WEBVTT - McDonalds and Michael Jordan with Florent Groberg 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:10.040 Welcome with the Good Stuff. 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:12.240 I'm Jacob Schick and I'm joined by my co host 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:13.399 and wife, Ashley Shick. 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.599 Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.240 gold Star granddaughter. We work together to serve military veterans, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.920 first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:27.360 and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy. At 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.200 One Tribe Foundation, we. 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.639 Believe everyone has a story to tell, not only about 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:33.760 the peaks, but also the valleys they've been through to 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:35.080 get them to where they are today. 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.000 Each week, we invite a guest to tell us their story, 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.320 to share with us the lessons they've learned that shape 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:42.320 who they are and what they're doing to pay it 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:43.480 forward and give back. 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:46.320 Our mission with this show is to dig deep into 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.880 our guest's journey so that we can celebrate the hope 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:50.960 and inspiration their story has to offer. 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:53.000 We're thrilled you're joining us again. 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:54.600 Welcome to the Good Stuff. 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.360 Today, our guest is Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Floren Groberg. 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.639 This is a story about patriotism. He's here to tell 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:06.319 us about his childhood in France, his family history in Algeria, 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.200 moving to Chicago as a young kid and eventually becoming 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:10.520 a United States citizen. 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:13.200 His love of country led him to joining the army 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.120 after nine to eleven. This episode is important to us 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.319 because we want people to understand that the Medal of 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.840 Honor recipients are real people. Also, he's held in high 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.440 regard around the world because of that medal. But today 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:26.679 we talk to him about who he really is. His 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.320 life now, is a husband and father, the eight seconds 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:31.839 of action that changed his life, and what was going 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.600 through his mind when President Obama put that medal around 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:35.000 his neck. 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:37.640 We are so glad he's joining us today, and you 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:39.840 will be too once you hear this interview. This is 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.000 an intimate conversation amongst friends, and a swear word or 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:44.040 two might be included. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.280 We both fought and bled for the right to say 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:47.880 whatever the hell we want, so deal with it. 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:55.560 In fact, Flora Groberg, so great to have you here 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.680 on the good Stuff. We have tried many times to 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:01.440 get you here, and you canceled twice for the two 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:05.040 most legitimate reasons ever, a dinner at the White House 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.639 and having your first child. Yeah, so welcome to the 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:09.320 good stuff. 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.480 I mean one of those is the most legitimate. It 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:13.520 was good dinner. 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.120 Good because I was gonna ask, like, is it everything 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.239 that you think it would be? Like first class everything? 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:27.280 And is the furniture comfortable? Is it like warm and inviting? 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.560 So I went to the state dinner in December between 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.960 obviously this current administration, Biden and please you know Macrone. 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:37.600 I'm French background, so yeah, that's part of the reason 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.560 why I was invited. And other than the dinner being 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.639 two and a half hours late literally really yeah, yeah, 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:49.000 we didn't start eating around until ten ten fifteen pm. 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:54.320 The reason that happened is because Biden and macnt wanted 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:56.640 to shake everyone and take a picture with every single 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:00.880 guest and all the bs not and that bs but 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:04.120 the crap that bite In takes about being old years old. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.200 I was really surprised that he stood for three plus 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.160 hours in the same spot and shook everyone's hand and 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:13.160 I took pictures. You know what I mean, You gotta 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:16.240 admire that. I now at forty, sure as heck, I'm 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.200 not doing it. I was like, all right, or we're 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:21.760 gonna go hell a lot faster. 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:22.079 Yeah. 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:26.400 Yeah, but going back, I was born in Friends and 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.280 my mom is my aunt. So the woman that raised me. 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:32.680 I called mom is my aunt. Her sister had me. 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:35.400 I think she had a fun night or something and things, 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.480 you know, did not work out the way she planned it. 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.480 But the world was blessed with you. Shit, I got lucky, right, 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.320 So my mom adopted me, and you know, for the 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.840 first three years, just her and I we lived in 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.640 the els Heirs of Paris. She gets so mad at 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.160 me when I said ghetto. You know, we live in 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.160 the ghetto. Latta is like the French newspapers said that. 