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Security Halt!
#223: Green Beret to Philanthropist: Dean Goble’s Inspiring Veteran Journey
In this powerful episode of the Security Halt! Podcast, host Deny Caballero sits down with Dean Goble, a former Green Beret and CEO of the Special Forces Foundation, as well as the director of philanthropy at Black Rifle Coffee Company Fund. Together, they explore Dean’s remarkable journey from the front lines of military service to a life of philanthropy, supporting veterans and their families through critical transitions. Tune in to hear Dean's inspiring insights on the role of mentorship, the strength of family, and the value of community support for veterans navigating the shift to civilian life. Dean sheds light on the challenges veterans face and the importance of networking and mental health resources. Whether you’re a veteran, a family member, or a supporter, this episode offers a heartfelt look at the impact of service and community.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Philanthropy and Service
04:59 Dean Goble's Military Journey
09:58 The Importance of Mentorship
14:56 Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life
20:06 The Role of Family and Personal Life
24:58 Philanthropy and Helping Others
30:07 The Special Forces Foundation's Mission
35:02 Networking and Building Connections
40:01 Final Thoughts and Call to Action
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Connect with Dean today!
LinkedIn: Dean Goble
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-goble-635b24242/
Website: The Special Forces Foundation
https://specialforcesfoundation.org/
Produced by Security Halt Media
security hot podcast let's go with an expert in guerrilla warfare, with a man who's the best with guns, with knives, with his bare hands a man who's been trained to ignore, ignore weather, to live off the land.
Speaker 1:Job was disposed of enemy personnel to kill period. All right, dean gobel from special forces foundation, welcome. Security out podcast. Brother. Oh, yeah, appreciate your time, brother.
Speaker 1:Thank you, yeah, man, uh, it's always awesome to see guys that not only do great in their transition, have an an amazing role, but they go into something where they're of service to others, especially our brothers. And once I saw your profile and checked who you work for, I'm like, dude, this is the guy I need to bring on, because now more than ever, guys are transitioning and they're like I want to work in a nonprofit or I want to help somebody, but I don't necessarily want to be a first responder, I don't necessarily want to be a police officer. How can I be of service to our brotherhood? Well, it's a no brainer for a lot of us. It's like go to nonprofit, but that's still such a murky road for us. It's not like going into a trade school or going to school. So hopefully, while we pick your brain about how you got in your role, we can make that path a little more clear for folks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I like the questions and it has been a rocky road. There isn't like, well, there probably is a book out there that says this is the way you do it. I didn't read it. I hope we should have. But, uh, you know, some of the, the lessons you learn through failure, seems to always be the ones that stick with you the longest. So you know, and I've always, for better or worse it's kind of been a guy who just kind of sends it at times and I kind of work it out because it's funny, the reason why I apologize, because I'm from my phone and I'm abroad, so I'm here in manchester, tennessee nice, so I'm doing an internship with black rifle coffee company.
Speaker 2:Fun, so I'm their incoming director of philanthropy, pretty much, and so because of the hurricane. We're assisting with the relief efforts. So I flew out here immediately. I literally just loaded up six thousand dollars worth of coffee, water, uh, fuel, you name it in the back of a u-haul that we got all donated and then I'm literally as soon as I get off the horn with you I'm gonna start driving towards ashville, north carolina, and try to get those people you know much needed support and supplies. Dude, try to do our little.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, let's let's actually dive into that because, uh, this whole weekend I've been like intermediary, like connecting people with guys on the ground, because my third group buddies and random guys are on vacation. They're like, fuck it, I'm, I'm not gonna be hanging out and watching the place that we pretty much all grew up in. Every last one of us has spent enough time in North Carolina that it's like this is like second home, like we've all vacationed to Asheville, we've all been in that area, and it's like people are reaching out like, hey, do you know anybody on the ground? It's like, okay, reach out to Sam from Terminal CWO, reach out to everybody that I know. It's like, hey, who do you got on the ground? I got some dudes heading up there Like that is something that's unique to our brotherhood, being willing to just drop everything and even if it's for a weekend, I know guys that were like, hey, I got time this week and I'm going to head up there, and it's unfortunate that there's little to no help from our federal government dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know if you want to open that bag of words. How much time do you got you know? I just want to know, am I allowed to swear on this thing? I don't want to.
Speaker 1:Oh fuck, yes, you are Dean.
Speaker 2:All right. So I kind of just said fuck it man, like I don't know what the right answer is. All I know is I have good friends that are out there. Just because last week I was at this conference and stuff and it was literally weighing heavy in the back of my head the whole time, just here I am at this fucking fancy concert, and don't get me wrong, I love doing that stuff because the networking and kind of dive back into the original question, that's kind of where it all starts in the philanthropy world is networking is huge because it's already paying dividends.
Speaker 2:I was already able to make some phone calls to some folks who are doing amazing things out there. You know one of the sister. You know I work with the special forces foundation but like the special forces charitable trust and special forces association were crushing it out there, yeah, and so it kind of just like dude, like I just didn't feel like I was doing my own personal part, uh, and not that it was all about me. The things we're doing here at black rifle was, as a collective effort, what we were able to do in pretty much 48 hours. It's been astonishing, it's been awesome, yeah, uh, but but it's one of those like I'm just like.
Speaker 2:I don't give a shit if it's the right answer. However, to some degree, though, I understand the complexity that can be behind it, and what you don't want to do is just come in and add chaos. They're already mixed up chaos, and so I was lucky enough to be able to coordinate with some influential people who are working out there like hey, these are the distribution sites, this is where to go to the people they need, so I'm ensuring that it's flowing in there correctly, rather than just driving down the road throwing coffee beans at people. You know, I'm about 86% sure that it's going to work, but we're working.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. The last thing you want to do is be like Iraq in 2007, 2008, just throwing shit at people as you drive by.
