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Climbing Kilimanjaro & Raising Resilient Kids | Joshua Skovlund on Veteran Mindset & Adventure

• Deny Caballero • Season 7 • Episode 285

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What does it take to summit Kilimanjaro — physically, mentally, and spiritually — while balancing the challenges of parenthood and veteran life?In this powerful episode of Security Halt!, Green Beret veteran Deny Caballero sits down with Joshua Skovlund — journalist, adventurer, veteran, and storyteller — to unpack life lessons from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and navigating the journey of fatherhood.Joshua shares how preparing for and conquering Africa's highest peak shaped his mindset, resilience, and spirituality — lessons every veteran, parent, and leader can apply to their own life.

🎙 In this episode, we cover:
  • Climbing Kilimanjaro as a transformative experience
  • The connection between adventure, family, and personal growth
  • Lessons from military life applied to parenthood
  • Resilience, mindset, and doing hard things
  • Bridging the military-civilian gap through storytelling
If you're seeking inspiration to tackle your own mountains — literal or metaphorical — this conversation is for you.🔔 Follow, Like, Share, & Subscribe for more veteran stories, mental health strategies, and resilience conversations!Support the show → buymeacoffee.com/sechaltpodcastFollow Security Halt!
Follow Joshua Skovlund:
#VeteranResilience #ClimbingKilimanjaro #ParenthoodJourney #SecurityHaltPodcast #VeteranStories #MilitaryMindset


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Speaker 1:

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, it's hosted by me, danny Caballero, fucking like awesome new chapter. And man, she's growing so damn fast. I feel like my wife and I both looked at ourselves or looked at each other like just a few days ago and we're like she wasn't this big yesterday, right, like am I crazy? It feels like she just like grew overnight. Yeah, this is your first. Yeah, yeah, this is your first. Yeah, this is our first.

Speaker 2:

okay, yeah, yeah that that when people say don't blink, it's. It is so true. I'm on my third and holy lord just from birth, and now she's uh, she's a chunker already yeah yeah, she was born big, but but my God, she's already changed so much and this is our last one, so it's like bittersweet.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and we were just thinking about, like how many more do we want? And my wife's like you know, right now we're good. Yeah, it was all about. She's like let's have another one as soon as possible, then the Nizzy comes in the world. And we're just like you know, let's get our bearings first.

Speaker 2:

Let's figure this out Getting that climbing stance off the ground.

Speaker 1:

Oh man, Josh, welcome back, man. How have you been, oh?

Speaker 2:

good, good. Yeah, it's been a hell of a month, but doing good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, your recent travels abroad, man. Man, I know I can't be the only one. You had me just wanting to jump on a plane and join you guys. Like it's one thing to go on a trip, but to be able to like, orchestrate and plan a trip with siblings and have it executed flawlessly I gotta tip my hat to you and your brother because it looked like it was just perfectly executed my brother gets to claim a lot of that, that travel coordination.

Speaker 2:

I'm I was just support on that and he's uh, him and I have traveled the world together a lot. So when we came to this trip, it was nothing new, but bringing my oldest sister with us, um, she's never left the country, oh wow, before. So this was her first trip outside of the country, let alone first trip to like new york city and everything. So, uh, we just planned to like overwhelm her very quickly.

Speaker 2:

So that that stress factor just kind of fizzled out before we got to africa. Yeah, um, and I think we were pretty successful, but it was very calculated timing, with our extended layovers in Amsterdam and Qatar and everything and the trip to Africa. That was great. There was just one snafu, a couple snafus, but it didn't lay, you got to break it out then, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So it worked out really well and, um, you know, I wish I could have taken more photos and more videos, because it's just one of those trips you just want to go back to every day yeah, I think that's on for a lot of us, that trip to kilimanjaro, that's a, that's a bucket list man, that's definitely like.

Speaker 1:

What was that like once you got? Like everybody, I think, for the most part, like everybody assumes, and they picture africa as being just one thing, where in reality it's it's. It varies country to country.

Speaker 2:

It is so different man um, I, I guess I I was so open to it because I um the the closest that I've gotten, maybe to the setup and everything is.

