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!
From Marine to Navy SEAL: Tommy Richardson on Faith, Combat & Resilience
In this powerful episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero is joined by Marine Corps veteran and former Navy SEAL, Tommy Richardson. From overcoming childhood bullying to serving in some of the world’s most elite combat units, Tommy shares his deeply personal story of resilience, brotherhood, and the unbreakable warrior spirit.
With raw honesty and humor, Tommy opens up about the highs and lows of military life—from life-threatening combat missions to moments of dark humor that kept his team grounded. He explores how faith and spirituality became his anchor through trauma, adversity, and transition, revealing how grace and mindset shaped his path forward.
This episode offers a rare look inside the heart of a warrior, emphasizing the importance of mental health, spiritual resilience, and community for veterans navigating life after service.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Tommy Richardson's Journey
01:17 The Path to Becoming a Marine
02:47 Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience
06:34 The Shift in Mindset During Training
09:10 The Importance of Brotherhood in Service
10:40 Understanding the Warrior's Calling
12:10 Lessons from Military Experience
14:02 The Role of Faith in Resilience
17:27 The Journey of Faith and Accountability
20:34 Experiencing Grace and Freedom Through Faith
25:13 Heroism in Combat: A Personal Account
29:20 The Role of Humor in High-Stress Situations
30:15 Faith in the Military: A Personal Journey
35:57 The Importance of Mind, Body, and Spirit
39:46 The Eternal Perspective: Life Beyond Combat
47:46 Finding Purpose After Service
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LinkedIn: Deny Caballero
Follow Tommy on LinkedIn and Divine Savagery to today!
LinkedIn: Tommy Richardson
Instagram: raise.your.horn
Website: divinesavagery.com
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. It's hosted by me, Denny Caballero, Tommy Richardson welcome to Security Hall, man, how you doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm doing great, how you doing.
Speaker 1:Doing well. Brother. Dude, it's great to see somebody that's out there putting good stuff out in the world, and your career is pretty fucking amazing.
Speaker 2:It's one thing to become a navy seal, but to go after that dream after almost already having a full career in the marine corps yeah, the crayons are tasty, man, and I just didn't know what you're gonna do when you grow up and what you're gonna do with life. Man, you gotta change it up a little bit dude, hell yeah, dude.
Speaker 1:Um, I wanted to dive into your story, man. I think that, um, individuals have incredible service records that have endured and have gone through and served, have an amazing backstory. It's not always just like the combat, glitz and glamour, but on the other side of their service, there's also this great fucking set of tools and blueprints of how to move forward and being authentic. Uh, just like we're joking about earlier, how to make sure that chapter two it's going to be difficult, it's going to be hard. That that's life, but how to make it authentically, uniquely yours. And when I look at everything about you from power lifting to divine savagery, like it's everything seems to be in line with who you are and what your purpose is. So, so today, my man, we're diving into your journey. Where did Tommy get the idea to become a Marine?
Speaker 2:Family man. It was just one of those things. A lot of my family were prior Marines and that had kind of gotten pushed into. That's the direction to go. It's the whole first to fight bit, and it was always a really patriotic family. And we, we grew up and I grew up bit, and it was always a really patriotic family and we, uh, we grew up, you know, I grew up hunting with my it was my dad and my grandfather and my uncles and it was just, I mean, they were, they were all Marines and they went hey man, maybe you ought to go try this out. And the uh, we had one guy on my mom's side that was, uh, kind of seen as the captain America of the family. A lot, a lot of respect. Uh, I was, you know, I grew up in a well, we'll just call a little bit harsh uh, environment and um, to get. It was one of those things where it's like, hey man, if I'm gonna get respect, that's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1:so I cruised in the marine corps and that was it, man yeah, for a lot of times when you have that lineage there, it seems like there's no other option. Like mom, father, brother, uncle and like down the line. If everybody does it, man, I can't be the only one out, I can't be the odd man out.
Speaker 2:I don't know, man, I guess it was just about respect. I mean, it was a weird time in the eighties, man, um and and I got like really horribly bullied and uh, it was back then it wasn't just turn off and off, but you know, it was like every day you're facing it at school you're getting beat down, thrown into lockers, thrown into dumpsters, um, just it was. It was absolutely brutal. And just because of the way that I looked at the time, um, I was kind of a lightning rod for that to happen. So, um, it was one of those things where I had a decision to make of am I going to cave and believe everything that everybody's telling me that I'm nothing, or am I going to turn it around? And eventually it's just one of those things. It's a. You just get sick of it. And then it's kind of interesting that in the Marine Corps there's a saying that the beatings will continue until morale improves, so that that quite literally happened to me.
Speaker 2:So it's just a matter of me making the choice. And I wanted to get respect first in my family and I was like, well, I'll look to the one everybody looks to. And I wanted to follow his career path. I mean, he was the intel guy and then he cruised in. He was the actual plank owner of the hostage rescue team. Oh shit, yeah, yeah, yeah, Started in 83, I believe. And I wanted to go that route. But, man, senior drill instructors just going what's your MOS going to be? And just something hit me and went you know what, man, I'm going to make my own path. I want to go infantry. So let's rock and roll. And this was pre-war, this was 98.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a whole different Marine Corps, a whole different military back then. That a lot of people don't realize. People are getting a little bit of of it right now, but it's like sort of like the hybrid space. But dude, the 80s and 90s was different. Man like you weren't guaranteed a slot in the combat and it was very much drill and ceremony performance based like old school fucking soldiering and marine marine time yeah, I mean it was.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things too, where we were coming out of, um, you know, desert storm, and so we were getting a lot of those guys as our, as our instructors, so and then and then, before that, you've got, you know the, the grenada, you know, um, yeah, and you know, and then before that, it's vietnam era, but I mean vietnam being the last big war that happened, um, I say that just because desert storm was so much of a overwhelming victory, um, not to say bad stuff that went on because I mean, it was still combat, but those are the guys that were looking at us. It was a different time, um, and yeah, I guess we're kind of there now, um, except you've got now veterans teaching, uh, you know, veterans of the, the g-watt, you know that actually were in a whole bunch of sustained combat for years, training guys. So I would equate it more to a vietnam era or post vietnam right now, as far as the mindset, it's tough, man, I mean we can get into all that.
