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Security Halt!
#219 From Chaos to Leadership: Brandon Hayes’ Inspiring Military Journey
Join Us for an Inspiring Journey in Veteran Leadership and Personal Growth! 🎙️
In this powerful episode of the Security Halt! Podcast, host Deny Caballero sits down with Brandon "Jackal" Hayes to uncover his remarkable story of resilience, from a turbulent youth to an accomplished military career. Brandon shares invaluable life lessons on mentorship, leadership, and how his time in the military shaped his path. This conversation dives deep into the challenges of transitioning to civilian life, the strength needed to persevere through personal struggles, and how community and veteran support play a critical role in the journey toward success.
Whether you're navigating your own path after the military or looking for insights on entrepreneurship and personal growth, this episode has something for everyone. Brandon’s story is not just about his own transformation—it's about the ongoing mission to help others succeed.
Don’t miss this thought-provoking conversation packed with practical advice and motivation. 🚀
🔔 Subscribe, share, and follow us on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts for more insightful episodes like this one!
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Background
03:01 Military Journey and Transformation
06:00 Leadership and Mentorship in the Military
09:11 The Importance of Resilience and Hardship
12:00 Experiences in Afghanistan
18:02 Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life
23:55 Building a New Life and Business
30:07 Community Engagement and Mentorship
35:46 Final Thoughts and Future Aspirations
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LinkedIn: Brandon H.
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Business Instagram: jackal_group
Produced by Security Halt Media
Security Hub Podcast. Let's go.
Speaker 2:You're dealing with an expert in guerrilla warfare, with a man who's the best With guns, with knives, with his bare hands.
Speaker 1:A man who's been trained to ignore people Ignore weather To live off the land.
Speaker 2:A job with disposed and enemy personnel To kill Period. Win by attrition brandon hayes.
Speaker 1:Welcome to security podcast. How you doing, brother? How are you, brother? Good to be here. Good man it's. Uh, we've been trying to make this happen for a while, dude, but you're a busy man and all of them are traveling.
Speaker 2:Just uh got done wrapping some stuff with uh trump being endorsed by fop and north carolina so yeah, good to be back home and kind of work out some stuff here for myself bro, it's uh, it's crazy times, man, now more than ever.
Speaker 1:Uh, I I did not think we'd have this, these many attempts on uh donald trump's live, and it just goes goes to show that if you're involved in this space, you can find a lot of much needed work.
Speaker 2:You know it's to touch on it quick. It's pretty wild. You know he does have some good people that are on him, but he does need some some extra outside private personnel to help observe some things. That can be sorted for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, man. Let's kick it off. Man, how did you find yourself going into the military as a young man?
Speaker 2:So I led a very eventful life, for sure. I grew up in a very fast-paced environment, so my mother was a cop. I'm originally born and raised in St Augustine Florida, and I just moved back here, actually not too long ago, left at 18. And now, 18 years later, here I am.
Speaker 2:So I grew up here and it was part of a lot of very intense things, my mother being a police officer and my grandfather owning a bar, so I was always kind of in the middle of some action you know, somewhere somehow, but um great time growing up, my godfather, my uncle, was a third degree black belt, so we were always into some, some sort of mischief and I think that kind of you know progressed me into my teenage years of of, uh you know, being mischievous. I guess you could say that that brought me into contact with some older guys who were some Army Rangers when I was in high school and I had a problem with, I guess you could say, fighting, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the easiest way to put it. And so they reeled me in and took me under their wing and at which point I realized like the military might not be a bad option, you know, to look at. I didn't have anything really prepared or planned for college and I was just kind of you know, I won't say out of control, but I was just doing me, not thinking about what was going on. So the military was never really something I thought about until I met those gentlemen in high school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny, man. So many individuals find themselves in the same situation, growing up A little bit of a wild child and a little bit of chaos in those later years in high school, and then end up finding ourselves in the military and shaping us up. But what about you Going into the military? It's not always an easy transition if you're a bit of a wild child. How did you take to it?
Speaker 2:I was blessed. I'll say that.
Speaker 2:So I had a lot of a lot of very good NCOs. A lot of people, you know, have obviously difference of opinion as far as NCOs go, but I was fortunate enough, I had NCOs who, after hours, after hours, you know, they would take you around the company area and you would have a one-on-one talking to, with all five of them at the same time. And so, being a, you know, a loud mouth, smart mouth like I am, I learned very quickly, um, you know what life really was about in that moment, and so it was no longer being a kid and just being able to do what I wanted. Now there's consequences for my actions, and that's when I started learning just even saying certain things. You know this is what's going to happen, and so, you know, with that being said, it kind of transformed me into all right. Well, you know this is what life is outside of. You know mommy and daddy, or high school or at home, and no support network or no friends around you to tell you you're on your own, you're in the deep end and you better learn how to swim real quick. And so, um, you know I I was fortunate enough, I had some good leadership to to mold me and and show me some things Now.
Speaker 2:With that being said, we all have things going on, so it's not a hundred percent, but you know you learn most of your stuff through trials and tribulations. Everyone says it, um, it's kind of a broken record. But going from being a wild child into the military, I would definitely say most of your leaders that are remembered or known come from that as a child, that adolescence, that whole piss and vinegar cowboy mentality. Most of the guys that I looked up to or had that were teaching me or beating it into me. They were the same way and I kind of look and it's kind of just like. You know, not everyone is like that, but those type of, you know, mischievous boys growing up is what we need to have capable warfighters, those are the ones who you know. As some would say, who dares wins, you know no-transcript.