Speaker 2:Once again, a lot of failures stuck with me in the past. I remember those days. It was control chaos, but it was chaos for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, dude, let's kick it off. Let's dive into your origin story. Man, like 20 years in the military, how did that journey begin?
Speaker 2:Uh, so I went to college for a year and I think I'm I kind of tell the same story, I think, a lot of people here. It was just it wasn't for me. You know, I went there and, to be completely frank, I didn't have the money. So I have a great uncle, my uncle jim, who kind of forked over, I think, like twelve thousand dollars so I could go a year, and he was like, hey, you're on your own now. He's like that was twelve thousand dollars more than I was ever given when I started as a kid, and so I was. I'm still extremely grateful for that today. But it was just I'm not like knocking on college. I think there's a lot of good to be having, but it was just wasn't for me.
Speaker 2:And so immediately after, you know, my year, I was just like I'm just not enjoying this at all. And so I went back home and saw my grandfather, who was a big inspiration to me, and, um, I was just like I had no idea, probably like it's it's very similar to me transitioning from the military today of just like I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to do. I'm just trying to figure this out, like everybody else. But I went and saw him and he was like fuck it, bro, go join the army. You know they got plenty of work for you to do right now.
Speaker 2:This was in 2005. So I was like, all right, you know, anything Paul said, you know, was pretty much like a word of God for me, and so I was like, okay, man, my grandmother was extremely pissed. She probably is still a little bit upset today, but you know my mom she was. She wasn't too happy about it at the time, but but it all worked out for the better. So I mean, that's kind of how it all got kicked off Just a dumb kid trying to find his way in the world. And I was just. It made sense, for I was athletic, not super smart, not dumb. I was right in the middle.
Speaker 2:Um, the old gray man, yeah, I remember my first, uh, my first deployment to iraq. Uh, during the surge days I was, we were responding as a qrf to a bridge that came and these, these guys came up in this up armored, high Lux and stuff and looked all super cool. And this guy came up to me with like a big burly voice. He's like hey kid, you're going to need to smoke, you know. And I was like I was like who are those guys? Some other dude was like those guys are special forces and I was like I have no idea what the hell that is, but I was like it sounds a lot better than me standing here facing out in this. And so, yeah, then I, just when I got back, uh, some SF recruiters like, come out, take the PT test and we'll send your ass to a selection. And the rest was history.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a the story for so many of us, like that first encounter, especially for our, our GWAT era green berets. You met guys down range, um, and then you come back. I was an 82nd kid, had the same interaction, seeing down range being effective, but then you see them like come over to the airborne px and you see that flex, that green beret, and you're like fuck dude, those guys, that's, that's what I want to do my ego definitely got the better of me.
Speaker 2:You know, it was just one of those. I just I was uh and the. The irony of it all is when I was a sophomore in high school I actually wrote a paper on it, being a green beret. So I was kind of lying where I say I didn't know, I didn't, I knew enough to be dangerous. Yeah, I knew they existed. I knew, you know, that it was something that was considered elite, but besides that, the rest of it was, I know they do stuff. That's awesome. That was pretty much at the when. I you know what was I? 20 at the time, 21 maybe.
Speaker 2:So just a young, dumb kid trying to figure it out yeah, seemed cool and you know, and yeah, definitely the flex mode of, oh, I could do that yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it looks great and it briefs well. But then you make it through selection, you make it through the Q course and it's like, oh shit, I have to be a professional soldier, I have to learn more than my counterparts in conventional military. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:But I thrived on that, though I love to learn, I'm the. I'm the kind of person that I like listening to the podcast. You know Ted talks, I like it, stuff, you know. So when I got there there, you know, of course they told me I was going to be an 18 echo because I was an RTO. Um, and so they were like, yeah, that's what you're doing. So, but I just dove right in and I just I love the academic challenge. I think something that is lost about some who may be thinking about going special forces.
Speaker 2:They think it's just like being super strong you'll be fit and that's kind of like the gimme, you know, if you're not fitting in shape. You know that that's the baseline that everybody's showing up, especially when you show up with those 18 x-rays today who are like complete studs. Yeah, but it's the academic you know and the decision making and the ability to build culture and get people to follow you or follow. What needed and work as a team is, I think what it can be, sometimes overwhelming.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, man, the physical is the sexy thing. You can go to the gym. Everybody wants to go to the gym workout. Nobody wants to sit down and read about the historics for the AOR. Nobody wants to sit down and read about, okay, what pillars of my education I need to improve on. No one wants to do that.
Speaker 1:That's the one thing that I realized is all these young kids. Whenever you retire or get out or heck for a lot of the guys that are active on social media while they're still in everybody's always hitting them up about the 12 miler or how to go through these obstacle courses and it's like okay, that's great, you do have to be ready, you have to be physically fit, but at the same time, you've got to grow and adapt this. This is your greatest like. That is the one thing that no one's going to do for you. You can get inspiration, you can gut through some things. I've seen people that have no business running a five mile, passing a five mile, but the reality is you've got to hone this. This is the thing that all of us. At some point you show up to your team and you're like, oh shit, my greatest deficit isn't here. I need to learn because all these motherfuckers are smart as fuck. And then you don't want to be the stereotypical 18 bravo, or you.
Speaker 2:And you don't want to meet that, that team sergeant and be like, oh wow, you're fucking retarded guy, yeah I mean I could have said to anybody that that is completely spot on, you know, but you, luckily, in my career I've been fortunate enough. I had really good mentors and that's to me a piece of advice I give people all the time is and it's it's. It's not like I came up with it or anything, but no matter if you're transitioning from the military, going in the special forces, whatever the hell you're doing, find that mentor.