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:57.280 Literally after we see the Medal of Honor, one of 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.440 the headlines was from the ghetto of Paris to the 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.440 White House, right, I was like, that's what they call it, 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.320 you see it? Right? It all blame me for this, 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.320 But you take a you know, we did a Google 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.440 Earth thing and you go to my neighborhood and you 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:14.960 kind of look at the buildings and it's one of 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:17.599 those buildings with like steel doors and bars on windows 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.919 and stuff. You're kind of like spits the yeah, demographics 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.000 right there. But I loved it. You know, it was 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:24.839 my world. You don't know any better. When you're a kid, 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.520 you know, that's what you grew up in. Luckily, she 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:32.240 met this guy named Larry who my stepfather now my 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:35.400 adoptive father, and he was there on business and they 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:37.840 kind of hated it off and over in the next 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.080 six seven years it dated right, and he was in 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.360 my life and he was amazing, right from Gary, Indiana, 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:49.360 you know, raising Gary lived in Chicago, And one day 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.560 when I was about ten, it's seven years in he 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.240 asked my mom if she was willing to want marry him, 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.120 but also moved to the States, and so they had 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:02.039 to convince me and convinced me. He's so smart. He 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.000 got me Nintendo and I was playing Mike Tyes and 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.160 Punch Out Best one of the best, one of the 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.320 best games of all time. Yeah, And he came to 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:12.360 my ram us playing that game and he asked, hey, flow, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.159 do you like McDonald's. You want to eat McDonald's. I 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:17.040 said it, yeah, and he's like, also, would you like 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:19.960 to meet Michael Jordan? Michael Jordan, you know, because I 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.160 mean I wasn't even basketball player, but everyone knew Jeordan 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:24.520 the whole world, right, Michael Jordan. And you know, this 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.599 is the nineties, early nineties, that's glory, that was Glory days. 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.760 This is like nineteen ninety three. Yea, like this dude 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:35.200 is just one of his first repeat right then. Yeah, 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.000 loved to met Michael Jordan's Like, wow, if we moved 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.520 to the States, McDonald's the headquarters of it there, Michael 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.800 Jordan lives in my city. I said, okay, it sounds good. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:44.640 Just like that. That was the end. He ran with 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:48.159 it and we were gone. We were gone three weeks later, gone. 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.080 So I tell people, I lost my allegiance to my country, 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.640 my family, my friends, my school, my sports, everything about me, 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.039 my whole identity was just sold for McDonald's and Michael Jordan. 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:00.880 The way there's McDonald's and rents just want to bring 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:02.320 it out there. It's really good too. 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:07.760 Yeah, it's two of the biggest franchises ever, right right, 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.240 And so yeah, I should go work for McDonald's and 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.440 just be like, this is what a great story spoke 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:18.080 something that, Yeah, I would like McDonald's and the Michael 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:23.640 Jordan to take note that not just any dude, yeah, 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:25.160 but a Medal of Honor recipient. 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:26.800 Those aren't just handed out. It's not going to work 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.080 with Michael. So President Bush put me in one of 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.440 his poetry books, you know, And so I'm in there 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:33.080 I'm in his museum. He paid me and put me 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.599 in his museum. And in the book he says that 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.120 he's going to figure out a way to contact Michael Jordan, 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:40.280 and it has not happened. 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.080 So you moved to Chicago at age eleven. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:47.080 Tell us about that. What was that like? Culture shock? Shot? Yeah, 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.719 one hundred percent culture shock. Moving to Chicago in nineteen 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.560 ninety four was a complete culture shock, going from the 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.719 city to the suburbs, not speaking the language. Did you 0:06:57.760 --> 0:06:59.600 speak any English when you move? Not really? I mean 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.440 it's put It gave me a couple of courses before, 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:03.560 but like you know, just like you take Spanish in 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:07.039 school a little bit, and it's totally not my priority 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:10.360 at this time. And I came here and it was 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:15.600 just so different. Everything was bigger, wider, longer. I don't 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.240 know how I'll subscribe it. I remember being in this 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.800 town home that he lived in and we're there, walked 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:27.120 outside and I couldn't see people, buses, you know, metro, nothing, 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:31.840 It's just houses and quiet. I remember thinking like, this 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.280 is creepy. I want to be in a city. But 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.600 then it was also peaceful. It was new, so everything 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:39.520 was just kind of cool. Care of like wow, like 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.000 all right, let me just explore this. But one of 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.880 the things that got me super fired up was when 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.400 I saw one of those yellow school buses, because I'd 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.480 never seen one in my life before, you know, and 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.560 I've been I visited the United States a few times, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:54.520 you know, usually in a city and for like a 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.280 week or two right with him. But now here I 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.320 was and that's where I lived. I knew that, and 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.960 I saw one of his buses drive by the only 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:03.960 time I've ever seen those buses in movies with TV 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.000 shows were Zan and things like that, right, you know 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:08.080 Cosby Show and the movies that we watched. I was like, 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.400 oh my god, this is so cool. I got super excited. 