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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: softwrep dot Com on Time on Target. Todd Apalski and

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Speaker 1: studio former Marine Corps officer and Forest Recon recon turned

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Speaker 1: Special Missions Unit officer and Assault commando. We don't even

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Speaker 1: have a printer in here yet, so I'm like looking

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Speaker 1: at my screen at my notice while doing all this

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Speaker 1: while doing the live stream. Thanks everybody for checking this out.

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Speaker 1: By the way, why could have you in the studio.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad you could do that. Welcome on the show.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Guys, this is I'm playing opportunition

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Speaker 1: for Thank you absolutely. Um So, I mean your background

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Speaker 1: is so interesting. As Jack was saying before, people always wondered,

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Speaker 1: could you be a guy who you know has the

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Speaker 1: background of you with Forest Recon and then as well,

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Speaker 1: doing you know your Army background? So yeah, um so

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Speaker 1: it was interesting. I mean it was awesome experience and

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't trade it for the world. Going to the Marines. Um,

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Speaker 1: growing up just up the road in Connecticut, going in

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Speaker 1: the Marines, going to Rangers School and then enlisted, tough

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Speaker 1: certain transitioning over to special apps, and then getting out

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Speaker 1: and testing myself in the civilian world up in um

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Speaker 1: Silicon Valley, San Francisco. It's been quite experience. Yeah, it was.

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Speaker 1: We were talking a little bit about this before we

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Speaker 1: went live, but um, we actually had a friend of

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Speaker 1: yours reach out to us and like, hey, you know,

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Speaker 1: I have this friend Todd. You should really talk to him.

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Speaker 1: You need to get him on the podcast. I was like,

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Speaker 1: who's Todd? And I went, you know, I looked at

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Speaker 1: your bio and I was just like super impressed. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you did a lot, you know, you in for twenty

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Speaker 1: six years. Twenty six years, yep, A lot of it

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Speaker 1: was right time, at the right place. Yeah, okay, as

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Speaker 1: we know, and having the right people around. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's not about us, it's about the people with me

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Speaker 1: us who we are. And um, I've stood in the

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Speaker 1: shadows and walked the paths of many great people, and

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Speaker 1: UM it's because of them, you know, on each other.

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Speaker 1: Um we're at today. So I give them upmost gratitude

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Speaker 1: and appreciation. Well, I want to talk a little bit

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Speaker 1: about you know, your military career and even before you

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Speaker 1: what what got you to join the Marines in the

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Speaker 1: first place. Uh, And then we'll get into you know

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Speaker 1: what you're trying to do today, which is all tied

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Speaker 1: in uh in some shape or form. Sure, so you

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Speaker 1: were saying before you grew up in Connecticut and you

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Speaker 1: enlisted before you became an officer. I grew up in Connecticut,

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Speaker 1: and Um, for those of you don't know Connecticut, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of misnomer's about Connecticut. You have the Martha

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Speaker 1: Stewart ralph um polo shirt types, and then there's the

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Speaker 1: other side, the manufacturing, um, blue collar type of Connecticut.

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Speaker 1: And that's where I grew up. You know, both my

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Speaker 1: parents they were from Eastern Europe. Dad was Polish, mom

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Speaker 1: was German. So I grew up in a very disciplined, regimented,

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Speaker 1: an authoritarian type household. Um, you grew up speaking Polish

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Speaker 1: with your No, I didn't. They stopped speaking, you know,

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Speaker 1: they stopped You know, the old ways are done. You know,

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Speaker 1: they wanted to um assimilate and adapt into America. They

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Speaker 1: grew up in the twenties. You know. My my mom

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Speaker 1: had her first child when she was fifteen or second

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Speaker 1: when she was sixteen, and had me when she was

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Speaker 1: forty three. So, um, I was raised by a different

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Speaker 1: generation of people. Uh, people that grew up in the depression,

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Speaker 1: where survival was every day, every second, every minute, every day.

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Speaker 1: And um, all I saw around me growing up was work, work, work, work,

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Speaker 1: and you get out of things that you put into them. Uh.

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Speaker 1: They did not place an emphasis on academics or compassion

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Speaker 1: per se. I remember coming home one day, um crying.

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Speaker 1: My mother watched the closet, broke out a belt and

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Speaker 1: she told me, Hey, I want me to give you

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Speaker 1: something to cry about. And that was an end. So

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Speaker 1: that's kind of just paints a picture of how I

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Speaker 1: grew up in the environment. So I was very all

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Speaker 1: suited for the Marines. Is that what brought you to

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Speaker 1: the Marine Corps? You're looking at a at a life, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, working in the labor force, probably not going

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Speaker 1: to college. Um a little bit. But I think what

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Speaker 1: it was, and to this day, it's still hard to

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Speaker 1: pinpoint what brought me to the Marines. I call it

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Speaker 1: a calling when you're at least expecting something that happens.

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Speaker 1: I grew up in high school as a meathead. I

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Speaker 1: had finished school each day, go to the gym, which

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Speaker 1: you did later become a bodybuilding which you'll get into

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Speaker 1: the Marines too. I think I said Marine stand for

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Speaker 1: muscles are required intelligence. It's not a sentially something like that.

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Speaker 1: I was at working out at the local y m

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Speaker 1: C A and I saw this gentleman with the usm

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Speaker 1: U S m C shirt ripped lane shredded and um.

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Speaker 1: He was throwing around some weight and I was impressed.

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Speaker 1: And it was a time of Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator, Predator

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Speaker 1: of those movies Full Metal Jackets. So there were all

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Speaker 1: these external dynamics I think that were subconsciously influencing me. Um.

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Speaker 1: And it just happened. One day walking to the gym,

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Speaker 1: I walked by the recruiter's office and I saw a

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Speaker 1: marine poster and I had these two guys coming out

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Speaker 1: of the surf zone with scuba tanks on their back,

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Speaker 1: with these mini guns which I later learned were Card fifteens,

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Speaker 1: the predecessor of M four's. And yeah, I went into

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Speaker 1: the recruiter and I signed up. That was seventeen years old.

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Speaker 1: Went home, told my mom. She started to cry. She's like,

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Speaker 1: go go tell your father. My dad was out in

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Speaker 1: the back reading his newspaper, smoking a cigarette, drinking a Schlitz.

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Speaker 1: He was in World War Two, so he fought in

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Speaker 1: the Battle the Bulch. So when I went and told

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Speaker 1: him what I did, He's like, let me give you

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Speaker 1: a piece of advice. Do not go infantry, do not

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Speaker 1: go in little Did I know? These these guys are

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Speaker 1: guba tanks and little guns part of these commandos, these

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Speaker 1: elite commandos. So UM, I broken the news and UM

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Speaker 1: went infantry and then later reconnaissance force, reconnaissance and m Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you went into the Marines. In that that it was

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Speaker 1: a different world. But the military was also a very

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Speaker 1: different place than it is today, I think in a

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Speaker 1: lot of ways. Yeah, it was. It was different at

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Speaker 1: the time. We still had a lot of Vietnam vets

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Speaker 1: and uh, I remember my first unit in the infantry.

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Speaker 1: Our first sergeant was a Vietnam Vet and he lived

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Speaker 1: in the barracks, bottom floor in the corner, and uh

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Speaker 1: he he drank a lot and smoked a lot. And

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Speaker 1: there were a lot of Vietnam vets and they placed

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Speaker 1: a huge emphasis on the basics patrolling, patrolling, patrol, base operations,

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Speaker 1: and placing Claymore's all those things. UM attention to deep

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Speaker 1: ambushes things of that nature. Every day patrol. We hold

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Speaker 1: week long packages. You go in Monday, get your mission statement,

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Speaker 1: that night, you insert and you come out Friday morning

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Speaker 1: and you debrief, clean your guns, and go out on

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Speaker 1: libo and just tear the town up. So pretty much

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Speaker 1: what you were looking for. You got to go to

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Speaker 1: dive school and be the guy coming out of the surface.

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Speaker 1: I was awesome. It was holiday compared to growing up

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Speaker 1: underneath my parents. Marine Corps was holiday. I got three

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Speaker 1: square meals a day. Um, what's in the mess hall?

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Speaker 1: All you can eat salad buffets and patrolling and shooting guns,

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Speaker 1: working out perfect environment. So I got what I signed

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Speaker 1: up for. That's awesome. And that was that you continued

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Speaker 1: working at That's a big part of your life. That

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Speaker 1: and that's what led to you becoming a bodybuilder and

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Speaker 1: competing in competition. Yeah. I did that before and went

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Speaker 1: in the middle. I was a teenager growing up. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's looking at the picture of you, Mr Universe almost

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Speaker 1: that that was my aspiration at one point in time

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Speaker 1: until I went in the Marines and learned it was

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Speaker 1: more than just throwing throwing around steel to run two

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Speaker 1: and climb ropes and all these other things. Sure it's

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Speaker 1: similar with the discipline though, having to have such a

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Speaker 1: regiment and schedule in terms of eating, in terms of

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Speaker 1: working and the military is very regiment, very much so,

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Speaker 1: particularly in the Marine Corps. There's a there's an s

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Speaker 1: op and a checklist for everything and priorities of work,

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Speaker 1: just like rangers school. What is a safe uh security

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Speaker 1: automatic weapons field of fires and entrenched priorities of work

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Speaker 1: and a patrol base. The same thing in the Marine

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Speaker 1: Corps working out, I had team leaders. They placed great

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Speaker 1: emphasis on fitness, physical fitness and being able to go

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Speaker 1: the distance and and you have to yeah, rock marching

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Speaker 1: for miles on end. It really isn't conducive to bulking up.

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Speaker 1: So um I quickly got out of the gym and

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Speaker 1: started doing calistenic swimming and the more practical forms of

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Speaker 1: fitness school. I've said that before too, because some of

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Speaker 1: our like marine writers for some a lot of them

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Speaker 1: because are very into lifting and like power lifting and

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Speaker 1: stuff like James Powell, Alex Hollings is a big dude,

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Speaker 1: and some big boys on the stat their former Marines.

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Speaker 1: But I've said I think I said it on the

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Speaker 1: episode with Alex Like what they look like now is

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Speaker 1: not really the way you would optimally want to look

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Speaker 1: in the Marines. It's more about being super legane. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you gotta be able to run a lot, yeah, you got.

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Speaker 1: You gotta be the total package. Really, you gotta be

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Speaker 1: able to lift heavy loads and then also um march

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Speaker 1: those miles and then put rounds on target once you

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Speaker 1: get there. Yeah, I mean look at the pictures that

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Speaker 1: do too, are you know lurps or Force Recon in Vietnam?

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Speaker 1: I mean those guys are skinny as hell. I mean

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Speaker 1: probably the parasites were getting them too. It's yeah, just

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Speaker 1: a little bit of jungle rock. Yeah. Yeah, but you know,

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Speaker 1: a different times, and you know there's different forms of

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Speaker 1: fitness for different you know what you want to do.

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Speaker 1: And so how long were you in recon before you

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Speaker 1: decide to go go to the dark side so to speak.

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Speaker 1: Let's see, uh ninety one I went into recon and

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Speaker 1: then uh nineties six years um everycoun and by that

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Speaker 1: point I did six years in Force recon and pretty

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Speaker 1: much attained every position CEO. And I'm at that point

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Speaker 1: I wasn't really getting challenged anymore. And I wanted something different,

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Speaker 1: and I had a couple n CEO leaders and officer leaders.

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Speaker 1: They introduced me to this officer program and listed to

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Speaker 1: officer program. My heart was not there. Uh, My, my

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Speaker 1: real heart was getting out and going into the Army.

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Speaker 1: It was the mid nineties and we were not doing anything,

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Speaker 1: and the folks that were doing the missions at the

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Speaker 1: time were was Army SF and a lot of guys

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Speaker 1: were getting out of the core, taking U s F

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Speaker 1: selection and migrating over to the Army and doing the

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Speaker 1: SU because there's also before the Marines had their own

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Speaker 1: Special Operations component years before, and that's what I wanted

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Speaker 1: to do. I wanted to spec ups. I've gone to

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Speaker 1: a number of s F schools and great guys, great culture,

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Speaker 1: great entity. So it was nineties seven and uh, I

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Speaker 1: was looking at getting out. I applied, Yeah, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to keep my options open. I did apply for this

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Speaker 1: officer program, and out of nowhere I got accepted. And

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Speaker 1: you know, I had to do some decision making, either

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Speaker 1: go officer route or go the Army SF route, and

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Speaker 1: uh decided to go to the officer route. H Really,

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Speaker 1: there was a part of me that wanted to get

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Speaker 1: back to because I've done almost ten years enlisteners at

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Speaker 1: that time, and I wanted to position myself where I

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Speaker 1: could better influence the fight. Get back to the Marine

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Speaker 1: Corps make change. Not that I couldn't have done that

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Speaker 1: as an a listed guy, listed leader. Those are the

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Speaker 1: ones that are really making to change. But when it

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Speaker 1: comes to policy, in ridiculous policies that we often see,

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Speaker 1: I felt I'd be abould position myself and a little

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Speaker 1: better and you were able to stay branch in the infantry?

