From Green Beret to Healing Advocate: Chad Conley’s Story of Faith and Resilience

In this powerful episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero welcomes Chad Conley, a former Green Beret, to discuss the profound lessons learned through service, adversity, and faith. Chad opens up about his experiences in the Special Forces, the health challenges that changed the course of his life, and how he found strength in his Christian faith during times of struggle.

The conversation explores the importance of community support in the military, the healing power of connection, and the need for resilience when facing life’s greatest challenges. Chad emphasizes the transformative impact of surrendering control, embracing spirituality, and supporting fellow veterans. From endurance events fostering camaraderie to programs like Resiliency Brain Health, this episode is a heartfelt exploration of service, purpose, and growth.

Don’t miss this inspiring episode! Follow, like, share, and subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts to join us in celebrating resilience and honoring veterans’ stories.

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background of Chad

02:53 Chad's Military Journey and Health Challenges

06:07 Faith and Resilience in Adversity

08:57 The Importance of Community and Support

11:49 Navigating Life's Trials and Finding Purpose

15:00 The Role of Faith in Personal Growth

18:14 Acts of Service and Human Connection

20:54 The Dichotomy of Strength and Compassion

24:05 The Impact of Faith on Military Life

26:59 Surrendering Control and Embracing Faith

28:29 The Power of Surrender and Faith

32:35 Transitioning from Military Life

39:43 Mentorship and Leadership in the Military

47:14 Healing Through Community and Faith

51:10 Funding Resiliency Brain Health Programs

52:32 The Journey of Service and Overcoming Oppression

54:03 Endurance Events and Community Support

56:25 The Role of Experts in Healing

58:09 Mindfulness and the Warrior Mindset

01:00:43 Finding Purpose After Service

01:01:39 The Impact of Long Walks on Healing

01:04:28 Honoring Veterans and Their Stories

01:09:39 Upcoming Events and Future Goals

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Website: 50ftf.org

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Chapters

• 0:00 Green Beret's Transition and Triumph
• 7:39 Overcoming Adversity Through Faith and Resilience
• 18:38 Service and Faith in Green Land
• 29:59 Reflections on Military Service and Leadership
• 35:53 Impactful Servant Leadership in Special Forces
• 39:07 Building Community Through Post-Military Engagement
• 47:58 Endurance Rucking and Healing Outreach
• 59:28 Embracing Warrior Mindset Through Challenge
• 1:10:01 Evolving Faith and Purpose After Service

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Security Odd Podcast. Let's go. The only podcast that's purpose-built from the ground up to support you Not just you, but the wider audience, everybody. Authentic, impactful and insightful conversations that serve a purpose to help you. And the quality has gone up. It's decent and it's hosted by me, danny Caballero. All right, chad. It's decent. It's hosted by me, denny Caballero. All right, chad. Welcome to the podcast man. It's a pleasure to have you here, brother, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 0:33

This is awesome, absolutely, man. It's awesome to see any organization that's out there that's helping our service members. I love to connect with them, but when it's a nonprofit that's being led by another Green Beret, then I just got to make that happen, man, and as soon as I saw you pop up my feed, I was like I got to bring this dude in. So, chad, welcome.

Speaker 2: 0:52

Tell us about yourself and then we'll talk about the business later, but tell us about yourself. My man, former cool guy, I did my 20 years at 10th group retired out uh, july of 2023.

Speaker 2: 1:05

So I got in in July of 03. I did all my time at 10 special forces group. Was really fortunate to um, have my time there, had a stick going to SWCC, found my way to DLI to dodge that. So I did six months of French it's a PCS baby. It's it's the best kept secret in group. You can go there for a second language and I learned French and all I really did was surf. So I mean it was awesome. Bought a motorcycle for the trip, went out, did that and it was great. So I'm really fortunate in how all that went together.

Speaker 2: 1:37

Came back, did a trip with Afghanistan with Bravo 310, amazing group of people on 322. Had just phenomenal leadership, you know, and that, I think, makes it when you're a senior, charlie, like I was at the time before I became Zulu. You find you know like, okay, I'm going to do this, I'm not going to do that, I'm going to learn from these people and that really helps. So did that and then from there, ended up going into anaphylactic shock for some reason that the medical science doesn't know. So I go into idiopathic anaphylaxis so my body at any time can go into anaphylactic shock. So I take a bunch of pills every day. Yeah, it sucks. So I take a bunch of pills every day.

Speaker 2: 2:18

Um, and that was a big ego check because then I was never going to be able to be a team sergeant. Did pick up Zulu but was never able to be a team sergeant because my life had to go in a different path. So I got really smart on cold weather. I got really smart on taking care of our guys, worked the warrior care program and then built a retirement program for group. So, yeah, my sense of self had to be checked quick because no longer was I able to say, hey, cool, I'm out here, I'm running a gun and I'm doing the job, I'm going to burn it down. To the last day it was oh no, you've got to carry epinephrine pins, epi pins, everywhere you go. You've got to have a meal structure. What's going on with all your stuff? It just became a thing.

Speaker 1: 3:05

And there was no nexus of it.

Speaker 2: 3:06

There was no one you can't pinpoint it to a certain situation, just clicked on. Yeah, I was running in 2010, 11. So 10 and 11, we were in Iraq and I'm doing all of the human stuff, for us to say it that way. So I'm doing that, running the house and eating a lot with the locals doing all that stuff. I think something there may have got me, to be honest, but I'm not too certain, because what started as me having bubble guts and all that crap that you get from deploying all the meds, that turned into acute onset anaphylaxis to where I could be sleeping, driving, doing anything and I would just drop.

Speaker 2: 3:41

Oh shit, yeah, that's what kind of went from there started and got worse and, um, yeah, so my path went a different way and, uh, I'm not resentful for it because of the amazing things I got to do, but at the same time, yeah, it's a bummer, you know. You look back now and it's like, no, I didn't do the typical, you know 18 Zulu Green Beret route, but I was able to do so much to contribute to the community. This is what led me to being where I am now. Yeah, so I'm really happy in some aspects that I had this different perspective, but there's always the game of what if? Yeah, and you're just going to play that forever.

Speaker 1: 4:21

Yeah, it's almost as if you had a mini shot of transition before he had your actual military.

Speaker 2: 4:30

Oh, yeah, oh, absolutely I did. Yeah, I mean, I I went through it in a different way and, you know, in some ways it was really good because I'm able to just, hey, cool, this is what I'm doing, I'm going to get through it and this is my life. And then another way. It was like, well, this sucks, cause my dudes are going back for another trip. You know, like the documentary retrograde, if you've not watched it, uh, retrograde highlights uh, 10th group Cause we were the last ones there and last ones there.

Speaker 2: 5:06

And, um, one of my very uh close friends from my team he was our junior Bravo turned out to be the 18 Zulu on that team, mike. And it was tough because Mike goes in and you see it all and you're like I remember when you were brand new, you know E five, e six, and now you're crushing life and it's, you know, it's like damn, that could have been me or what I'd been, the, you know, company sergeant major. Then, because that slope, I mean when you can't deploy and you're all medical, your, your track to, you know, eight and nine gets derailed a little bit. So it took some time to get back, but very fortunate, in the career I had, and that, um, people in certain positions, like Lieutenant General Fran Bowdette, believed in me enough and I stayed in and uh yeah, so I was able to retire with something like that.

Speaker 1: 5:49

immediately you start to have people circle around and they start saying, hey, uh, hey, man, medical retirement like this is pretty severe, um, but you, you had a will to continue going, did anything else? Because you have to imagine this is rocking. You had a will to continue going, did anything else? Because you have to imagine this is rocking you at a physical level and we always talk on this show and I always advocate for it. It's mind, body and spirit. Were the other domains healthy enough that you could lean on your family and lean on those other paths where it's like, okay, my body may be failing me right now, but I'm stronger.

Speaker 2: 6:37

I can lean on these other pillars, or were those also rocky during that timeframe? Honey energy. We need to come out of the woods like John the Baptist just proclaiming, and we're too PC these days as Christians. So I'm unapologetically Christian and that helped out a lot because I think if you put your faith in Christ and you can have a ground, you know you have that foundation set with stone or sand and it just goes back to the Bible and that, for me, helped out a lot. That kept me going. And then I'm the kind of guy who I also cuss like a sailor. So it was a fuck you.

Speaker 2: 7:07

That's why you know, fuck you, you're going to see what I can do, kind of moment. Yeah, and uh, cause everyone said, oh, you got to get out, they can't keep you. And um, uh, senator here in Colorado, corey Gardner, uh who, funny enough, I was just on a plane next to him and going to DC to help the SMA with a suicide prevention event in September. I sat next to Corey and we're talking and I'm like you don't remember me, but let me tell you what happened. He's like, actually I do remember that this is the staffer who helped and I'm going to call her right now and say thank you that you're thanking me. Yeah, so it was really cool. But, senator Gardner, he wrote the letter we got through.

