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.
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Security Halt!
Ryan 'Birdman' Parrott: From Navy SEAL to Advocate—Leadership, Mental Health, and the Human Performance Project
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In this conversation, Ryan Birdman Parrott shares his journey from a troubled youth to becoming a Navy SEAL, discussing the importance of community support for veterans, the challenges of transitioning to civilian life, and the impact of leadership and mentorship. He emphasizes the need for mental and physical health awareness, the significance of advocacy, and the creation of the Human Performance Project to help veterans find their way. The discussion also touches on the importance of reaching out to fellow veterans and the value of sharing experiences to foster connection and healing.
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I'm so glad I've recovered from that though. Look forward to many more years of uh my little one bringing colds and flus to the house. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it won't end. Yeah, no, no. But uh it's a gift that keeps on giving. Hi and Birdman Parrot, welcome to Security Hall Podcast. How's it going, man? It's good, man. Super good. It's awesome to talk to you, brother. Dude, it's great to see somebody else that went out after their military service and went after big things, but not just giant big feats of endurance and sports, but um giving back and finding ways to reach into the void and help others that are struggling because uh it's not just one demographic of veterans, it's not just soft veterans, is it's a lot of our veterans out there are still suffering from various MOSs, various walks of life. And the more nonprofits we can get out there helping guys and gals find their way, find their journey back to healing and recovering, the better. So today, my man, I want to dive into your journey, dude. How did how did young Ryan find himself amongst giants in the SEAL teams? Yeah, I always question that myself.
SPEAKER_00:Like, how the hell did I end up here? You know, it's interesting. Uh native to Detroit, played ice hockey. Shit. I think he managed every sport minus football. And there's just nothing did it for me. No matter what in life, I just could not get focused. I couldn't get fired up, failing just about every subject in school. And it was constant, year after year after year. And, you know, my dad was like, hey man, I'm I'm done. You go moving with your mother, and and they're divorced since I was five, but they're like, go moving with your mother, because I just can't handle this shit anymore. And I'm like, okay. And again, that didn't affect me. So I don't know what happened with my life to where I felt that I just had no mission set. And my parents busted their ass to try to raise me well. Even divorced is still co-parented, but it was me the whole time. It was me. It was my fault. Ultimately, I had a Marine in Vietnam who was my teacher for motivational psychology. And this dude was, he was crazy, man. This dude run around the room with this crazy Marine Corps bifocals on, like six foot five, skinny as hell, and he was just so proud to be an American. And, you know, it's like on the on the wake of what happened with Charlie Kirk, this guy was pitching America in a way that would make you inspired to want to be American, even if you were from here and didn't know anything, which a lot of kids today don't really know, the fruits of America. So he says, instead of running around the classroom like he used to do every single day with the American flag, just running with that pole and just screaming Marine Corps and all this crazy stuff, he just goes politely up to the front and he's like, ladies and gentlemen, there's only one thing better than the Marine Corps, and that's the U.S. Navy SEALs. And this was in the 90s, and we're like, huh? Like the only thing he ever talked about was his blooded corps. Yeah. So I'm like, all right, I'm gonna listen. So I turn and I listen to him, and of course, the things that he said were so outlandish, like, so cool. I want to bar, I want to be all in on that. Uh so I stayed up for class, I'm like, Mr. Barnes, I'm gonna be a Navy SEAL, and he just violently laughs in my face. And I'm like, you can't laugh at me. I'm your student. And he's like, dude, you're not even passing my class, and it's an elective. How the hell are you gonna pass they consider to be the toughest military training in the world? And I'm like, I don't know. And I had no excuse, no answer, nothing. And he said later on a few years after that he saw some fire in my eyes he'd never seen before. And so he said, Well, if you're serious about this, I'll get some literature on it. Of course, back then we had a reader's digest magazine, Making of an American Warrior. A guy by the name of Jeff Wright, who was a Marine, got out of the Marine Corps, and then went into the SEAL program to see if it had what it takes to survive. And I was like, this is everything that I needed to know. Like, whoo, just the eight-page, nine-page literature, and it was so fired up. It's the first book I read, sophomore year school, no big deal. And I'm like, that's what I want to do. But all I did was talk the talk. You know, I was telling my dad and my mom, I'm gonna be this. And of course, my mom's good at briefs well. Right. My mom, she's all in on anything. She's like, you just go do it, honey. And I was like, cool. She doesn't really talk with that kind of tone of voice, kind of weird. But my dad, he was like, I went online and looked at this, and you understand there's an 85% attrition rate. And I was like, I don't even know what that word means. Is that good? Is that bad? What does that mean? And he's like, dude, you are in trouble. Like, you're in trouble in life. And that was it. It was just talking the talk. Uh fast forward to 9-11. I was sitting in class, we all knew exactly where we were, what happened, the effect that it had on us, the feeling. And I realized when they said this is a possible terrorist attack that I can't change what just happened. I can be a part of the solution. And if there's as any good a time as right now the present to go do it, I'm gonna do it. So I left class, went to recruiter station, tried to join. They wouldn't let me, I was too young. I had to wait another six months or so. But I finally got into the delayed entry program. And I don't know what it was, man. It was just this whole like, I have something now I get to serve, a purpose that's bigger than me, with real focal points behind it. Um, and I was committed. I mean, I started turning my grades around and getting into A's and B's. I was in the gym because they get that free YMCA membership when you do delayed entry program. But I was there every day, running, swimming, training with guys that were stronger than me, just learning things that I'd ever learned. And it never dwindled from the day that I learned about being a SEAL in 9-11 to going to SEAL training, that fire never stopped. And I had never seen anything like that before in my life. So I was so blessed. And that was the journey to getting to SEAL training. As I graduated on the honor roll, parents were like, beyond shocked, went into the Navy, beyond shock times two. And then when I called my parents to let them know that I got selected to go to BUDS, they were like, What the hell's happening right now? It's crazy, man.
SPEAKER_01:Everything falling in place just because a little bit of uh fire got lit in you.
SPEAKER_00:It was another veteran.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And that's why it's so important about what you're doing, man, and what we do is you know, when I there's always a joke about Navy SEALs writing books and making movies, which I get. Yeah, there's a lot of them. We need them. We need to tell our story because this is motivating the next generation. There is no better recruiter than guys like you and guys like me.
