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Inside the Special Forces Foundation’s Green Beret QRF: Fighting Isolation & Preventing Suicide

Deny Caballero Season 7 Episode 379

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SPONSORED BY: TITAN SARMS, PRECISION WELLNESS GROUP, and THE SPECIAL FORCES FOUNDATION

 In this episode, Deny Caballero sits down with Cody Halfpop to break down the realities of veteran mental health, the power of community, and why vulnerability saves lives. Through raw personal stories, Deny and Cody highlight how isolation fuels crisis, how humor helps break through the darkness, and why the Special Forces Foundation’s QRF initiative is critical for preventing suicide in the veteran community. This conversation is a direct call to action: check on your people, build non-negotiables for self-care, and remember that reaching out is strength.

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SPEAKER_00:

Any better?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that'll work. That's good. At least sets off the undertones of your whiteness.

SPEAKER_03:

I know shit.

SPEAKER_01:

I need a black background so that uh Cody have pop, not poop. Um as I have come to know you affectionately. How are you? I'm well, how are you? Doing well, man. Uh it's gonna be a serious talk, but you know, we gotta try to liven it up, man, with humor. So right off the bat, actually, I better not, because I'm gonna have to edit the if I wanna if I want to put the special forces foundation label on it. D will forgive us, or at least you right off the bat. Kill one, mare one, fuck one. Sydney Sweeney, Nancy Pelosi, but in her 20s, or Nancy Reagan.

SPEAKER_03:

Sounds like I can't pick all three.

SPEAKER_01:

So uh uh Kobayashi Maru. I'll show you all of them. Oh, how are you, man? Good, how are you? Doing good, dude. I am I am tired. Holy shit, I am tired. And it's one of those things where like we were talking about it the other day. It's like I I bring on sleep experts. It's like you gotta make sure you go to bed at the right time and make sure you don't overdo it. And I'm like, uh-huh. Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

And then you send me messages at 2 14 in the morning. Like, hey man, I that favor you asked me, I totally did it, and I did it way over the top. So thanks. Good morning.

SPEAKER_01:

