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!
Doug O’Connell: Green Beret Turned Defense Attorney on Purpose, Identity & Veterans in Law
In this compelling episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero sits down with Doug O’Connell, a former Green Beret turned accomplished criminal defense attorney, to explore the uncommon path of blending military service with a high-impact civilian career.
Doug shares how his experiences in Special Forces—operating in high-stakes, unpredictable environments—directly influence how he defends clients in the courtroom. From unconventional warfare to legal strategy, Doug's story is one of purpose, adaptability, and unwavering service.
This episode unpacks the challenges of transitioning between two demanding professions, the importance of identity beyond the uniform, and the need for veterans to prioritize self-care while continuing to lead and give back. Whether you're a service member, veteran, or someone navigating dual-purpose careers, this conversation offers powerful insight on integrity, mission-focus, and the next chapter of service.
Don’t miss this powerful conversation. Subscribe to Security Halt! on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts—and share it with someone in your circle who needs it.
BE A BRO! Support the show!!
buymeacoffee.com/sechaltpodcast
https://buymeacoffee.com/sechaltpodcast
Looking for hand crafted, custom work, military memorabilia or need something laser engraved? Connect with my good friend Eric Gilgenast.
Instagram: haus_gilgenast_woodworks_main
https://www.instagram.com/haus_gilgenast_woodworks_main/
Chapters
00:00 From Military to Law: Doug's Journey
10:48 Balancing Dual Careers: Green Beret and Lawyer
19:04 The Unconventional Lawyer: Military Skills in Court
25:08 Navigating Identity After Service
30:39 Self-Care and Recharging: Doug's Approach
39:10 Giving Back: The Importance of Service
Instagram: @securityhalt
Tik Tok: @security.halt.pod
LinkedIn: Deny Caballero
Connect with Doug on social media and check out his Website too!
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/o-connell-west-pllc/
Website: https://oconnellwest.com/doug-oconnell/
Email: doug@oconnelwest.com
News Article Doug mentioned:
Produced by Security Halt Media
Security Odd Podcast. Let's go the only podcast that's purpose-built from the ground up to support you Not just you, but the wider audience, everybody. Authentic, impactful and insightful conversations that serve a purpose to help you. And the quality has gone up. It's decent and it's hosted by me, danny Caballero.
Speaker 2:Doug O'Connell how's it going? Good man, thanks for having me on. Absolutely. Man, you've got a career that I am constantly telling people to look into, because once you get out of the military, you got to dream, you got to swing for the fences, you got to try to do something remarkable. Today, my man, I want to dive into your military history, your background and what you're doing today, sure. So where does it all start for Doug?
Speaker 3:Well, I guess you know, I went to college because that's what I was expected to do in my family. I was the youngest of six kids and did okay in college and learned about ROTC and that sounded like a good idea because I knew I didn't want to go get a job. But I figured I'd go to the army for a while and maybe get that out of my system. Sure enough, I did. That was the late 80s, right before the first downsizing at the end of the cold war and the army.
Speaker 3:You know, I went to ranger school and I graduated ranger school and showed up at my first unit, all hard charging and ready to go, and they said, great, uh, go down to the motor pool and watch dudes turn wrenches. And that that wasn't what I had signed up for. It wasn't what I was interested in. And so I figured all right, after a few years of that I'll get out. And what am I going to do next? Well, I heard law school is hard and so let's do that. And do you know many lawyers? Are you friends with lawyers?
Speaker 2:no, no, you're actually the first one, but I have another lawyer coming on here.
Speaker 3:Uh, he was an air force jag well, you'll have to ask him about this and see if he agrees. But most lawyers a lot of lawyers are not fun to hang out with.
Speaker 2:They're jerks at least I've seen that in the media a few times.
Speaker 3:It's true, I'm in law school surrounded by a whole bunch of anal, retentive people who think they're the smartest person in the class. We have never done anything and not really enjoying that vibe, and I figured out that there was a reserve special forces unit in the town I was going to school in. So I went over there and talked them into taking me on and, long story short, eventually was able to go to selection and the qualification course and then become a team leader. Meanwhile I had this career going on as a junior lawyer and I had progressed and on 9-11, I was a federal prosecutor at the US Attorney's Office here in Austin.