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Speaker 1: Did I did? I went back to the grunts. Third Battalion,

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Speaker 1: first Marines. One of the most boarding um experiences in

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Speaker 1: the military. UM, young guys. You have these young kids

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Speaker 1: coming in the military Marines nine eighteen, nineteen twenty. All

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Speaker 1: they want to do is shoot guns, drink alcohol, shoot guns,

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Speaker 1: and go to war. Their their minds are wide open

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Speaker 1: and just great Americans. And when Marines leave recruit training,

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Speaker 1: they are indoctrinated. They're just fullipists and vinegar and they

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Speaker 1: want to take it. And these guys that come to

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Speaker 1: the infantry, you know, they just want a continuation of this.

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Speaker 1: So it was awesome. It was just fuel feeding fuel

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Speaker 1: and UM. Great experience with those guys. I went to

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Speaker 1: the infantry and then went back to Force recon as

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Speaker 1: an officer. The boys must have been happy to have

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Speaker 1: one of their own come back as an officer. Also, yeah,

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Speaker 1: absolutely they you have a better understanding of the things

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Speaker 1: that they've gone through. And one of my I vowed

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Speaker 1: that I would never make one of my marines paint

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Speaker 1: grass for paint rocks like what I did when I

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Speaker 1: came in. One of my first one of the first

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Speaker 1: things I remember was painting grass, painting grass like with

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Speaker 1: latex paint. No, it was spray paint. Yeah, spray paint.

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Speaker 1: It was a parade. There was a parade coming up,

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Speaker 1: and then there were brown spots from the grass. I

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Speaker 1: was an E two and the first sergeant or the

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Speaker 1: company gunny, gave me a can of green spray paint.

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Speaker 1: He's like, hey, you go paint that the brown spots.

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Speaker 1: I'm like what, And here I am painting grass from

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Speaker 1: brown to green. So um. Then the flamethrower's suit. Remember

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Speaker 1: having to go um. I was tasked to go check

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Speaker 1: out a flamethrowers suit. There are no such things as flamethrowers,

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Speaker 1: but you know, you're like a ranger regiment you're a

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Speaker 1: new ranger. Yeah, the come lights or the grid square.

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Speaker 1: So but but you know, there are a lot of

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Speaker 1: ridiculous things we do, and I really wanted as an officer,

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Speaker 1: as a platoon commander and the grunts really teaching the

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Speaker 1: right way to tactics and you know, spend time patrolling

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Speaker 1: because I know it was a matter of of f

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Speaker 1: but when that we were gonna go to war and

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Speaker 1: we did. You know, I went back in two thousand,

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Speaker 1: two thousand one is an officer in the infantry. And

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Speaker 1: two years later two thousand three, unit got deployed. We

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Speaker 1: got deployed Afghanistan, the ground evasion and um, great unit.

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Speaker 1: You know, we landed in Kuwait and then March I

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Speaker 1: think it was nineteen we headed north for a couple

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Speaker 1: of months, went all the way up to Baghdad. And

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Speaker 1: your unit was just tasked with the part of the

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Speaker 1: push heading north up to the Yeah, back that part

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Speaker 1: of the push, supporting all the other elements. Um heading

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Speaker 1: up there and just paving away for following. Got you

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Speaker 1: guys like a forward element with the reconnaissance. No straight

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Speaker 1: leged infantry. I wasn't so I was still in the grunts. Uh,

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Speaker 1: straight foot pounder and uh, just to an infant. Awesome

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Speaker 1: place to be at that moment. Awesome place to be.

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Speaker 1: I mean it was, I mean as conventional as it gets.

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Speaker 1: And um, we were up in Amtrak's uh light armored

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Speaker 1: vehicles tracked We're buckled up inside those making the push

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Speaker 1: up to Bagdad and m It was. It was interesting

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Speaker 1: seeing the Marines, you know, train them up for that

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Speaker 1: and then then performing in combat for the first time

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Speaker 1: for the first time. And um, and that's where really

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Speaker 1: you know, like rubber meets the road. He's seeing these

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Speaker 1: kids all the time and affort you putt in a

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Speaker 1: training them and here they are performing on game day

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Speaker 1: from battalion on down. So it was a good experience

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Speaker 1: seeing that the basics basic infantry, ground combat. And then

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Speaker 1: got back and went to force recon as an officer.

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Speaker 1: So for people who don't necessarily understand, do you want

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Speaker 1: to explain a little bit about the difference between recon

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Speaker 1: and force. Yeah, Force recon is more uh further, it's deeper,

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Speaker 1: we go deeper behind enemy lines in the traditional sense.

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Speaker 1: Recon is more close in basic scouts scouts, but a

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Speaker 1: little bit more high speed. They go to jump school,

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Speaker 1: dive school Force reconnaissance. They go deeper and they may

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Speaker 1: infiltrate using different type of high altitude parachute techniques or

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Speaker 1: underwater techniques, and they have better communications. And nowadays, and

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Speaker 1: it's been a little bit been a few years because

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Speaker 1: I've been out, Uh, we also had the raid mission,

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Speaker 1: the direct action piece. So the force recon guys they're

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Speaker 1: trained in the direct action the rate aspect, and it's

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Speaker 1: just a little bit more experience, more maturity. And both

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Speaker 1: of them though great, great organizations. It's like, uh, what

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Speaker 1: is it r T Regimental r R r D r

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Speaker 1: RC now, um, who's yeah, ostensibly that's what they're For

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Speaker 1: a long time they were doing reconnaissance for the Range

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Speaker 1: of Regiment on air fields because their mission, the regiment's

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Speaker 1: mission was airfield seizures. Still is so force recon I

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Speaker 1: would say the biggest differences they have the direct action

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Speaker 1: and the Army we also have Wurst teams and the

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Speaker 1: Army gets so stupid about it, they keep disbanding them,

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Speaker 1: standing them up again, disbanding them. What do you do

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Speaker 1: you think that we should do away with small reconnaissance

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Speaker 1: teams that human eyeball on the ground. I mean, what

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Speaker 1: are we doing and are these teams still relevant? Is

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Speaker 1: it's still important in today's warfare with drones and all

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Speaker 1: marine corps doing the same thing twenty five years ago.

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Speaker 1: Twenty five years ago, there was discussion to span recon

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Speaker 1: keep at the Sinett. I'm a firm believer you still

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Speaker 1: need feet on the ground at some point, and you

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Speaker 1: may have to structure a little bit different. Um, provide

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Speaker 1: it with different type of technology. Uh, totally disbanding it,

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Speaker 1: probably not so much, but maybe restructuring it, reorganizing it,

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Speaker 1: keeping um, keeping some small force. Um. You still you

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Speaker 1: still need those boots on the deck, you know, those

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Speaker 1: eyes on a confirm or validate what those drones are

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Speaker 1: seeing overhead. And even as a technology increases, you still

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Speaker 1: need somebody to put the sensors in place. Absolutely. And

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Speaker 1: then you start talking about these other environments. We've been

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Speaker 1: operating in an environment that's been open, desert, mountainous, but yeah,

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Speaker 1: in the jungle, triple lay or canopy, different world, different world,

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Speaker 1: try locating the enemy and that so, and that's where

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Speaker 1: ground reconnaissance in Vietnam, that's where they made so much money,

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Speaker 1: you know, gathering that information, processing it back to higher

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Speaker 1: so they can make those informed decisions. But you still

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Speaker 1: need people on the ground in one way, shape or another,

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Speaker 1: whether it's a permissive environment or non permissive environment, and

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Speaker 1: then how you train them to I think that's important.

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Speaker 1: As an evolution of war changes, you really have to

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Speaker 1: adapt to the battlefield and train people differently how they

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Speaker 1: see things and how they do things, which is tough,

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Speaker 1: Which is tough to do. Yeah, because we don't know

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Speaker 1: what the next fight is. Yeah, as we always say,

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Speaker 1: we're still fighting the last We're still fighting the last war.

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Speaker 1: So so it's tough. But technology, we keep seeing different

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Speaker 1: improvements in technology. It's great drones that are now pocket sized,

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Speaker 1: to predators, to all these other assets we have. But

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Speaker 1: you talked about in placing different type of technical devices

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Speaker 1: to you still need those people out there, you know,

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Speaker 1: in place in those devices. So after you transitioned, you

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Speaker 1: went over to force recond of being officer there. I

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Speaker 1: mean the war was on at this point. You guys

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Speaker 1: must have kept the playing. Yeah, we did. It was

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Speaker 1: not stop. It was two thousand three, two thousand four,

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Speaker 1: two thousand five. It was pretty it was tough. It

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Speaker 1: was tough, and having these guys recond guys and force

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Speaker 1: recond guys back to back deployments. They're getting worn out.

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Speaker 1: It was tough. And then the mission sets were changing

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Speaker 1: as the as a war in combat operations on the

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Speaker 1: ground change doing d A but also a counterinsurgency and

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Speaker 1: also handing out humanitarian supplies things of that nature. So

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Speaker 1: it was tough, tough times, you know, keeping the guys

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Speaker 1: focused and keeping him um occupied, you know, so um yeah.

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Speaker 1: There any operations or missions from that time period that

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Speaker 1: kind of stand out in your mind is being uh

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Speaker 1: significant from the standpoint of lessons learned or something that

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Speaker 1: really jumps out at you. You know. Two thousand four

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Speaker 1: was an interesting year. I think that was one of

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Speaker 1: the high points of the war. And our our force

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Speaker 1: free completon We're all over the place. We're in the

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Speaker 1: jaff at one point and then up in Fallusia in

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Speaker 1: the next supporting a regiment going through Fallusiah like the

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Speaker 1: Big Big two thousand four November two thousand four. I

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Speaker 1: remember when that happened because as an afghanis stand yeah.

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Speaker 1: And then our platoon got assigned to second Battalion, fifth Marines,

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Speaker 1: and then later a couple of weeks later, the third Battalion,

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Speaker 1: First Marines and we supported the infantry UM and ground

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Speaker 1: combat operations and uh you know, employing the the teams

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Speaker 1: and the and the guys to the battalions. That was

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Speaker 1: pretty unique because here you are and room to room,

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Speaker 1: house to house fighting and you have force recon personnel

377
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Speaker 1: supporting the infantry with flank security, flank flank reconnaissance. And

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Speaker 1: then threw up at one point, um right there with

379
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Speaker 1: the infantry marines clearing houses and uh a lot going on,

380
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Speaker 1: very very chaotic times doing recon and an urban environment. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, we were doing eyes and ears at night,

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Speaker 1: you know once once we pushed through the day through

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Speaker 1: the sector. You know, the recon guys, our platoons, we

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Speaker 1: get up in the high ground calling air strikes, observe

385
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Speaker 1: with our different type of devices. So it was interesting

386
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Speaker 1: seeing how we functioned, you know, how how well we've

387
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Speaker 1: worked together, and that's something we uh we prod ourselves

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Speaker 1: with the military and also the Marine Corps, that Air

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Speaker 1: Ground Team UM working well together hand in hand. So

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Speaker 1: that was probably the high point um of that period

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Speaker 1: and UM our experiences was working with the infantry and

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Speaker 1: the whole Marine Air Ground Task Force. And then at

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Speaker 1: a certain point in your career, and people always ask

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Speaker 1: us this question, can you be a marine and also

395
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Speaker 1: serve in the army and special mission unit? Is that possible? Yeah,

396
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Speaker 1: it's possible. Anything is possible. Yeah, there's just certain things

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Speaker 1: you have to get over. You know, I don't want

398
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Speaker 1: to see your own ego, but where you come from,

399
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Speaker 1: I think most people have a question of is it

400
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Speaker 1: technically possible? I mean yeah, I think so. I mean guns,

401
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Speaker 1: guns are guns, and uh, well, I think that there's

402
00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,440
Speaker 1: confused that like how does a marine like you remember

403
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,800
Speaker 1: when Benghazi happened and they handed out one Distinguished Service

404
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 1: Cross to an operator and one Navy Cross and they're

405
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 1: like what what? What the heck? How how did who

406
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:18,040
Speaker 1: is that guy marine serving in the unit? Yeah? So, um,

407
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,440
Speaker 1: some some opportunities opened up there where they started selecting

408
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 1: or recruiting from outside. Can you talk about that at all,

409
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 1: about how you went in that direction? Uh? Yeah I can. Uh,

410
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Speaker 1: it's kind of um, you know, you go in the military. Um,

411
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Speaker 1: for me, I when I went in the Marines, I

412
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Speaker 1: had no clue what force recon was. And then as

413
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Speaker 1: you go in you start learning more and more about it,

414
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Speaker 1: and guys like us, we just want continued challenges, make

415
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Speaker 1: ourselves better, and we're always chasing that shiny object per se.