Speaker 1:It's a separate conversation about the mentality and where things are now, but it was very different back then, for sure no, and cutting your teeth in that type of military certainly teaches you discipline and how to do a lot of marching.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's funny how stuff kind of moves to administration. I think it would be tailored more towards you know combat, which you know we was. I mean you know how it is entry-level training and follow-on training. It's all about you know doing the combat piece, because that's what your MOS is. But but yeah, there is a little bit more focus about you know it was back then we had to actually iron our camis, shine in your boots, shine in your all your stuff up, having the junk on the bunk inspections and all that stuff which I mean there's. There's a time and a place for discipline. I totally get it. But to put to me, for me, more more of an emphasis on the stuff that's going on in the field, um, of course they, you know they say those are garrison marine and a field marine one. It's just a marine.
Speaker 1:You're either good at what you do or you're not, you know yeah, and I have to imagine like that, the coming from that background of being the picked on kid going into the marine. When I see my own friends that had that similar background, I'm like man, like I'm getting shit on as a kid, fuck this, I'm gonna go to military marine corps. Yeah, like, how did that mindset shift? Like once you made it into through basic and training, did you see yourself kind of like looking back, do you see yourself like, okay, that's, that's when I shifted from being like the kid that felt like he was always gonna have to like prove himself, always having to dodge the bigger guys, to like that scrappy fighter it um, you know it was.
Speaker 2:It was interesting, man. Uh, golly it. The mindset change honestly happened with the guy that was training me. I was very fortunate before going in um, like fully truly going in um to to active duty uh, is the same dude that trained um. I trained with the Latrells growing up and no shit. Yeah, so Billy Shelton, the.
Speaker 2:you know if you saw the yeah that first picture page, that's, that's me in it with them. But yeah, so he it kind of got beat into us, Um, and it was, and it was one of those things where that's kind of really where my mind shift change happened because he was hard on us, but he was hard on us because he actually cared. And it was one of those things where, you know, the twins had the reputation of already being the tough guys and I was like the exact opposite. So I had it, but with that I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, so then it just became one of those things where we're just like I'm going to let you beat me what, Like no, one of those things where we're just like I'm going to let you beat me what, and it was like no. And then that's honestly that's kind of where the internal hardening and the mental fortitude not, I mean, it already happened, because I think the fortitude actually comes from all of the hard stuff that happens to you right.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You can't build resilience in a vacuum without being tested. No, not at all.
Speaker 2:Not at all. You can't do it as a bubble boy man. So it was just, it was. It was just everything that he taught us in the lessons, after the workouts and the beatings and stuff there. In a good way it was, it was. But then the three of us that taught teamwork because it was one of those that adversity we all got really, really tight and I think that was like the grandioso plan because it was like weed out all non-hackers and then everybody that could hack it go. And then when he sent all of us, I mean they went Navy. Marcus left first, but they went Navy and then I went Marines and that mentality was what kind of pushed through everything. Now I have my struggles right, just like everybody did.
Speaker 2:Like I was horrible at pull-ups because I was, you know, really really tall, super long arms and really bad at it. I could do push-ups for days. I could run For whatever reason. I got blessed with the ability to run, but you know I struggled at pull-ups. So that was my thing. You know, entry-level training was getting harassed for that, but the cool part about it is, again, it's one of those things that just made me stronger and I already had the mentality. So it was one of those things where, if I came up against something tough, I would go back to those times in that front yard, that bed and breakfast in Conroe, texas, of us getting beat on and going I'm not going to lose for them, you know. And it's kind of cool because that that's really the mentality that goes on, because even if you don't understand what the mission is overseas or things like that, you don't really get what's going on at the political levels or at the strategic levels and you're just going well, I'm just going to do it for these guys.
Speaker 1:That's why and it breeds a selfless mentality and it really gives and drives home the purpose that matters yeah, yeah, it's hard for, for people that haven't served to understand that, that sentiment of we don't understand the political sphere, we don't understand what the fuck's happening behind the scenes. But we're here, yeah, we're men of service, we're in combat and I'm doing it for the guy to the left and right of me, I need to be my absolute best, and that's a hard thing to explain to people because they think that we're ignorant and you're not informed. How could you be fighting in this war? It's like, well, look, man, like warriors callings is a timeless thing, like if it wasn't your path. It's not your path, but that's certainly our path, that's certainly what we chose to do in life and if we're going to do it, we're going to do it fucking, really, really well, right no-transcript.
Speaker 2:Stare at myself in the mirror every day, knowing that I could have done something I could have trained a little bit harder, something that I could have done to save that individual. You know it's a survivor's guilt, right, but, but at the same time that you know you can call it guilt or whatever, but it's just like it's to me. I think it's a God pulled on your heartstrings. It's like, bro, you should have done something, and what we should do, and what I always tell a lot of people, especially young kids. You know, before I was getting out cause, my God, I became the dinosaur, I never said I would.