Speaker 3:When the towers came down, reserve Unit or National Guard Unit was mobilized and on active duty by January 1st of 23. We were sent to 10th Group in Colorado and started preparing for the invasion of Iraq, and so that timeline kept being pushed back. They demobilized us after a year. Third Battalion 10th Group did a by-name request to bring me back, which I did. So I deployed to Iraq, came home, stayed in the reserves or the Guard and ultimately ended up deploying to Afghanistan for a SOCOM mission and then later missions to Northwest Africa in support of SOC Africa. When it was all said and done, I ended up doing 30 years. I never expected to be around that long. They just kept on luring me back with what sounded like a good assignment.
Speaker 2:That's how they usually do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and anyhow, I don't regret it at all. It makes us who we are today looking back in later life, and it was a good experience.
Speaker 2:I met great guys, yeah, and it was a good experience.
Speaker 3:I met great guys. Yeah, I have to imagine that being a lawyer while also being on detachment makes for a very hard time to look the other way when ethics are involved, or I'd like to believe.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I was able to navigate us around, stepping on the landmine. I would certainly hope so. Oh man, did you being on oda? Well, and this is something that I've seen with our, our national guard guys like you have these amazing careers. You're you're trying to become a lawyer, but you also have this dedication and commitment to the country, to the Special Forces Regiment, where you need to go. Did you ever find that your mission of being a Green Beret was also holding you back from what you were doing as a lawyer on the outside?
Speaker 3:Not really no, because in the first part of my legal career I was a prosecutor, a misdemeanor prosecutor, then a felony prosecutor and then a federal prosecutor. And so you know, when you work for the government, they can't really hold it against you. When you're deployed, they can and they can find ways to do that. Fortunately, I was working with some people that understood what it meant to be a Green Beret and supported that and made sure that. You know, I landed on my feet when I got back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's. It's remarkable, the adventures you can have in this world. That's why I always tell guys like if you're, if you're active duty, green Beret, and you're thinking about getting out, look into guard, because the adventure continues, it doesn't have to end. You can go right back to the team room and find a fulfilling career. Um, what was it like going through your career and having to balance the work life like that's. I hate the word balance when it comes to that, because sometimes you really can't.
Speaker 3:Sometimes you can't. I, I think I was fortunate in the sense that I got married later in life and so I just had to worry about me for the bulk of it, Right, and so if I had to go off to a drill weekend, the biggest complication was okay, who's going to take care of my dog? You know, and you, you remember back in those days, there's a lot more freedom and you, you know, you could act unilaterally and without consequences and without having to consider somebody else's feelings or schedule.
Speaker 2:No, and in the later half of your career you know team life and even though you get a little more time when you're in a guard side. So if you're an 18 alpha listening think about guard you get a little bit more team time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think I had four or five years as a team commander. Oh, in fact I had. I had deferred my promotion to 04 because I could and that allowed me to stay on the team. And then, when I went back to 10th group on the by name request, uh, that triggered you. You know I was getting promoted and I had no, had no choice in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, when. When uncle Sam says you have to, you have to wonder did you ever think about you know? Switching over to the JAG side, I mean having to and trying to specialize in the military law.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've been asked that a bunch and I I distinctly remember that crossing my mind at a couple different junctures. But, um, you know, uh, being a special forces guy is the coolest job in the army and the funnest. And you know, when I was in national guard status, uh, we were going to go to the range, or we're going to blow something up, or we're going to jump that weekend versus the lawyers. They're going to sit in an office and do lawyer stuff, which is what I did all this whole week prior to going to drill. So I certainly didn't want more lawyering no, no, absolutely not.
Speaker 2:That's a, that's um. Sadly, that's. That's the one thing that really keeps a lot of guys from um wanting to try a lot of other stuff once they're in. Like, especially when you get the idea of like, okay, I'm gonna leave, going to leave active duty, am I going to go to the guard? I can go ask Saffra, I can try something new, but at the end of the day, like it, it nothing seems enticing other than going back to a team.
Speaker 3:Well, I agree with you. I think guys should check it out because you know, if your civilian life doesn't turn out the way you want and you want to get back to active duty, being in the guard is going to make that transition back to active duty a lot easier because you don't have that break in service that's really true. That's kind of like an insurance policy I've seen a lot of guys enacted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, heck, we just saw uh, you know, not an sf guy, but we just saw a medal of honor recipient to kodomar.