Speaker 2: 7:39

But I mean, it's that you know, watch this, let's, let's go, kind of mentality and, um, you know I'm a shorter guy, I'm five eight. I'm not the biggest dude. So we had talked about this right before it started. That's that to me, was a big thing, like I can, I know I can do this because you know I I got greater things than me than in the world, and it just kind of propelled me forward. So, mentally at times it was rough.

Speaker 2: 8:03

Um, though, I'm a I'm a pretty optimistic individual and I was able to focus my you know my mindset and my faith and say no, this is what we're doing now. It's changed mission. Let's go every day. And then you catch yourself, though, with the whole ah, could I, should I, would I? Um, I had a friend of mine who's wildly successful in windows, of all things, and he's like hey, I'll give you a branch. You'll make about $800,000 a year, you'll manage the branch. It's easy work. The guys are set, all you gotta do is take over. I had made a commitment to be in the military for 20 years and at that point it's like, no, I'm staying in. And I did, and I left that money on the table. But by doing that, I met my wife, I had my daughter, who sued me for, and it's like you know what.

Speaker 1: 8:53

That was God's plan and I'm really really blessed to be where I am now Absolutely, and I'm so glad you. It's a testament to those pillars. Man, I was hoping you'd have that answer. It would be strong, resounding. Oh hell, yes, my mind and my spirit were still there with me. Body may be failing, but I have these three and I look back on my journey. I didn't have all three and when the body went because that's the one thing we cultivate, whether you're special operations or a paratrooper physically fit, you got to be fit. The moment they take the body out, what are you going to rely on?

Speaker 1: 9:27

and if you were like me and you didn't have any of those pillars fall apart and yeah, on the back side and and uh, sorry to cut you off, but it's like now no, no on this side, when you do grow those pillars and you rebuild them and you make them strong and you can look back and say this this is why I have to advocate for it. It makes us better men, better warriors. We have all three strong and resilient, so thank you for sharing that man so powerful.

Speaker 2: 9:55

Yeah, it's hokey to say, but the Ranger Creed's right on that Physically fit, morally strong, mentally straight. Or mentally strong, morally straight, there we go.

Speaker 1: 10:04

Class 1207.

Speaker 2: 10:05

I had to do that in a long time. Yeah, I got some Rangers out there.

Speaker 1: 10:09

you know going to string me up for that one that I know now.

Speaker 2: 10:12

It's like yeah, I just fumbled that ball on the goal line.

Speaker 1: 10:18

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:19

Yeah. It's all right, yeah. Problem solved. Problems stay unsolved. Rangers lead.

Speaker 2: 10:23

It's all right, yeah, problems solved Problems stay unsolved Ragers lead the way From my favorite GI Joe little clips. That's right, but no, it is. It's awesome, though the fact that you can you know, diversity is a great thing get up and go. That first step after you fall in is just. It's huge. And it doesn't matter because your hard day is your hard day.

Speaker 2: 10:53

We've all heard that, but it is true, and you know, I didn't have the best of childhoods and went through a lot when I grew up, so getting through this was kind of easy compared to that. And when you see, when you can look back with a clear head, even if it takes years, and say, hey, I went through that for a reason, or now I'm this person that that matters a lot. And I think, with um, what we do in, you know, green beret land is, I like to call it that's what you get a lot of. It's a lot of adversity, it's a lot of struggle, and then you can get over that mountain of whatever it was you were climbing and look back at that valley and be like, oh yeah, I'm up here now and I'm moving, I'm going, and it's a lot of up and down, but it's to me it's such a benefit in the way that we're able to you know, as SF guys and this whole Greenbrae land thing as we're able to, like, focus on each other and then focus on ourselves and help one another. It's awesome, because I think that's. The second part of that is yes, you're great, you did it, you got up and through the grace of God, you can do these things and you're blessed for it. But if you have that one person you know there being, like, get the fuck up or let me help you up, you're going to be there for that next person.

Speaker 2: 12:07

I think there was a post actually on social media today that talked about why are veterans in active duty so quick to pull each other down and we have this crabs in the bucket mentality. I think it comes from lack of self-awareness and in who we are, because when you lose your sense of self, you lose a part of yourself. So then you get angry at yourself because you're no longer who you think you are. You can't do those things. And then you turn that outward. And when you turn that outward, it's not anger or vitriol at the individual who you're seeing they're doing well. It's the well. Why am I not?

Speaker 2: 12:45

And you're getting mad at yourself again, which goes back into faith to me and goes back into just putting yourself, you know, before Christ and being like, hey, I'm nothing, man, thank you for loving me and pulling yourself, you know, up to go to that next thing which, whether you know it or not, if you're listening to this and you're not a Christian, hey, get right with Jesus. But Christ is always there for you to help pull you up those, you know it or not. If you're listening to this and you're not a Christian, hey, get right with Jesus, but Christ is always there for you to help pull you up those hard times. I just got to say that.

Speaker 1: 13:11

No, it's absolutely true, man, and it's beautiful the way when you finally, when I finally found my way back to church, it wasn't because I was truly believing, it's because at first it was. I need to pull this thread. I need to pull this thread and see what I'm missing. If I'm going to advocate for all things that can help us, how is this going to be beneficial? And from the moment I went back, from the moment I started going back to church and made it part of my life, I have seen it work. But I have also seen the beauty of being challenged, because it's not about having the perfect. It's not like you go to church and your life's perfect. No, that's not the principle. Test your faith. See how this happened to me. I wanted something so bad. I wanted to have this thing, be able to have this family, and this is a complete, real situation. Complete. There's a real, true, in-depth look into Denny's life right now. We tried having a child for a long time and then we're back in church and I'm constantly praying for it. I'm constantly focused on this thing that we wanted to have. There's this family wanted to build, and then meantime we're paying thousands of dollars to go to fertility clinic and it's exhausting mentally, spiritually, it leaves you depleted. And then you, you get these, these updates. You sit down in front of the doctor and you're like, hey, it's not going to happen for you, it's just everything's wrong in you and it won't happen for you. What are you going to do in that moment? Are you going to drive back home and rage at God and walk away from everything that you've now been instilling in your life? And for 72 hours I was bitter and I was angry, bitter and angry. But then I realized I came to my faith. I came to him already dealing with issues already broken, and I got nothing but feeling lighter when I left church, feeling better, feeling more positive, being surrounded by the word of God, doing what I wanted to do on my Sundays not every Sunday, but going there and realizing in those 72 hours am I going to walk away from everything that I've learned, everything that I've been doing, or am I going to look at God and be able to pray the rosary today and say you know what? This is not the answer that I wanted, this is not the path that I wanted, but, regardless of how I get to becoming a parent, you know what. This is not the answer that I wanted. This is not the path that I wanted, but regardless of how I get to becoming a parent, I know it's going to be put in front of me in the right way. Whatever God wants it to be, I have to listen to his plan, and I was fortunate enough to have other individuals, other doctors, that were willing to say no, let's do something else. Dr Mark Gordon came in and went through his supplementation program and six months later we're having a kid.

Speaker 1: 16:15

There you go, and that's the reality of the strength of being able to sit down and say you know what? It's not about the good days, it's not about praying for a constantly, it's not about the white picket fence. At the end of the day, that's not life. The reality is it's going to make you stronger, resolute in your faith, and it's going to give you the understanding of like you're. You might not get what you want on Tuesday, but you continue on your path, you continue praying and you know what?

Speaker 1: 16:45

In a few months from now, you'll realize what you really wanted wasn't that shiny thing. What you really needed was this other alternative that God put you through, and that's what I realized in that moment, looking back at my career, all the ways that I wish things would have panned out and all the ways that I wished and thought I really wanted my life to go would never brought me to this moment. It would have never brought me here, to what I'm doing right now. And I say all that to say trust in God's plan. I didn't want to at first, but then when I sat down and I realized that he got me through the worst, he got me through infinitely worse situations. He's going to get me through this and the proof's in the pudding January 30th my little one comes into this world and it happened because of being willing to stay committed to my faith and understand that whatever I have planned, it pales in comparison to what he's got to what he's got.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Yeah, and the start of that. When you go through those trials, you think of the song it Is Well With my Soul and the writer of that had lost children coming across a boat from England to America and his daughters died on the trip and he just had. He was a songwriter so he wrote it Is Well With my Soul, an old gospel hymn and you know it. So he wrote it is well with my soul and I'll gospel him. And it just goes back to leaning on God and saying God, whatever your plan is, I'm there.