416
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Speaker 1: And uh, once I was in the Marines, you start

417
00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:02,080
Speaker 1: hearing about Rangers, special Forces and then the unit and

418
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Speaker 1: uh you hear some things about the unit and it's like, yeah,

419
00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 1: that's that sounds interesting. They sound like they're the ones

420
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:11,440
Speaker 1: that are doing it. They're the tip of the spear.

421
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Speaker 1: So uh, some openings came about and I figured I'd

422
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 1: wanted another challenge, and I applied and went through a

423
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:26,359
Speaker 1: assessment selection and passed. It was really just a matter

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Speaker 1: of signing up, putting, throwing your your name. Yeah. Application

425
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Speaker 1: process like for the just like for the Army SF selections,

426
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Speaker 1: interview process, application process, very well vetted. Yeah, so it's

427
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:41,680
Speaker 1: all I mean, if you have the skill set is

428
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:45,080
Speaker 1: really what it's all about. Yeah. Yeah, and the aptitude

429
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,680
Speaker 1: too and and and they're looking for the right people two.

430
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 1: And that's the big part behind the assessment selection. And

431
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,119
Speaker 1: uh it's a very lengthy process. And then you go,

432
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,439
Speaker 1: you show up and they put you through the rigors

433
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:03,439
Speaker 1: um and that's their assessment selection. It's been ongoing. They

434
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,040
Speaker 1: know what they're looking for and it's something that I

435
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,400
Speaker 1: applied out in the civilian world once I left the military,

436
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:14,200
Speaker 1: put together assessment selection for people coming into our business.

437
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,159
Speaker 1: We knew what traits we wanted, what attribbutes we wanted,

438
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:22,760
Speaker 1: So instead of doing the traditional phone interview resume, put

439
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,120
Speaker 1: them through an assessment, bring him in Saturday morning, put

440
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,920
Speaker 1: them through a skills test they pass, we hire and

441
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 1: uh so assessment selection. It's there for a purpose and

442
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,760
Speaker 1: looking for the right person. I had a friend to

443
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,520
Speaker 1: tell me once who he at one point ran the

444
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 1: selection course and he said, listen to me, very careful.

445
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:46,879
Speaker 1: He Now, selection is an art supported by science, just

446
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 1: like leadership, just like combat, just like war. So, um,

447
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:56,240
Speaker 1: it was definitely a process and selection is ongoing even today.

448
00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 1: Every day is an in doc as us re kind

449
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:01,639
Speaker 1: eyes would like to say, So you got to go

450
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 1: through that and then go through OTC and what was

451
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,320
Speaker 1: it like culturally going from the Marine Corps to Army

452
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 1: Special Operations? A lot of similarities, believe it or not,

453
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 1: a lot of similarities. Um. We we pride ourselves both

454
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 1: special apps, marines being expeditionary, doing more with less um,

455
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,360
Speaker 1: independent thinking, problem solving. So I was like, oh wow,

456
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 1: this is great, This is really cool, you know, being

457
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:32,160
Speaker 1: around like minded people. Um. The biggest difference, I would

458
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,399
Speaker 1: say are the were the resources at our disposal. In

459
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 1: the Marine Corps, you just don't get certain resources, the mobility, helicopters,

460
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,719
Speaker 1: airplanes to get from point A to point b. Uh.

461
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:51,879
Speaker 1: Information was another resource. You know, you need solid intel wise,

462
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:56,479
Speaker 1: marine Corps takes a long time, I think. I mean

463
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 1: just from guys I've heard and other authors we've had

464
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,400
Speaker 1: on who served in the Marines, that is something when

465
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:04,840
Speaker 1: we can talk about this more too. I mean the

466
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:08,160
Speaker 1: Marine Corps evolved a lot over the years during the war,

467
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,239
Speaker 1: but I mean early on in the war, I mean

468
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:15,720
Speaker 1: they didn't have any intelligence assets for a marine battalion. Yeah,

469
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,080
Speaker 1: they didn't know. I mean it was just they've been

470
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 1: I don't want to say they're out of the fight,

471
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:23,359
Speaker 1: but you know, they just weren't. They didn't they weren't operating,

472
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,960
Speaker 1: you know, to really um use information and intelligence like

473
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,040
Speaker 1: it should be used. And UM, you know, working at

474
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:35,200
Speaker 1: the unit, you know we had information, strategic level information

475
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 1: intelligence at our fingertips and information that helps make the

476
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 1: sound decisions, good intelligence, good decision making. As an officer too,

477
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 1: I mean you were in a leadership position, and how

478
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 1: is that commanding army operators and how did they look

479
00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 1: at you as a marine. Where did you come from? Yeah, yeah,

480
00:28:55,480 --> 00:29:00,479
Speaker 1: it was all that, and um, different caliber of person.

481
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,240
Speaker 1: There are guys there, they've been at the UNI for

482
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: ten fifteen years, different maturity, different experiences. So uh, I

483
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 1: knew my role was more than managing them. I still

484
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: strongly feel as a leader, one of your primary responsibilities

485
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:25,840
Speaker 1: to resource and facilitate with your equipment and synchronize a fight.

486
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 1: So when you have people of that caliber, that those

487
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:32,760
Speaker 1: type of leaders, you know it's gonna happen, and it's

488
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 1: it's the premier ball club decentralize. Uh. They one word

489
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 1: and they're making it happen. The ultimate problem solvers. So

490
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 1: I you stand off a little bit more and let

491
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 1: them make it happen and just make sure they have

492
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 1: the resource stadequately and you're synchronizing those assets outside to

493
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:56,800
Speaker 1: facilitate those missions on the ground. I think when we

494
00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 1: had Rob Trevino on a few podcasts a few episodes back,

495
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,480
Speaker 1: you know, he said something very similar. You know that

496
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,000
Speaker 1: they just expect you to do the right I heard

497
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:11,080
Speaker 1: him say that great podcast, Um, that's cool before man,

498
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 1: what a humbled warrior professional. I really enjoyed his podcast

499
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,600
Speaker 1: and he said something to effect, UM, it's just no,

500
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:22,480
Speaker 1: it's just expected of you to do the right thing.

501
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:27,000
Speaker 1: To paraphrases words and coming from the Marine Corps, one

502
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 1: of the biggest differences is, especially in ground combat conventional operations,

503
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: there's a lot of permissions that you have to request

504
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,720
Speaker 1: permission to move from point A to point B, and

505
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 1: there's a purpose and there's a reason behind that, primarily

506
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,600
Speaker 1: to avoid blue on blue and or make sure you're

507
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 1: not in the wrong place when bombs come down range. UM,

508
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:50,479
Speaker 1: in the unit's expected of you to do the right thing.

509
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,200
Speaker 1: Now you have the experience and the maturity, you know

510
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:55,960
Speaker 1: your decisions on the ground. You know there's no questions.

511
00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:00,480
Speaker 1: So that that was liberating, UM, and I can concur

512
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:04,080
Speaker 1: with with Rob. It's a liberating experience when you have

513
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,680
Speaker 1: that freedom to where you can just operate and maneuver

514
00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 1: like you're supposed to on the ground. And now you

515
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,920
Speaker 1: also found yourself I would think, in a different position.

516
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 1: And previously you were in recon force. Now you're in

517
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 1: what is for the most part of counter terrorism in it. Yep, Yeah,

518
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 1: But UM, principles remain the same. I'm a firm believer

519
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 1: in principles and principles tactics, right as a right as

520
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 1: a right, speed, surprise, and violence of action. Those principles

521
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 1: remain the same. So UM, that was something I kept

522
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 1: at the forefront of my mind when I went from

523
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 1: the Marines and I went over to UM that environment.

524
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:46,840
Speaker 1: Just remember the principles, principles of leadership, principles of tactics

525
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,560
Speaker 1: and operations. And you know, to this day, you know

526
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 1: I still apply a lot of the same principles. I

527
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,120
Speaker 1: was taught as a private in the Marine Corps with

528
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,160
Speaker 1: UM an the outside world, and you were there as

529
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:05,440
Speaker 1: a trooper, command, troop commander, UM and operations officer. So

530
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 1: what what are some of those lessons By the way, Todd,

531
00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:10,920
Speaker 1: that that you feel that you've able, you've you've been

532
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 1: able to use from the Marine Corps in your life.

533
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:15,960
Speaker 1: And we'll get and by the way, we'll get into

534
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 1: you know, Silicon Valley to what you're doing now. Sure,

535
00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,520
Speaker 1: And people asked me when I left the UM the

536
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,160
Speaker 1: unit I went back to the Marine Corps. I was

537
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,320
Speaker 1: sharing this with Jack earlier. They always ask, Hey, what

538
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,240
Speaker 1: did you learn you know what type of new cool,

539
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:35,440
Speaker 1: high speed UM tactic did you learn? And I would

540
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,000
Speaker 1: say one of my biggest lessons learned is the importance

541
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 1: of relationships. And what I mean by that is when

542
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:44,600
Speaker 1: I first went to the unit, one of my senior

543
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 1: officers took me aside and he said, Hey, here's the deal.

544
00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: There's three things that are going to either make or

545
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: break you here at the unit as a leader. First

546
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 1: is your competency. Okay, we know that that's a given. Second,

547
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 1: is you're in segrity and integrity more from the sense

548
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:09,400
Speaker 1: of structural integrity, mind, body, spirit, not just UM what

549
00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:12,800
Speaker 1: we normally associated with regards to character. And lastly, he

550
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:18,320
Speaker 1: said relationships. And I paused for a moment, and I'm like, relationships,

551
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,760
Speaker 1: What the heck does he mean by that? You know,

552
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 1: it's like aha moment, and he, thankfully he went on

553
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:28,400
Speaker 1: to further elaborate what he meant by that, UM and

554
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 1: he met relationships with not only internal agencies, but external agencies,

555
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:38,360
Speaker 1: you know, working and collaborating in a positive manner, working well,

556
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:42,640
Speaker 1: playing well with others, and knowing your people, knowing yourself.

557
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 1: And that's something that I took UM away from that

558
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,280
Speaker 1: and brought it back and it's something I'm a firm

559
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 1: believer in his relationships. How you treat others is how

560
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: you know you're gonna be treated. What you project is

561
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,360
Speaker 1: what you reflect. And uh, what I'm about to do

562
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 1: with this project I have going, it's focused on relationships.

563
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:07,360
Speaker 1: Relationships with yourself, you know, getting yourself right, relationships with

564
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,560
Speaker 1: your surroundings, and then relationships with others. So relationships are

565
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:15,160
Speaker 1: a huge part of success, you know, And I'd like

566
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,960
Speaker 1: to say create relationships, not only a network. When you

567
00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,279
Speaker 1: call up another agency and ask for information, or you

568
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:24,080
Speaker 1: need to call up the pilots and ask for an

569
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:26,600
Speaker 1: air strike. I mean, those are all different types of relationship,

570
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 1: different types, and you have to know, you know who

571
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,759
Speaker 1: you're speaking with and what to ask and when. But

572
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:36,400
Speaker 1: it takes time developing relationships and you guys, building trust,

573
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 1: filming trust. You know, when you go into new region,

574
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,600
Speaker 1: new country, you really have to sit down, drink the

575
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:46,880
Speaker 1: tea with them and spend time and communicate and let

576
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 1: them know you're there for them, you know, creating those

577
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 1: relationships they require a lot of time, a lot of nurturing.

