it's just it's it's funny because it's just like, man,

1612
01:29:52,320 --> 01:29:55,800
Speaker 1: we're the most the military is is is probably the

1613
01:29:55,840 --> 01:30:01,200
Speaker 1: most diverse organization in the country, be the world. Although

1614
01:30:01,439 --> 01:30:03,800
Speaker 1: you know, I would say, you know, we we've talked

1615
01:30:03,800 --> 01:30:07,640
Speaker 1: about this before in the podcast. When you think special operations,

1616
01:30:07,720 --> 01:30:10,160
Speaker 1: you do think white guy. There is ah, there is

1617
01:30:10,200 --> 01:30:13,599
Speaker 1: a stereotype about and and then a perception of public

1618
01:30:13,640 --> 01:30:16,640
Speaker 1: perception that's only partially true that I mean, there are

1619
01:30:16,680 --> 01:30:20,559
Speaker 1: a lot of white men in special operations, but again

1620
01:30:20,600 --> 01:30:23,880
Speaker 1: that that image that comes into people's mind. Like there's

1621
01:30:23,920 --> 01:30:26,720
Speaker 1: also you know, my first team sergeant Special Forces was

1622
01:30:26,760 --> 01:30:29,720
Speaker 1: half black, half Korean. I mean, so there there is

1623
01:30:29,720 --> 01:30:32,960
Speaker 1: a diversity there and most people you know, like like

1624
01:30:33,080 --> 01:30:37,920
Speaker 1: Nate said, and you said, unfortunately, the diversity is not

1625
01:30:37,960 --> 01:30:39,920
Speaker 1: the first image that comes into the public. I get

1626
01:30:39,960 --> 01:30:42,800
Speaker 1: it on some level though. I mean, like, what would

1627
01:30:42,840 --> 01:30:45,719
Speaker 1: you say, eighty plus percent of the guys we interview

1628
01:30:45,760 --> 01:30:47,920
Speaker 1: on this podcast or white males, And it's not like

1629
01:30:47,960 --> 01:30:53,640
Speaker 1: we seek out white males. This is just sounds like community.

1630
01:30:55,880 --> 01:30:59,200
Speaker 1: No no, I yeah, I mean the special operation community. Yeah. Um.

1631
01:31:00,000 --> 01:31:01,360
Speaker 1: And I don't know what the reason for that is,

1632
01:31:01,360 --> 01:31:05,000
Speaker 1: but I mean that's that's a whole another discussion of sure. Yeah.

1633
01:31:05,040 --> 01:31:07,400
Speaker 1: I mean, well, you know, I just went to a

1634
01:31:07,439 --> 01:31:12,760
Speaker 1: reunion for a marine battalion to seven who you know

1635
01:31:12,800 --> 01:31:16,200
Speaker 1: that that battalion has lost more guys, um, I think

1636
01:31:16,200 --> 01:31:18,559
Speaker 1: in the Global War on Terrorism than any other battalion

1637
01:31:18,640 --> 01:31:22,080
Speaker 1: in the military. And you know, I go to this reunion.

1638
01:31:22,120 --> 01:31:25,439
Speaker 1: It's like Hispanic you know what I mean. And it

1639
01:31:25,600 --> 01:31:28,240
Speaker 1: wasn't the not what I was expecting, and called me racist,

1640
01:31:28,280 --> 01:31:30,639
Speaker 1: I guess for not thinking that, But I was expecting

1641
01:31:30,680 --> 01:31:33,320
Speaker 1: what I saw. And you know, in the special Forces team,

1642
01:31:33,320 --> 01:31:35,519
Speaker 1: which is probably like you said, maybe I don't know

1643
01:31:36,000 --> 01:31:37,360
Speaker 1: white guys, you know, And I go in there and

1644
01:31:37,400 --> 01:31:39,920
Speaker 1: it's like all these Hispanic dudes and they're all pipe

1645
01:31:40,000 --> 01:31:44,080
Speaker 1: hitters too, and they've seen you know, far more, you know,

1646
01:31:44,479 --> 01:31:48,160
Speaker 1: crazy stuff than than I have in combat probably, and

1647
01:31:49,000 --> 01:31:52,040
Speaker 1: you know, so that was It's just interesting. But the

1648
01:31:52,360 --> 01:31:56,040
Speaker 1: demographics are are I think, are not what people expect

1649
01:31:56,120 --> 01:32:03,120
Speaker 1: at the end of the day. So anyway, only he uh,

1650
01:32:03,240 --> 01:32:05,920
Speaker 1: they go out there and in and after all the

1651
01:32:05,920 --> 01:32:10,519
Speaker 1: pregame ceremonies that the anthem starts playing and Colin takes me,

1652
01:32:10,880 --> 01:32:13,800
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm I'm like, I'm looking up at

1653
01:32:13,800 --> 01:32:15,439
Speaker 1: the flag with my hand on my heart, into the

1654
01:32:15,439 --> 01:32:17,519
Speaker 1: corner of my eye, I'm like noticing this, and you know,

1655
01:32:17,640 --> 01:32:21,040
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, at least he you know, he did

1656
01:32:21,080 --> 01:32:22,760
Speaker 1: what he says was gonna do. And then all of

1657
01:32:22,800 --> 01:32:26,640
Speaker 1: a sudden, the booze come in and it's like it

1658
01:32:26,760 --> 01:32:32,320
Speaker 1: is loud, you know what it's there's people saying things

1659
01:32:32,360 --> 01:32:35,840
Speaker 1: behind us, you know, about him white and white you

1660
01:32:35,880 --> 01:32:37,640
Speaker 1: know why you better. I'm not gonna get into it,

1661
01:32:37,680 --> 01:32:42,400
Speaker 1: but it just was like, man, you know, and in

1662
01:32:42,479 --> 01:32:47,720
Speaker 1: that moment um, I really felt for him and for

1663
01:32:47,840 --> 01:32:51,160
Speaker 1: what he was kneeling for because of that, and that's

1664
01:32:51,200 --> 01:32:54,320
Speaker 1: not man, most of us in our country aren't going

1665
01:32:54,360 --> 01:32:57,280
Speaker 1: to be that jackass in the stands. That's like, you

1666
01:32:57,400 --> 01:32:59,680
Speaker 1: better stand for the anthem. But then when this is

1667
01:32:59,720 --> 01:33:01,560
Speaker 1: all going on, the last thing you're thinking about is

1668
01:33:01,600 --> 01:33:04,240
Speaker 1: the anthem, you know what I mean, that same person

1669
01:33:04,280 --> 01:33:09,640
Speaker 1: that I was maybe before, and you know, just just

1670
01:33:09,840 --> 01:33:17,719
Speaker 1: wanting to tear this guy apart. Um. So anyway, it was, yeah,

1671
01:33:17,720 --> 01:33:19,840
Speaker 1: it was, it was. It was really bizarre, you know,

1672
01:33:19,920 --> 01:33:22,960
Speaker 1: and and it just that moment. Those are my two

1673
01:33:23,000 --> 01:33:28,920
Speaker 1: anthems on the field, you know, and very different experiences,

1674
01:33:28,920 --> 01:33:32,160
Speaker 1: both of them. It's just so crazy. I mean, who

1675
01:33:32,160 --> 01:33:34,759
Speaker 1: would ever think, you know, because then you fast forward

1676
01:33:34,760 --> 01:33:37,639
Speaker 1: from there that the president would be making remarks about

1677
01:33:37,680 --> 01:33:40,600
Speaker 1: this and you know, being extremely vocal about it, and

1678
01:33:40,640 --> 01:33:43,639
Speaker 1: then our vice president Mike Penn's going to a game

1679
01:33:43,680 --> 01:33:46,160
Speaker 1: and I was talking to Jack before the show doing

1680
01:33:46,720 --> 01:33:49,200
Speaker 1: honestly what I would call a publicity stunt of going

1681
01:33:49,240 --> 01:33:52,720
Speaker 1: to an NFL game to purposely walk out after the

1682
01:33:52,760 --> 01:33:56,280
Speaker 1: anthem because of what the players were doing. Yeah, well

1683
01:33:56,320 --> 01:33:58,880
Speaker 1: he I mean, it was yeah, totally, that was totally

1684
01:33:58,920 --> 01:34:01,120
Speaker 1: a publicity thing. And you know, I don't think he'd

1685
01:34:01,120 --> 01:34:05,000
Speaker 1: even denied that if you asked him to his face, um,

1686
01:34:05,040 --> 01:34:07,040
Speaker 1: because yeah, it was just a state he was making

1687
01:34:07,080 --> 01:34:12,879
Speaker 1: statement and stay for the game. Um. Yeah, it is bizarre,

1688
01:34:13,120 --> 01:34:16,840
Speaker 1: you know, it's bizarre. That. Uh, it's such it's still

1689
01:34:16,880 --> 01:34:20,320
Speaker 1: such a hot topic now two years later. And uh,

1690
01:34:20,760 --> 01:34:22,639
Speaker 1: but it just shows where we're at, you know. It's

1691
01:34:22,680 --> 01:34:26,320
Speaker 1: just a representation of where our country is at right now.

