Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
Join us as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, proving that even after the mission changes, the call to serve and thrive never ends.
Security Halt!
Green Beret Turned Entrepreneur: Herb Thompson on Marriage, Mental Health & Starting Over After Service
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In this inspiring episode of Security Halt!, we sit down with Herb Thompson—former Green Beret, best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur—as he takes us through the raw, unfiltered journey of transitioning from military service to building a meaningful life in the civilian world.
Herb opens up about:
· 💼 Launching his own business and redefining success after service
· ❤️ The highs and lows of marriage, fatherhood, and maintaining strong relationships
· 🧠 Mental health challenges and how he manages work-life balance
· 🎤 How storytelling became a powerful tool for connection, healing, and leadership
· 📈 Why personal growth and adaptability are mission-critical in every stage of life
This isn’t just another veteran success story—it’s a masterclass in resilience, authenticity, and purpose-driven living. Whether you're a transitioning veteran, a military spouse, or someone navigating career and relationship challenges, this episode will leave you motivated to evolve, connect, and lead.
👉 Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
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Produced by Security Halt Media
Securepodcast is proudly sponsored by Titans Arms. Head on to the episode description and check out Titans Arms today. Dude Irv Thompson. Welcome man, how you doing.
Speaker 2:Awesome to be here, Denny. Let's get it rocking.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, man Dude, you've done a lot for us in the veteran community. Your book you know we've had. You've been on the show before and we highlighted your journey and talked about your book. It was one of the first books that I found in my journey in the transition that outlined everything and gave us a true like a PDSS, a pathway to success. And as soon as I realized like holy shit, like this is filled with like a step by step of what to do, what to avoid, I just started buying it and handing it out, whether it was a Green Beret or one of our support guys, it spoke to everybody. But today I want to talk about you and your chapter. You've done so much for us, guiding us through the process. I want to reflect and talk about you and your journey, how you're navigating life now. You recently married. You're doing great things. So today, my man, we're diving into your second chapter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to get interesting then because, uh, that's probably even more wildly crazy stuff, right? Yeah, no, happy I married cory. Uh, we'd actually been engaged for like two and a half years yeah and we've been living together.
Speaker 2:We had started a business I know we'll get into that so it was time, uh, for us both and and, truthfully, the only reason why we probably took so long to get married is like neither of us wanted to plan a wedding and put the efforts in like you know what I mean To get the piece of paper that says, hey, you're official now. Uh, so, yeah, no, we, we did that. We got married. We're able to have a celebration our style with some of our close friends, uh, about a month ago. Uh, life's going good, but there's definitely been some potholes in the road along the way.
Speaker 1:You know everybody thinks that, you know, jumping into a marriage is like the. You know we grew up, I think, our GWAC culture kind of jumped into getting in relationships because deployments were so like rapid and just always back to back to back. I know I certainly jumped into first my first marriage, like right before we deployed, and we kind of like continue that, that culture of just like meeting up and figuring out and just thinking, okay, maybe this will work, we will jump into a marriage. But I think there's something to be said about meeting somebody and taking your time, man, and that's certain that it's certainly was on your social media profiles. You guys were very open and sharing your journey, like take us through, like what it was like finally getting to this point in your life and realize like, okay, I don't want to rush this.
Speaker 2:Jeez, yeah, I mean, I think, two things. I don't come from an ivory tower, a place of like I'm holier than thou. If there's a mistake that's been made, I've probably done it twice Right, especially with, like, past relationships. I'll be honest, like I've been married three times Right, and it's my what most people classify my high school sweetheart. We got married like I got married at 18, a month after I turned 18. Right Cause I'm in the army.
Speaker 2:I just graduated basic training. I was in advanced individual training. I was going to go to my first assignment in a few weeks. I was like, oh, we need to get married. I wouldn't change it for the world because I got my two boys out of it right, where I was at the age of 17 and where I was at the age of 30 is just a much different person. Right, and it didn't work out.
Speaker 2:And I know oftentimes we'll joke like army, especially special operations like, oh, it separated marriage. They kept mine together. They kept me gone so long that I couldn't get a divorce back home. And finally I actually sat out of deployment and I was forward overseas and they want me to flip to another. I've been there like a month. They want me to flip to where my team was going and I was like time out, I need to go back home so I can get a divorce. And they're like, yeah, but we need you on the mat. I was like, no, you're not understanding me. I need to be home so I can file the paperwork and sign it and do all that I of paperwork and sign it and do all that. I can't do that from overseas.
Speaker 2:So I did that and then I, you know, did what most guys or many guys do went wild and crazy. And then I went to the polar opposite and just got into a very bad relationship. And then, hey, I'm going to get married, cause I'm going to make this. I can fix anything. I'm a green beret, god, I can fix anything. And then, once I was in it, it was like, well, we got to get married. And then like, okay, we're married. And like, well, I can do this, I'm not going to be twice divorced. Like that's my failure, I'm going to be a failure for doing that.
Speaker 2:And I kept working, actually, the whole time I was transitioning out, retiring, I was going through that and my diving into like what was going to be my next job and what was life after the military become my safe space? Because home was chaos and maybe part of that I created, right Cause I got so comfortable in chaos that I was like, oh, I will create the chaos. So now I feel comfy. Yeah, that comes to an end. And, like you and I have talked.