Speaker 2:

I did some work in Grenada and we ended up in a less than optimal area of Grenada, ended up renting an Airbnb across the street from a drug market, and so that was an interesting experience. And our trip to Iraq years ago, that was a really quick trip. But you just learn, like everywhere, you go in way through of like cultural norms and try to do some research ahead of time. But, um, you know, when we first landed in Africa, it was just an incredible, incredible experience, cause once you step off the plane or on the tarmac, you have to walk into the airport and it's this little little airport and you have all these different people showing up to what looked like. You know, either go on safari or climb Kilimanjaro I mean, it's two of the big bucket list things that people go to Moshi for and so you're standing in line and it's just miserably hot in the airport and you start to like play that game.

Speaker 2:

All those authentic smells start coming in and you just start thinking like, am I ready for this? And those questions start going through your head. And then you get your acclimatization day in motion. You get your brief on everything and you talk about malaria, you talk about elevation and all that stuff, and it's like, yep, all right, let's just do this, just shut up, let me just get going, let me get on the trail, and then I can get out of my head, um, but I, I just don't think there's words to describe what that feeling was of just getting into africa.

Speaker 2:

And this is on the the tail end of like. We blew my sister's mind in new york city because we she didn't know we were going to even leave the airport. So we took a helicopter into new york city, um, into manhattan, and she's terrified of helicopters. So we broke that fear and then we gave her the probably fastest tour of New York City that we could have, got her on the subway so she could check that on her list. That's one of the things she wanted to do. And then we land in Amsterdam and then we're walking around doing stuff there.

Speaker 2:

So we are Allegedly A lot of adventure before we even landed in Africa and somehow didn't miss any flights, didn't miss any of our shuttles from to and from places.

Speaker 2:

And then you land in Africa and it's just incredible because the people are so nice, like everybody's just happy-go-lucky, they're just, they're stoked to see you there, and so that immediately, just it's that inviting kind of uh atmosphere and, um, something cool that we ran into, uh, our guide, um, when I say he uh took us around moshi so that we could check out some of the local spots, because we're not big on touristy attractions, and showed us to a couple different areas.

Speaker 2:

And then you start seeing the guards with whatever kind of rifle that they have it it just looks like something out of Mad Max or something and they're just sitting there, just kind of relaxing, smiling, just hanging out, and, um, that's where I got, uh picked up my Messiah warrior knife, cause I wanted to take that all the way up Kilimanjaro and all the way back down Um, so we, we were just pumped and ready to go by the time it was, uh, the first day on the trail and, um, when you get up to the trail, you're going through the jungle and you're seeing all this thick mist and stuff and it's just like every scene you've ever seen in the movies you grew up watching and to like think you're actually there, it's just mind-blowing, yeah I'm picturing a lot of scenes from the movie congo, that's I mean it's, it's just.

Speaker 2:

It's always so cool because, when you like, the context that we have going into it is we all grew up in a tiny town in south dakota where not a whole lot of people even leave town, let alone go to different cities. I mean it's a place where they say like, oh, be careful, in new in New York city, you might, you might, die there. And it's like, yeah, you can die everywhere, but, um, so it was. It was super cool to land, but I don't want to ramble too much on my own.

Speaker 1:

Dude, absolutely Keep going, man, like that's, that's uh the thing about these trips. I always have to like assume, like did you guys like arrange for your own tour guide? Is there something like that you guys book through? Like how does one even start that?

Speaker 2:

Um. So my my brother had done one trip before uh. Uh, first uh video he was doing for black rifle where they climbed Kilimanjaro, and so that's where he got his connect with um embark. And so embark is the one that set up our, our, set up our trip in Africa. So they arranged our safari that was after the Kilimanjaro summit and then they organized like the actual trail itself and they're phenomenal. I 10 out of 10 recommend it. And they're super safe about everything. They're not the type of guides that will keep pushing you because people have died on Kilimanjaro, because a guide's pushing too much, and they're really good at recognizing altitude sickness and basically when it's time to turn around because that mountain's not going to go anywhere. But if you die on the mountain you're not coming back.

Speaker 1:

Bro, I just got done watching Everest for like the fifth time. Great movie. But it definitely makes you understand that if you you're not fit, you're not fucking fit, like if you're not ready to do this and is is, is that climb multi-day? Like how? How long did it take you guys?

Speaker 2:

uh, eight days in total, um, so the way up is slow for acclimatization and the way down is super fast and, uh, to be very blunt, it's miserable.