1692
01:34:26,360 --> 01:34:30,640
Speaker 1: And um, what's frustrating about this whole thing is is

1693
01:34:30,840 --> 01:34:34,120
Speaker 1: to me and all this stuff, people want to blame,

1694
01:34:35,680 --> 01:34:39,799
Speaker 1: you know, they want to blame an individual or whatever

1695
01:34:40,000 --> 01:34:42,200
Speaker 1: or an organization for all this stuff. Man, But it's

1696
01:34:42,240 --> 01:34:46,719
Speaker 1: all of our our faults collectively for letting this happen,

1697
01:34:46,920 --> 01:34:49,800
Speaker 1: you know, for letting us be pulled apart, for letting

1698
01:34:49,960 --> 01:34:56,800
Speaker 1: our emotions, uh, you know, overtake a reason and a

1699
01:34:56,920 --> 01:35:00,479
Speaker 1: listening and understanding. And it's like, and that's people on

1700
01:35:00,600 --> 01:35:02,760
Speaker 1: both sides of the aisle, you know, the further left

1701
01:35:02,760 --> 01:35:05,400
Speaker 1: and farther right you get. In my opinion, um, none

1702
01:35:05,439 --> 01:35:09,040
Speaker 1: of your it gets. Yeah. Yeah. And the more the

1703
01:35:09,080 --> 01:35:11,600
Speaker 1: more problems you're you're you're causing because everybody wants you

1704
01:35:11,600 --> 01:35:14,760
Speaker 1: to take a side. You know, I sit in the

1705
01:35:14,960 --> 01:35:17,360
Speaker 1: in the in the radical middle or alt middle or

1706
01:35:17,400 --> 01:35:19,880
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call this place. And it's like

1707
01:35:19,920 --> 01:35:22,639
Speaker 1: the most unpopular place to be it really is. People

1708
01:35:22,640 --> 01:35:24,720
Speaker 1: don't understand, Like what do you mean, Like you have

1709
01:35:24,800 --> 01:35:27,400
Speaker 1: to make a decision. You have to choose. You have

1710
01:35:27,479 --> 01:35:30,920
Speaker 1: to hate those people over there. Yeah, it's like you

1711
01:35:30,920 --> 01:35:33,400
Speaker 1: have to hate those other people over there. And it's like, no, man,

1712
01:35:33,479 --> 01:35:36,160
Speaker 1: this isn't Sudan. I don't I don't have to hate

1713
01:35:36,160 --> 01:35:42,519
Speaker 1: those people. Yeah, it's it's it's just it's fresh. Something

1714
01:35:42,560 --> 01:35:44,679
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you too, Nate, was it sounded

1715
01:35:44,720 --> 01:35:47,760
Speaker 1: like when you sat down with Kaepernick that he was

1716
01:35:47,840 --> 01:35:50,920
Speaker 1: receptive and listened to and even learned something from what

1717
01:35:50,960 --> 01:35:53,720
Speaker 1: you had to say. Um. I was wondering if you

1718
01:35:53,760 --> 01:35:57,040
Speaker 1: learned anything from him and from the message that he

1719
01:35:57,120 --> 01:36:02,000
Speaker 1: was trying to convey to the public. Yeah, Um, a lot.

1720
01:36:02,040 --> 01:36:04,960
Speaker 1: I think I've learned more since then, you know what

1721
01:36:05,000 --> 01:36:07,439
Speaker 1: I mean. I mean I stayed in calling, in contact

1722
01:36:07,439 --> 01:36:11,800
Speaker 1: with Colin for several months after that, but you know,

1723
01:36:11,960 --> 01:36:16,559
Speaker 1: kind of developed relationships with a lot of other players

1724
01:36:16,560 --> 01:36:20,400
Speaker 1: in the league, and you know, like for instance, Malcolm Jenkins,

1725
01:36:20,400 --> 01:36:23,080
Speaker 1: who was also on the Eagles, who's sort of has

1726
01:36:23,560 --> 01:36:25,960
Speaker 1: um been one of the leaders of the player's coalition

1727
01:36:26,040 --> 01:36:31,080
Speaker 1: here and sort of um, you know, negotiated the um

1728
01:36:31,600 --> 01:36:33,280
Speaker 1: that deal with some of the with the NFL that

1729
01:36:34,000 --> 01:36:37,400
Speaker 1: you know they were donating I think million dollars or

1730
01:36:37,439 --> 01:36:41,000
Speaker 1: so to these, you know, activist causes that the players

1731
01:36:41,000 --> 01:36:45,519
Speaker 1: are involved with. And you know, and and Doug Baldwin,

1732
01:36:45,600 --> 01:36:48,120
Speaker 1: another guy who I played with in Seattle briefly, would

1733
01:36:48,120 --> 01:36:50,640
Speaker 1: have gotten to know more since then. And you know,

1734
01:36:50,920 --> 01:36:55,800
Speaker 1: he's very appreciative. First of all, his his father. Um.

1735
01:36:55,840 --> 01:37:01,080
Speaker 1: I believe his father was in the military and police officer, right. Um.

1736
01:37:01,120 --> 01:37:05,200
Speaker 1: But anyway, he's like, I love what you're doing. Man.

1737
01:37:05,240 --> 01:37:07,599
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. But he'll always remind me and be like,

1738
01:37:07,680 --> 01:37:13,320
Speaker 1: but you do understand, like injustices they exist, they do exist.

1739
01:37:14,000 --> 01:37:16,320
Speaker 1: I mean, he didn't grow up in a in an

1740
01:37:16,360 --> 01:37:19,080
Speaker 1: area like I grew up in. Obviously different skin color too,

1741
01:37:19,120 --> 01:37:22,360
Speaker 1: and different experience. And I'm trying to understand as much

1742
01:37:22,400 --> 01:37:24,599
Speaker 1: as I can. I will never be able to fully

1743
01:37:24,640 --> 01:37:27,240
Speaker 1: relate because I didn't go through that period, just like

1744
01:37:27,960 --> 01:37:30,160
Speaker 1: Colin will never be able to fully relate to what

1745
01:37:30,200 --> 01:37:34,040
Speaker 1: it is like, UM to go, you know, fight for

1746
01:37:34,080 --> 01:37:36,920
Speaker 1: somebody else's freedom, you know what I mean, in a

1747
01:37:37,000 --> 01:37:39,479
Speaker 1: in a foreign country. I guess, um, you know what

1748
01:37:39,520 --> 01:37:42,360
Speaker 1: he's doing back here. I guess you could equate to that,

1749
01:37:42,960 --> 01:37:46,479
Speaker 1: UM for for people of color in this country. But

1750
01:37:46,800 --> 01:37:49,080
Speaker 1: what about you know what I was thinking is so

1751
01:37:49,280 --> 01:37:53,240
Speaker 1: after this all happened and the election happened, I clearly remember,

1752
01:37:53,280 --> 01:37:56,160
Speaker 1: and it was all over kind of went viral. Stephen A.

1753
01:37:56,280 --> 01:38:00,080
Speaker 1: Smith from ESPN saying, you know, I'm pretty much on

1754
01:38:00,160 --> 01:38:02,960
Speaker 1: with this guy, Colin Kaepernick in that like, you want

1755
01:38:03,000 --> 01:38:05,479
Speaker 1: to take a stance, you want to be political, go

1756
01:38:05,720 --> 01:38:07,720
Speaker 1: for it. But then when the election happens and you

1757
01:38:07,760 --> 01:38:10,479
Speaker 1: come out there and say I didn't even vote, then like,

1758
01:38:10,560 --> 01:38:12,599
Speaker 1: what the hell is your point? And he was pretty

1759
01:38:12,880 --> 01:38:16,000
Speaker 1: and I get Steven A. Smith's point there. You know,

1760
01:38:16,200 --> 01:38:18,360
Speaker 1: if you if you want to go out and make

1761
01:38:18,400 --> 01:38:22,320
Speaker 1: a political statement, then you know you should be you

1762
01:38:22,320 --> 01:38:24,920
Speaker 1: should be voted. Like that's that's the part of being

1763
01:38:25,120 --> 01:38:29,439
Speaker 1: in a democracy, is that that's our one chance to

1764
01:38:29,560 --> 01:38:33,320
Speaker 1: make a difference, and you choose not to. And he

1765
01:38:33,360 --> 01:38:36,479
Speaker 1: was pretty pissed about that, and I get that point. Yeah,

1766
01:38:36,520 --> 01:38:40,880
Speaker 1: he said, you know, Colin said, I'm not gonna, um,

1767
01:38:40,920 --> 01:38:44,240
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna participate in in in an election and

1768
01:38:44,360 --> 01:38:53,919
Speaker 1: vote for um. You know, how did he say it? Basically,

1769
01:38:54,040 --> 01:38:56,200
Speaker 1: you know, you know, I'm not going to vote. I'm

1770
01:38:56,200 --> 01:39:00,639
Speaker 1: not going to vote for an oppressive state or something

1771
01:39:00,680 --> 01:39:03,719
Speaker 1: like that. And ironically, at the time. This is before

1772
01:39:03,720 --> 01:39:06,519
Speaker 1: the election, So guess what our president is black? You

1773
01:39:06,560 --> 01:39:11,519
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Um, And just like he said that,

1774
01:39:11,720 --> 01:39:14,280
Speaker 1: that is that is not the way to change things.

1775
01:39:14,360 --> 01:39:17,240
Speaker 1: That's the number one way to change things, UM, is

1776
01:39:17,240 --> 01:39:20,920
Speaker 1: to be involved in that process. And especially if with

1777
01:39:21,000 --> 01:39:24,040
Speaker 1: your celebrity, if you get out there and say either

1778
01:39:24,240 --> 01:39:26,800
Speaker 1: I support this candidate or we cannot allow this other

1779
01:39:26,880 --> 01:39:29,000
Speaker 1: candidate to win, a lot of people are going to

1780
01:39:29,080 --> 01:39:33,759
Speaker 1: follow suit totally. Yeah. They had a guy named Chief

1781
01:39:33,840 --> 01:39:36,320
Speaker 1: David Brown. He was a police chief in Dallas. UM.

1782
01:39:37,600 --> 01:39:42,160
Speaker 1: You know, African American man. Um. He lost a son

1783
01:39:42,240 --> 01:39:46,640
Speaker 1: and a brother to drug related and getting related activity

1784
01:39:46,720 --> 01:39:49,840
Speaker 1: and a police shooting. I think his son was killed

1785
01:39:49,880 --> 01:39:53,479
Speaker 1: by saying by officers, but I believe his son was

1786
01:39:53,560 --> 01:39:56,360
Speaker 1: also shooting at the officers. I don't know the details

1787
01:39:56,400 --> 01:39:59,320
Speaker 1: right now. I shouldn't know that. But anyway, the dude,

1788
01:39:59,360 --> 01:40:04,240
Speaker 1: instead of letting that defeat him or becoming somebody that

1789
01:40:04,400 --> 01:40:08,479
Speaker 1: just fights the system, he changed the system by becoming

1790
01:40:08,479 --> 01:40:11,360
Speaker 1: an officer and ultimately becoming the police chief in Dallas.