Speaker 1:You find a good mentor.
Speaker 2:It becomes so easy to be able to. Now. Granted, you can't just sit there and call the call the person every five minutes and be like, do I turn left or right, do I turn? Like? Granted, you can't just sit there and call the call the person every five minutes to be like, do I turn left or right, do I turn? Like you can't do that shit. But when you, when you hit that real big crossroad, you can kind of be like, hey, this is where I missed x, y and z up. I would suggest you do it kind of like this, but make it your own. Yeah, and mentorship to me has been huge and I feel like, not that I'm some glorious, you know green beret or some crap like that, but I've been pretty successful in my career, mostly because I had very good mentors and they helped me out significantly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. A mentor is not your cheat code and they're not a academic wizard that you just call whenever you're faced with something difficult and challenging. It's somebody you reflect with, somebody you sit down and you talk about like hey, long-range planning you. You bring your plan of action to them and they're the first one to say, like this looks great, dean.
Speaker 2:But you're a fucking idiot here's where everything's gonna fall apart you basically just summed up my career right there. I mean, it wasn't always like that, but it but it goes back and forth, right. So now I find myself in more of the senior positions, as I I'm leaving the military and I'm, you know, help coaching around the younger guys and I was like, wow, that's great dude, but that's stupid. You know, but, but all I'm doing is just paying it back. The same thing that, but all I'm doing is just paying it back the same thing that my mentor told me.
Speaker 1:I'm just paying it back to the next guy dude, and I think that's that's the most beautiful thing about being a warrant officer. Man like I didn't not to take anything away from being an nco, I love being an nco but being a warrant officer you kind of get to A nobody knows your fucking job. It's yours, you own it, you have so much Nobody knows. It's provocative 100%.
Speaker 2:I'm going to blow you on.
Speaker 1:But you get to take a step back and realize you've been on the team long enough. You've been in the regiment long enough. You may not know everything about the 18, delta Lane or the 18, but you know enough that you can now mentor and help everybody in that fucking team. Yeah, your main, you're part of the triad. You're part of that, that awesome brotherhood of the team sergeant, the warrant and the captain. But you still have all these dudes to take care of. And it's so great to be able to take a step back and look at that young 18 echo and be like hey, like, the SDN is going to be a nightmare downrange. Do a lot of training with this and go talk to the nerds in the ass shop, because those are going to be your greatest asset, and being able to provide that sort of clarity to everybody is one of the greatest aspects of being a warrant, in my opinion. When you, when you were going through your career, what are some of the areas that you reflect back on?
Speaker 2:You're like holy shit. This is when I felt like I was like this was my fucking calling. Oh man, there's a few of them, you know. So how do I say that? So I was born and raised in Fort Batayan. That has its pros and cons, that a lot of people know what 4th Battalion is all about.
Speaker 2:I can't say that I always absolutely enjoyed it, but I do believe I was pretty good at it. You know I was. I've always liked to. You know, if I'm tooting my own horn, I got pretty good maturity. I can speak all right in front of the crowd, I can manage relationships pretty well, and if you know and understand that mission set, that's a lot to do with it. Not that the ODAs don't do it. Sometimes even better though, because that's a big misconception that they think it's just like ODAs can absolutely crush that mission set as well.
Speaker 2:But those were times where I was given the latitude to work, you know, by myself in a couple of countries where, uh, where, if you might make or break it, it was all on you. You know you didn't have anybody to rely on and I didn't do enough to throw myself in jail. So I feel like that was. That was literally some of the guidance I got most of the time was hey, just don't get kicked the hell out. That was like don't fuck it up. It was pretty much the. I was like you know, you know, but uh, no, I mean, but there's, there's a few of them.
Speaker 2:My my greatest time, though, and achievement, was one of my last ODAs. Uh, we, just me and the team sergeant I'll call him out Bryson Preddy. He was an absolute rock star. We worked so well together because we were able to complement our strengths, you know, and it's one of those. It's a good conversation to have, but, you know, you have your, you know 18 zulus, and then you have your 180 alphas, and I've seen it time and time again where those can kind of clash. Yeah, you know, they sometimes they don't work really well together, but myself and Bryson, who is a phenomenal team sergeant would you know like?
Speaker 2:I found myself one time filling out the schools tracker and stuff, and, you know, some day teams would be like, oh my God, why would you ever do that? But Bryson was so, you know, ingrained in supporting all of our major training that we had coming up. That was consuming all of his time, but he knew that I had that past history to be able to do that too. So he was like, yeah, man, you crush that, I'll crush this, and we literally just drove off of each other. Instead of making it egotistic of this is my lane, this is your lane, we just simply worked really well as a team.
Speaker 2:Dude divide and conquer Absolutely and I provide that kind of guidance to you, like the new warrant officers coming in is, you know, build a great relationship with the Zulu, because that is going to make your ODA the best or the worst one in the battalion. It literally can be as easy as that to make or break an ODA. It depends If you have a great 180. 180 and there's teams out there who don't have a 180 on their team and they do phenomenal too. But once again, it's just another person who should bring a lot of capability because of the experience. But don't come to me with excuses. If you're 180 alpha and you're fat, I'll call you out like the whole stereotypical, like our older generation. I hate on them.