Speaker 2:Then I met Corey yeah, right, and it was just different. And probably one of the first times where I realized it was different was at some point we had a little disagreement and she was like hey, I'm your teammate. And I was like shit, like cause, I had never truthfully thought of my spouse. You know, in the middle of like it isn't. Like hey, I want to go to special forces. How thought of my spouse, you know, in the middle, like it isn't like hey, I want to go to special forces. How do you feel about this, honey? Or like, hey, you know what? There's a deployment to Afghanistan. Would you like me not to go there? There was no discussion, right, it was just I'm doing what I want to do for my career and I didn't have a teammate, and some of that by my choice, right. And then, with her going, I'm your teammate.
Speaker 2:I was like so she's been instrumental in my development right just as a human being, and my growth life after the military, of just growing up, if you will, and like figuring out who I am, and really part of that is putting it out there on social media, because we realized and especially her, she's like, hey, you're helping people and we get the messages and stuff.
Speaker 2:And i's like, hey, you're helping people and we get the messages and stuff. And I was like, okay, well, yeah, let's do a little more and put a little more out there, especially like everything in the military. I feel like, and, quite frankly, corporate america like it's the person, it's herb, it's denny. There's no, that family we talk about as military leaders, but like it's that and everything's centered around that. And there's no, that family we talk about as military leaders, but like it's that and everything's centered around that. And there's no like, oh, we're a couple and hey, we do stuff together and it's cool to be a couple. So we've been very intentional to show that, having learned from our mistakes in the past, yeah, it's, it's um, it's problematic the way we we settle into relationships in modern age.
Speaker 1:Like we were talking a little bit earlier, before we started, it is now a big thing of of meeting your, your significant other online through an app and, and before you even really get to understand the person, to really dive deep into who you're building something with, like you've put a an entire president on the physical connection and all that and like look, I'm not pointing any fingers because I was guilty of it as well, but there's something to be said about approaching a relationship from a very mature and focused point of view, like understanding that. Like dating is fun and great, but you're building a future with somebody. You're finding the right teammate. You got to go through a selection process.
Speaker 2:It's just swipe right, right, swipe right, swipe right, like, okay, oh, I got a match. I mean, that's what's cool about Corey and I's relationship is we got to know. Even though we met through social media, which is kind of funny, and through some work stuff, she got to know me for who. I got to know who she was, for who she was. Right, she had very minimal social media. I was like are you a russian spy? Like I can't find you anywhere. But what was cool is like she knew my favorite like sub shop to get a sandwich from back home. She knew all this stuff about me.
Speaker 2:At the time something happened. I did a post or something and I was about my book and I was like, oh, oh, I won an award and she thought it was a joke and I was like, hey, and then finally she's like, oh, this is real, like people are really commenting and she thought it was just something I had like Photoshopped or something. And then she's like, hey, you wrote a book. And I was like, yeah, I sent a picture of me in front of the White House holding the book and she's like, what picture with the White House? It's one of her favorite pictures of me, by the way, but she didn't realize I was holding a book and she didn't realize the White House was right here.
Speaker 2:She was just like focused on me, which is awesome. But I was like, yeah, hey, because she's like. I was like I did some stuff in the army, I've wrote a few things, and that's when she realized she's like, well, you're a Green Beret. I was like yeah, but we had already been talking for months at this point, so we got to know each other just as people, even through this whole social media internet age. I was up here in the DC area, she was down in North Carolina, so we had that spread.
Speaker 1:But we really got to know each other and I think, uh, I'm grateful that it happened for us. Yeah, now it's. It's. The thing that I love about watching your journey is the continued growth Like we. We don't have to get out and accept that like, okay, this is, this is the. My military career was the pinnacle of my achievement as a human being. I'm just going to sit stagnant and just let time pass me by.
Speaker 2:That is right and for me, I had two goals. Like, I had two goals in life. Like I wanted to be a drill sergeant, I wanted to be a Green Beret. It actually started I wanted to be a Green Beret and then I added a few years. You know, probably in my teens I had to be a drill sergeant. I'm like great. Most people would be like awesome, you accomplished your goals in life. Right and first, world problems. Let's be real. Like awesome, now what? And that was really what was leaving the military and partially still on that journey. And I was six, over six years after retiring, like still on that journey of like what's what's my goal? I know what they are now, but like what's going to motivate me? How do I get that sense of I'm doing something and I feel good when I look in them?
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's dive into that man, like, what was coming out of the military is a struggle, even if you write a book. How'd you go about setting that next, those next goals in that next phase of your life? Like what'd you start focusing in on trial and error?
Speaker 2:I mean, I thought I knew what I wanted to do and about you know, five days into doing what I thought I wanted to do, I was like this isn't going to be it, um, it's different, right it's. Uh, I had to learn a whole new environment in corporate America and then quite frankly realize, like right it's, I had to learn a whole new environment in corporate America and then quite frankly realize like, oh, this is there's, there's other ways. And I think, like many especially veterans but special operators there's that entrepreneurial spirit and like just the, the traits that go with being an operator go along, you know, a long way with being having your own business. And that's where I knew I kind of wanted to go to and that's where we're going with Liberty Speaks and it's. You know, we launched it earlier this year and it's now. It's my purpose, it's my passion, I'm all about it. And you know, we just have two rules we don't want to work with a-holes and we don't want to be homeless and then everything else is going to be okay.