578
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,960
Speaker 1: So I imagine there was a certain time, Uh, you

579
00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 1: know a tour you did at the unit, and then

580
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:02,000
Speaker 1: I guess there was a point where the Marine Corps

581
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,000
Speaker 1: was like, you need to come back home. Todd. Yeah, Yeah,

582
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 1: there a time came and my branch manager monitor as

583
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:13,120
Speaker 1: we call them in the Marine Corps, They're like, hey,

584
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: your time is up. It's time for you to come

585
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:20,160
Speaker 1: back and share with us what you've learned. And um,

586
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:22,759
Speaker 1: you know, your staff officer, now you need to make

587
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:27,799
Speaker 1: power point slides and start writing doctrine. So we need

588
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 1: to get back. So I left the unit and went

589
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:35,160
Speaker 1: back to the Marine Corps and that's spent probably three

590
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,719
Speaker 1: following years before I got out in the Marines. Yeah,

591
00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,160
Speaker 1: and I took a desk job. My final three years

592
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 1: was the first time I ever took a break um

593
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:49,360
Speaker 1: per se from the tactical operational side and took a

594
00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:54,600
Speaker 1: job at a training bill it um special ops training

595
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:59,239
Speaker 1: group where we prepared marines to go overseas and do

596
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:03,759
Speaker 1: uh from types of reconnaissance and close quarters battle. Well,

597
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 1: you're probably able to have a pretty big impact on

598
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:08,320
Speaker 1: the force from behind that desk I did. It was

599
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: great experience and that's one of the reasons why I

600
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:13,760
Speaker 1: selected to go back to that position just to offer

601
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,759
Speaker 1: a different way of thinking, a different way of looking

602
00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,640
Speaker 1: at a problem, vice doing the same things that we

603
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:23,840
Speaker 1: always did. And I remember going back back to that

604
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:27,480
Speaker 1: position and looking at the training curriculum and it was

605
00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:29,920
Speaker 1: the same curriculum that I had experienced when I was

606
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:33,440
Speaker 1: a young sergeant and reconnaissance and force reconnoissance, so it

607
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:37,040
Speaker 1: remained unchanged. A little bit of it changed a little bit,

608
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,200
Speaker 1: but it's like, there's so much more we can do.

609
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:41,680
Speaker 1: Is that a tough pill to swallow? Though? To go

610
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:45,480
Speaker 1: from doing such a physical job, um where so much

611
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:49,120
Speaker 1: she's demanded of you, to sitting behind the desk. It's

612
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:51,880
Speaker 1: it's probably got to feel kind of strange because, as

613
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: you said, you're you know, you're an active guy. That's

614
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:56,759
Speaker 1: why you joined the Marines in the first yea. Yeah,

615
00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:03,040
Speaker 1: it was depressing. Thankfully the armory was locked up. You know,

616
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:07,440
Speaker 1: the Marines, your people make all the difference and uh,

617
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:11,880
Speaker 1: you know, contributing to them and helping them out. To me,

618
00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:14,560
Speaker 1: met I knew I was on my way out once

619
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:16,920
Speaker 1: I left the unit. I I knew I was retiring

620
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:19,480
Speaker 1: at twenty five years. Whether I stayed in the unit

621
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:22,480
Speaker 1: or not, I pretty much had decided deep down inside

622
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:25,400
Speaker 1: I was getting out, and before I got out, I

623
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:29,440
Speaker 1: really wanted to get back a little bit my lessons

624
00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 1: learned and make a change. So I stayed active though.

625
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 1: I mean even though it was a desk job. You

626
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:41,520
Speaker 1: gotta stay active mentoring physically, um, keep yourself occupied, because

627
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:44,440
Speaker 1: when you don't, that's when bad things happen. But you

628
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 1: were connected to I think I'm actually writing my first

629
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:51,160
Speaker 1: ever like full length piece for soft rep uh, even

630
00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 1: though I'm as some of the civilian there. But like

631
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 1: about the mind body connection, the mind muscle connection, and

632
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,719
Speaker 1: I think guys who are active physically in any sense,

633
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:01,880
Speaker 1: that's when ideas come to them. And I think if

634
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 1: you're just sitting down at the desk like I, I agree.

635
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:08,279
Speaker 1: It's happened to me when I was in Silicon Valley,

636
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,320
Speaker 1: you know, sitting behind the desk, it's like, oh my goodness,

637
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:15,200
Speaker 1: I need to go out and run and excuse me.

638
00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:17,640
Speaker 1: I really love bicycling, and it seems like when I'm

639
00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 1: cycling on the road and I'm just pounding up a

640
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,959
Speaker 1: mountain um or on a straight away, that's when i'm best,

641
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 1: When I can best think, that's when all the ideas come.

642
00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:29,160
Speaker 1: I want to write them down, but I can't, you know,

643
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:32,399
Speaker 1: But just being active and being out and about it's

644
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,280
Speaker 1: so healthy for you for your mind, body, and spirit.

645
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,239
Speaker 1: And that was one of the reasons why I hiked

646
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:41,120
Speaker 1: the Appalachian Trail just get away and spend two thousand

647
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 1: miles on the on the trail, just reminiscing and putting

648
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,719
Speaker 1: your mind together, really figuring things out. I know you've

649
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,439
Speaker 1: talked about that to Jack on like really way back

650
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 1: on the show, but I think we were talking about

651
00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:56,280
Speaker 1: veterans who either suffer from prost post ramatic stress issues

652
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,239
Speaker 1: or physical you know, lose limbs and they lose that

653
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:01,680
Speaker 1: warrior and pality. And you've talked about like you can't

654
00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:04,200
Speaker 1: lose that warrior. Yeah, well, especially if you're going through

655
00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:06,480
Speaker 1: that kind of adversity, like you have to stay in

656
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:08,880
Speaker 1: the fight. You can't just sit down and give up

657
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:12,759
Speaker 1: on yourself. Totally agree. You gotta stay occupied, you gotta

658
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:17,120
Speaker 1: stay active um physically, mentally, always growing up until the

659
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:21,719
Speaker 1: right studying. Uh, it never ends. You really have to

660
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:25,000
Speaker 1: be out there making changes. And you got out after

661
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:29,360
Speaker 1: twenty six years one of the corporate world, and I

662
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,960
Speaker 1: mean you walked in from when you went in. I mean,

663
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 1: this is a very different world now and you're a

664
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:39,440
Speaker 1: different person, totally different. And uh, I decided when I

665
00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:42,720
Speaker 1: left the military, I wanted to do something totally different,

666
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,840
Speaker 1: get away from the government, get away from the military.

667
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:48,960
Speaker 1: It's not because I didn't want to do it anymore, um,

668
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:51,840
Speaker 1: for personal reasons, but I wanted to test myself in

669
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:56,040
Speaker 1: the civilian world in corporate America. See what I see,

670
00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:58,399
Speaker 1: how challenging it truly was. You hear all these things

671
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:01,440
Speaker 1: about it. So that's when I decided to go up

672
00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:06,480
Speaker 1: to San Francisco, work at a major tech company and

673
00:40:06,719 --> 00:40:11,080
Speaker 1: really test myself there. That's cool. Um, you know what

674
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:13,479
Speaker 1: made you want to make that transition? Was there something

675
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:16,279
Speaker 1: in your background that made you think this would be

676
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:20,880
Speaker 1: the right position for me. It kind of similar to

677
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,800
Speaker 1: when I went in the military. Never expected it was

678
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:27,399
Speaker 1: a calling, I think, the same thing. I really can't

679
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:30,480
Speaker 1: put a finger on the pulse. Uh. It just called

680
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: me to go up and put myself in this new,

681
00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:38,840
Speaker 1: uncertain environment that I had knew nothing about and test myself.

682
00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:45,200
Speaker 1: And uh it was another assessment, another selection, And it's

683
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,120
Speaker 1: got to be such a different way of testing yourself.

684
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:53,080
Speaker 1: And went from bodybuilding, Marine Corps shooting job, and now

685
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:58,360
Speaker 1: you're in the civilian world. It's a totally different, different dynamic.

686
00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:00,600
Speaker 1: And we talked about that off and where like in

687
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:05,719
Speaker 1: the civilian world, no one gives yeah, I don't care

688
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,600
Speaker 1: if you work to unit or if Todd tried to

689
00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:11,439
Speaker 1: explain this stuff to his co workers, either corporate world

690
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:13,960
Speaker 1: would be like, what are you talking about, man now?

691
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:19,480
Speaker 1: And it's cookie And sometimes there's a stigma two behind

692
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:22,960
Speaker 1: military guys in the civilian workforce say look at you.

693
00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:26,160
Speaker 1: I don't want to say damaged goods, that's not maybe

694
00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:28,239
Speaker 1: the right label, but they're like, oh, is this guy

695
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:31,520
Speaker 1: gonna snap you know, this guy's look at his tattoos

696
00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:33,879
Speaker 1: or whatever, look how he dress. It's this guy's gonna

697
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:36,880
Speaker 1: snap me in half. So I thought one of my

698
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 1: responsibilities too, is to educate them, you know, and let

699
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:44,320
Speaker 1: him know, hey, we're not all bad. You know, I

700
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,320
Speaker 1: value your company, I value you as a person, and

701
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:49,799
Speaker 1: only through time do you gain their trust and confidence

702
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:52,880
Speaker 1: and in leadership to me, is a little bit different

703
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:57,279
Speaker 1: in the civilian world, especially how you communicate. And I

704
00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:00,960
Speaker 1: shared with you earlier how I grew up at the

705
00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:04,280
Speaker 1: less four letter words, and you just can't make people

706
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 1: go in the push up position. But I was sharing

707
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:09,360
Speaker 1: with you earlier how I grew up in an environment.

708
00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:12,759
Speaker 1: You know, you didn't cry, there's no compassion. Then you

709
00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:16,200
Speaker 1: go into military, it's, you know, very authoritative in the

710
00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:18,160
Speaker 1: In the civilian world, you have to communicate a little

711
00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:22,239
Speaker 1: bit differently, you know, and really engage with people and

712
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:24,919
Speaker 1: learn about them. But that principle still remains the same

713
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:27,799
Speaker 1: leadership as leadership, get to know your people and learn

714
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:31,440
Speaker 1: about your people, learn their capabilities and limitations. But the

715
00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:35,120
Speaker 1: communication process I think is a little bit different. You know,

716
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:39,040
Speaker 1: there's so many different type of communication tools out there nowadays,

717
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,040
Speaker 1: not just email, and most importantly, you have to be present,

718
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:47,880
Speaker 1: present and engaged, and people love that. People value you

719
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:50,840
Speaker 1: spending the time with him. I'm taking the time, and

720
00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:53,520
Speaker 1: that's something I saw. Even in the military. We're getting

721
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:57,360
Speaker 1: further and further away from that than saying. The eighties

722
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:01,040
Speaker 1: when leadership was fully in, I had a first sergeant

723
00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:04,080
Speaker 1: to live in the barracks. I mean, he he kept

724
00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:08,040
Speaker 1: discipline and order in those barracks. And then as I

725
00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:11,320
Speaker 1: was getting out with the admin of technology and email,

726
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:14,600
Speaker 1: it's a little bit more comfortable to get away and

727
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:18,400
Speaker 1: we uh we covered that with Dr Leonard Wong, who's

728
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:21,200
Speaker 1: a professor at the Army War College UM and he

729
00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:25,439
Speaker 1: does studies and he did one Army study a number

730
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:27,440
Speaker 1: of different findings. But we talked when we had him

731
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,040
Speaker 1: on the podcast about how we've kind of like outsourced

732
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:34,440
Speaker 1: responsibility for leadership to these like online training modules and

733
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:37,840
Speaker 1: you know, for instance, like the suicide Awareness test, like

734
00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:39,680
Speaker 1: instead of you being a leader and looking at the

735
00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:41,920
Speaker 1: guy like do you need help, it's like take this

736
00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:45,880
Speaker 1: thing on the computer and uh. And the Army is

737
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:48,959
Speaker 1: I think starting to swing back around and get away

738
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:50,680
Speaker 1: from that. But it's going to be a long process.

739
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:53,640
Speaker 1: Things go full circle leadership to you know, it's a

740
00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:56,120
Speaker 1: principle you asked me, you're earlier about reconnaissance and it

741
00:43:56,239 --> 00:43:59,120
Speaker 1: going away leadership you gotta be fully engaged. And there

742
00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:01,400
Speaker 1: were times in the military, you know that I was

743
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:03,600
Speaker 1: not as engaged as I should have been, you know,

744
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:06,759
Speaker 1: and I made some mistakes. No one's perfect, and there

745
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:08,640
Speaker 1: were times that I should have spent a lot more

746
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:12,160
Speaker 1: time getting to know my people. Well I didn't, you know,

747
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:14,000
Speaker 1: it bit me in the rear end. You know, you

748
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:16,200
Speaker 1: learn from it, and you hope not to make the

749
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 1: same mistake twice. But it's invaluable spending time being present,

750
00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:24,840
Speaker 1: being engaged, and taking care of your people. Before we

751
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,000
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the endeavor you're working on now,

752
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:30,760
Speaker 1: which is really cool. And are there any like questions

753
00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:33,239
Speaker 1: since we're lift, I'll get into that because I did

754
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:35,920
Speaker 1: want to ask about Zen Commando. As you guys can

755
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 1: see a like switching position from here, so we got

756
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:41,440
Speaker 1: Ian around. Yeah, eventually it's kind of funny as I'm

757
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 1: doing this. We'll get all this, We'll get all this

758
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:45,040
Speaker 1: worked out of it. Yeah, I'm realizing at some point

759
00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:47,400
Speaker 1: I'd love to have someone in another room like checking

760
00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:49,719
Speaker 1: out the questions, because now I'm scrolling through all these.