SPEAKER_01:That's it. Absolutely. I mean, if you look back at how many of our stories started when we picked up a a SOG magazine. Yeah, the soldier of fortune, the books on Benavides, like it it it it hits the kid that's most vulnerable, the one at home that isn't doing right, isn't doing well in school because by and large, boys aren't built for the way we've developed school systems. We now know they have to be active, they have to be allowed to go out there and play and do things and be rough. They don't want to sit down and be structured in a chair, and that's where a lot of us found ourselves. We weren't the good students, we we thrived in in sports, uh, but then only as far as we could focus and harness that energy. But when we see that that dream of doing something, and specifically for our generation of guys, 9-11, you had the idea of doing something like insane, but then you had a national incident that was like, oh fuck, they're attacking our way of life. And that's something that resonates within all of us, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, a hundred percent, man. And I'm just grateful that we have these opportunities. Like, you get paid to do this stuff. Yeah. Like, seriously? Parents were all worried about us when we were deployed or doing training. I'm like, you have no idea how sweet we have it. Yeah. Legit. It really is.
SPEAKER_01:It's what when I look back on my life, I I yeah, you're gonna look at all the fun stuff you did when you really anchor in on the mission sets, the place you got to travel to, the things you got to do, the experiences, it's like, holy shit, like we got paid pretty well to go do uh just a random adventure club.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. No question about it, man. I'm gonna pinch myself, you know, hanging around with these dudes. As I always say in the special operations, there's two different types of people. You got the warriors and the doers. So the warriors are those psychopaths that have to be there, otherwise they're gonna be in federal penitentiary. Like they're just you know it. You see it, you're like noted, be on his good side forever. And then, or just don't piss them off. And then the other side is the doers. That's my kind of style where I'm trying to live up to the expectation of the warrior, but I was never born to be the warrior, so I work my ass off to level up to at least keep near them. Yeah. Uh, but that's the two that you're getting in there. And standing around with these people, when I had joined Team Seven was brand new. They'd just gotten back from their first rotation overseas, and so all these guys are proven. They just got back from war. And I'm like, how the hell did I get here? I mean, a year and a half ago, I was working at Walgreens in the photo department, failing every subject in school. Like, how is this happening right now? So it's wow, man.
SPEAKER_01:That's gotta be a hard, hard thing to deal with. I I know I dealt with it initially too. Getting to a team, getting to, you know, arriving at seventh group, even though you had, you know, I had time in 82nd, I had been a paratrooper, I had combat deployments. Dude, you walk in the battalion, and it it's a it's a kick in the guts. Like you see these guys, it's like this is a this is a whole different ball game. Like I I graduated the same cue cores that they did, but these motherfuckers have been doing the job. They've been actually living in. It's like, fuck, all right. Now I have to earn my spot, now I have to figure out how to stay amongst these giants. Um, and that's that's something that every person that finds it. If you find somebody that says like that was easy fitting in, I'm like, dude, shut the fuck up.
SPEAKER_00:Nope. Nope. They're probably an instructor for their whole career.
SPEAKER_01:Being a new guy is extremely humbling. For sure. And and it it does bring it bring back a lot of the because I will say this some of the best memories you have are when you're that younger guy. Maybe in the in the middle of that time period, you know, you meet your junior or you meet your senior, you meet all the different teammates, and you're starting to form these ideas and and and perspective on what it means to do the job, but you're also building the the uh the mythos of these individuals. Now that I look back, like I don't envision my first senior as, you know, he was like all of five foot six. No, this dude in my mind looks like friggin' uh Jonas from the unit because he really was he was the fittest, he was the smartest dude, and he was jacked. And I'm like, dude, like Bill knew everything. If you needed something and and you needed to ask somebody and get the right information, you went to Bill. And he he always had the sage advice. He always had like that ability to come in and over like a like a like a mystical warrior and just put perspective on the situation and be like, fuck, am I gonna be that way when I'm a senior? And then you figure out like, dude, you gotta some people are gifted, some people are gifted in being a leader and being a warrior. And the best thing you can do is figure out who the fuck you are and figure out your style and try not to emulate too much. Take inspiration, but you're never gonna be that guy. Just don't be yourself.
SPEAKER_00:That's it, man. I mean, when I was at the teams, I realized like I had a really, really good day of shooting where I had just I don't know what it was, I was just crushing targets. I was just, it was so nice. And I'm like, damn, pretty good. I'm getting really good. And then one of the guys that were senior to me, he was like, let's let's go at each other. I was like, all right. I mean, I'm I'm I can do this. And he crushed me, and I was like, Oh shit, there's like levels to this stuff. Yeah. Holy crap. And so there's always that ability to get better and better, and you just people will say, like, you guys are just born with that innate ability to want to just achieve at the highest level. I'm like, no, I don't want to be looked at as a shit bag by the my my peers and my teammates, so I'm gonna have to level up. It's a forced thing in my own mind.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it is, it really is. It it's man having those experiences, those humble experiences of where you think you're at your best, and somebody walks in, it's like, I remember for us, it was Angel. He was by far the best shooter, the best flyer on the team. The dude could free fall, link up with anybody, and he's just gifted, absolutely gifted. But he wasn't Arnold Schwarzsecker, so he didn't look like some operator you see on a TV show. He was a uh a lanky Puerto Rican dude that was let's be honest, he was going bald. So a lot of people discredited him. But you put that dude on the flat range and he will outshoot you every single day of the week. And he was it was one of those guys I never met somebody that was who didn't want or need recognition as being the senior on a team. It was one of the funniest things. Like he was the most senior echo on the team, but yet anytime they wanted to like figure out like seniority, he's like, nah, I'm just I'm just here to fucking do the job, bro. I'm just here to do the job. And that's what I love about guys in this profession. You find individuals are truly in love with the mission set, with the skill set, and they don't look like what Hollywood depicts them up to be. They're not Chris Pratt by any means, but any day of the week, they will unannounced, no heads up, they will smoke the dog shit out of dudes on a TV set. And that's that's what I loved. And I never saw that since leaving the community. I you I don't see that on my day-to-day base. I don't see the sleeper guy where it's like, oh, that dude, he's got a fire in him. The more like it, he doesn't. Yeah. Right. Like this guy is so good at statistical analysis, you're like, got it.
SPEAKER_00:Check. I don't know what to tell you, dude. I can't help you in that environment. I don't even know what that means either.