Speaker 1:Uh, uh, 24 years man, you had a long run. Brother, 26 and change.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's 26. Dumb to quit, man. Um, but yeah, it was just. Yeah, man, it was just talking to the folks and telling the kids like you have to study your history. You know what I mean. Everybody says don't look back, but at the same time, everybody went through all that stuff to teach you to do better and be better, and that's the only way that you're going to elevate your game. You know, if you don't know where you're going, you don't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been. So learn from those mistakes because they're not repeated in blood, because most likely that's what's going to end up happening. And that's why I told the guys was to read understand where you're going, understand the culture, understand the people, the more that you can get ahead. If you're not the first one in, then talk to the people that are already over there. So it's almost like you're doing your right seat, left seat rides before going over into combat. It's up to you to learn as much as you possibly can about an area that you're going to go, because why the stakes are so high.
Speaker 2:I go and talk to all these professional athlete teams and things like that and I try to relate it, but you can't. And one of the first things I tell the guys is that I'm like, look, I say I'm talking to an NFL team, right, and I go I say, hey, you guys are at the pinnacle of your sport. What gives me the right to tell you how to do anything? Why? Because I'm going to tell you right now. Look to whoever your teammate is and I'll say, you know, break out like, okay, who's the? Who's the quarterback? Right, usually the highest paid guy, leader of the team? All right, where's the backup kicker? All right, will you lay down your life for him?
Speaker 2:Right now, active shooter comes in. Will you jump in front of a bullet for that guy? Nobody ever says yes, I'll do that immediately. That's the difference between me and you and that's why I have the ability to come here, because I play at the highest stakes and I've played at the highest stakes. So I'm helping you to understand your craft a little bit better by trying to elevate your game to be the best that you can be. And with a team sport, it's very, very simple, because it's just teaching them. The guy on your left, the guy on your right, it matters, because what are you going for? You're going for the win Stakes aren't as high. Yeah, you can start over, but if you think like they're not, who knows? And then who knows? Man, maybe that person? If something happens out in the real world, you know, god forbid, they get attacked or something like that that clicks in their mind and then they can become that protector that they should be.
Speaker 1:And that's kind of what we give back. Yeah, we tend to forget that the warrior culture can inspire, mentor and coach anybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not just relegated.
Speaker 1:It's not just relegated to other like. I can get so much benefit from talking to you all day, but the same can be said that we break off and start helping and coaching, mentoring other individuals within our own space that don't have the background in military or maybe they do, but just not the long, the long careers to match. Brotherhood is not just relegated to the military.
Speaker 2:It can be taught and that's and I think that is a good platform for at least for what I'm doing in the business world, right In the business world or in sports or anywhere, anybody that wants to hire and come talk to me. And that's kind of where I'm going to come from, because I used to be that guy that was like I'm only going to talk about it around the boys, around the fire, eating meat, doing band stuff. It's going to be great, right, and that's it. I'm going to go internal, just like you know, it's one of those things. I just sitting there in prayer one day and it's like look man, and good Lord was telling me look man, I didn't put you through all this stuff to keep it to yourself, right, and it's one of those things. It's like you've got to do it the right way, no-transcript, so to do that.
Speaker 2:That's where all of your stories came from, because you know as well as I do, man, truth is stranger than fiction.
Speaker 2:So it's being able to take those truths, bringing them out, and that way people don't have to have this romanticized Hollywood view of what it is that we did, because it wasn't. I mean, even in the beginning you said the glitz and glam of combat. Really, how much glitz and glam is that really? None, zero, zilch, nothing. It's harsh, it's hard, it's tough, and we get trained by the hardest and the best for a reason, so that we can survive and then come back and still kind of have all of our stuff together Not that we do in the beginning anyways, sort of ish right, but at least be able to come back and share those types of experiences to hopefully uplift other people so they can become, uh, under well, they are the protected people but to um, understand who it is that's fighting for them, and then to elevate their lives, to go you know what. Maybe what's going on around me isn't so bad and there is a way out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely we. I don't know why, why our society moved away from it. But now it's something that I love to talk about because we don't, we don't embrace it enough, and that's faith. Like the, the pillars that we stand on mind, body and spirit like those are easily eroded. Body and mind quickly go with deployments, long careers.
Speaker 1:But I've, I've said it so many times, the guys that when I look back and do like the, the, the memory pdss, if you will, looking back at, like all the people that did succeed, the guys that whose marriages stayed together, the guys that didn't have, you know, maybe they did have injuries, maybe they did fall apart, the body didn't hold out Right, they bounced back a lot faster because they had that one pillar that was never questionable.
Speaker 1:That was faith. Yeah, and that's something that when I do these interviews, I'm always like I'm'm finding more people that maybe they didn't have what they serve. Maybe they found it afterwards and it became something that they built slowly and made it the strongest pillar, because it's the one thing we can always turn to, so one thing that when you're, when your back sucks and you can't lift, when you're, you're depressed because you can't run and your mind, your cognitive abilities are a little bit shaken up because you've taken one too many hits to the head. Sure, you got faith. You can lean on something strong. Did you always have this pillar, as it was a part of you that was built as a child, or was it something that you had to develop through service and afterwards?