1791
01:40:12,000 --> 01:40:14,320
Speaker 1: And then he was he was a police chief when

1792
01:40:14,360 --> 01:40:18,920
Speaker 1: these five officers were slain. Yeah, it was that two

1793
01:40:19,000 --> 01:40:20,920
Speaker 1: years ago, and he was in the press and he

1794
01:40:21,200 --> 01:40:23,840
Speaker 1: and I can't remember what it was, but they were

1795
01:40:24,400 --> 01:40:27,040
Speaker 1: throwing some shade at him, and he was like, look,

1796
01:40:27,080 --> 01:40:29,360
Speaker 1: don't come at me with that racism stuff, because, like

1797
01:40:29,439 --> 01:40:31,439
Speaker 1: you come and join my police department, I'll put you

1798
01:40:31,479 --> 01:40:34,680
Speaker 1: back into your community. And he started talking about how

1799
01:40:34,720 --> 01:40:37,800
Speaker 1: the police, uh, they were being asked to do things

1800
01:40:37,800 --> 01:40:40,280
Speaker 1: by society that policing was never designed to do in

1801
01:40:40,320 --> 01:40:42,960
Speaker 1: the first place. I thought he had some very meaningful words.

1802
01:40:43,000 --> 01:40:46,679
Speaker 1: I thought, really meaningful. And he's not a conservative, He's

1803
01:40:46,680 --> 01:40:49,160
Speaker 1: just he's experienced it. He's been there, and he knows

1804
01:40:49,160 --> 01:40:52,280
Speaker 1: what it takes to change things right. And he knows

1805
01:40:52,320 --> 01:40:55,519
Speaker 1: that I mean. And he was I sat on a

1806
01:40:55,520 --> 01:40:58,839
Speaker 1: panel with him at Rice University and he was talking about,

1807
01:41:00,360 --> 01:41:03,360
Speaker 1: you know, how low the numbers are in in African

1808
01:41:03,360 --> 01:41:06,280
Speaker 1: Americans that are joining the police force at this point

1809
01:41:06,280 --> 01:41:09,360
Speaker 1: because of that demonization of cops in that image right now.

1810
01:41:09,880 --> 01:41:11,960
Speaker 1: And then there was people in the audience. You know

1811
01:41:12,000 --> 01:41:13,920
Speaker 1: that there's always people in the audience of these things

1812
01:41:13,920 --> 01:41:16,360
Speaker 1: that come there to just pick a fight, right, so

1813
01:41:17,000 --> 01:41:18,600
Speaker 1: you know, they came down there, they came there and

1814
01:41:18,600 --> 01:41:22,080
Speaker 1: they asked him a question about, you know, how are

1815
01:41:22,120 --> 01:41:23,760
Speaker 1: things never going to change if people aren't going to

1816
01:41:23,800 --> 01:41:27,160
Speaker 1: stand up for us, and blah blah blah. And you know,

1817
01:41:27,240 --> 01:41:30,320
Speaker 1: he had his point about how the lowest some of

1818
01:41:30,320 --> 01:41:32,760
Speaker 1: the lowest numbers in that election as to why because

1819
01:41:32,720 --> 01:41:36,400
Speaker 1: if somebody brought up the president, you know in that group, Um,

1820
01:41:36,560 --> 01:41:38,360
Speaker 1: some of the lowest numbers in that election were African

1821
01:41:38,360 --> 01:41:41,000
Speaker 1: American males, you know, some of the lowest numbers and

1822
01:41:41,000 --> 01:41:45,840
Speaker 1: that and that's probably the reason, um, that Donald Trump

1823
01:41:45,840 --> 01:41:49,040
Speaker 1: wanted Hillary Clinton didn't, you know, because it's just turnout,

1824
01:41:49,080 --> 01:41:52,080
Speaker 1: it's just people that we were willing to go And

1825
01:41:52,200 --> 01:41:55,479
Speaker 1: it's not because it's not more because other people were

1826
01:41:55,560 --> 01:41:58,439
Speaker 1: just are just racist bigots, you know, they voted for him.

1827
01:41:58,479 --> 01:42:00,640
Speaker 1: It's because not enough people came out and voted for

1828
01:42:00,680 --> 01:42:06,680
Speaker 1: the other person. I mean, it's just like we're just

1829
01:42:06,760 --> 01:42:09,519
Speaker 1: we're just so irrational at this point. And he's one

1830
01:42:09,520 --> 01:42:12,840
Speaker 1: of these people that has experienced it, serves in his community,

1831
01:42:13,360 --> 01:42:18,400
Speaker 1: you know, and after everything he had been through, he understood,

1832
01:42:19,400 --> 01:42:21,080
Speaker 1: you know, how I make a change now, how I

1833
01:42:21,160 --> 01:42:23,160
Speaker 1: really fix things is to be a part of that

1834
01:42:23,880 --> 01:42:27,360
Speaker 1: rebuilding process and be a part of um, you know,

1835
01:42:27,360 --> 01:42:29,639
Speaker 1: cleaning things up and doing things the right way and

1836
01:42:29,680 --> 01:42:32,519
Speaker 1: I think Dallas is one of the the leaders and

1837
01:42:32,600 --> 01:42:35,280
Speaker 1: innovators in that in that way, you know, when you

1838
01:42:35,439 --> 01:42:38,120
Speaker 1: look at when you look at the numbers and and

1839
01:42:38,160 --> 01:42:40,920
Speaker 1: how they you know, the treatment of a lot of

1840
01:42:40,920 --> 01:42:42,960
Speaker 1: people in the in the communities and the wrongful arrests

1841
01:42:43,000 --> 01:42:45,800
Speaker 1: and all this stuff. I mean, it's their policies are

1842
01:42:45,840 --> 01:42:48,760
Speaker 1: just kind of leading the way on things because a

1843
01:42:48,800 --> 01:42:50,920
Speaker 1: lot of it's because of him and what he stood for.

1844
01:42:51,000 --> 01:42:52,960
Speaker 1: And of course we're gonna be people to disagree with that,

1845
01:42:53,040 --> 01:42:56,960
Speaker 1: but hey, the guys trying to make a difference. Yeah,

1846
01:42:57,160 --> 01:42:59,120
Speaker 1: I have to say I think that when you went

1847
01:42:59,120 --> 01:43:02,519
Speaker 1: out on the field with Kaepernick that how can I

1848
01:43:02,560 --> 01:43:06,880
Speaker 1: phrase this there? I'm not a sports guy. I don't

1849
01:43:06,920 --> 01:43:10,080
Speaker 1: really follow sports, don't necessarily care. I mean, I respect

1850
01:43:10,120 --> 01:43:11,680
Speaker 1: you know, the passion that you have for it and

1851
01:43:11,720 --> 01:43:14,599
Speaker 1: all the hard work you put into that. Of course. Um,

1852
01:43:14,640 --> 01:43:16,760
Speaker 1: but when I see people talk like a coach is

1853
01:43:16,800 --> 01:43:19,559
Speaker 1: talking about you know, leadership and sports and stuff, and

1854
01:43:19,560 --> 01:43:22,720
Speaker 1: it never really spoke to me. But I think that

1855
01:43:22,800 --> 01:43:26,160
Speaker 1: you know, the way you handled this situation, I can

1856
01:43:26,200 --> 01:43:28,280
Speaker 1: I can see it. I can see some leadership there

1857
01:43:28,400 --> 01:43:31,720
Speaker 1: because what you were trying to do is advance of conversation,

1858
01:43:31,800 --> 01:43:34,640
Speaker 1: and by going out on the field with Kaepernick, you

1859
01:43:34,680 --> 01:43:38,599
Speaker 1: were sending this signal that, well, maybe he's doing something

1860
01:43:38,600 --> 01:43:41,800
Speaker 1: we disagree with, but this guy is still an American

1861
01:43:42,280 --> 01:43:45,720
Speaker 1: and deep down he's still a good person, right yeah,

1862
01:43:45,960 --> 01:43:50,120
Speaker 1: I mean he that was I think that's a really

1863
01:43:50,160 --> 01:43:54,160
Speaker 1: important image, you know, to see two people couldn't look

1864
01:43:54,160 --> 01:43:57,360
Speaker 1: more different, you know, I mean, Cohen's on the knee

1865
01:43:57,400 --> 01:44:02,320
Speaker 1: still comes up to my shoulder, um, and and and

1866
01:44:02,520 --> 01:44:08,040
Speaker 1: taking two different stances quote unquote during this you know,

1867
01:44:08,080 --> 01:44:11,920
Speaker 1: this time, and two different experiences and backgrounds and belief

1868
01:44:12,000 --> 01:44:14,800
Speaker 1: systems and what they think maybe is right or wrong,

1869
01:44:15,680 --> 01:44:21,280
Speaker 1: but still willing to listen to one another and respect

1870
01:44:21,280 --> 01:44:23,840
Speaker 1: one another, you know, and after this song go over,

1871
01:44:24,880 --> 01:44:27,640
Speaker 1: you know, give each other a hug and move on

1872
01:44:27,760 --> 01:44:31,480
Speaker 1: with our lives or whatever. Like that level of embrace

1873
01:44:31,600 --> 01:44:34,599
Speaker 1: that we just we don't see right now we're not

1874
01:44:34,640 --> 01:44:38,479
Speaker 1: experiencing is part of the major issue I think. I mean,

1875
01:44:39,760 --> 01:44:42,160
Speaker 1: you know, you don't have to agree about everything. You

1876
01:44:42,160 --> 01:44:46,400
Speaker 1: shouldn't agree about everything, and you don't have to like everything. Um,

1877
01:44:46,439 --> 01:44:51,000
Speaker 1: but what should be different about our countries that you respected, period?

1878
01:44:51,040 --> 01:44:53,680
Speaker 1: I mean, that's ultimately what we fought for, Whether we

1879
01:44:53,720 --> 01:44:55,559
Speaker 1: like it or not, we fought for these freedoms, these

1880
01:44:55,640 --> 01:45:00,840
Speaker 1: ultimate freedoms, um, for everybody. Um, that that is here

1881
01:45:01,120 --> 01:45:05,000
Speaker 1: and and we have to, you know, all continue to

1882
01:45:05,000 --> 01:45:08,439
Speaker 1: to fight to free the oppressed as long as I live,

1883
01:45:08,600 --> 01:45:11,040
Speaker 1: I want to anyway. And that's you know, that's the

1884
01:45:11,240 --> 01:45:14,080
Speaker 1: that's the Army Special Forces motto day oppress a Liebert

1885
01:45:14,640 --> 01:45:17,000
Speaker 1: and that's just who I need to be moving forward

1886
01:45:17,080 --> 01:45:19,920
Speaker 1: or I feel like I'm not doing what I was

1887
01:45:19,960 --> 01:45:25,920
Speaker 1: trained to do. And oppression it uh, it rears its

1888
01:45:25,920 --> 01:45:31,679
Speaker 1: its head in various forms, in various ways, at various levels. Um.