Speaker 1:Platoon's got everything figured out and oftentimes there were guys in their early, early 30s or late 20s like and when you hit those milestones in your own career, in your own life, you're like, fuck, I don't have this shit figured out you know.
Speaker 2:It's funny you say that you know I met my dad for the first time probably less than eight years ago and that was probably it's probably one of the biggest things that you know, unbeknownst to me probably what triggered me to join the military and find that structure, to find that, you know, raw, barbaric type of man to get ahold of me and shape me and make me you know what it is, because a lot of young men are looking to be led, they're looking to, they all want to be that, and so you know, like you said, you know, not knowing your father, and then getting there, now you got five dads, you know, and that's a lot of dads to disappoint. And I'll say this you know I'll never forget. His name's Eric Nguyen and the gentleman who was with him. His name is Channing Moss and you know my platoon sergeant at the time. He had just come back from Afghanistan and he had his nose completely cut off by an RPG-7 fin and that RPG-7 was lodged into Moss' stomach Now I was not there, was lodged into moss's stomach now I was not there.
Speaker 2:Um, but this gentleman speaking of father figures, um, I remember us being on a ruck march and basically people are whining and complaining and literally I was his rto. I just showed up, I haven't been here three months, I'm brand new to tenth mountain and, uh, this dude has no nose, literally no nose, just two fucking holes, and they're trying to reconstruct it with the skin from all over his body and he's peeling out glass. And he looks at me and he goes they're laughing and bitching about being cold. He goes I don't even have a fucking nose and he's peeling glass out of his nose. And meanwhile the other guys, you know, walking around with the colostomy bag and becoming a kenneth cole model later on down the road. But having those type of father figures, that leadership man, it's uh, it's needed, we need to have it, we need to have more of it. And even you know I'm 36 and I still seek, you know, older and wiser guidance. Um, cause I'm only learning as I'm making a mistake. It's just the reality.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mentorship, it's a part of life. Uh, and it continues. Yeah, mentorship, it's a part of life and it continues. You don't just grow out of it, you develop and you reach certain stages in life where you become the mentor now, and you still need mentorship of your own. But one of the most rewarding things that you will experience as a man is being able to be of service to somebody else that's younger, in the same position or in a different position as you were when you were going through your trials and tribulations. It never ends. We leave the military and we tend to think well, that's the last time I'll be in NCOs, last time I'll be in charge of helping young men figure their shit out. No, not true, a lot of us. You still have to do it for your own kids. You still got to do it for your community. And I constantly tell people it's like look, look around you and look where you can help improve somebody else's fighting position.
Speaker 2:Like you remember those days, you're a hundred percent right, my, my neighbor, um, you know he lives in Wilmington, north Carolina. I'm not going to say his name, but good kid and uh, I'll put it to you this way, he was, I won't say infatuated, but he was so infatuated, in a sense, with who I was as a man and my character at the time. I was freshly married, just bought a house and, anyways, he was having some family problems, mom and dad fighting at home. This kid that he bought tattooed sleeves to look like me, asked to wear my rucksack and dressed up as Halloween, as me.
Speaker 2:As me, you don't talk about humbling. I'm like, I'm a freaking nobody. I mean dude, I. I'm nobody you want to be, and so the fact that you did that I was like we have a everyday humbling mission to bring it to not only people in the military, but to sons, daughters, let alone the average joe, because most civilians do not have the experience or have had their metal tested to know where wise leadership lays.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's very true, man. It's something that not only is beneficial for you as a person, that's helping inspire a next generation of great Americans, but it's something that's needed. Great Americans, but it's something that's needed. I always say that the very best of our country has been gone 20 years fighting a war and there's a lot of people need help, a lot of people that need somebody that can help them understand the power of being in discomfort, the power of doing hard things, and we're constantly battling this culture, this idea that we just need to be sedentary, we just need to be comfortable. Don't challenge yourself. If you have problems, take a pill and just complain about it on social media, and that's so fucking horrible for us. We have to be, willing.
Speaker 1:We have to be willing to do hard shit, and every day I'm humbled by looking at what somebody from our community the veteran community, sof community, what individuals are willing to do while they're still in service or even as soon as they get out to inspire and help change, because we have our civilian brothers are suffering too. They're dealing with a lot of mixed messaging from nefarious people who just want to promote horrible messaging, and I think it's up to us to do better. And I want to ask you about your time in man. How did you progress from being this young, rough, young kid? How did you develop and grow into your service man?
Speaker 2:Well, I appreciate you asking that I had a great time growing up in the military. I will say a lot of people. They're not as fortunate. I had some of the greatest men, truly, I've ever had the pleasure to know. It sounds like a fairy tale, but you could call any of these guys and they'll tell. You could call any of these guys and they'll tell you it's, I mean even let's. So we'll start. So I got the 10th mountain division and, uh, I showed up and I literally you know this guy, uh, you know staff star and win was up too. Sorry, he had no nose and I'm his rto and he literally said don't come back until you find my nose.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, I'm like, holy fuck dude, where do I find your nose like?
