Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
Join us as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, proving that even after the mission changes, the call to serve and thrive never ends.
Security Halt!
Green Beret to Entrepreneur: Preston Breece on Leadership & Life After Service
In this powerful episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero sits down with Preston Breece, a former Green Beret who transitioned from military service to entrepreneurship. Preston shares his compelling journey of self-reflection, resilience, and personal growth, detailing the challenges of military transition, mental health struggles, and the importance of community support.
Through candid storytelling, Preston opens up about the mental shifts required to thrive outside of the military, the lessons learned from self-talk and mindset development, and how he and his wife turned their passion for fitness into a thriving business that helps veterans and civilians alike. The discussion highlights the importance of fitness, leadership, and building a strong support network, all while staying committed to helping others succeed in their own transitions.
Whether you're a veteran navigating civilian life, an entrepreneur seeking leadership insights, or someone looking for motivation to overcome life’s challenges, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways on personal growth, mental resilience, and success beyond service.
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Chapters
00:00 The Journey to Becoming a Green Beret
09:47 The Struggles of Military Life and Self-Reflection
19:54 Navigating Transition and Seeking Help
29:55 Finding Purpose Beyond the Military
31:23 The Power of Self-Talk and Mindset
33:42 Navigating Life After Military Service
35:40 Finding Community Through Fitness
39:40 Building a Life Together: Love and Entrepreneurship
41:06 The Importance of Positivity in Leadership
44:57 Creating a Supportive Environment for Growth
52:05 Helping Others: The Heart of the Mission
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LinkedIn: Preston Breece
https://www.linkedin.com/in/prestonbreece/
Instagram: prestonbreece
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Produced by Security Halt Media
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.
Speaker 2:Good reason, but say that further this time.
Speaker 1:Preston Brees. Welcome to Security Out Podcast. How's it going, brother? It's going great. Thanks for having me. It's been. We've been trying to make this happen. I'm so glad we connected through a mutual friend, trevor Beeman. Great dude. But I love finding stories of individuals such as yourself that went into that next chapter of their life and were willing to bet on themselves. Going through that civilian pivot is difficult. Finding that next chapter is difficult for any service member. But I want to focus on more entrepreneurs. I want to focus on guys that are willing to dive into the world of creating something from scratch. And you're that person. You're that type of guy that goes out there and understand that there's fear, there's a lot of unknowns, but, damn it, I'm going to bet on myself and my dreams. But before we dive into that man, how did Preston find himself into becoming a Green Beret?
Speaker 2:That is a great story. It's probably a story that many have experienced where my best friend in the whole world was an Army Ranger. So anything and everything, if you want to be the best, be an Army Ranger. I was like cool got it. He's a little bit older than me, so I was the oldest of three, and so he was very successful when he got out or presented himself that way, so I listened to what everything he had to say.
Speaker 2:Once I got into maps and wanted to go to basic and go into the army recruiter. So they're like okay, what do you want to do? I was like army ranger. They're like great, we don't have any slots for that. I was like okay, cool. Uh, I was like how do I get that? They're like you're gonna have to wait until one pops up or have to earn one basic. I was like oh, I can earn one a basic. They're like yes, absolutely. I like cool May sound familiar for a lot of people that have had that conversation just to get that process through. A lot of promises, a lot of empty promises at that, and so I went into basic. They're like oh, you'll get everyone's school. You'll get anything and everything you want in basic training. They'll offer it to you, absolutely not. They're so good at offer it to you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely not. They're so good at selling it. They sell this dream Bastards.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the one advantage I had was I had a little bit more life experience. I went in when I was 23. So I was a little bit older, already, met the criteria for being 21. Already met the criteria for being 21 and I had some life experience to where I just naturally fit into that leadership role of duties for responsibilities when it came to basic, with a bunch of guys that were 17, 17, 18 years old and just looking to get in trouble. So I felt I filled in that slot.
Speaker 2:Uh, rolled with the punches and I think it was about a week before ship date I had already been assigned to Fort Drum. I was in infantry, so I went to OSUT, did 14 weeks out there and every chance I got, every weekend, every open hour I got, it was hey, drill sergeant, can I talk to you about being recruited? And it got to the point where anytime I went up to them they would just they wouldn't even entertain anything I had to say. They would just point and say get out, just leave, cause they. I just I bothered him so much I was like, listen, this is what, this is literally what I want, you know. Beginning and end of list. I, I want to go to regiment, I want to go to ranger school. I want you know, I want to be the best.
Speaker 2:And about a week before the ship date, my drill sergeant approached me and he was like, hey, do you, do you want a special assignment? And I was like, great, I'm gonna go clean the shitters or go follow some files, like being a good little soldier that I am. And he gave me this manila folder and it had 18 x-ray contract on it, no idea what it was. I had seen surviving the cut. And I was like nope, not for me, not interested, I want to be, I want to be a ranger, right? So, uh, because I didn't, I didn't know what I didn't know. So I was going solely based off of the words of wisdom from my friend who grew up in regiment, and that was like the holy grail of what he wanted to do.
Speaker 2:So my drill sergeant pulled me aside and he was like listen, he literally sold me on this in like 15 seconds. He was like this is why you're going to want to do this One. You're going to be with guys that are older, you're going to rank up faster, get college credits and go on shorter deployments. And I was like, okay. So in my head I was like, check, check, check, check. I was like, all right, where do I sign? So I had.