Speaker 2: 18:20

And there are tragedies, there's horrible things that happen, but you have out when I was 19. And I was in school to be a nurse practitioner in pediatrics at the time. So I'm working on him doing all those things and he just didn't make it. You know he's been gone too long. And then you know you look back now and you're like there's a reason for that. Yes, it was rough. Yes, I mean, my God, there was just terrible. But at the same time that his story needed to end there because of what he had went through physically and how bad it was and all of his sad Like it was really rough and to be able to be there for him and be that rock for my sister and then see where she is now and I can't talk about it because she actually does a counterterrorism job. That's badass.

Speaker 1: 19:01

And she outranks me and does this really rad stuff.

Speaker 2: 19:02

That's awesome we worked together on one mission. Terrorism job is badass. She outranks me and does this really rad stuff she does.

Speaker 1: 19:05

That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 19:06

We worked together on one mission. She had people in America, I had people in Iraq.

Speaker 1: 19:10

No way.

Speaker 2: 19:12

Yeah, well, we actually had one mission together. She had hit me up and she was like, hey, do you know these folk? This was over Sipper. And I'm like, yeah, I'm like yeah, I'm going after these folk here. And she's like I got the brother over where I am and I'm like, okay, cool, what do you want to know? A little back and forth. Our guys aren't living. Her dude was bagged up when he's at now don't know, but the turd's a turd. So they got rid of the turd and yeah, it was really cool.

Speaker 2: 19:45

And you're like, hey, yeah, but you go back to it. It's like you had to be honed, we had to be sharpened, we had to be like refined, um, to be able to handle some other stuff that came up through life. And you know, I mean I got my whole side. Here is this giant tattoo for her and it says one more day, and it's one more day until we see Jesus. We're one day closer. We're one day closer to seeing our heavenly father and our earthly father, and we lean on that. I mean it's pretty awesome to be able to know that. Yeah, this is preachy. You may not have thought this is where this one was going. I'm for it, man, I'm all for it, brother.

Speaker 1: 20:21

It's one of those things where not enough people are talking about it, and I do believe that the most resilient warriors that I ever served with were guys that were strong in faith. And I'm not upset. Like I said before, my path was my path. It led me ultimately to where I'm at. It led me to an amazing Catholic woman who brought me back to the church, and I understand that everything I went through I needed to, because pressure makes diamonds. And that's what I realized about our guys.

Speaker 1: 20:50

So many of us come from these backgrounds of just horrible, painful childhoods and that adversity breeds excellence. And it's not to sit here and glorify child abuse and the trauma we endured, but understanding that God had a plan and he saw us all the way through and ultimately to the highest place we could go to, and then helps us understand that like, hey, green Beret land was great, but I got a higher calling for you, I got a higher mission for you, and that's a beautiful. That's a beautiful thing about is when you realize and you open up your eyes because everybody that pivots every green beret, every seal, every ranger that pivots has that moment of like I'm no longer a warrior, I'm no longer worthy, and it's like dude. You've got an even greater mission now you guys, bro, we were never worthy.

Speaker 2: 21:51

We were never worthy.

Speaker 2: 21:52

It was only through god's love, was only through God's love. And that's where we are now. So it's like, hey, guess what? You're not cool, bro, you never were, but Christ gave you the ability. It was Jason, jam and some others they were. They were like, if you guys have Christmas, we're going to bomb the churches and all this stuff. So I did this um toy drive with my team at the time three, one, two or just some rad dudes who helped out great, amazing people. I cannot say enough good things about them.

Speaker 2: 22:20

We did um, did this toy drive, closed drive, food drive, money drive called Christmas in Kirkuk we're turning suicide bombers to sleigh bells, going from suicide bombers to sleigh bells, and we had this secret Christmas that we gave to everybody and they were all sent to this church and all these kids came and it was done by our church because I didn't want an American presence there. So we had these photos and you got Muslims, christians, other religions that are around there, weird Kakei or something like that. So we had these photos and you got Muslims, christians, other religions that are around, their weird Kake or something like that. So another weird, like local religions. They're all just they're getting love from Santa Claus and they had toys, food, all these things. And Kirkuk can get cold in the wintertime. You'll get snow and other things. So, yeah, um, not as bad as Sulian or Beale, but it can get kind of cold. So it was great for the kids there to be able to have that. And it's like we finished that. We do that.

Speaker 2: 23:06

And then one of our interpreters looks at me and goes, oh, you're the team Christian, you're the Christian. And it's like, yes, I am, that is my job and it was the most fulfilling thing I did in my 20 years. You do the cool stuff, whatever, but like that really mattered, cause it was like for that night, yeah, these kids are all sneaking into this church and they're all getting gifts and food and the family's getting taken care of. And it's like, okay, rad people in southern ohio who don't have a lot of money, banded together with kentucky and other places where I'm from. And they just sent and sent and we I've got pictures of it of boxes out in front of my um room going up and they made an archway. The dudes did because I was out and I come back and it's all there and it was great and we gave it all out, had a really beautiful time and I think that's the cool part of Green Beret Lane.

Speaker 2: 23:58

You can do stuff like that and it can matter that actually. You know, yes, you can take out the bad guy. Yes, that's amazing. We need to do that. But sometimes, when you're able to help out the kids, it goes a little further.

Speaker 1: 24:10

Absolutely, man. That's one of the things that a lot of people don't realize about our mission. Set as Green Berets Like, it attracts people that want to do good. Even the meanest, nastiest, most angry dude on a team has a soft spot for helping people. You want to be a Green Beret because at your core, you're a person of service that wants to help those that are oppressed.

Speaker 2: 24:34

Yeah, Kind of in the title.

Speaker 2: 24:37

It's kind of in the catchphrase for us, you know, I mean, yeah, john Wayne got it right, but yeah, no, yeah, I mean you got guys I know I do who are just these? Yeah, like true pipe hitters, like true knuckle draggers. You know, old SIF Lord dudes from back in the day, who, who just come through, and they, you know, go from commanders in extremist force to the most caring, loving person, whether it's a team party or they're helping kids or they're seeing something. And that is the cool part of SF, of Greenberry Land, as I like to call it, because it truly is. It's like we're here for a reason, we're here because we care, I mean, and we got seven things we're supposed to do, great. And the eighth one to me is to be the glue. You know you can come into a community and you can be that glue that unites people, brings them together. Next thing, you know they're doing things for our country. They're building up a resistance force, they're doing clandestine operations, they're communicating, they're putting in networks. Okay, we're on the x, okay, it's after x, and they still want to work with us. That can all come from that community we build. And they joke about it. You know, in the, in the r, in the ranger. You know, go to ranger school, you'll fight tigers, you know all that stuff. They talk about what? About special forces? And they show the dude with a beard. But that's who we are. We're supposed to be a guy with the beard working with the locals doing the thing, having that moment that encourages those local communities to be like, okay, not all America's bad, okay, not all America's out for it. They communities to be like okay, not all America's bad, okay, not all America's out for it.

Speaker 2: 26:06

We talked about God warriors, people who are devout in their faith and also devout in the job. That same guy who led the team in Afghanistan and during the film of Retrograde, just absolute on fire for God. Also one of the scariest human beings on a target you would ever see, like just doing it, but it's. It's awesome to see that. You know that that play that goes both ways, that that that dichotomy to say like someone's mindset and their faith and how it can come together had a mission with him and another guy who was very devout in his faith and they were both on the same helicopter.

Speaker 2: 26:43

We were pulling off and all of a sudden an RPG is coming at us in the. The helicopter kind of dips in the RPG goes right underneath of us at the last second and we're like, okay, from now on, those guys are getting split up on two helicopters. We're going to make sure that we always have, you know, those two guys. Um, the one is still on the other and that guy was always on the other helicopter. Because we're like, hey, the Lord's on our side with these two. We're making sure and yeah, it was pretty funny. But it's cool though, because you can just see that and you can see how people can rest their faith in the Lord and where it can go. It also helps in the bad times. It helps when you lose people. So it helps in the bad times. It helps when you lose people. It helps when you have a bad mission or when things don't go or when there's problems at home and you're in country X and you can just put your faith somewhere and you know that's an amazing thing.

Speaker 1: 27:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:37

But yeah, it's a wild job and it's an amazing opportunity and you know, call that we have to join the military period. And then when you go into different worlds whether you're a SEAL and you get a publicist as soon as you graduate buds just just joking or you know you're in Ranger Bat and you're you know you're landing there on the airfield kicking the doors, or you're you know JSOC doing JSOC things, or you're us doing us things. You know it's awesome and I think it's really cool that you can find your way within those worlds and communities and you can come out. With God's help, you can come out a better person. I think you truly can. I think in some ways you need that faith because some of the job that we do gets real heavy, real fast, and then you start questioning yourself and you need that.