SPEAKER_01:So it's crazy. Um, what was it like for you when you finally got to that point in a team where where you felt the confidence of, okay, I know what I'm doing now. Like I've been here, I can trust myself, I got the instincts, and I got the know-how. I don't have to feel like I'm that new guy still. There's that moment I know for me it was a defining moment of like, okay, like, dude, I'm the guy. I got the schools to back it up. I got the skill set. Now I just gotta not step on my dick. Right. This episode is brought to you by Pure Liberty Labs. Quality supplements designed to elevate your health and performance. Check out their full line of quality supplements, whether you're looking for whey protein, pre-workout, creatine, or super greens drink, Pure Liberty Labs has you covered. Use my code security hall10 at checkout today.
SPEAKER_00:So great question. I think it was after. So we got back from our first rotation, and then I went to sniper school, and I think that at the end of my second workup before we were getting ready to deploy is when I started to feel more confidence towards everything. Because I don't know, the kind of hide the idea is like you're not a new guy when you see the new guys check into the team. Yeah. And you're like, okay, so it's about a two-year cycle all in. And I wouldn't, even though we're not new guys, you're still so damn new. Like you want a combat deployment, but you're brand new, so you're not on the front of the train, you're not doing all the high-level stuff, you're not involved in the whole mission planning, all that stuff. When you start to get involved in that, where they're like, hey, I want you to be the point man now. You're like, oh shit, okay. Um, lead the guys in and out. That's great. So glad I failed that land nav during SAIL training. This is exactly what we need to do. You guys didn't talk, did you at all about this? Like, just think that maybe there's a better position for me. I don't know. So there could be some similarities in our paths. For sure. So for sure. So three years, I'd say, really started to get me to where I realized that I wasn't just trying to survive in the community, and I was now starting to adapt and then to thrive and to really hone in on my skill sets. Like, you can't be good at everything. So, like, what is my position? I'm an operator first, but then I was a sniper. So I have to work on my tactics and my operational stuff, but then I got to really hone in on my sniper skills because I'm not a medic. That's not what I do. So why would I be plussing up on that when I'm not working in my skill set? So um, and that's not to say that we don't support everything and we have to learn all that stuff, but um, I think three years was really for me when I started to feel like I was truly a part of the team and adding some value.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Man, you hit on something that is really important. I want to kind of dive into it for a little bit. We tend to think that everything that we learn in the military and in our profession can't be applied on the outside, but do we we forget how resilient we were and how we were able to manage the chaos of our military career and break things down so that we can be successful. When you transition out of the military, you don't have to be an expert in whatever field you're going into. And I feel like that's a pitfall. I certainly had that pitfall when I was trying to go into something different than being an entrepreneur. But I hear from my friends all the time like they expect to go out and hit the ground running and they they they feel like a failure when they haven't mastered the civilian world. I'm like, dude, you you need the right opportunity, the right interview, the right job. And when you get there, allow yourself to be a beginner, man. You weren't you weren't the fucking stellar green beret that you were at the end of your career at the very beginning. None of us were. You weren't the the stellar paratrooper, stellar navy SEAL ranger at the very beginning. You have to learn. And we forget that, man. We we really forget that it's a different skill set when you get to the civilian world. Like, and that's something that like for for you guys listening, remember who the fuck you are. Remember what you've done. You take all those assets, you take all the skill sets with you. They're there. Now you're just transitioning in a new phase in life, a new job, a new employer, a new field of study. It's gonna be hard at first. It's gonna be difficult, it's gonna be challenging, but you've done it before. You weren't the greatest 88 mic at the very beginning. Now you had to learn all that shit. You had to learn so much to fucking maintain those vehicles and learn how to drive it and all that. But at the end of your career, you were fucking great at it, right? Same for fucking mechanics. Everybody out there, whatever your profession was, you weren't great at date one. But when you left as that E7 or E8, you fucking knew management skills, you knew how to take care of your guys, you knew everything about your field. Give yourself some time, man, and just develop that path of growth. Like we talk about smart goals a lot whenever you're starting to dive into this world of like helping each other out and what can I do to start being more proactive. Set those goals about what you want to do in that new job. Like you can be in control, just learn to be a beginner again. Like, we forget that. We expect to be that senior NCO in that new civilian job. And it's like when you don't have that immediate success, it's like, I'm a fucking piece of shit. It's like, no, dude, it's a whole new world, man.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's the funny thing about it, too, is I'm like, why do you want to jump right into a massive leadership role? Yeah. Sure, you're you're uh you're a leader in the teams, but like at the same time, take a break. Yeah, take a break. It's easier to be led than to lead, and you will get back to that point. But yeah, it's um it's interesting, you know. I've I've always been one of those guys who I mean I've always been passionate about the things that I'm passionate about, and I would jump in 100 miles an hour towards it. I will die for those causes or those peop those reasons. But the things that I'm not interested in, holy crap, dude. Like it's so bad. It is so bad.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, yeah, budgeting. I fucking hate managing my budgeting expenses, and uh that's why I had to hire somebody.