Speaker 3:He came back in the act of service I think, I think, if you're a medal honor recipient, they'll, they'll expedite the red tape for you, right?
Speaker 2:you uh, you get some perks after doing that and when you look back on your time on a team, it's weird when finally the sun sets on the career. But the guard, you can ride that out a little longer. Do you find yourself that you went as far as you could, or do you find yourself always maybe saying, man, I wish I could have just stayed a little longer?
Speaker 3:No, I think, at least for me. I was ready to go and I was anxious also to deploy. And civilians don't understand this, but if you're on the sidelines trying, waiting to deploy, it's like practicing for the game all week and not getting on the field on saturday and um, it's, it's kind of warped and it's kind of selfish in many ways, but it's who we are and, uh, for me it was time deploy, which meant leaving the team behind, because I was holding the tooth at that point anyhow, and I had already come up to my last deferment to be promoted to major, and so I couldn't put it off any longer. And if I did, then I would have been recorded as a non-select for major and then that would have started the clock on being separated.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can only put that off for so long. That's the sad reality. At some point you have to grow up, you have to go to the company side. It's funny, though, like we uh, we talk about it Like it's the um, like a like, almost like a death sentence, or like this impending doom of like, like oh man.
Speaker 2:I gotta leave the team. But in reality, like I was just talking to um, another green beret a couple of days ago, it's like it's you need to. You have to at some point you have to progress and allow the next guy to take your spot.
Speaker 3:And you have to experience all the growth you're going to get in. Follow on assignments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it's. It's vital to the force and nobody wants to be in somebody's shadow for so long. I think anybody. If you're in a team room right now and you're staring at your senior with a lot of hate and discontent, I feel for you. Yeah, you got to understand when it's time to let go and move forward. And it is easier for the enlisted guys it is. You finish your time as a senior, you go to the B team, you go to a broadening assignment. You find your way, you enjoy it, you learn something new. You learn how to be a leader in that capacity. Come back to a team Now you're a Fox, you can be an 18 Zulu. Come back to a team Now you're a Fox and you can be an 18 Zulu.
Speaker 2:But for our officers, whether you're active duty or guard, it's not the same, it's. We have to learn how to teach to love all aspects of the mission. You have to learn how to. We have to do a better job of selling it, because right now, you know, I would imagine that you can't really sell or make staff time look appealing. But you have to do a better job of selling it because right now, you know, I I would imagine that you can't really sell or make staff time look appealing. But you have to. Our officers have. You know, in the convention, in active duty side, you'll see about two years of oda time, right, and then it's move forward, move on. You have to the. We have to develop a new way of of selling the mission to our officers, because we have to make staff time look appealing and sexy. And it's vital because to be a good officer you're going to need to learn all that stuff.
Speaker 3:It would be interesting to see the statistic on how many captains ETS from the army after they're taken off a team you know and some guys that I know uh change over and become a warrant officer.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, that's uh, that's the the cheat code. I had a felt I had a good amount of captains in my warrant class and uh, yeah, once you talk to him you realize like I love this, this is what I want to do, and no amount of money can change it. And there are some and there wasn't one captain that wasn't exceptional. And when we talked and they shared their stories of their counseling sessions with their company and battalion commanders who were just begging and pleading them, like please rethink this, like you're going to be a great officer, we have all these great things planned ahead of you for your career, and then they tell them like, hey, I appreciate the mentorship, I really truly appreciate it, but I'm really going to be the best that I could possibly be in that team room as a warrant. And you got to listen to those guys and I think they do. I think the regiment does a good job of understanding their talent and understanding the passion. Somebody has to say, hey, I'm a better quarterback than a coach.
Speaker 3:Well, and think of you know that captain, who's been a team commander now serving as a warrant what they're going to be able to do in terms of mentoring and developing the next captain that's coming into the team and your skill set and the knowledge you gained as a Green Beret helped you, in your civilian endeavors, into becoming a better lawyer.