Speaker 2:

Um, coming back down it's just unbelievably hard, um, but, uh, yeah, it was, it was, it was a, it was a good clip most of the way up. Um, each day you're kind of in a different environment, because you start in the the jungle and then you get up to the moorlands and then you get up to I forget what they even call it, but it's the step to the moorlands and then you get up to I forget what they even call it, but it's the step above the moorlands and then, by the time you get to base camp, the wind is so strong that you don't want to be outside the tents very long and it's just brutal. It's like partially cold, but it's still hot somehow, and the boondust that's swirling around up there, it just sucks. But at the same time you have a view outside of your tent that makes it look like you're above heaven, and that's the kind of stuff I live for. So it I, I will trade misery for a good view any day, yeah dude.

Speaker 1:

Um, I have to ask like what, what kind of camera did you take with you? I had my sony a9.

Speaker 2:

Nice, I had my sony a9 and a GoPro. Um, so I I ended up attaching the GoPro to, like my, my trekking poles, to try to infuse a little bit of that first person view of what it's like just clunking your way up some of the steep stretches. Um, and then, uh, I used my Sony A9 for most of the trip until we got to base camp, and that's when I switched to just purely using my cell phone. I didn't want to risk my camera on the on summit day, cause that that was a miserable day, to say the least.

Speaker 1:

That's a hard push to the top, and how long did it take from that point? How long did it take you guys to get up there?

Speaker 2:

Oh man, I think, to Stella's point, which is, um, the second tallest point. That's where a lot of people turn around was. I think it was around seven hours, if I remember right and you start, um, uh, at midnight. So, from that climb up to base camp, you go to sleep for a couple hours. You wake up, well you, you eat, go to sleep for a couple hours, wake up, well you, you eat, go to sleep for a couple hours, you wake up a few hours later and then you start your summit push in the just black of night, um, and so you're climbing in the dark for quite a while and then, as the sun starts to come up, um, when the sun started to come up, that's when we were just below, uh, stella's point, and at I mean at that point, you just look straight up and you just keep thinking like, how the fuck am I gonna get up there? And once the sun comes up, it's easier.

Speaker 2:

But when you're in that pitch black and you just see that little dome from your light, it, the head games start playing, um, and I don't know what hit me on on the way up, but I just got blasted by about a nausea and so I started freaking out of like, oh man, am I coming down with like acute altitude sickness, are they going to kick me off the mountain? And um, my lead guide was, um, I kept like kind of getting the herpes. And uh, finally just threw up all over the trail and my I was like, oh, it was like manasseh, don't you kick me off this mountain. And he's like, oh, no, brother, you know, like you're just getting the bad stuff out. And I was like, all right, I'll take that.

Speaker 2:

And once I threw up, once it was well, it wasn't just once, but it was a succession of explosions. And then after that I was feeling really good and we just continued all the way up. And when you get Stella's point, my brother's famous words were it's not that steep to get to Uhuru. And when you get to Stella's point, again it looks like it's straight up. And me and my sister looked at Marty like you did this before and you can't tell me you don't remember that that's not a steep climb, like that's not flat, marty, come on and at that point.

Speaker 2:

You're just like. The oxygen percentage up there is just so low that you can start feeling the brain slowing down a little bit. And when you start that climb, it's just like the slowest footsteps forward. Just like the slowest footsteps forward. It just reminded me of like, just like some of the long movements in RASP or when I was at regiment, where you just get to that muscle failure point, you're just forcing yourself to just take one more step and that's all the game in your head is is just one step forward, one step forward. And by the time you get up to Uhuru, you can see the old glaciers up there. So it's just such a different world from even where you were at at Stella's point, and you can look down into the crater too, and it's, it's just incredible.