Speaker 2:Sometimes those days are gone like oh yeah, those, the one who these I see walking around 10th group, at least now, are a lot of rock stars physically fit, they're smart, they're hungry, they get it. I see I see the warrant officer cohort moving in a good direction and I'm excited about that because it wasn't always that way yeah, no, no, it's your, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Man. I love joking and making fun of the old culture because it really was that way. It really, it really was that fucking way. Like you, you saw the guy at the food truck or you saw him at the range and it was just like in his car and it's like what? What the fuck are you doing, guy?
Speaker 2:the fuck are you doing, guy? But yeah the, yeah, the shit. Like everybody else, you know, you can still fucking shoot. You were enlisted six months ago. What did you forget? How to shoot, you know? But I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but I can get pretty fired up about that dude, it's.
Speaker 1:it's completely different now. I have a great friend who is in the work course right now, about to graduate here in a couple, you know, almost a month now. But, um, the epitome of the new era which has been happening for you know, for a while now. I think you know our, our generation of guys, the individuals that motivated me to become a warrant officer. It weren't the fat guys, balding, you know, middle-aged dudes that just didn't want to be on a team anymore. It weren't the fat guys, balding, you know, middle-aged dudes that just didn't want to be on a team anymore. It was aggressive dudes that were like, well, fuck this, I want to stay on this fucking team, I want to stay longer, I want to continue doing this job and seeing those guys, and it's it's why the relationships are better. Now, that's a hundred percent. What I believe is like you have aggressive, tenacious individuals that want to get after it, and it's not about checking out, it's not about just I'm going to go play golf. It's like no, I'm invested in this shit. And these are like the three best friends you're going to see walking in that team room. They're going to be the last guys leaving every day with the captain Maybe not the captain, but the team starting to warn, and they're totally invested. They want to see what's gonna.
Speaker 1:And the thing that I I enjoy is seeing the teams that maybe they don't have captain for a while and that warrant stepping in and filling in the job. That's, that's something that's like, fuck, yeah, dude, go get a young warrant officer. Like that's the beauty of it, because a lot of times you never know what's gonna happen. And that's the wonderful thing about having that 180 if you don't have a captain for a little bit, cool man, this guy's got it. That's his job, he'll own, he'll be mom and dad for a little bit until you get a new captain. When you were in that seat and it came time to leave the team, how difficult was that for you?
Speaker 2:Oh, extremely difficult Not to go back to it. But I had some challenges in my career because I was so heavily invested in the 4th Battalion thing at the time, I did become a warrant. I went to 3rd Battalion, 10th Group, and I found myself being pulled off the team to go and support other initiatives and support other initiatives. And even so, even my last deployment to Afghanistan it was, you know, when we closed it down. It was just like you know, the team's all ready to go. And I remember like, hey, dean, we need you to go and support this you know thing. I'm like okay, so you know, I mean, you know how is that Orders are orders, you know you kind of have to just you know how is that orders or orders, you know you kind of have to just you know take.
Speaker 2:But however, that was kind of hard to just. You know, you trained up, we did the training and everything together and hey, boys, I'm gonna go do this thing and you didn't want to be that guy. That just wasn't a part of the team. So that was always kind of hard to accept. Even they still absolutely crushed it. You know, I got to talk to my team sergeant from time to time like, hey, how the guy's doing he would. He was actually better on checking up on me, because he's good people, just being like you didn't burn it down yet, are you?
Speaker 2:you know so, but yeah, just yeah that was, that was one of the more challenging things of the career is being able to be truly a part of the team and not pulled off the team. But it is what it is Sometimes. You know, commander only has so many people and he's he's also told what he needs to get done and they have to figure it out with the manning yeah, that's, that's the um.
Speaker 1:The flip side of it. Uh, we were. I was just talking about this with another friend of mine that's still in and a warrant officer. The amount of times that you know you have all these capabilities, you have all these schools and you deploy and it's like, oh, we need this person over here to be in charge of all these other you know operations and it's like, fuck, dude, I just spent how many years of my life to get validated, to get in the position, to have this experience to deploy, and now you want to pull me off the fucking team to go do this other thing that I don't really love but I just happen to be good at.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you pretty much sums it up.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, it's a double edged sword man. It fucking sucks. And you know, we're looking at a time where we're still sort of short on people. So we're seeing team sergeants and we're seeing warrant officers like dude, you should be in that in that seat for a while. You. We're seeing warrant officers like dude, you should be in that in that seat for a while, you should be on that team. But there's like hey, we need you to go up to be a company. Now it's like what the fuck? The guy literally like changes entire career to be on a team a little longer. And now it's like, hey, go be a company warrant. It's like fuck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I did that for a little bit of time. I went over to what they called the tisc at the time. It was all the technical information stuff. Like I said, I'm kind of a nerd, so to me, becoming a company ops ward, that was the best place that I could be. So they did, they definitely hooked me up with that job because I was like sweet, I get to do nerd stuff and rather than just simply staff concepts, yeah, I only saw I didn't have to see nearly as many like draws. So I felt very fortunate to have that position to be working on, like you know, kind of like the next generation.
Speaker 2:You know we were working on the cyber. How does soft integrate into that? We're working on space. You know how to soft integrate into that. You know ues and counter ues systems were huge. You know when ukraine kicked off and how are we getting ahead of that? So, from simply a 10th group perspective, you know it was obviously highly invested in ukraine. Yeah, you know that was uh, it was nice to be kind of on the leading edge to some degree.
Speaker 1:You know, kind of help mold what that looked like down to the tactical operator dude, absolutely that's something that um dude, that that's unique to you guys and warrant officers right now, because I think it's spread to every group right now. But we're looking at a whole different type of warfare and being on that leading edge developing. I mean on the outside, looking at defense tech companies right now and everything they're developing and it's like, fuck, dude, like the next war, the next thing our guys are going to be involved in. I don't want to have any piece of that. Fuck getting targeted by a drone, fuck that.