Speaker 2:there's, it's just holes. It's like that nicholas cage character on a bike on fire. Yeah, I'm like, holy fuck, dude, where do I find your nose? Like it's just holes. It's like that Nicolas Cage character on a bike on fire. I'm like, alright, so end of the day comes, I show up and I was like, hey, sorry, I can't find your nose, and he goes. Yeah, no shit, he goes, come back tomorrow when you find it. And I was like it's like my first day in the CP, okay, so I don't even know. Like my ass, from a hole in the ground, my team leader. He had just been shot through the leg into a nut sack. He had a fake noodle from running a guy over point blank. Um, I mean, like I said, the other guy, moss, you know, rpg logs in a stomach. So these are the guys I'm surrounded with, like everybody.
Speaker 2:My second team leader was struck by lightning, so you know, yeah, he was half retarded, but God bless him, I mean in a good way. But um, you know, all all these guys, they, they were driving hungies with sandbags for floorboards. There was no thing that was up armored Like so you know these guys are going to be. And then on top of it they got to wheeler sack and then got extended as they see their wives and girlfriends and brothers and cousins, sisters, whatever. They literally got off the bird, hugged, kissed and turned right back around and went back to Bob Tillman.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's actually a historic moment that's been talked about. I mean, we heard about that in the 82nd Like that is a historic moment in GWAT. That actually happened.
Speaker 2:That's fucking, it's an insane story Before they figured out rotations before they figured out, they got hit with a stop loss for real. And you know a lot of guys I don't know how they didn't come home crazier and so that was my leadership. So I literally wake up at 3 am and there's guys that are just raging and they're like, what are you doing in our room? But I'm like, holy fuck, where am I? Like I'm just a private, I just got here fast forward.
Speaker 2:You know, now I'm moving through the platoons and we're training and you know you're, you're meeting everyone that's coming in and you know such great times, um, while being there, I mean, heck, two of my squad mates at one time the one kid was on a live high speed chase going down 81 in new york to virginia, hanging out the window with a bottle of makers like I'm like this can't be the army, right. So times for gus on all the wild shenanigans, you know, and of course I love to get into wild shenanigans as well. So I'm trying not to, you know, go down that path again and just focus, and thank God I did so. As time went on. I was an alpha company and a light infantry company and we were doing a lot of cool stuff, a lot of good training. And you know I always wanted to go to the scout platoon and they would never let me go. So you never want to let your you know good guys go, you know, cause you'd only have so many.
Speaker 2:I don't want to sound like a good guy but you don't want to let the better of the herd leave, you know, and so, uh, it helps make the rest of the herd better, obviously. So, um, I'll never forget his name, gonzo Lasalle. He's a good friend of mine, and this guy was the only guy I knew that would lock up a Sergeant Major as a D7. And so that's a story I want to hear.
Speaker 1:I'm leaving battalion. I swear to God I go up to battalion.
Speaker 2:This is in 3rd Brigade 287. And I saw this gentleman at the time, slicked back hair, his name was Captain Mariani, and I said, hey, what's up with these pre-ranger slots? He goes. We sent it out to the companies, did you not hear about it? And I was like, no, he goes, hold on a second. He called up Lass. He said, hey, lass, come up to battalion, I need some money to see you. So he comes walking from headquarters platoon and everyone knows at the time who Gonzo LaSalle was. And so he literally meets me halfway. He goes, start doing push-ups. So I started doing push-ups, no questions asked. And so before I even got to like 49, he was like get up. He's like, do sit-ups. He's like, come over here to the pull-up bar, Walks me into Alpha Company, Tells my CEO, captain Thumb, I think at the time he goes. I think at the time he goes, I'm taking private haste to pre-arrange your LC in two weeks. And we just left and I'm like, and in my head I'm on cloud nine. I'm like, yeah, and so we left. And so, anyways, deployed with them.
Speaker 2:Halfway through my deployment with Alpha Company, I had a run in. You know, I still am full of the piss of vinegar. So we get to afghanistan and where we deployed and jaw res, initially there was nowhere for us to live, so we lived outside of a chinese compound which had some reformed taliban members living in there, and so, um, I'm not gonna say the lieutenant's name now, he's on the other side essentially, but, um, you know, our lieutenant was very squared away, so we were basically living there in a sense of watching, uh, this compound which is right next to a mosque school, and so the french Foreign Legion, or as they were, establishing themselves in that part of the country at the time, back in the end of 2008, beginning of 2009, when Afghanistan was actually declared under de facto Taliban control, and so I'm pretty sure it was called Operation Shamshad, but it was the French Foreign Legion or the French OMLT, but it was the French Foreign Legion or the French OMLT Observation and Touring Liaison Team. So I was lucky enough to be able to be the long-range communicator with those guys and go out 100 Afghan, or however many Afghan, on patrols along with my light infantry unit and kind of be the relay. The counterpart between the two.
Speaker 2:Fast forward had a fallout with this e6. I'll never forget it and I don't mind calling him out, his last name is messier and he's a dirtbag and uh, and he got on to me for carrying frag grenades and and we were going out, it was maybe eight guys, total nine guys. He had a gun team on each, you know, a mountain. Me and the PL and the medic were in the middle. Long story short, we get back from this mission Third group at the time, who was outgoing, and 10th was incoming. We were towards the bottom of Nurk Valley. We were to clean up anything they didn't take care of, it's just me and a lieutenant and a medic. I'm like all we got is 5.56. Automatic AK fire is going to pin us down easy, and so, especially when I want my medic up and shooting Right, you know, or my lieutenant, so I grabbed a bunch of fucking hand grenades. I'm ramboed up. I'm like at least I can toss frags and we can break contact and get to one of the gun team positions and you know, fucking thank you, jesus, that's, that's my plan.