Speaker 2:

And uh, you know, maybe this is on us, but we didn't realize Kilimanjaro is still an active volcano. And they, they, uh, our guide said what do you think about, you know, climbing the world's tallest active volcano? I was like what our guide said what do you think about, you know, climbing the world's tallest active volcano? I was like what Cause? You know, like the odds of it blowing is slim to none. But when you hear that word and your brain is in kind of fight or flight mode from the oxygen, it's like oh it's active Got it, there's an added element of more danger.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, um, but it was super cool. Uh, yeah, like I, I, I I could just talk for weeks on the sights and in in the sounds and like just how awesome everybody was. Um, there was a couple, um, messiah guys that had become porters or guides. Oh, they'd walk past and they'd see me and marty, both had our messiah knives like tucked on the side of our backs and they had like a chant, one of their chants that they do for their dancing ceremonies and stuff is like ooh, ooh, ha. And I kept doing that to force myself to breathe Right. And there's a couple of times a guy walked past and my favorite guy is like this towering dude. He's like you know what that's used for, and I was, was like it's a fighting knife right, and he's like, yes, that's what I'm here for. Um, so it's, it was just fantastic because we had porters, we had guides. There is, uh, I mean, he's technically a waiter, slash assistant chef, and then you have the chef and the food was incredible the whole way up, the whole way down.

Speaker 2:

The porridge got really old by summit night I couldn't stomach it anymore by the time we got to summit night. But other than that it was pretty good. But the higher the elevation goes, the more your appetite goes away, yeah, and so you're basically force feeding yourself at that point and you basically just push it to the point of where one more bite, I'm going to vomit.

Speaker 1:

Do you guys have supplemental O2 at all? Nope, no.

Speaker 2:

No, like the guides, do carry it in case there's an emergency.

Speaker 1:

Emergency.

Speaker 2:

If you use O2, you're getting off the mountain. That's good to know. So it's definitely not something to go into not being good on. Uh good like fitness levels or health wise. Um, I mean, I my my testosterone levels going into that trip were like nothing, uh, and I had, uh recently found out I have hyperparathyroidism and stuff like that. So, um, I just kind of bucked it up and said, whatever, I'm just going to give it my all and uh, fortunately I made it up and back down. But if I could do it with with those conditions going on, I think like if you spend a little bit bit of time training for it, you can absolutely do it. It's just a mental fight the whole way up and we saw lots of people quitting, lots of people handing their packs off to their guides and I'm proud to say all three of us carried our stuff all the way up and all the way down.

Speaker 1:

Hell yeah, dude, there's something to be said about just sending it and trying it. I mean, you got to at some point realize that if you wait for the perfect timing, perfect conditioning, then maybe you just continue waiting. If you've got the will, if you want it, dan, just send it. Go after that big dream, try it, be smart, but at the same time, if you have that window, if the opportunity opens up, don't just self-select and say, no, I better train up for it. Fucking, send it. You might not finish the entire thing, but you'll finish close to the entire thing.

Speaker 2:

Oh, absolutely. And I think, like a lot of guys know who've served in certain units throughout the military, like the mind is the driver of the body, like your body will correspond to what your, your mindset is. Yeah, so if you can push through, your body will follow in suit, unless you have some crazy problems medically but, um, but things can go south pretty fast at that altitude. But as long as your body is in pretty good shape and you have that mindset to push through, you can absolutely do it. And you know, like just educating yourself on breathing techniques before you go up, there's ways that you can like basically biohack, so that you're you're boosting your oxygen within your body without oxygen, but you're just doing like those concentrated Um, I did a lot of box breathing on my way up and I pulled myself out of, uh, altitude sickness on.

Speaker 2:

um, uh, gosh, I'm brain farting on the name of it now. Devil, uh, devil's tower, I think is what it's called. Uh, but it's that first high peak where you hit 15,000. And on the way up that I started really feeling it kicking in and I was like, oh, dang it. And so I just kind of slowed myself down, started doing my breathing techniques and by the time we got back down to the acclimatization because you go up to 15 and drop back down to 13. And by that next camp I was starting to feel a lot better. So all the things I went I I trained on and practiced at home and just educated myself on. I had to pull every last trick out of the bag to like kind of compensate for that, especially coming from a seacoast and then going straight up there within a week. Um it, it worked out pretty good and good and uh, I mean kudos to my sister too, like she's never done anything like that before and she crushed it.

Speaker 1:

she did a great job, overcame a lot of fears yeah, it's remarkable we can do and hey, when we're surrounded with good people we love too, like that's. That's something that we we have to remember, like we draw so much energy from those around us. I think it would have been completely different if it was just a singleton journey.

Speaker 2:

Oh, absolutely, and that's something that was so cool about having my brother and sister with on the trip and doing it together is like we've grown up together, we've been through a lot together.

