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

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Speaker 1: using enough. You're listening to software Radio, Special Operations, military

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

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Speaker 1: softrep dot com on Time on Target. I am Ian Scotto, Um,

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Speaker 1: fresh off of my birthday weekend, which was fun. If

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Speaker 1: you're wondering what I did, I got to go see

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Speaker 1: Leonard Skinnered on the Last the Street Survivors farewell tour

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Speaker 1: with my dad, with my good friends Peebe, d Uh

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Speaker 1: and Man. It was a great time. I think there's

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Speaker 1: probably a big cross section I would think of this

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Speaker 1: audience at Skinnered fans. I know there are just like

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Speaker 1: rock bands in general, and metal fans and all that.

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Speaker 1: From my years of doing this, UM, I've seen Skinnered.

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Speaker 1: You know the current lineup? Yes, of course we all

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Speaker 1: know that it is not UM the band that people

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Speaker 1: know from the seventies in terms of lineup, but I've

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Speaker 1: seen the current line up. I actually did get to

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Speaker 1: see the original UM piano player Billy Powell years ago. UM,

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Speaker 1: but for the fourth time. Yeah, I believe this was

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Speaker 1: the fourth time and it was awesome. Uh. The only

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Speaker 1: thing that's kind of funny to me is that you know,

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Speaker 1: going into it. I was saying to my dad and

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Speaker 1: my friend Steve, I'm like, this is the last time

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Speaker 1: you're ever gonna see skinner It again, um, unless you

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Speaker 1: want to travel to one of the other dates. But

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Speaker 1: this is the last time they were playing New York

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Speaker 1: or Long Island my area. And I have to be honest,

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Speaker 1: it was a great time, but it didn't really feel

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Speaker 1: like a farewell tour, and it made me think that

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Speaker 1: they may be right, like my dad is convinced you'll

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Speaker 1: be seeing them come out a year from now again

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Speaker 1: and touring again. I mean, if that's the case, it's

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Speaker 1: a pretty good marketing gimmick on their part because then

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Speaker 1: when they usually play New York or they play Long Island,

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Speaker 1: they play the NYCB Theater, which is really more known.

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Speaker 1: You know, everything is commercial now, but it's the Westbury

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Speaker 1: Music Fair legendary venue. Um. I read Brian Wilson from

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Speaker 1: The Beach Boys book and like he talks about that

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Speaker 1: being a legendary venue they played and stuff. Um, but

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Speaker 1: I was looking it up and that's where they usually

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Speaker 1: play where I've seen them every other time, and that

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Speaker 1: is a capacity of two thousand, eight hundred seventy people,

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Speaker 1: all right. In comparison, they played Jones Beach Theater the

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Speaker 1: other night, fifteen thousand people nearly sold out. Looking around,

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Speaker 1: and when they play NYCB Theater, I don't even think

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Speaker 1: that's sold out. So it's like when people hear farewell tour,

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Speaker 1: they come out. Uh. So you know, it's weird in

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Speaker 1: a way. I hope it is their farewell tour because

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Speaker 1: you know, that's what they're selling. At the same time,

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Speaker 1: like they still have it. The current lineup is great,

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Speaker 1: So I guess the bottom line is if you are

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Speaker 1: in an area that they happen to be playing, I

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Speaker 1: would definitely suggest you go. I I had a really

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Speaker 1: great time and you will too. I mean if you

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Speaker 1: love their music, so really cool seeing the Last of

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Speaker 1: the Street Survivors tour, um, you know, but I compare

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Speaker 1: are that. By the way, when I talked about the

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Speaker 1: farewell thing with when Motley Crew did their farewell tour,

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Speaker 1: like I am convinced that is the last time I

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Speaker 1: receive Motley Crew tour. Uh. And every night that they

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Speaker 1: played Home Sweet Home, you saw like a tear in

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Speaker 1: their eye and they referenced that like this is the

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Speaker 1: last time we're ever gonna play this venue. There wasn't

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Speaker 1: a whole lot of that with Skinner it on stage. Um. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: we have Craig Grossy coming on this show, and it's

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Speaker 1: yes solo show in terms of my hosting. Uh last

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Speaker 1: show that was kind of a solo Jack show. I

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Speaker 1: mean I happened to be here, I was recording, but

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Speaker 1: I probably had a mic time of maybe three or

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Speaker 1: five minutes. Uh. And you guys probably want us to

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Speaker 1: cover the response to that woke vets show task and purpose. Um,

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Speaker 1: but maybe we'll do that next time because if there's

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Speaker 1: nothing for me to really address. It's really a Jack

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Speaker 1: Jack Murphy issue that he got into and I am

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Speaker 1: kind of on the outside of it. I thought it

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Speaker 1: was an interesting show and covered a lot of ground

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Speaker 1: and uh definitely made me aware of some things that

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Speaker 1: I didn't know. But in terms of responding to the

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Speaker 1: positive feedback the negative feedback, I just honestly don't have

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Speaker 1: much to say. I'm I'm an outsider in that situation.

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Speaker 1: But I hope you guys enjoyed it. And uh yeah,

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Speaker 1: So just gonna be me with Craig this episode because

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Speaker 1: Jack is out with his daughter. Um, his daughter is

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Speaker 1: ending the school, uh school year and Jack is a

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Speaker 1: guy who spends a lot of time with his daughter,

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Speaker 1: which is great. So um he's out today. We would

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Speaker 1: have recorded this a different day, but this just worked

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Speaker 1: for Craig. Um. So hopefully you guys will enjoy this.

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Speaker 1: This is a really heartwarming story of a marine straight

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Speaker 1: dog and how they rescued each other. Um. As the

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Speaker 1: title says of of the book, Craig and Fred. And

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Speaker 1: if you're a dog, over which I am, I think

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Speaker 1: you'll really enjoy this. Or if you have kids, there's

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Speaker 1: a young reader's edition which we'll get into. Um, so

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Speaker 1: this might be a book that you want them to

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Speaker 1: check out if you know your kids love dogs, and uh,

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Speaker 1: you want them to read something that's in the veteran category.

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Speaker 1: Before we bring on Craig, I want to let you

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Speaker 1: guys know, as I always do, there's only one club

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Speaker 1: out there with gear handpicked by Special Operations military veterans

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Speaker 1: from several branches, and that of course is Create Club.

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Speaker 1: Past items we've had in our crates Emerson Knives of

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Speaker 1: Blackhawk Industrial Medical Pouch UM. And I should notice I

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Speaker 1: was just on the phone with Scott Wittner. We tweeted

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Speaker 1: out our instagrammed out a picture of this watch that

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Speaker 1: we're gonna do exclusively for Create Club Premium members and

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Speaker 1: we're teaming up with NFW Watches for it. And this

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Speaker 1: thing is gonna look badass. So it's not out yet,

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Speaker 1: but if you sign up for the Premium Club, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna see it a few months down the line, I believe,

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Speaker 1: So sign up now for that. That's gonna be a

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Speaker 1: really cool item, especially when you have the guys at

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Speaker 1: Create Club giving their assessment of these watches, because I

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Speaker 1: know Scott Whittner is a big watch guy, Brandon Webb

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Speaker 1: is a huge watches guy, and they're not gonna put

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Speaker 1: anything that Create that they're not happy with. So, as

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Speaker 1: I mentioned, that's the Premium Create We have different tiers

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Speaker 1: depending on how prepared you want to be, and gift

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Speaker 1: options are available as well. We get such great feedback

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Speaker 1: from people listening to this podcast and then sign up

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Speaker 1: for Create Club, so hopefully you come on board and

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Speaker 1: you join. It's at Create Club dot Us. Once again,

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Speaker 1: that's great Club dot us for your dog owners in

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Speaker 1: the audience. Check this out. You're gonna love this. And

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Speaker 1: by the way, I'm gonna tell Craig grossy about Kuna

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Speaker 1: because he's gonna love it. We've just partnered with Cuna.

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Speaker 1: They have a team of trained canine handlers picking out

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Speaker 1: a box for your dog every month of healthy treats,

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Speaker 1: training aids UM and you know, one of the one

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Speaker 1: of those training aids or UM supplements is the probiotic

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Speaker 1: we've been putting in there and it seems to be

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Speaker 1: having a great impact on the health of dogs and

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Speaker 1: it is important you want these dogs there with you

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Speaker 1: and their longevity. Um. The products are us sourced, all natural,

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Speaker 1: and they not only promote a healthy diet, but also

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Speaker 1: promote being active with your dog. So whether we're talking

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Speaker 1: a pitbull or chihuahua, this is just what you're looking for.

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Speaker 1: You can see all of that at Kuna dot Dog.

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Speaker 1: That's Kuna dot Dog. It's efficient for you. Your dog

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Speaker 1: will appreciate it as well, of course, and that's spelled

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Speaker 1: c U n A dot d O G. Also, as

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Speaker 1: a reminder for those listening, for a limited time you

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Speaker 1: can receive a fifty percent discounted membership to the spec

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Speaker 1: ops channel. Now is the time to check it out

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Speaker 1: because on the rising in a couple of weeks we

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Speaker 1: have a brand new inside the Team Room Intel edition

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Speaker 1: with some great names that you're all familiar with. UM.

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Speaker 1: You can check that all out. You can check out

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Speaker 1: Training Sell our premier show which follows Special Operations Forces

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Speaker 1: as they participate in the most advanced training in the country,

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Speaker 1: and you can watch it all by subscribing to the

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Speaker 1: spec Ops channel at spec ops channel dot com and

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Speaker 1: take advantage of a limited time off for a fifty

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Speaker 1: off your membership. That's only four nine nine a month.

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Speaker 1: So that's what we have going on here at Hurricane Group. UM.

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Speaker 1: If you want to check out our website and see

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Speaker 1: everything else going on, including like the book club, it's

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Speaker 1: Hurricane dot Media Hurricane dot Media and you can see

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Speaker 1: everything that we're up to. Joining us for the first

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Speaker 1: time on SOFTWAREP Radio. Craig Grossy an eight year Marine

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Speaker 1: Corps veteran Purple Heart recipient and Georgetown University grad UH.

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Speaker 1: Craig is the author of Craig and Fred a Marine,

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Speaker 1: a Stray Dog and How They Rescued each Other, which

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Speaker 1: I have right in front of me. UM, and you

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Speaker 1: also did a young reader's edition, which I think is cool.

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Speaker 1: You don't see that a lot, and I feel like

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Speaker 1: this is one of those stories that no matter what

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Speaker 1: age group, people are gonna love. Yeah. Absolutely, that was

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Speaker 1: that was actually the publisher was kind of protocol. I

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Speaker 1: think whenever HarperCollins can do that, they always try to

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Speaker 1: make make two copies. So for me, it was it

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Speaker 1: wasn't that much extra extra duty to just kind of

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Speaker 1: take out some of the marine talk and some of

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Speaker 1: the different situations that were maybe a little bit more adult.

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Speaker 1: But I'm really proud of the of the kids version

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Speaker 1: of The Young Reader too, because it does maintain a

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Speaker 1: lot of the harder kind of scenarios and the more

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Speaker 1: difficult stuff that that we had to deal with over there,

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Speaker 1: and um, it's opened up a whole new kind of

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Speaker 1: said of obviously an audience, but also just like my

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Speaker 1: fellow veterans have reached out to me and said, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm having conversations with my kid, you know, because we're

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Speaker 1: reading the book side by side, and I wasn't sure

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Speaker 1: how I was going to talk to, you know, my

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Speaker 1: my child about this. You know, these situations that you know,

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Speaker 1: we faced and stuff, and they're able to, through our

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Speaker 1: story kind of do that and that's just incredible. I

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Speaker 1: could have never anticipated that it's really cool. That's great.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the book in general is selling tremendously. I've

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Speaker 1: seen just throw on Amazon and everything, and it's a

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Speaker 1: great story to get out there because I'm now I'm

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Speaker 1: wondering what the young reader's edition like. I don't think

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Speaker 1: there's any Marine Corps author book that doesn't have a

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Speaker 1: few four letter words. So it was it was like

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Speaker 1: that type of thing where I like, I haven't read

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Speaker 1: the whole book yet, I don't know if there was

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Speaker 1: stuff you had to censor and take out of there. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was. It was, uh, you know, my biggest concern

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Speaker 1: was just making sure that the important parts of the

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Speaker 1: story we're we're intact, you know, and you can you

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Speaker 1: can take an F bomb and make it a you know,

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Speaker 1: a heck, you know whatever, it's not a good deal.