Speaker 2:Well, we got back and then the guy you know basically scalded me because I was a pfc, I wasn't, you know, worthy enough to carry frag grenades and I basically made my way to the scout platoon that day. Uh, guy's name was sarin solo. Then he was a fo, it's good fister. And uh, I basically said I'm gonna put an ms, I going to put a frag grenade in your fart sack tonight. And basically my platoon sergeant, sergeant Rao, he goes Hayes, you can't say that out here. I said, well, I'll say it again, I'm going to frag that fucker in his sleep tonight. I said, because no man's going to tell me I can't protect myself. And my lieutenant. And I said if we can all throw a baseball, we can go frag.
Speaker 2:So in that moment I said I'm gonna walk from here to fob airborne or you can drive me, it's up to you. And I was pissed, I didn't give a, I didn't give a fuck. I was like this is how I'm dealing with, this is what I have to live with here. And granted, we built our cop. Um, at the time, uh, lieutenant Donovan built this cop and we, literally, you know, we had to steal everything we had. And the guy was a genius. I mean, this lieutenant should have been given way more awards than what he had. I mean, we brought excavators and dozers and built a cop. A general didn't even know existed. So I said I'm going to walk from this cop to Fob Airborne, you can drive.
Speaker 2:I showed up to Fob Air airborne and literally all the scouts were hanging outside their compound and, uh, this guy's starting to wash. Never forget he goes. I knew they were gonna send you. I was like what are you talking about? I was like I just threatened to kill any six. He goes. Oh, we needed a guy and I was like all right, well, I'm here now.
Speaker 2:So that's how I showed up to the scout platoon middle of Afghanistan and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It helped shape everything from my life from that point forward. Not that being with my infantry brothers and everyone there wasn't great, but it was destined for me to be there there. Um, the opportunities I was presented with, the people we worked alongside, with the amount of trust you are given as a 21 year old kid who just celebrated your 21st birthday in afghanistan and I'm literally with two guys in a hide site, you got to roll over and piss or shit in bags for a week or whatever you're doing. You know that was unparalleled to what I was just coming from. So, uh, you know, with that being said, all the cool stuff deployed overseas um, you know what's crazy is, after I left that deployment and I got back to Fort Drum, maybe six months later I deployed again with Germany, a unit in Germany and ran into those same exact guys and they were like are we in the Matrix? Like, how are we? You just left us.
Speaker 2:And with leadership there, I learned the biggest toll that having bad leadership can take on men. And the guy's name is Darren Hidalgo, god bless him. And so he was a double amputee. I, literally I was in country maybe three days and this unit was so dicked up, man, and it never was spoken about. None of my guys spoke about it either, but I'll try to condense it. But it was just such a catastrophe that could have gotten way worse and god bless everybody that was on ground that day. But you know it started off as a three village kle, and as we're making movement, you know we're being, you know, basically surveyed by dudes on dirt bikes, and this is in southern Kandahar area, and so I'm used to being up in the mountains, so I'm like this ain't right, this doesn't seem normal. And so we're doing our thing. By the time we get to the third village and we're rounding back to come to the cop, we're about an hour out if you leave that, that last village walking and uh, you know he steps on something called a crush bowl, you know which is basically a, an inverted bowl with aluminum, and you know they make their pressure switches and it can be on top of either anti-personnel mines or however they want to make it. And so, long story short, man, this is how much leadership is needed amongst all of men and the confidence, even if you don't know what to do in that situation. And you know, as I say, we fall to our lowest level of not only training but our lowest level of understanding in life, and you know we'll move, obviously, that into another direction.
Speaker 2:But with that being said, as soon as this guy stepped on this this, he was a double-leg amputee my company commander at the time, captain Maples, his sling, pulled his bicep all the way down to his wrist so he was immobile. The medic, who was brand new, I'm pretty sure he somehow injected himself with morphine, the secondary platoon medic took care of the actual double amputee. And at this point I think we were in a minefield. So I had to get that PSS-14 or whatever the handheld mine detector is. And one of my guys, russell, you know we were about 15, 20 foot from the blast, I'm thinking we just took incoming and so basically cleared our way out of this minefield that we're in, created an inverter-wise crowfoot, medevaced it, so on and so on.
Speaker 2:But come to find out it's like man, even at the very end of this, this kid named Woods he has his night vision up. He was the RTO. I was like why is your night vision up? Why are you? Everyone was so distraught and just out of it, like I get it. A guy just lost his legs. He's going to expire because he's been here for four hours with no bird. You know, that was a whole. It's a long story itself.