Speaker 2:

So what's one more tough thing to go through together? And I think we have the added perk of we're really good at laughing at our misery, and so it was nothing but smiles and laughs on the way up and on the way down it was pretty quiet, because you descend so galling fast and once you're leaving the peak, it's that moon dust all the way down, and so I got to a point where I was basically surfing with my boots down the decline and just trying to coordinate it, and there's a couple times there was a rock underneath the moon dust and that caught me up a little bit, but never twisted an ankle or anything, and I just I was trying to have fun with it. But you either have your dust mask on, where you feel like you can't breathe as well on top of the dust, or you pop that down and then you just feel the same way because of how thick the dust is.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's, it's um, it's such an iconic location and it I mean it's captivated so many different people. Like I said earlier, it's a bucket list place to visit. Did it really hit you once you were up top, when you looked across and saw just the vastness of everything and really just realized, like holy cow, like we're here, like we did this?

Speaker 2:

I think excuse me, I think every camp we got to was a moment like that for me, cause I, I, I grew up reading all sorts of adventure books, all sorts of military books, where I lived mentally growing up in the flattest part of South Dakota, and I've read all sorts of stuff about climbing these, these mountains and, um, I've read a couple of stories about people climbing Kilimanjaro. So each camp it would be that realization of like holy crap, I'm doing it, you know, like I'm doing it, I'm here with my brother and sister. This is incredible and within, like the, the changes in elevation, there's just so much different scenery and like, by the time you get to the top, it's just like it's tear-driven excitement of you finally get up there, you finally feel it and it is the most spiritual experience I think I've ever had in my life. First, there's something about it that just really clicks with you internally, deep down inside. It's healing in a way I just truly can't put into words.

Speaker 2:

It's it's something that we went into it thinking, if we can do this, this is setting an example for our kids, it's setting the example for the people in our, in our inner circle, of if we can do this, you can do it and here's what you got to do. But it's kind of like what we talked about. It boils down to the willpower to do it and just not self-selecting like just get out there and get after it. And so when you get to the top and you're looking around and you're like way above the clouds and it's trying to think of a way to articulate it, it just it blows your mind in every way possible.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's that sense of awe that we often speak about a lot in the show. It's a lot of us we don't experience that when we get back home from our time in the military. Like the last time we got to see peaks like that or have these amazing adventures was in the combat zone on a trip to Afghanistan, seeing like great mountains there. It's like dude, we have to force ourselves to start living again, Otherwise the greatest moments will forever be linked to reflecting back on a place like Afghanistan. Like and that's something that you no longer have Like you can link that feeling to Kilimanjaro. Man, that's fucking badass.

Speaker 2:

That's like, uh, you know that the high school football stud where they're going was high school football. Yeah, and that's something I don't want to ever happen. I don't want my last like big moment in my life to be 10 years ago. I need to set something new every year if I can, every month if I can, and this trip was just like.

Speaker 2:

It set the bar pretty high and we're already looking at the next adventure of where we're going to go, like Machu Picchu might be one. Um, there there's a couple of different mountains that we've looked at. We thought we've talked about like going to base camp on Everest, but with the whole 50, 50, you can die no matter what you do. Like we, we do remember we have kids and and wives at home and and uh, uh family at home. So we're we're kind of back but backing off the everest attempt a decent bit the whole. You find your way to the summit based on the multi-colored coats of the dead people. They couldn't get off the mountain like that. That's, that's uh, that's a gut check for sure.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, man. I'm in the same boat, but I'm looking at being able to do two yearly, like twice a year do something insanely stupid, difficult and knocked out. The first one was our first attempt at the Savage Loop. We made it to the marathon. Didn't quite make it to the entire loop, but we'll attack that beast again. That'll be our same. We'll do the same challenge next year because it's just great to give back and it's right there in Northwest Florida. So that's a shameless plug. If you're looking for an endurance event, go to the savageloopcom and sign up for next year's.

Speaker 1:

But it's something about doing something that's incredibly hard, that you uh that looks on paper like it's impossible to do and then when you start doing it, like, oh man, this, actually it's miserable but it's fun and it sticks with you.