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Speaker 1: The voice, my voice is still there, and and Fred's

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Speaker 1: you know, everything about Fred, and and and I'll also

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Speaker 1: talking about the guys that that we lost and my

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Speaker 1: friends that were that were killed, and and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: I want I want, you know, kids and everyone to

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Speaker 1: be able to hear their story, you know, and and

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Speaker 1: hear about just not just them, you know, everybody that

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Speaker 1: we encountered all the all the Marines that that that

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Speaker 1: I worked with, and all the incredible stuff that they

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Speaker 1: just did kind of on a daily basis, which, by

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Speaker 1: the way, I should point out there you can curse

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Speaker 1: on this show. So, but before we get into the

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Speaker 1: book itself and and you know you meeting Fred in

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Speaker 1: Afghanistan in I would love to hear just the backstory

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Speaker 1: of you becoming a marine, what inspired you to join

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Speaker 1: the Marines and your story of growing up, which I

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Speaker 1: know you get into in the book as well. Yeah, yes,

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Speaker 1: you want me to talk a little bit about that, absolutely, Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think for me, there's a lot of things that

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Speaker 1: drew me to the Marine Corps that there's no we

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Speaker 1: don't have a history of Marines in my family. My

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Speaker 1: dad was an Air Force guy for a little while,

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Speaker 1: but I grew up in the belt Way of d c.

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Speaker 1: And and so the military and the government was kind

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Speaker 1: of all around me. And um, I just remember that

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Speaker 1: in high school at some point they had one of

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Speaker 1: those career days where they have all the branches come

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Speaker 1: in and talk about talking about why you should join

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Speaker 1: the Army, of the Navy, of the Air Force, of

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Speaker 1: the Coast Guard, and they all got up on stage,

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Speaker 1: and each one had a little pitch, you know, and

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Speaker 1: they handed out pamphlets and all these different incentives and stuff,

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Speaker 1: and and then the marine got up on stage and

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Speaker 1: he didn't have a slide show, he didn't have pamphlets,

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Speaker 1: you know, he wasn't selling anything. He just looked around

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Speaker 1: the auditorium at like a couple hundred kids that were there.

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Speaker 1: It was like maybe three or four of you have

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Speaker 1: what it takes to be a marine. If you think

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Speaker 1: you're one of them, come talk to me. And he

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Speaker 1: got off the stage. Like, for whatever reason, that nailed me, man,

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Speaker 1: because I I was really frustrated as a pretty much

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Speaker 1: my entire youth with school and I was putting in

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Speaker 1: a lot of work in school, but I wasn't My

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Speaker 1: grades weren't a reflection of that, and it was always

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Speaker 1: really frustrating for me because as I was also I've

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Speaker 1: been an athlete and a hockey player of my whole life,

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Speaker 1: and one of the things I guess I really loved

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Speaker 1: about sports was the more work you put in, the

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Speaker 1: better team you make, the more ice time you get,

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Speaker 1: you know, and like you could see this tangible kind

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Speaker 1: of result. But with school. I was like staying after school.

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Speaker 1: I was in like learning disability like classes and like

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Speaker 1: all this extra ship and uh, but my my grades

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Speaker 1: were were like season D s. And so the Marine

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Speaker 1: Corps seemed like this place where it was like sports.

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Speaker 1: It was like if you were the fastest and the

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Speaker 1: strongest and you worked the hardest, like they would recognize it.

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Speaker 1: And it seemed like a group of people that that like,

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Speaker 1: you joined the Marine Corps for the for the right reasons,

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Speaker 1: Like it wasn't because you know you you just wanted

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Speaker 1: something at the end of the road, like you wanted

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Speaker 1: to be a marine and it's you know it is

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Speaker 1: there is like always going to be that kind of

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Speaker 1: sales pitch this to that kind of mantra. But when

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Speaker 1: I was seventeen year old kid that that was exactly

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Speaker 1: what I wanted to hear. And um, I also just

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be held accountable. I wanted to be

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Speaker 1: a part of an organization that wasn't gonna let me

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Speaker 1: slip by, you know, it really hold me to these

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Speaker 1: high standards and everybody around me would essentially be better

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Speaker 1: than me, you know, and and in a lot of ways,

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to try and be you will be

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Speaker 1: the best I could. It was a letdown my first

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Speaker 1: four years. I didn't exactly sign up to to be

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Speaker 1: a prison guard, but that's how I spent my first

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Speaker 1: four Um. But I love being a marine. I just

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Speaker 1: I didn't really like working in Vantango Bay and it's

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Speaker 1: kind of sitting on a fence for twelve hours a day.

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Speaker 1: So when I re upped and did my second flour

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Speaker 1: I found the found human intelligence and counterintel and that

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Speaker 1: was that was what I was meant to do in

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Speaker 1: the Marine Corps. I love that job. I could fully

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Speaker 1: relate to what you're saying with the school stuff. Um,

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Speaker 1: there was a recent guest you talked about this on

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Speaker 1: another podcast to work on power and thought. Um. And

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Speaker 1: it's true that school by design is about conformity and

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Speaker 1: that you can't you can't do school your own way.

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Speaker 1: You know, if you want to be an entrepreneur, business leader,

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Speaker 1: and you have the drive to succeed in that, they

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Speaker 1: don't give a ship if you're great at math, if

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Speaker 1: you know history and all that stuff. And with school

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Speaker 1: you have to have this wide array of different knowledge.

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Speaker 1: You have to be good at memorizing, which I'm not.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you're not as well, you know, and and it

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Speaker 1: sounds like if you have that certain athletic ability and drive,

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Speaker 1: the Marine Corps is something that would make total sense

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Speaker 1: for you. So I get that. Yeah, yeah, I just

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Speaker 1: felt I felt right at home right away. Um. And

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Speaker 1: it's you know, it's an interesting path because that my

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Speaker 1: my if you'd asked me during my first four years

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Speaker 1: and I was sitting in a brig or you know,

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Speaker 1: just sitting on a guard post, I was internally really frustrated. Um.

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Speaker 1: But those experiences and that that first four years has

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Speaker 1: come in handy time and time again, uh, in my

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Speaker 1: life and also in my second four years in the

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Speaker 1: Marine Corps as a as a human intel officer, dealing

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Speaker 1: with like and learning how to be an interrogator and

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Speaker 1: just being familiar with you know, correctional environment and just

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Speaker 1: people's behavior when they're being confined and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: That was that was huge. Um. So it's just funny

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Speaker 1: how you could be so frustrated with your current circumstances. Uh.

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Speaker 1: But down the road, those those circumstances are going to

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Speaker 1: pay off in big ways. It just have to kind

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Speaker 1: of be open to it. I'm curious now working as

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Speaker 1: a prison guard at Guantanamo. And you know, you don't

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Speaker 1: have to get political if you don't feel like but

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Speaker 1: you know, it's obviously an extremely controversial issue that military

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Speaker 1: guys civilians are very split on how things were handled,

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Speaker 1: and you know, how we should go about capturing terrorists.

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Speaker 1: I'm just wondering your experience, you know, and whatever way

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Speaker 1: that you want to put it of of working there, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean it was it was tricky, man, and I

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Speaker 1: don't know how we could have done it any other way.

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Speaker 1: I mean that I'm not trying to be unpolitical or

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Speaker 1: just skirted at all, but it's it was such a

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Speaker 1: tricky time. And um, you could definitely tell I was

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Speaker 1: there No. Four, No five, And you could definitely tell

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Speaker 1: there were a lot of people there that didn't belong there,

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Speaker 1: that we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time,

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Speaker 1: or just got got caught up in something, and they

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Speaker 1: were just like, what the heck happened? You know, And um,

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Speaker 1: but what I think a lot of people don't know

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Speaker 1: is that for everything, like, there was one team of

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Speaker 1: of intel analysts and interrogators and prosecutors that we're trying

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Speaker 1: to prove that they that that the detainees that were there,

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Speaker 1: belonged there, and there was an entirely other team, equally

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Speaker 1: staffed enabled that were trying to prove why they weren't

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Speaker 1: supposed to be there. And for every plane that load

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Speaker 1: of coming in, we had one going out getting people home,

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Speaker 1: you know, and that you know, sorting it out. So

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Speaker 1: it I think a lot of people it's one of

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Speaker 1: those places that h has gotten this really negative image

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Speaker 1: and in a lot of situations, in a lot of

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Speaker 1: cases rightfully so. Um, but there's just you know, it's

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Speaker 1: kind of a convenient place that we're in now where

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Speaker 1: we can look back and criticize it. And that's you know,

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Speaker 1: that's what we should always do. We should always find

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Speaker 1: wherever we went wrong, um, you know, in anything, so

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Speaker 1: so we can move forward and get it right the

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Speaker 1: next time. But uh, there wasn't you know, there was

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Speaker 1: a lot of good going on down there too, and

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Speaker 1: there was a lot, you know, a lot of concern

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Speaker 1: for making sure that we had the right the right

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Speaker 1: people that belong there. Yeah, and there's there's truly been

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Speaker 1: no real easy solution on this because every time it

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Speaker 1: gets brought up of bringing these guys back to the US,

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Speaker 1: it gets shot down because every congressman says, I don't

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Speaker 1: want these detainees in my district. So you know, a

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Speaker 1: lot of the people are quick to criticize it. They

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Speaker 1: don't have any real good solution. I don't know. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you've experienced this, because Jack Murphy talked

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Speaker 1: about it in a recent show. But he was saying,

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Speaker 1: you know, and and Jack served the same places that

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Speaker 1: you did as a Army ranger in Green Beret um.

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Speaker 1: But he said that, you know, regardless of people's feelings

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Speaker 1: on Guantanamo, the stuff that he saw iraqis due to

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Speaker 1: their fellow Iraqis. He was like, was beyond anything going

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Speaker 1: on in Kwantana in saying no, And we part of

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Speaker 1: our jobs, And I was just I was a lance

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Speaker 1: corporal when I was a Kimo, so I was like,

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Speaker 1: you know, just doing you know, like just I was

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Speaker 1: handling detainees every day, and one of our jobs if

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Speaker 1: you weren't on a cellblock for the day, was to

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Speaker 1: be on escort duty. And you and you were busy.

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Speaker 1: You were taking them to dental appointments and medical appointment

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Speaker 1: that we were taking tumors out of these guys that

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Speaker 1: they didn't even know they had and extending their life

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Speaker 1: by decades, you know. And no one writes about that, No, no, no,

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Speaker 1: And it was always a joke down there, you know

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Speaker 1: that we would say, and I think a lot of

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Speaker 1: the a lot of the like little shops and the

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Speaker 1: p X and stuff would sell t shirts that uh

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Speaker 1: at the time. I don't know if they would do

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Speaker 1: that now, but they were like it was like a

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Speaker 1: like a detainee, like his orange jumps suit, like relaxing

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Speaker 1: in a beach chair, like drinking a drink, you know,

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Speaker 1: and like we called it like club getmo. You know,

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Speaker 1: that was our little joke. I wish I'd got one

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Speaker 1: of those shirts. Um. But yeah, man, moving on onto

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Speaker 1: the book itself, but I understan'm cure was curious about that.

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Speaker 1: Um So in two thousand and ten, you met Fred

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Speaker 1: and Afghanistan. Yeah, take us back to it, oh man.

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Speaker 1: Uh So, I mean just going back to my my

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Speaker 1: first four and how kind of frustrated I was and

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Speaker 1: with the with my time in the Marine Corps. I finally,

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Speaker 1: after getting through human intel training and all that, I

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Speaker 1: finally found my place, and um, I've headed to Afghanistan.

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Speaker 1: But it's another kind of unknown, um because I'm on

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Speaker 1: my way, but I don't know what I'm gonna do

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Speaker 1: when I get there. I still haven't been assigned as

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Speaker 1: a you know, because as an intel dude, you can

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Speaker 1: do a lot of stuff. And um, I hadn't been

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Speaker 1: assigned to a specific unit yet, and so I was

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Speaker 1: kind of, you know, a little nervous about. I was

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Speaker 1: worried i'd be I would end up working in a

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Speaker 1: detention facility again, or you know, just kind of chilling

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Speaker 1: on leather neck. That would have took me nuts. So

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Speaker 1: I but I was there. We got the leathern neck,

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Speaker 1: and I was there for about a week and recon

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Speaker 1: Um put it out that they needed an intel guy,

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Speaker 1: and I made it a point to like two being

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Speaker 1: the best shape that I could before during the work

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Speaker 1: up for the deployment, like me and my buddy PJ

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Speaker 1: were doing like two days at the gym and just

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Speaker 1: like running a lot and just getting in our in

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Speaker 1: our very best shape, so that f something came down

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Speaker 1: for an action unit like Recon or even if an

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Speaker 1: infantry union needed a head guy, that are our CEO

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Speaker 1: would think of us first, because if nothing else, we'll

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Speaker 1: be able to at least keep up on on their

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Speaker 1: ops and UH and I'd always had a lot of

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Speaker 1: respect for recon and UM and and just kind of

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Speaker 1: quietly it always wanted to be be a recon guy,

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Speaker 1: but that wasn't in the cards for me. But um,

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Speaker 1: so the opportunity to go out with them was huge,

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Speaker 1: and I was so pumped. And it was first recon

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Speaker 1: Charlie company. And those guys were ship hot then and

430
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:49,600
Speaker 1: they always have been. And they had already been in

431
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 1: country for a little over like about I think about

432
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,399
Speaker 1: three or four months, and um we went out to

433
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,160
Speaker 1: a little place called Trek Nahwa outside of Marjah and

434
00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 1: and did some sweep up stuff and I rolled up

435
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,760
Speaker 1: a couple UH fighters and I think I really just

436
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,160
Speaker 1: showed them what I could do, um what the recon guys.