The mission must go on. It must be handled with love and compassion and extreme prejudice. Yeah. Yeah, dude. It's uh we we we are we come from a community of overachievers and overdoers, and it um I love this world, man. I love what I do, and it's like I don't like to half-ass it, so it's like 100%, man. Gotta go, gotta go for broke. But um, I'm really excited that at least holiday season is here, season seven's wrapping up. We're gonna take a pause for the Thanksgiving and then for Christmas, and uh, you know, oh, and uh a big plug-in right now for the holiday season. Right now, I am asking everybody listening, I'm airing this, I'm gonna fucking put this on the docket, get it out there. Please, guys, do me a favor. You see his QR code right here? Please scan that and donate to Special Force Foundation. Cody Halfpop is uh a great member of the foundation, and he is at the forefront of the fight against suicide and take care of our brothers. I always say that it takes a community to take care of our green bray once we get on the outside. That's the truth. I I didn't have a lot of the issues and hurdles that I've experienced until I got on the outside. And I was fortunate, and yeah, I'm gonna say the privilege word, that I had friends and family that were there for me to help me up and great providers. But there's a lot of us out there that aren't there, and that the main nonprofit out there that's showing up for our Green Berets and our families is the Special Forces Foundation. So please, please, please scan the QR code and donate today. And I'll do you an even better one. If you donate$25 or more today, send me a screenshot security halt uh Instagram's page, and I will get you into the running for our November and December giveaway extravaganza. We're doing all sorts of stuff. I'm giving up whoop 5.0s, I'm giving away some Titan SARMs, I'm giving away a custom knife by Aurora Boris Forge and some amazing supplement from Pure Liberty Labs. And I recently got donated some money, but it has to be used for a very special giveaway. We are now giving away a high point pistol. I know, not exciting, but at least you have a throwaway gun. So you don't have to go buy a dog shit piece of shit pistol. You can get one for free. Look at it. I mean, it's it's the most ridiculous pistol out there. It's garbage, but you don't have to spend your money on it. You get it for free as long as you're 21 and older. All right. If you're enlisted, maybe I'll flex on that one. But lots of stuff added uh almost on a daily basis that'll be giving away for free. All you have to do is donate$25 or more. So please go right here or go to the subscription and click on that link. All right, I got that out. No editing on that one. That's awesome. Very lucky, fortunate. Cody, you're at the forefront of something that uh is truly unique that I I haven't seen in a lot of other nonprofits. The QRF initiative with the Special Forces Foundation. Um, we when we first started working together, it was something that I realized that you you don't just take lightly. You're a hundred percent involved in this. And as a peer-to-peer support facilitator, I understand the gravity of it, I understand how much it takes. But dude, I I want to you know sit down with you and peel back the layers to this. How did you get started with this? And please, like, give us your full story and background into how you got involved in the fight to save our brothers.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh yeah, so um the uh I think 2020 at 10th group, we had uh eight suicides in six months um between guys on the compound, uh guys I'd I'd you know served with at 10th group. And uh what started as me um kind of calling to let guys know. Um obviously it was an epidemic, you know, we all heard the 22-day, you know, that that stuff. Um so I started uh or I I called, I think when a friend of ours, Joy Pfister, uh succumbed to the demons. Um I went and called some of his old teammates who I knew were out and I hadn't heard from in a while. And my thought was, you know, I'd like him to hear it from me instead of uh off of Facebook halfway through a bottle or or something. So uh I called a few guys and you know, we talked about it, bummed out. Um, but the the couple of the guys who'd been out for you know eight, nine, ten years were like, hey, good to hear from you, man. I hadn't heard from anybody since I got out. And that kind of broke my heart. I was I uh I felt a little bit guilty about that. Uh, you know, I thought, man, where the brotherhood begins, we we see we have that written over, you know, uh, was it Massy Nick or out there at Camp McCall? Because, man, we really just end it as soon as we take off the uniform. And I've come to give myself some grace and and all of us some grace on that. We'll talk about that later, but um, that's where it started. So I started, I was like, man, we need to do better about calling guys. And so uh I started this thing. If somebody's name comes up talking shit about them, whatever, uh, I call. So a lot of my calls will start out with, hey Denny, I was just talking shit about you, you know, and then uh whatever. And uh when you call guys, you know, you find um when you make a commitment to call people regularly, you find guys that aren't doing great, um, particularly if they're in that transition space, if they're um, you know, navigating, whatever. Um and I I just started running into guys, most guys are doing well, or or somewhere in the middle, uh, but you'd run into guys that that weren't doing well. And uh a guy at uh care coalition, Scott Caluska, one of the buddies I connected with after that suicide, um reconnected with. Uh I started asking him for help with Care Coalition, the SOCOM Warrior Care Program. And uh he said, you know, sometimes we're pretty slow man, but not that SOCOM Warrior Care program, but they're the the speed of a regular kind of benevolence organization, right? They farm it out. Uh I don't want to denigrate them. They're incredible. They're they're super helpful, great program, um helping a lot of folks. Uh but he had connected me with some more rapid response with um Paul Watson with Special Forces Foundation, uh Ignacio Garza. And so um when I started having these needs or guys in crisis or uh uh an immediate need filled, I I started calling uh the foundation. And after about three or four calls, um with one probably our first QRF uh before we had really called it that, I think Dean Goebbel was the who coined that term. Um guy in Dallas collapsed. He was uh not dissimilar to the Tesla situation uh that happened over New Year's last year. Um but he uh was in a mental health crisis, lost his mind, hadn't been sleeping, uh, misuse of like prescription medications, uh alcohol, and he collapsed in an airport in Dallas. He was not supposed to be going to Dallas, but he uh he was on his way to kill himself in front of his family in an outlandish way. Um and he fortunately for him, his heart gave out and he collapsed in Dallas. Wasn't supposed to be in Dallas, flight got rerouted. Um a buddy called me. Hey, someone told me your name. Um I gotta go down to this guy. He called out my name in when he woke up in the hospital. So um I I don't know how I can help you, man. Let me let me get your flights reimbursed. I don't know what to tell you. Uh and and he goes, I'm not DTS, bro. Yeah. So I was like, let me see if I can get like your flights reimbursed in hotel on the other side so you're not incurring that cost. So got off the phone with him, made that request for the foundation. They're like, absolutely, um, we can book his flight, whatever. Um, he went down there and then I thought, you know what, I can I can do more. Um, and so I called like the SFA down in Dallas. I I reached out to the network. Who do I know in Dallas, Texas, um, and found like an old team leader from from like the team I was retiring from, they had an old team later that was from Dallas, guy I'd never met before, but they gave me his number. Uh, and within maybe an hour and a half, he was at the hospital bed with that guy. And then the like chapter president was with him, and like within four or five hours, I think there were six GBs at his bedside. Uh, you know, like, all right, dude, we'll do this together. And it had the desired effect. Um, this this guy who I'm not gonna say his name just because it's the weakest, most awful moment of his life, but uh he's pretty um adamant to share his own story, so I don't want to rob him of that. Um but he woke up and like it was like just getting a hug from the brothers. Um and it was like, hey, we're all going through it. There were guys there that was like, dude, I'm going through the same thing. Some of the stuff had gone guys who've gone through vets, guys who had done some other like mental health retreats, um and it had the desired effect, and within five days of his collapse in Dallas, we had him at Warriors Heart uh drying out, which is the second time I've been on our show, second time I'm gonna reference because I think that place is amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

It's saving lots of lives, man. It's it's amazing what they're doing.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and he had the um he had the um I mean, like cold life change. And he's working in Korea right now. I think he's got this sweet$250,000 a year job. He is reconciled with his ex-wife and his kids. Um they are he has a sweet job where they fly him back to Germany where they live once a month. Uh and I the guy's crushing life. He's in a good relationship with this amazing woman who's also like uh a positive force for his journey. Um, and he's giving back. He's reaching out to guys, he's helped guys. Um uh just a really cool story. But that was our first kind of QRF. Uh I if you don't can I like explain my why I think QR is such a term.