761
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:52,200
Speaker 1: Um I know that someone earlier. I think it was

762
00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:55,720
Speaker 1: will G. I asked, um, if you were in Desert

763
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:58,440
Speaker 1: Storm by any chance? Um? I was. I was on

764
00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:00,719
Speaker 1: a ship for nine months. I was part of the

765
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,759
Speaker 1: deception force that sat in the Persian Gaul to make

766
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:06,960
Speaker 1: them think we're doing a landing. And that was my

767
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:10,239
Speaker 1: my first experience in the military and combat ops. Sitting

768
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:13,200
Speaker 1: on a ship for nine months. It was awful. It

769
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,919
Speaker 1: was awful and here. I am any four three years

770
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:20,200
Speaker 1: in and uh I wanted to be on the ground. Yeah,

771
00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:22,279
Speaker 1: you're like the war isn't out here and we're on

772
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 1: ship watching the fireworks from the from the flight deck

773
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:30,480
Speaker 1: of amphibious ship. It was humiliating. I was so angry. Well,

774
00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:33,560
Speaker 1: so I'm getting a lot of just separate five comments

775
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 1: and like there's people watching in in the UK. But yeah,

776
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:38,279
Speaker 1: if you guys have any questions, shoot them over. I'll

777
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:40,600
Speaker 1: try to get to anymore um at the end. But

778
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,960
Speaker 1: we were talking about being physically active and all that,

779
00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:46,719
Speaker 1: which really plays into what you're doing now. So you're

780
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:49,560
Speaker 1: starting this new endeavor en Commando, which people could see

781
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:52,719
Speaker 1: at the Zen Commando dot com. And people might be

782
00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:55,000
Speaker 1: surprised when they think of marines, they don't think of

783
00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:57,680
Speaker 1: yoga and all this stuff that you're speaking about before

784
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:01,759
Speaker 1: we recorded YEA, So one of my my endeavor now

785
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 1: is to create a mind body adventure camp in Costa Rica.

786
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:13,239
Speaker 1: And something we really want to focus on is, you know,

787
00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:16,000
Speaker 1: creating harmony in a chaotic world. And that's kind of

788
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:20,359
Speaker 1: the dich comedy between Zen Commando. It's that warrior that's

789
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:24,000
Speaker 1: able to walk in harmony and peace no matter where

790
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:28,600
Speaker 1: they go. And there's a lot of tools out there, meditation, yoga,

791
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:35,080
Speaker 1: different types of um activities in the jungle, but Zen Commando,

792
00:46:35,239 --> 00:46:37,920
Speaker 1: camp Zen Commando and Costa Rica. The goal for that

793
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:40,840
Speaker 1: is for people to go down and just recalibrate. You

794
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:43,040
Speaker 1: know that they're on a program. There's a curriculum in

795
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,880
Speaker 1: place where they go down. They meditate, they do yoga,

796
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:50,040
Speaker 1: they do fitness, obstacle courses in the jungle, meditation hikes,

797
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:53,320
Speaker 1: they eat well, and we give them some tools, some

798
00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,800
Speaker 1: t tps, per se tour. They can come back and

799
00:46:56,840 --> 00:47:02,080
Speaker 1: they can navigate life's crazy eight in a much better way.

800
00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:06,680
Speaker 1: And today's society it's cookie, it's it's madness. I had

801
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:09,719
Speaker 1: dinner with a friend of mine before I left San Francisco,

802
00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:13,040
Speaker 1: and they were telling me how confused they were with

803
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:16,279
Speaker 1: what's going on in this world, with politics, all these

804
00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:18,400
Speaker 1: things we read about in the news and what you

805
00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:22,320
Speaker 1: guys talk about here on Software Up and uh, you know,

806
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:24,960
Speaker 1: the world is just like combat. You know, we have

807
00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:29,440
Speaker 1: all this external friction, this chaos is uncertainty, spiritual and

808
00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:32,839
Speaker 1: social conflict. Oh my goodness. So so one of our

809
00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:36,319
Speaker 1: endeavors is to put together this program in Costa Rica

810
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:39,279
Speaker 1: where people can come down and they just tighten their

811
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:42,680
Speaker 1: shock group. They go from the nine ring that eight ring,

812
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 1: and we get them on the X you know, we

813
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:49,920
Speaker 1: get them physically fit, mentally fit, and spiritually fit. And um,

814
00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:53,279
Speaker 1: that's that's the plan. And I looked out. I have,

815
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:55,600
Speaker 1: um some acreage down there. I have a home. It

816
00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:59,280
Speaker 1: borders up to Nature Preserve two miles from the ocean,

817
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:03,440
Speaker 1: so it's the perfect place to do uh, expeditionary special

818
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:06,840
Speaker 1: apps in the jungle. It's excellent to hear people, you know,

819
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:09,840
Speaker 1: trying to do this type of thing, because, um, we

820
00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:11,680
Speaker 1: need to get him on the show. But Rick Eye

821
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:16,000
Speaker 1: and Nucci is a former runs horses for Heroes out

822
00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:19,080
Speaker 1: of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and it's it's almost a

823
00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:21,719
Speaker 1: similar goal. I think he has guys out there who

824
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:24,759
Speaker 1: may be suffering from some postraumatic issues and he has

825
00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:27,360
Speaker 1: them ride horses in Santa Fe to come out for

826
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:29,839
Speaker 1: like three four days horseback riding, and I'll say it's

827
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,200
Speaker 1: a very therapeutic for them. The nicest guy in the world,

828
00:48:32,239 --> 00:48:33,839
Speaker 1: and he's always like, you know, you can come out

829
00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:36,879
Speaker 1: any time to me, you know, And UM, I think

830
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:39,719
Speaker 1: like all these things. It's actually good to hear that

831
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:43,600
Speaker 1: veterans could experiment from yoga to shamanism. Is so we

832
00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:48,480
Speaker 1: talked about Jim, Yeah, to um meditation or riding horses,

833
00:48:48,600 --> 00:48:51,120
Speaker 1: Try at all and maybe you'll find something that really

834
00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:53,640
Speaker 1: works for you. And and as opposed to going to

835
00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:55,440
Speaker 1: the v A, which you know, not the not to

836
00:48:55,560 --> 00:48:58,759
Speaker 1: demonize the VA, but taking all these prescription hills. Yeah,

837
00:48:59,080 --> 00:49:01,960
Speaker 1: you know, I always attempt to solve things without the

838
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:06,960
Speaker 1: prescription the pharmaceutical um method. And it wasn't until I

839
00:49:07,040 --> 00:49:08,920
Speaker 1: got out of the military and I was up in

840
00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:12,920
Speaker 1: San Francisco and I was exposed to this entirely different environment.

841
00:49:12,960 --> 00:49:15,560
Speaker 1: I tell folks, um, just like you guys, we study

842
00:49:15,640 --> 00:49:20,000
Speaker 1: combat our whole life. Um. Some folks grow up in

843
00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:23,360
Speaker 1: a war torn environment. They go in the military, more combat,

844
00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:27,800
Speaker 1: more war, but they never study peace. Right exactly, we

845
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 1: don't even know what that is. A lot of things

846
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:32,600
Speaker 1: that make you really good as a marine or a

847
00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:35,000
Speaker 1: ranger or whatever you are, I mean, actually make you

848
00:49:35,080 --> 00:49:37,800
Speaker 1: a train wreck in the little society they do. And

849
00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:41,080
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we have a backwards here in Western society.

850
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:43,440
Speaker 1: And that's why I've always had a fond and deep

851
00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:48,000
Speaker 1: appreciation for martial arts and Eastern philosophy with how they

852
00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:53,520
Speaker 1: trained the martial spirit and the meditation and just different practices.

853
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:55,840
Speaker 1: You look at the show in mugs or the samurais

854
00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:59,000
Speaker 1: that code of honor and meditation and yoga to the

855
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:02,160
Speaker 1: toughest things I done in my life. You know, Ashtanga

856
00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:05,480
Speaker 1: yoga I was exposed to four years ago and by

857
00:50:05,560 --> 00:50:09,520
Speaker 1: far was the most interesting, challenging physical test I've been

858
00:50:09,719 --> 00:50:13,600
Speaker 1: put up against. Yoga and then and then the meditation.

859
00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:16,960
Speaker 1: Just sitting there still, you know, breathing and shutting your

860
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:19,480
Speaker 1: mind down, and it's tough. I mean, whatever type of

861
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:21,440
Speaker 1: yoga or whatever people think about it, I mean I

862
00:50:21,480 --> 00:50:24,160
Speaker 1: didn't encourage anybody to give it a try. You see

863
00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:29,680
Speaker 1: so many improvements all throughout your life, whether it's strength, flexibility.

864
00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:32,400
Speaker 1: For me, it's just helped me slept sleep, so true,

865
00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:36,440
Speaker 1: so true. And even sometimes I'm having difficulties sleeping, I'll

866
00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:39,480
Speaker 1: get out of bed, I'll you know, sit down there,

867
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:42,240
Speaker 1: cross leg and just listen to my breath. Breath, just breathe,

868
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:47,000
Speaker 1: and just those breathing exercises relax the mind. And I

869
00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:50,040
Speaker 1: remember having a team leader of force reconnaissance team leader

870
00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:53,320
Speaker 1: he was really big on meditation. He was an expert

871
00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:59,520
Speaker 1: marksman and UH went on to UH he was on

872
00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:01,840
Speaker 1: the Rine Corps rifle team, and he was big in

873
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:05,440
Speaker 1: the meditation, you know, really to calm them down before

874
00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:07,160
Speaker 1: he went out in the range the night before, he

875
00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:11,200
Speaker 1: meditate and visualize every round coming out of his chain,

876
00:51:11,320 --> 00:51:14,080
Speaker 1: out of his barrel, going down range and seeing the

877
00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:17,360
Speaker 1: UM target come back up. But very big in the

878
00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:21,560
Speaker 1: meditation visualization in the yoga piece. So there's there's a

879
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:25,799
Speaker 1: lot of benefit to it UM that that can alternatively

880
00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:30,320
Speaker 1: be used for health benefits because things like shooting martial

881
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:33,080
Speaker 1: arts stuff. I it does put you into sort of

882
00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:35,840
Speaker 1: meditative state because you're so focused on yeah, and just

883
00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:38,520
Speaker 1: should you have be relaxed. You know, in the best times,

884
00:51:38,680 --> 00:51:40,560
Speaker 1: you know where I've had the tightest shock groups, I've

885
00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:44,719
Speaker 1: been most relaxed. You know, you have stress, stresses, friction, anxiety.

886
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:48,320
Speaker 1: It's friction. And one of the goals is teaching people

887
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:52,719
Speaker 1: how to eliminate friction in their life. And UH, in

888
00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:56,600
Speaker 1: the Marine Corps war fighting we teach friction. There's two

889
00:51:56,640 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 1: types of friction, internal friction and external friction. External friction

890
00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:04,640
Speaker 1: is that type of friction you cannot control the whether

891
00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:08,480
Speaker 1: the enemy blah blah blah blah, and internal friction is

892
00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:12,560
Speaker 1: that friction that you can control, that stress, that anxiety

893
00:52:12,840 --> 00:52:14,440
Speaker 1: how you do things, and that's what you want to

894
00:52:14,480 --> 00:52:18,920
Speaker 1: focus on, reducing that internal friction. There's something I think

895
00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:22,560
Speaker 1: to be said about mindfulness no matter what you do,

896
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:26,479
Speaker 1: and I actually think people not practicing mindfulness, and maybe

897
00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:29,960
Speaker 1: veterans in particular, is a reason that you see a

898
00:52:30,040 --> 00:52:33,440
Speaker 1: lot of these tragedy things happening, like suicide, and our

899
00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:37,840
Speaker 1: society really doesn't encourage mindfulness, and that we're always on

900
00:52:38,040 --> 00:52:40,200
Speaker 1: social media. No one is even enjoying the moment. You

901
00:52:40,239 --> 00:52:42,160
Speaker 1: have to take pictures of the moment. And I think

902
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:46,279
Speaker 1: for some people when they're doing yoga, weightlifting, meditating, it's

903
00:52:46,320 --> 00:52:48,799
Speaker 1: the one time that they're in the moment and they're

904
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:52,960
Speaker 1: experiencing something without thinking about why did I do this

905
00:52:53,080 --> 00:52:54,560
Speaker 1: wrong in the past or what am I going to

906
00:52:54,640 --> 00:52:57,719
Speaker 1: do in the future, And there's something to be said.

907
00:52:57,760 --> 00:53:01,000
Speaker 1: I think about being in the moment and relaxing your

908
00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:04,160
Speaker 1: mind and focusing on one thing. I totally agree, and

909
00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:08,040
Speaker 1: we hear mindfulness thrown out a lot today's day and age.