Speaker 1:That's a modified version of the Honor Foundation's top five. Yeah, dude, but one of the things I have to imagine, like this is not as simple as hey, I want to start, you know, my own small business, my own mom and pop bakery. I got to imagine this comes with a lot of fear. How do you approach tackling that fear? That's something that a lot of people always reach out and ask. Like I want to do something big, I want to move out from, from having to do this nine to five. I want to lean into X, y and Z. But, denny, like how do I move away from this fear? And I tell people every single time I get that message like you have to go into the unknown. What is your message when it comes to going into something big and bold like this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can be fearful of everything, right, like a fear of failure, a fear of like I'm not going to make it to be a green break. Same exact thoughts, right, just a different process. I would say that's a little easier to find, more well-defined. Because go to selection, go to the Q course. You can look up what you have to do. As you know, in business there's no one way, there's 8,000 ways to do this and there's a million ways to do it wrong. But also, I'm just being honest, I think having the military retirement stuff gives me a little cushion, right, it allows for some risk where today I'm not worried what our family is going to eat tonight, like I'm like, okay, we're going to eat right. Like we ordered pizza last night out. Once in a while we do that Like we're going to be okay. I'm just being honest. That allows to assume some risk. But then believing in yourself, right the same. And this is where I go back to the operators and then going into business, that same belief in self that I can make this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to pass selection, I'm going to make it through the Q course or make it through BUDS, or make it through ranger school, whatever pilot school, whatever you want to do flight training, I'm going to do flight training. I'm going to do that.
Speaker 2:I believe in myself enough and I think that's where most people fall short. Just the average human don't have enough belief in their self to take that step into the uh, what is uncomfortable? And just having that self-belief and some of it sometimes is like, wow, maybe I was a little too big for my britches, right? And but also understand that we're going to learn every day, we're going to grow and quite frankly, we tell people that Like, hey, can we learn from you? Hey, can we Same thing? That helped. You know, when I got to a team, I didn't go. I know everything. I'm on a team. Hey, how do you do this? How do you do this? Why do you have your bags here? Like, hey, how much should I pack? How should I pack? The same thing there. It's just a different environment, but we're doing the same thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's no different, and I think people forget that there's. There's something to be said about approaching life, no matter what phase you are, with a beginner's mind, like look at what you're doing and stop thinking that you have to be a subject matter expert at the very beginning. Like you, you can learn and start moving forward. It's just taking that first step, man, and it is people.
Speaker 2:I think actually the more difficult part for us is we're a couple.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. So like, hey, we're done for the day. There's no like, done for the day, right, there's no like. And like I'm sleeping with my boss and she's sleeping with her boss. You know what I mean. It's like that which is great at times, but other times it's like I like I think she quit yesterday or two days ago. You know she's like I'm quitting, I can't work with you anymore. Like this happens every few weeks Cause like we'll get maybe a disagreement.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. And it's like well, we got to work through this. And sometimes the new me comes out. I'm like, okay, let's work through it. And sometimes the old me comes out. I was like this is dumb, why are we even having this conversation, like? And I'm like, oh man, that was, why did I say that Like? But you know, that's truthfully makes us special but adds an extra dynamic because it is us and I love it. I wouldn't change it for the world, but it is. It is in many ways makes it much more special, but does add a few kind of hiccups or possible hurdles along the way.
Speaker 1:No, dude, you hit something that I want to just pause and just dive into for a little bit. I wanted to believe that the work-life balance would be a lot easier to define in this endeavor. And I tell you the one thing I struggle with the pill. There's always somebody. It feels like a race, it feels like you're constantly having to set a higher pace and you're going to burn out. I didn't want to believe I was going to burn out, but let me tell you you will burn out.
Speaker 2:It's like going to the gym you don't see instant results either, right, yeah. So you're like, oh, if I take a day off, like, oh, my God, that's going to. Yeah, we're actually talking with a business, we're going to be speaking, we're actually working with them, like over the next year. And we sat down with them yesterday and talk, talk with them about that, right, about burnout. And they just it's a couple and they're they own the business. And I was like hey, you just got back from vacation, did you check your email? Did you check on work? And one of them was like well, it got till Wednesday and I checked out, I had to do something, but only I can do it. And then I didn't pay attention to everything else. And the other one's like oh, I did, I checked some stuff. And I was like that to me is like the true sense that you feel, feel good, is like when you don't feel the need to do it. And sometimes you got to build up to that, to where, like, but at some point you have to be like okay, it's okay to take a break, it's okay to take some time off, and we were believers in this from early on, right, so we just talking about the wedding.
Speaker 2:We went on our honeymoon to this most amazing place in Jamaica and, like, the only time I touched my phone was to take pictures right, I didn't get on the internet, I didn't. And then we also just took a little family vacation for a couple of days, you know for Monday to Friday, and that we didn't really do much there either. It wasn't check stuff, it was just like be in the moment with the family. And when we're back here working now it's let's balance it. Like okay, yeah, someone has to go play disc golf. Like okay, let's, let's put that in here. And when I'm doing that disc golf I'm not worried about work. But when we get back, hey, just like right now, hey, buddy, I'm going in here to a podcast. Like see him, you know he's teenager. Like just getting up what.