SPEAKER_01:

That's that's that's why we're doing this.

SPEAKER_03:

I hate I hate giving credit to you freaking nasty lazy warrant officers, but uh Dean Dean calls it QRF, and I thought that was so perfect. I mean, one, it's exactly what it was, but um for maybe listeners of yours that don't know, like uh QRF quick reaction force. Um if you've ever had to call in a QRF, like really needed to call in a QRF, it is a uh date, I'll I'll get goosebumps talking about it. It is an emotional event. Like, um, you know, I I think of one, you know, you're reflecting like, is that letter I wrote good enough to my loved ones before I left? Is did I did I scrub my hard drive? Uh did I you know, who's back to take care of my stuff? Like it wasn't enough. I mean, you it's a pretty emotional event, and then you know, the cavalry arrives, you know, as it is, and you start fucking down the enemy, and it's like your your big brother shows up and you're like, yeah, that's right, that's right, you know, yeah, you know, um, or the resupply arrives or whatever, but I mean it's a it's a in a in a real bad QRF situation, you thought it was over, and that's it. And so the the joy of seeing people come over the the horizon, you know, in in the gun trucks, or the or the you know um coming over like in a helicopter, it's an emotional event. And so I I think it resonates with our community. It definitely resonates with me. And so I think the name is is cool and important. Yeah, but it is I know probably most of the guys listening to know that was like patronizing, but for those who aren't, I think uh it's a good thing to hear. I I sometimes forget that everybody doesn't know what a QRF um means and what important you know facet that is of uh of what guys need.

SPEAKER_01:

So it it's one thing that I know intimately, man, it's when you're in it, you don't want to reach out. You absolutely do not want to reach out. Um and having somebody that will show up and not only offer common humanity by telling you you're not alone in this, that you're also struggling, but uh that it's willing to be able to like share a resource and say, like, dude, like we can do something about this. That's the powerful part, man. Like you're not just suffering together. You have somebody that's showing up that's saying, like, dude, like we can get you the fuck out of here in the somewhere today. 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 hall 10 at checkout today.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, last, you know, was last month um we had that one, I think early October. Uh guy who's also crushing it, who went to Warriors Heart in Virginia. Um he uh one of our own guys, Marty, his his wife reached out to Marty Acosta, another phenomenal guy on the ground, uh doing getting his hands dirty. Yeah. Uh he had called, his wife had called him. Uh I had it's a guy I had just talked to, because I I call people relentlessly. Him and I had gone to MLC together years ago, like in 2017, something like that. But uh, and so at least I had called because a lot of people weren't answering. And uh him and I had talked about the struggles. He was gonna be a stay-at-home dad. And I remember thinking, like, well, that's a tough man. Like I that's something I'd want to be excited about, but it would be hard, the day-to-day grind. You know, it's that wouldn't we already lose that purpose in transition and retirement? Um such a noble endeavor, but I was like, well, it's gonna be a tough, tough one.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, everybody has this like romantic idea of uh Colonel Matrix from the opening of Commando. It's uh let me tell you, I tried that for fucking like two days with a newborn. Brutal. It does not work. You are equipped for many things as a green beret.

SPEAKER_03:

That's not one of them. That's not one of them. Although we ran adult daycares all over the globe, you know? Like uh, but that guy so called him. He answered he had taken a bunch of pills and was uh I think he was drinking wine, which is like the softest way of doing that, man. Come on, like that should have been that should have ended it right there. Like, hey, dude, think about this right now. You're drinking it like a Pinot Grease and and taking pills. Come on, dude. You can do better than that.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I I have to imagine it was a boxed wine or the bagged one.

SPEAKER_03:

Slapping the bag at the end.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

But uh one last time. But I talked to him and and uh one of the things I said was like he's he was been a stay-at-home dad, he was super proud of that. But I asked him, um, hey, you got a favorite kid, man? And he was like, What? I was like, I was like, dude, statistically, one of them's gonna kill himself. If you do this today, you're losing a kid. And I you may have some struggles with your wife right now and some other stuff, but I bet you don't hate your kids, and one of them's gonna do it if you do this today. And his colorful language to me with regard to that wasn't great, but uh it it did have a little bit of a pivot in our conversation. We had uh we had guides converging on his location uh to get to him to QRF him, right? Um But that's the the reality. I mean, if nothing anchors you like uh one of your kids, man, it's statistical certainty. The Brotherhood, the regiment, the the foundations, the benevolence, we'll try. We'll get your kids in in mental health, you know, care, we'll we'll give it our best, man. But the statistics, the odds are against them.