437
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,960
Speaker 1: And after that first kind of month long operation that

438
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 1: they brought me in um you know, full time to

439
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,520
Speaker 1: to be their head guy and into the company and

440
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,360
Speaker 1: and we came back to later Neck for a little

441
00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:19,040
Speaker 1: break for about two weeks, and we started getting briefed

442
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 1: on on saying and where you know, what's saying it

443
00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:23,400
Speaker 1: was gonna look like. And that was the first time

444
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:26,280
Speaker 1: I saw those guys nervous because everything we were hearing

445
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:29,320
Speaker 1: about saying and was was really was really scary. And

446
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,160
Speaker 1: and three five thirdy Talian fifth Marines was was having

447
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 1: a really tough time down in the district center and

448
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,439
Speaker 1: they were losing a lot of guys. And we were

449
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,840
Speaker 1: gonna be inserting, you know, at night, right in the

450
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:41,480
Speaker 1: middle of like there was no base, there's nowhere for

451
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 1: us to go. We're gonna have to make our own base.

452
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:48,440
Speaker 1: So uh, anyway, we we inserted and and make we

453
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,040
Speaker 1: just build sandbags and fortified this little compound as best

454
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,560
Speaker 1: as we could. And and I spent a solid week

455
00:23:54,720 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 1: just under constant attack, um. And in between defending ourselves

456
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:02,680
Speaker 1: and just trying to hold that little piece of ground,

457
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:06,040
Speaker 1: I had spot this little funny dog trotting around our compound.

458
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 1: And he was so you see a lot of dogs

459
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,160
Speaker 1: over there, for from what I had seen in Hellman,

460
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 1: you didn't want to get anywhere near him. Um, But

461
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:15,919
Speaker 1: this dog was just instantly kind of different. He stood

462
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:17,800
Speaker 1: out in the best way. He had this big head

463
00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,639
Speaker 1: and his these goofy legs, and and uh kind of

464
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,439
Speaker 1: trotted around with all this really unexplainable confidence, you know.

465
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:28,520
Speaker 1: And after things calmed down, the towel the Recon. Uh,

466
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:30,919
Speaker 1: those guys. I mean, at any given moment during the

467
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:32,919
Speaker 1: during the firefight, we'd have a hundred and fifty two

468
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:37,880
Speaker 1: hundred fighters surrounding us, um, and the best we could

469
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,960
Speaker 1: have just because of our position was maybe seven or

470
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,320
Speaker 1: eight guys returning fire, just because of the different the

471
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,480
Speaker 1: way we were kind of the house we had taken

472
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,760
Speaker 1: was set up. And I mean, those guys, they we

473
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,680
Speaker 1: didn't lose a single guy. That's unbelievable and it says

474
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,040
Speaker 1: a lot about their professionalism. And we came became really close.

475
00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 1: Um a guy, my buddy Joe, took a round in

476
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:03,840
Speaker 1: his helmet and it's spun, it went off, it went

477
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,199
Speaker 1: off his rifle and it spun into his helmet and

478
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 1: popped out the front and he and I just reunited

479
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:11,680
Speaker 1: him and Fred. That was really cool. He Um they

480
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:13,920
Speaker 1: just saw each other in Denver. But anyway, it was

481
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 1: just it was insane and Uh. Recon killed a lot

482
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 1: of Taliban and they kind of gave us a little

483
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 1: breathing room. And after things calming down, you know, I

484
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:26,200
Speaker 1: was like, all right, I gotta check this dog out.

485
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: He's too he's too cool man um, And so I

486
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 1: started walking over to him, and I had a little

487
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,040
Speaker 1: piece of jerky beef jerkey in my hand, and as

488
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 1: I got close to him, I was like, this is

489
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,120
Speaker 1: a bad idea because he's covered in bugs and he's

490
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:41,680
Speaker 1: hot and hungry, and like, clearly he has been neglected.

491
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:43,240
Speaker 1: I was like, this is why we have this rule.

492
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,359
Speaker 1: You're not supposed to approach the stray. He's like, this

493
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,040
Speaker 1: is stupid. But I took another step or two closer,

494
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,200
Speaker 1: and then I just heard this little what what what

495
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 1: what kind of coming from from him And I looked

496
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,720
Speaker 1: up and he's wagging his tail, and I was like, whoa,

497
00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 1: that was the last thing I thought he'd do, because

498
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:03,199
Speaker 1: he had nothing to wag his tail about. Uh. You know,

499
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,679
Speaker 1: he's he's probably only about ten months old, which is

500
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:09,320
Speaker 1: old enough for a dog to become kind of nasty,

501
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: you know. And and and and he clearly never been

502
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,680
Speaker 1: taking care of her, definitely never been hand fed anything

503
00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:18,679
Speaker 1: in his life, you know. And any time anybody had

504
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,479
Speaker 1: approached and probably was just to throw something at him

505
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,679
Speaker 1: or to shoe him away. And here he is wagging

506
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: his tail at me. And he surprised me again because

507
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,400
Speaker 1: I knelt down and handed the jerky out to him

508
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,159
Speaker 1: and he takes it like with his front teeth, just

509
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,480
Speaker 1: as gently as he can. And I swear if he

510
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 1: had a napkin, he would have wiped his mouth like that.

511
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:37,200
Speaker 1: He had just had the best man is like even

512
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 1: the best behaved dog back home and like take a

513
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:40,600
Speaker 1: ring off your finger for a piece of jerky, you know.

514
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 1: And here he is like just very gently and peacefully

515
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:49,639
Speaker 1: and politely like accepting this little piece of jerky, and um,

516
00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 1: he followed me back to my This is how he

517
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:54,119
Speaker 1: gets his name, which is kind of funny too. He

518
00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:56,640
Speaker 1: I stood up and started walking back because I didn't

519
00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 1: want to push it, you know, I didn't want to

520
00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: push it too far. And I thought, this little poke

521
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,359
Speaker 1: at my heel and he's following me, and one of

522
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:04,119
Speaker 1: my buddies is like, hey, looks like you made a friend.

523
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,320
Speaker 1: But what I heard was, hey, he looks like a Fred.

524
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,960
Speaker 1: So I was like, yeah, I hope Fred. And uh.

525
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,280
Speaker 1: After that, he was in Man. All the all the

526
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 1: recon guys fell in love with him, even our our

527
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 1: master sergeant, you know, and and all in the leadership

528
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:20,440
Speaker 1: like they they loved him. And it was clear from

529
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 1: day one that you know, he was kind of waiting

530
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,000
Speaker 1: for us. He was kind of supposed to be there,

531
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 1: you know, for us, and we were supposed to be

532
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 1: there for him and um, but it was getting him

533
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 1: home was was tricky and it's still get just as

534
00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:37,840
Speaker 1: many times as I told the story, it still gives

535
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 1: me anxiety. And sometimes I just look at him and

536
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,639
Speaker 1: I can't believe that he came back. Yeah, before we

537
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 1: get into getting him home, because I do want to

538
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:47,720
Speaker 1: hear about that, I'm just wondering, did any of the

539
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 1: higher ups give you any crap about like, you know,

540
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:53,520
Speaker 1: why do you have this dog? Or no, well yeah, no,

541
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:58,119
Speaker 1: nobody from nobody from Recon said don't do it, you know,

542
00:27:58,160 --> 00:27:59,959
Speaker 1: like they didn't say do it because you know they

543
00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:02,480
Speaker 1: they had. And when I called my commanding officer on

544
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,920
Speaker 1: my sad phone back at leather Neck and was like, hey,

545
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:06,359
Speaker 1: like I just want to give your heads up, like,

546
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:09,400
Speaker 1: you know, we're getting pretty cozy with this little dog

547
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,960
Speaker 1: out here. He's really cool and uh, you know if

548
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:14,879
Speaker 1: if he if it works out, I might try to

549
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:17,760
Speaker 1: sneak him back and get him home. And he's took

550
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 1: a big sigh. It was like, look, man, like if

551
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,280
Speaker 1: you if you get caught. You're on your own, but

552
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,239
Speaker 1: like I'm not gonna tell you you can't. You know,

553
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:27,159
Speaker 1: like I'm rooting for you, but I'm not gonna go

554
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,040
Speaker 1: to bat for it. That's like that's as good as

555
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:32,160
Speaker 1: permission to me. Like that was all he needed to hear,

556
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 1: you know. Uh yeah, so no, nobody, nobody really from

557
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 1: the recon community or or or Charlie Company or my My, My,

558
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 1: my CEO. Nobody nobody told me we couldn't. But they

559
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: didn't exactly give me direct permission, which is in the

560
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 1: intel world. That's all. That's as good as he gets.

561
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:54,200
Speaker 1: I'd assume you must have always been a dog lover

562
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:57,520
Speaker 1: to you know, just do something like that. Yeah, yeah,

563
00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 1: I've always been a dog lover. But Fred is actually

564
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:04,880
Speaker 1: my first dog. Wow, Yeah, I got the classic. You know,

565
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,200
Speaker 1: I'm gonna end up walking a kind of thing from

566
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 1: my dad when I was a kid. So we had

567
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 1: an older sister and um, she wanted cats. So we

568
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,320
Speaker 1: were a cat family. And cats are great. I'm not

569
00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 1: I'm not shipping on cats, and but I know it's

570
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:22,520
Speaker 1: not the same. And I would intentionally make friends with

571
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,040
Speaker 1: kids in my school that had dogs because I would

572
00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 1: just want to go over to their house and hang

573
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,240
Speaker 1: out with their dog, and actually bought a leash with

574
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,320
Speaker 1: my own money, and I would walk all the neighborhood

575
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,760
Speaker 1: dogs for free after school because I was trying to

576
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:34,880
Speaker 1: show my dad, like, look, I can take care of

577
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 1: a dog. But I'm pretty I think it backfired because

578
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: he was like, oh good, you know, like he's walking

579
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:41,800
Speaker 1: the neighbor's dogs. We don't need to get him one.

580
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:46,479
Speaker 1: So that's funny. But yeah, I've always I've always loved him,

581
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:48,720
Speaker 1: and you know, Fred, I think I was I was

582
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 1: always supposed to have a dog. I just had to

583
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 1: go all the way to Afghanistan and get that's cool. Yeah,

584
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 1: so let's get into what you were saying before bringing

585
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:56,960
Speaker 1: him back to America. I don't like to hear about

586
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,200
Speaker 1: the ass all that. Yeah, yeah, you know, it was

587
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,280
Speaker 1: a big risk. And and because it wasn't like we

588
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,640
Speaker 1: were we were static, it wasn't like we were on

589
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,040
Speaker 1: a fib and that was you know where where I

590
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:07,400
Speaker 1: could have maybe hit him a little bit, or he

591
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,240
Speaker 1: could have blended in with other dogs. Um while I

592
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:11,680
Speaker 1: figured out how to get him home, and we were

593
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 1: going back to the leather neck, which is like a

594
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:18,480
Speaker 1: totally different environment. You know, it's almost like Garrison, you know,

595
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 1: like if you're not shaving every day and your uniform

596
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:22,959
Speaker 1: is not right, like someone, you're gonna hear about it,

597
00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:25,239
Speaker 1: you know. And I had already gotten in trouble from

598
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,760
Speaker 1: my mustache, which I was upset about because it was

599
00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,400
Speaker 1: really nice and and you know, so I was scared,

600
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: you know, about taking him back there because in a

601
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:38,760
Speaker 1: big way, it felt selfish, because yeah, we loved him,

602
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,200
Speaker 1: you know, but like it's one of those things, where

603
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:42,520
Speaker 1: are you do you love him so much that you're

604
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 1: gonna kill him? Because if I got caught with him,

605
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:46,840
Speaker 1: maybe put down and I'd get in a lot of trouble,

606
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,480
Speaker 1: but you know that's whatever. But you know, just the

607
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,600
Speaker 1: circumstances in the risk we're all hit on him, you know.

608
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:57,200
Speaker 1: And so ultimately I I kind of made it his decision.

609
00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:00,200
Speaker 1: I Like, I had a little conversation with Fred the

610
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 1: night before that that we were supposed to get picked up,

611
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,840
Speaker 1: and I was like, if you follow me to the helicopter,

612
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,600
Speaker 1: if you're not scared off by all the noise and

613
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 1: rotor wash and and all the craziness, you know that

614
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,400
Speaker 1: happens when a helicopter comes down. Uh, you actually try

615
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:16,920
Speaker 1: to come with us, you know, I'll do my part.