1889
01:45:31,760 --> 01:45:34,559
Speaker 1: But you know, it absolutely exists in our world. And

1890
01:45:34,600 --> 01:45:37,240
Speaker 1: I think in our country may be less a lot

1891
01:45:37,320 --> 01:45:40,720
Speaker 1: less than many parts of the world. But that's my

1892
01:45:40,880 --> 01:45:44,439
Speaker 1: experience and all I can do is is is trying

1893
01:45:44,439 --> 01:45:46,320
Speaker 1: to just make things better, whether it's on a small

1894
01:45:46,320 --> 01:45:48,000
Speaker 1: scale or a large scale, a little bit every day.

1895
01:45:48,479 --> 01:45:50,800
Speaker 1: I think the other really important thing that you've been

1896
01:45:50,840 --> 01:45:54,559
Speaker 1: mentioning is, you know, listening to other people, just sitting down.

1897
01:45:54,560 --> 01:45:57,240
Speaker 1: And I think this is part of a Special Forces

1898
01:45:57,280 --> 01:46:00,240
Speaker 1: skill set actually is the fine art of shutting up

1899
01:46:00,240 --> 01:46:04,200
Speaker 1: and listening to what people are telling you. Um, Because

1900
01:46:04,240 --> 01:46:05,599
Speaker 1: I mean you and I can sit here and talk

1901
01:46:05,640 --> 01:46:09,040
Speaker 1: about racism all day and it's kind of like, well, okay,

1902
01:46:09,040 --> 01:46:12,000
Speaker 1: but it's just important to listen to what the black

1903
01:46:12,000 --> 01:46:15,240
Speaker 1: community has to say about that, because there are kids

1904
01:46:15,240 --> 01:46:17,519
Speaker 1: who grew up differently than you and I grew up,

1905
01:46:17,520 --> 01:46:19,200
Speaker 1: and you know, a lot of them grow up in

1906
01:46:19,640 --> 01:46:23,280
Speaker 1: black communities where you know, the cops are throwing handcuffs

1907
01:46:23,280 --> 01:46:25,240
Speaker 1: on them and slamming them down on the hood of

1908
01:46:25,280 --> 01:46:28,639
Speaker 1: the police cruiser. And sometimes it's with cause a lot

1909
01:46:28,640 --> 01:46:31,760
Speaker 1: of times it isn't. That's a totally different experience than

1910
01:46:31,800 --> 01:46:38,559
Speaker 1: we've had in life exactly. I mean, I mean, you said,

1911
01:46:38,640 --> 01:46:40,240
Speaker 1: I there's never had nothing really to add to that,

1912
01:46:40,280 --> 01:46:44,160
Speaker 1: But that's that's totally That's totally the point. And you know,

1913
01:46:44,439 --> 01:46:50,320
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make bye oh by sitting down with him,

1914
01:46:50,360 --> 01:46:52,960
Speaker 1: by moving forward with him. I mean, you know, I

1915
01:46:53,000 --> 01:46:57,599
Speaker 1: tried to work with them throughout the season and beyond.

1916
01:46:58,760 --> 01:47:00,559
Speaker 1: You know, I think there's there's a lot of things

1917
01:47:00,560 --> 01:47:02,519
Speaker 1: he's done and said since then that I just I

1918
01:47:02,520 --> 01:47:05,800
Speaker 1: don't agree with. I'm not like, I'm not this like,

1919
01:47:05,920 --> 01:47:08,920
Speaker 1: I'm not just like pro Kaepernick everything. You know, it's

1920
01:47:08,960 --> 01:47:11,760
Speaker 1: not who it's not like that's at the point. I'm

1921
01:47:11,760 --> 01:47:14,000
Speaker 1: still gonna I'm still gonna try to listen and learn

1922
01:47:14,720 --> 01:47:16,800
Speaker 1: and and move it forward. And then when it's time

1923
01:47:16,840 --> 01:47:19,720
Speaker 1: for me to make when it's time for me to

1924
01:47:19,840 --> 01:47:22,479
Speaker 1: make my points, you know not, I'm just gonna make

1925
01:47:22,520 --> 01:47:25,760
Speaker 1: my points or to to to try to encourage him

1926
01:47:25,800 --> 01:47:27,960
Speaker 1: to think about these things too. Then I'm gonna take

1927
01:47:27,960 --> 01:47:31,960
Speaker 1: those opportunities to do that. Um. But it's just like anything.

1928
01:47:32,040 --> 01:47:33,559
Speaker 1: It's just like when you grew up as a child.

1929
01:47:33,960 --> 01:47:36,439
Speaker 1: The minute your parents push something on you and said

1930
01:47:36,439 --> 01:47:38,559
Speaker 1: you have to eat this or believe this, you just

1931
01:47:38,600 --> 01:47:40,640
Speaker 1: didn't want to do it. You fought it. It's the

1932
01:47:40,640 --> 01:47:44,160
Speaker 1: same thing with this, I mean, we we you've got

1933
01:47:44,240 --> 01:47:45,800
Speaker 1: to be a little bit smarter than that, you know

1934
01:47:45,840 --> 01:47:47,000
Speaker 1: what I mean. And you've gotta be a little more

1935
01:47:47,040 --> 01:47:50,000
Speaker 1: sensitive to that stuff and let people make decisions for themselves,

1936
01:47:50,000 --> 01:47:55,000
Speaker 1: provide them with information or stuff that you understand or believe,

1937
01:47:55,560 --> 01:47:57,439
Speaker 1: and then let them live their life and let them

1938
01:47:57,479 --> 01:48:00,280
Speaker 1: make those choices and and and be so part of

1939
01:48:00,360 --> 01:48:03,320
Speaker 1: them as long as they're not hurting anybody. Um. And

1940
01:48:03,400 --> 01:48:04,760
Speaker 1: that's what we need to do. Just like we do

1941
01:48:05,080 --> 01:48:07,200
Speaker 1: we should do as family members, you know, we got

1942
01:48:07,200 --> 01:48:10,240
Speaker 1: to do as a country. So where where do you

1943
01:48:10,280 --> 01:48:12,679
Speaker 1: see this going from here? In eate? I mean we're

1944
01:48:12,800 --> 01:48:15,920
Speaker 1: now hearing about that they're going to find NFL teams

1945
01:48:15,960 --> 01:48:19,160
Speaker 1: if guys are kneeling, and I mean it's become more

1946
01:48:19,200 --> 01:48:21,879
Speaker 1: and more of an issue, especially as I kind of mentioned,

1947
01:48:21,920 --> 01:48:25,519
Speaker 1: you know, last season with the President coming out calling

1948
01:48:25,560 --> 01:48:29,640
Speaker 1: the players kneeling sons of bitches, like it's this is

1949
01:48:29,640 --> 01:48:35,280
Speaker 1: not going away. Yeah, I mean I think I will

1950
01:48:35,560 --> 01:48:38,559
Speaker 1: I will say this in audeople disagree with this one too,

1951
01:48:38,560 --> 01:48:42,559
Speaker 1: But I think Roger Goodell has handled the situation really

1952
01:48:42,560 --> 01:48:46,760
Speaker 1: well throughout this process because it is he's in a

1953
01:48:46,800 --> 01:48:51,000
Speaker 1: tough spot. I mean, the owners own the teams, they

1954
01:48:51,040 --> 01:48:55,160
Speaker 1: do right, Um, it is their businesses, there is their

1955
01:48:55,240 --> 01:48:59,200
Speaker 1: product whatever. But without the players, there is no business.

1956
01:48:59,320 --> 01:49:03,559
Speaker 1: There's no lead me. And you know we can't just

1957
01:49:05,240 --> 01:49:09,280
Speaker 1: ignore that. It's it's obvious. I mean, like everybody nobody

1958
01:49:09,280 --> 01:49:11,120
Speaker 1: knows the names of the owners. Everybody knows the names

1959
01:49:11,120 --> 01:49:16,080
Speaker 1: of the players, like that is just the way it is, um.

1960
01:49:16,120 --> 01:49:19,639
Speaker 1: And for him to play that that that really delicate

1961
01:49:19,840 --> 01:49:23,759
Speaker 1: game and balance of like taking too accounting the players

1962
01:49:23,760 --> 01:49:27,240
Speaker 1: are saying and trying to make concessions and make changes

1963
01:49:27,240 --> 01:49:32,320
Speaker 1: and and work through that while also, um, working with

1964
01:49:32,360 --> 01:49:34,160
Speaker 1: the owners is not an easy job, and yes he

1965
01:49:34,200 --> 01:49:37,920
Speaker 1: gets paid a crazy amount of money, but um, I

1966
01:49:38,080 --> 01:49:40,680
Speaker 1: thought I thought he handled the situation really well. And

1967
01:49:41,000 --> 01:49:43,280
Speaker 1: people love to rip on Roger Goodell for everything that

1968
01:49:43,280 --> 01:49:45,800
Speaker 1: he does, but through this whole situation, I thought he's

1969
01:49:45,800 --> 01:49:48,120
Speaker 1: doing a great job because it's not easy at all.

1970
01:49:48,560 --> 01:49:51,280
Speaker 1: I thought it was really interesting to be this whole

1971
01:49:51,320 --> 01:49:55,360
Speaker 1: This whole scenario is very interesting because sports are scene

1972
01:49:55,479 --> 01:49:58,960
Speaker 1: is so like intrinsic to American life, and it's like,

1973
01:49:59,560 --> 01:50:02,120
Speaker 1: you know, the the fact that we say the national anthem,

1974
01:50:02,120 --> 01:50:04,559
Speaker 1: that we sing the national anthem before sporting events, like

1975
01:50:04,600 --> 01:50:07,120
Speaker 1: it's something that's like so ingrained in the fabric of

1976
01:50:07,120 --> 01:50:11,200
Speaker 1: American society. And to see that space politicized in this manner,

1977
01:50:11,560 --> 01:50:15,600
Speaker 1: like I think it freaked a lot of people out. Yeah. No,

1978
01:50:15,760 --> 01:50:24,120
Speaker 1: I definitely, it definitely did. It's just yeah, and it's

1979
01:50:24,120 --> 01:50:27,320
Speaker 1: one of those things for me. Sports was already sort

1980
01:50:27,320 --> 01:50:30,720
Speaker 1: of sort of an escape, sacred ground. Yeah, Like I

1981
01:50:30,920 --> 01:50:34,360
Speaker 1: mean I remember being overseas and like getting back to

1982
01:50:34,360 --> 01:50:36,519
Speaker 1: the team house and like five in the morning and

1983
01:50:36,520 --> 01:50:39,360
Speaker 1: I'm turning on you know, my night football or whatever

1984
01:50:39,439 --> 01:50:42,240
Speaker 1: to watch that to like escape from all this stuff.