Speaker 1:Good morning dad. What good morning dad. And I'm like, hey, I'll see you in like an hour or something. Yeah, yeah it's. I've found it extremely difficult, juggling more and more and more, because the the mindset is I want to create something big and impactful and huge, and you, you have this pathway that you're. You're constantly re-evaluating it, because if you're doing something like starting your own business, being an entrepreneur, oftentimes there's no path ahead of you. You're creating and building this path as you're going, so you can't you know what you want the end goal to be. But the road there is built on a daily basis and I feel like the moment, yeah, the moment you take a day off, it's like fuck, okay, I missed this, I missed that. It's like fuck, dude, I missed this, I missed that. It's like fuck, dude, having to continue.
Speaker 2:there's no day offs, there really isn't no, there, there isn't, unless you make sure there is right like we're talking, so you don't hit, burn out, and I think it's. It's a real fear too, especially when you're like I need to do this or money's not coming in, and maybe not money's coming in today, but like for a lot of what we're doing and we know like what the work we're doing now is setting us up for 2026 okay so like it's not instant.
Speaker 2:It's like like hey, we just ordered pizza last night, we're going to eat today, but like, how do we have pizza next July?
Speaker 1:You know, it's our?
Speaker 2:or maybe like, how do we have pizza on the beach next July? Let's upgrade a little bit. So a lot of the work we're doing, but yeah, it is that it's just here. Right though we're here of like, hey, it's okay to take some time off and just look in the mirror and go. I know I'm doing everything I can and in our case, we believe in each other's teammates and like we're building it and it's slow. Well, we know what's at the end of the rainbow.
Speaker 1:But I think slow for something like this is the right approach. I recently failed super fast and super hard because I tried building something. It had a very. It was a very good concept, very, very much needed product, but the timeline, the it was a rush and a sprint to try to get it into. You know the market and I thought I thought, oh dude, like this is a, this is a no brainer, this is going to, this is going to be so easy and so simple.
Speaker 1:Then you picked out everything and then started looking for sponsorship, started looking for key guest speakers and everything and before you know it, it was like we hit our deadline for bringing in the last chunk of our money and we're like fuck, dude, like we didn't give ourselves enough time, like you get so used to on a team being able to make shit happen. Last minute, jay said coming down the road oh fuck, guys Got three months. We got to make this Jacek sent to Guatemala happen. And you think that like, oh, surely me and two other people can make this happen. Let me tell you, folks, putting together a giant convention is not going to happen within three months. Not if you're a small, small time individual like myself. That was a big learning curve. That was something that I realized like oh fuck, like you can't execute everything on a short timeline, like.
Speaker 2:So I think like having the, the ability to project out and and build it slowly is way more realistic and I think, just that honesty with yourself and you know whoever the key players are in my case it's myself and cory like, just being honest, like we're having that talk about an event and I about crashed the car yesterday because she's like, oh yeah, I think we could do it in december, and I was like, dude, it's august and she was talking about december of next year yeah, so I was like okay that that works december of next year, like we got plenty of runway.
Speaker 2:But just being honest with each other, I think that's the best part of what we're doing with our business, and one of the challenging parts is like being honest with each other. I think that's the best part of what we're doing with our business, and one of the challenging parts is like being honest with each other of how, what our intents are and where our visions are, and usually they're pretty in line, but sometimes like I'm thinking go left and she's thinking go right and we have to figure out which where we're going. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I think that's that's one of the greatest assets to having a team. Like having somebody to bounce ideas off of, have somebody to build. Like it's what made us successful on an ODA, even though we hated wargaming, hated frigging, sitting down and actually having to go through the planning guidance. Like it makes sense, like that's a. If you think you can do everything ad hoc, eventually it's going to bite you in the ass.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it'll bite you. And that's a lot of what we're doing now is grinding, putting in the processes that we'll continue to use and, quite frankly, reviewing and go, hey, is this working or not working, what do we need to improve? And looking and going, okay, we need to do this better. Okay, how can we do it better? And let's just try some right At the. We need to do this better. Okay, how can we do it better? Let's, and let's just try some right at the end of the day.
Speaker 2:Very big on not waiting around but actually action. Right, learning from action and trying something. And okay, it didn't work, let's try something else. And we're just excited with what we're doing, with Liberty speaks. Just, I mean, I look at it as two ways. There's two things I know I was missing from my time on ODA. Right, it was that feeling when you're coming off the X. Yeah, just like you did it, man, you hit it out of the park, saved the world. Right, whatever, and you're like man, that's a good, you can't buy it. I get goosebumps. Right, you can't buy that.
Speaker 1:No, All your no, all your boys on the back of that CH-47, taking off after Expo and just zooming out of the objective. It doesn't even matter if it was a dry hole or fucking nothing happened. It feels like I don't know what it's like to win the Super Bowl. I don't know what it's like to play professional sports, but I tell you that is one of the greatest feelings Everybody made it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what it is, and for me, when I speak to people, I speak to a group, whether it's a workshop or I'm delivered well, there's 20 people or 2000. When I finish and I can see the light bulbs and people's eyes going off, I get that same feeling. So to me, I'm like good and then force multiplying. That's what I love about being a great green beret helping others to then go help themselves right, and that's with our liberty speak speakers, it's just been amazing. And being able to. About being a great green beret, helping others to then go help themselves Right, and that's with our Liberty speak speakers, it's just been amazing. And being able to have that force multiplication. It gives me the two things I was really missing from a team. Quite frankly and Corey likes to say we've been able to run our own version of America's Got Talent, which has been pretty interesting. We've met some amazing people and we met some people.