Speaker 2:I think it's a constant journey. I think that we were given one perfect example of how it is that we're supposed to be, and that's in Jesus. And if you look at all the individuals in the bible, every last one of them were flawed and every last one of them messed up, and messed up big. But what it was showing was is that when you mess up, you can repent and go back to them. As long as you've got breath in your uh lungs and then beat going in your heart, you can still turn to them, right and um. And the thing is, there's a reason that it's the most uh sought after, or like lightning rod punched in the face, and the only thing that's acceptable. Why? Well, because the way, the truth and the life, right, if you want true joy and true peace, you're going to find it there, uh, regardless, okay, and to me it's, it's absolutely, it's um sanctification, right. You're becoming more and more like him as best, best you possibly can, but through the routes that he gave you and the gifts that you were given, right. So, yeah, it's absolutely grown over time. I've absolutely backslid, I'm a dadgum, chief of sinners and I absolutely do not deserve his grace, right. But the fact of the matter is is that, knowing that I could always go back to him, no matter what, because it's just like being a kid. You know you're, you're going to mess up over and over again. But what is your? What do you do as a father? Do you hate them? No, absolutely not. You love them so much to correct them, punish if needed and then course correct. That's it, and that's where you know accountability happens. So no, it actually grew over time. I got saved in my early twenties when I was in the Marine Corps, but yeah, man, it just grew over time. And that's another part of the stories that I share with people too, about the power of prayer and what God can do and manifest himself in the actual physical. That it's not just something that you know. Everybody calls it the man in the sky or whatever. No, he's actual. Jesus is alive, he's an actual part of your life and you should make him a lord of your life. Why? Because, heck, I want to see all you guys in heaven. Man, you know, I want to go full on.
Speaker 2:And you talk about the difference of what you know, your mind and your body fate. Well, you're talking about the flesh versus the spirit and that's why there's that constant battle right between the flesh and the spirit. The spirit is eternal and the flesh knows it. Because the flesh knows it's going to die, so it's going to scrape, beg, borrow, steal at everything that it can for self-seeking pleasure, immediate pleasure, right in the moment, in order to somehow fill a hole that only God can fill Right. That's you know.
Speaker 2:That's that's why you see all these really high up great, glitzy, glammy people or have horrible lives. They're like well, how can they? Well, because money and fame and power doesn't breed happiness. You think it does, but it doesn't right. But you learn to live in joy and that's kind of where the cool part of the military is right. You rejoice in the suffering and in the tribulation because you know that your perseverance is being tested and then it becomes well, where's the next one coming?
Speaker 2:And that's the whole part where I said my raise your horn speech right, and my tagline or whatever it's from the Bible man, right. It means bring it Whatever you've got coming today. It's a daily fight. Come at it and let's rock and roll. And you know what? Let's bring some people along and make this happen and make it a team fight, but no man. There's so many different times where and I have multiple, multiple, multiple different stories to where he's manifested himself in the physical saved our lives plenty of times. Man, it's just crazy. I mean Afghanistan, right. So every FOB we ever went to, I always prayed on we get to the spot. First thing I do is drop all my gear If we had nothing going and then I'd go put my hands on the around the side of and pray about safety and protection. Right, and we had this one deployment where, three days after I left, you know the bee huts that we had, the little constructed huts that we lived in it got.
Speaker 2:It got rocketed and right where I was staying, where my bed was got blown to pieces, and right where I was staying, where my bed was got blown to pieces.
Speaker 2:I would have died. Everybody in there would have died three days after we left, right. Fortunately everybody was at chow at the time and everybody was OK. But it was just. It's just interesting and it kind of makes you think. You know, I mean I've had. I mean I got one of my, my troop chief man. We were on a helo route on Blackhawk man and looking down and seeing a guy actually because we were so low to the ground, um, it was near, uh, pulley alarm, um in logar, and I saw I come out with an rpg launch it at us and I looked at him and I said, hey, man, we're about to get hit and he goes. What you know you can barely hear because you know they're just out inside of it ever.
Speaker 2:You know the movies. They think like we can actually talk to each other, but unless we have mics you can't. Yeah, yeah, so anyway, I look and it shoots and and dude, it's come. I can see the, the, you don't see the vapor trail behind it. After, after it pops and it dude it and like, right, the last second it just went underneath us and it blew up on the other side and he saw it and went, whoa, and I went, yeah, that's what I was talking about. You know, all these little things, man, even in iraq, same thing.
Speaker 2:I had a, um, I had a guy, one, one of the cats, pied the corner, because you know, they were discovering that they could hide within the masses and popped the corner, shot at rpg, and this was back when we had, you know, thin skinned vehicles, right, the only thing, the only thing there was, was the glass. That was that you say bullet, we'll say bullet resistant, um, but but we only had the quarter inch steel, uh, doors, right, and it was the old school doors that didn't even have the windows. So, uh, yeah, this was, this was, oh, four, this is fallujah man. So, um, so, so anyway, he popped it and, uh, the guy behind me called, teed me up on the run of green gear and he was like, hey, man, you okay. I'm like, yeah, I'm fine. Why he goes? Well, because you just got hit by an rpg. I was like we didn't feel anything. He goes, yeah, it hit your door and bounced off. I went what? Sure enough, man, as soon as we parked and finished our patrol, I get out. There's a little hole, right, little tip, where it hit. It hit but didn't, but didn't explode, right. So it's just little things like that and I've got that throughout my whole career.