616
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 1: Will have a Duffel bag in my pocket and i'll uh,

617
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:22,360
Speaker 1: you know, I'll be ready and I'll stuff you in it.

618
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 1: And he's getting he just woke up from his nap.

619
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: He's ready there. Yeah. Uh, and uh, I didn't. I

620
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 1: was terrified of it either way, Like you know, if

621
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 1: I if he didn't come and he ran off, you know, like,

622
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 1: oh that's it, and that would always be kind of

623
00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 1: be heartbroken for that. But if he came, it was like,

624
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,960
Speaker 1: holy sh it, Now I got this huge responsibility to

625
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:47,840
Speaker 1: hide this dog and figure out a way to get

626
00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:51,120
Speaker 1: him home, you know. And so it's not a tiny

627
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 1: dog too, No, Yeah he's yeah, he's not like he

628
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 1: was like a puppy. Yeah he's he's a big guy.

629
00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:02,240
Speaker 1: He wasn't grown much more since then. But um so,

630
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 1: sure enough, I'm running towards the bird and it's kind

631
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:06,760
Speaker 1: of ended up being like a brown out because the

632
00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:10,720
Speaker 1: dust just continuously squirreled and and we were running just

633
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:12,080
Speaker 1: just trying to make sure we weren't going to run

634
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:14,360
Speaker 1: too the tail roader and uh, just to add some

635
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 1: more stress, the situation, and I feel another little poke

636
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:20,400
Speaker 1: at my heel and I looked down and he's terrified.

637
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,720
Speaker 1: He's scared out of his mind, but he's coming. And

638
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 1: it's clear like to me now, like we could have

639
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: been running into a forest fire, he wouldn't have cared

640
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 1: like he was. He was gonna come with us wherever

641
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 1: we went. So um Top the master Sergeant actually was

642
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,720
Speaker 1: right behind me. He comes running up and grabs Fred

643
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:39,560
Speaker 1: by the scrub of the neck like like it's a

644
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,040
Speaker 1: milk like a milk crate, you know, and it just

645
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 1: like lifts him up. And I opened the duffel bag

646
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 1: and we stuffed him in it and we zipp it

647
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 1: close and we just tried to make it look, you know,

648
00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:52,200
Speaker 1: look like gear um and ran up the back of

649
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:55,760
Speaker 1: the of the ramp for the on theft three and uh,

650
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:57,520
Speaker 1: how was it we took out Fred. Fred went on

651
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:00,760
Speaker 1: the helicopter ride before he ever went on a car ride. Um.

652
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 1: And that's that's kind of the most most exciting kind

653
00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,280
Speaker 1: of leg of his journey home. But to me where

654
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:12,920
Speaker 1: the story really gets interesting and awesome is after getting

655
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,600
Speaker 1: him back to the letter neck, because that's when uh,

656
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: people really stepped up from unexpected places in really big ways.

657
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 1: You know. I had all these workers that worked for

658
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 1: DHL um volunteered to watch him for me when I

659
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: went back out in the field with Recon because we

660
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 1: were only back for two weeks and we were right

661
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 1: back out the door and um, you know I hadn't

662
00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 1: you know, that wasn't enough time to figure out how

663
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 1: to get him home. And um and then some PFC

664
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: that I've never even met before, uh, kind of acquired

665
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,440
Speaker 1: tactically a kennel for me to ship him home in,

666
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 1: which was insane, you know, because that that's you know,

667
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: couldn't have happened at the at a better time. Um.

668
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 1: And just all the you know, just all the people

669
00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:56,560
Speaker 1: kind of along the way. There was a British Army

670
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:01,280
Speaker 1: vet that helped me kind of gave him an exam, um,

671
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 1: you know, just to make sure he wasn't sick, and

672
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,040
Speaker 1: she kind of urged me just to to fill out

673
00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 1: the paperwork and kind of look at make it look

674
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 1: as good as I could, um, and just ship him

675
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:12,759
Speaker 1: home and have him vaccinated and all that stuff when

676
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,759
Speaker 1: he got home, um, which I was apprehensive about. I

677
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 1: didn't want to send a sick dog home if he

678
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:19,920
Speaker 1: had some crazy disease, you know. And she was like,

679
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,239
Speaker 1: he was, you know, he's the longer it takes, you know,

680
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,080
Speaker 1: the more likely whatever. If he does have something, it

681
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:28,440
Speaker 1: might developing his system. So if you get him home

682
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,120
Speaker 1: as quick as you can, uh, and you your dad

683
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:34,279
Speaker 1: gets vaccinated, then he'll be fine. I was, okay, that's

684
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:37,840
Speaker 1: you know, that helps, So I, uh, you know, I

685
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 1: just kind of made the paperwork look as good as

686
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,799
Speaker 1: I could and and and shipped him home and beat

687
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,360
Speaker 1: me home by about four months. And uh, my dad's

688
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:47,680
Speaker 1: predictions of taking care of my dog came through because

689
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,359
Speaker 1: my dad picked up with customs and was walking him

690
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 1: around our neighborhood h until I got home. So yeah,

691
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 1: I guess dads are always right one or the other.

692
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 1: Just just Fred looked significantly different at all than when

693
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,000
Speaker 1: you first saw him. Because you look at the dog

694
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 1: in the car on the cover of your book, and

695
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:06,880
Speaker 1: it looks like this beautiful dog. I don't you know

696
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:08,960
Speaker 1: it's I assume it's a mud of some type. It

697
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,520
Speaker 1: almost looks like a Golden Retriever. And it doesn't look

698
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 1: like a dog you would meet on the streets of Afghanistan, right, No,

699
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,239
Speaker 1: I mean there's if you if you look at it,

700
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,080
Speaker 1: if you look at a picture of like a Coochie

701
00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:23,839
Speaker 1: dog or a dog from Hellman, like, you can see

702
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 1: a lot of Fred in there. Um, but you can

703
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,160
Speaker 1: also do like, yeah, pick a dog and look at

704
00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 1: Fred and you'll find something similar. I mean, like I

705
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 1: even just mean cleaning him up though, you know what

706
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,839
Speaker 1: I mean when when you brought him back, what's that?

707
00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:39,960
Speaker 1: I even just mean cleaning him up though, when you

708
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,680
Speaker 1: brought him back getting him groomed. Yeah, my sister gave

709
00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 1: him his first bath and like the dirt and stuff

710
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,640
Speaker 1: was just coming off of him, and uh yeah. And

711
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,680
Speaker 1: he's I think, just dog wise, he's definitely a hound

712
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:58,000
Speaker 1: and a shepherd, um, because he's really loud and kind

713
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,800
Speaker 1: of stubborn like a hound, and and he's he's actually

714
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,640
Speaker 1: a really good hurt. He would herd goats and sheep

715
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:05,840
Speaker 1: and stuff, and he kind of hurt us and we

716
00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:08,680
Speaker 1: were on patrol. He kind of poke us around, um

717
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,520
Speaker 1: when we go on patrols at night and stuff. But um, yeah,

718
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,440
Speaker 1: he's definitely just gotten his gene pool is is uh

719
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:19,440
Speaker 1: is very very big. Did you retire from the Marines

720
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:21,200
Speaker 1: at that point, No, no, I did. I did eight

721
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:23,440
Speaker 1: and got out. I got out in when I got

722
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:26,520
Speaker 1: back from from that, from that deployment. And at what

723
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,200
Speaker 1: point did you think to yourself, this is a book,

724
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:30,960
Speaker 1: this is a story that needs to be told, Or

725
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:36,319
Speaker 1: did anyone approach you? Uh so, I I think the

726
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:39,319
Speaker 1: idea had always kind of been in the back of

727
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 1: my head from very early on, like just getting Fred home,

728
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 1: and once I came home and started like just realizing

729
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,320
Speaker 1: how crazy it was that he that he made it

730
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,920
Speaker 1: and that we both made it home. Um, I kind

731
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:53,759
Speaker 1: of always maybe fantasized about it, but I never let

732
00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:58,360
Speaker 1: myself go too far because I think that that's just

733
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:01,719
Speaker 1: kind of a condition that that veterans have to deal with,

734
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:04,880
Speaker 1: I think in terms of just allowing us to think big,

735
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:09,080
Speaker 1: because I think our expectations are always so managed, uh

736
00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:11,560
Speaker 1: in the military, and and uh, you just you know,

737
00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:14,920
Speaker 1: anytime you think you're getting somewhere, somebody reminds you, you know,

738
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:16,880
Speaker 1: like you got allow a long way to go, or

739
00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:19,359
Speaker 1: there's always some something that happens that you know, kind

740
00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:24,200
Speaker 1: of it just it's a continuous kind of mind fuck

741
00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,440
Speaker 1: in the in the military. And and so it was

742
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:31,200
Speaker 1: really easy to convince myself that, Okay, our story is great,

743
00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:33,919
Speaker 1: but who doesn't love their story about their dog? Okay, yeah,

744
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,319
Speaker 1: he's from Afghanistan, but there's lots of dogs from Afghanistan,

745
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:39,759
Speaker 1: you know, and like people managed to get home in

746
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:42,400
Speaker 1: Iraq and stuff, and like why is your story so special?

747
00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:44,920
Speaker 1: And you know, and I could just dismiss it really quickly,

748
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:46,439
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, you want to write a book,

749
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,279
Speaker 1: like like every other veteran wants to write a book.

750
00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:50,080
Speaker 1: Everybody thinks they're special when they get out like blah

751
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:52,279
Speaker 1: blah blah, like you know who you think you are,

752
00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:55,360
Speaker 1: you know, and get back to work and um. And

753
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:57,239
Speaker 1: so it was really easy for me to dismiss it

754
00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:00,600
Speaker 1: until um, I mean I left the government. I was

755
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:02,759
Speaker 1: working for the government, and I left the government and

756
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:05,360
Speaker 1: went back to school. And that's when I got into Georgetown,

757
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:09,560
Speaker 1: and uh, I started writing for for school and fell

758
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 1: in love with writing again. I think it was one

759
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:13,800
Speaker 1: of the only things I was ever really loved about school.

760
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,880
Speaker 1: When I was a kid, I was writing, and I

761
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:19,200
Speaker 1: started writing papers and stuff for school, and I was like, man,

762
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: I actually like this, you know, even in an academic setting.

763
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,880
Speaker 1: I really loved to write um. And then on the weekends,

764
00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:26,920
Speaker 1: Fred and I would go on hikes, you know, in

765
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 1: Virginia and on the Appalachian Trail and stuff, and I

766
00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:30,600
Speaker 1: would bring a legal pade with me and I would

767
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,400
Speaker 1: fill it in a weekend, just telling the story in

768
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,120
Speaker 1: different ways, you know, And the more I wrote, the

769
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:38,360
Speaker 1: better I felt, you know. At first, it was just

770
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 1: kind of the therapeutic thing for me to do. And

771
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,480
Speaker 1: and then I started to tell the story two people

772
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,000
Speaker 1: on the street because people stopped me all the time, like, hey,

773
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,360
Speaker 1: what kind of dog is that? Because he's such a

774
00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 1: handsome dude, and uh uh, I started to just tell him,

775
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:53,960
Speaker 1: you know, and I think they were expecting like this

776
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,120
Speaker 1: thirty second answer, but they were getting a thirty minute

777
00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,239
Speaker 1: story about you know, where I found him and how

778
00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:00,640
Speaker 1: I got him home. And so was kind of over

779
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:05,239
Speaker 1: a couple of years that I really realized that the

780
00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:09,840
Speaker 1: story itself is bigger than me. And you know, if

781
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,520
Speaker 1: I had it my way, the like the cover of

782
00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 1: the book would be like Fred and all the reconon

783
00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:19,920
Speaker 1: guys and the DHL workers and my friend Justin and Sean,

784
00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:22,520
Speaker 1: you know, who were killed, and like like all these

785
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,080
Speaker 1: incredible people that have come into our lives, you know,

786
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,399
Speaker 1: because it's it's the when you read it. I hope

787
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,520
Speaker 1: that it's apparent to everyone that you know, like like

788
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:34,240
Speaker 1: Fred and I are just the the kind of spokespeople

789
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:37,560
Speaker 1: for Dog for for the story. But it's really just

790
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:40,480
Speaker 1: our duty to share it, um, you know, and to

791
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:43,359
Speaker 1: share it in as many ways and as often as

792
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:47,440
Speaker 1: we can UM. And I think once I realized that,

793
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:53,640
Speaker 1: uh it, you know, it made it. It It made sense

794
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:57,480
Speaker 1: in my head once I realized that it wasn't you know,

795
00:39:57,520 --> 00:39:59,879
Speaker 1: I was. I wasn't being selfish by wanting to share

796
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:02,560
Speaker 1: my story, not that it was. It was kind of

797
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:05,000
Speaker 1: that condition in my head from being in the military

798
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:06,760
Speaker 1: for so long, where you're just supposed to do everything

799
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:11,359
Speaker 1: very quietly and not seek any kind of attention or

800
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:13,920
Speaker 1: or anything like that for it, you know, like that's

801
00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:18,400
Speaker 1: you know, that's that was a big hurdle, um, you know.