Speaker 2:It was interesting. You know, relying on, like, obviously, a lot of the really smart companies that do this extremely well USB set. I'd be in like a Cape speech brief every week and I'm like, wow, that's a capability. I'd be in like a Cape speak brief every week and I'm like, wow, that that's a capability. I was like that sucks, because if we have it here, there's a good chance they have it at least to some degree. And I was like, wow, this is going to be interesting. So, my my, you know I tip my hat to the next generation. They have one hell of a challenge in front of them. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how it unfolds, especially how the world's going these days. I'm an extremely optimistic guy.
Speaker 1:I never wish for war or anything like that, but if anything really starts to heat up, you know, back again in the middle east or out in the pacific, you know it's going to be interesting on how that is played yeah, it's funny that everybody expects green berets or anybody in the soft profession to be like the, the greatest warmongers, to be like yeah, fuck, yeah, I'm like, don't get me wrong, deployments are like friday night football that's what you want to be a part of. But when it comes to like our lived experience are like the way that we look at the world. Nobody is sitting there honing their knife and just just salivating at the news, at the latest news, just wishing and hoping for more wars. It's like it's the complete opposite. Like, yeah, we're completely capable, but at the end of the day, it's like fuck, we just got done with 20 years of Afghanistan and Iraq. Like, let's take a breather dog.
Speaker 2:Without a doubt. I remember getting back home from Afghanistan and it was like what? Six months, seven at the most. You know later, and then I found out that the you know the russian, you know you invaded ukraine. I was like these motherfuckers, I was like you couldn't at least given us a year?
Speaker 2:you know, and then we were, hey, man, let's spin it back up again, but but you bring up a good point.
Speaker 2:And so, transitioning into philanthropy, because, you know, we're not warmongers at least the majority of us are and so that's the reason why I felt like my calling was to kind of work in this realm, because our motto, free the oppressed that is great, on being able to help people, that I feel like I have the same amount of reward as I did in my, as I did in my current career, you know, as a special forces guy, and it just there's something that is even right now is hard for me to quantify, but it's just that sensation of being able to help people. Yes, dude, that truly need it. What we do, you know, granted, am I capable of picking up a rifle to end a few lives, to help people out? Absolutely. You just got to take that same kind of approach to this. You're just not carrying a firearm with you everywhere. The culture, the ideology, the purpose, that is closely integrated through philanthropy, as it is what we do as operators to some degree.
Speaker 1:Absolutely man. And that's why I always tell guys when they're going through transition, when they start that two years out and they're looking at what to do, inevitably we all go through the same crisis of like I just need to make a shitload of money, I've got a wife to take care of, I've got kids to feed, I just need to make the most money. But then you start realizing that, okay, maybe I can go and explore what I'm really passionate about. And the first thing I tell people is look, you spent 20 plus years being of service to others. You were a mentor to a junior and if you were active duty in another profession before that, you were in infantry or you were in supply, whatever you were doing, you always had a junior to mentor. You always had to put time and effort into cultivating somebody that was going to inevitably take over your position. You've always been a coach. You've always been a mentor.
Speaker 1:Look at what all those skill sets entail and look at nonprofit work. Look at all the different things you could do being of service to people, because that's where your heart is. I truly believe, as a special forces soldier, as a ranger, a seal or any other combat arms guy, at the end of it all, you might be the most lethal individual in the battlefield. You're also somebody with a lot of compassion and empathy and you like to watch other people succeed. To at least take a moment and look at what nonprofits have to offer, because you'll be happy and you will thrive, and you'll be actually shocked when you realize you can make a living there.
Speaker 1:And it might not be for everybody, but at least be willing to look at those positions, look at those employment opportunities, look at industries for more than the money side, because you'll find that maybe that's where your heart's at, maybe that's where you go, where you're passionate about things, where your purpose is tied into something. You might be able to still make it work financially and still be able to fulfill yourself for the purpose transition. What made you take that step and saying, okay, I'm going to bow out Because a lot of guys end up going. 20 plus years. What was your main catalyst for the side and go?
Speaker 2:I was just ready for something new. It was nothing personal against. You know. I loved my time working at special forces. I loved it. I liked everything I did. I just, you know, I just wanted to be and I don't mean this to sound in a you know a dick way or but I just I wanted to be something defined, more than just a green beret one day when I'm older, absolutely you know, not that that achievement's amazing and I definitely appreciate it and the accolades and all that stuff that comes with it, but I wanted to have a little bit more to my life, you know.
Speaker 2:So I was kind of chomping at the bit. You know, come 18 years in service, you know. And you know, of course every boss is, hey, are you in for the long haul, are you going to be a CW5 one day? And I was like no.
Speaker 2:No, I mean more power to the guys who do. I think that's phenomenal, that that works for you. And then family, of course, came into play a little bit. You know, my boys are both in high school now. I wanted to be able to be around a little bit more for them to kind of.
Speaker 2:You know, I missed the younger years, like a lot of us do so, as they got older, I kind of told myself one day I was like you know, I do a lot of work to mentor other people, but what I feel like I was missing is mentoring my own damn kids. And I was like I need to definitely, you know, start picking that up. And I did so, kind of working with them, kind of teaching them how to be well-groomed young men, professional understanding. You know I needed to put more effort into that. I needed to put more effort into that. And so between me wanting to explore another career and being able to spend more time with the kiddos, that was the two driving factors that really kind of I was like, okay, it's time for me to find something. The next step in my life.