Speaker 1: 28:29

You need that faith Absolutely. One of the things that I found really absolutely tricky was navigating, having to surrender control. We want to influence and have our fingers or our hand tightly wrapped around every variable, and damn it if we can't control something, if we can't make it do what we want it to do. But the thing about faith is just that you have to give up the idea that you're in control, that you have this problem that you can solve, and maybe it's not you that you have to worry about solving, maybe it's just being able to surrender and pray.

Speaker 1: 29:06

Like prayer is one of the most powerful things that I've discovered, and it was because of mindfulness. It was because of mindfulness and meditation that I pulled the thread. It's the same thing If I'm sitting here praying, if I'm doing the rosary, or sitting here focusing on the breath, I'm getting the same thing. Why not pray the rosary? Or maybe do two, maybe sit down, do a mindfulness session and then, before you start work, do the rosary. And I think a lot of our guys have a big problem with surrendering and letting go of that control.

Speaker 2: 29:37

Because it's ego and ego is edging God out and that's the problem with it. And I've been doing yoga and meditation for about 18, 19 years now and I find that to be a benefit for me. Had an ex-girlfriend it didn't work out with her, but hey, I kept the yoga and meditation. Thanks for it. You know who you are and you're still a yoga instructor. God bless you for getting me on that. But yeah, yeah, uh, my goodness, yeah, the the surrender piece to me. Um, I'll just say that's that. That is your ego. That absolutely is your ego, saying I can handle this, I've got this, when you ain't got Jack dude, uh, you want to see what you got? Go read Job, Go read Job, figure that out, see what Job went through.

Speaker 1: 30:20

And then say that you got it yeah.

Speaker 2: 30:23

Yeah, I mean seriously, I mean that's what you got to do. I bring Job up because that's what my dad was going through a lot with his heart. He kept reading Job praying on it, and that's like, hey, yeah, I wasn't there when he hung the stars, I wasn't there when he put down every grain of sand. But I'm just going to trust and have my faith in God and, um, it was cool to see that through my dad.

Speaker 2: 30:45

Um, but yeah, with our job, oh, yeah, I mean, we're in the military, we're supposed to be able to follow orders. Nah, man, we don't want that at all. We want to be like, all right, cool, how far is my left and right? And if I go to the edge of the left, is there anything past it? Or is that the edge? Because we're going to find it? Um, which is also kind of funny for people in the military to be so counter, uh rank and so counter, you know, like military, I mean, yeah, that's also the best part of it.

Speaker 2: 31:13

We, we're really really good at, uh, the basics in sf. We're really good at the basics. We're really good at the basics. We're really good at shooting and making sure that CMS is right and I was reading the rain safety brief beforehand. Always doing demo, the right way, the same way, but when it's time to go outside of the lines, our basics, you know, are set and then yeah, good luck, we're just going to be there. Um, we uh, one deployment. We had a standing rule when a grenade went off, we'd all over the radio go ha ha deployment.

Speaker 2: 31:39

We had a standing rule. When a grenade went off, we'd all over the radio, go ha-ha and forever through it. I don't think that's standard, but there were times with some firefights. I'm on an SO position. Hand to God, I'm on an SO position and I'm looking down at everybody. My buddy, who's still in, is over top of me screaming get some shooting, some off. And it's like that's not standard, that's not what's supposed to happen. But our basics were good, we knew what we were doing and at that point, yeah, there went some grenades, ha ha, um and uh, that's thoroughly entertaining.

Speaker 2: 32:14

Oh, so, awesome. Cause you're like once again five, eight.

Speaker 1: 32:18

I've got my rifle.

Speaker 2: 32:19

I'm like this I'm climbing up little Hills, you know, and all this stuff, and I'm like a Hobbit so I can just go up everything. So I'm climbing up this Hill, I get set in my buddies there with me. We're in this position. It starts popping off. He gets up, he's engaging. I'm doing from the ground, um, it's so awesome. But it's a good time when you can hear some ha-has. If you're out there and you get into a tick, and that's something you get to do, yeah, say ha-ha. Make that the SOP.

Speaker 2: 32:50

It makes it so much more fun when you hear that, because you're like, oh, someone's getting it. So, yeah, it's just. Yeah, once again, it's dude, the job we got to do, the job we got to do. Now it's not our life, it was a season, it was a job, it's a blessing. Yes, I'll always be a green beret, all that good stuff, but, um, yeah, it's not me. I think that's one thing.

Speaker 2: 33:14

Um, to talk about this side of it is who are you when you're no longer you? Because that's what we focus on is oh, I was, I did. It's like what are you doing? Where are you going? You know what's next, because I'll be 42 this Christmas. I don't want my life to end now that I'm no longer a Green Beret, like I want another 42 years at least of living. You know serving, praising God and making it better than I found it for my kid. So you know, serving, praising God and making it better than I found it for my kid. So, yeah, I think, I think we got to do that.

Speaker 2: 33:44

Um and uh, you know, in our ranks, I know, um, you know, I know Gil's doing a great job, general Ferguson, with that, you know, with what he wants to do in first SFC and beyond. I know that there are people out there, um, what 10th group? It's all I can speak of, cause that's where I was, but we had one of yours for a while. He was doing a great job of that. Kevin trujillo, oh yeah, um yeah, I hate you guys and I cussed him out when I heard he went back to seventh to take command I was like what remarkable man uh I had.

Speaker 1: 34:12

Yes, he is, it's um, everybody that ever meets him. It's a weird effect kevin is not the tallest individual but when you meet him I I swear like if they were like, hey, draw kevin, you draw him taller than you are. It's the command presence that he has. Oh, absolutely a remarkable um, and you rarely have those moments with with senior leaders that they actually remember who you are like. I've had a lot of group commanders and the yeah, good dudes kevin, great fucking dude he never left being an 18 alpha.

Speaker 2: 34:51

He never left the team in that mindset. He was always a team leader, no matter the rank, the bird, the star, god willing, the four, whatever else he gets. And people like him, they never leave that. What was it to be a team leader mentality? Because that's, I mean, that's echelons up, you know, for people who don't know, from being an 18-ounce on an ODA as a captain, as a mid to senior captain, up to being a group commander. That is such thin air. And then for him, you know where he's looked, where he can go is the, you know, the whatever. He has no ceiling, he has no limit, um, but for people like that, it's, it's, yeah, it's impactful because, like, like you said, he remembers you, he commands that presence.

Speaker 2: 35:32

And with what he did at 10th group, you know, second battalion, and we've, we've got great battalion and group leaders. He, just to me, he's one of the people that you know him, gil Ferguson, there's people that stand out. There's a CWO, ccwl for 10th group Now. Uh, cbf5, jerry Brown, same thing, Um, chief Brown's one of those kinds of people. Uh, csm Ted Muncher. Ted's my SF dad. So when I got to 110,.

Speaker 1: 35:57

He was on I went to 2-4.

Speaker 2: 36:06

He was 2-1's team leader or team sergeant, him and Chris Young and their team. They were the team, they were the pipe hitters, they were the team. And I was like I want to be like that guy and I strapped my wagon to Ted so many times that when I came back from DLI that I spoke about Ted's like you're coming with us to Afghanistan. I was supposed to go to 4th Italian and do the whole GED and D5, do a lot of stuff. And he's like no, no, no, no, no, you're coming with me. And since then I just actually called him two days ago to check up on him. No, way.

Speaker 2: 36:36

Yeah, I absolutely love Ted Muncher, but he's one of those leaders. I know there's people like that in all the groups, but you get people like Ted Gil, kevin Chief Brown. There are people that just have that impact. And I'll say this those are the dudes that need to stay in. And I see some of those dudes getting out and that becomes heartbreaking as a guy who retired, had the medical stuff retired out at 20. And you know, you see, those guys you're like, you better stay in. You know, for the regiment, you better stay in for that young 18 Echo, who's brand new to group, who came in as an x-ray, can't spell SF. He needs to know what it is to. You know.

Speaker 2: 37:19

That was the best insult I ever heard. I had a dude. It was Jim Lynch from Lynch's Lane. He was a SWCC instructor and this horrible guy he's my first team sergeant just motherfuckers. But he insulted one new guy one day. He said bitch, you can't spell SF. And ever since then I've used it. So, Jim, if you're out there, thank you for that. But no, that's what we're supposed to do. We got to find those guys that can hold up the regiment and really push it forward. Now I will say, for those guys too, there's a faith there, there's a foundation in other things, there's a belief, and I think that is also what keeps them so grounded and such a good leader.

Speaker 1: 37:56

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:57

Because they can see themselves in the young and they can also see how to be a servant leader, because we talk about that in the military, servant leadership and all this, but a lot of it to me is dismissive.