Speaker 2:But again, the leadership wasn't there. And what I had learned while being in 10th mountain and coming to Germany, I was like man, you know, you guys, one wouldn't have made it in the 10th, but two, you would have got eaten up. It sucks to say this in the moment. You have to be emotionless and you have to be able to make a decision and lead, or nothing is going to add up and the amount of ground you're taking, you're going to lose. And that translates into our personal life. When we get out, we get so shell-shocked, or so a buddy of mine says this best, his name's Tyler, he lives out on the West Coast, but he taught me this when I went through executive protection school paralysis by analysis. And most of us get that paralysis by analysis and we get locked in and we don't either progress in life or we don't find a new job or we don't know how to not be a tactical Todd, no more, or whatever it is. So the leadership is absolutely key.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny. You meet people throughout your career where that exact phrase speaks volumes to that person. And you're right or you can start working, man, or you can start moving. You can start progressing, build it in flight, man, like you cannot like. That's one thing. When lives are on the line, you can't just sit there paralyzed thinking of the what-ifs. Make the best plan and execute. Fail fast, go forward, keep moving.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what my buddy Tyler told. Uh, my buddy tyler told me fail and fail fast, hurry up and get to it and then now let's get moving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, dude, it's, uh, it's hard, it's going through those experiences, man. It's difficult, especially when you people tend to think that every unit executes the same missions and they have the same sops, and that's not true. I've been fortunate to serve in some amazing platoons, amazing companies, and, uh, it just makes me appreciate those rough assignments where you weren't around with, like the break, the, the, the greatest individuals and uh, it sucks when all hell breaks loose and you're in one of those outfits, man, and that's the lived experience for so many of our veterans. Man, it just goes to show you that you make your bread and butter in the training and what you do preparing for combat. You're not going to train in combat. You're not going to be able to execute if you didn't plan accordingly, if you didn't rehearse, if you didn't put the blood, sweat and tears prior to the point.
Speaker 2:And that's funny. You say that and that's haunted me to this day, because I literally asked him that question. And you know, the day I met him, they were coming back from a place called Strongpoint Printler and a guy was blown up and killed. God bless him as well. But you know, I said hey, sir, do you want to talk about? You know, basically, are we going to have to take contact here? Are we going to break contact? Are we going to stay put Like whatever HLZs, et cetera, and same thing, no, don't worry about it.
Speaker 1:And I was like the, nah, don't worry about it. And I was like, ah, the, the, uh, the timeless. Nah, don't worry about it, we're not gonna get hit, it's not gonna be us. And then it is, and it was, and it was him.
Speaker 2:That was the shittiest part is it was him and I'm like, and none of our guys ever had an aar, none of it was ever spoke about um and the problem and all these guys. They were young kids, they weren't on. I mean, this was like their first deployment, so they didn't know you know shit from fuck. They just they thought it was just a shitty day, a shitty night, and so that's what I mean. They didn't have the leadership to bring them where they needed to be. I mean, unfortunately the hell, michael tussler, he had a 10th mountain patch on and he used to always try to get me to cover for him. I'm like, dude, you're a turd. Like don't ask me to cover because we're from the same unit.
Speaker 1:Was that the unit that you ended up ETSing from getting out from?
Speaker 2:No. So after I got done deploying with Germany, I came back. I was there for roughly a year. I was fortunate enough, as soon as I came back I was doing a shoot-sensing of his qualification and that same first-time first-time to Venka he sent me to HAC. I was doing some dive PT. This guy's so hardcore he might have stepped on a really personnel anti-personnel mine and squirted his camel back into the mud and made a mud pie on his face to stop it from fucking spreading. But uh, yeah. So this guy, he, uh, he said hey, man, why are you doing dive pt? You're just doing bombs after the shoots and sneers swim. I said well, pt's pt time got over for sarn. I said it's not zero nine yet and he goes. I didn't say that and I was like yeah, roger, he goes, you're gonna go to recon when we get back. I roger that. So I finished out my time there, started their sniper section. I was a sniper section leader there for a good little while, was able to experience a really cool place called Fullendorf which is home of the long-range reconnaissance school. So it was very humbling to go there and work with 10th Group and all of NATO's special forces there and get some cool schools and qualifications there.
Speaker 2:So once I got done, that was kind of my wrap up in Germany, worked for this OPSAR major on the way out, and then PCS to Bloomington, north Carolina, which I was voluntold to be a recruiter. I did not want to be, but that was where I was at. I tried to go to be a drill. They wouldn't let me be a drill. Unfortunately I was investigated for hating while in Germany. That was great, but it all worked out full circle because the major that investigated me I'll keep his name out of it, but I met him the deployment before, so he knew who I was and he was like don't worry, and so we weren't doing anything, crazy man.
Speaker 2:But long story short, we were at a range dead two ASAPs. Both of them were dead, and so my point was simply once we got back to the rear this is where being that whole leader, that card, comes into play I said look, if you're in country and you have no radios, how are you going to call for any casavac ground to that any? You know artillery, you have nothing. I was like comms are so important and critical. Um, I was like, let alone, you can't even tell an adjacent unit where you are if you need qr like. And so I said I brought him out back and had him in the front meeting rest.
Speaker 2:And the regimental sergeant, major, sergeant major Parrish, f that guy. And so it would be the second highest ranking person on the entire post in Germany on VILSEC. So the regimental sergeant major comes out of the coffee shop wearing his fucking cowboy hat and his dallas cowboy cheerleading gloves with the tassels and the stetson flag, and he's he's getting up ready baby. And so, uh, he comes out. He's like you're killing these guys and I was like what?