SPEAKER_01:

The other thing, too, that we don't talk about is um it spreads like wildfire within our community, man. Like I've watched, I've been out long enough to watch it. I've I've had peer-to-peer groups with dudes, and the moment one guy decides to take that route, you immediately have to open up the aperture and look at everybody else around them because it starts happening more often.

SPEAKER_03:

Um Jeff Jeff Dartia calls it an S Fest. Um because it never ends with one, right? We just like it's your kids, that's that's a certainty, but you know the brothers are there's gonna be more. Uh and it's dark, but suicide season is upon us, right? This this right around Veterans Day until you know spring when the sun comes back out, things get dark.

SPEAKER_01:

Um and during fighting season, if we are looking in the summer, that's what I've seen. That's another metric.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep, right around Memorial Day, yeah, there's another little uptick. Um, and so like we talk about indicators and warnings, right? You got a lot um 18 foxes, you know, whatever, but we've all we've all had the intel brief. So um, you know, the one indicators is the season, right? The timeline. Uh two, you know, we can talk um the most recent one, we knew it. It was uh pulling off team threads. Uh ultimately it's isolation, but what isolation looks different in a technological age.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, man. Let's dive into that. There's a lot of we're still putting out data and metrics and information before that that's been populated and developed before the GWAT. That's a reality. Like we need updated stuff, and and you're hitting on something that people need to realize. Um we we are living in a modern age, we have to be aware of new things, like coming up a f coming, you know, removing yourself from a signal chat. Like that's a pretty big one now. Like Discord, when you guys are online playing with all your friends, and you got people, you got brothers you've played with since like fucking 2013. That dude leaves a group chat on Discord, he stops playing the game. Dude, reach out.

SPEAKER_03:

It's uh and and why not, right? See someone leave the text the the text thread. I mean, this one's near to me, you know. Like I've like the most recent one, it happened. Uh, you know, um he pulled off a bunch of text threads, and and it could be as innocuous as like they got a new phone, right? Uh it could be annoying as like you're annoying. I don't like you guys anyway. And so I pulled off the thread, or I'm tired of those two John in that thread, and I wake up with 50 notifications, and that's fine. That's fine. But what did it hurt to be like, oh man, you good? Exactly. You know, because at the same timeline that one guy pulled off, uh two other guys did, called them, uh, or or used cutouts to guys who knew them better to reach out, and they weren't doing good. One guy was going through a nasty custody thing. Um the other one uh also like a divorce. Um, but you know, those are your indicators of warnings. So like if it's the first sign is it is pulling off a text thread, follow up, right? Um and and find out. One plus one is two, right? So if if like they're going through custody stuff or they start talking about it, hey man, that's another indicator. And it may not be suicide, it may be, but it may also be some negative stuff, but it's a good reason to check in and insulate somebody, right? Absolutely. So other isolation things I see besides pulling off the team threads, uh you know, blowing off like team gatherings or old team gatherings, like uh the even like the kids' birthday party, like whatever. And again, may not be anything, but but it's why not follow up? You know, why not anything going on just to see if there's any other factors that are adding to that? Um your your bro that that sends like the most grossly inappropriate memes, or just the the the all Sydney Sweeney text thread, whatever that looks like, uh uh they're no longer that those aren't getting shared, you know? Like they're that they they're blowing off, you're not getting your thumbs up or your inappropriate comment or or whatever. Like that to me now is what isolation looks like in our in our new kind of age.

SPEAKER_01:

So well, if you if you if you drop a hot fire meme of double cheeked up Nancy Pelosi with the twins out and your friend doesn't react.

SPEAKER_03:

Oddly specific, Danny. Oddly specific. Do I need to check my inbox?

SPEAKER_01:

Be prepared to be fully torqued. This is the hottest, hottest image generated by AI today. Uh and I'm I'm trying to liven it up because it's it's important to understand that this can get really sad, can get really like it's a serious issue. It is, it really is. But we gotta understand, like we gotta be able to touch it, we gotta be able to talk about it, we gotta be able to understand it and see it as a human problem. Um, it doesn't mean you're weak, it means you're a human being, man. Like we we spend so much of our lives in these careers where we're made to believe that we are un we're unbreakable, that we are invincible, that we are the best of the best top performers. And then we get out and we start dealing with real everyday human being shit that is not getting on the back of a CH47, that it's not fast roping, that it's not doing free fall, that it's not doing dive operations, we tend to think that we're broken, that we frail, that we are not the person we used to be. And those thoughts can quickly snowball into I don't belong here. I need to check out. There's no way I can overcome this. And that couldn't be further from the truth. And I'm telling you from somebody that almost did something really stupid. And I am so glad that I got help. And it's just that that one moment of vulnerability, man. We're just one moment away from getting help. We just have to be willing to ask for it, and that's the toughest fucking thing to do in the world. But that will literally open the door for you to finally get care, finally get treatment.