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.200 Like my dad, it's just like his kid's weird, because 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:14.320 I was like, I don't want to be one of 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.840 those things. One day, like everyone's trying to avoid the bus. 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.560 I wanted to get in the bus. But I just 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:21.400 thought I was so cool and in the people. 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:21.640 Right. 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.120 It was hard to communicate, but as kids, you don't 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.880 need words, you just need action. Sports was an easy way. 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.160 I was a really good soccer player, and I got 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:34.040 to play with some really good soccer players around and 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.079 so that I created a bond, bonding and obviously in track. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:39.840 But we lived in Chicago for a little bit and 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.760 moved to DC. I went to the French International School, 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.360 so I was still every day French shot with a 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.560 lot of emphasis in English. Obviously, that got kicked out 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.600 of that school in eighth grade. Hold on what happened? 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:56.280 I had a racist teacher, you know. And so my 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:58.640 father would help me with my English, you know, on 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:00.480 work and I run an essay and you know, he 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:02.280 would look at it, and but I wrote it and 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.000 he would just give me advice. I'm like, well, you 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:05.920 might want to change this tone, you might want to 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:09.280 go through your grammar. So he would help me. But 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:13.160 my uncle had just been killed in North Africa right 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.920 before that, in Algeria fighting the GIA terrorist organization, going 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.720 to Ga predecessor to Raa Kaita. And my uncle was 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:23.080 a preacher of the Muslim faith. He was an mom 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.480 and when the GIA came in with sharer law in 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:31.040 a westernized Muslim country, he decided to that they were 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.440 perverting his book and his religion and his beliefs. So 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.319 he went and joined the army. He went special operations 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:37.840 there actually got to come to the United States and 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:42.640 be trained with some and had Bragg now liberty, and 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.640 he went back and fought for years. In February of 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.960 nineteen eighty six, during a ceasefire to observe Ramadon of 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.880 all things, his unit was ambush who was shot beheaded. 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:53.960 This member put in a box sense to my grandfather. 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.040 And my grandfather was a war hero in Algeria French 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:00.599 andoshin prisoner war for three years and the cattle is 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.439 for y'all during independence against the French. So he was 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.520 really well known. So they killed his son and then 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:08.199 obviously that to his body and then send it to 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.319 him as a message. It only motivated more my uncles 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:13.240 to join the army at that point, just like terrorism 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.640 never works, it just motivates the next generation to fight 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:21.440 against that. Yeah, so that just happened, and you're eighth grade, 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:26.520 seventh grade, seventh grade, and my uncle had just been killed. 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.120 And this guy gives me a zero in my paper 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:32.600 and he said that cheated zero. Yeah, yeah, he said 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.720 at zero instead of cheated. I said, I don't know 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.040 how I cheat, but how you cheat on this? Right? 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.280 And he said, all your Arabs are this is the same. 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.040 So I took a remember it was like desk chairs 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:47.120 connected to each other. Yeah. Yeah, I took one of those, 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.360 lifted in and threw it at him, missed him obviously, 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.560 for I was scrawny and small and all my strength 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:54.080 in the world to picked that thing up and that 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.480 threw it and went like, oh foot. But that's the thought, 0:10:57.600 --> 0:10:59.520 get you kicked out. Yeah I got kicked out. But 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.560 my mom was like, that sounds great, kick my son out. 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:04.240 But let me go out there and tell all the 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.200 diplomats around that this is a racist school. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:07.040 Years. 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:08.240 I put a hell of a lot of money that 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:10.040 you know, you charge a ton of money into it. 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.000 Is not to say that probably wasn't cheap. No, it 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.680 wasn't cheap. And my dad moving here, he was you know. 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.120 I went from being super poor and nothing to like 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.560 live in a normal life and my dad investing quite 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.320 a bit of money in my education because I didn't 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.959 speak English, right, So anyway, I took the ESAUL test 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.400 after that English is the second language, and I went 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.679 to till the middle school American school, and I remember 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.520 being in school and not speaking the language. So I 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.400 had English. I didn't have English. I had Esaul. Today day, 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:42.000 I'm trying to figureut how I made it to class 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.960 so English that was my Esaul. So I'm there with 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.880 a bunch of like people like me, Hispanic, French, Africans. 