Speaker 2:I had no idea what the mission set was, no idea what green berets were. All I knew was what everybody else knows, which is Navy SEALs, right, so, uh. So I signed it, not knowing what I was getting myself into, and it, for me, it was a survivor, you know, adapt to survive type thing. So wasn't the fastest runner, wasn't the strongest guy, definitely wasn't the smartest guy. But where I lacked in some areas, I gained in others, such as, uh, being trustworthy. When people see me and I'm on their team, they're like, oh great, I have, we have this guy, instead of oh no, we have this guy, so, uh, that's where some of the kind of that gray area of like you can train him to be fit but you can't change his character came into play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, that's that's an important factor a lot of people don't pay attention to and like they're asking questions about what it takes to be a green beret, right, like everybody wants. Like how can I be better at rocking, how can I get better at push-ups and sit-ups? But the the hard truth is, for young men, if you're're listening and this is something you want to get into you have to be a good person. You have to be a good human being. That's priority number one. Are you a good person? Are you somebody that people want to gravitate to and they lean on for support? Or, when things are tough, do people look for you for guidance? And if you answer no to those questions, take a deeper look into yourself. How do you address those weaknesses and shortfalls?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and there's a great little scale that you can go off of that. It's the high performance trustworthiness scale. So if they're a high performer but of low trust, they're probably not going to trust you with many things, right. But if you're a low performer with high trust, I'm going to trust that the duty that I give you is going to be complete and I don't have to worry about it because I can always train you to be a higher performer, right.
Speaker 2:You can't change someone who has had the same characteristics or the same mindset for the last 20, 30 years. It could be very difficult and it is possible, but it's very rare, as opposed to someone coming to the gym every day just to get more fit. So to me, they never tell you why you get selected. But for me, that was the justification of like I'm just. You know, I'm not going to quit, I'm too dumb to quit when it comes to certain things. And that was. You know, I was just always that guy. That was, would it make a low point in selection or otherwise and make it lower? I would be the contributing factor of like, keeping morale up in such a manner that it was a bonding experience rather than a misery experience, because we were all experiencing the same exact thing. And that carries over into other aspects of life, where if you see somebody struggling, you know you're not going to reinforce them with like wow, you're, you suck.
Speaker 1:Some of my older team sergeants might disagree with you.
Speaker 2:Yep, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, and there and there's, there's a fine line. There's a fine line between being a very truthful person, yeah, and and reading the room exactly. So, yes, in certain positions, where it's a training environment, hey, tell me the truth instead of lying to me to make me smile type aspect. Right, because when it comes down to the wire and when it comes down to real life, I want to know that, leading up to this, that my training or my confidence isn't falsified and that I'm actually good at what I'm doing. When it comes to real life stuff, and you see someone struggling, you're dealing with a patient, whether you're a medical officer or otherwise. You're not going to say, hey, you're probably going to die, but I'm just going to put this on you. You're going to say, hey, listen, you're going to be fine, I'm going to take care of you, so. So, with that aspect, it's, it's writing that fine line of, of telling the truth, of saying, hey, these are the things that you're weak at and things that we can work on and be being like hey, it's, it's going to happen. You just got to keep showing up, right, so, uh, went through basic, went through selection, uh, told the whole time, probably, you know, in a lot of aspects growing up in my life that you're not good enough, you're not going to make it. So I had a chip on my shoulder to prove everybody wrong by doing the damn thing. And as you get older you kind of reflect on things and it's unfortunate that wisdom is something that can't be bought, it's solely earned. And you reflect on it and say, wow, I did a very hard thing to try and prove somebody wrong that doesn't even remember my name. And it's a very difficult self-reflection of like, why am I actually doing this? Am I doing it for me or am I doing it to impress somebody else who doesn't remember who I am? And that's a very difficult self-conversation to have.
Speaker 2:And towards the end of my career it was a truthful one that I needed to have with myself because I had been putting it off for so long to where I bent, to the needs of everybody, because I was always the new guy. You know, you went from basic to selection, from selection to the Q course, from the Q course to group and then from group to being the new, the new guy who's not dive qualified or ranger qualified or whatever. So every, every phase of my career, I was always new guy, always having something to prove, never in a position to where I was like, okay, now I'm in that mentorship program where I've earned my right and it's a constant fight to prove yourself. And that's where you have to come to terms with am I proving myself for the validation of other people or am I proving myself to validate myself, other people? Or am I proving myself to validate myself? And that is a very difficult conversation to have when A you don't know who you are, why you're doing this or who you're doing this for. So if you can define those three things of what do you want in life, is this what you're currently doing? Making you happy at the end of the day and that was the defining point for me was I.
Speaker 2:I'm just genuinely not happy in this point in my career. I'm ready to close this chapter after 10 years. I don't know really what I want to do with myself because I'd spent all of my twenties in the military, so I never had to. I never had to worry about job security. I never had to worry about where my career was going to go or being fired for that aspect. I got really good at doing pushups. Some other guys got really good at cutting grass, yeah, but it never really brought me the satisfaction of being like, hey, you know, this is. This is a lot of fun. It's really, really fun and a great experience for single guys.
Speaker 2:But that's not all I want to be, because I've seen the other side, where it's very rare that I saw somebody in a leadership position, that I had a happy marriage, happy life, happy family and it's difficult to have that, not by them not trying, but we're just gone all the time. There was one year that I was home for four months, broken up out of the year, so two weeks here, a month there and I was like how, how is this conducive to the lifestyle that I want to have 10 years from now If I can't maintain a single healthy relationship, not only with other people but with myself? Because when I'm home, I'm not actively trying to make friendships, I'm not actively trying to establish relationships, because I'm just going to be gone.