910
00:53:08,280 --> 00:53:11,120
Speaker 1: It's kind of like an InVogue word now yeah, and

911
00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:17,359
Speaker 1: its simplest it's respect. Mindfulness is respect. And in California

912
00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:21,200
Speaker 1: they're teaching mindfulness in schools. Now. My parents taught me

913
00:53:21,280 --> 00:53:25,320
Speaker 1: mindfulness before I went to school. Respect, Play well with

914
00:53:25,400 --> 00:53:29,760
Speaker 1: others before you speak, raise your hand, share your toys,

915
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:32,520
Speaker 1: you know, play nicely. It's what it is. It's being presents,

916
00:53:32,520 --> 00:53:36,759
Speaker 1: being engaged. And we it's basic stuff and we've we've

917
00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:39,080
Speaker 1: gotten away from it. I even think, you know, you

918
00:53:39,160 --> 00:53:42,279
Speaker 1: were talking before about how they were to handle m

919
00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:45,160
Speaker 1: postgramatic stress of the military prior to now, and you said,

920
00:53:45,160 --> 00:53:47,400
Speaker 1: everything is filling out a form. And it used to

921
00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:50,200
Speaker 1: be speaking one on one to someone and versus like

922
00:53:50,600 --> 00:53:52,640
Speaker 1: a rare thing. Nowadays it was just gonna say, like,

923
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:55,480
Speaker 1: you talk to someone and a lot of the times

924
00:53:55,640 --> 00:53:57,600
Speaker 1: their minds not even on you. They're on their phone,

925
00:53:57,640 --> 00:54:01,080
Speaker 1: their instagramming. And I think it it means something to

926
00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:03,319
Speaker 1: people just to be able to speak one on one

927
00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:06,640
Speaker 1: with someone. Back in the day that your first sergeant

928
00:54:06,680 --> 00:54:09,920
Speaker 1: would pour you a little glass of Johnny Walker, slide

929
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:13,319
Speaker 1: that across the desk to should say what's what's wrong kid? Yeah,

930
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:16,000
Speaker 1: And that's gone away. That's the problem. Yeah, And I

931
00:54:16,120 --> 00:54:19,080
Speaker 1: was at fault too. There are times with my marines

932
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:21,800
Speaker 1: I didn't spend the time, you know, after combat and

933
00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:25,680
Speaker 1: taking the time um to talk about these touchy feeling subjects.

934
00:54:26,160 --> 00:54:29,040
Speaker 1: I mean they're a touchy feeling but there's clinical studies now,

935
00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:31,080
Speaker 1: I mean more we know more and more about it now,

936
00:54:31,160 --> 00:54:35,200
Speaker 1: and people suffer, People go through some ugly things, and

937
00:54:35,239 --> 00:54:38,440
Speaker 1: it's our responsibility to look out for one another and

938
00:54:38,560 --> 00:54:41,759
Speaker 1: never leave a fallen comrade. Yeah, and there are some

939
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:44,200
Speaker 1: there's some things I would do differently, you know if

940
00:54:44,239 --> 00:54:46,200
Speaker 1: it was ten years ago, and how I would take

941
00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:49,279
Speaker 1: the time out and be better engaged and really um

942
00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:52,120
Speaker 1: ask people. But we're in that in that culture, that

943
00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:57,520
Speaker 1: warrior society where we we have this shield, this protective mask,

944
00:54:57,719 --> 00:55:01,279
Speaker 1: but it's real and people go through some ugly things.

945
00:55:01,440 --> 00:55:03,800
Speaker 1: We all have and you need to be there for

946
00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:05,920
Speaker 1: one another. And that's one of my one of the

947
00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:11,720
Speaker 1: endeavors with Zen Commando is um helping people or enabling

948
00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:16,240
Speaker 1: them to um align their sites, tighten that shock group

949
00:55:16,320 --> 00:55:19,880
Speaker 1: and just make them that much stronger mentally, physically, emotionally,

950
00:55:20,600 --> 00:55:23,200
Speaker 1: and UM come down to Costa Rica, when's that going

951
00:55:23,239 --> 00:55:26,680
Speaker 1: to be ready to go? I'm looking at December of

952
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:31,480
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen, the first class, and I'll probably um

953
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:35,040
Speaker 1: sponsor that I want to bring four folks down, preferably

954
00:55:35,160 --> 00:55:39,360
Speaker 1: vets to come down. Um on me who whomever? You

955
00:55:39,600 --> 00:55:42,480
Speaker 1: want them to come down and just experience it? Do

956
00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:45,000
Speaker 1: you want anyone? You know if if people are questioning,

957
00:55:45,040 --> 00:55:47,239
Speaker 1: which there's a ton of operators, do you want them

958
00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:50,480
Speaker 1: to get in touch with you through email? Yeah? Zen

959
00:55:50,520 --> 00:55:52,960
Speaker 1: commando dot com, I email, shoot me an email, I'm

960
00:55:52,960 --> 00:55:55,680
Speaker 1: on Facebook. Two. What type of stoff you're looking for?

961
00:55:55,719 --> 00:55:59,640
Speaker 1: Shooting instructor, background or you name it? Yeah, just um

962
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:01,960
Speaker 1: look confir instructors. I'm looking for people to go through

963
00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:06,000
Speaker 1: the course. You really beta test it, beta tested, you know,

964
00:56:06,080 --> 00:56:08,560
Speaker 1: an experiment with it. You come down, you meditate, you

965
00:56:08,640 --> 00:56:11,919
Speaker 1: do yoga, you go through the jungle ow course. Confidence course.

966
00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:13,800
Speaker 1: Are you gonna make me dig around for barriers to

967
00:56:13,840 --> 00:56:17,680
Speaker 1: find like Hyahlaska and all that stuff. Maybe there's some

968
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:21,439
Speaker 1: unknown there's a couple of mystery events that you'll only

969
00:56:21,520 --> 00:56:24,000
Speaker 1: find out once you get get down there. But there's

970
00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:26,680
Speaker 1: gonna be a little uncertainty down there. But think of

971
00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:30,840
Speaker 1: it as a patrol base without the fireplant sketches and

972
00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:37,040
Speaker 1: black and gold plans and no one's dropping Artison Chase

973
00:56:37,160 --> 00:56:39,759
Speaker 1: sounds miserable and people can also visit by the way

974
00:56:39,800 --> 00:56:42,600
Speaker 1: Todd at palski dot com. When they see your background

975
00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:45,520
Speaker 1: beyond everything we've even talked about, it's like, Wow, You've

976
00:56:45,719 --> 00:56:49,200
Speaker 1: you've lived a very you know, intense life for real

977
00:56:49,360 --> 00:56:52,080
Speaker 1: bodybuilding to all that you've done as an operator in

978
00:56:52,120 --> 00:56:55,279
Speaker 1: the military, to what you're doing now. I think, you know,

979
00:56:55,400 --> 00:56:57,719
Speaker 1: we were talking about Pat McNamara before we started, but

980
00:56:57,840 --> 00:57:00,440
Speaker 1: there's like a great guy. Yeah, there's certain guys that

981
00:57:00,520 --> 00:57:03,000
Speaker 1: we have on here and I can scratch on the

982
00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:05,960
Speaker 1: surface and I think you guys like you, much like

983
00:57:06,080 --> 00:57:10,080
Speaker 1: Pack McNamara, are the type of people who constantly want

984
00:57:10,120 --> 00:57:13,400
Speaker 1: to evolve and and learn new experiences and have new

985
00:57:13,520 --> 00:57:17,160
Speaker 1: challenges and something Rob I keep going back to Rob

986
00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:20,439
Speaker 1: Trevino and he wrote his book I Think Warriors Path,

987
00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:25,480
Speaker 1: and he said, these are things I wish I knew that.

988
00:57:26,520 --> 00:57:30,280
Speaker 1: How many times it's like and it's the same thing

989
00:57:30,360 --> 00:57:34,120
Speaker 1: with Zen Commando course, these these things I've learned in

990
00:57:34,200 --> 00:57:41,960
Speaker 1: life from both military, special ops, business, corporate personal um failures.

991
00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:44,520
Speaker 1: You know, we want we we have to set the

992
00:57:44,600 --> 00:57:48,160
Speaker 1: next generation up. One of my my personal hopes is

993
00:57:48,280 --> 00:57:51,760
Speaker 1: that right now. The current paradigm is we wait till

994
00:57:51,800 --> 00:57:54,280
Speaker 1: the guy gets out of the military, and then there's

995
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:56,880
Speaker 1: people like you they're kind of to to help them

996
00:57:56,960 --> 00:57:59,160
Speaker 1: find the way. But I think there has to be

997
00:57:59,240 --> 00:58:00,880
Speaker 1: some sort of process us while they're still in the

998
00:58:01,040 --> 00:58:05,040
Speaker 1: absolutely to process what they're going through UM, and that

999
00:58:05,080 --> 00:58:08,320
Speaker 1: will help deal with the suicides, the alcohol is UM,

1000
00:58:08,600 --> 00:58:11,880
Speaker 1: you know, all that kind of stuff totally and we're

1001
00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:14,840
Speaker 1: again we're learning about this stuff and the process starts

1002
00:58:15,640 --> 00:58:17,880
Speaker 1: I would say at least two two years before they

1003
00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:21,200
Speaker 1: get out that transit. We do an awful job, at

1004
00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:23,040
Speaker 1: least when I was in. We do an awful job

1005
00:58:23,160 --> 00:58:28,080
Speaker 1: helping people to transition to the setting them up. And

1006
00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:30,560
Speaker 1: there's a lot of great organizations out there now which

1007
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:34,720
Speaker 1: is good to see. Uh, there's social media, Rally Point

1008
00:58:34,840 --> 00:58:38,120
Speaker 1: I know, is U a great UM site where vets

1009
00:58:38,200 --> 00:58:41,800
Speaker 1: can wake up and connect. We have to set people

1010
00:58:41,880 --> 00:58:45,120
Speaker 1: up for success on and off the battlefield, and that's

1011
00:58:45,120 --> 00:58:48,120
Speaker 1: what we do. It's like for the Rangers, they have

1012
00:58:48,200 --> 00:58:51,960
Speaker 1: a galleant few UM Karl Manger runs that which is

1013
00:58:52,000 --> 00:58:54,840
Speaker 1: and the concept behind it is like when young rangers

1014
00:58:54,880 --> 00:58:56,680
Speaker 1: come out of the military, to connect them with somebody

1015
00:58:56,720 --> 00:58:58,680
Speaker 1: who can kind of an older guy who can mentor

1016
00:58:58,840 --> 00:59:01,479
Speaker 1: them who's been out for a longer period of time. Yeah,

1017
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:03,680
Speaker 1: And a challenge I had when I was getting out.

1018
00:59:03,960 --> 00:59:08,320
Speaker 1: I know what I didn't want to do, which was government, military.

1019
00:59:08,720 --> 00:59:11,440
Speaker 1: But I didn't know what I wanted to do, like

1020
00:59:11,560 --> 00:59:15,880
Speaker 1: what industry to go into? Do I go into um,

1021
00:59:16,280 --> 00:59:21,880
Speaker 1: I T medical, finance? What industry best suits me? And

1022
00:59:21,920 --> 00:59:23,800
Speaker 1: I really didn't have a lot of people to speak

1023
00:59:23,840 --> 00:59:28,640
Speaker 1: to in the military. Yeah, and sometimes you're you're waiting

1024
00:59:28,720 --> 00:59:32,320
Speaker 1: for that your platoon command or company command or Batalian commander,

1025
00:59:32,520 --> 00:59:35,320
Speaker 1: go hey, what can I do for you? You're getting out?

1026
00:59:35,600 --> 00:59:38,720
Speaker 1: Who can I connect you with? But it's it's not

1027
00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:42,720
Speaker 1: as easy d to fourteen across the desk, good luck

1028
00:59:42,800 --> 00:59:46,320
Speaker 1: out their son. But I mean it's incumbent on the individual.

1029
00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:49,439
Speaker 1: Of course, it's a double edged sword responsibility, a little

1030
00:59:49,440 --> 00:59:51,880
Speaker 1: bit of responsibility to But it's also, like you said,

1031
00:59:51,920 --> 00:59:53,880
Speaker 1: it's like you're stepping into a different world. And I

1032
00:59:53,960 --> 00:59:56,680
Speaker 1: mean you don't know even where to begin. Yeah, and uh,

1033
00:59:57,000 --> 00:59:58,800
Speaker 1: you know it is part of your it's a choice

1034
00:59:58,840 --> 01:00:02,560
Speaker 1: to and you can't be operate eating three days, yes,

1035
01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:04,960
Speaker 1: and expect to get out and get a decent job,

1036
01:00:05,720 --> 01:00:07,760
Speaker 1: and leaders need to be cognizant that if you have

1037
01:00:07,840 --> 01:00:12,520
Speaker 1: people operating until two weeks before you know, it's probably

1038
01:00:12,560 --> 01:00:15,000
Speaker 1: not the right way of dealing things. It takes time,

1039
01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:19,800
Speaker 1: you know. And thankfully, um, I spent some time before

1040
01:00:19,880 --> 01:00:22,080
Speaker 1: I got out of the military. I took that desk job,

1041
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:24,720
Speaker 1: and I was able to kind of shift down, gear

1042
01:00:24,760 --> 01:00:30,640
Speaker 1: down a little bit and get assimilate myself into civilian culture.