Speaker 1:Absolutely those are the two things that nobody sits down in a team room and says like, hey, you're going to want to put a priority in this. Like you come into a team as a young guy, nobody tells you the importance of being a husband. Nobody tells you the importance of being a father. It's all about go, go, go get the next school, go become become a sniper. Go to free fall. Go to free fall, jm. Go be a dive Awesome Now. Go get dive suit. They develop you for everything that you need.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, one of the most important and impactful things that we should be able to talk about is prioritizing your personal life. I think the best role models I had on the team were guys that were married and guys that put their families first. That showed me at least my life wasn't perfect. When I was in, I was guilty of doing all the same shit that everybody else does. You prioritize partying and going out and you look forward to down south trips.
Speaker 1:But I look at all the guys that were scored away with their families and they had the priorities in line and, as I reflect back and look at those guys, they never suffered through any of the crises that a lot of us did the mental health stuff, if they had injuries, they always were more resilient and they bounced back. And I think there's something to that understanding and being grounded in family and faith and, yeah, being a fucking husband and father first, then a Green Beret and I look at my life now and being grateful for figuring that out. I realized, man, if we spent a little bit more time mentoring our younger Green Berets as they're getting married, as they're starting to develop a family, and realize like, hey, get home to that football game, get home for your wife's anniversary, make sure you're there, dude, we can make better soldiers, better teammates, and then give them that resilience. And I'm just, I'm thrilled that you were able to experience and understand like, all right, I need to mentor my own damn boys before long they're going to be men.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they already. I mean my. My oldest is 18 and six more months.
Speaker 1:So I mean it goes quick.
Speaker 2:So, you know I, I know I look 22, but I'm actually a bit older. I don't know, I probably self-reflect too much, but it was one of those things that really hit me hard. I just knew that I needed to become more involved with the kids. I was missing way too many things to go out and do other stuff and, quite frankly, it was about me. It was well, how better can I improve myself to become a better operator? How can I get additional schooling? It was always about me and I was selfish in that way.
Speaker 2:And then finally, one day it just dawned on me you know, just, you know, once again, another great mentor, just you know, kind of. He didn't say it directly, but he just alluded to the fact that, hey, one day all this shit ends, you know, and the only people you're going to have left is your family. So if you don't take care of them, you're going to be really lonely, with all your wars and your schools and shit on the wall. Not that that stuff isn't important you still got to get some of that done. But being able to find that balance, I wish I would have did that better and had that wisdom when I was young.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. That is a gift to having a mentor that brings that out because it is important. You have to be selfish for our career, for our nation, for our regiment, for the job. You look back at your teammates and you understand that all of us signed up, everybody wants to be here and that dictates that you have to be the best at everything. You have to stay hungry. You got to stay plugged into. What's the next school I need to go to? What's the next thing I got to achieve? But at the same time, you have to balance it and I'm so happy and grateful that at the end of my career, I was starting to see a shift. I was starting to see team sergeants that were willing to pull their guys aside and say hey, I know you want to go, let's look at your life. When's your, when are your kids out of school? When's the best time for you to go to this school? Like the team's going to be here, I'm just not going to look bad on you. Let's look at the best time for you.
Speaker 1:I remember when I was coming up and it was like literally like oh, you're going through a divorce. Well, I'm going to send you to every school I can send you to back to back. It's like, and in a way, that was my team sergeant's way of showing me that he cared about me, because he was like his in his own mind. He's like let's just get him out of here, let's just keep him away. He needs, he needs a win. He just, he just needs a win. It was just like school, school deployment.
Speaker 1:It's like, and in a way, yeah, and in a way, yeah, that kind of helped.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, maybe I could have used other resources, maybe I could have gone the mental route, maybe I could have talked to somebody, but having the ability to look at the reality of every soldier, every race different, and understanding what that individual needs and then being able to say you know what he needs, a little bit of extra from column B, instead of just getting the hey, go to JM, go to free fall and just continue driving forward. Sometimes you got to take a knee and it's great to see that the force is understanding that, because I think the NCOs we have now are some of the most professional individuals and I got to see it on my way out. I got to see individuals that had gotten a taste of the GWAT era, but had also been developing themselves and realizing like, okay, I can't burn it down like my team sergeants from the past used to do. I have to figure out how to find more balance, and that's truly what all of us need, especially when we go through that transition period.
Speaker 2:No, 100%. Yeah, I remember I was one of my first showed up, one of my first seniors. He'd go outside and smoke like six cigarettes in a row and drink Mountain Dew and you come in and you just like it's three baby mamas and I was like man I was like what am I doing here?
Speaker 2:You know it was insane. So I say that the dog on him. But to be in 20 years, we've definitely come a long way. It is definitely getting better. You know we entice. You know I try to preach to the younger guys that going to behavioral health is just like going to the range or the gym your mind is just as important as your body. So what are you doing to take care of that? And if you need a professional assistant to help you, it shouldn't be something that's looked bad upon. Yeah, because I mean I went to behavioral health all the time and it just helped me kind of regain my confidence, regain my focus. You know, just, I just needed that bump just like you would any other school of somebody just coaching you through, to kind of get you back on the paper and then boom, then you're, you're off running again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, one of the biggest things that we also talk about in the show with the go along with transition is like that next phase of life requires you to kind of like retool and re-hone yourself a little differently. You know, we used to ego lift, we used to go to the gym and just frigging, just buys and tries back and buys and it's just it, just get after it to get yoked and on the backside of it, you know, now we have the understanding of things like operator syndrome. We have the things we understand how our endocrine system can kind of short out on us as we get older and get out. What are some of the things that you identified that you had to take care of mind, body and spirit on the way out?