802
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 1: And it's it's just ever since I kind of overcame

803
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:25,040
Speaker 1: that the story has been my main focus, and the

804
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:29,280
Speaker 1: more I've focused on it, the more doors have opened

805
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:31,160
Speaker 1: and the more and now now that the book has

806
00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:33,319
Speaker 1: been out for a little while, it's like man like

807
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 1: people people are reaching out to us all the time

808
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 1: and telling us what they love about it and why

809
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:42,080
Speaker 1: and what it's done for them. And it's almost always

810
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:46,719
Speaker 1: an unexpected part of the story or like like just

811
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:50,480
Speaker 1: something you know that they've applied to their situation in

812
00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:54,120
Speaker 1: their life and like something I could have never anticipated,

813
00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:57,400
Speaker 1: you know. And that's that's unbelievable for me. That's just

814
00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 1: such you know, that's proved to me that it is

815
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:01,920
Speaker 1: bigger than me and Fred and we're not you know,

816
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 1: we're not just down here. You know. It's not just

817
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:05,920
Speaker 1: a guy in his dog like you know, like who

818
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:08,200
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to do this? You know, but it is,

819
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:09,960
Speaker 1: you know, it's what we're supposed to do. I think

820
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,040
Speaker 1: that's all what we're looking for, where everybody just looking

821
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:17,040
Speaker 1: for what feels right inside, you know. And um, we

822
00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:18,920
Speaker 1: we kind of have that when we're in the military,

823
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:21,720
Speaker 1: and then when we get out it's we're looking again.

824
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:26,320
Speaker 1: And it took me a while, but I'm I'm really proud, um,

825
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:29,080
Speaker 1: you know, the struggle and and proud to you know,

826
00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:31,200
Speaker 1: to say this is what we're supposed to be doing.

827
00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:35,240
Speaker 1: I think in the current climate in America in general,

828
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 1: people are looking for these feel good stories. You don't

829
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 1: hear about them, and you don't hear about just great

830
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:45,920
Speaker 1: stories like this and friendship and and the love of

831
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:49,480
Speaker 1: you know, a person and their dog, and these are

832
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:52,120
Speaker 1: things that we all relate to, and unfortunately the news

833
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:54,040
Speaker 1: cycle is so negative. So I think it's a nice

834
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:59,080
Speaker 1: escape from that. Yeah it is, and to me, like

835
00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:03,319
Speaker 1: it's a it's like it's a feel good story. But

836
00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:05,799
Speaker 1: it's also like this philosophy that like I've applied to

837
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,759
Speaker 1: my life that Fred has kind of taught me. And

838
00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:11,680
Speaker 1: I call it stubborn positivity. And because that that day

839
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:13,239
Speaker 1: when I walked up to him and he was covered

840
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:15,760
Speaker 1: in bogs and hot and hungary and had every reason

841
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:18,759
Speaker 1: to be an asshole, and like I would have been like, yep,

842
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 1: you're a dog in an Afghanistan and you don't know

843
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,040
Speaker 1: what it is to be a dog. A dog in

844
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:25,080
Speaker 1: my mind, you know, like of course you just grabbed

845
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:27,239
Speaker 1: at me, I'm gonna walk away, And like I totally

846
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:28,759
Speaker 1: would have made sense in my head if he had

847
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,040
Speaker 1: done that. But he he wagged his tail and that

848
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 1: has made all the difference in his life and mine now.

849
00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:37,839
Speaker 1: And I think it's those those moments in life when

850
00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:40,440
Speaker 1: we feel like everything is negative around us, and we

851
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:42,920
Speaker 1: feel like nothing's really going our way and people are

852
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:46,359
Speaker 1: letting us down, and you know, we have all these

853
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:50,279
Speaker 1: reasons to be nasty and act out, and people around

854
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:52,640
Speaker 1: us will even make excuses for us ago, you know,

855
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:56,120
Speaker 1: like they something happened to them and that's why they're mean,

856
00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:59,200
Speaker 1: or that's why they're doing this. Those are the moments

857
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,800
Speaker 1: that it's most important for us to wag our tails,

858
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,759
Speaker 1: you know, or or to just just do something nice

859
00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:08,799
Speaker 1: for someone else. Uh, you know. And I always just

860
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:12,840
Speaker 1: think about like think about like in in singing and

861
00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:16,279
Speaker 1: in you know, back here at Homer's anywhere in the

862
00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:20,200
Speaker 1: world when there's a natural disaster, you see really bad stuff,

863
00:43:20,239 --> 00:43:22,279
Speaker 1: and you see negative stuff all the time, but you

864
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:24,480
Speaker 1: also see the best of people. And that's what I

865
00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:27,279
Speaker 1: loved about my time in Afghanistan was like watching these

866
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:31,120
Speaker 1: recon marines just be incredible and and and watching these

867
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,239
Speaker 1: villagers do incredible things for one another and for us,

868
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:39,440
Speaker 1: you know, and and uh, and these really hard circumstances.

869
00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:42,880
Speaker 1: So I think it's really easy to get buried today

870
00:43:43,239 --> 00:43:46,120
Speaker 1: and all this crazy nous. We're so divided, were so

871
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:51,799
Speaker 1: different countries, you know, so toxic but uh, we have

872
00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:55,880
Speaker 1: way more in common with one another then the news

873
00:43:55,880 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 1: would have us believe. And it just takes a second

874
00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:03,520
Speaker 1: to see that. It just takes like a quick hello

875
00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:06,319
Speaker 1: to your neighbor and the elevator or holding a door

876
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:09,440
Speaker 1: for someone at the grocery store, you know, or or

877
00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:12,680
Speaker 1: just a little thing, you know, and it can reverse

878
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:16,640
Speaker 1: your entire day. You can reverse somebody else's entire day.

879
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,319
Speaker 1: And that continues onunt and haunted on. So it's like, yeah,

880
00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:24,080
Speaker 1: like these positive stories don't get reported because I think

881
00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:28,319
Speaker 1: so many people kind of like write them off as

882
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:29,799
Speaker 1: like feel good, you know, like when you see the

883
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 1: local news and it's like, oh, this old lady plays

884
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:34,200
Speaker 1: bingo every day, and like, you know, like this sweet

885
00:44:34,239 --> 00:44:36,040
Speaker 1: old lady, you know, or something like that. It's it's

886
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,680
Speaker 1: kind of fluff. But like that old lady kicks ass,

887
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:42,719
Speaker 1: you know, and she's sweet and she's consistently awesome, you know,

888
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:46,360
Speaker 1: and and it's those kind of things that make a smile.

889
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:48,160
Speaker 1: But we should think a little bit more about him,

890
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:51,680
Speaker 1: you know. And I try to find a way for

891
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:54,759
Speaker 1: us to kind of be more like that. And that's

892
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:58,120
Speaker 1: kind of what I've done with Fred is really over

893
00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:02,360
Speaker 1: analyze his life and the way he was when I

894
00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:05,600
Speaker 1: first met him, and really thought deep and hard about

895
00:45:05,680 --> 00:45:08,279
Speaker 1: the fact that he wagged his tail, you know, and

896
00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:10,840
Speaker 1: thought about how I can apply that to to my life.

897
00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:16,520
Speaker 1: And it's it's insane. It's insane. The because I was

898
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:18,920
Speaker 1: super negative for the first couple of years and when

899
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:23,600
Speaker 1: I got out, um, and you know, there there was

900
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:25,799
Speaker 1: some some some bad times there because it was just

901
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:28,799
Speaker 1: really frustrating and I felt like I was really validated

902
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,319
Speaker 1: and being negative. Um. And that's why that's why I

903
00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:36,839
Speaker 1: call it stubborn positivity, because it's not like this. It's

904
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:40,799
Speaker 1: not like this like naive, Oh everything's fine. Meanwhile your

905
00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:43,320
Speaker 1: house is on fire and you're just like everything's positive

906
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:46,200
Speaker 1: and great. It's like you you really have to embrace

907
00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:49,520
Speaker 1: the ship and embrace the negative. And then when you

908
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:52,360
Speaker 1: do that and you figure out, you know, all the

909
00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:54,399
Speaker 1: bad things that are going on in your life, then

910
00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:56,960
Speaker 1: you could find the good and that's your way out

911
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:00,239
Speaker 1: and everything. And it's just little steps and and but

912
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:03,200
Speaker 1: then they become bigger and bigger and bigger, and but no,

913
00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:05,560
Speaker 1: I love it though, because I think what this is

914
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:09,080
Speaker 1: all about is how one very small action can change

915
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:12,239
Speaker 1: the outcome of not just this dog's life, who would

916
00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:15,480
Speaker 1: have just been you know, traveling through Afghanistan. No owner,

917
00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 1: probably die young at some point, Malann nourished or something,

918
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:22,120
Speaker 1: but also changed the outcome of your life because you

919
00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:24,279
Speaker 1: based on what you're saying to me, you didn't see

920
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:27,520
Speaker 1: yourself becoming an author or a best selling author at

921
00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:32,680
Speaker 1: this point. You know, No, yeah, exactly. Yeah, He's he's

922
00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:35,799
Speaker 1: given me, he's getting just by that little action. You know,

923
00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:40,000
Speaker 1: He's given me so much and he's I'm I'm who.

924
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:42,160
Speaker 1: I'm more who I was before I joined the Marine

925
00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:45,759
Speaker 1: Corps than I ever have been. And it's not that

926
00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:49,080
Speaker 1: I've like lost any of my marineness or like you know,

927
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:51,480
Speaker 1: tried to put it behind me. It's it's like almost

928
00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:55,600
Speaker 1: like I become the best of both and like my

929
00:46:55,680 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 1: Marine Corps time and all my experiences, the good and

930
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:01,799
Speaker 1: the bad, I've been want to finally stitch together with

931
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:06,880
Speaker 1: like the the confident, kind of goofy, you know, loving

932
00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:09,920
Speaker 1: kid that I was before the war and before Marine

933
00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:12,560
Speaker 1: Corps and all that stuff. And it's like that's that

934
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:15,560
Speaker 1: is what makes me feel really powerful. And I think,

935
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:17,919
Speaker 1: I think if there's one thing, if there's any vets

936
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:22,360
Speaker 1: or any anybody that's listening, you know, like that's that's

937
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:25,880
Speaker 1: what I like. What I'm really proud to say is

938
00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:29,080
Speaker 1: that you know, you you don't have to like try

939
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:32,320
Speaker 1: to shut a door on your military you know, service

940
00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:38,200
Speaker 1: or experiences like you can they're they're valuable and and

941
00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:39,960
Speaker 1: you don't have to Also, you don't have to have

942
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:44,560
Speaker 1: had like the sexy you know, like spooky deployments with

943
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:47,960
Speaker 1: lots of combat and salty ship like you could, like

944
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:52,640
Speaker 1: any anybody, anybody that's served in any branch anywhere like

945
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 1: state side or overseas. Your experience is yours, and it's

946
00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:00,920
Speaker 1: unique and it's awesome, and when you get out or

947
00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:03,480
Speaker 1: if you stay in, it's always gonna be something that

948
00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:06,279
Speaker 1: you can use. And I think a lot of times

949
00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:09,400
Speaker 1: we're told to try and put stuff behind us or

950
00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:13,600
Speaker 1: not talk about it, you know, and I don't. I don't.

951
00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:16,400
Speaker 1: For me, that doesn't That hasn't worked. And what's really

952
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:20,480
Speaker 1: worked is finding that balance and kind of synchronizing my

953
00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:25,000
Speaker 1: past and you know, my present. Um, and that's you know,

954
00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:28,280
Speaker 1: I'm on the road right now. So I'm like very philosophical,

955
00:48:28,360 --> 00:48:31,040
Speaker 1: but fun to think it's it's fun to think about

956
00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:33,520
Speaker 1: because if you'd told me just like two years ago

957
00:48:34,239 --> 00:48:37,600
Speaker 1: that i'd have a book, you know, two books, and

958
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:40,640
Speaker 1: we'd be traveling around the country, you know, and people

959
00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:43,000
Speaker 1: would be like people recognize fread all the time. They

960
00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:46,520
Speaker 1: don't recognize me. Nobody cares on me. But and you know,

961
00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:51,160
Speaker 1: it's just insane, man. And uh, and I'm so grateful

962
00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:54,880
Speaker 1: to so many people. Um. And I just want to

963
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:58,000
Speaker 1: give as much of that to my fellow veterans and

964
00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:01,600
Speaker 1: everyone you know that I can, because it's I'm seeing

965
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:05,520
Speaker 1: it payoff and dividends when we're just we find reasons

966
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:09,160
Speaker 1: to be positive. And uh, it's just it's huge. Well,

967
00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:12,080
Speaker 1: you know what's crazy about doing this podcast, Craig is

968
00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:15,880
Speaker 1: like I hear certain things said by different guests, and

969
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:20,560
Speaker 1: I realized that it's echoed by other people in the community. Um.