SPEAKER_00:For sure. You know, and another thing too is I told myself, you know, once we work with these types of people and you see good leadership, when you get out, it's like, man, if I'm gonna put my heart and soul into somebody else's company to help them build their deal, I really got to trust them and believe in them more than the company. Companies come and go, they do, they sell a product or a service, whatever. But it's that leadership and that person that owns it or started it. That's who I have to believe in to run hard charge towards it. And uh I rarely find that as a civilian. It's always about numbers. Bottom line, it's not about the actual tribe or the community. And half the time, companies will ask me to come give a public speech to them, and I'm like, well, what are you looking for? And they're like, we want you to help us change our culture. I'm like, in an hour? Whoo, it's a tall order. I was like, yeah, but that starts with them, you know, it starts with the top. So it's been interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, that's um, you know, everybody thinks that they're gonna do the job for the rest of their lives and they get in it, especially when they start thriving and they're no longer a new guy, and everything opens up. Every new school, every new win, every new chance to prove yourself is just a little bit more pulling you into the idea of like 20 plus fucking years, I can do this. Like, I can go, I can go all over the world and adventure and do great things. When did you find out you were either at falling out of love with the profession or did things radically change for you?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think there was twofold to it. One, so I got blown up in 2005 on my first rotation, and it rocked our team pretty good, and I had a TBI from it. We didn't talk about things like that. We didn't even know things about TBI in 05, right? And so you just get back to being an operator, and then shit started shifting for me. Like physiologically and mentally, I would go from I you consider me like a surfer kid. Like I surf, I skate, I snowboard, I do all the extreme sports, but I could be in any crowd and have a really good time, everything easy go lucky, chill. People even consider me a stoner, and I don't even smoke weed, but because I'm just happy, right? And then all of a sudden, I was angry all the time. All the time. And I would snap for no reason. And this was not characteristically of like the way I was up brought and the way I lived. And so it was crazy because my teammates started to notice it the same time I started to notice it, and it was freaking me out. I was like, what the hell's wrong with me? Like, something's a problem. So at that point, I was like, okay, I'd been at the team for a while. I was starting to see these these signs. I was not happy inside, and then we went on our we went on this deployment in 09, and we were not allowed to do anything. It was a new change in leadership as far as like the president was under Obama to shut everything down. It was shit. And it was like, why are we over here busting our ass for nothing? Why are we not doing anything? This is not what I signed up for. And I legitimately felt like we worked so hard during our lead up or workup training to get to deployment, and then we did not do much on that deployment. And I was like, this is it. I need a break. I need to de-escalate. And so I was like, I'm gonna put in for training, go be an instructor. And about six to eight months into being an instructor, I called back to the command. I said, Hey, is op tempo changing? What's it look like? And he's like, it's getting worse. Okay, and I was at that you know time frame where I was getting ready for the eight-year mark, and I'm like, if I enlist again, then I'm I'm gonna have to go the duration. Or at least that was the thought process for us back then. And I was like, Well, I can't, I can't afford to do this because I'm not I want to be doing something with this career. So I called a buddy who offered me a great job and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna get out. And I needed that because like I was doing before the military, I was a train wreck, just not going anywhere in life, and that's in me. Like I can be the laziest person in the world, and I could destroy my life. I I know that's in me. And I choose not to, and I choose to keep it on the up and up since I have grown up. But I was like, man, if I don't change things now, I am gonna destroy myself. I'm getting worse, I'm not getting happier, I'm getting unhealthy. I'm just I'm be I'm myself creating myself as a number as opposed to a part of the tribe. So yeah, 10 or eight years in, and I decided that was it for me. I took a break and then punched out, and I said, you know what? If I can't figure things out within the two-year period, I'll get back in and this will be what it is. And you know what's funny is not one day after getting out of the service did I ever was I ever depressed over the fact that I wasn't doing the job anymore. It was really, really hard to not see the guys every day, though. That was the biggest struggle. And you know, it's for a long time it continued to be the struggle, and now I've figured out a way to actually incorporate my brothers into my everyday life and my activities. So it's I've I've now created my own SEAL team outside of the SEAL teams. It's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01:Hell yeah, dude. That's uh that's the thing that um so many people struggle with. They don't miss the circus, they miss the clowns. They they sit down, they do the same assessment, they figure out what they want in life. And military service is something that is not easy, is profoundly amazing. It comes with a lot of bonuses, but it also comes with a lot of things that they don't always disclose. And when you sign that dotted line, when you put your name on there, like you you sign up for everything, up to including your life. And when it's you know, if you're fortunate and you're able to make that assessment and realize, like, hey, there's something wrong. I'm not the person I used to be, like, you have to call it, man. You have the rest of your life, the rest of your fucking life. Everybody should take a knee at some point and do the analysis. Um, because for me, I couldn't heal, I couldn't recover, and at the same time, it's like, am I gonna are gonna really gamble with my life that things are what if they get worse? What if what if my conditions don't improve? What if I get to the point where I am willing to do something really, really crazy and then I check out? And I think uh a lot of us in that time period, like, you know, you ate a lot of pain and a lot of issues because you're just you're just hoping for the next rotation. It's so addictive. And I think the the the great unfortunate situation is that drawdown, that standstill of like the Obama years of yeah, we're not doing anything. Well, if they're we're not doing shit and we're not going back to play the big game, then fucking I'm out. 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 Precision Wellness Group.com, enroll, and become a patient today. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I feel bad for guys who didn't get the to really test their abilities in the battlefield.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And meeting a lot of the SEALs that were pre-9-11, who did a lot of booze cruises and that, you know, they maybe had one real operational op in their life, and you know, that's their pride and joy. And you're like, yeah, I may have done over 100 or 200 ops or whatever it may be, but at the end of the day, that one to them was what they were offered. I can imagine that if you're not doing anything, you get that one. It's insane. Um, but you're jaded because all we were doing is war. But then again, the opposite side is we were SEALs, and I mean I joined because of the SEAL thing being the sea. Like, yeah, we're the operators in the sea, and that's the cool stuff. And I didn't do a lick of that. So I'm like, wow, we ended up in the desert. How'd that happen?
SPEAKER_01:You got the Green Beret and conventional infantry soldier experience.
SPEAKER_00:I was like, oh, look at that. That's water. We were supposed to be in there. Cool. It was good though, man. Nice. I mean, it's a it's a single man's game for sure. I watched a ton of my teammates start to get married, and I'm like, shit, this sucks. Don't do that. You know, like you're leaving me behind. Like, no, no, no, no, no. You don't need her, you need me. I'm like, not in a gay way, but you need me. Like, we have way more fun than you're gonna have with her. She's gonna create bills for you, and she's gonna get problems, and then you're gonna have kids. And now I'm married with two children, so yeah. It's like, bro, come on.
SPEAKER_01:First is chicks, then then kids. Pretty gay to me. Pretty gay. Yeah. Yeah. All of us. That was a good, and I talk about that a lot because the teen culture was for us, it was um, you're not a real green beret until you have a Harley and you have your first divorce, and uh, some would even say that you need your first DUI. Because it was it was very much a drinking culture back then. Drinking is let's let's be honest, drinking is still deeply rooted. How many did you check off of that list? I did all of them except the DUI. I have I have a deep personal fear of um going to jail and and and being put in prison. That's something that I'm like, I I never want to be confined. So like I will never, ever in a million years, like I get paranoid to the point where I'm like, all right, some states I'm not even like, and I don't even I don't even drink anymore. And I'm like, I don't I like the idea of getting arrested and put behind bars to me is like the worst fucking imaginable case. So that always like drove me to not drink and drive or do anything against the law. It's just like if something happens, I Get pulled over, like, and there's for some foreseeable idea I I could be facing, I'm just driving. Just going. Just fuck that.