SPEAKER_03:

I think like too acknowledging there's still, I think we're doing better, but there's still like this this concept that you're the only one who's struggling, who's like feeling that way. And I mean, there's there's a lot going on. Um 20 years of war, it's over. Uh, you know, it's it's easy to to fall into like um uh what was it for, right? We spent 20 years to replace the Taliban with the Taliban. I lost friends, I lost, you know, my soul, you know, I I uh and and for what, right? Like uh what why? What was it, you know, what was my legacy? Why did I do that, you know? Um on top of you know, the end of your purpose, on top of um guilt, you know, and then coming back into your relationships and like your wife was willing to forgive and your kids are willing to forgive while you were deploying all the time, but like you're not deploying any time. You won, you got to the end. What's your problem? Why do you still suck? Why are you still an abrasive, you know, quick wit quick reactionary like asshole, you know? Um and so uh we're all feeling it. I think I think all of us, if we do an honest assessment, are feeling it, and if we could be more candid about it and share, like, dude, I played the hokey pokey with the pistol one night. I you know, I um the just because you're feeling those things also like and you don't act on them, but I think acknowledging that stuff that it it's we've considered a lot of us I've considered it. You know, it's gone through my my COA development, like, well, there's always this. Um and thankfully I've I've you know not fallen to that, but it it's happened and it happens to a lot of us, and you're not alone in in that. My first lesson of that is I went through a colon cancer scare in 2020, so I'll be real vulnerable with you. Uh but uh I was having like 10 to 12 bowel movements a day, blood, liquid, started in Afghanistan, chalked it up to like you know, here we are, we're in this sheer whole country, like and I like the the local food, so I'll keep eating the footbread and the kebabs and just come what may. And sometimes on an hop I gotta squat on a wall and you know, take care of business. And then uh it didn't didn't go away when I came home. Uh shortly thereafter, COVID hit, couldn't get my butthole probed, even though I wanted to get a colonoscopy and get it taken a look at. Um and so like I was having no shit, actual shit, accidents, like you know, uh where like couldn't make it. I was sharking uh and it was in or I was like on the toilet constantly and whatever, and and so like kind of embarrassing, but well, I mean super embarrassing, but but I mean anyway, so I started sharing that though, like I think at a one of our company things, it was like I did something, and afterwards two dudes came up to me, like, hey bro, that happens to you too. Like, I gotta wear a manpon is the what the guy told me. I was like, I'm not that bad yet, holy you know. Um, but then him, the the two, the three of us started like a group thread and started sharing like diet stuff, whatever, and then it grew to like 12, 15 guys that were all going through it. It was like, holy shit, none of us were talking about it, and we weren't fixing it. And so now, like every once in a while, someone will come in on that thread and and chat about it. But that made me realize, like, man, if we just bring this stuff to light, we can we can actually resolve it. Uh, and so that's a very dirty, gross like uh like explanation or now it's still whatever, but dudes are going through it, um, and you're not alone in that. You're you're not the only one doing that. And and uh if we could just share and talk about it, we start to solve it. So, you know, in the same way, if you're going through it, you got guilt stuff, relationships, no shortage of divorces, custody stuff, you know, awful awful relationships like that. Like, that's not unique to you. Share that, get in the community and talk about it, bring it to light, and then maybe you can solve it. Like, yeah, it's uh it's self-inflicted because I blow up on my wife, or I you know I'm disconnected from my kids, or I'm whatever. Well, then you can start talking about and sharing it and and figure out solutions. You know, you frame the problem, you know, you you you develop the enemy co-a or enemy disposition composition, and then you can start figuring out how to attack, right? And so um that that's just uh uh raw analogy of the same.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's so true, man. Like suffering for the sake of suffering alone, it it does you and everybody else around you no good. Like when you're able to take your suffering and put it to use by sharing and talking about it, you help other people. Like if you were to just continue to suffer in silence and not share what you were going through or talk about it, everybody else around you dealing with that would continue suffering. But you like you said, you were vulnerable enough at one moment, just for a little bit, and that allowed somebody else to be vulnerable. And then you guys formed a little LGOP, a little community of people talking about this sharing resource, trying to advocate and change. And before you know it, positivity snowballs. It grows into an interaction with somebody that has the ability to actually like help you get somewhere and get some real answers and be able to say, like, hey, that this is definitively what you're dealing with. Like, stop suffering in silence, stop fighting this fight by yourself. Stay in the fight and ask for help. Bring another gun. If you were in a firefight and you were outnumbered and help was just A phone call away, you would pick up the phone and ask for help. 100% all of us would. And that's the importance of this QRF. Being willing to reach out and ask for help. Being willing to say, I'm not going to do this alone. I get it. It's harder than it seems. I went through it. I didn't want anybody, I didn't want to Google anything. I didn't want to look anything up. But like I said, like one moment of vulnerability led to actually getting help and going to a place that could that saved my life. And that's the truth for a lot of us that we just need to be vulnerable for a little bit, man. And continuing to explore your journey, dude. Like going from that, I know it wasn't like a day and night, everything was saved. Like, tell us about your journey. Like, when did things you know, how bad did it get? And when did you ask for help? This episode is brought to you by Titan SARMs. Head on over to TitansArms.com and buy a stack today. Use my code CD10 to get your first stack. I recommend the Lean Stack 2. Start living your best life. Titan SARMs. No junk, no bullshit, just results.