970
00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:24,080
Speaker 1: And you know, you've never even heard the interview. But

971
00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:26,399
Speaker 1: like Leo Jenkins, who was on with us, just did

972
00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:30,040
Speaker 1: this Versus and Curses tour where he's with fellow veterans

973
00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:33,160
Speaker 1: reading poetry. I followed them on. I follow that tour.

974
00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:35,720
Speaker 1: I want to meet those guys. They sounds well, I

975
00:49:35,719 --> 00:49:38,239
Speaker 1: I met them all, but Leo I know in particular,

976
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:39,640
Speaker 1: and he's a great guy. It has been on the

977
00:49:39,640 --> 00:49:42,520
Speaker 1: show many times, but the last time Leo was on,

978
00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 1: he pretty much said exactly the same thing as you

979
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:49,040
Speaker 1: about like, if you're a veteran, no matter what your experience,

980
00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:52,400
Speaker 1: right that ship, don't you know, don't keep it bottled

981
00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:55,480
Speaker 1: up inside. That's not the way of going about things.

982
00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:57,440
Speaker 1: And like people want to hear your story, and it's

983
00:49:57,440 --> 00:49:59,960
Speaker 1: just it's cool when I hear different guests from different

984
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:03,400
Speaker 1: walks of life, different branches of the military, echo the

985
00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:07,560
Speaker 1: same type of sentiment. That's great man. Yeah, I'm I'm

986
00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:09,480
Speaker 1: I'm glad to hear you say that. I'm glad that

987
00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:14,560
Speaker 1: we're shifting the culture in terms of just being a veteran,

988
00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:17,279
Speaker 1: you know. And you know, we don't like everybody has

989
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:19,720
Speaker 1: that that uncle or maybe a father or a family

990
00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:22,080
Speaker 1: member that's like, oh that's you know, my uncle John,

991
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:23,880
Speaker 1: he was in World War Two. He doesn't talk about it,

992
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:26,680
Speaker 1: you know, Like that's we don't have to be like that,

993
00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:30,560
Speaker 1: you know. And it's your duty as the carrier of

994
00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:33,759
Speaker 1: these stories to share them, you know. And it's it's

995
00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:36,480
Speaker 1: a burden at times, but it's it's it's one worth bearing,

996
00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:38,960
Speaker 1: you know, and and it's it doesn't have to be easy.

997
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:42,160
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to you know. I think sometimes I

998
00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:44,160
Speaker 1: can make it look a little easy for for people

999
00:50:44,239 --> 00:50:45,799
Speaker 1: because I love to do it so much. But it's

1000
00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:49,680
Speaker 1: I mean, we were had a library event in Colorado

1001
00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:54,200
Speaker 1: and like, like I don't know anyone in Colorado, not

1002
00:50:54,200 --> 00:50:56,000
Speaker 1: not I have some friends here, but they're there, but

1003
00:50:56,560 --> 00:50:58,080
Speaker 1: like it's not like I have family there, Like this

1004
00:50:58,160 --> 00:51:01,000
Speaker 1: is our first event with the book coming way west,

1005
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:03,880
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm like sitting there with Fred getting

1006
00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:06,160
Speaker 1: ready to give my talk, and I'm watching the room

1007
00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:09,200
Speaker 1: fill up to like capacity, and like I was, it

1008
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:11,840
Speaker 1: was hard, man, Like it was hard because I'm just like,

1009
00:51:11,880 --> 00:51:15,040
Speaker 1: holy crap, like this this isn't you know, in Maine

1010
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:17,360
Speaker 1: or d C. Where where we're from, you know, like

1011
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:19,960
Speaker 1: this is another part of the country, and like people

1012
00:51:19,960 --> 00:51:22,399
Speaker 1: are coming, you know. And that was the tough one.

1013
00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:24,319
Speaker 1: I broke down a couple of times sharing that the

1014
00:51:24,360 --> 00:51:28,000
Speaker 1: story that night, and it's just because it's it's you know,

1015
00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:30,680
Speaker 1: it just means so much to me and I you know,

1016
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:34,440
Speaker 1: so it's you know, it's not an easy kind of past.

1017
00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:37,080
Speaker 1: You know, it's gonna be hard, but it's always worth

1018
00:51:37,239 --> 00:51:40,960
Speaker 1: it's always worth sharing, uh and listening to other people's stories.

1019
00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:44,239
Speaker 1: So I'm glad that Versus and Curses Tour is so cool.

1020
00:51:44,320 --> 00:51:48,560
Speaker 1: The poetry and stuff that that's some that's some real writing.

1021
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:50,959
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just sharing stories here that those guys

1022
00:51:50,960 --> 00:51:53,440
Speaker 1: are are real artists. I got to go to the

1023
00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:56,200
Speaker 1: New York date and it was a great time. And actually,

1024
00:51:56,239 --> 00:51:59,320
Speaker 1: I feel like the guys from your generation like Ulio

1025
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:02,320
Speaker 1: are in aspiring the old generation that you're talking about

1026
00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:04,080
Speaker 1: to get out there and tell their stories. I mean,

1027
00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:08,520
Speaker 1: for example, Um Jim West was there, um whose special

1028
00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:11,600
Speaker 1: Forces legend in the community, who has become a friend

1029
00:52:11,640 --> 00:52:14,520
Speaker 1: of mine over the years. But the fact is Jim

1030
00:52:14,840 --> 00:52:17,880
Speaker 1: really did not share any of his story until many

1031
00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:21,480
Speaker 1: many years later. He was He kept a lot of

1032
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:23,880
Speaker 1: it very hidden. Was a very angry guy. And you

1033
00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:26,439
Speaker 1: know when he talks about his history of getting into

1034
00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:28,640
Speaker 1: bar fights and stuff like that, I think a lot

1035
00:52:28,719 --> 00:52:31,600
Speaker 1: of it is the result of post traumatic stress issues.

1036
00:52:31,640 --> 00:52:34,600
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, his son being brutally murdered,

1037
00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:37,720
Speaker 1: which he you know, talks about with us now. But

1038
00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:40,319
Speaker 1: he finally is able to get out there tell his

1039
00:52:40,400 --> 00:52:44,240
Speaker 1: story and his brutal over terms of terms as he wants,

1040
00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:46,880
Speaker 1: because it's a pretty harsh story. And it's now like

1041
00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:50,279
Speaker 1: at peace and and the Gym West that I know

1042
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:52,520
Speaker 1: in recent years is a guy who like comes up

1043
00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:54,200
Speaker 1: to you and puts his arm around you and is

1044
00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:56,560
Speaker 1: a huge style on his face. And at least from

1045
00:52:56,600 --> 00:52:58,880
Speaker 1: what he tells me, that is not the Gym West

1046
00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:02,680
Speaker 1: of ten twenty years out. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, it's

1047
00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:06,680
Speaker 1: just it seems I think it seems so simple that

1048
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:10,160
Speaker 1: so many of us will write it off. But if

1049
00:53:10,200 --> 00:53:12,160
Speaker 1: you just take one step and you just share your

1050
00:53:12,200 --> 00:53:14,760
Speaker 1: story once or even a fraction of your story once,

1051
00:53:15,320 --> 00:53:20,080
Speaker 1: you'll see and you'll see how good it can be. Uh,

1052
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:23,839
Speaker 1: And that's awesome. I'm so glad for him because that man,

1053
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:25,600
Speaker 1: Like I talked to a lot of Vietnam guys and

1054
00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:28,799
Speaker 1: it's like, man like, we didn't feel welcomed home, like

1055
00:53:28,880 --> 00:53:30,759
Speaker 1: and that's I think they're like, they're thank you for

1056
00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:34,680
Speaker 1: your service, is like welcome home. And so whenever I

1057
00:53:34,719 --> 00:53:37,280
Speaker 1: meet a Vietnam that I always try to say welcome

1058
00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:41,000
Speaker 1: home to them. That's that's like they're you know, like

1059
00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:44,720
Speaker 1: they didn't hear that, you know, And that's that's crazy.

1060
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:47,480
Speaker 1: I can't imagine going through what I did in Afghanistan

1061
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:51,640
Speaker 1: and coming home to an environment like that and the therapy,

1062
00:53:52,520 --> 00:53:54,799
Speaker 1: you know, therapy and all that was not what it

1063
00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:57,560
Speaker 1: is today. It was not well you are looked at

1064
00:53:57,600 --> 00:53:59,359
Speaker 1: as like a strong man if you had to see

1065
00:53:59,360 --> 00:54:02,400
Speaker 1: a therapy stir talk about your issues, which today I

1066
00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:04,399
Speaker 1: think more and more people are coming out and saying, hey,

1067
00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:09,200
Speaker 1: this is normal, it's something that you should do. Yeah, totally, Yeah, yep,

1068
00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:12,560
Speaker 1: that's awesome. I was wondering what the book itself. So

1069
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:15,839
Speaker 1: when you got the book done, for people who don't know,

1070
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:18,960
Speaker 1: this book is selling incredibly on Amazon. I mean that's

1071
00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:21,399
Speaker 1: how I came about it. This is not a book

1072
00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:23,719
Speaker 1: that you put out independently. It's through Harper Collins. So

1073
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:26,360
Speaker 1: what's the story about getting hooked up with them and

1074
00:54:26,760 --> 00:54:32,440
Speaker 1: putting out a book on a major imprint. Yeah. So, um,

1075
00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:35,440
Speaker 1: it came down to I wrote the whole thing. I

1076
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:40,480
Speaker 1: wrote and a couple of times and until I found like,

1077
00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:43,520
Speaker 1: until I had the right one, the right version, and

1078
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:47,440
Speaker 1: then I put together a proposal and you know, just

1079
00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:50,319
Speaker 1: it's a lot of research and finding comparable books and

1080
00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:54,000
Speaker 1: really just it's her pitch with a couple of good

1081
00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:56,680
Speaker 1: sample chapters in there, and I had it all lined

1082
00:54:56,719 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 1: up ready to go. What I was missing was something,

1083
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:06,719
Speaker 1: ng um, something to kind of light is spark, you know,

1084
00:55:06,719 --> 00:55:11,080
Speaker 1: and and kind of hina light on on our story. Um.

1085
00:55:11,120 --> 00:55:13,520
Speaker 1: You know. I had our had friend's Instagram going for

1086
00:55:13,719 --> 00:55:15,520
Speaker 1: the Afghan and all that stuff. It was all all

1087
00:55:15,560 --> 00:55:20,080
Speaker 1: the foundation was built, um, but I needed just somebody

1088
00:55:20,160 --> 00:55:21,600
Speaker 1: to kind of shine a light on us and so

1089
00:55:21,760 --> 00:55:25,200
Speaker 1: attract the attention of a publisher. Um. Because it's not like,

1090
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:27,239
Speaker 1: you know, when the celebrity writes a book, like the

1091
00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:31,040
Speaker 1: publishers just you come crawling to them or something like that.

1092
00:55:31,080 --> 00:55:34,440
Speaker 1: So anyway, I was reaching out to like news organizations

1093
00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:37,560
Speaker 1: and like different online and kind of organizations like Upworthy

1094
00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:39,600
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, and I wasn't getting anywhere. Nobody

1095
00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:42,719
Speaker 1: was really interested. One local news channel in d C

1096
00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:45,320
Speaker 1: actually told me to get back to them at Veteran's Day,

1097
00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:48,720
Speaker 1: which was a total kick in the dick um and

1098
00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:51,759
Speaker 1: just because it's like really like you want to just

1099
00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:55,719
Speaker 1: run this and be okay and so um. I was

1100
00:55:55,760 --> 00:56:01,160
Speaker 1: kind of frustrated. And it was actually the I got

1101
00:56:01,200 --> 00:56:04,640
Speaker 1: out of Georgetown, I graduated and I got a job

1102
00:56:04,719 --> 00:56:07,799
Speaker 1: offer from Whose Island, and that was gonna go work,

1103
00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:09,640
Speaker 1: you know, in the back of the government. And I

1104
00:56:09,640 --> 00:56:11,960
Speaker 1: had but I had eight months to figure out. I

1105
00:56:11,960 --> 00:56:15,160
Speaker 1: had eight months until my clearance would be reinstated. And

1106
00:56:15,200 --> 00:56:16,480
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, I got eight months to

1107
00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:18,280
Speaker 1: get this book off the ground. That's what I'm supposed

1108
00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:19,879
Speaker 1: to do. It will happen in the next eight months.