Speaker 2:And so, nonetheless, he, he started the investigation and, because they were in the push-up position, the front reading arrests for more than two minutes and 36 seconds. It equated to more than 10 reputations and by whatever the doctrine is at that time that stated that that's how I got convicted for anything. So I left Germany en route to be a recruiter. That's why I couldn't be a drill. So I came to Wilmington, north Carolina, was a recruiter there and I didn't want to be. I had the option to get out, but at the time it was a 1059 school, and so you know, for those who don't know, if you don't complete a 1059 school at a certain point where the Army was they were going to chapter you out.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it's a big deal. And so you know you got to get that undergrad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got undergrad, all right. I got arrested in recruiting school and still graduated.
Speaker 1:Holy shit, I'm the only person to date.
Speaker 2:It's like a hat trick that I know of. I'm the only person to date and I hope I'm not killing the school bird at this point but to graduate recruiting school. But I was doing the right thing. Um, I was. It was saint patrick's day and I was with a bunch of guys and I was trying to get some guys in a cab and a bunch of undercover cops. There was a fight going on and I guess they thought we were part of it. One of them grabbed me. I instinctively turned around, knocked him out and then next thing you know it's a bunch of sled cops and anyways, it all got handled. But uh, I walked in the class and they had an acon locked up and ready to be played and cued for me to walk in the class so I then graduated, uh, on the highest note and I showed up to wilmington as a recruiter and I had a good time there.
Speaker 2:You know I would, I'd go rent the hummer h3 from the battalion, I'd be on the beach, cruising the beach, you know, putting up, I just I enjoy. I don't want to be there. Um, you know, no offense to anyone who's been a recruiter and loves recruiting. It's just not my thing and uh, but quite honestly, it worked out very well for me because the more I denied people, the more people wanted to join me. I had one kid who was severely overweight and he wanted to go be a ranger and I said you'll never make it, man. I said you got to get your body right, et cetera.
Speaker 2:He busted his ass and every time his dad saw me in town because it's such a small town his dad's a very big high-up guy for Piedmont Gas, mr Randy, if you're watching he came up and thanked me because this kid was never going to do anything. Next thing you know this kid's in a ranger battalion and the kid was like 250-pound short, frumpy kid and now he's a lean and mean fighting machine. So his dad is recruiting stuff and mean fighting machine and so you know, as bad as recruiting sucked, um, it was good to see I had an impact on on people, um, and put a lot of good kids in boots, and so after that I realized the amount of politics that are in the military because you're so far away from the flagpole.
Speaker 2:Um, it kind of just ruined the military and I just I got out after my stint in recruiting. It kind of just ruined the military and I got out after my stint in recruiting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not always A, it's one of the most stressful positions you can be in in the military and those guys get. I mean, you know it, you lived it, you get. There is a number. No kudos, no data boys, you got to.
Speaker 2:It's like, man, people are literally you're having to poach kids out of class. I'm like, I'm not down for that. Like this. You're literally having to coerce people to join and then the ones that don't not want to join, they can't because they can't pass. You know arithmetic reasoning or whatever on the asdab, but they're the most qualified and it's.
Speaker 1:It's a heinous job, it really is yeah, so you get out of recruiting, and how was that transition like? Because that's honestly the thing that a lot of people don't put enough emphasis and don't prepare for. Is that final exodus from the military?
Speaker 2:And so I, you know, fortunate, but unfortunately I was expedited so quick out of the military because of where I was at. I'd never set foot on Fort Bragg until I out-processed, you know, the recruiting company I was assigned to, and so I didn't attend any briefings. No one taught me how to write a resume, no one said, hey, look for jobs here. Here are some companies that would correlate to what you can do. I had zero, no clue, and so I just got out and I was in Wilmington. I started bouncing, trying to figure it out and I was working at bars and just making money and eventually, while bouncing, met a guy who worked at the VA hospital there on Wilmington, um, as a medical support assistant at the time, which basically you help schedule that um appointments and get them to and from their appointments. And so, you know, I was like, all right, that's 30 grand a year. And uh, you know, it wasn't nothing. Army, you don't make a lot of money. I was a lot of no, and so I was doing that and just kind of had no plan, literally no plan. I was like I'm just going to take whatever to sustain and live. And so, you know, still hadn't met my dad. Yet you know, like three years after this I think I met my dad for the first time ever. So I'm just roughing it now in this town where I have no friends, essentially no family, and I was dating this girl at the time and so I was kind of like using that as my crutch, like helping me get my confidence and figure out.
Speaker 2:You know what to do and eventually, you know, I had a few corporate jobs when I worked there. I worked for a big company, Johnson Controls, and a few others. While working for corporate, I realized I can't do this. I don't know what it is about me or the way I think, but I can't work with people in a corporate environment on that level. They're just so disrespectful. You're not a human, You're a robot. I started my own business at the time. I just started Googling. I was like how do you start your own business, how do you start an LLC? At that time, all I knew was guns and shooting. I'm in the mecca of all of that.