SPEAKER_03:

I think, you know, I I had a unique retirement. Like I said, I had that cancer scare and which extended my retirement. I was ready to retire in 2020, hang it up, I hit right at 20 years. I wasn't going to make E10 like so many pursue for whatever reason. It'll happen. Whatever. I mean, I my career was I was a terminal E7 shitbird. Like I had no whatever. I was deemed unfit to get paid to lead men. So uh for probably good reason. But the uh with that, you know, they they um like well you can't get out if you if they think you have cancer. It took, I mean, 18 months to get probed. Uh to get the colonoscopy, the Chinese fingercuffs, like the down the throat and up the shoot, whatever. Um got the uh where's that video?

SPEAKER_01:

Who's got who's got that video?

SPEAKER_03:

It's on my OnlyFans. Uh the uh anyway, it took a long time. Uh so I you know, I extended, took the blood money. Um and so fortunately for me, my retirement took way longer than than I had planned. And so, I mean, I went into definitely a darkness. Uh I did all those things. I I isolated from dudes, uh, I wasn't on the team anymore. Uh that's devastating, right? When you come off a team thread, and it's for good reason, they got to move on to the next mission. But when they like you've been removed or you have to like say your piece and and and go away, and I mean that's been a part of your daily life, you know, that and and that's it's heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I still remember it. Like, and then like I remember like the the worst feeling is getting removed. It's like it's like getting like pushed off the ice shelf on an iceberg by yourself. It's like no.

SPEAKER_03:

Even if they send like a hey man, sorry, but like we're talking about the range tomorrow, like you can't be here anymore. Yeah, we have a new guy, he's in your seat, and he's like, Who is this weirdo? Like I'll tell you, on the solution side, right? Like, because we we talk a lot of doom and gloom and and stuff like that. So I think we've addressed a couple solutions, which is don't isolate, reach out, whatever. But uh when I I say keep the team thread or or go back um and go back to the OGs, right? Like uh the OG team thread. So um we had a guy pass away on a dirt bike. Um it's been man almost three years now. Uh like um, but came everybody came back for his funeral, a lot of us hadn't seen each other in years. Uh ran into a guy who had gone through his own like mental health journey and crisis, was still believing like all these terrible things. He it was like 08, 07, came back from Iraq and he was messed up, massive PTSD, um, incapacitating, and he came up on the net for help. And at the time we weren't in the business of really like getting people help and getting them back in the fight. They were like, all right, off you go, and he left. And he was harboring a lot of stuff about that, thinking he'd let the team down and that everybody hated him. And nothing to be further to the truth, guys were reaching out to him, trying to find him for years. He moved to like California, became this like off-grid hippie. But he came back for our friend's funeral, and uh we shared they shared, and he was he was real timid and long hair, barely recognizable, and talked to him like dude, and people started telling us like, dude, I remember he was Bravo Smashed for sure. Um, but when we had like we lost to uh Rob Rolfing in in combat in a scenario, you know, he was with him, we were good friends, and he, you know, uh Rob was gone the moment he was hit, but that didn't absolve him in his own mind of not being able to save him or whatever. But he reconnected with those guys and he realized he'd been believing these falsehoods for so long in a vacuum, right? Those conversations you have with yourself when you isolate, and there's no one to tell you, like, Danny, that's stupid. You're wrong. Yeah, like um, and so uh I you know they're all chatting, they're all talking, they hadn't talked to each other in years, and so I made a thread of the OG, it was 5'3, was the team back then, 0-5-3 made a thread, dropped a shit bomb in the text thread, talking trash about one of them, and then left the thread and just ghosted out of it. So they couldn't rebuttal, couldn't give me shit back, nothing. Uh, and they're still crew crushing it. They're they're visiting each other's families in Cali. Uh they're getting together for stuff, they're starting reunions. Bring back that OG team thread, I guess, is is what I'm saying. Like, just because you left the the team thread, you can start a side sidebar like we do in every other team where we take keep off the top three and just talk shit about them, right? Uh that's so anyway, we talk about solutions. Like, bring back a team thread, get get pull the OGs from that deployment uh and start talking shit again and start connecting again. Um ultimately like connection is the is the cure to isolation and and curing isolation is what what keeps guys in the fight.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, man. That's um you know, we whether you call it an LGOP, freaking ODA, OG, old gray beards, whatever you have to do, connect with people. People want to hear from you, trust me. You have friends, you got brothers that that miss you and and they want to hear, you know, you don't have to pretend like everything's okay. It's okay to be vulnerable and be honest and say, hey man, I'm gonna do well, got divorced, lost my job. Um all these stresses are real, man. And when you can sit down and talk to somebody honestly and open and be like, oh man, like, yeah, you're going through this, but you'll get through it. It's like anything else, man. We forget how resilient and how strong we really are when we're in the moment when we're suffering by ourselves. But all it takes is somebody sitting down with you and talking and laughing and reflecting to give you that truth of like, hey man, everything dissipates. You you're gonna kick ass tomorrow, you're gonna find a new job, you're gonna get through this divorce, you're gonna get through this rough patch. And before long, you're gonna see time heals all wounds, you're gonna be able to move forward. But we don't get that by ourselves. You're not gonna be looking in the mirror and giving yourself that positive pep talk. You're not, you're gonna be sitting there in that same misery, in that same pain over and over and over again. It really takes connecting and having somebody that's around you spitting some sort of positive message towards you.