Speaker 1:

It sticks with you for the rest of the year. But if you do it twice, if you do two things that are absolutely ironic or idiotic and completely painful and adventure, adventure filled, you're going to be happy because you're constantly looking for that next event and it's always going to be on the calendar and you know it doesn't have to be a race, it can be a hike, it can be something, but it's just trying to figure out that right thing. And I think the next thing I want to do is like try to do like something in in the mountain area of like either Colorado, New Mexico, something that's like really challenging but fun, like and it's. I want to try to do a hunt, but at the same time then you have to like try to orchestrate and draw tags, but at the same time it's like man, there's gotta be something out there. It's just as exciting. That man you know some people get you know the idea of running turns them off. I'm like okay, what if I can get you to hike for like 24 hours straight?

Speaker 2:

right, oh, absolutely, yeah, I I just think it like there's different types of people out there and, um, I think we're we're from the same book when it comes to going out and doing something that challenges you on every level of your being. Yeah, and for me, something like that it's like the most alive I will ever feel. When I'm doing the mundane stuff day to day, that that's just soul-sucking. But when you get out there and and do something where you know it's, it's like I'm, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna keep at it and if I die, then I die, but I'm doing something I I absolutely love and that's something I want my kids to to see, uh, and develop as a quality of like don't let the the scary things keep you from going out and having fun, like there is fun to be had in the sock and you. The only way you can figure that out is just by doing it and um, amen.

Speaker 1:

Amen.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely what that trip was. It was brutal. Uh, it was brutal just bouncing from New York City to Amsterdam, to Moshi in Tanzania, and then going straight into a safari, and then I got hit by a case of the traveler's diarrhea. I literally flew out of Africa. That was fun.

Speaker 2:

I ended up fighting off a big spider that came into the bathroom too, and that was just an interesting way to cap off Africa. And then you fly to Qatar, where it's the super modern city and it's their holy day when you're getting there. So you're trying to figure out how, like where you can go and what you can do. But, um, we had planned a spa, uh visit before we flew back and then that just was incredible. So it was just from start to finish. It was a tough trip to pull off, but somehow it went flawlessly. We didn't forget any gear, we didn't have any missed flights, missed trains, transits, nothing, and I just don't know how we did it.

Speaker 1:

Dude, we got to figure out a way we can replicate this as a like nonprofit event for veterans. I think, between your great mind and my slightly warped mind, we can figure out a way to get some nonprofits to back a trip like this. I've seen recently Nate Boyer. He was just there, I think he was also, uh, just climbed kilimanjaro. And I'm like dude, I have a have a friend in africa that does bush uh trips and and guides people in the bush.

Speaker 1:

But like, how do we get some veterans that are in need of some recreational therapy that can do the climb and get them out to Kilimanjaro to shift their perspective, man, because, like you said earlier, we, our era of guys, we grew up reading those stupid scholastic books and like the high fives, the you know, the boys' life magazines, and they always are filled with some British dude that climbed Kilimanjaro and then all these adventure thrill seekers that climbed it. It sticks to you, it's stuck in your head, man, that's what real adventure seekers do. I think our veterans are just looking for that opportunity. I know there's a lot of them out there that are looking for that adventure. You just got to make it a little more accessible, man.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, adventure, you just got to make it a little more accessible. Man, yeah, and it's just one of those things that I I I had a lot of experiences where it's hard to put into words. But the spiritual aspect about that mountain that the people that organize, like your, your guides and stuff they'll tell you the whole way that it is a spiritual journey and whether you're religious or not, you're, you're going to go through something.

Speaker 1:

And it's.

Speaker 2:

It's incredible, um, especially when you you follow it up with a safari at the end of the summit where you can kind of like just relax a little bit and go see some rad animals. And we just hit the potluck. As far as safaris go, we saw almost every animal you can see in that area and managed to get phenomenal photos. We saw a lion try to take down a zebra right after a kill that they had. We found a cheetah that was lounging after getting his kill or her kill. I should say it was a late. Yeah, Get those genders right. Yes, but you know an anaconda that was roosting up in a tree that looked like it could eat me in one bite, but it already had a full belly, so he wasn't worried about us. But just all these crazy things that you've seen in National Geographic growing up or stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I've always wanted to get portrait photos of these different animals and now I have a plethora of stuff. I already have the photos hanging on my wall because it's just one of those things I've wanted to do since I was a kid and I finally did it and I finally have these like golden photos, like there is not a price I could put on them, because they just mean so much to me. And, um, not only that, but just being able to recognize like I have honed my skillset well enough as a photographer over the years to like get those kind of shots and make them look good, and um, there's just so much that goes into it. Uh, it, it, it was. It was just a trip that I don't think you could replicate, but at the same time, like we're already looking at other trips to do and I, I told my brother after the summit, I like I'm doing this at least five times. I need to summit Kelly at least five times.