Speaker 2:So I started the Jackal Contingency Group and I was sponsored by G-Code. At one point I was doing a lot of stuff, I had my own range. I was working with Marsok a lot at the old Camp Davis, doing a lot of training, off-site training for them, and so it just kind of all fell into place. And then I got divorced. I got married and then divorced, and then it all kind of came crashing down and I was like, well, what do I do? Because I'm bouncing from job to job. And so now I'm like, all right, well, the VA was cool, but that only lasted a little while and I'm like I need more money. I can't live on 35 grand. So then I went to work for Johnson Controls. That was more money, but it was corporate. And so I don't have any brothers. I don't, you know, because most of my I say brothers like military brothers we're all scattered to the four winds, you know. We're all trying to live life, sustain life, create life whatever we're doing, sustain life, create life, whatever we're doing. So me calling them like man, they probably got the same shit going on behind their door. So how do I? And so I kind of just, you know, suffered in silence, as they would say, and just figured it out and trudged along. But I knew like, okay, look, I'm not going to give up. And so, no shit man, I was just, you know, talking with guys networking. Next thing, you know, I end up on a support role for ANS, for MARSOC, and so I'm up at 8P Hill doing some stuff for MARSOC and I meet a guy who's one of the main psychological evaluators on this lane and he's like hey, what are you doing after this? I said I just got divorced. This this is about five, six years ago now. And so I said I'm just trying to find a job, I'm just trying to, you know, figure out what's the next step. I said, ever since I've been in wilmington, I haven't had a plan, I haven't had a career, and I got married and now I'm divorced. So now I'm really just house of cards again.
Speaker 2:So I show up to Texas and all I know is I'm working, you know, on this ranch for this billionaire lady, and so I'm like I have no clue. I'm like am I going to be roping horses? And so she has a personal security detail, or whatever you want to call it. But I was an advisor for her, so I got hired as an advisor to go there and watch over the security and essentially just help make them better. And so while I was there doing that, I started I had a lot of time, we're talking 12-hour shifts started had a lot of time, we're talking 12 hour shifts and you know, not like the whole everyone jumps on the jesus train or the bible train. But I started asking myself because I mean I'd lost. While in texas my trash cans were repossessed to my house and yeah, no, it's possible. Shout out gfl, um, not once, but twice. So uh, took fucking everything.
Speaker 1:Everything, including the trash.
Speaker 2:I walked out with two handfuls of trash, and I was like god, almighty, I was like you're teaching me something right now, lord, I just don't know what it is, and so, uh, I started, you know again, that's gonna be a humbling experience.
Speaker 1:Going to your neighbor, you know it's even more humbling experience going over your neighbor.
Speaker 2:You know it's even more humbling to put it in your car and driving that shit somewhere and trying to and yeah but uh, I mean, I even have to sell a leaf blower.
Speaker 2:I sold my leaf blower and lawnmower, and I probably should have done that before I sold my house, just to pay my cell phone bill like I had nothing. You know I'm yeah, I didn't have my. My dad wasn't calling to help me. You know my mom, she, you know she's not in position to help and I didn't have my. My dad wasn't calling to help me. You know my mom, you know she's not in position to help and I don't really have anyone else. So it's like what do you do?
Speaker 2:And the number one thing that I remember in the very beginning go all the way back now. It's like, man, it's as long as you, like you said, always improve upon your position. And I didn't have a plan, I didn't know what direction I was going, but I tried to pick the best direction I could, and that, even if it's just for that day, even if I meant going from north to east tomorrow, at least today, I know I'm going north and I'm making ground here and I might lose a little bit going back east, but now I'm going in the right direction and that alone helped keep my mindset at a point. I mean I was ready to throw in the towel, dude. I was a million dollars in debt. I had a G-Wagon, I had a $550 house. I mean I was left with everything on top of I mean police getting involved, absurd charges, had all my guns taken away. I mean I've got videos of of you know, new Hanover County police department, swat team, fbi, safe streets chasing me just to serve a civil order, a civil order that they can mail to you, and then eventually arrested me and let me go for failure to heed lights and sirens.
Speaker 2:So I just got done building up this business, the Jackal contingtenency Group, and things are going great, and then I get hit with a surprise divorce. Now I'm a million dollars in debt, literally just under, and I have no financial income coming in except my disability. I'm 100% disabled. So now I'm like okay, of course, you know, whenever you need something the most is when people avoid you the most or don't answer, and it's like man, everyone I called I say everyone. There's a good five or six people who held it down for me, bailed me out of jail when my wife made up fictitious charges, picked me up, helped pay for a lawyer, them. I wouldn't even be where I'm at right now.
Speaker 2:So I was lucky enough through all of that and I've talked to a lot of these guys that we spoke about in the very beginning and more recently, more and more men are reaching out and it's like everyone's got a story. We all have a story. I guess, to consolidate everything I'm saying here is, like I said in the beginning, guys like us we've had our metal tested. We've all been through something crazy. Yeah, you might not have had a 15 page search warrant where they included weapons of mass destruction that they searched for, okay, but yeah, they took my Christmas lights. But it's like you know what I can share with other men now, especially you know, and men's mental health. It's like, while we can't help everybody, we can help somebody and I was fortunate enough to somehow find my way through it. I don't know how or what I did or what I used. I'm still evaluating that. I'm sure it's something I learned from somebody along the way. But I can tell you the whole paralysis by analysis thing was definitely the number one thing that kept me from saying I got to do something.
Speaker 2:So then I started another business. I was like all right, so I lost it all in North Carolina. I have some good friends and contacts there, so I moved down to Florida. So I'm in Florida now, back in where I grew up. So really cool wraparound story. I left here at 18 and I came back here 18 years later at 36 years old.