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely mind it way out. Oh, definitely mind it was for me, it was mine and probably still is. It was just um, that's the reason why I started going to behavioral health. You know, I went down a dark path, you know, like like probably too many of us. Yeah, I just, you know, I just didn't like the person I was becoming, you know, and my mental health started to struggle. You know, I drank too much, so I kind of gave that up.
Speaker 2:So I just had to really kind of get past all that. And so, as I was transitioning, like who in the hell wants to hire, you know, a GWAC guy that just shoots guns that's pretty much what they knew and has a drinking problem.
Speaker 2:You know, it just didn't make sense to me, transition was just like looking at going through selection again. Yeah, you know like you're, you're starting over and you have to accept that fact. You get by all means. You're going to have your experience to help carry you through. But it was you. When you go in transition to the civilian world, don't take the fact that you're a Green Beret, or even in the Army or DOD, that, hey, I got this job secured, everybody wants me, they're going to hire me. Most of the people I meet they're like, hey, what's a Green Beret again? And I'm just like, oh, it's the Army version of a Navy SEAL. Like, oh, okay, I know what a Navy SEAL is Motherfucking SEALs.
Speaker 2:motherfucking seals, I love some of them, some of those guys are pretty badass. I like them all. Some I don't. But yeah, it was just look at it.
Speaker 2:When you're transitioning, it's just if you're an SF guy and you've experienced it. You're going back to selection. So are you going to show up there with a drinking problem and fat and all kind of mental health issues? Hell, no, you're not. You're going to fail out day one. So go in with that mindset of just being the best person you can be and then go into those job interviews and then you absolutely crush it. But I see too many guys that are struggling with transition.
Speaker 2:But I was then I bring up. I was well, what are you doing to work on yourself? Did you go get your PMP? Did you get any higher education? Whatever makes sense for the career path you want to pursue? But you should be preparing yourself just like you were during selection. You're like, holy shit, I was out rocking every single morning. I was reading any damn book I could get my hands on to teach me how to be a better leader and you did all that stuff. But why aren't we doing it now? And honestly, a lot of times I think it's because we take it for granted. We think we're badass, we think we're invincible, we got all the answers and that couldn't be further from the truth. And once you understand and humbleize yourself a little bit, like I had to, then I think you'll see a lot of success.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, man. You got to take care of yourself, prioritize what's important to you and be willing to go after something again just as hungry as you were when you're going through this election. It's not something you can. Half-ass and I see a lot of that too, not so much from our soft brothers, but from a lot of veterans are just like well, shit, I just did this 20 years, it should be just handed to me. It's like no dude, you still got to put your best foot forward. You still have to go out there and sharpen yourself to be the best freaking candidate and develop that network.
Speaker 1:That is one of the most important things that I realized that I didn't understand on the way out Developing that network, reaching out to people, being willing to connect and say hey man, this is who I am, this is what I'm looking for and I'd like to get to know more about your industry and what you do. It's that simple, but people are so scared of reaching out to people on LinkedIn. It's like fuck, dude, one of the greatest assets of being a Green Beret is talking to people. Just lean on that. Everybody had the gift of gab when you were in the Q course.
Speaker 2:Like why are you all of a sudden not willing to talk? Yeah, I have to tell myself to shut up. I talk too much, but yeah, you know if I'm tooting my own horn. That was the one thing that was. My saving grace is I've never been really scared to network and meet new people and that's just needed. You have to do it. You're getting out. Create that LinkedIn account. I know you're not a social media guy, I get it. It's LinkedIn's kind of you know, that weird hybrid space. It's more business, but it is social media. But even if that's not your answer, start going to conferences, whatever you're interested in. Just meet people and you'd be surprised where that will take you.
Speaker 2:I'm literally sitting in the black rifle office right now working and helping black rifle with their philanthropy, because I started just going and volunteering to do non-profit work and then I met the you know a few of the guys from the c-suite and they're just like hey, you want to come over and help us out? I didn't play. There's not one part of this shit was planned, none of it. I was just out, met people, talked. They're like cool, we like you, you want to come do some stuff for us? I was like sure, and I followed that breadcrumbs. So I mean, I don't know, maybe I'm underselling it, but it wasn't, like you know, I had this master book that I was flipping you. You know, step one. You know none of that.
Speaker 1:You're literally doing green beret shit, Like you're literally. Hey, I'm going to drop you off here in an unknown area to go meet up and link up with these people so that you can do some really sketchy shit on behalf of the U S government. You're literally doing green beret shit and being successful.
Speaker 2:And it's not like I know how to do anything else. So all I did was the same shit I've been doing for 20 years. I'm just doing in this civilian world. You know, some people are just like, oh, you're going to this conference, what are you doing there? I have no idea, but I know. But I am going to meet people and I'm going to, you know, kind of, seize every opportunity I can get and exploit it and help other people because you get that mutual relationship going you, I help you, you help me. I mean, you'd be so shocked on how far you can go.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, man Dean, I can't think enough before I let you go. Tell us a little bit about special forces foundation.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I mean, it's near and dear to my heart. I started volunteering it for a long time ago. But it is a foundation that helps compliment. You know cause? I'm sure you're aware of the other, you know special forces, you know allocated or nonprofits as well. So I've came in to kind of help shape and mold it to fit in with the other nonprofits, to add to instead of just overlap Is there some overlap? But in short, what we really focus on is tragedy assistance. That is in our gold stars. So between those two is what I pour a lot of our resources into. And then I try to work and complement with other nonprofits that are aligned to SOF.