SPEAKER_00:Not going to prison. I mean, so that's the thing now. Back when we were, you know, serving at the beginning, there was no Uber, no Lyft. And so it was like, find a taxi or you're driving, and I'm, you know, you make a lot of silly mistakes. I mean, I drove drunk a few times, and you learn from it, right? Yeah. But killing somebody or killing your teammates and that was just like, now I've been behind bars. I'm telling you what, my experience was quite fun. I'm not gonna lie. So because you know what they say is like somebody else is having a worse day than you. And I learned that while in jail, looking at a Marine who is having it way worse. Here's the story. We go out drinking, we're partying. I was like, I'm gonna be the asshole who's gonna drive everybody home to my house. Stupid. I get pulled over by the cops. He's like, You've been drinking. I'm like, yeah, yeah. And he's like, you know what that means. I was like, Yeah, I do. So went to drunk tank for 24 hours. So, like, you know, in my book, it'll say, like, went to federal prison. It was like hanging out with all the Mongols and all that. So I get in there and there's this marine young kid, brand new out of boot, and he is freaking out. This is my first time to jail, like in that side of the bars, and I'm like, this sucks, but I was like, why are you panicking, dude? He's like, I'm so fucked, man. I'm like, why? He's like, because I'm brand new and I'm behind bars tonight. Muster's at 0700 tomorrow in Camp Pendleton. He's in San Diego, which is an hour and plus away. I can't make it there in time, and I can't call to communicate to somebody because I'm brand new. And I was like, it doesn't matter if you're brand new, you still got to communicate that word. And he's like, dude, I'm done. I am done. And unlike special operations, the general military, they're very, very tight on that shit. And I'm like, ooh. So my time started, I really had fun in there because I was watching somebody panic worse than me. I was watching a guy pass out, I was watching a guy throw up all over the toilet, watching guys argue. I'm like, this is actually a comedy show. Should I do this more often?
SPEAKER_01:For me, it's uh Rambo First Blood, the whole getting picked up by the local community cops and being harassed. I'm like, dude, that's yeah. I mean, I've never had a like bad negative uh interaction with law enforcement, truly, but the idea, I'm like, there was gonna be those crooked people that work to jail. And I'm like, what if I get lost in the system or my case gets shifted, then like I get brought up on false charges. I literally will go down the string of thought. Like, if there's a cop that comes in behind me as I'm driving to drop off my kid or something, the wheels will start turning and I'll start thinking of all the horrible things. And then I mean, they're gonna see my concealed carry, and then what if he draws and and and doubles down on me? Like, I'm not gonna let him kill me, so now I gotta kill a cop, and then I'm going to felony. Like, oh no, I'm done. I'm done. That's hilarious, dude.
SPEAKER_00:Jeez. Yeah. It's it was good times, man. I mean, there was one thing I always said, because uh, you know, a kid asked me this question during a speech, and I used to give a lot of speeches before COVID, a lot of corporations, and then some too, like schools and education system. And this kid asked me a question, he said, What was your hardest day in training? And I thought about it for a second because it's all I mean, every bit of it's just combined a lot. And I'm like, I don't think there was a hard day in training because everything seemed to be different and new, and there was new tests you had to pass and new things you had to learn and that, and you're starting to build tighter bonds and that. I said, I don't know of a particular day that was the hardest, because there was quite a few of those hard days, but what I do know is the hardest day of my career was losing a teammate. And that's something that we don't train for, that you cannot train for. And you know it's inevitably possible and probably going to happen in the war, but that that was the one thing that I just didn't put enough effort into thinking through like, what if one of these guys truly dies? We are so motivated, we did so well together, we worked together for a long time, and you're like, these guys are gonna be here, you know, and then all of a sudden they're not.
SPEAKER_01:Take things for granted. I know I certainly did. Uh, you don't say all the things that you wish you would have said, and you know, it's really important to tell the guys that you care about them, like you reach out to your brothers that you serve with today, tomorrow, at some point, the guys that mentored you, the guys that coached you, like the guys you looked up to, let them know what they mean to you. Uh, because there's nothing worse than having that funeral and being there and having all that stuff left unsaid, or having all the situations where you could have just said, hey man, like I really appreciate you. I learned so much from you. You gave me the keys of the kingdom for my career, and I think you're like one of the greatest freaking green braces. Like, say all those things. Um, and we need to do that. We need to be better friends to each other, better brothers, man. Like, that's one thing. Like, it's not only gonna help you, and you'll be able to close that door, and you won't have you know, everybody death comes for everybody. What you don't want is to sit there and carry a lifetime's worth of conversations that are left unsaid. Like, be willing to reach out to your friends and let them know. You'll make their freaking day, man. Like, there's been so many times now that I've been able to reach out and talk with friends and be like, hey man, like, you know, it always starts with a joke, you're always gonna bust each other's balls, but being able to say, hey man, like you were an awesome senior. Thank you for helping me out. Like being able to say that to somebody, or like, hey man, like you I really appreciate the way you you took me under your wing all those years ago. Like that meant a lot to me, and it definitely set me up for success. Yeah. All those things, man.
SPEAKER_00:For sure. I had a so going through Buds, I had an instructor who was one of those ones that everybody just it was like he had a chip on his shoulder. He just wanted to crush us every day. He came in and we're like, What's this guy's deal? And we're so we feared him, right? Well, it turns out after I become more of a senior guy at the team, uh I threw I used to throw a lot of parties for the teams. And so we'd go out at night and on the weekends and hang out, and I'd set everything up. And one night he comes out. And I see him in the bar in our group, and I'm like, What? What's he doing here? And anyway, he comes up to me, he's like, Hey man, appreciate you putting this together. Let me buy you a drink, what you got? And I was like, Oh, okay, I think I have a Red Bull and vodka at the time. So he gets me a drink, and then by the end of the night, we're three sheets to the wind, and he's hanging on me and we're joking and having fun, and I'm like, this guy's super cool. And at the end of the night, as we're leaving, he gives me a high five and he's like, Hey man, it's just awesome being a brother of yours, and thanks for setting us up. We need to do more of this. And I'm like, wow, man. Well, I wanted to say something to you for a long time, brother, and now it's as good a time as any. Fuck you! And I ran away from him. I turned around and I was just totally kidding. So I I got that piece in that I always wanted to say to him, but it was too fearful when I was young. But it's amazing how they can turn that switch off to be an instructor and then that's the craziest thing about the special apps community is those people who running, you know, our our buds, running your uh Robin Sage or running your Q course. You're gonna be with them on a team at some point or see them along your career path in a different way in an environment, and now you become peers. So it's yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I I I will not forget one of them. Uh his name was Damian Storm. That dude, like you saw him coming for you, you're like, fuck, dude, play dead, hide, try to do something. And you've I made it to group, and it was like two, three months later. I see him at the PX, same shaved head, friggin' Oakley glasses. I'm like immediately like, fuck. What what a what I got going on? I'm like, wait a second, I'm I'm a Green Beret, he's a Green Beret. Like, just I like walked up to him, hey, how's it going? It's hard. It's like, hey man, it's um just Damien, dude. Like I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, cool. I won't say that. This is a fucking game. This is a gimmick. Like, you're gonna fucking smoke me in like five minutes. What's going on here? Yeah. It's it's uh it's one of the greatest like like the understanding that these are real human beings. You're they're there to teach and mentor you. And yeah, at some points in your uh in your Q course or Robin Sage Lane, they gotta be fucking instructors to bring out the best in you. But uh the best of them, when they get back to the force, they'll let you know, like, hey man, that was instructor me. This is uh teammate or fellow Green Bray me. Um don't have to be don't have to be timid and have uh flashbacks.