Speaker 2:So that led me down a very dark uh, dark path and which involved just a lot of self negative talk. I started to believe what these people were telling me. You know, you're not good enough. You're, you know, a POS. You can't do any of this stuff without my say so. So I needed confirmation to do good things or be good or feel validated, and it was just from hearing these things over and over that you start to believe them. So I got to the point where drinking turned from a party thing to an everyday thing.
Speaker 2:Yep and it what it turned out to be, something where deployments began to be a thing that I look forward to, because that means I would not have the option to drink, I would get in really good shape and I'd get do some cool stuff Right.
Speaker 2:Which is which is the exact opposite of what it should be. Yeah Right, deployment should be the time where all of your training, all of your, all of the stuff that you can legally get away with in war is is when it should be. And then, when you get, when you come home, this should be your happy place. This should be the place where you're finally able to decompress. But it turned. It turned out to be the opposite for me, because I had trained myself and I had convinced myself that I was only good at one thing and nothing else, and that was to be deployed. So that was again a lot of difficult conversations. As much as they are difficult with other people, it's difficult for yourself. A lot of difficult conversations. As much as they are difficult with other people, it's difficult for yourself.
Speaker 2:And I believe that my second deployment to Afghanistan is really what saved my life, because I came back and all of my old friends, who were my drinking buddies, all moved away, all moved to different stations. They moved for work and I had to start new. So I was like great, this is a perfect opportunity where I'm six months sober, I have no excuse to go out and drink with anyone, because they all moved, so let me take this opportunity to start fresh. Establish the friend group that I want to have, establish the life routine that I want to have. Establish the life routine that I want to have, and don't stay out past midnight. Nothing good happens after midnight.
Speaker 1:Nothing good happens after 8 pm, that's right After a certain point.
Speaker 2:Yes, nothing happens. Nothing good happens after 8 pm. That's when you start to raise your teaser AJs, ajs, yep, oh yeah. That's when you start to read a jay's yep, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's actually funny that you mentioned that, because when I was, when I just got done with the key course, the uh commander, some seventh group, came in and said, hey, you're not allowed to go to these bars. So I'm there like, okay, go to this bar, go to this bar. I was like, okay, because that's where the fun's at. So, uh, I I was always I never intentionally broke the rules, but I sure as hell pushed it and I bet some. But, uh, I liked, I just like to learn things for myself. Uh, in some aspects, and sometimes I like to make the same mistake five or six times just to be sure. So, uh, just make sure it wasn't a fluke.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I got caught in that trap of being being given freedom with extra pay, not having little to no oversight after work.
Speaker 2:And, man, I fell. I fell into some old habits really fast and it got to the point. It got to a breaking point or a low point where I had those difficult conversations and I said I like the mental space where I'm in right now and I'm going to keep that and that's going to be my guiding North Star, that's going to be my moral compass and I'm not going to allow anyone else to steal my peace. And if that means making drastic decisions or making me look like the bad guy, then that's perfectly fine. I can go home with my head held high, being called whatever name in the book if I'm happy with my decision, and my decision is what is going to suit me best moving forward. So that led me down to my career, ending with a little bit of a bitter taste to where guys who made this their career, or guys who just felt differently about the military didn't agree with you know, quote, unquote, quitters or guys not putting in their full 20 for the regiment right, for that's their go-to for the regiment, or they?
Speaker 2:amazing salesman by the way, sard majors are amazing at selling this because I had told him that I didn't want to reenlist and he said this is all you have to do, reenlist, for you know, there's an $80,000 bonus for six years. Just give me six years, that's it for 80 grand. And he goes like and then, once you do that, guess what? You only got four years left and then you hit your 20 and then you're, and then you retire. This is the. He had like the dollar figure, he had all the benefits that I can make, and he was like X, y and Z and it was like you'll blank, it'll be over, and I and I'll be honest with you I was like man, this, this is really good. This is really tempting, because, as someone who grew up, I never saw that kind of money. So that money was very, very enticing for me because when I left for basic, I had $20 to my name.
Speaker 1:I had to close my backpack and $20, my.
Speaker 2:Wachovia account and I was like, okay, this is, this is a make or break. There's no quit here, there's no coming back and saying I tried, it's a and that's a story for another time. But uh, leading up to that position, all of my life decisions led me to that position, to where I was put in that position. So, and all of my life decisions put me where I was in group being first time, going everything through Q course first time, go through dive school, first time, go through anything and everything they gave me that they expected me to fail in. I overprepared and I came out on top and that's not to sound arrogant or cocky, but I did my due diligence and I did the damn thing and I was able to pass it. If 70% is passing, that's, it's still passing. So it gets to the point where you understand what the what the standard is and you meet that standard. You don't have to be the best and that's okay. It doesn't mean I can't be, it just means I'm just not there right now. And if this is a passion for something that I want to do, such as fitness, then I'm going to be really good at it, because that is one thing that greenberries are good at, we'll get it adapting, being a force multiplier and being really really good at our damn job. So that that is something that led me down the line of I'm just not truly happy and I thought, okay, if I'm not happy doing this, let's just figure out what I'm happy in.