Speaker 2:So you know, I met a guy in my neighborhood. He's old school, legitimate nurse and he just got done jumping in to Normandy with a World War II veteran on the last reunion they had. Oh nice, yeah. So yeah, his name's Chet and a great guy and um, you know, everything's coming around full circle. So I'm living in the same neighborhood I grew up in.
Speaker 2:I've now created two new businesses. I've restarted um it's no longer Jackal Contingency Group, I now have Jackal Group and I've started another company called um TFK, the Florida Commandos. And so the Florida Commandos is just an outdoor based community group. It's those who just go out and do commando shit and you've got scuba dive, snorkel, bow hunt, dirt bike. But I want all those people and we're going to start coming together and I'm going to start having them bring their sons and their daughters and we're going to start having events that start building this up. And it's the only thing I can think of to navigate through what we're talking about how men, you know, need guidance and leadership and let alone entrepreneurship. You start having these community events and and that's why I've got out of the tactical realm you know we have to attach our identity to something other than just being a freaking tactical Steve You're never going to keep up with the.
Speaker 2:Joneses, you're just not. And as cool as it is, I love to shoot my guns, but that's not putting money on my table.
Speaker 1:It's not everything, man.
Speaker 2:It's not putting money in my bank account or food on my table. It's not going to ultimately provide for me and my family. We're not hunting every day to kill our food. What is teaching guys? Hey, if you have two or more LLCs, now you can create a diversified business. And while you might not know what business you want to do, I guarantee you'll spend $1,000 this year on some bullshit that you'll never use more than two or three times, whether it be shoes, clothes or a belt. If you took that money and had guys like us, like we're sitting here right now and said, hey, have you thought about starting an LLC on Rocket Lawyer? If you have two or more, you can have a diversified company. And it's like now you can just start pitching stuff to companies and creating your own work. And essentially that's what I've done since I've encountered being divorced.
Speaker 2:I literally was cleaning solar panels on people's homes and Wrightsville beach and telling them you know, hey, every six months you have to clean your solar panels. If you Google it, it's true, and so you know. I figured out a way. I'm like how do I survive? Because if I don't do anything, I'm not going to survive and no one's coming. No one wants to come, and when everyone knows you're suffering, no one wants to come around. That you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And it's harder, and I noticed it. And anytime I would vent or I would expose things to people, a lot of people don't know what to do or what to say or how to even render advice to someone in that situation. So I had to learn how to be very mentally resilient. I'm like all right, well, you know how can I? And it's just like we've been through so much in our just training, let alone deployments. I think that the guys that I've learned everything from, if they were to look at me and say, hey, you know, what would you say about Brandon? At the end of the day, that's kind of what's always stuck in my head and it sounds kind of cliche. Not that it matters what people think about you, but at the end of the day, if I were to die tomorrow, I'd want you to be like man, hey, the guy was a great guy, he got after it and if he had $5, he'd give him $2.50.
Speaker 1:Overall, that's how I kind of want it. That's more than enough.
Speaker 2:You know it's like at the end of the day, this is what I want to be doing now in life is helping out, you know, veterans and veterans' families and their kids, because there's a lot that can be shown. There's a lot of good things that can be instilled and sometimes some guys don't have it in them to do it. I instilled, and sometimes some guys don't have it in them to do it. I had a man in waffle house, a veteran.
Speaker 2:I was teaching some stuff for the ohio range day and he came over and bought our breakfast and he said I wish I could look like you guys. And he had his son right next to him. You want to talk about humbling? I was like holy cow, you, you're standing next to your son, saying I wish I could look like you now that we're like studs and jackals and shit or anything, but he clearly knows what his son wants to look up to. And so I think now, with all of us looking at how we can do stuff with each other, having that type of aura, it's pretty rewarding in itself Just to have people come up and say it's clear, you guys do something. You know, I want to buy your breakfast and that's exactly what happened. You didn't know who we were. We literally were just in black shirts and pants.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's fucking awesome, man. Brandon, I want to thank you for coming on today. Man, if people want to connect with you and learn more about your story, how can they get a hold of you?
Speaker 2:They can just go on my Instagram to Jackal6Actual. Reach out to me. I'm sorry if I don't get back to you. I do have a lot of messages. Not that I'm super popular or anything, but I do try to help out every single person that messages me. My house has been flooded recently, so that's what I'm going to be taking care of?
Speaker 1:Oh, no, fuck.
Speaker 2:I'm going to get off the phone here, but yeah, no, hit me up on Jackal6actual on Instagram If there's anything I could ever do for any veteran out there. I have a good roll of decks. I have a good amount of people who we just want to help. The more we help each other out and see other men and women do better, the more it comes back to us tenfold. So if you need help with disability, increasing your rating or having some understanding of it, I fought for five years in one mind at 100%, so I know a little bit about stuff like that. I know some other folks that have more and better experience with it as well. But yeah, if there's anything I can do to help out anyone in any community, I'm all about it and the more that we can build it together.
Speaker 1:I think we'll obviously show here in the next coming months. Absolutely, brother, iron sharpens iron. We all need to help establish a greater, more positive veteran community. So you heard it here folks Slide into Brandon's DMs, flood flood his inbox and ask any question. Brandon, thanks again for coming on, brother please absolutely, man.
Speaker 1:Stay in touch and please be safe taking care of that flooded house. Thanks, have a good one. We'll see you all next time. Till Until, then take care. If you like what we're doing and you enjoying the show, don't forget to share us, like us, subscribe.