Speaker 2:Happened in Haiti, happened just stories after stories after stories of his grace and his glory to an undeserving person, but somebody that wouldn't come back and tell the stories, right, and it's just over and over again. So, yeah, it's absolutely grown it to the point to where it's like when he say, give your heart to him, you really got to give it all over. But when you do, oh, my word, bro, it's freedom, absolute freedom. It's freedom, it's joy, it's peace, all the fruits of the spirit, it's a thing, it's an absolute thing, and you start understanding about what love really is. It doesn't mean do whatever you want, right? No, absolutely not. It means that there's suffering and accountability that go with it. Why? Because that's what love is and that's what caring is. It goes into that because you're going to have to sacrifice your time and it's a sacrifice of self which ties right into teams, especially spec ops level. You know this better than anybody, right? It's absolute selfless behavior. You got to think that the mentality of being able to do something and there's tons of guys that have done it, never been in that position, but like guys that jump on grenades, guys that jump in front of bullets or do something like that it's just, it's crazy what what they'll do.
Speaker 2:It was I one time, okay, one time there I had a um, my uh. One time my platoon chief was in an LTA TV and we were in a gunfight in Nabar and he had driven around because on our LTA TVs we had mounted the universal flower pots and put the 240s on it right, so it looked sick. Man, mad Max, all this Dude. We had one of our CBs put a flower pot in the center and we actually I got pictures of we mounted a 50 cal to the front, madus, to the front of the LCA. It didn't work so good when the vehicle rolled, because it just went right in the mud. We're like, okay, we got to fix the weight distribution here, right, yeah, but we're figuring it out. Well, yeah, you just put an extra guy in the ammo boxes back there, it doesn't tilt so much. Um, but, but, but anyway, it was super cool.
Speaker 2:Anyway, he rolled around to, uh, the right flank of where we were getting hit and, uh, he high centered the vehicle and it sunk down in like that sandy mud. You know how it is when it like, when that, yeah, that gets wet, right. So it sunk down and he was calling, he started taking fire and, uh, myself and my JTAC just look at you I didn't even think and all he did I was yelling Tommy. And then I wrote, ran out to him and it was one of those things where I, you know, put my weapon around me, bullets were freaking, flying all over the place, got to the front of the vehicle and it was just Lord give me strength Picked up, deadlifted the front of the vehicle up and out of where it was stuck.
Speaker 2:He got traction, turned back around, joined that element and then started getting back after it and we ended up winning the day. So it's just that idea of going I'm going to do any, whatever, it does not matter. I'm going to give my life for yours. I really will do that when the time comes and people can say it. But it's just like your first gunfight. I know you remember it, right, oh?
Speaker 2:yeah yeah right, everybody remembers their first. You never know how you're gonna react until you're in it, because tell me it wasn't different than what you expect.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. You think that you're gonna have some great tagline from a movie and that you don't have any of that. It's.
Speaker 2:There's no cool guy, there's no master chief saying like no dude, you're in it the first one's always the worst and always the scariest, right, yeah, what's interesting, though, is that as you start doing it, the jokes come, because I can tell many a dark joke during the middle of a gunfight. Most of the time it happened we were on roof and start getting shot at Right, but, uh, but, but, but the jokes always came later, and that's of course how you you handle it, and plus, we're just, we're hilarious. Let's be real.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dark humor is part of the profession. It keeps you when you understand why we do it and it keeps you in the moment. It keeps and I've seen it with guys that are hurt, guys that are struggling like you interject some humor. Interject some humor into the situation it brings you. Okay, we're gonna get out of this. I don't know how we're gonna get out of it yet, but we're gonna get out of it.
Speaker 2:And those new guys are scared.
Speaker 1:I mean everybody you're supposed to be able to be real. Everybody's scared, everybody.
Speaker 2:What do you do with that? Right? So it's us being able to kind of non-verbally tell them this is how we handle things. Right, because it's interesting.
Speaker 2:The first gunfight I got in the SEAL teams was much different than the first ones I had in the Marine Corps, right when, you know, you've got 18 year old kids that haven't been trained at the highest level so they kind of you know it was one of those and it was a time it wasn't wartime. You know I'm going into the Corps for something greater than the Corps, kind of like the 4th.
Speaker 2:Legion, you know it's like it's jail time or the Marines, that's what you got Right. But but those kids would be scared, and haven't, you know, actually listen to a kid scream for his mom? Um, in the middle of a gunfight, and he drops his gun and, you know, puts his hands over his ears like a, like a child. But usually all it takes back then is just a boot to the head. You run by him, kick him in the head, wake up, come back to us, we need you, and usually that would lock him right back in you know, yeah, it's.
Speaker 1:I had one guy run into the mat, run, run right back into the back of an m-wrap and then you know the hydraulic doors how slow they closed. Slow, slowly closes, as I'm running just the slowest like fuck you. Yep, thanks, still here, still here.