1985
01:50:43,200 --> 01:50:47,360
Speaker 1: And uh so I get that. I totally get that. Um,

1986
01:50:47,400 --> 01:50:50,200
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean, there's an interesting there's a whole

1987
01:50:50,240 --> 01:50:53,400
Speaker 1: interesting history about why we even play the Star spankled

1988
01:50:53,400 --> 01:50:57,200
Speaker 1: banner at sporting events because it originally was to honor

1989
01:50:57,240 --> 01:50:59,759
Speaker 1: the military. That's why we started doing it. We started

1990
01:50:59,800 --> 01:51:02,720
Speaker 1: doing it during World War One, actually a hundred years

1991
01:51:02,720 --> 01:51:08,280
Speaker 1: ago this year. Um. And it was during the World

1992
01:51:08,280 --> 01:51:11,880
Speaker 1: Series Boston Red Sox versus the Chicago Cubs, the two

1993
01:51:12,080 --> 01:51:16,479
Speaker 1: cursed teams eventually, and it was Game one at Wrigley Field,

1994
01:51:17,360 --> 01:51:20,240
Speaker 1: seventh inning stretch, and the third baseman for the Red

1995
01:51:20,280 --> 01:51:22,799
Speaker 1: Sox was actually in the Navy, and he was granted

1996
01:51:22,840 --> 01:51:25,759
Speaker 1: furlough to play in the World Series, and they start

1997
01:51:25,840 --> 01:51:28,400
Speaker 1: the military band in the stands starts playing the Star

1998
01:51:28,479 --> 01:51:31,280
Speaker 1: Spangled banner, and he like snapped to attention and faces

1999
01:51:31,320 --> 01:51:33,800
Speaker 1: the flag and all that, and out of respect, the

2000
01:51:33,840 --> 01:51:35,960
Speaker 1: rest of the players in the field, including Babe Ruth

2001
01:51:35,960 --> 01:51:38,960
Speaker 1: who's on the picture mound, take their hats off, and

2002
01:51:39,360 --> 01:51:44,519
Speaker 1: out of respect for him and everybody in the in

2003
01:51:44,560 --> 01:51:46,680
Speaker 1: the crowd, a lot of them started to stand and

2004
01:51:46,760 --> 01:51:48,240
Speaker 1: kind of sing the song. And it was like this

2005
01:51:48,360 --> 01:51:51,680
Speaker 1: sort of unifying moment while we you know, we're in

2006
01:51:51,720 --> 01:51:54,720
Speaker 1: the throes of World War One, We've already lost a

2007
01:51:54,800 --> 01:51:58,000
Speaker 1: lot of men fighting, and it was like, I think

2008
01:51:58,000 --> 01:52:00,400
Speaker 1: that was the lowest attended World Series and along time,

2009
01:52:00,439 --> 01:52:03,280
Speaker 1: and it was just this tough it was a difficult time.

2010
01:52:03,320 --> 01:52:06,479
Speaker 1: It's right before the Great Depression, obviously, all this stuff,

2011
01:52:06,520 --> 01:52:09,800
Speaker 1: So that's happening. They moved the you know, the game

2012
01:52:09,920 --> 01:52:13,400
Speaker 1: comes back the next night to Wrigley and they do

2013
01:52:13,439 --> 01:52:15,559
Speaker 1: it again and it's a big hit. And the game

2014
01:52:15,640 --> 01:52:19,240
Speaker 1: goes out to Boston for Game three, and or the

2015
01:52:19,280 --> 01:52:23,080
Speaker 1: series goes out the Boston for Game three, and before

2016
01:52:23,120 --> 01:52:25,280
Speaker 1: the game, they decided to play the Star Spangled banner

2017
01:52:25,360 --> 01:52:27,639
Speaker 1: and like honor. I think they honored some like wounded

2018
01:52:28,000 --> 01:52:32,000
Speaker 1: warriors on the field, which is really bizarre. So fast

2019
01:52:32,080 --> 01:52:36,360
Speaker 1: forward thirteen years later, um, and that's when the Star

2020
01:52:36,360 --> 01:52:39,400
Speaker 1: Spangled Banner actually becomes the national anthem. It wasn't even

2021
01:52:39,400 --> 01:52:41,879
Speaker 1: our national anthem yet. And one of the major reasons

2022
01:52:42,000 --> 01:52:44,639
Speaker 1: was because it's popularity at the sporting events and these

2023
01:52:44,720 --> 01:52:47,880
Speaker 1: like big gatherings, because it brought people together. You know,

2024
01:52:47,920 --> 01:52:51,679
Speaker 1: it was just like this unifying moment, and and now

2025
01:52:52,680 --> 01:52:55,200
Speaker 1: what brought us together? Seems to be tearing us apart

2026
01:52:55,240 --> 01:52:59,200
Speaker 1: at the very same venue, and it's just it's it's crazy,

2027
01:52:59,360 --> 01:53:02,439
Speaker 1: it's it's but the original reason they started doing it

2028
01:53:02,479 --> 01:53:05,120
Speaker 1: was for the military, for the troops, Like that's why

2029
01:53:05,160 --> 01:53:07,639
Speaker 1: they started. It's a military song before it was the anthem.

2030
01:53:07,760 --> 01:53:11,519
Speaker 1: I was not aware of that entire Yeah, that's interesting,

2031
01:53:11,960 --> 01:53:14,960
Speaker 1: it's awesome. It's really it's really interesting. And you know,

2032
01:53:15,240 --> 01:53:17,519
Speaker 1: being that it was the hunter of your anniversary of that,

2033
01:53:17,680 --> 01:53:20,400
Speaker 1: I think it's an important story to tell, um, and

2034
01:53:20,439 --> 01:53:22,720
Speaker 1: I'm working on that. That's one of the stories I

2035
01:53:22,720 --> 01:53:26,960
Speaker 1: want to tell. Oh cool, So well, yeah, I want

2036
01:53:27,000 --> 01:53:29,240
Speaker 1: to get into that. The what's next for you? I mean,

2037
01:53:29,600 --> 01:53:32,960
Speaker 1: is are you going to continue pursuits in film? Is

2038
01:53:33,000 --> 01:53:37,240
Speaker 1: that something you're interested in pursuing. Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm

2039
01:53:37,280 --> 01:53:39,920
Speaker 1: out here now. Um. I got a lot of different

2040
01:53:40,160 --> 01:53:43,960
Speaker 1: irons in the fire and and you know, I got

2041
01:53:44,000 --> 01:53:50,120
Speaker 1: the nonprofit stuff, the charity stuff. But like the yeah,

2042
01:53:50,360 --> 01:53:55,880
Speaker 1: charity is port. Yeah, So m v P is the

2043
01:53:55,960 --> 01:53:58,759
Speaker 1: charity I mentioned that I co founded with Jay Glazer,

2044
01:53:58,840 --> 01:54:02,160
Speaker 1: and it stands for merging that some players and vets

2045
01:54:02,200 --> 01:54:05,880
Speaker 1: into players. Dot org is the website and like, yeah,

2046
01:54:05,920 --> 01:54:08,720
Speaker 1: like I mentioned earlier. We every week, you know, we

2047
01:54:09,080 --> 01:54:11,280
Speaker 1: meet up at the gym and we trained together and

2048
01:54:11,280 --> 01:54:14,120
Speaker 1: then we we we sit on the wrestling mess as

2049
01:54:14,160 --> 01:54:18,519
Speaker 1: a group at veterans and athletes and we uh, you know,

2050
01:54:18,600 --> 01:54:22,120
Speaker 1: we bitch and we celebrate each other and we like

2051
01:54:22,760 --> 01:54:24,840
Speaker 1: it's that locker room feeling that we all miss, that

2052
01:54:24,920 --> 01:54:28,240
Speaker 1: team room where you know, we just connect on a

2053
01:54:28,240 --> 01:54:32,040
Speaker 1: weekly basis, because it's it's so easy to the want

2054
01:54:32,040 --> 01:54:37,960
Speaker 1: to isolate and for us to you know, get back

2055
01:54:37,960 --> 01:54:41,080
Speaker 1: home and then want to try to forget about everything

2056
01:54:41,120 --> 01:54:44,560
Speaker 1: and move forward, to get away from what we were

2057
01:54:44,600 --> 01:54:47,120
Speaker 1: used to. And the athletes struggle with similar things. And

2058
01:54:47,200 --> 01:54:50,080
Speaker 1: I'm not comparing what they did on the sports field

2059
01:54:50,080 --> 01:54:51,760
Speaker 1: to what we do on the battlefield. It's not the

2060
01:54:51,800 --> 01:54:55,520
Speaker 1: same at all, but the transition is very similar to

2061
01:54:55,520 --> 01:54:58,640
Speaker 1: to feel like you'll never do anything as important as

2062
01:54:58,640 --> 01:55:01,879
Speaker 1: you did before, you know, to have that elite feeling

2063
01:55:02,600 --> 01:55:05,080
Speaker 1: of of a war fighter and like what you're doing

2064
01:55:05,120 --> 01:55:08,000
Speaker 1: for the world in your country, and then to come

2065
01:55:08,000 --> 01:55:11,160
Speaker 1: back and try to work in for instance, film and

2066
01:55:11,200 --> 01:55:13,560
Speaker 1: TV and be like, man, this is not that important

2067
01:55:13,560 --> 01:55:16,560
Speaker 1: compared to what I did. It's a tough thing to experience,

2068
01:55:16,680 --> 01:55:20,520
Speaker 1: right well, like last two weeks ago we had Tony

2069
01:55:20,560 --> 01:55:23,880
Speaker 1: Gonzalez came in to UH two m v P and

2070
01:55:23,960 --> 01:55:27,560
Speaker 1: joined us, and, um, you know, he's a seventeen year

2071
01:55:27,840 --> 01:55:31,520
Speaker 1: NFL player, Maybe the greatest tight end in NFL history

2072
01:55:31,680 --> 01:55:34,080
Speaker 1: is going to be a Hall of Famer if he's

2073
01:55:34,080 --> 01:55:38,880
Speaker 1: not already. And he comes in there and he's sitting

2074
01:55:38,880 --> 01:55:42,320
Speaker 1: down with us, you know, and he's talking about he said,

2075
01:55:42,320 --> 01:55:45,240
Speaker 1: three months after I got done playing, you know, I

2076
01:55:45,320 --> 01:55:47,680
Speaker 1: was really struggling inside. And I didn't know what it was.