Speaker 3:No doubt, no doubt. I do a lot of jury trials in my practice and a lot of those are very high profile cases involving where we're defending law enforcement officers, profile cases involving where we're defending law enforcement officers. And here in Austin, texas, it's very, very popular to indict cops because we have a far left progressive district attorney who made it a campaign promise to prosecute cops, so doing a whole bunch of jury trials. And that is, you know, a jury trial. At least how I approach it is going to battle and you know, I bring my unconventional warfare toolkit with me, and so my trial partner is a guy who is a great lawyer but has no frame of reference for the military, and on many occasions he says that'll never. You know, I'm come up with this innovative strategy and he says that'll never work, we'll never get away with it. That's crazy and it works. My crazy idea or strategy somehow plays out and he's left wondering. Well, like what kind of voodoo magic you know is this?
Speaker 2:That's co-analysis.
Speaker 3:It's war gaming.
Speaker 2:Exactly More gaming.
Speaker 3:Exactly, I do things like. You know, all of our pretrial motions are designed to shape the battlefield, to channelize the enemy into identifying their critical weaknesses early on so we can target that piece of their case and weaken it so that ultimately we get a not guilty verdict. The other thing we do is, you know the government prosecutors often like to keep evidence murky and hide evidence from us even though they're not supposed to. And we're able to. Again, through motions and pretrial activities and hearings, we can launch what I call a spoiling attack. You know, in military terms that's getting the opposing force that's attacking to deploy into their attack formation earlier than they'd like to, and so we do that in order to force them to identify the evidence early on. That's most favorable to us.
Speaker 3:Those are just some examples, but I got to believe. My military background dramatically impacts my lawyer ability to try cases and I didn't expect that. And that wasn't a plan that you know I was executing. It's just after being institutionalized through the military doctrine and unconventional warfare. It becomes part of who you are and how you view the world and how you take on problem sets.
Speaker 2:Absolutely that's. That's that's exactly what I would envision that, as a green beret lawyer, would approach his trials. But it's true, like you have to, you have to view it as opposition and you have to war game. It makes perfect sense in my head and, yeah, I just feel like the people that you're working with are absolutely uh, they, they must be just over the over the moon and grateful for what you bring to the fight, cause a lot of times, from what we see in media or the perception is nobody wants to take the case on supporting a law enforcement officer right now. It's not the attractive thing, um, and that's that's that.
Speaker 3:Just sucks, absolutely sucks I think maybe also one advantage is advantage I have is I've been scared before you know pee in your pants scared on downrange, on deployments, and a lot of these cases turn on whether the officer's fear was reasonable before he used force or fired his weapon and his assessment, his or her assessment, of the threat.
Speaker 3:Well, the prosecutors, you know, they sit in comfortable offices in air conditioning and the most dangerous thing they do or have ever done is walk across the street to the courthouse because they might get hit by a car. Well, I'm not suggesting I was or am some kind of badass warrior. I was adequate. I'd like to believe I added value, like to believe I added value. But you know, you and I both know guys who really, uh, were stellar warriors, and that wasn't me, um. But I've done hard things while deployed, I've been scared, I've I've known what it feels like to be threatened. I know what it's like to have somebody, what, what you internally feel when somebody is pointing a firearm at you, and so I think maybe I can relate to them a little bit better than the average lawyer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Like. You have a lived experience that may not be exactly along the lines of a law enforcement officer, but it's certainly comparable. It's certainly something that you know would bring comfort to the mind of somebody. That's like dealing with being brought to trial for doing their job. It's like, yeah, it's. It's a sad state of affair that that's what you're dealing with, but I can't think of a better person to have that job.
Speaker 3:And I love trying cases. It is a lot of fun. It's very serious, right, Because my client has is potentially going to go to prison if I let this go sideways, going to go to prison if I let this go sideways. But you know, I'd much rather be in the fight fighting for my client than sitting in the bleachers watching.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's certainly I can't. There are a lot of parallels to the you know, the unconventional side of of being a green beret fighting this. I think you, you have to do. You find yourself thinking about that like, like, holy shit, like I'm, I'm sort of actually doing the unconventional side in in law, law, like practicing law.