Speaker 2:At this point in time, I had no medical records. I had six months left in service, so I was scrambling to get anything and everything that I could for the VA, which made people a little bit more resentful because they're like, oh, you're getting out, cool, we get to put you on all these details so that we can free up guys to do other stuff, more important stuff, like drink beer in the team room. So I said no, which is, which is one is a full sentence and two is going to get you in a lot of trouble, because a lot of people don't like to hear now, especially when they're in the authoritative position. Unfortunately for them, such as you know, I said before, like I prepped and I knew the regulation of if have medical appointments, that supersedes anything and everything you want me to do. It doesn't matter how much you whine about it, it doesn't matter what the commander wants to do. They can't take you off the bat and I didn't know this growing up. So growing up in the military as a military baby, they were like hey, cancel that appointment, come do this training, you can do it later. Hey, cancel that appointment, come do this training, you can do it later.
Speaker 2:Which put me in a really difficult spot because I would have to keep rescheduling these appointments. And God forbid if you ever get seriously injured and you have to wait six months to get an x-ray when you know it's a muscle tear and nothing's going to show on the x-ray. They're like okay, nothing showed on the x-ray, now wait an additional three months to get an mri and then you get the mri. So after nine months they're like, wow, if you just would have came in three months after this happened, we could have repaired it. But now you're, it's too late and you're and you're just kind of like up in arms, of like well, I tried and nobody would let me, but it's it's a lie that we were told that. I think a lot of guys need to educate themselves on to where, if you go to an Army facility and they're nine months out, you have that ability to request to go off-site.
Speaker 2:And again, this is another thing that saved me from this last deployment and, ironically enough, with the amount of stuff that guys experience on the appointment, it saved my life because I came back with this sense of authority and confidence of like this wasn't my first rodeo, this is my life, and if you're on an objective and someone makes a call that you don't agree with, you know gray area right. But if someone makes a call that you're unsure of your own safety, it's okay to say no and say I can't. I can't do this because I feel like I'm going to die. So when I came back, I came back with that deployment money and I said, hey, can I get this done? They're like it's a six month wait. I said great. So I went off site and I said how much is it for an MRI, how much is it for an x-ray, how much is it for a doctor's appointment? And I would either find a referral that got me there within a couple of weeks or I would pay for it out of pocket.
Speaker 1:And that's it. Those are the things that just fucking, just break my heart, because there's like there are so many resources that I feel get like that people are gatekeeping it, the people that have the information keep it within themselves and don't share it within the entire uh organization like it's. It's it feels criminal to understand when you get on the outside to realize that there's like 17 non-profits that would be like we'll fucking fly you, we'll pay for your lodging and we'll get you the treatment you care for. Like it blows my mind, because you're not the only one. I know green berets that flew to jer. I knew one specific green beret flew to fucking germany for a state-of-the-art, fucking fusion surgery for his back.
Speaker 2:He re-upped, he took the devil's money to go get surgery that wasn't available in the United States, so that he could have a better life, so he could move better yeah, it's kind of ironic that we have to leave the US to get the treatment that we need or pay for it out of pocket, and I'm not saying that was the right answer and I'm not saying that's what everybody's answer should be.
Speaker 2:There are way more resources than I had realized when I was in, but I was pressed for time. I was impatient, not wanting to wait for an email back or wait for a referral or wait for any of this stuff, and I had no one to go to because everyone that I went to was still in and they're like I, they didn't need any resources because they had they had, you know, full benefits, yeah, so it wasn't until after the fact that I got out that I met more veterans that had gotten out and said, hey, here is a plethora of all of these Green Beret foundation, you know, all of these different foundations that will literally pay for your treatment without any catch, and I was like, wow, you know, this would have been nice to know when.
Speaker 1:I was getting up.
Speaker 2:So so I put again you know all of those decisions of me rescheduling and not knowing the policies and not knowing all of that good stuff. Uh, it was a decision that I made and then that at the time I thought was the only decision I have. But in reality you always have a decision and it's just up to you to educate yourself on what you're getting yourself into and what benefits you do have, so that when you're put in that position or you see somebody else put in that position, you're able to help them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's also important to understand man. Like when you're dealing with pain, when you're dealing with, like, an injury that you are constantly like having to perform and you're not able to perform you 100, like that's what people need to understand. If you're listening like, well, it's his fault, he should have done more research. I'm like, look, let me tell you, I I nearly shot my fucking c5, c6 disc into my spinal column because I was just wanting to keep continue moving, continue training. Like we push it to the fucking limit, like I'd have emergency fusion surgery, because they're like, dude, if, if you just sneeze, this thing's gonna fucking shoot out and you're gonna be paralyzed like we're. We're very different when it comes to dealing with injuries. We push it to the last minute and then when you can't ignore it anymore, it's like fuck, I gotta get help. I. So I a hundred percent understand where you're coming from, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, and to that extent to caveat on that and in my last deployment I would say about three months in, so it's a six month deployment. Halfway through I didn't know this at the time, but halfway through, my hip and my lower back and my shoulder started to really bother me. So I said, okay, let's grab some ibuprofen from the medic and let's just keep going, let's just keep training Right, cause that's the mentality that we have and any sign of weakness, you, you get eaten alive.
Speaker 2:So so I just so after the fact, once I got back and got some imaging done, I it turns out I had a torn labrum in my right hip. I had disc, disc, disc degeneration, which only predominantly occurs in 60 year olds or older. Right.
Speaker 1:So here I am right.