SPEAKER_00:I think I equate that to like when you get engaged and then married, right? So you're you're used to telling people this is my girlfriend, and then all of a sudden you get engaged, and now you switch it up and gotta remember, oh, and I gotta call her my fiance, and then when you get married, oh, this is my wife. And it's the same thing in that instructor bill. It's like, oh, wait a minute, we are peers now. I don't have to call them instructor. But it took a while for me to figure that one out. You see some of your instructors walking down the hall at the command, and you're like, Hey, what's going on, instructor? It's like, dude, shut up. It's like that's done. Sorry. Immediately put your hands out of your pockets. Oh, yeah, no, sorry. I would just block it, I would barricade myself into the wall, turn my face, like, how did he see me? You know? Shit.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, I gotta ask, freaking um, you make it out, you're aware that there's something wrong. But back then in 05, nobody's talking about TBI, RHI, benefit impact, and repeated blast exposure. None of these things are in the lexicon. None of these reports, none of these studies are being sent to you via social media apps. You're very much having this lived experience of like, I know there's something wrong. How did you go about starting the journey to get better?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I mean, the first thing, the catalyst that really broke me to say, like, you've got a problem was I went home, I was hanging out with my dad and some of our family in Boyne Mountain, Michigan, it's upper, it's up north Michigan, and at the ski resort. And we went out to ski all day, and then afterwards on this snowboard, and then we went and had some beers afterwards, and we were hanging out in the bar, and all of a sudden my dad said something to me, and I fucking snapped at him. And I'd never done that before, but it was to the point where it made everybody uncomfortable, like completely uncomfortable, and it was just flat out wrong. It was stupid, and it was all my problem. And when I did that, I immediately I scared myself. I was like, holy shit, who in the fuck am I now? And I was like, man, I got problems, and that was terrifying for me. Because now I've got a I I know I have a problem, but I don't know what my problem is. And certainly if I don't know what the issue is, I don't know how to resolve it. And so I mean, it wasn't too long after that I would get out of the service where I started seeking different types of treatments. So I went to the Center for Brain Health in Dallas and I went through their SMART program to understand more about my brain and what was happening. Um, started to look at um hormone therapy, um, trying alternate paths before actually jumping on real TRT and started looking at different types of supplementation. But this is the interesting thing is, you know, wasn't as strong of a believer growing up, and then certainly not really a hardcore believer in Christ when I was in the military. But after getting out, I met this girl who became my wife, and she is currently still my wife, till she throws me away. But this woman was a hundred miles an hour into health and wellness. And she started teaching me about things that I could do to actually help myself. And through just eating clean and making better decisions and going to bed and quitting drinking and doing things that I needed to do, really started to help me change my body, the output, the way I felt. And it was interesting because I got myself to a place where I feel like time heals all. And so the longer you time away from Target, the longer you are away from target, the better you're gonna feel. But there was still something inside of me that it just felt off, like I couldn't achieve the pure happiness that I once had. Yeah. And we were going through the uh races, and of course, we had our two children, and they're the light of my life, and I couldn't be great more grateful to have my boys. Um, but again, still internally, it's like I'm seeking happiness through them and through other things and other people versus finding true happiness inside myself. And it was this perfect timing where uh I was looking at different modalities for health and wellness. I was running an organization for burned survivors, and we were doing really well. The charity was thriving, everything was going fine. And then I get a phone call from my teammate that my sniper partner and one of my dearest friends took his life. Uh his name was David Metcalf. And what's so crazy about this is one, David was not the guy, and we've heard it in the past, we see it in the past that I know David.
SPEAKER_01:Um David was the SEAL who um they they did a postmortem check on his brain to find CTE, right? And uh Dave Phillips wrote the report for New York Times. Yeah. I I've talked about that and shared that not only on this podcast, but through the other ones I produced, Broken Brains. And and that story is so fucking heartbreaking because that man was researching and trying to understand everything that was going wrong in his own brain, and yet nobody was there to help and provide a resource to actually like help bringing back from the brink, man. I am so sorry. I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, man. He was one of those guys where he was always there on time, he was early, he was clean-shaven, he always did things right. He would prep his own food, he was eating clean. I mean, he was doing all the right things. And I'm like, never once got into trouble, was not a misfit toy like the rest of us. And I'm like, how does this guy who is doing the right thing always and take care of himself, how does how does it, how does it get him?