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Speaker 2:And it's just been cool to like talk with speakers and really look at them from like a business standpoint of like, hey, can we work with this person? Are they collaborative? Do they have an it factor? Do they actually have a good story to tell they're going to make a lasting impact? And then, is it marketable? Right is, um, we might have someone they're probably gonna they hear this get mad, but like, hey, I have the whatever longest sniper kill and whatever combat. It's like cool, like exactly what the hell do I do with that? Like we can't go to some company and be like, hey, we got the longest sniper kill in history, dude here, want to have him talk to your people? Proctor Gamble is proud to present this guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's been interesting, right, and some of it's been. You know, we had to make some difficult decisions and say no. Both through we've met some very talented people who just are so impactful, from like a gold star mom to we have to have a seal, because everyone has to have a token seal in their organization. We got some, uh, other special operators, some military spouses quite frankly, non-veterans, right some some doctors and people from academia. I mean, we got a, an Olympian and former NFL player and a stunt woman. It was just marvelous. You know, it's really cool, this interesting mix of people that can really make a difference in people's lives.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how did you go about as a speaker? How did you first start that journey? And, looking back, what was it that helped you craft your storytelling abilities?
Speaker 2:One begrudgingly, I guess. I just was asked to speak somewhere and like, okay, I'll speak, like in part of like doing my book and talk about veteran stuff. I was getting invited to do a lot of that. Some of it was podcasts like this, but then it was. I'll just be honest, I was bsing right like I'm a pretty good bser so I could tell a story and like, okay, we're good. But really, like scott man I think you know scott, yeah, you know and he's like, hey, man, why don't you make it down here to florida and let's work on your storytelling? All right, let's go. Uh. So we went down there and I worked for a few days with them and I was like, now the art I kind of had the art of storytelling to BS and but now working on the science and actual delivery and like actual work on storytelling, and like Corey, who saw me before and after, is like Whoa, like you were good, now you're great, and now that you've kept on practicing, you're like amazing. Like you were good, now you're great, and now that you've kept on practicing, you're like amazing. So that was really where it helped me. Like I think, take me from like, hey, here's a guy who'd get up tell a good story to like, hey, you should pay this guy to come in here and help people, right, and it was really just those couple days with scott and then practice after that. But really working on my craft is what I believe turned me into someone who should be on a stage Right, and it has and it's led to some cool places and but it's it's something you work.
Speaker 2:I think most people don't realize that. They think it's like, oh, you're going to go, you know. Hey, denny, why don't you come speak at X organization? We need you for 45 minutes. Most people just think, oh, you show up, you walk on stage or in front of a room and you're like, hey, go, you know, pull the string on the back of the person, how do you do? You start flopping his gums and then, 45 minutes later, we're done.
Speaker 2:It's like there's a lot of like one art in science to being on that stage and owning a room and making an impact with people, but also like practice, right and rehearsals and going over it. So you're actually giving them their money's worth and for me, I feel responsibility to that, like if someone said, hey, we're, we're going to give you money and we're going to pay for you and we think you can bring. I feel I have a responsibility to like putting the effort to bring my best to them, which is same thing. We going back to being a green planning rehearsals same same basics that work there. Same thing for this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, crafting a story is much more than just getting on stage and and reading your you know your ERB or RB it's. It's not about the beret or the long tab or the seal trident. I think now more than ever there's a fatigue. People are are much more aware of the hyperinflation of the accolades. You have to have a true human connection as a speaker.
Speaker 2:And that's what is the human connection. But I tend to shy away from war stories for a number of reasons. Right Like it's. Most people can't relate to that. They can't relate to like oh, what is war? What that's actually like it. Actually not many people think positively when they think of war Like hey guy was blown up and we shot someone and like that just is not positive.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So I tend to talk about other things, right, other lessons learned, if you will, throughout my career journey from, you know, time in service and then now out of uniform. But yeah, I, I tend to stay away from that war. So, cause I think there is a fatigue, and then you just said you never know your audience, right of fatigue, and then you just had you never know your audience, right? Maybe I've had one where a lady reached out and she had, you know, gone through a war-torn country and survived it as a younger kid and she was scared to hear me speak and almost didn't attend because, hey, this Green Brains coming to speak. And then afterwards she reached out and she's like, oh, that was so powerful, thank you, like it was not what I thought it was gonna be you. She, I guess, just thought like, hey, war stories, right, it would just be war stories, and that would take her back to her trauma as a teenager.
Speaker 1:But I didn't talk about that at all, right, I talked about human stuff yeah, I think it's the most important thing we can do right now, especially, you know somebody's bringing you on to, you know to, to come speak to their, their employees, their function. You got to provide some sort of value, like you have to. Do you approach every engagement, like I know a lot of guys like have like their set story. Or do you go through and you look at hey, I'm going to be speaking at this event and here's the demographic. Hey, I'm going to be speaking at this event and here's the demographic. I'm going to craft something unique and impactful from my life that can address the you know this this specific community a little bit of both, I think, and this was again.