Speaker 1: 38:11

It's become a buzzword now. It's become something that people just throw on LinkedIn. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 38:16

Yeah, servant leader. Like, guess what? You shouldn't say you're a fucking servant leader. People should say that about you. Bingo, bingo. He's in the gym doing curls, trying to get strongly, getting to go back to the fight, to be back with his team. That's what you look for the fact that every November 10th, he and the people from that ODA get together and still contact or stay together to honor the person who died in 2007. That's the leadership and that's what Ted keeps.

Speaker 2: 38:53

Ted, the number two in my nonprofit boat. They were on that team together. Other people from that team have gone on to do great things for this country. That's what I love seeing, because it's like, hey, you know what, I'm never going to forget you guys, I'm never going to not be there. There were times he'd call Chad what's going on at 10th grade, chad, what's you know, how are you doing? And it was not because I'm anything special, because I'm not, I mean, but the fact that he would do that for folk and be like, hey, I want to know how can, what can we do to be better. That's amazing, cause he doesn't have to do that. I mean, he was. He was the head chimp in the tribe at the time, first SFC CSN.

Speaker 1: 39:30

Big dad Doesn't get. You mean, yeah, exactly, doesn't get any higher.

Speaker 2: 39:33

Yeah, no, and that's where he was, and it's like to take time to do that. Yeah, I mean, that means so much. So, you know, for people like Kevin, uh, gil, ted, and there there's scores of her big big Dave, um, another fella, um, who, yeah, I just, he has a twin brother and they're giant human beings, it's, it's funny to yep, that's what we need and we need to keep those guys in the regiment where we need to find, you know when they find the next crop, and make sure that they are sharpened and honed and ready.

Speaker 1: 40:07

That's what it is too. That's it's being able to influence the next great generation, cause you know, everybody has to find their, their, their way to have their last dance. You know Kevin's not going to be around forever. Ted already blessed us and sailed away. And what we have to realize is when we pivot out of the military, when we find our next calling, we can still influence the next great leaders.

Speaker 1: 40:36

Mentorship is something that I've always advocated since I started this program, but now more than ever, you don't know who's going to reach out to you. And here's the most beautiful and bizarre thing Of all places. Somebody found me on TikTok and then messages me hey, I really like your show. How did you remain so positive and advocate for becoming a green brain? I'm like well, I wasn't always like this. You're seeing the benefit of doing all these healing modalities, and I'm here talking to this young kid that he's not even in the military, wants to come in and he wants to go 18X.

Speaker 1: 41:20

And I realized, like, holy cow, you still have an impact on the regiment. You still have the ability to help somebody get in and replenish the forces. And that's when it's like wow, it really does matter what we do on the outside. It really does matter that we find a career, find a calling that keeps us engaged and happy, and not bitter and resentful about what we did, because I'd like to think that there's a lot of guys out there that are very angry and they don't promote and it's primarily do what they're doing on the outside, like, what are you engaged with that keeps you so frigging angry? Did you go into the right calling? Did you go into the right profession? Because, let me tell you, there's a lot of bad things that I've endured through my career, but I only talk about a lot of the positives these days.

Speaker 2: 42:12

Yeah, because we all carry bullshit, we all have trauma, we all have it. Guess what? Yours isn't different than mine because we all have it. It may be a different flavor, but it's all coming from the same place. Guess what? Trust your faith, put your faith in God. Trust that Christ is going to take care of it and just go forward and see what happens. You talk about jobs for a minute. That's an interesting thing, because I don't think it's the job, I think it's the dudes, and I think you've got to find the people that you want to surround yourself with and you've got to keep that tribe, because you always, once you retire, you're chasing the dragon For the rest of your life. You're going to chase that dragon of the ha-ha's or the fire fights or the this and that.

Speaker 2: 42:56

Because Dr Dan Pearl, who's the head at Yeshua's brain center, uh had him at the 10th group. Kevin had him down to seventh group first is where I got the idea. Thank you again, colonel Trujillo. Um, that's where. Or is he general, is he Brigadier General, trujillo? Yet I don't know. But for Kevin, um, that's where I got the idea from. We brought, uh Dr Pearl out and he talked about that. That. You chase that. You know amygdala response. You chase that brain goo, um, because it really is what it is. You get all these heightened levels of you know, like fight or flight. You know the stuff and you're living on, you know I, I was living on red man, golden boy in a white monsters, oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:36

Tons of gold blend, tons of red man, uh, white monsters and monsters and a lot of rage in the gym. And that was it when I was deployed and it was awesome, but that's not sustainable. And when you get out you got to realize, okay, those were cool things, it was great, but it wasn't the job you're missing, it's the dude you were with. So don't chase the job, find the people and you can dig a ditch, like when I retired. I gave myself six months before I found a job or did anything. I gave myself six full months to breathe out and say, okay, what am I doing now? And I was helping with stuff and then I have the nonprofit. Um, so we were doing that.

Speaker 2: 44:13

But by giving myself that time I gave myself and I had a different career path. But I gave myself more space to be myself and to breathe and you'd be like, okay, cool, who's Chad? All right, chad, is this Chad's? That I can work through that and I'm still I mean, it's not like it's over, I'm still like discovering things all the time. I don't listen for shit to my wife and I need to do better with that and I'm distracted easily and I was blown up a bunch. So, like my short term, memory sucks um, which isn't great when she's calling me out for shit, cause she's usually right and I can't remember a damn thing.

Speaker 1: 44:51

What did I tell her? Hey, use whiteboards.

Speaker 2: 44:54

I, we got I. I, we've got a big one on the garage, on the kitchen, I've got a big one in my office back here that takes up like a chunk of wall reminders all day long and, uh, that that works out pretty well. Um, and so to sort of just telling me, hey, you're being dumb right now, because then I can be like, okay, thanks, which I appreciate, I mean honestly I appreciate like yo, hey, am I being an asshole? Thank you, um, I'll change. But no, I, I think think you find those dudes. I got a job now I'm the director of military operations for Spartan Race.

Speaker 1: 45:26

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 45:28

Yeah, so I bring all the people together for Spartan Race. We do all those things and with Spartan Race what we're doing is we're talking with the Pentagon and with other people about finding a place where people can come as their tribe. So, if you were in the military, spartan in 25 is getting a lot more military centered to where people who were in can come and work out, try it, keep going and just be like, damn, that's awesome, like I love doing that. Yeah, cause it keeps people in shape, it keeps them talking, it gets them dirty and they look forward to the next thing. Or they build their own pocket communities and they go and do rocks or they do runs.

Speaker 2: 46:03

Um, a group of people I know just kept climbing Kilimanjaro. Uh, mike and some crew went up Kilimanjaro just because they wanted that camaraderie. Yeah, awesome, um. So to me that's one thing we're doing at Spartan that's been a lot of fun is being able to re um. That's been a lot of fun is being able to re um and vigor people's drive to be like get the fuck off the couch, get yourself in shape, be together. Um, and you know it's pretty. It's pretty amazing to see what's going to happen there and what's already I gave out like. This year I gave out close to 8,000 free tickets to military members and their families to go and participate. We'll do the same next year and that's really cool because those folk and their kids got to experience something together. And if mom and dad's in the military, they don't get a lot of that Very rare and only do you bring your kid to work day and you do a change of the can, but when you can do like an obstacle course together, get muddy and dirty, you know it goes really.

Speaker 2: 47:02

it's really cool.

Speaker 1: 47:03

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 47:04

Uh, freddie, my Justin. He takes his boys and they do all these long distance competition runs and Spartan races and all this and it's awesome to see, because Stokes is able to take his kids out there and they just crush it and they get to see dad crush it too, cause Justin's in amazing shape, um, so he keeps that up. You know retiring, but yeah, I mean, it's a pretty cool place to find a tribe and you can do it paying to do obstacles but, if you're in or you're retired.

Speaker 2: 47:31

Yeah, we kind of cover the cost.

Speaker 1: 47:33

It's something that Joe put together and I'm doing, so I'm really blessed to have that and tell us about 50 for the Falling, because this is something that what you guys are providing is something I just got done talking with another individual that there's a huge space for and there's a necessity for it when it comes to getting individuals access to care.

Speaker 2: 47:57

So 50 for the Fallen. I take people on very long walks, I make them talk. No one wins, no one loses. If you try to win, you're kicked out because you're running against yourself. Bro, you're off on your own, rucking in the front like I'm gonna do this, like where's everyone? They're not besides you, bro, you lost your tribe.

Speaker 2: 48:15

So we keep them together. We have people do 50 mile ish, sometimes more, sometimes sometimes less rucks. You don't have to carry anything. Like I said, we carry our own emotional weight, so you don't have to bring a thing on you. But we do it in 18 hours, so you have a forced time, a distance, and it's trauma bond is what it is, because during that time you're beat up, you're destroyed and you're going to look to one another. And I mean, if people don't realize it, they do.