Speaker 1:

I need to make my times faster each time You've got to bring the kids next. That's the one thing that I realized. It didn't hit me, of course, until I became a dad. I don't think it happens. It can happen before, Maybe it can. It can happen before, maybe it can.

Speaker 1:

But I I was thinking about what it would, what I would need to do to be like a good father and the things I need to like bring into, you know, into the discussion with my kids as they get older. And one of the important things that I realized, uh, that I never experienced. I never had a positive role model that was speaking about the importance of doing hard things, Like I never had somebody say like, hey, let's go out and do a hike, let's go out and do something that's going to challenge us because it's difficult, Like we're going to go do something hard just because it is hard, and then we're going to feel really good about it. We're going to complain a little bit while we're doing it, but I promise you that at the end, there's going to be a great reward and I think that helps build resilience and and gives that kid like that sense of grit. Um, I think there's something to that. So being able to incorporate your kids into that next adventure.

Speaker 2:

That'd be badass, that's um, I, I think my family has been lucky because, uh, a lot of my uncles had served in the military and had that kind of adventure bug, that that adrenaline junkie nature to them. And so, um, you know, I was 16 when I kayaked through the state of Montana, uh, with my uncle, from the headwaters down to the North Dakota border and, um, I mean that was, we got attacked by a golden eagle. I got underneath its nest. It was a tree hanging over the river. I'll never forget that.

Speaker 2:

The biggest galldang rattlesnake I've ever seen, that I thought was a stick floating and then all of a sudden it started coming towards me really fast and trying to out paddle a rattler in the water. Like that is not fun. Um, going through whitewater rapids that weren't supposed to be there in a kayak that's not built for it. Um, that's, that's. That's a trip I did when I was 16 with my my uncle, randy barnes. He was a salvage diver during the vietnam war and, through a string of very interesting events, he ended up getting stuck on land and ended up doing some missions during the Vietnam War. So this is a guy that's driven my adventure.

Speaker 2:

My dad was really keen on making sure we got into the outdoors hunting, going out and beating feet, getting after that kill shot that you want, whether it was a turkey or a deer or an antelope or whatever it may be. Um, and that's something that I I guess my philosophy as a, as a dad, is just, I want my kids to to, I want to raise them in a way where they can become an adult someday and be better than me in every aspect of life, whether that be spiritually, financially, adventure, wise. I want them to do it better, bigger and better. Uh, like just I want to be able to die happy someday knowing my kids are out there just crushing Hell yeah.

Speaker 2:

That's, that's the perfect mindset, that's the only thing I can ask for, um and that's something I think my parents did a really great job of is raising us to where we know. The sky is not the limit. The limit is self-imposed. So if you want to self-select, that's on you, but there's a whole lot out there in the world that you can do.

Speaker 1:

Yes, Well, what's next for Josh? Man Like this is such an amazing trip and I have to imagine that I mean, like you said, it was spiritual and I would have to. You know, I'm gonna say, like, did you find yourself in those moments, either on the mountain or coming back down just reevaluating life and realizing like hey, like I've got enough now I have creative fuel in the tank. I need to do something, because last time we talked, I mean you've been doing great things, but you were still doing like the paramedic thing. You were still one foot in, one foot out. Like what's new in your list of things to conquer for 2025?

Speaker 2:

Well, the remainder of the year, I'm getting my company off the ground oh shit, it's called On Assignment Media and so I'm going to take my skill set that I've honed over the years through photo, video and writing. I'm going to apply that to where I can be hired and just get out there and create this incredible coverage for whoever's hiring me. Dude, that's huge, josh. No, of course, I plan to just get out there and get after it. And, um, I, I, I need to infuse some adventure into that as I go. So, whether that be through work or through family trips, um, I'm constantly looking for the next thing Big on my list is doing a adventure into the Amazon. Um, I don't know how to do it yet, but I'm working on it, I'm looking at it and I'm trying to figure out who do I need to talk to? Who can help orchestrate this? Who knows the area? Who'd be a good guide? What kind of vaccines will I need? It's just different stuff like that, but for now, the, the, for now the the big focus is like really get my, my company going. It's, it's just me, um, but uh, I plan to just get things hit the ground running and, um, I, I plan to continue to just heal myself so that I can keep going.