Speaker 2:we're making that transition to doing this for a living. I always thought like I need to tell new stories. It can't be new. I never want someone to hear the same thing twice, and I was like, well, the chance of someone being in their audience twice is, you know, very small. But then that's kind of what you have to do, right? So if, if it's an hour long talk, I'll say half of it is going to be kind of what I've used before, right? There's standard things I'm going to talk about, unless it's totally way different. They probably are commonalities amongst human beings that we experience. Then the other part I'm going to make specific to what they want, or specific to them. I just I people laugh at me, but I'm like sometimes you learn from places and I grew up, you know, watching professional wrestling hulk hogan hulk hogan just died like I was taking my vitamins, saying my prayers, eating my raw eggs, brother I was.
Speaker 2:I was six years old. I had my wrestling buddy, the hulk hogan.
Speaker 2:I was yeah but one thing, like you want to talk about it like one dude or gal walking into an arena and 20 000 people like on their toes, and I just learned some stuff from that. It seems crazy. People are like what, the I'm like gal walking into an arena and 20,000 people like on their toes, and I just learned some stuff from that. And it seems crazy. People are like what, the I'm like dude. They own an arena of 20 or 90,000 people and one of the things I love, what they'd always do, would be like all right, I'm happy to be right here in Tampa Florida and everyone goes nuts right, I said Tampa Florida and it's like cause they made a connection to them. Yeah, just that simple little thing. So always and when I'm speaking, I'm gonna make a connection to the people and it's gonna be more than just saying hey, I'm here, you know washington dc or wherever, but it's, it's gonna connect with people.
Speaker 2:Because once I think two things, you show some vulnerability yeah and you allow your emotions to flow, you're going to start connecting better with people. So and it's all about that they need to be able the audience needs to connect with you, and they need to be able to connect quick and then you can make that impact, and that's what I'm going for. Is that not just wow, that was great, and they walk out and they don't think about it, but like on the drive home there or a week later, they're sitting there and they start thinking about that.
Speaker 1:That's always my goal this episode is also brought to you by precision wellness group. Getting your hormones optimized shouldn't be a difficult task, and dr taylor bosley has changed the game. Head on over to precisionwellnessgroupcomroll and become a patient today. Yeah you gotta. It has to be impactful, purpose driven and be able to impart something connected and in motion, to like your story. It has to be something that it can walk away and be like man, like that's powerful.
Speaker 1:I think we have an addiction right now in this country to just content, just a lot of brainless noise that's out there flashy. I mean, we both live in the world of social media, so it's like we see it. If you can craft the perfect 30 second or three second hook to bring somebody to your reel like you've got it, that's things gonna skyrocket. But speaking and telling a story is completely different. You have to craft it so that there is a retention, and then, even more so, crafting the person. How do you continue to adapt and evolve so that when you get on stage, people can connect with you? What are some things that you're doing for your own life, for your betterment, for your own enrichment?
Speaker 2:Yeah, talking to people, right, no-transcript, and I got to call the little kid over and he's like hey, how you doing here? Anyways, I got off track there. So talk to people and really, when I say talk and listen and observe, I mean for the last few years, if I'm hearing someone speak, I am all ears, but probably with a little bit different perspective of, like I'm analyzing how they're doing and how the crowds reacting and then trying to hear feedback, if I can you know, of like how people are reacting to it and just watch, right, cause there's a lot of, quite frankly, there's a lot of public speakers out there and there's a lot of. I break it down to two types celebrities insert there's a lot. I break it down to two types Celebrities Insert name a person. They're probably going to give a crappy speech in most cases, but because they they're Tom Brady and they have how many ever Superbowl rings or they you know something like that they're a celebrity, they have an Oscar.
Speaker 2:People are just listening because of that and like, well, yeah, great, we got to see it.
Speaker 2:But then that other group is like the people actually going to leave you in, you know, with an impact. That's the people I'm I'm learning and listen from all of them. I really love seeing those people and, quite frankly, surprised me and I told I was talking to our speakers because we do a monthly meeting and we were talking the other day and one of them was like, hey, I got this veteran you know I might want to talk with or sorry, he's not a veteran, the person's not a veteran. And I was like good, because, like, I hear veterans speak all the time, right, I want to hear non-veteran. I want to learn from everyone's. I know that's very simple and kind of maybe a little oversimplified, but working on the craft, learning, watching as many talks as you can, listening to people as they get presentations, but just talking to people, I think you can learn. When I go to jump out, drop off the trash, right, I can, like learn from the guy who's sitting there talking with me, right, every human interaction is an ability to learn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's absolutely true. If we want to continue growing like, we have to be able to communicate. Can't live in the digital realm, you have to live in the physical world. No matter how enticing Meta tries to make the digital realm, the actual physical world is always going to be 10 times or infinitely better. You have to interact. I think one of the big problems we have is a lack of community building, a lack of individuals reaching across the divide or, as Scott Mann calls it, the churn, and being able to talk and discuss. But with all this going on in your life, man, what do you do to bring back some peace and harmony for yourself? What do you do to pour back into yourself? I know for a lot of us, like I try to champion the idea of like, hey, get back in the gym, get physically active. Like, even if you've got a million aches and pains, like, do something physical each and every day. What are some things that you're doing to pour back into yourself?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't want to end the podcast here, so I will not take off my shirt and show this gym body. A couple of one. Fitness, I think is right. How I look at fitness versus seven, eight years ago is much different.