Speaker 2: 48:44

Now I weave my faith into everything we do. We pray before, during and after, and then I got a friend of mine, adrian, who leads us in prayer every time, before and after, and then during. We're talking about it and it's amazing because people around mile 32 to seven you can set your clock by and that five mile window everyone gets tired and breaks down. Yeah, and the next thing. You know they're opening it up, they're talking, and then those that need it, we get them to the. You know the therapy they need. We'll take them to resiliency brain health at Capell, texas. We go to do good ranch here in Colorado. Um, we're open to other locations. I don't care where I send you, as long as you get the care you need. I just know the care at Resiliency Brain Health is second to none.

Speaker 2: 49:28

A friend of mine who passed Chris, he was part of Coast to Coast and they would send people down to Resiliency Brain Health and that's how I first heard about it and he was in JSOC and was doing that job, started at 10th. But, seeing it there, the guy who helped me start 50, darren the healer, colin Bowe Bowe same thing, he went there changed his life. He's like Chad, this is where we're sending people. And I was like, yeah, if that's where you say you went there, you experienced it. I mean, yes, it's anecdotal, it's one place, but we've sent numerous people now and they've all had positive effects.

Speaker 2: 50:06

Afterward They've all said without this, you know when they were wrong, it was without Jesus Christ, you suckers, but you're saying it the wrong way, but I'll let you have it for now, because I'll get you to God later. But that's one thing that we see at Resiliency Brain Health is people come out of that two weeks and they one can understand what's going on with their head, and two they were given the treatment they need. And three, they're given a pathway back to be like, hey, cool, it's okay, we're going to get you there, here's this. They keep with them, they stick with them and they're doing all the neural pathway stuff. They put them in a pod, spin them upside down, all that crazy stuff. Uh, I hope to go in 25 myself.

Speaker 2: 50:42

Um, I was 10th year master breacher for a while, had a like bomb job, so yeah you know I ate some charges, um, but you know I'll go there myself, I'll experience it and I'll be better for it. But it's, um, it's. It's amazing to be able to send people to these places and to do these walks and to see people change. We're going to Oahu December 7th, 8th, coming up. We're doing that here in two weeks. I fly in two weeks to head out to Oahu and we'll do a 52 and a half. We're going to do the Honolulu marathon twice Nice. So yeah, we're going to do. We'll start on the 7th with a parade of Waikiki for Pearl Harbor and then from there we'll move in and then we'll start the marathon. We'll do the marathon and then we'll finish up.

Speaker 2: 51:29

The goal for that fundraising trip is about at least 10K. I say about because I want more, but 10K at the least, because it's between $8,500 and $12,500 a person to get a resiliency, brain health. We pay for the flight, the lodging, the treatment, the IV therapies, whatever else you need. So each event I'm trying to cover at least one person to go to these different locations to get therapy. But that's what RBH, it's just what it costs to get this care. I'm all for sending. So for the event coming up's our goal. We're working with some amazing sponsors to help that be a reality.

Speaker 2: 52:05

Uh, but it's. I mean, I'm just blessed man, like, yeah, you know, you can, you can say all the you know stuff you want. But I mean, I came from a very poor town in southern ohio and we were not well off at all. We, we were very poor. So it's like to be where I am now to have the financial, you know, wherewithal, and we're blessed with how we are now and with what I do to be able to do. This is like you're supposed to. Once again. We got into SF for a reason. We stayed in SF for a reason. We retired from SF for a reason.

Speaker 2: 52:35

But that's not the. You know, that's not the job that we did it for. We did it for the service. Like you said, we did it for the oppressed, and oppression's a, that's an. It's an interesting word. It doesn't have to be someone putting their thumb over you and some like force. Um, it can be. It could be an addiction, it could be, it could be the fucking devil, it could be anything. And you're like, hey, I'm here to help you, man. I mean, I'm here to get you where you need to go and, um, that's a good thing with 50 is we'll take people out there and we'll do these long walks. Um, we did one that took us 19 hours and 28 minutes to do the 50. It was in Indianapolis and we had people who didn't want to quit and I looked at them all around mile 40 and I said I'm in this with you to the end. No one is quitting, no one is stopping. We are going to finish this and I don't care the time. It took us an extra hour and 20 minutes 28 minutes but everyone sprinted it in at the end because I make everyone do it, so at the end we all sprint.

Speaker 2: 53:37

You had a guy on, brian Peters, a wildly awesome human being. Brian has done a couple of my events. So we're in DC. The first event he did, uh, with Laura and Laura's dog. Um, and we are on the bridge going into Arlington and I had us. I did a speech before we go because, as you can tell, I don't shut up, but I did a speech going across the bridge before we got on the bridge and I had a moment of silence as we crossed the bridge. About halfway, two-thirds across the bridge, I just turned around and screamed and went all right, let's fucking go, let's sprint it in, because I wanted our guys who were there waiting on us at Arlington, who are buried there, to know we're coming for them to see him, yeah. So we all just took off like a shot, and it was the dumbest thing I did, cause I didn't judge the space and the distance.

Speaker 2: 54:24

And the next, thing, I know we got the drum beat music, we're going, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. And we're running but like we're noting for like an extra quarter mile running in and the guards are like what the fuck? And they knew we were coming, but we got there. We're like ah and we all just dropped.

Speaker 2: 54:48

It took us a good 10 minutes of getting ourselves right to go in to pay the respects that you know our brothers and sisters you know deserve. But damn, I fucked that one up on the distance. Man, like I should have started at the end of the bridge, not halfway or so through, um, but it was a lot of fun. Yeah, brian was a part of that one, uh that's awesome yeah, I was. It was too I was overzealous man that one hurt um hurt.

Speaker 1: 55:16

That's good, though, as Brian would say, you're conditioning your body for better breathing performance.

Speaker 2: 55:22

Oh yeah, that was a really big one for that. He did a Wahoo with us and he was invaluable in a Wahoo. Yeah, I had some friends of mine out there who were Congresswomen or famous people X or whatever crap, and they're out there doing it and they're all listening to Brian and some of our docs, our 18 Deltas, who, if you don't know what an 18 Delta is, look up an 18 Delta and realize they do so much more. These guys are. They're amazing, um, and they were out there taking care of folk. So I got the 18 Deltas out there. I got Brian out there. He's leading mobility clinics and breathing clinics during during the rut, because every 10 miles we stop. We provide the food, the water, the foot care, the med care. I take out all the excuses. It's like, cool, I can't carry all that food. Great, I got it. What about my water? I've got it. What about this? I've got it. And Brian was out there helping us. It was just so awesome to have him out there. One of my friends she was a congresswoman named Tulsi Gabbard and Tulsi was out there and Brian is working with her and her sister and her sister's. More of a badass than Tulsi. She's a tough chick and Brian's working through some mobility at mile 30. Mile 40, he's working on them.

Speaker 2: 56:31

And then they sprinted it in. This time I got the distance right and we sprinted it in to Pearl Harbor to be there the morning of December 7th. It was cool. We got there about 15, 20 minutes later. After we got there, all the Pearl Harbor veterans got in there. The survivors, oh, wow, yeah, yeah. So we had this meeting of like these two generations that got to like hang. But Brian was a big part of that event. It was awesome to have him, awesome to have him anytime he's around. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 57:00

He's a great person, he's awesome man and, and yeah, the the amount of performance knowledge that he brings. I mean that honestly, like we're trying to, I'm trying to bring him out to do a full-on session with, uh, a group of individuals. Uh, I got some big stuff working for the summer and I'm trying to get brian out there because it really it can apply to anybody. And, yes, I want it, for our guys are still in because it's vital for them. But on the back side, understanding that you can still get all this, because, did you know this? The moment you get out, it gets really easy to just sit on the couch and you have to combat that. And his, his ability to speak to our, our type of guys, is just phenomenal you know, without a doubt, because he's done it on, his story is amazing.

Speaker 2: 57:41

you know, coming out of to our type of guys is just phenomenal. Without a doubt, because he's done it all and his story is amazing Coming out of Northwestern with his degree, playing arena ball, canada ball, playing in the NFL, doing it all, finding his way, because hardly anyone leaves the NFL like Michael Strahan did. Strahan won the Super Bowl, left. He could have stayed for another year but he left and you don't get that a lot. So, um, and you don't get that a lot in SF land either, where it's like after the big mission, oh we did this, I'm this and now I'm out. You know there's, you know it just doesn't happen.

Speaker 2: 58:20

So for guys it's invaluable. And if you know, listen to your podcast, brian, what's getting rad dude. If you don't know who brian peters is, go listen to the podcast here that he's got. Go check him out, go to one of his clinics. Yeah, he is absolutely. He's helping heal people in a different way, just with breathing and being able to take your body and go, ah, and like let it out, because we can't do that half the time, even when, like I started doing yoga, you try to out muscle it, or you're trying to out muscle the meditation, which is the silliest thing on earth, but it's true, yes.