Speaker 2:So here I am. Here I am a 29 year old with what six-year-old should have in my back bulging discs and slap tears in both my shoulders probably from doing all the rucking of 100 plus pounds of gear.
Speaker 2:So I did three months with those injuries, not knowing what they were thought, thinking it was inflammation. It was just too much training. It was whatever excuse in the book that I could have. Uh me not saying anything, just saying I'm in pain. I can't sleep, I just need to power through this. Luckily, I didn't have any access to drugs such as ketamine, oxycodone, because you hear these horror stories of guys overseas that get hooked on the stuff, whether it be for recreational purposes or because they're in pain. And when you're in pain it doesn't even have to be a great deal of pain, it can be like a rock in your shoe. You you will reach a breaking point where you're like I've been dealing with this for six months, six months. I've been dealing with this for a year. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a year.
Speaker 2:I need to do something, and that's where I think a lot of guys are failed, not only by the military itself, but they fail themselves because they don't speak up. Yeah, we have. We have created this culture in this atmosphere where it is frowned upon to show weakness, and that's not only from the military. That's as a male growing up, and anytime that we show weakness or we show our emotion or say I can't do something, you're immediately labeled as less than so. That is more of a cultural thing, and the military is just that on steroids. So that is something that a lot of guys just need to have the courage to speak up and say, hey, I'm in trouble, I need help. And I think you'd be very surprised at who would give you help, because it's probably going to be the last person that you think would. And you're going to find out who your friends are quick, because they'll disown you quick If you can't keep up. They will say you know, I'm not saying you won't get made fun of, but I'm saying that you'll. You'll quickly identify, you'll be. You'll be able to quickly identify who is on your identify, who is on your side and who genuinely cares, versus who's just there to make themselves look good and help with that promotion.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so my military career was about 10 years of first time go and everything which for me, that's a big deal for me and everything which for me, for me, that's a big deal for me. And cause I know a lot of guys have to recycle for whatever reasons, they get hurt, uh, have a baby, or just couldn't make the first cut. So that was a big deal for me because going into it, I was just praying to God that I just had enough to make it to the next day. Yeah, and that was the mentality I had. Is just one more day? Hey, this sucks, this is terrible. I don't want to do this anymore. You know I need to go talk to someone to not do this anymore. Let me sleep on it and let's just see how I feel the next day. And then one day We'll quit tomorrow Exactly.
Speaker 1:We'll quit tomorrow, exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm going to get some sleep and then I'm going to quit tomorrow, and then I'd wake up and then everybody else would still be there and I'd say okay, I can do this, and I would for my own sake. I would intentionally pick someone and I would say if that guy's still here, I'm definitely not going to quit before he does.
Speaker 1:I did that a few times as well. Yeah, fucking, maloney's still here. Fuck that, I'm not quitting, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. There's no way I'm going to give him the satisfaction of and this guy doesn't even know who I am. I just I just indirectly made this a competition without him knowing it Just the sweetest dude.
Speaker 2:Real nice, he's a yeah, I was like I hate him because he's so nice and he's so helpful and there's no way that he's going to beat me in this and this thing called life and, unbeknownst to him, he doesn't know my name, he doesn't know we're in competition and he is my worst enemy at this given point. So, which which is wild because we played these stories in our head of and it could be negative and it could be positive, and that goes into that mindset speech of when you self talk, when you have that broken record of not good enough of you are good enough and stuff and stuff of like that, that nature.
Speaker 2:You have to speak to yourself as you would to your five-year-old version of yourself. So I heard somebody say this one time and it really stuck with me of like, if you were standing next to your five-year-old self and they couldn't do something, how would you speak to them? Would you say that, hey, you're not good enough? Hey, you should just quit. Hey, you suck. Or hey, it's going to be okay, you put in the time and it will come? And that's just one thing that you have to always come back to, or at least what I come back to, where, whenever I have that feeling of self doubt, I say, okay, what would I say to my son? What would I say to my kids? Because what you say to them is what becomes their beliefs, and what their beliefs turn into actions and their actions turn into what their life turns into. So, but it all starts with that mental state, with just being confident in your own ability to take a risk, to be okay with failing and to be okay with being told no and to say no.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, with that being said and all of that Buddhism, I got out, had to navigate that civilian, that military to civilian life of not knowing what to do, not having a wake up time or having to be somewhere, and just it being absolutely surreal and having, you know, a handful of days go by where my phone just would be silent. And for me it was a very lonely point because I would always talk to guys on my team. I would always talk to guys about work, but once work wasn't in the equation, you just don't talk to anybody. And it was a very eye-opening experience of like, wow know, we've been to war together, we've experienced this together, we've gone out drinking together, and now all of these guys who have their own lives rightfully so, uh, that you know, once you tell them you're leaving, you're dead to them. You know your family until you're not. And it was a very lonely point.
Speaker 2:And that's where I think a lot of guys fall off the bandwagon is because they don't realize how lonely life can be, because they're always in a room with somebody else and, whether they want to be or not in their military career, you always know Monday at zero six or 9am, you're going to be in a room with a bunch of like-minded individuals looking to accomplish your next task.