Speaker 2:It is not the same as when we were 25, 27 on an ODA, and for me, maybe it is a round ago playing disc golf which, by the way, I will sweat through my shirt and all I'm doing is walking and throwing a Frisbee. Right, it's ridiculous. Or? Or truthfully, we try to do, not necessarily every night, but most nights we try to do a family walk, right, if the kids go with us, or a minimum cory and I do, and maybe it's a mile, maybe it's two months, nothing special, but like one. That's quality time together. Two we're getting the blood flowing. Yep, since it's warm right now.
Speaker 2:Right there I have a pool, so I'm always in the pool, one for relaxation, but two low impact exercise, so it'll, it'll be a combination of both. I'll relax in there and we'll relax in there, but also work out. Yeah, we're doing that and we do. We'll go walk places like I haven't touched a weight for the most part in quite a long time. My son is desires to go to west point and he's about to be a senior in high school, so I've been working out with him a couple of times a week this summer, which is I use the term workout loosely but it's left the old man hurting, but I've done a little bit of that with him, some circuits, you know, upper body stuff, but I just I don't. I'm already a big dude, I don't need to go throw a ton, of ton of weights around. So for me most of it's cardio and kind of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have to remember that we're not you know that that that ODA body, the green beret body, it doesn't have to be that, you don't have to be obsessive over it. You can start working out today, no matter where you're at, like it'll improve your mental health when you start moving and you start feeling better. Like I'm telling you guys, please join our whoop team. If you have a whoop strap, join it. If you don't have a whoop strap, just follow me and send me a DM and I'll put you in the running for a free whoop strap, cause I do believe that fitness is one of the first things we can do each and every morning to feel better and start moving towards a healthier mental health state.
Speaker 2:I think on that too, is like one thing huge for me has been less alcohol health state. I think on that too is like one thing huge for me has been less alcohol. I still I'm not. I'm not going to sit here again. I'm not in some ivory tower looking down at people Like I still drink. I had two small bourbon drinks last night, right, but that's my cutoff.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's too. The cutoff used to be like a half gallon, Right?
Speaker 2:So I can tell you the half gallon doesn't doesn't work a day, so really lessening that and just like being okay. And I think there's also alternative treatments out there. I say alternative but not conventional right, where I think especially there's a lot of programs though the VA isn't there yet, but for especially for soft guys, there's nonprofits and stuff that can help out, whether it's Ibogaine or HBOT or SGB. And, quite frankly, I know a lot of dudes now who are using marijuana right Instead of kind of coping, if you will, with alcohol. They're using that to help them through life and I every day hear more and more people using that right. So I think there's different things out there. Everyone has their own comfort zone with it, but definitely like the body feels better the less alcohol I drink. I'll just be honest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I made that decision a long time ago. I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since I made my decision. I'm a big, big believer in medicinal marijuana. It worked wonders for me, especially when it comes to sleep regulation. And if you're wondering if it's, it's not, I didn't understand it.
Speaker 1:Getting your medicinal marijuana card. I thought it was like, oh you know, just go get weed, you sit down with a doctor and you actually discuss the issues that you have and they prescribe a certain dosage. And you actually discuss the issues that you have and they prescribe a certain dosage. And yeah, I got to tell you like living in Florida having marijuana card amazing. Like going and sitting down with a provider and like it wasn't what I expected. And I tell people find out for yourself, be willing to do the research, be willing to sit in front of a provider that will write the. You don't have to follow through with the prescription. If you don't, you don't feel good about it.
Speaker 1:But I will tell you this I got prescribed two different pens for two different things that I was struggling with, and one of them was actually to focus for focusing clarity, and I didn't realize that. I grew up in the dare days where marijuana was just to zone out, I'm like, no, no, I can. I can smoke and sit in front of my computer, do work and be completely in my flow state and doing work. And I will tell you one of the greatest things I will be re-upping because I I have not used it for a while but, uh, it's great for insomnia, it's great for focus and relaxation and it doesn't come with the the other unwanted side effects of drinking too much yeah, there there is that.
Speaker 2:I think growing up similar time as you like to all of it. There's some reason. Again going back, like in the military, couples weren't cool, right, it was like, yeah, but at every military function there's alcohol and like you know, all the balls, and like, yeah, you could choose to participate, but there is a very and I'm part of this heavy emphasis on like drink. You know, like in the team room we'd have a hey, is the beer light?
Speaker 1:on.
Speaker 2:We weren't getting drunk, but okay, at the end of the day let's have a beer. You know that that was okay to do. I mean, everyone said it was okay. Just be eyeopening, right. And the other thing for me is therapy, like talking with someone, right. Because, quite frankly, for the millions of dollars, or I don't know how much, was spent into training me, training you, the hours, there wasn't a whole lot put into the back side of that. Oh, there was a whole lot. I mean almost none comparatively, you know it's like.