1109
00:56:20,440 --> 00:56:22,160
Speaker 1: And I had. I have a fundraiser every year for

1110
00:56:22,239 --> 00:56:24,560
Speaker 1: my friend Justin who was killed, and we do it

1111
00:56:24,600 --> 00:56:26,080
Speaker 1: in d c. We do it at a bar called

1112
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:28,319
Speaker 1: the Pug and we put my I'm in like a

1113
00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:30,399
Speaker 1: mediocre cover band, and we hold down a two hour

1114
00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:32,560
Speaker 1: set at this place called the Rock and Roll Hotel,

1115
00:56:32,600 --> 00:56:34,480
Speaker 1: which is down the street. We raise money for TAPS,

1116
00:56:34,920 --> 00:56:37,920
Speaker 1: which is a great nonprofit for like the grief counseling

1117
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:40,120
Speaker 1: to the families of the fallen. And what do you

1118
00:56:40,160 --> 00:56:41,680
Speaker 1: what are you fighting? The cover band, by the way,

1119
00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:45,760
Speaker 1: I'm the rum the drummer, big noise and uh um.

1120
00:56:45,840 --> 00:56:47,960
Speaker 1: Justin's mom and dad come down from Pittsburgh and we

1121
00:56:48,080 --> 00:56:52,040
Speaker 1: packed the house. It's an incredible night. But my polygraph

1122
00:56:52,200 --> 00:56:55,719
Speaker 1: was scheduled for the morning after and that was not

1123
00:56:55,719 --> 00:56:57,759
Speaker 1: gonna happen, and they wouldn't let me reschedule it. But

1124
00:56:57,840 --> 00:57:00,680
Speaker 1: like I mean, I mean, Justin's dad like drink like

1125
00:57:00,760 --> 00:57:03,960
Speaker 1: a lot, and it's just a great night. Um, but

1126
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:05,399
Speaker 1: it was not the kind of night that you could

1127
00:57:05,440 --> 00:57:09,279
Speaker 1: recover from in a day. So uh, at one point

1128
00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:10,879
Speaker 1: during the night, I was kind of like, man, I'm

1129
00:57:10,880 --> 00:57:12,880
Speaker 1: not going I'm not going to that polygraph, you know.

1130
00:57:12,920 --> 00:57:16,160
Speaker 1: And that was a big choice because I was struggling.

1131
00:57:16,240 --> 00:57:18,080
Speaker 1: You know, if my girlfriend Nora was like holding us

1132
00:57:18,080 --> 00:57:20,440
Speaker 1: down with her job. She was she moved down from Boston.

1133
00:57:20,800 --> 00:57:23,080
Speaker 1: He was working a tech job, you know, in d C.

1134
00:57:23,280 --> 00:57:25,120
Speaker 1: And I was work in retail, you know, while I

1135
00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:26,640
Speaker 1: was waiting for my clearance to go through. So it

1136
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:29,320
Speaker 1: was like that and just that was the rational path,

1137
00:57:29,400 --> 00:57:32,280
Speaker 1: like going back to the government and taking that contractor job,

1138
00:57:32,320 --> 00:57:34,440
Speaker 1: and and but it at some point in the night,

1139
00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 1: you know, maybe my ninth or tenth shot at Jamison,

1140
00:57:36,720 --> 00:57:39,800
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm not going to this polygraph tomorrow,

1141
00:57:39,880 --> 00:57:42,840
Speaker 1: you know, and it made sense, and my girlfriend was Nora,

1142
00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:48,120
Speaker 1: she was like, yeah, like you know, it's okay. And um,

1143
00:57:48,160 --> 00:57:50,520
Speaker 1: I found that not the next day because I didn't

1144
00:57:50,520 --> 00:57:52,400
Speaker 1: do anything the next day, but the day after that,

1145
00:57:53,240 --> 00:57:56,720
Speaker 1: I found this website called the Dodo and it's all

1146
00:57:56,840 --> 00:58:01,200
Speaker 1: positive animal stories. It's all like uplifting, awesome stories that

1147
00:58:01,240 --> 00:58:04,000
Speaker 1: are related to animals. And I shot them an email

1148
00:58:04,200 --> 00:58:05,760
Speaker 1: and I kind of forgot about it. It was like

1149
00:58:05,800 --> 00:58:07,080
Speaker 1: they won't get back to me because I was kind

1150
00:58:07,080 --> 00:58:09,680
Speaker 1: of used to getting rejected. And I think like an

1151
00:58:09,720 --> 00:58:11,760
Speaker 1: hour later, I got an email back and was like, Hey,

1152
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:14,280
Speaker 1: we want to do an interview, write an article, and wow,

1153
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:16,520
Speaker 1: you have all the social media videos and pictures, like

1154
00:58:16,560 --> 00:58:18,520
Speaker 1: can we make a video? I was like, WHOA. So

1155
00:58:18,560 --> 00:58:20,680
Speaker 1: I got on the phone with this girl and her

1156
00:58:20,760 --> 00:58:23,240
Speaker 1: name was Sarah, and I gave her like the hour

1157
00:58:23,360 --> 00:58:26,520
Speaker 1: long version of Fred's story and sent her all these

1158
00:58:26,520 --> 00:58:28,800
Speaker 1: pictures and let them upload everything they wanted from my

1159
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:32,720
Speaker 1: YouTube channel and and Fred the Afghan Facebook and Instagram

1160
00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:36,600
Speaker 1: and and they put together this video and it got

1161
00:58:36,640 --> 00:58:42,520
Speaker 1: like twenty million views, and like yeah, and I got

1162
00:58:42,520 --> 00:58:47,280
Speaker 1: an email from a senior editor, HarperCollins, and We're off

1163
00:58:47,440 --> 00:58:51,600
Speaker 1: and running. Yeah. Everything just happens the way it's supposed to.

1164
00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:55,200
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, yeah. But it's like if I had

1165
00:58:55,320 --> 00:58:58,600
Speaker 1: had that, if I had been who I was in

1166
00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:02,560
Speaker 1: the years prior I would have let though, I would

1167
00:59:02,600 --> 00:59:05,000
Speaker 1: have made a lot of excuses for myself and been

1168
00:59:05,080 --> 00:59:07,240
Speaker 1: kind of negative about getting rejectedd and being like, well,

1169
00:59:07,240 --> 00:59:08,640
Speaker 1: I guess I'm not supposed to do that, you know,

1170
00:59:08,720 --> 00:59:11,000
Speaker 1: And it would have been really easy to kind of

1171
00:59:11,040 --> 00:59:14,360
Speaker 1: give up. But it's really just comes down to stubborn

1172
00:59:14,400 --> 00:59:17,440
Speaker 1: positivity and find you know, and finding you know, like

1173
00:59:17,640 --> 00:59:20,600
Speaker 1: that drive and to to continue to to you know,

1174
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:22,960
Speaker 1: just look for what you're supposed to do instead of

1175
00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:26,880
Speaker 1: just set That's awesome, man. Well, I'm sure a lot

1176
00:59:26,920 --> 00:59:28,760
Speaker 1: of the audience is gonna want to pick up the book.

1177
00:59:29,160 --> 00:59:32,360
Speaker 1: There's a huge cross section of you know, military and

1178
00:59:32,480 --> 00:59:35,040
Speaker 1: dog lovers in this audience. So the book is Craig

1179
00:59:35,120 --> 00:59:37,960
Speaker 1: and Fred, a marine, a stray Doug and how they

1180
00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:40,720
Speaker 1: rescued each other. Of course, as we mentioned before, there's

1181
00:59:40,720 --> 00:59:43,040
Speaker 1: also the young Reader's edition. If you have a kid

1182
00:59:43,040 --> 00:59:46,320
Speaker 1: in the audience, UM, which a lot of our audience does.

1183
00:59:46,960 --> 00:59:51,760
Speaker 1: UM on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at Fred the Afghan Fred

1184
00:59:51,760 --> 00:59:54,600
Speaker 1: the Afghan dot com. And I guess from what you're saying,

1185
00:59:54,880 --> 01:00:02,840
Speaker 1: you're on like a book signing tour. Yeah wants So

1186
01:00:03,720 --> 01:00:06,640
Speaker 1: what what dates do you have coming up? Because if

1187
01:00:06,680 --> 01:00:09,840
Speaker 1: you know, some people listening might want to meet you. Fred.

1188
01:00:09,880 --> 01:00:13,880
Speaker 1: Of course, we're adding stuff all the time. Um so

1189
01:00:13,920 --> 01:00:18,640
Speaker 1: we got we're traveling across the country right now. Um June,

1190
01:00:18,720 --> 01:00:22,160
Speaker 1: we're gonna be in Pasadena, and that's the way it

1191
01:00:22,240 --> 01:00:24,160
Speaker 1: usually goes. I go to a library or a bookstore

1192
01:00:24,160 --> 01:00:28,720
Speaker 1: and I share the story for um, you know, about minutes,

1193
01:00:28,720 --> 01:00:30,840
Speaker 1: and then they answer questions. People always have great questions

1194
01:00:31,280 --> 01:00:34,680
Speaker 1: and uh and uh, and then I signed books. We

1195
01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:36,600
Speaker 1: have a little potograph that we made out of Fred's

1196
01:00:36,640 --> 01:00:40,720
Speaker 1: paw and uh and we signed the books like that,

1197
01:00:40,840 --> 01:00:44,040
Speaker 1: and it's just the The events are really a lot

1198
01:00:44,040 --> 01:00:46,800
Speaker 1: of fun and that's really great to meet so many people.

1199
01:00:47,440 --> 01:00:49,600
Speaker 1: Um so yeah, people, you can check our website at

1200
01:00:49,600 --> 01:00:51,440
Speaker 1: the on the event. We're always adding new events. So

1201
01:00:51,440 --> 01:00:53,080
Speaker 1: if you just go to fred the Afghan dot com

1202
01:00:53,120 --> 01:00:56,280
Speaker 1: and go under events, um you'll see the Pasadena and

1203
01:00:56,280 --> 01:00:58,880
Speaker 1: the thing and all the details there. And then we're

1204
01:00:58,920 --> 01:01:00,840
Speaker 1: hoping to get more, you know, while we're out west,

1205
01:01:00,840 --> 01:01:04,320
Speaker 1: if if if if anything pops up, well you know what,

1206
01:01:04,400 --> 01:01:07,280
Speaker 1: we haven't said no yet just about any librarian bookstore.

1207
01:01:07,720 --> 01:01:09,160
Speaker 1: We do speak in a lot of schools too, and

1208
01:01:09,240 --> 01:01:13,720
Speaker 1: schools are are in session and um, you know, wants

1209
01:01:13,720 --> 01:01:16,600
Speaker 1: to look into to having us. You know, we're easy

1210
01:01:16,640 --> 01:01:19,480
Speaker 1: to find and we love we love traveling and we

1211
01:01:19,520 --> 01:01:22,520
Speaker 1: love sharing our stories. So it's funny you mentioned the potograph.

1212
01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:25,160
Speaker 1: Um Mike Ritland, who has been on the show Navy

1213
01:01:25,200 --> 01:01:31,000
Speaker 1: cl Canine Instructor, I think he. I think Andrew Wilkow

1214
01:01:31,240 --> 01:01:32,640
Speaker 1: used to work with might have been the first who

1215
01:01:32,680 --> 01:01:34,920
Speaker 1: gotten to do it. But I think he'll sometimes have

1216
01:01:35,040 --> 01:01:38,760
Speaker 1: his dog bite the book. Oh that's cool. I bet

1217
01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:40,600
Speaker 1: I can get Fred to do that. Yeah, we want

1218
01:01:40,680 --> 01:01:43,800
Speaker 1: to try that. Well, that's what coming on man. I

1219
01:01:44,160 --> 01:01:46,680
Speaker 1: was also going to tell you before we um wrap

1220
01:01:46,800 --> 01:01:49,320
Speaker 1: this up. Part of what we do a hurricane group.

1221
01:01:49,440 --> 01:01:52,640
Speaker 1: We're working with this company, Kuna Dog, and we have

1222
01:01:52,720 --> 01:01:55,880
Speaker 1: like a monthly dog subscription box where we're sending out

1223
01:01:55,880 --> 01:01:59,680
Speaker 1: like probiotics toys that are geared towards like the specific

1224
01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:02,800
Speaker 1: dog you have in terms of weight and all that. Um,

1225
01:02:02,840 --> 01:02:04,480
Speaker 1: so I would love to get you hooked up with them.

1226
01:02:04,520 --> 01:02:06,520
Speaker 1: I think I told your publicists will send you over

1227
01:02:06,600 --> 01:02:09,720
Speaker 1: some stuff. But like naturally me just thinking of this,

1228
01:02:09,760 --> 01:02:12,160
Speaker 1: I was like, Craig would be a perfect ambassador for this.