Speaker 2:But when that's no longer an equation, you have the option now to go out and make friends, or you have the option to stay home and be alone. It can be a very, very lonely place. So that's where I said, okay, I need to find a community that is going to be health oriented, not want to drink, be very positive and make myself as healthy as I can so I can be in the right mental state to figure out what I want to do next in life. So I was like what's the hardest thing that I can do to make me healthy, have a good community and be in a positive mindsetfit, right? So so, because I've I've done the bodybuilding route and I've done orange theory, I've done all these other training methodologies, which are great, but it was all missing that same component of community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when you're bodybuilding, you're in a globo gym, you have your in, you're doing your own thing, not talking with anybody, or it's the complete opposite All you do is talk to people and that's your social hour and you won't work out at all. So I wanted I'm selfish, I wanted the best of both worlds, right Cause I I knew that if that's something I wanted, that's what other people wanted too. So I started doing CrossFit and I was like wow, so you're telling me that there are individuals that are able to run a sub six minute mile back, squat 500 pounds and be really good at everything. Cool, sign me up. Like this sounds. This sounds great. I. I was like and only uh, uh, you know, one percent of the population can do it at this level. Great, this sounds like exactly what I want to do, because this is the career that I had.
Speaker 2:So I started it with the sole purpose or intent of competing, because I, you know, you're coming from a competitive environment of being in group, and the last 10 years that was my life. It was just always competing to pass the course, to be better than the guy left to your right, to just always achieve for more, more, more, more, never being satisfied with where you're at. And so it was like great, now I have something to strive. Strive, for now I have a purpose to not want to drink because it's going to screw up my training and, in the process, if I make some friends cool, it turns out that this would, later on down the road, be a entrepreneurial mindset that would lead me to where I am at in life now, and what started off as a hey, let me just get fit and meet some new people turned out to be like the best thing that I, that I could have done, and I so I will tell the story real fast. It's my version of the story. Yeah, dude, please.
Speaker 1:It's your episode, my man, so I so I joined.
Speaker 2:I joined CrossFit Gym and my wife was a coach.
Speaker 1:Oh, no shit, yeah.
Speaker 2:So my wife, my, she wasn't my wife then, but she was a coach there and and so I was a member, she was a coach. So the way that I say it is that she took advantage of me being in the authoritative position and she was like, hey, I'm Ashley, and I said, like what's up? Like I didn't say anything, I just gave her a head nod and I just went in to do my thing, cause I was there to work out. Was there a train compete? And she took that as a challenge, because as a coach in a CrossFit gym, you need to know who's in your community, who's walking through your doors, and to build that rapport right which which sounds very, very familiar to being a green beret, because winning hearts and minds is all that we do. So she took it as a challenge of like, hey, this guy doesn't want to talk to me, so he's either an asshole or I just caught him at the wrong time. So we eventually started talking and as much as I was focused on one thing, it just organically turned into something else. And I had I was moving to Raleigh. At this point I had told my relatives I had started saving up money. I was going to go move to Raleigh because that was the party city every weekend after the Q course I would go to. I had friends there and I said I'm getting out of this town, nothing's stopping me. And here comes a girl. Right, Every, every true love story, here comes a girl. So so one thing led to another, we started dating and then we eventually got married.
Speaker 2:And once we got married, the opportunity to start our own gym which was a dream of ours collectively came a reality. A previous gym owner had gotten burnt out and we had the opportunity to take it over, take over an existing gym and put our spin on it. So we took out a loan and we said this this is it. You know, you, you wish for something and then, when it pops up, you either take it or you miss it. So we're like, okay, let's just do it. What's what's the absolute worst that can happen? We try it, we don't, we don't make it and we just pay off the debt. Hey, no big deal. So that nobody died. We gave it a shot and now we know. Now we know for a fact that we want to do this, that we can do this, and this is something that we want to continue to do so.
Speaker 2:The first year just like with any business, first couple of years was fairly rough ebbs and flows with any business, but it didn't matter to us. This was something that I could wake up every single day and be excited and be proud and happy that I got to do. Because I get to do this, I don't have to do this and that's it. And that's another mental mindset that, um, a lot of individuals have need to have is that they have a choice to do anything and everything. You get to have a podcast. You get to have the life that you want to have. You don't have to. You can make the complete opposite decision and have to do this or or this and that nature, but that's going to lead you down a path that you probably don't want to be in. So you, we should all be grateful when we wake up every day and look around and say, wow, you know, I get to have this life where I I choose to not do this anymore. I have complete control over what I do because it is within my control.
Speaker 2:And that comes into tying in of like whatever's outside of our control when it comes to a business, meaning whatever is happening in somebody else's life. All that we can do is be that positive light for them, because it doesn't involve us. It's not that we did anything wrong, and if we did do something wrong, this is a good learning point from it. Okay, all we can do is say, hey, made a mistake, allow us to correct it, and then we'll move on. Say, hey, made a mistake, allow us to correct it, and then we'll move on. And that is something where I am just relentlessly positive.
Speaker 2:When it comes to difficult situations, it's not a always and forever thing, but it's very short-lived when it's the opposite, because I always try to look at the silver lining of you know, if we've been to war, we've seen the extremes of both sides, where we are very fortunate not to live in a mud hut. We are very fortunate not to have to worry about if we're going to have food on the table or roof over our head or if someone's going to take us prisoner. So it's very, it's very easy for me to look at it and say, wow, do I want pizza or do I want chicken Parmesan for dinner? Man, life is so difficult, you know. So it's like these first world problems where you know I I am very fortunate to have the ability to wear clean clothes every day. I'm very fortunate to have a loving wife and have kids that are healthy and have all 11 fingers and toes, so that is something where it's like okay.