Speaker 1: 58:55

Yeah, true, yes, yeah, I'm a certified mindfulness coach and a million times I've worked with soft clients of like I'm going to fucking, I'm going to show you I can do this. I'm like wrong attitude, dude, you're not trying to breach mindfulness.

Speaker 2: 59:09

Yeah, we're just going to sit here and shabazz in a 30 minutes then and you're going to just freak out in a dead man pose Congratulations.

Speaker 1: 59:18

Be prepared to freak yeah, freak out in dead man pose congratulations, uh, be prepared. Yeah, my favorite is like we've been doing this for hours, haven't we?

Speaker 2: 59:21

it's two minutes it's yeah yeah, um when I did the warrior. When I did the warrior care job, I was dealing with all of our guys who were injured and it was during a tough time.

Speaker 2: 59:32

a lot of guys were getting banged up and I found myself going to sensory deprivation tanks for that, to give myself that time to just be like, hey, guess what, go, zone out, get right with God and just let the distractions go. And you know, to me that would help a lot way into meditation, yoga. And he found his way into still being a scary individual who has this you know zeal for life. Now, um, while he's in the service and as he, you know, whenever he decides to retire, I think Chief Brown's one of the guys who will go on to do whatever he wants, kind of like Kevin. If those two guys ended up together at first SFC, we'd be a better regiment.

Speaker 1: 1:00:26

Yeah, and that's it. That's the beauty of like really cultivating that warrior mindset. You're constantly evolving, constantly growing and adapting and understanding that if you're judging something because oh it's hippie shit like you're a very amateur observer. Be a better observer. Look for the things that can enhance your life, because oftentimes those soft skills are actually in. They're huge and they provide so many benefits for your life, like the breathing yoga. These things aren't just out there for hippies to use, it's for everybody. They'll make you a better, capable warrior. So embrace them.

Speaker 1: 1:01:07

Embrace all aspects of that.

Speaker 2: 1:01:09

Yeah, you can find it in the Bible.

Speaker 2: 1:01:10

You know Christ said be still and know the name of the Lord. You know, I mean you can find it there. Even it's said in the Bible to just, at times, be still. It's okay, take that moment, um, and we do that with 50 to wind back to it. We, you know, we take those moments, we have those conversations. Um, it's going to hurt, it's going to suck. No one, I mean you got to think.

Speaker 2: 1:01:35

Not many people go out and say I'm going to do a 50 mile ruck march overnight, in whatever the weather condition, but you come out of it when the sun rises, a better person and you, you're able to say you know what, okay, I saw that in myself. I let it go. A friend of mine did one of these. It took him three of these, so he walked 150 miles to talk about a friend who committed suicide. And yeah, you know it's, it's. It's pretty impactful to see that. Um, the first one of these we did. I did my first one by myself. I was out here as may of 2020, all the crap was going on, that was, and I just said I need to go for a walk. One of my favorite movies is cool hand Luke. He eats 50 eggs, so I thought I'll do 50 miles. That's where the math came from. There's no magic to it. It was cool hand Luke, call Newman, ate 50 eggs, and I'm like I'm going to do 50 miles.

Speaker 1: 1:02:24

It would have been way cooler.

Speaker 2: 1:02:25

If you're like I ate the 50 eggs and then I threw up violently for hours Exactly, and had to walk and then had to walk. So actually a buddy of mine saw that uncle Timmy Payone he's still in uncle Timmy saw that I'm at a place in Germany that does this American style steakhouse and they had this like two kilos steak and then like a kilo or so potatoes, and I ate it all like this pig I am, because I'm like I'm not going to leave it on the plate. And then at the end of it I get a picture where they're kind of chunky monkey. I powered down afterwards thinking oh I'm Johnny, oh, look at me now you know I'm man versus food. Then I throw up violently in the toilet and I cancel my night Cause he's like you got to come out now. You got to come out and I'm like I'm done, like I'm done for days now.

Speaker 1: 1:03:08

Yeah, yeah, I'm dying.

Speaker 2: 1:03:10

Yeah, my endocrine system is just punt throat punching me but um, yeah, no, I mean it's. It's rad. You take these guys on these walks, you do these things. They're able to find out a little more of themselves, or it cracks something open. When I did the first one, I did a buddy of mine who died. I just kept screaming his name every time, uh, I was going up this Hill and every time I my foot hit the ground, kind of like a ruck mark shit, but I was like just screaming his name. I got to the top and I broke down and it messed me up and then it opened me up and I'm like, oh, there's something, there's some magic here more than just walking yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:03:41

And we did the first one official. Thanks to Troy Biancone and Ryan McCann, who helped me put the first one on, with Duncan Butler and Darren Beheeler. We're in. We're in New York City. And thanks to Donovan and Dana Santas. Uh, donovan was the head of strength coach for the Yankees at the time. Dana uh, she's the head of the. She's Aaron judges personal and then she also is the head of the Tampa Bay race. So thanks to the Santas is I'm able to go up there.

Speaker 2: 1:04:12

Um and um, I start on the field with everybody we got like 60 some people and we go through the ghetto, we go with the cops the gangbangers loved us, the cops loved us we go through, we getting drunk at firehouses, we're walking through all the fun stuff yeah, all that stuff. But we get across the Brooklyn Bridge and we're kind of on mile 40 and people get quiet and they start talking about who they're missing, what's going on, how it's affecting them and it. And they start talking about who they're missing, what's going on, how it's affecting them and it. It was the magic moment for those folk because they're like shit, yeah, I needed this man, I miss this person, this sucks and this is tough and this was in um 2021, so we had just shut down afghanistan and, like you know, you talk about unfinished business and getting after it again. Oh yeah, how many people, could you know, wanted to go back for one more rip to get after it. And it's like, well, now that's gone and we talked about that and it was, um, it was some deep water we were swimming in.

Speaker 2: 1:05:08

Uh, we finished that morning and uh, then we went to, uh, the America's uh responders memorial first responder responders memorial where the the horse soldier statue there next to you's uh responders Memorial first responder responders Memorial, where the the horse soldier statue there next to you know, um, and my buddy, john, who at the time was in um, the joint counter tourism task force in Manhattan, he's like hey, I got you guys in, let's go on in. So we were the only people allowed to go there and we're sitting there. And then one of the guys from Triple Nickel was there and another dude and it was awesome because we're there, we're paying our respects, we lay a wreath and we have a moment of silence there and I didn't put anyone. I could have went to Ground Zero. It's not my place.

Speaker 1: 1:05:51

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:05:51

I wasn't affected. That's for people who were there and have people that were lost that day. I now have a friend who was in the first. He was in the 30th floor tower one when it went down and I've I've talked a lot to John about that and what that means to him Graham's ear Cause he spent 18 months helping clear the rubble. But, um, we were up there, you know, the horse soldier where I was going with that was we had our moment. It was amazing. And then it turned fun because about an hour or two later general braga was set to show up and lay the first wreath and be the first one up there and do all this. And he's like coming up there and he's like who the fuck? You know? Because we had this, the wreath already laid and all this stuff, because, uh, john's buddies were telling me that he was, you know, kind of like who the hell was already up here. But, um, we had our moment there. Then it's kind of just exploded where we taking these all over and you know, at first it was due. You know it was at the grace of the military helping you put these on and general donor, generous donors, and then in 23, we turned it into an official nonprofit and you know, since then, you know it's just been full go.

Speaker 2: 1:06:55

We did eight events in 2023. Um, so, we had eight, 50 milers in 2023. And then this year we scaled it back. Someone did smaller, more targeted events, worked with other people, um, but it's been great. We did um in 23 for the salute service game for the Packers. I took World War II veterans to now one of the field and had about yeah, it was awesome, had about a hundred of them out there. And then, um, the World War II veterans to now one of the field oh, wow, yeah, it was awesome, had about 100 of them out there. And then the World War II we had two guys and then we had Korean and Vietnam vets the World War II guys. I bring them because they had their ticker tape. Great, they had their.

Speaker 2: 1:07:28

Thank you they kissed the girl in Times Square and all that Korean and Vietnam didn't get that that was tough.

Speaker 2: 1:07:35

So for Korean and Vietnam didn't get that. That was tough. So for Korea and Vietnam, they had 80,000 people cheering for them, chanting USA doing all this stuff, and those guys just didn't know what to do. And it was awesome, you know, it was just so great because, I mean, even after Vietnam, america kind of corrected course, thank God, and understood that the people in the military are doing a job for the country and sometimes they may not understand or agree, but you know, it's their job, they're going to do it and they're going to defend this nation. And we got back to thanking people.