1043
01:00:30,720 --> 01:00:33,120
Speaker 1: But I always tell people, you know, towards the when

1044
01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:35,520
Speaker 1: they're thinking about getting at it's like, all right, now,

1045
01:00:35,560 --> 01:00:36,959
Speaker 1: this is the time you need to start thinking about

1046
01:00:36,960 --> 01:00:40,360
Speaker 1: your family, about yourself, what you want to do. Come

1047
01:00:40,440 --> 01:00:42,520
Speaker 1: up with a plan for when you get out. Yeah,

1048
01:00:42,600 --> 01:00:48,480
Speaker 1: you need a game plan and connecting with people. Um, relationships, relationships, relationships,

1049
01:00:48,560 --> 01:00:51,640
Speaker 1: and it starts before you get out. What's your social

1050
01:00:51,720 --> 01:00:54,360
Speaker 1: media campaign? Do you have a Facebook or you on LinkedIn?

1051
01:00:55,240 --> 01:00:59,480
Speaker 1: And I look at these social media platforms. That's your brand,

1052
01:01:00,160 --> 01:01:03,120
Speaker 1: that is who you are, which could also be you know,

1053
01:01:03,200 --> 01:01:09,960
Speaker 1: a backlash because you got before an employee, an employer

1054
01:01:10,360 --> 01:01:14,440
Speaker 1: you know, hires you. It's very easy to google Todapowski

1055
01:01:14,720 --> 01:01:18,000
Speaker 1: on June. Do you tweet it out? Blah blah, blah,

1056
01:01:18,080 --> 01:01:20,120
Speaker 1: you know, and we're not gonna hire this guy. And

1057
01:01:20,200 --> 01:01:22,440
Speaker 1: that's who I don't think about. Here's Jack Murphy drunk

1058
01:01:22,440 --> 01:01:25,720
Speaker 1: in the barracks old. Oh yeah, and that will surface,

1059
01:01:26,320 --> 01:01:29,800
Speaker 1: you know eventually, and your online signature and your social

1060
01:01:29,920 --> 01:01:33,360
Speaker 1: media sentiment, people can find that out about you, and

1061
01:01:33,440 --> 01:01:37,320
Speaker 1: that's that's as important as your high school and college

1062
01:01:37,400 --> 01:01:40,600
Speaker 1: transcripts and how you keep your credit and your finances.

1063
01:01:40,680 --> 01:01:44,320
Speaker 1: Is now your online signature. Yeah, I would actually personally

1064
01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:47,560
Speaker 1: like the John rob episode makes me feel like people

1065
01:01:47,640 --> 01:01:50,400
Speaker 1: should be a little bit more private with what they

1066
01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:52,720
Speaker 1: put out there. You know, he talked about on the

1067
01:01:52,760 --> 01:01:56,880
Speaker 1: episode with us. You know, it's extremely unfortunate and unfair,

1068
01:01:57,440 --> 01:02:00,960
Speaker 1: but there there is becoming this future where if you're

1069
01:02:00,960 --> 01:02:03,520
Speaker 1: a gun owner, if you voted for Donald Trump, people

1070
01:02:03,680 --> 01:02:06,880
Speaker 1: will very likely demonize you in certain industries. So it

1071
01:02:07,000 --> 01:02:08,800
Speaker 1: might not be something you want to put out there

1072
01:02:08,920 --> 01:02:12,240
Speaker 1: for everybody to see. Yeah, you know, there's there's guidelines.

1073
01:02:12,280 --> 01:02:15,120
Speaker 1: You have to be smart and you be conscious of that.

1074
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:20,760
Speaker 1: I look at um my Facebook, Instagram. I believe in

1075
01:02:20,840 --> 01:02:24,360
Speaker 1: being open and transparent and being connected, and that's one

1076
01:02:24,400 --> 01:02:28,120
Speaker 1: of the takeaways from Silicon Valley. Be open, be transparent,

1077
01:02:28,640 --> 01:02:30,880
Speaker 1: be connected. Oh you know what I want to ask

1078
01:02:30,920 --> 01:02:33,520
Speaker 1: you about. Who was it that I just Um, I

1079
01:02:33,640 --> 01:02:35,520
Speaker 1: know that Brandon is a big fan of his. That

1080
01:02:35,560 --> 01:02:38,160
Speaker 1: I posted who worked in Silicon Valley and lived there

1081
01:02:38,240 --> 01:02:41,560
Speaker 1: for like fifteen years. Um, he wrote that book that's

1082
01:02:41,600 --> 01:02:45,760
Speaker 1: like the Four Hour work Week, or Tim Ferris Ferris,

1083
01:02:46,320 --> 01:02:47,880
Speaker 1: So I wanted to hear your opinion on this as

1084
01:02:47,920 --> 01:02:50,720
Speaker 1: a Silicon Valley guy. It just came to me. Um.

1085
01:02:51,000 --> 01:02:54,680
Speaker 1: Tim Ferris recently did a video on Business Insider where

1086
01:02:54,760 --> 01:02:57,920
Speaker 1: he said, I'm I've moved out of Silicon Valley and

1087
01:02:58,040 --> 01:03:00,680
Speaker 1: the reason why is it's all a big echo chamber.

1088
01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:03,160
Speaker 1: And he said it's a lot of guys saying we're

1089
01:03:03,240 --> 01:03:05,880
Speaker 1: open minded, we're openly hearing other point of views. And

1090
01:03:05,920 --> 01:03:08,360
Speaker 1: he's like, but in reality, they're really not so open

1091
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:09,960
Speaker 1: hearing other views. And he was like, I don't want

1092
01:03:09,960 --> 01:03:13,280
Speaker 1: to live there anymore. Yeah. I spent eighteen years in California.

1093
01:03:13,480 --> 01:03:16,920
Speaker 1: I lived in a southern Cow San Diego and then

1094
01:03:17,000 --> 01:03:21,000
Speaker 1: also northern Cow the Bay Area, and you got different

1095
01:03:21,000 --> 01:03:24,560
Speaker 1: types of people and for me, Um, I was ready

1096
01:03:24,640 --> 01:03:29,160
Speaker 1: to move move on. I was done, Um, living in

1097
01:03:29,240 --> 01:03:33,720
Speaker 1: that fast paced Silicon Valley environment. It's dog eat dog

1098
01:03:33,880 --> 01:03:37,440
Speaker 1: and I was led just to go, um do this

1099
01:03:37,520 --> 01:03:42,280
Speaker 1: as in Commando, but um is it dried up? It's

1100
01:03:42,320 --> 01:03:44,200
Speaker 1: tough for me to say. Only spent three years there,

1101
01:03:44,800 --> 01:03:47,640
Speaker 1: and I don't ca'm I do not consider myself a

1102
01:03:47,720 --> 01:03:52,760
Speaker 1: subject matter expert on Silicon Valley. But um yeah, I

1103
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:56,560
Speaker 1: think you can do technology, develop software anywhere now. But

1104
01:03:56,840 --> 01:04:00,560
Speaker 1: what Silicon Valley does offer, that's where the money's sure.

1105
01:04:01,040 --> 01:04:02,960
Speaker 1: I don't even think he meant that, though. I think

1106
01:04:03,040 --> 01:04:07,240
Speaker 1: he was more talking about just their their beliefs, you know,

1107
01:04:07,400 --> 01:04:10,040
Speaker 1: the political views. And I've noticed it when you talk

1108
01:04:10,080 --> 01:04:12,880
Speaker 1: to people from Silicon Valley. Yes, they are very you know,

1109
01:04:13,000 --> 01:04:16,200
Speaker 1: like I'm doing air quotes, you're open minded, but everybody

1110
01:04:16,320 --> 01:04:20,880
Speaker 1: does seem to be hardcore left wing. It's agressive, and

1111
01:04:20,960 --> 01:04:24,440
Speaker 1: the military often gets demonized as being this monolith. And

1112
01:04:24,480 --> 01:04:26,840
Speaker 1: I talked to military guys and their opinions are all

1113
01:04:26,880 --> 01:04:29,200
Speaker 1: over the place. You talk to people in the tech world,

1114
01:04:29,600 --> 01:04:31,800
Speaker 1: they tend to have a lot of the same beliefs. Sure,

1115
01:04:31,880 --> 01:04:34,680
Speaker 1: it's a it's a bubble everywhere you go. Southern Cown's

1116
01:04:34,680 --> 01:04:37,440
Speaker 1: a bubble right here in New York. And here's a bubble.

1117
01:04:37,720 --> 01:04:42,000
Speaker 1: Different way of doing things. San Francisco's eight hundred thousand people.

1118
01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:45,520
Speaker 1: How many people live in New York. I think in

1119
01:04:45,560 --> 01:04:47,760
Speaker 1: the actual city it's like five or six million or

1120
01:04:47,800 --> 01:04:49,840
Speaker 1: something like. I think proof of it being a bubble.

1121
01:04:49,880 --> 01:04:51,440
Speaker 1: I mean, just to get into you know, it is

1122
01:04:51,480 --> 01:04:54,120
Speaker 1: a recent news piece. But this girl who just got

1123
01:04:54,200 --> 01:04:57,200
Speaker 1: elected to Congress, and I say girl because she's twenty

1124
01:04:57,240 --> 01:05:00,240
Speaker 1: eight years old working as a bartender, you know, got

1125
01:05:00,320 --> 01:05:03,560
Speaker 1: out a guy who has like had a very um,

1126
01:05:04,400 --> 01:05:07,360
Speaker 1: you know, experience background in politics for I think decades,

1127
01:05:07,960 --> 01:05:11,760
Speaker 1: and she is openly like a Democratic socialist like Bernie Sanders.

1128
01:05:12,440 --> 01:05:15,640
Speaker 1: A person like that throughout America I don't think at

1129
01:05:15,640 --> 01:05:18,360
Speaker 1: this point would ever be elected. But in New York bubble,

1130
01:05:18,720 --> 01:05:21,560
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's a lash back because of everything

1131
01:05:21,640 --> 01:05:24,840
Speaker 1: that happened with Hillary and Trump, and there's going to

1132
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:29,280
Speaker 1: be some sort of pushback against that. Yeah, it's definitely

1133
01:05:29,320 --> 01:05:33,120
Speaker 1: a product unintended consequences maybe, but it is why when

1134
01:05:33,160 --> 01:05:35,120
Speaker 1: people say, oh, you know, the attitude in this country

1135
01:05:35,240 --> 01:05:37,080
Speaker 1: is changing when they hear of an election like that,

1136
01:05:37,480 --> 01:05:39,560
Speaker 1: that may happen in New York City, you'll get a

1137
01:05:39,560 --> 01:05:42,200
Speaker 1: congress person like that, but I don't in the Midwest.

1138
01:05:42,320 --> 01:05:45,280
Speaker 1: I don't see someone that getting. I don't know, maybe

1139
01:05:45,480 --> 01:05:48,680
Speaker 1: maybe San Francisco to but but but it's a it's

1140
01:05:48,720 --> 01:05:52,840
Speaker 1: a unique bubble and definitely a unique landscape. And ye

1141
01:05:52,880 --> 01:05:57,200
Speaker 1: know environments. We are productive our environments. You know, birds

1142
01:05:57,240 --> 01:06:00,480
Speaker 1: of the feather flack together, all those things, and it's

1143
01:06:00,640 --> 01:06:04,720
Speaker 1: naturally people um come together in places like that. But

1144
01:06:04,880 --> 01:06:07,560
Speaker 1: I saw it as a bubble very like minded people.

1145
01:06:07,640 --> 01:06:12,080
Speaker 1: They hold the same political views outlook. Uh what what

1146
01:06:12,440 --> 01:06:19,000
Speaker 1: interested me most though was highly intelligent, beautiful people. Um.