Speaker 2:If something happens where this is like an emergency cool. Did anybody die? Nobody died Cool. Are we going to be in a financial position to where we need to scramble? No, okay, then it's okay. We'll be fine. If somebody's feelings got hurt or if we did something wrong that we can later on fix it. Okay. And the grand scheme of things of this thing called life, this is, it's going to be okay.
Speaker 2:And if someone has to like, when I had to rehab my hip after surgery for six months, six months and someone who lives 50 years, which is, you know, amid, you know, a midlife crisis, if you're willing to live to 100, six months out of 50 years is a drop in the bucket you, you, probably, you know a lot of people, myself included. I can't remember what I did last week. So, six, six months after, after X amount of years, it's you know. I don't even remember barely remember going through the rehab process, but I became very appreciative of what I was able to do after that? When you lose your ability to use your left hand, use your right hand, or you lose your ability to walk, you become very grateful for what you have and it's hard to reflect on that sometimes, and I think a lot of people should have some appreciation or put themselves through.
Speaker 2:Put yourself through a workout where you don't use your legs. Put yourself through a workout where you don't use your legs. Put yourself through a workout where you can only use one arm. It makes you appreciate the small things in life and the simple things in life where you're like, wow, I get to sleep in today or I get to. You know, I don't have to do this, but I get to do it. So, with the entrepreneurial side, that played a huge factor in being in that leadership position, because I think what a lot of people miss is like when you're in the leadership position, whether it's the gym or otherwise, having your own podcast or being in that leadership role of the household.
Speaker 2:90% and Elon Musk said this too 90% of the stuff that you deal with on a day-to-day is crap. It's fires to put out, it's problems to solve, it's feelings to temper. You know, bring someone down or bring someone up and it's that 10% or that 5% of actually being told hey, thanks, yeah, that 5% of actually being told hey, thanks, yeah. So that is, that is a very difficult position to be in, when the majority of your day, the majority of your year, is people complaining and 5% of the year, 10% of the year, is people actually saying thank you or I appreciate you, or giving you any type of affirmation that what you're doing isn't going unnoticed.
Speaker 2:It takes a very strong individual to have that type of mindset, because it's not always going to be. Hey look, you know, business is thriving, business is doing so great that I have zero complaints. You know, and it's, it definitely tries someone's mental state and you have to just remain stoic where you're just unshaken because you're in that. You're in that position that everybody looks up to and if they see you start to get nervous, everybody else starts to get nervous. But if, if you're unable to be shaken and you're relentlessly positive, it's, it's no different for everybody else, they, you know it's, it's the. The metaphor that I like to use is the, the line, or the leopard with the dog that's in the zoo or in the cage right. They grow up together and then when they, when the wild animal looks to the emotion of the dog and the dog is calm, the animal will be calm. Don't take it verbatim Not animals, but it's that same concept.
Speaker 1:Don't go into the cage with the leopard.
Speaker 2:It's that same concept where they look to you for, hey, if he's not scared, I don't have to be scared. And I use that same concept when I was on deployments, where it probably wasn't the best thing to do, because a lot of people are maniacs and psychos and they love to be put in risky positions. But the guys that I did trust and the guys that I knew that were really good at what they did, if they were confident in their ability or they were said, hey, this is a good mission or hey, this is a good idea, I stood behind them 100 of the way. I said, well, if that guy's confident, I'm definitely confident. Yeah, so that that is a position, a very strong position, that to hold and to maintain a lot of weight to maintain at all times. So you know, thankfully I have bigger traps for that, so we're gonna come from.
Speaker 2:So, but yeah, through this, through this, I was able to find myself in a very unique position to where not only was I able to fix a lot of the ailments or injuries that I experienced through the military, but the mental aspect of it as well. And what I mean when I say that is whether it was a good day a bad day or a mediocre day I was able to go to. I was able to go to a facility that had other people having the same day or the opposite day, but they were all there collectively trying to get better. All of their, all of them were there to bring each other up, because that was the culture and the atmosphere that we, that we created. Yeah, so if I was having the worst day possible, you would have half the room say, hey, everything's going to be all right, and then the other half is like, cool, let's get after it. You know I'm going to try and beat you today, so do the same to me. And we'd make it a competition and at the end of it I would have nothing left in the tank to to be angry about or to.
Speaker 2:If I was happy when I got there, I was even happier when I left. Anything that had bothered me that day was like I was in so much physical pain in this last hour at this class that I got to put myself through. All this other stuff seems minuscule, it doesn't seem like a big issue and that is something that I do daily. But I try to do daily and if I don't work out. I get a little grumpy, but that is something I try to do daily so that I can have that clear mindset, that clear, that clear way of thinking of, like you know, life isn't that bad because it doesn't feel.
Speaker 2:It doesn't feel that bad that.
Speaker 2:You know that last workout felt bad and it became my own form of meditation and you know what we're always told is, if one person feels that way, or one person has this question, chances are other people do as well.
Speaker 2:So I said this is interesting are making this transition or didn't have the help they needed, who are seeking that community, who are seeking that positive outlook and reason why they don't need drugs or they don't need alcohol to function in society. So any, any type of vet that comes through my doors or otherwise and is having a bad day or is going through the transition process, I do my best to let them know. Like, hey, I'm here for you. All you have to do is ask and I will always be here for you. I'm going to ensure that what we do here is going to make you happy, healthy and keep you hungry to come back. And if you need an ear for anything, whether it be involved in the gym or otherwise, um, always phone call away and for a lot of people, that is the the hardest thing to do is just to ask for help or say, hey, reach out and make that connection.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hey, do you need a minute.