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SPEAKER_00:And so there's a lot of searching, soul searching there. And I I mean I fell to my knees when I got that word. And it was not the first suicide that we've had, and you know, I always say this silly statistic, shit. Twenty-eight guys since the beginning of the war to present day that I was friends with, that I was teammates with, that I served with, um, that we've lost. And David was the hardest by far. And so it was at that moment with combining his suicide with the fact that I just could not figure out how to find real true peace anymore, that I was like, all right, I'm going to stop what I'm doing and I'm gonna focus on this. Now, I am not I'm not genius, I'm not smart, I don't have crazy business infrastructure and millions of dollars to play with and all that stuff. But I do have an incredible list of friends in many different demographics over the years. And I was like, I'm gonna go for, I'm gonna go for it here, and I'm going to stop what I'm doing, I'm gonna quit what I do, and I'm gonna focus on this full time because something has to change, and it's only gonna change when all of us get involved in it, not just one person, or we watch it on the sidelines and throw some money at it. And so from that point on, I started this program under our charity called the Human Performance Project. We titled it 7X. And the idea was to simulate a combat deployment with a lot of stressors on the body, on physiology, because my personal belief is that yes, there is a small demographic of people who get a true TBI with true brain damage. But the majority of them, I truly believe it's physiological, or at least to start. You see, and you know this well, when you get into the military, you eat like shit. Yep. They don't teach you proper diet, and you eat like garbage. You supplement with all the the additives and the fillers and all the things that are sexy that everybody else is taking. You're like, ooh, they're taking, I'm gonna take that too. So you're putting a lot of shit in your body on top of eating like crap. Your sleep hygiene is garbage. You're on fight or flight status, you know, you're just the parasympathetic nervous system. There's so many different things that are going on. You go to deployment, you're on fight or flight mode the whole time. And so, and then you're working out, we're all trying to get jacked and we're working out hard and that. So we're doing improper workout move maneuvers. And so you couple that together, wash, rinse, or repeat over a career, and you get out and you wonder why you're a problem. If your body is not in homeostasis and it's not talking to each other and it's not healthy, then you're gonna start having issues. And so that if you're having physiological issues, then it's gonna start affecting your brain, which is also part of your physiology. So I called a buddy of mine because during David's uh death, I was asking these questions for my own edification, like, what are we missing here? And then I came upon this, like, hey, I think that this is physiological. So I called my buddy who's probably the smartest guy that I know. He's uh MD PhD, he's a just brilliant wizard, and he can dumb things down to where I can understand it. So I said, Hey man, I want to talk to you about the suicide stuff today, but I want you to put your scientific hat on, take your MD hat off. And he's like, Ooh, I love that. And so I pitched him on what I just told you. If you, if if you damage your physiology over a long period of time, isn't it gonna affect your brain and to where you're gonna start having issues? And he goes, 100%. Well, okay. And he was like, Yeah, you're on to something here, dude. What are you gonna do about it? And I'm like, shit. So I started this program called the Human Performance Project. And the idea was, could we create something actionable? I'm tired of this hope and the excitement of like, give me some hope. There's a possible chance that you could get fixed out there. I want something actionable where you can put the power back into the operator's hands. And so we created this documentary, which will be unveiling next year, and then a manual. And it's called the Human Performance Manual. It's called the True North Manual because David was my true North. And the idea behind it is it focuses on five pillars, which is what everybody needs to know, which is your mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and social side of the house. And just the basics of those things so that you can get yourself back to homeostasis. Yep. We don't need to be putting all these crazy things and these biohacks into our life when we're already broken. So the idea is this manual, anybody can read it, anybody can do it, it doesn't cost thousands of dollars. When you go buy a copy, it's gonna be, you know, 20, 30 bucks. And that's a donation to the charity because that goes to the charity. Nice. And so we're in perpetuity supporting our cause, which is gonna support 18 to 20 different veteran first responder causes. But the idea is one, put it out on the market so that everybody can change their life and get back to homeostasis on their own terms by doing simple basic steps every single day and building that into their life. So essentially, look at the manual is we're gonna help you build your foundation. And then once you're done, you can put whatever home you want on top of it. The other side to this is getting this implemented into DOD, day one, a basic for everybody so that they can take their health and wellness into their own hands. Because uh an army uh infantry unit doesn't have the same budget as SEAL team six per se. So they're not gonna get all the dietitians and the PTs and all the people that they need. So, how do we give them the power to keep their life going and sustain their career at the ultimate level? Well, it's the basics, just like shooting. They're like, I want you to teach me the secret squirrel navy seal shit and shooting. I'm like, you mean like point, shoot? Like, let's learn how to just trigger squeeze the real basics, the stuff that you need to know to actually possess a rifle or a pistol and use it. And so it took us about three years to put this whole project together. Um, we finished it, and that's a whole nother subject on how it went and all that stuff. But yeah, we ended up taking a group of special operators and pro athletes around the world to all seven continents in seven days and just absolutely thrashing their physiology. They had to either base ship or skydive, land and run a full marathon, and then swim on all seven continents in seven days. And so no sleep time really between traveling on the planes, destroying them. You can't fuel enough for something to load like that. So every part of their physiology systematically was broken. And then you spend the next six months looking at the rebuild of that to put those simple basics back into the manual. So, what I love about it is I was the creator of this project, but I'm not the expert, I'm the end user.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And so it's going to benefit me now that it's finished and we're getting ready to release it. I'm so excited. December 4th this year, we're having our red carpet event, and then we're going to push it out to all uh beginning of next year. And then right after that, I'm having discussions with the DOD about implementing it in the DOD. So that's coming up. That's shit, that's almost here. Yeah, it's been a long, long road. And I went in all in, man. Like I didn't have anything behind this, and I have a job to go back to. Like, I fully made this my thing because I I can't take it anymore. Yeah I cannot take another suicide coming down the pipe and just doing nothing. I'm doing nothing. That's what I hate when people are bitching about politics or whatever. It's like, well, what are you doing about it? If you're not doing anything, then shut the fuck up. So this is really my piece getting out of the service. I remember a buddy of mine said this about one of his leaders to him. He said, You will make more impact from the community that you just came from from outside of it than inside of it. So fucking true, man. Right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And so fucking true. And and a lot of us need to understand that your service to the community really it's it's not over once you leave the military. And and I know it's a big ask. I know it's a big ask. I'm passionate about it, so that's why I was it was an easy choice for me to go into it. The advocacy side, the peer-to-peer support, like I love giving back and being of service to people. My biggest thing is trying to sell it to you guys that don't like being of service and don't like interacting, and and by and large would rather go inward. And I'm telling you, it'll do more for you and for our greater veteran population and our warrior tribe, if you reach out and you help and give back. I get it if you're suffering and you're still trying to put things together for yourself, trying to go to your own treatment. But once you get to about 75 to 80 percent, it actually benefits you to help others. Actually sitting there and going through and sharing the practices have helped you, the good habits, the things that you cut out of your life. Be willing to do that for somebody else. You don't have to do it for 15 or 20 people, but maybe just reach out and do one. It's grassroots, man. It's grassroots. I say it all the time. There's no magical G Watt fucking uh QRF coming to save all of us. It's up to us. We gotta scrape whatever ammunition we can find, get guns back up, find some CLP, get some machine guns back up and running. And that's us. We're our own QRF. Find in place. Find those that are at risk, find your closest friends that aren't doing well. Just send them a meme. Talk. Engage, be vulnerable, share what you're dealing with. I will tell you, just doing that opens up the lines of communication for somebody to say, you know, I was thinking of doing something really stupid a few nights ago. I could really help use some help. Oh, I know in an organization I can help. Special Forces Foundation. Big shout out to them. If you're a Green Beret, a family member, part of the community, veteran, retired, or currently serving Green Beret, we got you. Reach out today. Help them out. I'll make it even easier for you. Right there. There's a contact info. Whatever organization you belong to, whatever nonprofit you want to reach out to, or just maybe haven't made the call, be willing to do it today. Don't put it off. Start living your best life right now. I'm better for doing it, and I've got tons of friends that are still here because they were willing to stand up and say, enough's enough. I want to figure this thing out. Especially when it comes to TBI, repeated head impacts, and blast exposure. We know now that shit's it's into known. I talk about it. There's podcasts, shows, scientists coming in and kicking down the door and talking about it. So if this doesn't feel right, be willing to reach out for help. There's tons of organizations and centers that can do the work for free, no cost to you. So don't stress. Be willing to reach out and get some help, man. Yeah. Right, man. I can't thank you enough. One more time. If people want to get a hold of you or find out what you're doing, where can they go?