1147
01:06:19,400 --> 01:06:24,640
Speaker 1: But like our experiences with say immigration and national policies,

1148
01:06:25,160 --> 01:06:29,600
Speaker 1: I mean, we've been there, we've experienced a first hand

1149
01:06:29,880 --> 01:06:32,400
Speaker 1: on the ground. A lot of these folks they just

1150
01:06:32,840 --> 01:06:35,040
Speaker 1: read what they read and based their opinions off of

1151
01:06:35,520 --> 01:06:37,520
Speaker 1: you know, what he said, she said, or maybe a

1152
01:06:37,600 --> 01:06:43,080
Speaker 1: certain news channel. But one of my responsibility there was

1153
01:06:43,200 --> 01:06:47,680
Speaker 1: to be the example that positive representation of our background

1154
01:06:47,800 --> 01:06:50,840
Speaker 1: and try to educate people on the world outside of

1155
01:06:50,880 --> 01:06:55,280
Speaker 1: Silicon Valley that there is crisis and there is evil

1156
01:06:55,720 --> 01:06:58,080
Speaker 1: in this world and it's more than just a bubble

1157
01:06:58,120 --> 01:07:03,320
Speaker 1: of leprecauns, unicorns and rainbows per se. Yeah, and it's

1158
01:07:03,320 --> 01:07:05,600
Speaker 1: absolutely true of New York City as well. You know,

1159
01:07:05,720 --> 01:07:08,640
Speaker 1: you go out to these like dinner parties, rooftop parties

1160
01:07:08,680 --> 01:07:10,000
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. And I mean, it's

1161
01:07:10,040 --> 01:07:12,080
Speaker 1: a different world, and there's a whole lot of stuff

1162
01:07:12,120 --> 01:07:14,880
Speaker 1: going out there that they don't see, that they've never seen.

1163
01:07:15,040 --> 01:07:18,200
Speaker 1: The way people live in the third world countries, they

1164
01:07:18,280 --> 01:07:22,160
Speaker 1: totally they can't imagine, they can't imagine. Hey, Um, speaking

1165
01:07:22,440 --> 01:07:25,240
Speaker 1: of you know, going to Costa Rica with Zen Commando earlier,

1166
01:07:25,600 --> 01:07:29,320
Speaker 1: I was wondering any issues with you know, setting up

1167
01:07:29,400 --> 01:07:31,960
Speaker 1: a place for shooting there, because it reminds me of

1168
01:07:32,080 --> 01:07:34,840
Speaker 1: you can buy guns in Costa Rica. You can buy guns.

1169
01:07:34,960 --> 01:07:37,720
Speaker 1: But I just think of, you know, Brandon Webbers talked

1170
01:07:37,720 --> 01:07:41,480
Speaker 1: about this prior to him launching softwarep with you. He

1171
01:07:41,680 --> 01:07:44,560
Speaker 1: wanted to start a training facility in California and he said,

1172
01:07:44,640 --> 01:07:48,200
Speaker 1: between um, the Sierra Club and all these other groups,

1173
01:07:48,320 --> 01:07:50,640
Speaker 1: he ran into all this red tape. So I just

1174
01:07:50,760 --> 01:07:53,560
Speaker 1: wonder Costa Rica any issues like, yeah, they're not so

1175
01:07:53,720 --> 01:08:00,320
Speaker 1: friendly towards guns. Um, it's just not. They're very eco friendly, uh,

1176
01:08:00,520 --> 01:08:03,840
Speaker 1: and guns are very controlled down there. As much as

1177
01:08:03,840 --> 01:08:05,720
Speaker 1: I'd love to have a gun range down there, not

1178
01:08:05,880 --> 01:08:09,280
Speaker 1: going to happen. Eventually, I'd like to have another Zen

1179
01:08:09,360 --> 01:08:12,720
Speaker 1: Commando camp up here in the US, and I am

1180
01:08:12,800 --> 01:08:16,760
Speaker 1: looking at certain places to host that one being in

1181
01:08:16,840 --> 01:08:20,800
Speaker 1: New Hampshire where they do love their guns Free or Die.

1182
01:08:21,040 --> 01:08:25,040
Speaker 1: I love that state and they love their guns. And uh.

1183
01:08:25,520 --> 01:08:28,720
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm looking at doing another program and other

1184
01:08:29,040 --> 01:08:32,479
Speaker 1: camp somewhere else. That won't be until down the road.

1185
01:08:33,120 --> 01:08:35,800
Speaker 1: But Costa Rica, I can have machete. He's down there.

1186
01:08:36,560 --> 01:08:38,800
Speaker 1: You'll get a shoot a machette when you come. We've

1187
01:08:38,840 --> 01:08:41,400
Speaker 1: had a fellow Bonte on the singer from All that remains.

1188
01:08:41,439 --> 01:08:43,799
Speaker 1: He's a gun store owner and yeah, he he moved

1189
01:08:43,920 --> 01:08:47,840
Speaker 1: from Massachusetts, New Hampshire strictly for that reason. Yeah. Is

1190
01:08:47,880 --> 01:08:49,720
Speaker 1: there anything else you want to mention before we wrap

1191
01:08:49,800 --> 01:08:51,840
Speaker 1: this up? I mean we've talked. H I think we've

1192
01:08:51,880 --> 01:08:54,200
Speaker 1: covered a lot of ground here. No, I appreciate you

1193
01:08:54,240 --> 01:08:56,200
Speaker 1: guys having me on the show. Thanks for comming us

1194
01:08:56,280 --> 01:08:59,400
Speaker 1: as great and I want to share the listeners if

1195
01:08:59,439 --> 01:09:02,840
Speaker 1: you're interested and Zen Commando either helping out or you

1196
01:09:02,920 --> 01:09:06,800
Speaker 1: know of someone that UM can come down and go

1197
01:09:06,920 --> 01:09:10,040
Speaker 1: through the course. Hit me up. You know, I'm I'm

1198
01:09:10,439 --> 01:09:12,519
Speaker 1: I'm not married, I'm single, so I have a lot

1199
01:09:12,560 --> 01:09:15,479
Speaker 1: of time on my hands right now, and UM, I

1200
01:09:15,560 --> 01:09:19,160
Speaker 1: have a sense of duty and obligation to facilitate and

1201
01:09:19,240 --> 01:09:21,360
Speaker 1: help people out the best way to do that is

1202
01:09:21,400 --> 01:09:25,320
Speaker 1: Kalski dot com, yep um, Zen Commando dot com or

1203
01:09:25,400 --> 01:09:29,040
Speaker 1: hit me up on Facebook. Awesome. Yeah, I look forward

1204
01:09:29,040 --> 01:09:30,920
Speaker 1: to hearing from folks and if there's anything I can

1205
01:09:31,000 --> 01:09:34,360
Speaker 1: do people getting out of the military. I'm still this

1206
01:09:34,560 --> 01:09:38,599
Speaker 1: is still in phase zero operations Zen Commando, So any

1207
01:09:38,680 --> 01:09:42,519
Speaker 1: ideas you know sending my way, I'm open to change

1208
01:09:42,800 --> 01:09:47,439
Speaker 1: making things better. So UM, that's just how it is again,

1209
01:09:47,520 --> 01:09:51,360
Speaker 1: Thank you guys so much. Absolutely wrapping things up here,

1210
01:09:51,479 --> 01:09:53,639
Speaker 1: this has been awesome. You know, I'm not gonna read

1211
01:09:53,680 --> 01:09:55,519
Speaker 1: the full things because I always mentioned what we're up

1212
01:09:55,560 --> 01:09:58,679
Speaker 1: to here at Hurricane Group. UM, we have Couned Dog,

1213
01:09:58,960 --> 01:10:03,280
Speaker 1: which is our first like club for basically, if you

1214
01:10:03,360 --> 01:10:06,799
Speaker 1: have a dog, we're getting box every month of different

1215
01:10:06,840 --> 01:10:09,840
Speaker 1: training aids and treats. You have a probiotic Um. So

1216
01:10:09,960 --> 01:10:12,840
Speaker 1: that's at Kona dot Dog. Great Club of course, Great

1217
01:10:12,880 --> 01:10:16,120
Speaker 1: Club dot Us. UM. We have the Premium Create We're

1218
01:10:16,120 --> 01:10:18,120
Speaker 1: working on a watch right now which is gonna be

1219
01:10:18,240 --> 01:10:21,400
Speaker 1: just awesome. And the Spec Ops channel, UM, you can

1220
01:10:21,520 --> 01:10:24,639
Speaker 1: check that out. Our premier show training cell follows former

1221
01:10:24,680 --> 01:10:28,040
Speaker 1: Spec Ops Forces, um in the most advanced training in

1222
01:10:28,080 --> 01:10:31,040
Speaker 1: the country. Uh. You guys usually hear me talk about

1223
01:10:31,080 --> 01:10:32,800
Speaker 1: this in depth every show, so I'll just say it's

1224
01:10:32,800 --> 01:10:36,639
Speaker 1: at spec ops channel dot com. Uh off your membership.

1225
01:10:36,720 --> 01:10:39,120
Speaker 1: That's only four nine a month, So that's spec ops

1226
01:10:39,240 --> 01:10:41,759
Speaker 1: channel dot com. You can also check out the app.

1227
01:10:42,479 --> 01:10:45,879
Speaker 1: Um Man, this has been great having Totapowski in studio

1228
01:10:46,080 --> 01:10:48,160
Speaker 1: for the first time. Hopefully we'll do this again. I

1229
01:10:48,240 --> 01:10:50,560
Speaker 1: appreciate you making the trip out here anytime, guys, and

1230
01:10:50,640 --> 01:10:53,080
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see this thing get off the ground.

1231
01:10:53,160 --> 01:10:55,320
Speaker 1: It's gonna be cool. You guys come down anytime. I

1232
01:10:55,400 --> 01:10:58,080
Speaker 1: have to get you to sign that if people could. Yeah,

1233
01:10:58,080 --> 01:11:00,760
Speaker 1: they can see in the shot one of those back are. Um,

1234
01:11:01,080 --> 01:11:03,040
Speaker 1: we have a ton of signatures on there, everybody from

1235
01:11:03,080 --> 01:11:06,680
Speaker 1: like Jack Divine who ran the CIA operations outside the

1236
01:11:06,840 --> 01:11:09,519
Speaker 1: US too, Rob O'Neil. There's a lot of guys on

1237
01:11:09,560 --> 01:11:12,960
Speaker 1: there at this so we've got to get you in there. Cool. Well,

1238
01:11:13,000 --> 01:11:15,160
Speaker 1: this has been awesome. I appreciate that you've like listen

1239
01:11:15,240 --> 01:11:16,760
Speaker 1: to a bunch of the shows as well. You guys

1240
01:11:16,800 --> 01:11:19,880
Speaker 1: do a great job and um thanks for contributing. And yeah,

1241
01:11:19,960 --> 01:11:23,559
Speaker 1: thank you all looking out after the community and um again,

1242
01:11:23,840 --> 01:11:26,200
Speaker 1: it's setting people up for success and you guys do

1243
01:11:26,280 --> 01:11:28,200
Speaker 1: a great job. So thank you so much for what

1244
01:11:28,320 --> 01:11:30,680
Speaker 1: you guys do. Thank you and for the listeners that

1245
01:11:31,160 --> 01:11:34,479
Speaker 1: you know pipe in. Yeah no, well I'm sure we'll

1246
01:11:34,479 --> 01:11:36,040
Speaker 1: get a lot of feedback. Are you on social media

1247
01:11:36,080 --> 01:11:39,040
Speaker 1: or any of that? Facebook? Okay, so Facebook, just look

1248
01:11:39,080 --> 01:11:42,479
Speaker 1: you up. Very cool. Thanks for checking it out for

1249
01:11:42,560 --> 01:11:45,599
Speaker 1: those who checked out the live stream, and uh, we'll

1250
01:11:45,600 --> 01:11:48,320
Speaker 1: be back with a new episode off on Friday or

1251
01:11:48,439 --> 01:11:50,680
Speaker 1: or on note today, it's gonna be Friday when this

1252
01:11:50,840 --> 01:11:54,040
Speaker 1: is UPISO on Wednesday. All right, Thanks guys, you've been

1253
01:11:54,160 --> 01:11:58,479
Speaker 1: listening to Self Rep Radio. New episodes up every Wednesday

1254
01:11:58,520 --> 01:12:02,640
Speaker 1: and Friday, all of the great content from our veteran journalists.

1255
01:12:03,000 --> 01:12:05,880
Speaker 1: Join us and become a team room member today at

1256
01:12:06,000 --> 01:12:09,400
Speaker 1: soft rep dot com. Follow the show on Instagram and

1257
01:12:09,520 --> 01:12:13,320
Speaker 1: Twitter at soft Rep Radio, and be sure to also

1258
01:12:13,479 --> 01:12:17,600
Speaker 1: check out the Power of Thought podcast hosted by Hurricane

1259
01:12:17,640 --> 01:12:43,240
Speaker 1: Group CEO and Navy Seal sniper instructor Brandon Webb, M