Speaker 2:So it kind of. It kind of takes all the excuses out of the book because if I don't see you for a while, I'm going to reach out to you to make sure you're doing okay. And if and if you have the ability to call me or reach out to me, I'm always going to be here. Call me or reach out to me, I'm always going to be here. So it's it's kind of eliminating all of those excuses to where, hey, I can't ask for help, cool, I'll ask for it. How about that? I'll ask you how you're doing, I'll ask you to come help me and then through that process we can create that, that rapport and that bond to where you're comfortable coming with me with certain things. And if you're not, that's cool too. I'll be, I'll be your workout buddy. You know you don't have to tell me everything, but I want to be there for you at least once. Positive, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that is something that we that I and my wife indirectly turned into a business where we're in the business of helping people. That's just it, man, and that is something that sets my heart on fire. That is something that I am proud to tell people that they say hey, what do you do for a living? It's like I help people come off diabetes medication, I help them beat hypertension, I help them get off any type of medication that they have to put the work in for. But I do. I give them all the tools for success to defeat any chronic disease, that they are able to come off any medication that they are able to and have them live the lifestyle that they want, not only right now, but to have the education to live that same lifestyle 20, 30, 40 years from now.
Speaker 2:And that is just a very powerful thing to know that people aren't coming here just to work out. They're coming here to find that community that they don't have Otherwise. They're coming here to find a sense of accomplishment that they may not get otherwise. You know having someone say hey, I'm proud that you're here today. I don't care what number you put up or what time you put up for this workout, I am just proud that you're here and I'm proud that you tried. And it sounds so simplistic and it sounds so uh to a lot of people, even myself included. When I first started I wasn't like a cheerleader, I wasn't like a hey, go you type thing, uh, but it's a very powerful thing man, it happens fast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, and a lot of people don't like to be put in spotlight and a lot of people like, don't you know? It's kind of a hard thing to believe sometimes when someone says for the first time in years, hey, I'm proud of you, hey, I'm, I'm happy you're here. And you see them with a smile and they give you a high five and and you're like, okay, you know, this is, this, is just like the stick, or this is the, the, the, whatever sales type thing. But after a month goes by, after six months goes by, and after a year goes by and they're still doing the same thing and say the same thing, and you guys start to hang out outside the gym and you get to know them as a person. Uh, it's a different, it's a different animal where it almost becomes addictive to where you may not have.
Speaker 2:You know, certain people don't have anything else in life that makes them happy or bring some joy other than that one hour. So that, so that is my one hour out of their day that I have the opportunity to save them from the environment that they have outside of it to save them from themselves, the environment that they have outside of it to save them from themselves or to elevate where they already are and leave them feeling better than they did when they came in. And if I can't do that in one hour, that I've that I failed. So that is, that is the mission that I like to have for myself to give to people, and the only thing that I really get in return from that is just making people happy man, because you know, happy people yeah, happy people are happy to people, right and hurt people. Comma hurt people, hurt people.
Speaker 1:Right so fucking true.
Speaker 2:So it's like I I never want to be not happy, so how do I do that? I make other people happy, which indirectly makes me happy, and it becomes a. It becomes a vicious cycle of just being positive.
Speaker 1:Yeah being good people. Yeah, being good people. Exactly that's't. Thank you enough for being here, man, for what you're doing. What's the name of your gym? Where are you located at?
Speaker 2:So I'm located in Miramar Beach, florida, on the Panhandle, and the gym name is Miramar Beach.
Speaker 1:Strength and Conditioning important thing to understand that once we get out, we have to continue and keep on moving. We have to stay active. It's that that slip, that, uh, that draw that pulls us into the Netflix and chill on the couch that will get us. More often than not, guys get out. Guys or gals get out, they retire out and they think they need to take a prolonged vacation on four couch and they start to fall into more depression, more anxiety. They get out of shape. Then they're freaking out about those extra pounds they put on. Dude stop, we're about to be in 2025 or, by the time this airs, we'll be in 2025. Be willing to jump on board of a fitness challenge, something that you like to do, or join us on Security Heart with our 75 Semi that's right, 75 hard it sometimes gets a little bit too overwhelming for people.
Speaker 1:We're making it a little bit easier. You miss a day, you miss your diet plan for the day, it's okay. What we're going to ask you to do is donate $5 or start at the $2 tier to a nonprofit of our choice. You'll see in the episode description and then it scales up from there. So you missed another day. Now you owe $10 or $4.
Speaker 1:So, whatever it is, join us in this challenge to get back into your fitness journey. Be willing to be in discomfort for as little as 45 minutes twice a day, or 30 minutes twice a day. Be willing to start somewhere. We need to get back in understanding that physical fitness is part of our journey. It is something that can help us in our mental health. One of the key things that you will see and hear from everybody that has a testament of being, you know, somebody who came back from the brink and made it through their worst challenge when it comes to mental health, is the importance of physical fitness. Whether it was a walk who was running a mile or two miles being active helps. And if you're Miramar Beach, go hang out with Preston for an hour each day. Get some positivity and get back in shape. Man, it's worth it. You're worth it To everybody listening.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in Preston. Again thank you for joining 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 with us on Instagram X or TikTok and share your thoughts or questions about today's episode. You can also visit securityhallcom 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.