Speaker 2: 1:08:02

We did that in Desert Storm, desert Shield, which was great. Uh, those guys were there too. But the guys who deserved that were our war where were our um, the World War II always does, just because they were bad-ass motherfuckers for what they went through. But you know, korea and Vietnam, they got it. And then we took them up to the booth, the alumni booth, and they got to meet old players that were up there, like, uh, magic man mccoskey, who was the old quarterback for the packers, and some others, um, and it was really cool because those guys, those korean vietnam vets, are up there. They're drinking beers and eating food the packers are paying for, and all of these old players are coming up wearing the Super Bowl rings and all their stuff saying thank you, tell me what you know, who are you and all this. And that's cool, man, when you're able to bring those guys and let them have their moment, that's awesome, you know.

Speaker 2: 1:08:51

So this year we did a thing with the Bengals. That was a lot of fun, you know, next year we got a couple more teams on board, a couple of different leagues, but um, yeah, it's wild when you get to do that stuff and you can bring, like we did in Pearl Harbor in 22, where we were there with the world. We're two veterans and I'll do that again. I'll be there on the seventh in the morning for him. But uh, you know, last year when you were able to do that with green Bay, that was pretty fun. Yeah, a buddy of mine he's the head of their personnel and player relations he set it up and gray, let us go. And it was just like do whatever you want. Guys Just have fun.

Speaker 2: 1:09:27

And it was awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:09:28

Don't burn it down.

Speaker 2: 1:09:29

Yeah, or too much. You know cause some of those dudes they lit, I'm going to tell you right now once again cursed like a sayer love Jesus with all my soul. But they were getting lit on some beers up there and I'm like, are they getting driven home? And the guy in charge of them all was like, yeah, I got him and he had had one, thank God. But yeah, they were having a party, so it was so cool because they earned it and deserved it. So it was a lot of fun to be able to see those guys up there and we'll try to do that again this year with some teams. We're going to see what we can make happen in 25. 25 is a cool year we got to, if I can give a shameless plug for 25.

Speaker 2: 1:10:07

Yes please, please, please do In 2025,. We've got a concert at Red Rocks with Icelandic Ski Company Winter on the Rocks. We're putting that on. 50 is going to be there. We're the nonprofit for the event and, going forward thanks to Ben, a friend of mine who owns Icelandic Skis we'll be the nonprofit for it. So the goal there we'll probably do a 5K before the concert that day, do a big fundraiser and then send it, you know, and have some people immediately send a therapy down at Resiliency and have some people immediately send a therapy down at Resiliency. Then from there we have the first 50-mile ultra marathon in the city of Vail Since like 88, we're putting that on in June 5th with the GoPro Games. The Vail Valley Foundation has been very good to us and they're allowing us to put this on the GoPro Games. So we'll kick off the GoPro games with a 50 miler at 50K event and then we're probably going to go back to Green Bay and put on the no Ma'am 5050.

Speaker 2: 1:11:07

And that is an event that sucks. It's 50 miles, 50 burpees every mile and you're going to do 2,500 burpees or a mix of burpees and ski erg and row and 50 miles of running all in 24 hours and that's going to be an event that'll have different heats or classes. You know single, double, five and 10 person events, but that one's going to suck. I'm going to do that one too. I have to do that beforehand. So every time we do an event, I do it before. So I've got to go run the 50 mile or it veil before we do it. Um, I got to do the uh no man beforehand and it's just going to be rough. But I like to say, hey, I've been there, I've done it. So when I bring people out, it's like yo, you're not doing it for the first time. I've suffered through this too. Yeah, and then I'll be there with them. And then we've got a couple NFL teams that are coming on board for next year.

Speaker 2: 1:12:01

But, yeah, you'll see our calendar drop January of 25. And we'll put out all of our events at 50ftforg or the social media, which I know you guys will tag here and social media sucks. So it's guys will tag here, you know, and social media sucks, so it's 50 underscore, four underscore, the underscore fallen. Yeah, Don't blame me. Um, some dudes got 50 FTF. If that ever goes away, I'm just going to grab it and rename it. I'm waiting. So if you're out there, know that I'm. I'm looking at what you have daily to make sure I can take that one day.

Speaker 1: 1:12:33

She's talking about cat pics. It has nothing in relation with the name Dude. It's nothing but cat pics.

Speaker 2: 1:12:36

It has nothing in relation with the name Dude's, not even in America, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's doing his own thing, but God bless him for it. So I'm going to, but the moment it comes up I'm grabbing it. But yeah, I know you can find us there. But yeah, you know, we've talked about a lot today. Yeah, man, I think, I think, I think that I think, I think a thing that I think I've said think too many times there.

Speaker 2: 1:12:58

But what I go off of is why did we want to be in SF? And we need to get back to that reason. Why did we want to be in SF? And it was to do something more Sure.

Speaker 2: 1:13:19

At the time you had, like a friend of mine, aaron Crawford, looking cool, doing like the Army of One ice, coming out of the snow crap, which ain't no one doing that crap. Where's his tracks? No, you're not burying someone in and letting them lay there. It's dumb, but it was stuff like that. Or, you know, you got the guy halo and I think him in a seventh group.

Speaker 2: 1:13:29

The hard thing is going to be to decide what dialect I'm going to. Stay on the ground Once again. We don't do that. We have interpreters, people smarter than us. Good for you if you think so.

Speaker 2: 1:13:40

But you get back to like, okay, it wasn't. That wasn't the reason I wanted to join. It was I wanted to join to do something more for me and to see what I, who I am, you know, and really challenge myself. And that's the cool thing about SF is when you hang it up and you get to retire, then it turns into okay, cool, who retire? Then it turns into okay, cool, who am I? What can I do? Who can I be? Let me see who's there.

Speaker 2: 1:14:06

And you keep that same challenge and drive. And if that means you want to take a long walk with us and send a brother or sister to therapy, great Cause, I focus on military. Um, if you want to go do your own thing, god bless you, I'll help you. You can always reach out. I've helped other people set up, you know, nonprofits or I've helped them do events, um, so that to me like, just keep doing more, find where you are, find the tribe you need to be with, have your faith in God and then be like, okay, cool, that chapter's written, what's next? And some chapters are longer than others and that's the cool part, you don't have to do the job for 20 years. You can jump in and they continue to go and grow.

Speaker 1: 1:14:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:14:40

But um, that's pretty amazing. What are you doing this summer? What do you?

Speaker 1: 1:14:45

this summer. Uh, well, let's, let's wrap this up, because I I'm not publishing it out. Uh, I'm not putting it out yet. Um, let, let me put a marker to edit this. But yeah, it's a super secret mission. But, speaking to you now, I know that you're going to want to be a part of this, but we're going three, two, one.

Speaker 1: 1:15:05

Chad, I can't thank you enough for being here today and I will tell everybody who's listening we didn't plan this. I didn't plan this. This is a powerful testament to when you start your journey and you stay devoted to your path and your faith. I don't care what you follow, I don't care what you end up leaning on. I just want you to find your faith. And, yeah, I'll put in a little plug for Catholicism Come, be a Catholic, come with me and Mark Warburg and let's do our rosary every morning. But, if not, find out what you are, find out where your faith is and start leaning on it, because, just like it's helped me and it's helped Chad, it will be the one thing that, when everything fails, it will keep you on your feet. Chad, thank you again for being here. I can't wait to have you back on the show, because there's so many different things that we can talk about, but once again, where can people go to find your organization?

Speaker 2: 1:16:04

You can go on to 50ftforg. That's the website. You can go on to social 50 for the Fallen. Just put it in, it'll come up. You can Google us or you can meet me at any of our events and you can come out there and talk to me in person. You can email info at 50ftforg. I answer everything. Or you can just do my own personal email, chad at 50ftforg, and I'll answer everything. I'm praying for you. I love you. If you're out there and understand that you may have left the military or whatever you thought was you, but you're so much more. God bless you and know that people like Denny and I, we're here for you because Christ is here for us.

Speaker 1: 1:16:49

Absolutely, brother. Thank you all for tuning in. I really appreciate it If you could just share this with your friends. Like it, follow us on social media and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Again, thank you for being here with us and we'll see you all next time. Till then, take care. Thanks for tuning in and don't forget to like, follow, share, subscribe and review us on your favorite podcast platform. If you want to support us, head on over to buymeacoffeecom. Forward slash setcoffpodcast and buy us a coffee. Connect. Head on over to buymeacoffeecom. Forward slash SecHawk podcast and buy us a coffee. Connect with us on Instagram X or TikTok and share your thoughts or questions about today's episode. You can also visit securityhawkcom for exclusive content, resources and updates. And remember we get through this together. If you're still listening, the episode's over. Yeah, there's no more Tune in tomorrow or next week. Thank you.