1229
01:02:12,200 --> 01:02:14,880
Speaker 1: So maybe we can make something happen that would be

1230
01:02:14,920 --> 01:02:17,080
Speaker 1: awesome man. Yeah, we uh, we would be we would

1231
01:02:17,080 --> 01:02:19,919
Speaker 1: be interested in hearing more and just seeing what Yeah,

1232
01:02:19,960 --> 01:02:22,160
Speaker 1: what what you guys have in mind? Um, yeah, I

1233
01:02:22,160 --> 01:02:24,800
Speaker 1: love she said. She mentioned something briefly about it, but

1234
01:02:24,960 --> 01:02:26,560
Speaker 1: we've been in and out of reception in the last

1235
01:02:26,600 --> 01:02:29,400
Speaker 1: couple of days, so it's um, I haven't looked into

1236
01:02:29,440 --> 01:02:31,600
Speaker 1: it too much, but yeah, i'd love to. We haven't

1237
01:02:31,640 --> 01:02:34,400
Speaker 1: partnered with any with any brands or anything like that yet,

1238
01:02:34,440 --> 01:02:37,080
Speaker 1: but it's something that we've been interested in. Um, we've

1239
01:02:37,120 --> 01:02:39,120
Speaker 1: just wanted to wait for the right you know, the

1240
01:02:39,200 --> 01:02:41,840
Speaker 1: right opportunity. So very cool man. We'll send me over

1241
01:02:42,040 --> 01:02:44,680
Speaker 1: you know, through her, or you can send it to me. Um,

1242
01:02:44,800 --> 01:02:47,520
Speaker 1: send me over your address and I'll make sure that

1243
01:02:47,600 --> 01:02:50,479
Speaker 1: the people work on that portion of the website could

1244
01:02:50,480 --> 01:02:52,680
Speaker 1: send you over some gear and see how you like it,

1245
01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:55,880
Speaker 1: see how Fred likes it of course. Yeah, yeah, right, yeah,

1246
01:02:55,880 --> 01:02:59,680
Speaker 1: it's all about Fred. Very cool man. Well, it's been awesome.

1247
01:02:59,720 --> 01:03:01,560
Speaker 1: Have you on. I don't want to keep you too

1248
01:03:01,560 --> 01:03:03,120
Speaker 1: long because I know you've got your dog in the car,

1249
01:03:03,440 --> 01:03:05,440
Speaker 1: but oh yeah, we got the Yeah, we got the air.

1250
01:03:05,840 --> 01:03:08,280
Speaker 1: He's just he's taking a nap, he's chilling. Nice. Well,

1251
01:03:08,320 --> 01:03:11,040
Speaker 1: I think people are gonna dig this man, And um,

1252
01:03:11,080 --> 01:03:13,600
Speaker 1: I love the story and it's very different than any

1253
01:03:13,600 --> 01:03:16,400
Speaker 1: of the other stories out there. UM, that's great. I

1254
01:03:16,480 --> 01:03:19,520
Speaker 1: appreciate you saying that. Man, I appreciate the time. Uh yeah,

1255
01:03:19,600 --> 01:03:22,040
Speaker 1: we love we love doing it. So yeah, if anybody

1256
01:03:22,040 --> 01:03:24,920
Speaker 1: has any questions, you know, or anything like that, Um,

1257
01:03:25,280 --> 01:03:28,120
Speaker 1: were you can go to the website and send us

1258
01:03:28,120 --> 01:03:30,360
Speaker 1: a contact form. You know. I do my best to

1259
01:03:30,440 --> 01:03:32,680
Speaker 1: chase him down and answer any questions people have. And

1260
01:03:33,160 --> 01:03:35,600
Speaker 1: UM yeah, we try to try to be easy to find.

1261
01:03:35,640 --> 01:03:38,479
Speaker 1: So thank you for for just giving us a chance

1262
01:03:38,520 --> 01:03:40,760
Speaker 1: to share it with your audience. We love doing that.

1263
01:03:40,760 --> 01:03:43,800
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Thanks Craig. It's it's been a pleasure man,

1264
01:03:43,920 --> 01:03:46,640
Speaker 1: great guy, which is exactly what I was expecting. I mean,

1265
01:03:46,680 --> 01:03:50,120
Speaker 1: it's just such an awesome story. UM. Hopefully a lot

1266
01:03:50,160 --> 01:03:53,680
Speaker 1: of you in this audience pick that up and hopefully

1267
01:03:53,640 --> 01:03:55,840
Speaker 1: and get Craig on board with some stuff we're doing

1268
01:03:55,880 --> 01:03:58,680
Speaker 1: a Cuna Dog. I think that'd be really awesome to

1269
01:03:58,680 --> 01:04:01,600
Speaker 1: get him as some type of bassador for the club.

1270
01:04:01,640 --> 01:04:03,520
Speaker 1: I know we have Tim Kennedy and all those guys

1271
01:04:03,600 --> 01:04:06,960
Speaker 1: putting stuff out there, but this book is doing great

1272
01:04:07,080 --> 01:04:10,200
Speaker 1: in terms of sales and it's just great to see,

1273
01:04:10,360 --> 01:04:13,360
Speaker 1: Like I said, in a new cycle of just negative

1274
01:04:13,360 --> 01:04:15,640
Speaker 1: things going on, I think people like to hear a

1275
01:04:15,680 --> 01:04:19,160
Speaker 1: positive story like this, and people love their dogs. Um.

1276
01:04:19,200 --> 01:04:20,960
Speaker 1: You know when I worked at Serious Sex M like

1277
01:04:21,040 --> 01:04:23,960
Speaker 1: any story, any UM show that involved like there was

1278
01:04:24,000 --> 01:04:26,440
Speaker 1: a pet psychic show, which I believe is still in

1279
01:04:26,480 --> 01:04:29,080
Speaker 1: the air, Like phone lines would pack out immediately, and

1280
01:04:29,120 --> 01:04:32,640
Speaker 1: it was just evidence of just people love their dogs

1281
01:04:32,760 --> 01:04:36,200
Speaker 1: in America and I think throughout the world, and um,

1282
01:04:36,280 --> 01:04:38,320
Speaker 1: I get it. As I've said before, and you guys

1283
01:04:38,320 --> 01:04:40,160
Speaker 1: are probably tired of me saying it. I need to

1284
01:04:40,160 --> 01:04:43,040
Speaker 1: get a dog. I haven't had a dog in many years.

1285
01:04:43,080 --> 01:04:46,520
Speaker 1: I did have a Lakeland Terrier named Marley Um who

1286
01:04:46,560 --> 01:04:49,320
Speaker 1: passed away quite some time ago, and I think it's

1287
01:04:49,360 --> 01:04:51,920
Speaker 1: about time I get a new dog. So I've been

1288
01:04:51,960 --> 01:04:57,400
Speaker 1: looking into that. Jack Murphy will be back next episode, um,

1289
01:04:57,480 --> 01:05:01,840
Speaker 1: and we're gonna be in studio with Todd Paulski. I

1290
01:05:01,920 --> 01:05:07,040
Speaker 1: should mention um before we wrap this up though, or

1291
01:05:07,120 --> 01:05:10,120
Speaker 1: as we wrap this up. Rest in peace to Vinny

1292
01:05:10,200 --> 01:05:13,800
Speaker 1: Paul from Pantera. Man. I got to see Pantera on

1293
01:05:13,840 --> 01:05:17,600
Speaker 1: their last ever tour UM during the Extreme Steel Tour,

1294
01:05:17,640 --> 01:05:20,800
Speaker 1: and like what a night that was. It was Pantera, Slayer,

1295
01:05:20,960 --> 01:05:25,160
Speaker 1: Static X, Scrape and Morbid Angels. That's a killer lineup,

1296
01:05:25,240 --> 01:05:30,080
Speaker 1: Nasa colisseum Pre nine eleven. And I was pretty young

1297
01:05:30,160 --> 01:05:32,000
Speaker 1: back then, man, so I'm one of the few people

1298
01:05:32,000 --> 01:05:34,040
Speaker 1: in my age you got to see Pantera alive. And

1299
01:05:34,080 --> 01:05:36,480
Speaker 1: it's just, you know, we all know what happened to

1300
01:05:36,520 --> 01:05:38,880
Speaker 1: dine Bag Darryl, and I think we all felt like

1301
01:05:38,920 --> 01:05:41,480
Speaker 1: we'd be seeing Vinny Paul put out more music with

1302
01:05:41,520 --> 01:05:44,520
Speaker 1: hell Yeah and any other project for years to come,

1303
01:05:45,160 --> 01:05:47,360
Speaker 1: and uh, he's no longer with us. And I know,

1304
01:05:47,440 --> 01:05:50,320
Speaker 1: like Pantera is one of those bands for you guys

1305
01:05:50,360 --> 01:05:53,600
Speaker 1: who have been deployed, like it is the soundtrack for

1306
01:05:53,720 --> 01:05:56,200
Speaker 1: war for a lot of you, I mean, because of

1307
01:05:56,320 --> 01:05:59,960
Speaker 1: just the brutality of it and the anger and aggression

1308
01:06:00,040 --> 01:06:03,760
Speaker 1: in And you know, for me, it's great Jim music.

1309
01:06:03,800 --> 01:06:05,680
Speaker 1: It's been the soundtrack to a lot of times in

1310
01:06:06,080 --> 01:06:08,600
Speaker 1: my life. So rest in peace to one of the

1311
01:06:08,640 --> 01:06:12,160
Speaker 1: great drummers and and a guy that everybody who's ever

1312
01:06:12,240 --> 01:06:14,560
Speaker 1: met him seems to have nothing but great things to

1313
01:06:14,600 --> 01:06:18,160
Speaker 1: say about the type of guy that he was. Where Um,

1314
01:06:18,200 --> 01:06:21,200
Speaker 1: you know, he loved to drink with people, cook for people,

1315
01:06:21,960 --> 01:06:24,360
Speaker 1: um and just having all around great time. I mean

1316
01:06:24,440 --> 01:06:26,480
Speaker 1: people who I used to work with, like Jose Magnan.

1317
01:06:26,560 --> 01:06:30,760
Speaker 1: Couldn't speak more highly of Vinnie Paul, so rest in

1318
01:06:30,800 --> 01:06:35,560
Speaker 1: peace to him. Uh And that's about it for this episode.

1319
01:06:36,240 --> 01:06:38,640
Speaker 1: Uh you could follow me on Twitter and all that.

1320
01:06:38,680 --> 01:06:41,120
Speaker 1: I haven't been doing as much social media lately, but

1321
01:06:41,280 --> 01:06:45,160
Speaker 1: at Ian Scotto, Facebook dot com, slash ian Scotto Radio,

1322
01:06:45,200 --> 01:06:47,520
Speaker 1: I have some new things on the horizon, I think,

1323
01:06:47,560 --> 01:06:51,600
Speaker 1: and once those happen, I'll get the information out there.

1324
01:06:51,640 --> 01:06:54,080
Speaker 1: But I've been you know, living in the moment and

1325
01:06:54,320 --> 01:06:56,960
Speaker 1: off of social media for the most parts. So if

1326
01:06:57,000 --> 01:07:02,080
Speaker 1: people want to hear me uh in in any virtual capacity,

1327
01:07:02,120 --> 01:07:05,840
Speaker 1: it's really just through this podcast. As lately. We've been

1328
01:07:05,960 --> 01:07:09,440
Speaker 1: posting all the great stuff happening here on the social

1329
01:07:09,440 --> 01:07:13,680
Speaker 1: media for this so at soft Rep Radio on Instagram

1330
01:07:13,680 --> 01:07:16,800
Speaker 1: and Twitter. We love the feedback. See the reviews coming

1331
01:07:16,840 --> 01:07:21,400
Speaker 1: on Apple podcast and let's see you again Friday for

1332
01:07:21,480 --> 01:07:27,600
Speaker 1: the brand new episode you've been listening to self rep Radio.

1333
01:07:28,080 --> 01:07:31,680
Speaker 1: New episodes up every Wednesday and Friday for all of

1334
01:07:31,680 --> 01:07:35,280
Speaker 1: the great content from our veteran journalists. Join us and

1335
01:07:35,320 --> 01:07:39,000
Speaker 1: become a team moon member today at soft rep dot com,

1336
01:07:39,160 --> 01:07:43,040
Speaker 1: follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at self rep Radio,

1337
01:07:43,640 --> 01:07:46,120
Speaker 1: and be sure to also check out the Power of

1338
01:07:46,160 --> 01:07:51,160
Speaker 1: Thought podcast, hosted by Hurricane Group CEO and Navy Seal

1339
01:07:51,240 --> 01:08:05,840
Speaker 1: Sniper instructor Brandon Webb, New York