SPEAKER_00:So my social media handles are all bird men actual. So you can go check me out on Instagram, is where I spend most of my time. I really don't spend a lot of time on social. So, but that, and then you want to check out more about our charity. It's called Bird's Eye View Project. It's birdseyeviewproject.org and get involved with what we're doing. This is what I always say because a lot of guys get out and they're looking for that meaning and purpose and they want to start a charity. And I'm like, hey, go work with the charity for six months that it already is established. You don't need to recreate the wheel or build a new one. Go work with somebody, learn the inner workings of it. You might just find that you love that one and you want to stick with it. But do get involved with something. It is so imperative that you do to find that tribe again outside and then start moving the mission forward to help others. Because now it is our time to take care of those newcomers. That's our job here. So yeah, it's it's good, man. And pretty soon I'll have my Birdman actual website out, which is gonna be my I Love Me Wall of Everything, you know, pretty much taking so long because there's so much, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, dude. Uh website development is not my forte. Uh I've been teasing a new launch, but ladies and gentlemen, I've got a great update on the website. It started. We finally restarted the redoing of relaunching of the website. So hey, you know, halfway through the season, and we finally have uh broken ground, uh theoretically speaking, on the new website. So maybe I'll have updated logos and color schemes. Who knows? I've got a great person on it. Uh I'll have her link in the bio if you're looking for a new website. Sarah had two dogs and a laptop. She does great work. I go to her for all my need. It's just um she's been she got fully paid like four or five months ago, and I've just been really shitty to send her all the all the fucking new information, the colors, the icons, and finally she's like, dude, uh, I'm glad you paid me, but can can I start working? I was like, Yeah, I need to send that to you. But before I let you go, man, tell us about your show.
SPEAKER_00:The show, yeah. So it was about three and a half years ago. I had a teammate reach out and he was had a full career in the special operations community, and he's like, man, I'm getting ready to get out and I'm terrified. I don't know what I'm gonna do. And I said, Well, why are you getting out? And he says, Well, it's my time. And I was like, You're gonna have to extend or do something and stay in until you figure out because it is the worst thing you could possibly do yourself to get out without a plan. Dude, don't do that. So he extended, and it got me thinking, like, I have been working my ass off since I got out in 2010, and I built an insane amount of like a huge network across the nation globally. And I'm like, I used to do a lot of work with C-suite individuals, owners of companies, all these different groups. And I'm like, I know these people, they're always asking what we can do to help. I never wanted to put a podcast together, but I was like, man, this is the opportunity for me to actually create like a short form show called the Frogman Friday Show, where I could actually introduce what these guys are doing post-service so we could get investors behind them. Guys could come in and either buy their product, buy their book, support their charity, invest in their company, and or outright buy them out. And so that's speed to market, right? And so that's really where the Frogman Friday show comes in. It is all special operators, one a week, every Friday we drop, usually about an hour episode. And uh it gives you the context to these entrepreneurs, these guys who have turned it on, like we talked about at the beginning, is going back to day one of basic and using that fire to create their next thing. And they all need help. And since they took a massive sabbatical from you know, making money and living the civilian life so that everybody else could, it's time that we all step up to help these guys out now. So you could check it out on all platforms. And like I said, we drop one a week and it's different special operators. Sometimes we include um pilots in there, like TF-160 pilots, and sometimes fighter pilots, just they're officers, some kind of I don't know about that, but at the same time, they're elite. Yeah. So that's the show. And the secret part to it for me is I get to talk to a brother every week to ensure that I'm still communicating with guys. And you know, so that's my biggest thing in life is every single day I talk to somebody from the special operations community. It could be 10 minutes, it could be 20. Doesn't matter, but every day I talk to somebody and that just keeps my cup whole. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, that's uh same reason, man. That being able it's one of the greatest things, and it's uh it's a selfish thing. I I like to talk and connect with people from our community. Um, every veteran has a story, man. If you're out there and you don't think yours is good, I'm telling I'm here to tell you I want to listen to it. I want to give you a platform. So don't be afraid to see, reach out. Sethop podcast at gmail.com. Don't send me your nudes. I'm not gonna say anybody. I already know what I'm doing. Just send me, send me your uh information. Come be a guest. Some of you have some insane stories. I don't think the internet and the world is ready for it, but I appreciate the emails. Others are are rightly so in the scope, and we cannot wait to have you on, so please reach out. Psychcoppodcastgma.com. Come on the show. Everybody's got a story to share, and I'll gladly give you a platform as long as uh, you know, you you're a stable, normal human being. Well, semi normal. Ryan, thank you so much for being here, brother. Thank you for what you're doing. And I can't wait to see what you got coming down the line next. December's gonna be awesome. Cannot wait to get my hands on that book. Do me a favor if you're listening. Go ahead and pause, go to episode description. It's already over. I'm doing a wrap-up. Just click those links, subscribe to the podcast, subscribe to the YouTube channel because we all know that's where the real money's in. And uh send a friend request to my man Ryan. He's a real person, he'll have to hit you back up, LinkedIn, Instagram, all those links. Ryan, thank you so much for being here. Thank you all for listening. We'll see y'all next time. Till then, take care. Secure to have a podcast is proudly sponsored by Titan's Arms. Head up to the episode description and check out Titan's Arms today.