2077
01:55:47,720 --> 01:55:49,960
Speaker 1: I thought I just was out of whack because I

2078
01:55:50,000 --> 01:55:52,080
Speaker 1: was supposed to be playing that year and I wasn't anymore.

2079
01:55:52,120 --> 01:55:54,400
Speaker 1: And you know, just he's a different thing. And he

2080
01:55:54,400 --> 01:55:55,960
Speaker 1: said he was at dinner with his wife and he

2081
01:55:56,080 --> 01:55:58,240
Speaker 1: just started bawling, you know, out of the blue, and

2082
01:55:58,360 --> 01:56:00,840
Speaker 1: she's like, was wrong, you know, and he's just like,

2083
01:56:01,600 --> 01:56:05,200
Speaker 1: I'll never be great again. I just just like realize that,

2084
01:56:05,200 --> 01:56:07,840
Speaker 1: you know, he's in his thirties and it's just they

2085
01:56:07,920 --> 01:56:10,760
Speaker 1: hit him. It's like, I'm I'll never be great again.

2086
01:56:10,800 --> 01:56:15,160
Speaker 1: I'm piqued, I'm done. It's it's just downhill from here.

2087
01:56:15,280 --> 01:56:18,320
Speaker 1: And that that's hard to deal with. It's hard to

2088
01:56:18,640 --> 01:56:22,480
Speaker 1: you know, when Ian interviewed Buzz Aldrin. He went through

2089
01:56:22,480 --> 01:56:24,760
Speaker 1: that same I mean, after you've walked on the moon,

2090
01:56:25,000 --> 01:56:28,600
Speaker 1: what do you do? You know what comes after that?

2091
01:56:29,280 --> 01:56:37,240
Speaker 1: It's like the cursive ambition many exactly so, but it's uh, yeah,

2092
01:56:37,240 --> 01:56:41,280
Speaker 1: it's it's it's so those struggles are the same, and

2093
01:56:41,280 --> 01:56:43,000
Speaker 1: you know, and that's what we're that's what we're doing

2094
01:56:43,040 --> 01:56:47,040
Speaker 1: with m vps UM providing that community but also pushing

2095
01:56:47,040 --> 01:56:49,360
Speaker 1: each other to like find another way to be great,

2096
01:56:49,400 --> 01:56:52,280
Speaker 1: you know, find something else that you're maybe a little

2097
01:56:52,280 --> 01:56:55,480
Speaker 1: bit afraid of to lean into and and chase and

2098
01:56:55,600 --> 01:56:58,080
Speaker 1: pursue because that's like it's ingrained in us and it's

2099
01:56:58,080 --> 01:57:00,120
Speaker 1: going to be who we are forever. And I think

2100
01:57:00,120 --> 01:57:02,200
Speaker 1: that we we have to keep living that way. We

2101
01:57:02,240 --> 01:57:05,120
Speaker 1: have to still have service in our life, but we

2102
01:57:05,160 --> 01:57:08,640
Speaker 1: also have to solve problems, you know, find them and

2103
01:57:08,640 --> 01:57:11,840
Speaker 1: solve them. That's that's what we do. That's awesome, man. Well,

2104
01:57:12,080 --> 01:57:16,080
Speaker 1: Nate Boyer dot com is the website at Nate Boyer

2105
01:57:16,200 --> 01:57:20,000
Speaker 1: thirty seven on Twitter and Instagram. This has been awesome

2106
01:57:20,000 --> 01:57:22,160
Speaker 1: and just so in depth and I think a lot

2107
01:57:22,200 --> 01:57:25,400
Speaker 1: of very lightness here. Yeah, I agree that people are

2108
01:57:25,400 --> 01:57:28,840
Speaker 1: going to hear and man, thank you for going, you know,

2109
01:57:28,920 --> 01:57:30,520
Speaker 1: over an hour and a half with us. This is

2110
01:57:30,560 --> 01:57:34,360
Speaker 1: going to be over a two podcast, but this was

2111
01:57:34,440 --> 01:57:37,640
Speaker 1: just an incredible interview and we really appreciate you taking

2112
01:57:37,680 --> 01:57:40,680
Speaker 1: all that time with us. Of course, now, thank you, guys,

2113
01:57:40,720 --> 01:57:43,520
Speaker 1: and I appreciate you, you you know, letting our voices be

2114
01:57:43,600 --> 01:57:46,920
Speaker 1: heard and and sharing that with the you know, with

2115
01:57:47,000 --> 01:57:51,240
Speaker 1: the broad audience, and um yeah, and and just your

2116
01:57:51,240 --> 01:57:53,680
Speaker 1: open mindedness. You know, I think something to leave you

2117
01:57:53,760 --> 01:57:59,680
Speaker 1: with it's important to me is that, you know, open

2118
01:57:59,720 --> 01:58:05,040
Speaker 1: mindness isn't exclusive to people with with liberal values, just

2119
01:58:05,240 --> 01:58:09,400
Speaker 1: as patriotisms and exclusive to people with conservative values. You know,

2120
01:58:09,480 --> 01:58:11,560
Speaker 1: we gotta we gotta remember those things you can and

2121
01:58:11,640 --> 01:58:15,160
Speaker 1: you should be both. Yeah, And the people who disagree

2122
01:58:15,200 --> 01:58:18,520
Speaker 1: with us are not intrinsically evil people. You know, they're

2123
01:58:18,560 --> 01:58:20,400
Speaker 1: a lot of times their heart is in the right place.

2124
01:58:20,400 --> 01:58:24,320
Speaker 1: They just feel differently about something exactly. There's there's ship

2125
01:58:24,360 --> 01:58:28,720
Speaker 1: bags in every facet of life. You know. Not everybody

2126
01:58:28,760 --> 01:58:32,080
Speaker 1: that went overseas is a hero. I'm sorry, you know,

2127
01:58:32,160 --> 01:58:33,600
Speaker 1: it's just the way it is. And we have to

2128
01:58:33,640 --> 01:58:36,120
Speaker 1: all understand that like that. They're just good people and

2129
01:58:36,200 --> 01:58:40,200
Speaker 1: bad people. Well, Nate, thanks against so much. This is

2130
01:58:40,240 --> 01:58:43,480
Speaker 1: actually really important message, I think, and I'm excited that

2131
01:58:44,000 --> 01:58:45,680
Speaker 1: a lot of our listeners are going to get to

2132
01:58:45,680 --> 01:58:48,640
Speaker 1: hear it. Thank you, guys, I appreciate you all. He

2133
01:58:48,760 --> 01:58:52,800
Speaker 1: has a really important message. And you know, during the

2134
01:58:52,840 --> 01:58:55,280
Speaker 1: whole Kaepernick thing, I was one of those people is like,

2135
01:58:55,360 --> 01:58:57,480
Speaker 1: I don't care. Look, if he wants to take a knee,

2136
01:58:57,520 --> 01:59:00,280
Speaker 1: that's that's his business. And I still feel that way.

2137
01:59:00,320 --> 01:59:02,120
Speaker 1: I mean, that's his business if he wants to do that.

2138
01:59:02,720 --> 01:59:05,360
Speaker 1: But hearing Nate, you know, kind of tell us through

2139
01:59:05,400 --> 01:59:08,520
Speaker 1: the walk us through the whole story in his own words, Um,

2140
01:59:08,560 --> 01:59:11,800
Speaker 1: it was very enlightening. It was very interesting. Yeah, I agree.

2141
01:59:12,160 --> 01:59:14,240
Speaker 1: You know what was funny is um from what he

2142
01:59:14,320 --> 01:59:19,440
Speaker 1: was saying to about you know how the national anthems

2143
01:59:19,480 --> 01:59:21,839
Speaker 1: you guys were saying used to be like sacred ground

2144
01:59:22,000 --> 01:59:26,800
Speaker 1: and it wasn't this political thing. It's funny. I'm sort

2145
01:59:26,800 --> 01:59:28,480
Speaker 1: of in the same boat as you. You know, I

2146
01:59:28,520 --> 01:59:31,760
Speaker 1: don't watch a whole lot of um, you know, sports

2147
01:59:31,840 --> 01:59:35,520
Speaker 1: media stuff, And the only time I really see ESPN

2148
01:59:35,600 --> 01:59:37,440
Speaker 1: is like when I'm at my gym. It'll just be

2149
01:59:37,560 --> 01:59:39,680
Speaker 1: on him in the locker room and I'll like overhear it.

2150
01:59:39,960 --> 01:59:44,720
Speaker 1: And half the time they're talking about politics. Half this happened.

2151
01:59:44,920 --> 01:59:46,640
Speaker 1: Half the time it's that guy Will Kine. It was

2152
01:59:46,680 --> 01:59:49,200
Speaker 1: on the Blaze, like he was a political guy. He's

2153
01:59:49,360 --> 01:59:53,480
Speaker 1: now on ESPN and they'll be talking about like civil

2154
01:59:53,600 --> 01:59:56,840
Speaker 1: rights and black activists. And I'm like, what isn't ESPN

2155
01:59:56,880 --> 01:59:59,160
Speaker 1: supposed to be like a departure from this. Wouldn't I

2156
01:59:59,200 --> 02:00:01,280
Speaker 1: put on cn IN or Fox News if I wanted

2157
02:00:01,320 --> 02:00:03,520
Speaker 1: to hear about this Like it's, um, we don't get

2158
02:00:03,520 --> 02:00:06,120
Speaker 1: a break from anything nowadays. It's like what it feels like? No,

2159
02:00:06,200 --> 02:00:08,720
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right in And I've been thinking about that

2160
02:00:08,760 --> 02:00:12,600
Speaker 1: a little bit, and it's interesting how all of these

2161
02:00:12,960 --> 02:00:19,080
Speaker 1: previously a political spaces places in life are being politicized. Um.