Speaker 3:I have and it's I'll never do this cause I'll never find the time. But it's occurred to me to write a book called uh trying cases, like a green beret or green berets guide to trial, jury trials, something, something like that. And it might help other attorneys that don't have that background think differently or view the problem set differently and maybe open their eyes to more creative mechanisms to attack the state's case. And I guess that's part of it, because traditional criminal defense attorneys which is the bulk of what I do we don't have to prove anything right. The government has the burden of proof. They have to prove our client beyond a reasonable doubt. So conventional strategy is don't do anything, just be on the defensive, and unless they're doing something to hurt you, you're kind of in a passive role and that's never been the way I operate. You know very much. A best defense is a strong offense attack, attack, attack, attack it every turn, weaken their case every chance you get, use some psychological operations on them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got to use every tool that you have at your disposal and as a Green Beret, you bring a lot to the fight. That's why it's important never to forget where you come from. It's easy for guys, when they transition, to forget the skill sets, to forget the things they've done and to sort of sit in that loss of identity, loss of purpose for you know, for some for a long time and realize, until they realize that, holy cow, like no, I'm somebody, I've done some hard things, I've done some remarkable things. I can do remarkable hard things Again. I can go after my dreams. You know, in your case you had a career already. You had, you had a path and you had a purpose. When you walked away from the teams and from the life of a Green Beret, did you find yourself struggling with the identity and that purpose?
Speaker 3:I didn't. I expected I would. I'd heard all the stories, and the reason I think I've not struggled at all is because, in our practice let me explain I don't know how to be a small business guy. Nothing in the army or in law school or being a government lawyer trained me how to run a small law firm, right. And so that's the hard part of my daily grind is doing the business side. The hard part of my daily grind is doing the business side.
Speaker 3:Well, one of the things I don't know how to do is market or advertise myself and my team. So the vast majority of people that find their way to us are military veterans, law enforcement or family members of one of those groups, and so because I have a steady parade of Joes coming in who need help, I'm able to stay connected and find out how things are and what's going on and what it's like these days and what was your last deployment like. Now, the downside of that is, all these veterans and service members come in to see me. They don't come in to share good news, right? You don't come see Doug when you don't know about your son's birthday, right?
Speaker 3:You come when you've had a meltdown and you've hit a problem and most often I think that what? What I see is guys and gals bring up the rucksack full of trauma and pain home from their deployment and, rather than getting the help or dealing with it, they shove it down inside and they try to ignore it because we are tough warriors and we don't need to talk about it. We don't need help, we don't need therapy, and I'm just going to be stoic and that's what my dad and his dad would have done. And often we see guys and gals self-medicating, either with alcohol or drugs, and that keeps the demons in check for a little while, but ultimately there's an explosion and things go sideways and typically what that looks like is a DWI charge or drug charge or assault, family violence charge. And then they're sitting with me across my desk and we're figuring out a strategy to deal with the legal challenges that they're in.
Speaker 2:We're figuring out a strategy to to deal with the legal challenges that they're in? Yeah, and it's. It's sad. Now more than ever, our veterans are dealing with a lot of undiagnosed issues, and the one thing that's always easy to access is drugs and alcohol. Um this, will we rather have a little bit of comfort in those times of pain than dealing with discomfort and facing things through conventional therapy or reaching out? We just want to medicate, and that can lead us down a dark path, which sometimes lead us to Doug's office.
Speaker 3:Well, and when you land here you're part of the deal is you're going to go get the help you need, and it's occurred to me that it'd be easier, less stressful and less expensive for my clients If they would get that help they need before they need me involved. We're fortunate here in Austin, texas, to have some facilities close, not too far away, that do a good job with veterans and military people and law enforcement Some of those actually specialize in that client group and then a handful of other providers that will take my call, listen to the issue and help when they can, and if they can't help they might know somebody better suited and oftentimes, because of the relationships we built, they will figure out a way to do it, even though they don't take insurance or they don't take the kind of insurance the client has.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:Can I imagine, though, after serving yourself, after going through the life of being a Green Beret and being a lawyer, how do you manage all of that, All of everybody's issues, the pain, the trauma that you've seen? How do you recharge your own batteries?