Speaker 2:Thank you, jamie hasket, wherever you are they make it out, it provides a funny story, but dead gum, oh yeah yeah, the slowest hydraulic door. That's the type of shit that should be in movies, like when people run away that's the truth being stranger than fiction, man, it's just like you can't make this stuff up absolutely no idea oh man, yeah, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:The other thing that is shocking to me is the the amount of people that push back on the idea that you can be a man of faith, a man that's deeply trying to live his life right, like we're gonna fail each and every day at it. By the way, folks like if you think you gotta be perfectly, let me just tell you you'll forget to pray rosary, you'll mess up more often than not. But in the military we have this culture, this idea like oh, you can't be a man of faith. We even look down on our some. Some people look down on our chaplains like oh man, we don't need faith in this. God's not in this. I'm like he very much in this Right. Did you in your own experience, did you find individuals that were pushing back on your faith or pushing back on the idea of, of, of a guy man. What's up with this guy Like going around blessing things, like stuff's like you know, um, honestly, for me it was the exact opposite.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know it was. It was before we go out, and I I'm not gonna say I was scared to show it, cause it was just I didn't know how to show it when I was in the Marines, and it wasn't until the teams came along, maybe because I can't even say it I intensified. It was just different, but it was a different group of guys. Or maybe it was just me getting stronger in my faith, I don't know. But I'd go out before every patrol and pray about the boys and lay hands on the vehicles. I'd go out early and pray for all of our protection and the guys would come out and they'd see me and they'd be like, hey, man, throw one up for me, you know. And then that was kind of like their. You know, either god's gonna sit this one out or or whatever.
Speaker 2:Their tough guy tagline was right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly you know I'll be all that is is a mask man, it's a map, from fear and from not understanding, um, the gravity that at which this whole thing is and what it's about man.
Speaker 2:But I keep telling people, and I tell posters too. I always say 18 Purple Hearts. They're like what are you talking about? I said, well, over my 26 years of being in the military, of the units that I've directly gone out with, 18 Purple Hearts have come out. Not one death, not one. So it's not me, it's the protection, and if you don't realize that, you don't believe in that, I don't know what to do. I mean, there's so much proof. There's been no other proof from any history book as far as the number of corroborations of everything that has happened than the Bible. Even if you don't have faith, it's a historical text thing that has happened than the bible. Even if you don't have faith, it's a historical text. But the fact of the matter is, is that I don't know of an atheist that read through the bible and came out an atheist anymore, right?
Speaker 1:or or in the middle of a heated firefight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's either a prayer word or jesus that comes out yeah, right yeah, um, and, and I, I, you know. Just you don't know where you're going to breathe your last, last breath and where you're going to take your first one and the next go, but it's going to be one place or the other man, so it's like I.
Speaker 2:All I can do is tell you and try to show you, you know, the actual joy and relief that you know life can be crashing down around you, but you know it's. It's just like with Job. I'm still going to praise him, right, because he's not doing that. We live in a fallen world and it's the enemy trying to get me to lose my faith when all it is is making me stronger. So it's one of those things where you get tested. What's cool is the part when you realize where you're something bad or you're suffering through something, not because of something that you screwed up, and it's pretty much you're, you deserve it but you're screwing up because of your faith in him and you realize that's what it is. Then it almost honestly, kind of oddly, makes the suffering more fun. Because this ain't me. Let's do this right jokes on you I live for this shit.
Speaker 1:That's like, that's a perfect mentality for special operations, though, like, and that's why guys need to understand that your faith, or or your you're wanting to explore your faith, isn't going to make you weaker. We, we have this flawed view of what faith looks like in modern man, and it's it's all perpetuated. I can't talk today. It's all pushed by modern media and depictions of what true faith looks like. They don't show a warrior that's bearded out, that can squat you know a thousand pounds barrel chest of freedom fighter. We're given these, these, these depictions of men of faith that are either morally corrupted individuals Once you push back, and it's like oh man, no, he's a, he's a predator, or they're very, you know, timid, shy individuals that never arise to the to the moment, and I'm like no, that's not true. Some of the strongest individuals I've ever met in the special operations community. You turn you, they finally show what makes them strong, and it's they have a the a. A lot of them don't drink, which is like it's amazing. Yeah, they don't drink.
Speaker 1:They don't I stop, yeah, yep, same here but they do things yeah, exactly, they do things like explore their life and realize.
Speaker 1:You know what this giving this up is going to bring me closer to god. It's going to make me better, the father. So I'm going to walk away from it. I think that our faith isn't a weakness right, explore it, lean into it, be willing to ask questions like it. I get it.
Speaker 1:Some people grew up with the church and it was presented in the wrong way, like be willing to explore for yourself. If your parents or somebody pushed it on, you understand that was a moment in time back in the day. Be willing to be strong, be willing to dive into this. Because what I realized is shared earlier when I was going through my struggles, like I tried hard to work on the mind and the body as much as I can and just tried healing that, tried working through that.
Speaker 1:And modern medicine, while it's wonderful, it's great, did a lot of great things, let me tell you it didn't do shit for a lot of the pain. It didn't do anything for the pain. So I had to come, come, come up with something else to help me understand that pain is a part of life and modern medicine doesn't do a good job of that it says here drink this, take this, and we're going to get rid of all the pain. We're going to get rid of all the pain and then that slowly leads you down a really dark path, like faith will tell you that you were, you were built to endure this.
Speaker 1:Life's not about lollipops, sunshines and rainbows and you can have peace and understanding that like, okay, this is pain, this is what I'm going through, but that's okay because I'm built for it. I'm built different. He's got me and before you know it, like you, put your faith and trust in him and you're going to start getting. You're going to go from places where you felt like maybe you couldn't walk, you couldn't work out and I know it sounds hokey, I get it. I get the pushback. I, I get it. I get the pushback. I can already imagine the comment section and that's okay. Put your faith and trust in God and start putting things together that really truly help you. You're going to see things change and it's understanding that there's three pillars and you've got to work on it mind, body and spirit and for a lot of us, it's that spirit piece. It's just so damn hard. It really is.