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:51.040 You know, this is like it's actually a good number. 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:57.199 But like history, science, math, everything else, it was in English, 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.920 like with everybody that probably didn't make it a chant 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.000 at all. The thing is, I think that helped really, yeah, 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.400 because by the time I was in regular English freshman year, 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:09.560 I was an Honors English sophomore year, and I was 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.160 an ap English junior year. Wow. And I think being 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:15.960 forced to learn in that element, I think that helped me. 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:17.720 I don't know how made it through, to be honest 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.360 with you, like maybe like they were nice to me 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.000 or something. But the only class that I felt really 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.640 comfortable in was in Spanish because I spoke Spanish too 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:27.280 at the time, because I lived in Spain for a 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.560 little bit of a period of time. So like I was like, 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:31.360 screw all of you, I can speak this language, right, 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:33.000 So me and the other like Hispanic duds were like, 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:38.040 let's go. That led into going into high school sports 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.880 and in college. And but when nine to eleven happened, 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.400 and I think this is like a kind of to 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.520 conclude this piece, this whole transition. I became naturalized as 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.800 a seventeen year old, right, So my dad officially adopted me, 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:53.160 so I became his son on paper and everything, and 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.920 that made me American right away because I was a minor. 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:00.360 And so in February two thousand and one, I became 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:04.959 a US citizen, and I remember not truly understanding that moment, 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.440 but just being happy. I'm like, one of you guys, 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:12.160 Now I'm American officially. But when you fast forward seven 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.080 months later and nine to eleven happens, and now you 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:17.800 do the connecting dots in my own mind, which is, 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.360 these individuals are the same people that killed my uncle. 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.920 So I felt like terrorism was following me, and now 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.440 they attacked my mom's side of the house, right, and 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:35.199 now they're attacking my newly adopted country. So as an American, 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.400 I felt that it was my responsibility to now join 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:42.800 the military, but also felt that was very personal and 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:46.040 so I mean, how could you not at that point? Especially, 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:48.840 I tell people I had the easiest four years in 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.040 college because I didn't really care what I was studying 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:53.760 because I knew exactly what I was going to do 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:55.240 after because nine eleven happened when I was in the 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.880 Orient school and I wanted to quit. And he asked 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.080 me one single question. He fit, what's the one thing 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:02.520 I asked of you when I give you my name? 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:05.840 I obviously didn't no ideways talking about so he ran. 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.560 He reminded me, he said, when a Groelberg starts something, 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.480 he or she finishes it because if they quit when 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.120 things get tough, they will always find an excuse to 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:17.240 quit everything else that they start. That could be a 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.560 job of family, you know, relationships or whatever it is. 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:22.520 So it's like the hard thing for you to do 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.040 is get your education right now. And he said something 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.280 really valuable. After that, I was like, as we go 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:29.440 to war into this, this is not going to be 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.240 a two month, three month thing. This is going to 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:33.680 be a long thing. Because he's his background was in 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:38.280 communications from Motorola and he traveled seven months out of 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.360 the year. We didn't see him. He was always on 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.080 the road because he would go to these big deals. Well, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:49.800 he's former army veteran Vietnam one was in a capacity 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.080 of working with the agency, and we can get into 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.120 that's of fun stuff. And now we have all the 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.360 pictures and stuff. He golfed with ben Lan's father. He 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:59.600 knew the King of Morocco and stuff because he was 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.880 selling them radio technologies on stuff all around the Middle 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.680 East and Asia and South America, and so he had 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.680 all these access points he lived. I was so lucky, 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.000 like he raised me and he had all these understanding 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:14.600 of like culture and stuff. And so he told me like, 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:16.160 this is something that's been brought for a long time, 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.440 and this is not gonna end overnight, so like you're 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:20.600 gonna you're gonna have your opportunity to play in this game. 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.800 And so finished school. I said, all right. I was pissed. 