SPEAKER_03:

Um well, the and the reality is like on these QRFs that we've gotten to somebody, um, this guy's thriving. So like that's the other message. And I told that guy a couple months ago um when we were on the phone with him, I gave him that raw, like one of your kids, hope hope it's your least favorite kid, man. You know? Um uh but it's like there's there's a other side of this where you're crushing life. Um so those are the like those testimonials, and and some of them to me, like I've uh they're pretty raw. And I don't, you know, you wait till a guy's ready to share that, be vulnerable about that. But um, there's a host of guys, I mean, who've gone through the ringer who are who are thriving on this side. That guy that has that job in Korea, and now he's calling the shots. He he's in that band, whatever, and he can he's like, hey, now I want to be back in Germany full time and I want the same salary and the whatever. And they're like, absolutely, because we're high performers, we're gonna be high performers on the other side of that. That's gonna happen. Um you can't like just let that circumstance right now completely bury you. You're gonna get over. Another guy, you know, uh last year, it's I mean, it's been a while, but and had a pistol in his mouth and a bottle of tequila or a shotgun, I think. And we got guys to him. Um guys were doing like triangulating on his photo uh metadata, looking at photos from his wife's Facebook to like at the last like kid drop off. Um we got to him. I mean, they essentially like breach her up, like like stock that out of your mouth, you know, whatever. And then they went for coffee and they hung out. Uh guy's crushing it. He's looking to give back to the foundation right now. He's he's he's making like he's making so much money now, it's like side quests uh for other stuff he's doing. Um he's also like brilliant, one of those echo types, probably on the spectrum. Uh, but he's uh he's incredible, like like many of us. Uh but um there's a path on the other side, you know. Like I said, that guy that was that's now in the Korea, like it was over. Um another guy uh who Aunt Fox Sanders, who just retired, phenomenal behavioral health guy in our space. He's kind of the OG of QRFs before we ever called it that. Um talk about a behavioral health embedded behavioral health officer who's willing to get his hands dirty, but um he went to a guy in a park who standoff with the police. Um and that guy was at his end. His wife had already told him, like, you can get help, you can do all that, but this is over. We're never gonna reconcile, we're never gonna whatever, which is a fair take from her, right? Another guy that went to Warriors Heart, another plug for Warriors Heart, went to Warriors Heart, um, dried out. I mean, that guy now is Mr. Equestrian Dad with his kids. He's playing like soccer leagues. Uh his him and his wife are like, I mean, elite model relationship, restorative. I mean, it's incredible. I a guy pumps me up. He was um I just talked to him again the other day. He's uh, but there's there's a thriving path on the other side. And and you might be in a scenario darker than the couple that I just mentioned. I don't know, man. It's not too many lower levels than where those those guys were. One was in a complete his mind was attacking him, he didn't believe what he was seeing, you know. One was was so dark, like uh kids and wife don't we don't care. We hope you kill yourself. I mean that that's a hard one to hear, but they're like that's should instead of taking that path, get better. Put in the work, man. Go back to selection, you know, and and put on that ru get your legs strong, start rucking, get fucking strong. So we go to another solution, touch grass and move every day. Like the sunlight on your eyeballs is another solution. When you're when you're in that darkness, I'm lucky. I live in Colorado Springs, 330 sunny days a year, right? Um the holiday blues is a is legitimate, but get outside, move your body, touch grass. Other solutions for absolutely, man.