Speaker 2:But there's a reason why it's hard. There's a real, because it's so much more worth it in the end. Think about it. Everything you ever get in your life, that's usually when you've worked the hardest. For why is it so easy to work the mind and work the mind and body? Because, like I said, that's going to die. It's the flesh. The flesh is the easy way out. What's the hard one? You said it right there, that's the eternal one. But which one has more important to it? Right, and I'll tell people too I heard this and I share this with other people is like the only thing that you can take with you to heaven is your family or your friends. It's people, it's not stuff.
Speaker 2:Now, I'm not saying that God wants you to be poor. He doesn't. He told us he wanted, he wants the absolute best for us. But at the same time, there was what Jesus was telling us about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. Well, he spoke into parables, to confuse, to keep people guessing and have them kind of confused mostly the nonbelievers because it was like well, that's impossible, I'm going to do my own thing. But it's like well, where's the faith in that, right? What he was trying to say is is that because it's a rich man and Lazarus, right, because Lazarus he raised from the dead, but, but? But the rich? The problem is is the rich folks a lot of problem. They get all this money, the all this power and they don't need God anymore.
Speaker 2:One point they're like why do this on my own and that goes back to your point right, of why it's so hard in the military is because you think you're in control and you think that. I mean, yes, you're going to have to beat on your craft and, yes, you're going to have to hone your skills, but at the same time, that's the physical and mental part, that's not the spiritual part you add that spiritual component to it and you say yourself right there, you become the strongest version of yourself. You absolutely will. It's going to be the hardest, you're going to get hit the most, you're going to suffer more, right. But you got to think about it, right? What is life? Life's a proving ground for eternity. What's more important? 80 to 100 years or forever, right? So why not give your heart over into something that cares enough about you to go. I'm going to make it right for you forever, but you're gonna have to go through some stuff. And because we live in a fallen world, because of the problem of us knowing the knowledge of good and evil, right, it's just going to happen. But the fact of the matter is that there is a distinct enemy out there, and that enemy all it wants is for you to be separate from God and it will do anything it can to take you from him, and you have to fight back.
Speaker 2:The strongest I've ever been, the best I've ever felt, has been when I've been at the strongest in my face. Right, it's it. Yeah, I remember that feeling when I graduated. Bud's right, 10 foot tall and bulletproof. Well, you may have been 10 foot tall, but you weren't bulletproof. Right, you're still a man, you're still going to bleed and you still can die and you still will die, but if you're not working on the part that's eternal, that's the part that needs to strengthen. I'm not saying don't strengthen mind, mind and body, I'm saying it all works together. He gave you the temple. This is the temple of the Holy Spirit, right, so you have to take care of it. And he gave us the ability to understand science so we can better understand him. Right, he's not against science. It's just don't make that your God. Yeah, yeah, it's a. It's your ability to learn and make ourself better. That's what where medicine goes. It's medicine's great, it's fantastic, it's awesome for certain things, but at the same time, like you said, that pain that overcome.
Speaker 2:I've had multiple surgeries, right that I shouldn't have come back from and doctors said you can't do it. I had knee surgery that said you'll never walk again. You know I had shoulder surgery oh, you'll never overhead press again. You know I had knee surgery that said you'll never walk again. You know I had shoulder surgery. Oh, you'll never overhead press again. You know I had brain surgery. Oh, you're going to be an invalid. You know you're probably going to be blind or have all these other problems that comes with that.
Speaker 2:Dude, I don't care, just another hurdle. It doesn't matter. What are you going to allow? And you know what? If something bad does happen, I don't care, because I'm going to use whatever that is as a story for his glory. Right, absolutely, to show you that, no matter what, as long as you have the right mentality and the right mindset, that's in congruency with a healthy body and spirit. Dude, you're literally unstoppable.
Speaker 2:You know, I talk about the will, right, because everybody talks about mindset. Oh, mindset, mindset. Well, me, it was more like I grew up watching Rocky no-transcript. Be able to get through whatever's thrown at you, because you can. But if you don't believe it and if you don't have your heart in the right place, it's not going to happen and you're going to wither away. You know, it's just like, just with the, the christ, in the church right, the tail is going to follow the head, but it has to, but it has to follow it. Just like with your body, right, wherever your mind and heart go, that's where everything else is going to follow. So it's up to you. Everything's a choice.
Speaker 2:He loves us so much that he gave us the choice to be apart from him if we want. But he doesn't want that. He wants us to be all apart, or all apart together as a group. Right, he wants us to be together as a group. So why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you? You're it's, it's a you're, it's a winning. The fight's already won. Why would you want to be a part of the big team, the big win? Right, it's going to take a fight.
Speaker 2:And that's the thing is that sometimes your fight and struggle with the spirit may be strong, may be stronger and harder than the fight that we had in combat, right Cause you're you're battling different things that are just in that in the moment it's the most impossible thing ever and you feel like you can't beat it. You know, and it literally is like life or death, because you're talking about eternity and it's that. It's that choice you make, but he gives you the choice you have to's that choice you make, but he gives you the choice you have to make that choice. But the only way that you can get stronger in the spirit is to seek him more the less.
Speaker 2:That the I noticed in my life, especially the more times that I would start to think that I'm in control and I can do all this stuff and started leaning on my own understanding, which he says leading out on your own understanding. Weird, it's like you know's, like you know it. Just like that's when. That's when the wheels started to fall off, and I was too dumb, too arrogant, too prideful to realize it. And I can't tell you how many lessons I've learned the hard way, right, but because I always went back to him and he knew that he had a plan for me. He kept me alive, for whatever reason, and I know what the reason is. Your mission and purpose, right, it's to spread the word and to show people what love really is right, absolutely regardless.