Speaker 2:

And there there's a there's a moment on Kilimanjaro. I kept a journal every day throughout the whole trip and through that self-reflection I was able to recognize an unhealthy amount of self-hatred that kind of stared me in the face one night and I wrote about it. And I had a pretty interesting moment in the middle of the night where I had that realization and it showed me I had a pretty interesting moment in the middle of the night where I had that realization and it showed me I had a lot of work to do. But that's kind of my key focus is really making sure I stop ignoring the things wrong with me mentally and physically. And I'm well on my way to getting that stuff fixed. And once that's done, then I'm I'm back on it. And what if a trip pops up where I can go? Uh, you know, climb Machu Picchu or go venture into the Amazon? Like I'm not waiting for the self-healing factor It'll just keep coming as I go.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, man, and we learn, we can. There's no such thing as having to take a knee all the time. Like the journey is a journey. Grab the tools, grab the. You did exactly what you, what you needed to do. You grabbed your journal and you stuck to it and you wrote it out. You wrote the things that were in your head. You've been to therapy. That's one of the most recommended things your therapist will tell you to do. Keep a journal, write things out, self-reflect, throw some gratitude in there. But you're doing it, man and dude, nothing can help you bring perspective than going out and seeing the world, being on a journey. And what greater journey than freaking, starting your own business? Dude, Hell yes, dude.

Speaker 2:

It's going to be a wild year. I got stuff lined up. Now that's going to put me into some different areas of work that I haven't done before and I'm just super excited to get after it. And I'll still be freelancing on the journalism side for a little bit, but I plan to really double down on on basically my I don't.

Speaker 2:

I get told a lot that I have a good knack for like talking to people and getting them to open up and discuss things that they typically wouldn't want to, and, um, I want to take that and and use that to be able to branch, like the gap between the civilian divide and and the military and veteran communities and the first responder and and uh, general public side, and really start to bridge those gaps. And by creative uh, through a creative approach, I want to be able to do these projects to bring light to these issues but also help give the people a voice that they typically wouldn't have. And, um, I, I, I think through uh, a couple of different uh modalities, I plan to execute on that, but it's just one step at a time right now and just really building it up right, and by the end of April I'll be going pretty fast.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, dude, I know for a fact that you're going to kick ass at this man. It's great to see good people finally realize that they've got everything they need to succeed within them. And, dude, I cannot wait to see your first frigging team ups, and whoever's out there that hires you is going to get one awesome individual putting out some amazing content. Because, bro, you are talented Half camera, we'll travel. Um, half camera will travel. Contact Josh Scoveland. Today, tomorrow, it gets my thumbs up review all day, every day. Josh, I can't thank you for coming on and hanging out with me again today, brother, and and for sharing your journey. It's one thing to to see it play out on your Instagram, but to be able to sit down and have you share it, man, it means the world to me, and thank you. If you're tuning in, if you enjoyed it as well, awesome. If you didn't, well, fuck you. You have bad taste. Seriously, Josh, if people want to follow you on your journey, where can they go?

Speaker 2:

Instagram is what I keep updated the most. If you want to see what I'm up to what, what kind of crap I'm getting myself into, that's, that's a place to check.

Speaker 1:

Awesome and you'll see the episode in the. Go to the episode description and see the links to Josh Instagram there. Thank you for tuning in, josh. Thank you as well, and keep us updated on your journey.

Speaker 1:

And if I could just get five more seconds of your attention, listening at home or in your car or at work, go to Apple Podcasts, leave me a five-star review and if you don't, fuck you, go to Spotify. Then Do it there. Leave whatever you want to say. A couple words Bananas, denny, sucks. I don't care Anything at all with. That. Five-star was a help boost the algorithm and help me get some more views, and I really appreciate it. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll see you all next time. Until then, take care All right. Well, 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 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 securityhallcom for exclusive content, resources and updates. And remember we get through this together. If you're still listening, the episode's over. Um, yeah, there's no more tune in tomorrow or next week, thank you.

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Deny Caballero

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