Speaker 3:That's a great question and I'm going to answer honestly. I need to do better. I need to do better so that I can face the client who's across the desk with more integrity and more credibility. I'm happy to report I'm exercising more. That seems to be important. The government wouldn't let me transfer my GI education benefits to my kids, which I find stupid, and so you know, at this point I have a law degree and two master's degrees. I'm not going back to school degree and two master's degrees. I'm not going back to school, and so I found this program in Montana where I'm going to go learn how to be a fly fishing guide.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think, I know, I think I know which program.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know they won't. Let me go learn a hobby that'll help my health, because that's recreation, not a vocation. But they'll happily pay for me to go to fly fishing guide school and I sincerely doubt I will ever work as a fly fishing guide. But I'm going to go have that experience and recalibrate, chill out, recalibrate, chill out recenter. I'll come back and tell you about it on a future appearance.
Speaker 2:You have to, you absolutely need to. I'm going to hold you to it because we don't do enough Like just hold space for each other, for another brother, and just share hey, this works for me. Or hey, let's go do this, let's go sign up for a gym membership, let's go do something like we. We tend to see our brothers that are successful and say well, doug's good, he's a lawyer, he's fine.
Speaker 2:He was an officer, he'll be good. No, no, everybody, everybody needs somebody to say hey, how are you managing the stress in your life? What are you doing? I certainly don't manage it great. Every day I struggle to that.
Speaker 2:We, we have this flawed sense of mental wellness and what it looks like. We think that if you go to a treatment center, if you go to therapy, you're going to be fine for the rest of your life, and that's not the truth. Life is good and bad. You go through therapy, you're going to be fine for the rest of your life, and that's not the truth. Life is good and bad. Good days, bad days. In the middle days, everybody's going to struggle. Those that have tools understand that the most. Use the tools when you need them. Get back into the regimens when you fall out of it. That's life. You have to be willing to continue growing and developing If you get too stressed out, if work starts getting way too much. Remember your tools. Oh shit, I haven't done my rosary in four days. I've fallen out of practice with my prayer life. I haven't done my meditation, and last week I only went to the gym twice. And last week I only went to the gym twice. Okay, get back in there.
Speaker 3:No one's perfect. Sometimes I think it can be pretty simple. Any kind of movement walking the dog, just getting outside, even if it's not for a long period of time. For a long period of time, any kind of incremental exercise we can get it doesn't have to be high intensity is better than none. Just sitting on the couch drinking a beer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the couch syndrome, as I like to call it. That's our biggest enemy. Even if you are managing everything okay, how often are you sitting in front of the tv for hours and hours, days at a time and not getting outside doing something like it's okay to enjoy tv? Don't get me wrong, but how many six-packs are you enjoying along with your tv tasks? Yeah, yeah, we got to keep a pulse on that.
Speaker 2:That, and the simple things are always just taking it back to when you were in the military the little things, the little habits, the discipline. What are you doing to instill that discipline on a daily basis? It worked for us when we were privates get up and run, get up and work out. It was always in the morning, not once, very rarely, if you had some sort of schedule or shift work. Where was your pt hours late at night? If you, if you've fallen out of that, that regiment of getting up and doing something hard, get back into it. It's muscle memory. It'll come back to you. I promise it'll come back to you. Yeah. Yeah, it's important, man, and it's uh. I'm excited to see what this is going to be. Where did the idea come from, though, for fly fishing?
Speaker 3:Well, um, I know it's, I've done a little bit, and um, and I know it. It's one of those hobbies like golf that people find addicting. And if you're out there standing in a stream trying to convince this trout to bite your lure, your fly, that can cause you to have to really concentrate on everything that's going on, and only that Meanwhile you're blocking out all the stress you would normally be thinking about at work or wherever. And so I've tried golf. I didn't really dig it. I want to do more of this and see if that can become a hobby for me.
Speaker 3:The other way I've gotten into it is I got invited to about 10 years ago to help with a veterans fly fishing program in northern New Mexico, and it's hosted at the big Boy Scout Ranch out there and outside of Cimarron, and the program brings, you know, around 15 participants veterans. Each October we go into the mountains. It's all paid for, you're partnered up with a fly fishing guide, you have great meals, campfires at night where we're hanging out together. It's a wonderful program and I look forward to helping with it. Each time I don't try to help anybody fish, really, I'm the chief dishwasher, I'm not kidding. I cut the firewood and I haul the water for the cooks. I'm the chief chogie boy.