Speaker 2:That's why you know. It's one of those things. But what I hear a long time ago with the social media stuff was you know, you don't know you're you're succeeding unless you've got haters. And then don't ever read the comments. Dude, I love it, bring it. It's great, because the thing is that I'm not going to fight back, because I'm going to fight back with what God told me love is supposed to, because chances are.
Speaker 2:If someone's lashing out, the thing I learned a long time ago when I was getting bullied is that those people are hurting. Oh yeah, they feel better by making somebody else feel weaker, right, because that's what? But where did that come from? It came from someone that didn't train them right and didn't really show them what love really was. So, in order to do that, and now with the background and I guess the look or whatever, it helps people go well, maybe there is something to this, right, maybe, yeah, there's something to this Right. Right, I've tried my best to be the strongest and best man that I possibly can be for god and the family.
Speaker 2:So with that, I'm going to show other people. That's what that's like, because you know how it is everybody, um, we're very, very visual, uh, individuals, right, people are in general and they see a look and they automatically think something about somebody. They have, they have a preconceived notion of what that is. They see this, this and they see you and they're like hard target, tough guy, rough and tumble, this, that and the other. But then you start opening your mouth and you start displaying kindness, gentleness, peace. You start talking about self-control, you start exuding the fruits of the spirit and that breaks down everything they ever thought of. But you used that vessel that you've honed into something, a weapon for the eternal and not just a weapon for the physical. Yeah, and that's what's so cool about it to me, right to be able to do his work that way.
Speaker 1:And I think that's that's something that a lot of us need to understand and take with us, like after we we exit the military. You don't have to get rid of the warrior, right. He's still a vital aspect of yourself, of who you are, and always be there. What you have to do is find that new mission and be of service to others that he is more than capable of being there with you. You just have to understand that, not when you speak to everybody. You don't have to engage with an F-bomb.
Speaker 2:Right, absolutely Now granted. If you're friends, you probably will. Yeah, yeah, that's the mantra of the veteran. Right Versus the civilian is the civilian. I see you in your face and talk trash behind your back. A veteran would be nice to you behind your back but talk trash to your face.
Speaker 1:It depends on the background, right? Heck? Yeah, man, it is.
Speaker 2:It's so cool talking to vets too, especially ones you put a smile on people's faces right.
Speaker 2:Show them really the joy of the Lord that he's blessed me with. But to be able to talk to vets that are hurting man, love doing that and because it's so easy to pull on their heartstrings. It's so easy because it all goes back to everything that we all went through. So and just to realize, look, guy, gal, you've got purpose and you have to go at that purpose, for whatever it is. You've been given gifts. What is it you love? What is it that you were good at in the craft that you have? Because you've already got the hard, hardcore mentality. It's already there right Now. It's okay. Are you going to go cry any cornflakes and go internal? Or are you going to start playing team ball, thinking about other people and using the gifts and everything that you've learned and gotten over a lifetime of suffering or four years or whatever it is that you served? And it's a choice. Are you going to cave or are you going to help One or the other and you can thrive and you will thrive, but you have to want to.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Because the thing that everybody worries about is that, once they step off the train, the train keeps going, and then they think they're alone, right? Well, the devil wants you to think you're alone too. You're not. You're never alone, because Christ is always walking with you. You don't realize that, because you're looking around for other people, people are going to fail you, no matter what. Christ will never fail you, right? What I'm saying, though, is that you haven't lost your tribe. You're just looking for another one, and guess what? You're not the only vet. You're not the only vet. Go find another one that was in your community. They're out there, right? There's social media. All you got to do is put up the bat signal, and somebody is going to show.
Speaker 1:It's so true, and you know, a great place to start is grabbing a cup of coffee and explore faith together, man, brotherhood, brotherhood through Christ You'll be. You'll be amazed the amount of people that are willing to sit down with you, break bread and help you get through something, cause that's something that every veteran shares that that purpose and that identity after they leave and head into it. Go into it headfirst. Dive that, that purpose and that identity, after they leave and head into it. Go into it head first. Dive into that, explore that identity, explore that purpose, and don't wait to the last minute, man like. Start going into that as soon as, like you know, you're going to be etsing and explore all the other pillars that you need to work on.
Speaker 1:As you know, I will tell you when you make that exit and you're fully prepared, it it's, it's a lot better and it's argument can be said. You'll never be fully prepared, but you'll be, you know, a little bit more prepared than the guys before you and after you if you focus on building all three of those pillars. Tommy, I can't thank you enough for being here. Brother, people want to check you out or getting ahold of you. Old are you? Where can they go?
Speaker 2:yeah, so um, you can hit me up on the website, um at uh wwwdivinesavagerycom. Uh, shoot, you can email me. Tommy at divinesavagerycom. Um, I'm on linkedin. It's tommy richardson and uh ig if you want to hit that up and see some lifting stuff. But uh, raise, dot your dot horn heck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tommy, thank you so much for being here and for everybody tuning in. Thank you for coming along. Do us a favor head on over to Spotify, apple Podcasts or YouTube. Give us a share, like and a follow. I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll see you all next time. Until 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 SecHawk podcast and buy us a coffee. Connect with us on Instagram X or TikTok and share your thoughts or questions about today's episode. You can also visit securityhawkcom for exclusive content, resources and updates. And remember we get through this together. If you're still listening, the episode's over. Yeah, there's no more Tune in tomorrow or next week.