Speaker 2:So I think, just finding tools, just like I would go ask someone hey, what's a better shooting technique? Or what's a better? Hey, what's a better charge I can use to blow a hole in this wall? Like same thing, I need the tools and stuff. I don't I don't so much as just me care about what happened 10, 15, five years ago, like I need tools for today to make my life better. So I see a therapist, right, and the big thing for me was try it out and, quite frankly, I found some I didn't like. And then I found someone I could talk with that I actually could like, listen, and I felt like Corey was seeing some positive impact from that. So I think that's something else we don't necessarily as a culture embrace, but we probably should.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I couldn't have said it better man, try it out. If it doesn't work with the one person, find another one. Before I let you go, I want to dive into one more time. Give us some tips or some things that lessons learned, sort of a PDSS on for marriage this time around. What are some things that have helped you be a better husband, a better partner and, of course now, since you're both in business together, a better business partner with her?
Speaker 2:That's lesson I'm learning every day. I think understand that it's not utopian. We're talking about social media and everyone sees all this stuff and there's like, oh, there's a Lamborghini and a white picket fence or there's like they're on a private jet and realizing that's all fake. Real people actually do have disagreements and we're going to have disagreements, but how do we go forward from that? So I think just real lessons is you're going to disagree If not like that kind of weirds me out if you weren't ever going to disagree on anything.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So I think disagreements are normal, but just taking a breath, stepping away I mean, I didn't get to be a Green Break because I like to lose an argument. I didn't get to be the Army's Drill Sergeant of the Year because I like to lose an argument. But it's not winning and losing, it's changing that mindset of like, oh wait, this isn't a transactional thing where I'm going to win this bout, let's go. Yeah, it's like I still, once in a while I'll fall back and then I'll be like, yeah, I landed a good one. You know that jab, figuratively, verbally and then I was like that was that's, that's going to cost me later we're not talking about physical abuse, no, no but like, hey, I should have have left that, should have left that mag and not loaded it. Because it was like I was like, oh man, like why did I say that?
Speaker 2:Just because I wanted to win right and I think, realizing there is no winner, right, it's just us going through life together, making the best and and really we always come back to like what's the outcome? What's the desired outcome? Same thing, quite frankly, that would drive a lot of my decision-making overseas work with indigenous forces like what is my desired outcome. So that would be some things I would leave and just understand it's a work in progress, no one's perfect. If it gets too much, take a breather, take a minute, go outside, get some fresh air, walk through your head, go for a run, do whatever, pump some iron and then get back at it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And, luli, man, when in doubt, just take some time out, just go somewhere. It's not worth it, man, and and don't be afraid to come back and apologize. That's one of the things I've learned in life, like the power of being able to be humble and say, hey, you know what I was wrong?
Speaker 2:I was really wrong it was a, if there was a championship belt for apologizing, how big and like, not even gold, just all diamonds and stuff like. But yeah, I think it's okay to do that, right, it's okay. And just the fact that we're a team, right, remember, remember, we're, we're a team. So, yeah, we're in a good spot. We love what we're doing with Liberty Speaks. So if anyone wants to check us out libertyspeakscom, you can see our different speakers. We do stuff all across the country, both keynotes and workshops myself, but also we have a list of 20-some speakers that are just awesome from different walks of life that can really make an impact. So we're excited about it and we love what we're doing and no actual jabs are getting thrown and crosses no actual punches.
Speaker 2:It was all figurative with speech.
Speaker 1:And what were some of the speakers you got on your?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got a lot, so I'll probably miss some here. But just come to mind like Hannah Betts is a stunt woman in Hollywood, been in a lot of the big movies you've seen, but also is a former world champion skydiver, also a British police officer back in her past. Chantal Pratt, who is a very well-known neuroscientist, who we first saw on the Adam Grant podcast.
Speaker 2:Pasha is a former special operator a couple-time Purple Heart recipient is really a mental health journey. Sean, former pilot, talking about lessons learned from being a fighter pilot. Shannon is a former Olympian who's been through some stuff and is really up for women's empowerment. So just a great group. And the list keeps going on. Right, and I didn't intentionally leave someone out there, but just a great group of people to go and make an impact, talk about different topics through a company.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah. And if you guys do me a favor, go ahead and pause the episode right now. Just go to the episode description. Check out all those links. Check them out there. She is right there. The better half, the much less hairy half. They're building an amazing team, amazing speakers on this incredible list. Please go check them out. Check out the social media Again. All the links are there. Do me a favor, Head over there right now. All right, let's wrap this up.
Speaker 1:Herb, thank you so much for being here. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for veterans and everything you're continuing to do and just being vulnerable with your entire journey. Man, it's certainly like I said earlier and will continue to say you gave me a lot of inspiration, a lot of help, and I, in turn, paid it forward and have given out that book to so many people, and it continues to help individuals today and I cannot wait to see who else comes on board. You're speaking. It's going to be remarkable, and I will definitely be reaching out to bring as many of those guests on this show, because I think if somebody like you is putting together a powerful team, then all those individuals have to be just immensely incredible in their own right. So thank you so much for being here, brother.
Speaker 2:Now my pleasure, and I'll throw out a little teaser. We actually have the liberty speak show gonna be launching here this fall, so uh, heck yeah we'll have you come over and sit on that done and done man.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for being here, brother. Thank y'all for tuning in and we'll see y'all next time. Till then, take care. Securepodcast is proudly sponsored by titan's arms. Head up to the episode description and check out titan's arms today.