Speaker 2:You know it's good to give back in those ways, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if there's veterans out there that think you know they might like to participate in that, I would love to hear from them. We'll visit to make sure it's a good fit. But, like I said, it's all free. The veteran simply has to get out there and back. Everything's covered except transportation.
Speaker 2:Heck, yeah, we'll put it in the episode description. We'll put a link to it. Yeah, yeah, we. Sometimes the simplest thing that we can do to get better and get back to feeling good like our old selves is being willing to be of help and of service to others. It really is us off it's still. If you're just infantry guy S1, whatever, I would argue that within your career there's a long history of you helping, teach, coach, mentor and being of service to others and at your core as an NCO, it's who you are Give back. Tap into that. I'm telling you, if you're struggling, if you don't know where to start, find a way to give back. Connect with a resource in your local community, whether it's a church, a food bank. If you're struggling and don't know where to start, find a way to help somebody. It will reconnect you with other people. It will reconnect you with a part of yourself that you miss deeply and it's that person of action.
Speaker 3:And help you find purpose.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:You were here to add value and to contribute and you may not realize it, but if you find that program that you can help with and give back and make somebody else's life better, not only are you taking your mind off your problems, but you are contributing and you're adding value and your life has purpose.
Speaker 2:Yep, yes, sir Doug. If people want to get ahold of you and uh, seek out your services or connect with you, where can they go?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so uh, I'll give you a couple of different ways, and what I like to tell veterans is if you think you need a lawyer, you're welcome to call and I will visit with you on the phone and help you figure out if you really do need a lawyer. Sometimes you need to just shut up and go home and say you're sorry.
Speaker 3:And sometimes you need to stop spending so much money. But anyway, I can help sort that out for you and then, if it's not something we can help with for whatever reason, we'll help get you to a lawyer we know and trust or we vet for you because we know what to look for. And so our website is oconnellwestcom, so that's O-C-O-N-N-E-L-L-W-E-S-Tcom. My email is doug at oconnellwestcom, and then your website has our phone number on it. Let me tell you, let me talk for just one minute about what we're going on. It's going on.
Speaker 3:We have a lawsuit against the Army and DOD right now and I'm going to try to keep this really simple but when Army CID investigates someone for either misconduct or potential criminal violation, if they think something has actually happened, even if there's no arrest or no charges, they're going to send that suspect's information to the FBI and a federal criminal history will be created and that criminal history will show you were arrested or received into custody even if you weren't. And so we're trying to get the word out because we believe the judge is going to allow us to turn this into a class action lawsuit, because it's happening to thousands and thousands of soldiers and veterans and it's really ridiculous. There's no good explanation for why they're doing it. And you know, we tried to do all the administrative channels and ultimately they just were stubborn. And so we said, ok, let's have a lawsuit. If we're going to fight, let's make this really worthwhile. Let's make this a class action lawsuit. So I'll also send you the link to that news article.
Speaker 2:Yes, please. News story and maybe you can post that as well, because oh, yeah, it'll be in the episode description and then, uh, we'll put that all throughout our social media. Yeah, good deal. Absolutely, man. There isn't anybody better, better suited for this fight. Doug, that's awesome. Uh, we need to have another. Uh, we need to do a part two. Bring you back to talk about this let's do that because it's definitely affecting a lot of service members.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hell, yeah, doug, can't thank you enough for stopping by and chatting with me, but, uh, what a heck of a career and, um, what a great profession to be involved in as a green beret. I think more of our green berets need to get in the law to have a unique perspective on, uh, how to work by, with and through to get to the desired end state. Um, if you're all listening, take a. Do me a favor. Just pause for a second. Go to episode description. Click on those links that we just talked about. Uh, help support doug in this fight and connect with him. If you need his assistance and, uh, please do me a favor, head on over to apple podcast or spotify or YouTube. Leave us a comment, give us a like and please subscribe. Thank you all for tuning in. Thank you, doug, for being here.
Speaker 1:We'll see you all next time Until then take care.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 1:You can also visit securityhawkcom for exclusive content, resources and updates. And remember we get through this together.
Speaker 2:If you're still listening, the episode's over. Yeah, there's no more Tune in tomorrow or next week. Thank you.