2162
02:00:19,120 --> 02:00:22,400
Speaker 1: I was doing like some research on the alt right

2163
02:00:22,560 --> 02:00:24,280
Speaker 1: and how that all came about, and a lot of

2164
02:00:24,280 --> 02:00:28,720
Speaker 1: it came out of gamer Gate, and and there were

2165
02:00:28,720 --> 02:00:31,880
Speaker 1: those some of these gamer bros didn't said things are

2166
02:00:31,920 --> 02:00:35,040
Speaker 1: totally inappropriate. But what was interesting about that was that

2167
02:00:35,120 --> 02:00:39,080
Speaker 1: it was a games video games where space previously it

2168
02:00:39,160 --> 02:00:42,400
Speaker 1: was pretty much a political And you know, bald Duster

2169
02:00:42,600 --> 02:00:45,800
Speaker 1: sixty nine is playing Halo and he's not it's not

2170
02:00:45,880 --> 02:00:48,960
Speaker 1: about you know who you voted for and gamer Gate

2171
02:00:49,080 --> 02:00:54,440
Speaker 1: brought politics into that space. Um even in uh Dungeons

2172
02:00:54,480 --> 02:00:58,760
Speaker 1: and Dragons. There was a white paper previous published recently

2173
02:00:58,840 --> 02:01:02,520
Speaker 1: about how sexism in what amounts to like a board

2174
02:01:02,600 --> 02:01:05,440
Speaker 1: like a fantasy board game. And it's like and and

2175
02:01:05,480 --> 02:01:08,000
Speaker 1: then sports is another thing. Like we just talked about

2176
02:01:08,040 --> 02:01:11,480
Speaker 1: with Nate, all of these spaces that were a political

2177
02:01:11,640 --> 02:01:13,760
Speaker 1: it's like, all of a sudden, you see like um,

2178
02:01:14,280 --> 02:01:18,880
Speaker 1: feminists popping up there and you know, anti racism activists,

2179
02:01:18,920 --> 02:01:21,240
Speaker 1: and it's like, whoa, whoa, what are you doing here? Yeah,

2180
02:01:21,480 --> 02:01:23,600
Speaker 1: like this was this was the safe place. This is

2181
02:01:23,680 --> 02:01:25,880
Speaker 1: where there was no politics and we could exist here

2182
02:01:25,880 --> 02:01:28,480
Speaker 1: and and we could be sports fans together or we

2183
02:01:28,560 --> 02:01:33,040
Speaker 1: could uh shoot each other in Halo on Xbox and

2184
02:01:33,360 --> 02:01:36,760
Speaker 1: there's no politics there. And it's like, why is politics

2185
02:01:36,800 --> 02:01:41,000
Speaker 1: being inserted into every facet of our lives? Yeah? I

2186
02:01:41,040 --> 02:01:43,600
Speaker 1: think that there are certain groups of people who just

2187
02:01:43,640 --> 02:01:48,360
Speaker 1: want to like dismantle everything that we enjoy, you know,

2188
02:01:48,480 --> 02:01:51,840
Speaker 1: to to make it into a political statement. Or well

2189
02:01:51,880 --> 02:01:54,520
Speaker 1: we had I mean we've had some of these conversations before.

2190
02:01:54,680 --> 02:01:57,680
Speaker 1: And I'm not gonna say they're all Marxists. I'm just

2191
02:01:57,720 --> 02:02:02,040
Speaker 1: gonna say there's there it is a sort of neo

2192
02:02:02,200 --> 02:02:08,320
Speaker 1: Marxist strategy to um undermine the fabric of society, like

2193
02:02:08,360 --> 02:02:10,720
Speaker 1: what about you know, there's even people who are like

2194
02:02:11,520 --> 02:02:15,080
Speaker 1: Father's Day is patriarchal, and you know those you want

2195
02:02:15,080 --> 02:02:17,320
Speaker 1: to disband everyding, those people on the on the on

2196
02:02:17,360 --> 02:02:20,200
Speaker 1: the far right, on the extreme right, the fringe or

2197
02:02:20,240 --> 02:02:22,280
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, the fringe left. Yeah, I was gonna say

2198
02:02:22,800 --> 02:02:27,040
Speaker 1: Father's Day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's that's far far left. Yeah,

2199
02:02:27,080 --> 02:02:30,920
Speaker 1: it's like they want to undermine all of the institutions. Yeah,

2200
02:02:31,360 --> 02:02:35,040
Speaker 1: and that is a that is a profoundly Marxist strategy

2201
02:02:35,120 --> 02:02:38,320
Speaker 1: to keep everyone in a state of social turbulence so

2202
02:02:38,440 --> 02:02:42,680
Speaker 1: you're unsure where your feet are standing. Yeah. Well I

2203
02:02:42,800 --> 02:02:45,440
Speaker 1: love that. Hopefully you guys did as well. I like

2204
02:02:45,560 --> 02:02:48,080
Speaker 1: when we go along for episodes like that because there

2205
02:02:48,160 --> 02:02:51,280
Speaker 1: was so much to be said. Um. And also Nate

2206
02:02:51,400 --> 02:02:53,600
Speaker 1: is a busy guy, so I appreciate him taking the time.

2207
02:02:53,680 --> 02:02:56,480
Speaker 1: He definitely, you know, he said his parents didn't want

2208
02:02:56,560 --> 02:02:59,680
Speaker 1: him to be average. Yeah, and he's not average. He's

2209
02:03:00,120 --> 02:03:02,800
Speaker 1: did there. No, definitely. He actually wanted to record with

2210
02:03:02,880 --> 02:03:04,360
Speaker 1: us early because he was like, oh, I'm a little

2211
02:03:04,400 --> 02:03:07,360
Speaker 1: limited on time, so I'm really glad he went along.

2212
02:03:08,160 --> 02:03:10,440
Speaker 1: Of course, as I always mentioned, you guys, there's only

2213
02:03:10,520 --> 02:03:13,920
Speaker 1: one club out there with gear handpicked by special operations

2214
02:03:13,920 --> 02:03:17,240
Speaker 1: military veterans from several branches, and that, of course is

2215
02:03:17,320 --> 02:03:20,480
Speaker 1: Create Club. I was just showing Jack the latest great

2216
02:03:20,520 --> 02:03:23,440
Speaker 1: club ed that I think Nick Bets wrote, because I

2217
02:03:23,480 --> 02:03:25,240
Speaker 1: was on the phone with Nick recently and he was,

2218
02:03:25,400 --> 02:03:27,160
Speaker 1: you know, saying he's writing stuff for them, and it

2219
02:03:27,240 --> 02:03:30,040
Speaker 1: really is funny. It's well done. Guy drinking the peanut

2220
02:03:30,080 --> 02:03:32,720
Speaker 1: colata out of the pineapple. You know it's I don't

2221
02:03:32,720 --> 02:03:35,920
Speaker 1: really drink much, but I would be that guy drinking

2222
02:03:38,080 --> 02:03:40,840
Speaker 1: if you had me choose between a peanut colata out

2223
02:03:40,840 --> 02:03:44,160
Speaker 1: of a pineapple with that straw like that guy, or bourbon.

2224
02:03:44,720 --> 02:03:50,440
Speaker 1: I'm going with the feminine curly drink. I pretty much

2225
02:03:50,520 --> 02:03:54,760
Speaker 1: stopped drinking because I'm in this like new uh era

2226
02:03:54,880 --> 02:03:57,240
Speaker 1: of trying to get back into shape. So yeah, I

2227
02:03:57,320 --> 02:04:01,920
Speaker 1: drank on the fourth of July. Got that. I get it. Man.

2228
02:04:02,160 --> 02:04:04,280
Speaker 1: You know you definitely don't feel motivated to work out

2229
02:04:04,280 --> 02:04:07,920
Speaker 1: the next day after that, at least for me. Um Well, anyway,

2230
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Speaker 1: we have different tiers of membership depending on how prepared

2231
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Speaker 1: you want to be and gift options are available as well.

2232
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Speaker 1: You can check that all out at Create Club dot Us.

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Speaker 1: Once again, that's great Club dot us for your dog owners.

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Speaker 1: you're looking for. You can see all of that at

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Speaker 1: Kuna dot Dog. That's Kuna dot Dog and that's spelled

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Speaker 1: c U n A dot d o G. Your dog

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Speaker 1: is gonna love it and I of course have to mention.

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Speaker 1: For a limited time you can receive a fifty percent

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Speaker 1: discount membership to the spec Ops Channel. That's our channel

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Speaker 1: that offers the most exclusive shows, documentaries and interviews covering

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Speaker 1: premier show Training Cell follows former Special Operations Forces as

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Speaker 1: spec ops channel dot com. Take advantage of a limited

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Speaker 1: nine a month and check out the app for iOS

2258
02:05:42,000 --> 02:05:45,600
Speaker 1: for Android. Next episode, we're gonna have Navy sealed Jack

2259
02:05:45,680 --> 02:05:50,640
Speaker 1: car On, author of the Terminal List and for a while. So,

2260
02:05:50,880 --> 02:05:53,200
Speaker 1: I've gotten some comments of like, why didn't you guys

2261
02:05:53,240 --> 02:05:56,080
Speaker 1: live stream breath doors in studio and stuff like that. Um,

2262
02:05:56,200 --> 02:05:58,400
Speaker 1: we're having some audio issues that we worked out. But

2263
02:05:58,560 --> 02:06:01,440
Speaker 1: also with the older space we were in, we had

2264
02:06:01,480 --> 02:06:05,960
Speaker 1: this really awkward camera angle office. Yeah, and we set

2265
02:06:06,040 --> 02:06:08,840
Speaker 1: up this office the same way. And you know what,

2266
02:06:08,880 --> 02:06:11,320
Speaker 1: I'll actually give some credit to them because they're like

2267
02:06:11,320 --> 02:06:13,880
Speaker 1: an up and coming UM podcast And I'm gonna have

2268
02:06:13,880 --> 02:06:17,080
Speaker 1: one of the guys on while Jack is away. Um,

2269
02:06:17,120 --> 02:06:19,040
Speaker 1: I was watching what the guys are doing at zero

2270
02:06:19,120 --> 02:06:21,640
Speaker 1: Bunker and I saw like the camera angle they had

2271
02:06:21,640 --> 02:06:23,800
Speaker 1: and they just have one camera. It's the same you

2272
02:06:23,840 --> 02:06:27,520
Speaker 1: know thing. Well, you know we don't have like multiple cameras. Yeah,

2273
02:06:27,520 --> 02:06:29,440
Speaker 1: And I was like this looks a lot better than

2274
02:06:29,480 --> 02:06:33,480
Speaker 1: what we're doing. So I talked to Karil, our tech guy,

2275
02:06:33,600 --> 02:06:35,000
Speaker 1: and he was like, yeah, I couldn't make it look

2276
02:06:35,080 --> 02:06:38,640
Speaker 1: like that, and he did. Uh. The live stream, I'm

2277
02:06:38,680 --> 02:06:40,600
Speaker 1: probably not going to do as much because of the

2278
02:06:40,640 --> 02:06:44,360
Speaker 1: fact that now with um the whole algorithm stuff and

2279
02:06:44,360 --> 02:06:46,680
Speaker 1: then wanting you to boost posts, like, we get a

2280
02:06:46,720 --> 02:06:49,280
Speaker 1: fraction of what we should be getting for those live streams.