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.720 But of course he's completely officer in me. First of all, 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.880 he's blonding green ice. So really a lot of questions 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.280 growing up about that's your dad, Okay, milkman, where are 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:35.560 you at? 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.160 Yeah, that's that's I mean, seeing is believing, you know, 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:42.800 I mean, that's it's one of those things. 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:44.520 We both have great dads too. 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:48.240 Yeah, And you know what, man, you probably you know this. 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.240 You didn't have a better guy to mantally prepare you 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.280 for all of it. And he and clearly knew what 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.600 he was talking about had way more of a freaking 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:04.120 understanding than June role population, you know, watching the nine 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.040 to five Dad. 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.560 This is the stories he tells me. I won't go 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:10.760 too deep, but I'll give you this sort of a synopsis. 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.880 We were sitting at the table, him and I just 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.680 chatting and I'll be like, all right, so, like, how 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:20.400 was your trip? He'll say it was good. This time 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:21.880 was a lot better than last time. I said, he 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:23.960 went to Zambia. Right, I was like, oh, what happened 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.760 last time? He's like, a little misunderstanding? What's a middle 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.400 little misunderstanding? I go bad, like your customer, I'm thinking 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:32.640 of deals, right, I'm thinking like you're customer, didn't like 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:34.720 you're pricing whatever it is. And he's like, I was 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:38.320 sticking pictures of this building. Police came buy and picked 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:39.880 me up, me and my buddy up, threw us in 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.680 jail and they called the spies and it took all 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.800 our stuff and I was like, uh huh. And he's 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.080 like yeah, and there's this guy, you know, just like local, 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:49.840 chained up in the bench next to us, and they 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:51.360 came in and beat the heck out of him, pretty 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.440 much killed him. So at that point we realized, like, 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:54.760 we really need to figure out a way to get 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:56.880 the heck out of here. So we saw a priest 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.320 and we told him, hey, I'm Larry Groberg. Go to 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:01.120 the US and and let him know, like we're here 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:03.680 and I can come bail us out. He's like, yeah, 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.320 in about you know, twelve fourteen hours later, you know 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:08.480 us guy came in and he kind of build us out. 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:10.520 But ha, some really misunderstanding. I said, what do you 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.920 mean what do you do for a living? 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:15.360 Right? You know what I mean. 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:17.760 I'm like, yeah, what are you talking about? Did you 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.560 got thrown in jail for being a spy for taking pictures? 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:22.359 He's like, yeah, we're just taking pictures of a building 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.240 where we're gonna put these you know, these radios and 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:30.200 antennas and stuff. I said, something's missing, right, Well, he'll 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.880 tell me another story where Africa was, like his fun stories. 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:37.960 I think it was Zimbabwe. There was a curfew. He's like, yeah, 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.680 I had a long meeting kind of went past curfew. 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:42.280 So I got my car and drove through and I 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:44.520 saw a checkpoint. I realized, probably not a good idea 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:46.280 to stop at checkpoints. I kind of punched through it 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:47.719 and they shot a couple of rounds of aca at 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.440 me and then they chased me. But luckily there was 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:52.400 another guy that did the same thing. They went after 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:57.160 him and I'm like, what are you talking about? Yeah, 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.720 there's no way. Your story's don't fit. And then the 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:01.879 case was when I was uh, and they moved to 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.199 North Carolina and I went into the attic just like 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.440 my boxes, and this is kind of funny. That's why 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:08.840 I liked the idea of boxes and learning the story 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.040 of your dad or grandpa. And I went into one 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.359 of the boxes looking for something and I found an 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:18.400 identification card from Moroccan Jean dal Marie right the police 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.160 like National police up there, and is my dad's face 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.879 with a different name on it. And I took that 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:26.280 brought it to him. I was like, what is this. 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.919 He's like, huh, yes, not d card. I was like, no, 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.040 I get that, dude. Why do you have a different name? 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.040 Oh yeah, you know they didn't like my name, so 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:39.399 to get on basically, just give me this card. I'm like, 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:42.600 Larry Grosberg is a pretty like easy name, dude, Like, 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.160 why do you have like a pretty much French name. 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:46.760 He's like, oh, it's just it just made it a 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.520 lot easier. I said, not man. And so when I 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.720 went into that world myself after the Army, I realized, 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:54.440 like this guy was doing a little bit more than 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.080 what it's to this day, he won't tell me your truth. 0:18:58.359 --> 0:18:59.359 I'll figure it out one day. 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:00.760 You'll figure it out eventually. 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.960 That's man, that's conviction, though, amazing, this whole old school dude, 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:05.480