Speaker 2:So anybody that's a Green Beret or their families, and especially our Gold Stars. We allocate on tragedy support and it doesn't have to just be tragedy, it can be mental health assistance. We focus on legacy preservation for our brothers who have fallen. So anything that falls along those lines. You can check out our programs on the website. That's what we really do to kind of help those in need. But a lot of it what I get is, hey, the government can't help, or it's a retired person, you know he's in a bad spot, or their family is what can we do to help them? And then we figure it out from there. So some of it's suicide, a lot Well, unfortunately, too much of it's suicide prevention. But we'll get you know a Green Beret, we'll get a licensed physician come out there, help you out and then get you to long-term care. So that is the majority of probably what's on the queue right now on my phone on people that need help and how we're going to support them is not just the cash that is associated with it, but with our partners who can provide that long-term clinical support from them from like a mental health standpoint.
Speaker 2:But we're not limited to that. We do all kinds of stuff. We had a gold star who needed a vehicle. We're like, cool, we can figure that out. We had somebody who's losing a house. How can we help them get a new home? So I mean it can be big or small and I like the ambiguity behind it. I don't want to put up red tape. I don't like the idea of that. I like being fast, I like being agile, because we're working with people and people. Everybody's story is different. Everybody needs, you know, help in different ways. So that is a special forces foundation in a non-political way. We're just fucking here to help out our Green Berets and their families and we will listen to any conversation from anybody that's associated with our community on how to best help them get support. And even if we're not, it once again, I'm a network dude.
Speaker 2:I can call the right people and I will get you in touch with people who make sense, and I'll even pay for it if they don't have the money. So that's it. That's how we help people out, and it is so holistic that I really want to keep it that way. Um, I don't know. I'm hoping that we continue to grow so I don't have to ever have to tell anybody no, don't get me wrong, we're not here to replace you being an adult. So then you crash your car like a new car that grows.
Speaker 2:You got car insurance right there, so I'm not here to replace you being an adult.
Speaker 1:What the fuck, dean. I want a new 2500.
Speaker 2:I've actually. I think I've actually gotten that before, but uh, but I got a great team behind me. You know we have gold stars in ours. You know sf guys who all work for us. We pride ourselves on being the Green Beret-led. So you know, we try to keep the executive director position on somebody that isn't too far removed from being a Green Beret, because, just like you and I, in another five or six years you're not even going to know who the group commander is. So how in touch are you with what are the current issues with Green Berets? So how in touch are you with what are the current issues with Green Berets? So those are just the small nuances that we try to leverage. That makes us a little unique.
Speaker 2:But in many ways, though, there is a lot of same and overlap, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's a big ass pie, and if every one of us eat it, we still don't help everybody.
Speaker 1:So the overlap is absolutely needed Absolutely, man. I can't wait to get this episode up so we can start promoting this, because, man, we need more resources. Our guys and gals out there that are struggling need to be able to look on a website and be able to say, okay, these people can help, and even if they can't help, they can get us to the right person that can help us solve this problem. We're still dealing with a lot of suicides, a lot of mental health stuff, and until that's solved, we need resources. So I can't thank you enough and your organization for the work you guys are doing for our community.
Speaker 1:After the GWAT, there's been a lot of guys that are coming out of the woodwork asking for help, even our older generation Green Berets. I'm starting to see a lot of guys that are finally because they're hearing the stories of younger Green Berets that are willing to accept help. They're finally coming out and saying, hey, I've been struggling with some shit. I need help too. So grateful for what you guys are doing. Dean, if someone wants to get ahold of you, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2:What I want to end it with is don't be the fucking excuse. There are so many resources out there for every one of us veterans at large. If you're in a place and you can't figure it out, fucking ask around, man. There are so many times that I've heard people just like I didn't know that it exists. Well, look, man, you got to take the effort to be able to come up and say, hey, I need this and I god I'm not. You're not going to go in the queue and be answered by an ai system or some shit. I will call you and I will be like what are you doing, bro? And I will get you the resources you need and if I don't have them, I'll get you in touch with what you need. But I put it back on the individuals. You have to take your own responsibility to. Yeah, raise your damn hand and say I need some help, bro, and that is cool.
Speaker 1:We've all been there, let's figure it out hey, so I'm sorry, I didn't mean no, you're good, get all real.
Speaker 2:No, it did that shit drives me crazy, because every time we lose a guy it makes me upset that if we didn't know he was on the radar yeah, it's self-recovery man, if you're isolated behind enemy lines, you have to be a part of your own freaking rescue operation.
Speaker 1:You have to be able to start working the moment you get isolated. And it's the same thing for mental health and it's. It may sound like tough love and may and uh, hey, I was there. I struggled with it myself. I am a graduate of inpatient treatment centers and polytrauma treatment centers. It's, um, it only started getting better when I finally started getting vulnerable and asking for help.
Speaker 1:And if you're out there and you're struggling, remember it may seem like a scary situation. You're going into the unknown. But hey, guess what? You've been number one man before, you've gone into the unknown before and you can do it again. So please take a moment, go to your computer. I'll pause. Just type this in Special Forces Foundation. You got the website up now, okay, you'll see Dean smiling. He'll say he's CEO Again. Look there, follow through, reach out, get some help. Because guess what, just like when you were on the team, you weren't alone. You're not alone now. You got tons of brother on the outside that are willing to help you. You just got to reach out, dean again. Thank you so much for being on here. Brother, I know you got to go so you can spread some Black Rifle love up to the people of Asheville. Man, thank you.
Speaker 1:Some of the roads are still there. Some of the roads are there. Once you get there, you might have to hook up with one of those mule parties or somebody with a 4x4. You've done that before. We've all done those info methods. Figure it out when we get there. Damn right. Thank you all for tuning in and we'll see you all next time. Until then, take care. Hell yeah, dude. That was uh. If you like what we're doing and you enjoying the show, don't forget to share us, like us, subscribe.