2281
02:06:49,440 --> 02:06:51,800
Speaker 1: But when I put stuff on YouTube, it does pretty well.

2282
02:06:52,240 --> 02:06:54,840
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna try This will be the first time

2283
02:06:54,880 --> 02:06:57,080
Speaker 1: we do. It will be the next episode with Jack Carr.

2284
02:06:57,200 --> 02:07:00,960
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to put every episode now on YouTube. Um,

2285
02:07:01,000 --> 02:07:03,400
Speaker 1: and you'll be able to even see people who we

2286
02:07:03,480 --> 02:07:07,000
Speaker 1: have on Skype. Uh. You know, I'll encourage people to

2287
02:07:07,000 --> 02:07:08,800
Speaker 1: have their video opposite that we could do that type

2288
02:07:08,840 --> 02:07:11,880
Speaker 1: of thing, because why not have a presence on YouTube

2289
02:07:11,920 --> 02:07:13,840
Speaker 1: if we can. I just don't think we're gonna live

2290
02:07:13,920 --> 02:07:16,360
Speaker 1: stream it, but we'll have it up on there. Um.

2291
02:07:16,400 --> 02:07:18,560
Speaker 1: We'll see how it goes with Jack Carr. I suspect

2292
02:07:18,600 --> 02:07:20,600
Speaker 1: it will go well, and if it does, that'll be

2293
02:07:21,240 --> 02:07:24,040
Speaker 1: UM something that we continue to do because why not

2294
02:07:24,160 --> 02:07:28,040
Speaker 1: why not have a visual element so cool man? Um,

2295
02:07:28,160 --> 02:07:30,280
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to hearing the podcast that you're on.

2296
02:07:30,360 --> 02:07:32,080
Speaker 1: I don't know when that will come out. It's it's

2297
02:07:32,240 --> 02:07:35,240
Speaker 1: it's gonna be al ways down the road, um, some

2298
02:07:35,240 --> 02:07:37,520
Speaker 1: sometime later in the year. UM. So it's not like

2299
02:07:37,800 --> 02:07:39,360
Speaker 1: it's not like what we do where it's like a

2300
02:07:39,400 --> 02:07:42,720
Speaker 1: full Internet. It's produced. It's gonna be produced. It's gonna

2301
02:07:42,760 --> 02:07:45,360
Speaker 1: be a mini series, um. And I think they're gonna

2302
02:07:45,360 --> 02:07:48,240
Speaker 1: try to do it like um, like Cereal or some

2303
02:07:48,280 --> 02:07:50,320
Speaker 1: of these other big pots or like the did you

2304
02:07:50,320 --> 02:07:53,240
Speaker 1: ever listen to that? You probably didn't the podcast about

2305
02:07:53,240 --> 02:07:56,360
Speaker 1: like finding Where Richardson Is? It's the same company. Really

2306
02:07:56,960 --> 02:07:59,160
Speaker 1: did you ever listen to that? I listened to the

2307
02:07:59,160 --> 02:08:01,400
Speaker 1: whole thing. It was pretty fascinating because it did a

2308
02:08:01,400 --> 02:08:03,920
Speaker 1: good job. Yeah, well, it was just a crazy story.

2309
02:08:04,280 --> 02:08:06,520
Speaker 1: Like look, it's not like I have some interest in

2310
02:08:06,640 --> 02:08:09,000
Speaker 1: Richard Simmons, but like I actually have an interest of

2311
02:08:09,000 --> 02:08:12,200
Speaker 1: people going off the grid entirely. I think it's interesting.

2312
02:08:12,600 --> 02:08:15,320
Speaker 1: And this guy just stopped showing up to his classes

2313
02:08:15,360 --> 02:08:18,960
Speaker 1: that he taught out of nowhere, stopped making public appearances

2314
02:08:19,040 --> 02:08:21,960
Speaker 1: and just like stay locked inside his home. Did they

2315
02:08:21,960 --> 02:08:25,680
Speaker 1: find Richard? Pretty much? They made contact and it was

2316
02:08:25,720 --> 02:08:28,000
Speaker 1: like well known that you know, because they talked. They

2317
02:08:28,000 --> 02:08:30,680
Speaker 1: didn't talk to him, but they talked to I think

2318
02:08:30,720 --> 02:08:33,440
Speaker 1: his brother, They talked to his manager, and it was

2319
02:08:33,440 --> 02:08:38,000
Speaker 1: pretty much well, uh, you know documented at that point

2320
02:08:38,160 --> 02:08:40,400
Speaker 1: that like the rumors of him getting a sex change

2321
02:08:40,520 --> 02:08:44,000
Speaker 1: not true, but he just wanted to be left alone.

2322
02:08:44,080 --> 02:08:45,800
Speaker 1: He was tired of being in the public eye was

2323
02:08:45,840 --> 02:08:49,280
Speaker 1: becoming exhausting for him. His need time out. Yeah, but

2324
02:08:49,400 --> 02:08:52,000
Speaker 1: it's I mean, it just is weird to go from

2325
02:08:52,040 --> 02:08:54,960
Speaker 1: I remember seeing him on Fox News and him like

2326
02:08:55,440 --> 02:08:57,480
Speaker 1: leaning over the desk trying to like make out with

2327
02:08:57,520 --> 02:09:00,320
Speaker 1: Neil Cavudo. He was just so over the top, this

2328
02:09:00,440 --> 02:09:03,280
Speaker 1: flamboyant guy to now saying I don't want to be

2329
02:09:03,360 --> 02:09:06,000
Speaker 1: seen at all, even by people that I've known, Like

2330
02:09:06,080 --> 02:09:09,000
Speaker 1: these are people that he's known for ten twenty years,

2331
02:09:09,160 --> 02:09:11,600
Speaker 1: and he stops talking. It sounds like he just needs

2332
02:09:11,600 --> 02:09:13,360
Speaker 1: some time to get his head right. Yeah. So it's

2333
02:09:13,400 --> 02:09:15,680
Speaker 1: an interesting podcast. So it's done by them that this

2334
02:09:15,720 --> 02:09:18,360
Speaker 1: will be really well, that's the same people. So yeah,

2335
02:09:18,480 --> 02:09:21,120
Speaker 1: I mean, I'd love to learn more about Wayne Simmons

2336
02:09:21,160 --> 02:09:23,720
Speaker 1: because I know what I know from you, and I've

2337
02:09:23,760 --> 02:09:25,920
Speaker 1: actually spoken to the guy on the phone when I

2338
02:09:25,920 --> 02:09:28,480
Speaker 1: would book him, but I don't. I know very little

2339
02:09:28,480 --> 02:09:30,760
Speaker 1: about him. I would say, I don't know much about

2340
02:09:31,000 --> 02:09:33,240
Speaker 1: the man. Yeah, I think we'll all learn something new

2341
02:09:33,280 --> 02:09:36,680
Speaker 1: about him on when this series comes out. I mean

2342
02:09:36,720 --> 02:09:39,120
Speaker 1: there's also I don't know if I should mention the name,

2343
02:09:39,160 --> 02:09:42,920
Speaker 1: but like a former contributor for the site, like it

2344
02:09:43,000 --> 02:09:47,120
Speaker 1: was Wayne was his son's godfather. Yeah, I mean I

2345
02:09:47,200 --> 02:09:49,600
Speaker 1: have I have a really weird connection to the story

2346
02:09:50,120 --> 02:09:53,440
Speaker 1: and that'll probably I don't know what's gonna end up

2347
02:09:53,440 --> 02:09:56,080
Speaker 1: being in this podcast or not, but we'll say cool.

2348
02:09:56,120 --> 02:09:58,600
Speaker 1: So be on the lookout for that. Um at socc

2349
02:09:58,600 --> 02:10:03,000
Speaker 1: Prep Radio on Twitter, on Instagram. Weird giving you guys

2350
02:10:03,080 --> 02:10:05,240
Speaker 1: more content than ever, so just leave a review on

2351
02:10:05,320 --> 02:10:09,040
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast. We'll see you next episode with Navy Seal

2352
02:10:09,240 --> 02:10:13,960
Speaker 1: Jack Cmark. You've been listening to self Rep Raadia New

2353
02:10:14,000 --> 02:10:17,400
Speaker 1: episodes up every Wednesday and Friday for all of the

2354
02:10:17,480 --> 02:10:21,240
Speaker 1: great content from our veteran journalists. Join us and become

2355
02:10:21,280 --> 02:10:24,600
Speaker 1: a team room member today at self rep dot com.

2356
02:10:24,800 --> 02:10:28,680
Speaker 1: Follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at self Rep Radio,

2357
02:10:29,280 --> 02:10:31,760
Speaker 1: and be sure to also check out the Power of

2358
02:10:31,800 --> 02:10:36,800
Speaker 1: Thought podcast hosted by Hurricane Group CEO and Navy Seal

2359
02:10:36,880 --> 02:10:39,280
Speaker 1: sniper instructor Brandon Webb,