SPEAKER_01:

If you don't know where to start, start getting back in the gym. That's like one of the first things a lot of us forget. Just get out and move your body, get out and it's shameless plug. Join us on whoop, man. Like you wanna you want to see the reality of it? We're all broke, we're all fucking dealing with injuries and stuff. But every day I wake up and I look at that little scoreboard, that leaderboard, and I see other green berets out there, other soldiers, other service members, because that's a cool thing about this whoop community. It's everybody, anybody and everybody you can get in there. And I see other people trying to do better. We're not trying to become the next fucking hyper athlete. We're not supple leopards, we're just broke dudes wanting to move a little bit better each and every day, get fit, get active, because there's a real connection between your body and your mind. If you're not feeling good, if you don't know what's going on, at least commit yourself to get outside and do a workout. Do something. It helps with the endorphins, it helps feel a little bit better. Then you're not isolated. And maybe you'll run into an old friend, maybe you'll start talking with somebody. If you don't know where to start, just start by moving again. Start by getting out and working out, man. It's truly a gateway to getting better. Uh and then that's what we gotta do. Often we just need to do one thing right for ourselves at the beginning of the day. And for me, it's just trying to get out there and do a workout. Do you walk your dog? Get out. The world's filled with amazing positive interactions and be willing to be part, be part of it. Engage, man.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, the movement piece, get sun on your eyes. Like it can't be understated. I just went to that um Talon's Reach Foundation uh by Nick Jones, a Marshot guy. That was restorative. Uh, you know, plug for those guys. It's it was a regeneration, eagle regeneration program, I think is what they call it. But you know, I was uh we had a brutal suicide season too, kind of back to back last year. Uh I was feeling it like uh you know, you you eat sadness and uh and you don't program that stuff in and you're not sleeping like you refuse to take the advice of all the people you have on your show. Uh but it'll it'll burn you down. Deanna Sardar, CFO, my wife, a couple other the gals in the foundation gave me like almost an intervention like, hey, you're taking a mandatory break. And uh we have this partnership with Talons Reach, so they sent me there. I uh we played every day. Seriously, like uh we I was barefooter and flip-flops almost the whole time. In the winter classes, they they jump on sleds and and snowmobile through the mountains in Montana. Um they go fishing, we cold plunge, but I literally my phone didn't work as soon as I got there, which was incredible, liberating. Um but that I mean that helped catalyst for me, like the non-negotiables, which is means I gotta get outside every day because of how good I felt while I was there. You know, five, six days of of forced uh mandatory fun in all the best ways, and uh see in the sun. So I I like had feet on the grass, literally, and you know, and played. We threw spears, uh, was like cold plunged, like wrestled, like scrapped, like fought, like goofed around and like uh I mean it was it was uh so like um yeah, I had to make non-negotiables for me. So for my own non-negotiables, I gotta get outside every day. I gotta move every day. Those are the two that just they can't miss. So if I like it's 10 o'clock at night and I have not left left the house or all I did was drive, like I I go grab the dog and or I just go outside and take a walk around the block, like for for my own, like what's the my streak to keep it alive or whatever. I'll I'll I've done even like this last week, I've done air squats uh in the house. Like shit, I haven't moved today. I'm doing I'm doing a hundred squats right now, like uh or or whatever. Um you gotta have those non-negotiables. And they and I tell you, it changes things for you. Like it'll it'll change that that mopey attitude, that wallowing and that stuff. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

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, it's it's easy to fall into that impossible mindset. I can't get out of this. This will never get better. It's impossible. Don't let yourself slide that far out. Like, reach out for your friends, reach out to people you love. Hell, reach out to Cody. I'll put his number in the fucking episode description. Sorry, not sorry. You know, the most amazing thing I've ever done was start putting out my number on on here. Um you gotta be willing to take a lot of negative. There's a lot of people that send some horrible shit. You get really, really positive shit, or people asking for a resource. So it's worth it, man. It's worth having the two phones. Again, 850-376-8101. If you're in trouble, you need help, or just want to hear some positivity, hit me up. Be mindful. I do have to get some sleep at some point. But if I'm up, if I'm available, I'll always reach, always uh text back or call back. Please, no nudes. No, no, no nudes. Just that's important. Just please don't do that. Somebody who was, oh gosh, I forget. Carry the fire. It was the Carry the Fire? No. It's another meme account that I follow that's um really shit hot on the memes. They put out like you remember the old rap album t-shirts like from the early 2000s. They did one for Nancy Pelosi. Fucking hilarious.

SPEAKER_03:

So fixated on this woman. That is wild.

SPEAKER_01:

Dude, it's though the images people have created with AI, it's hilarious. Hilarious. Um, it's um I love memes. It's part of my thing. It's my thing. I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_03:

They're healing, man. I that it's the way it works, right? Like uh that's part of keeping the team thread is is doing that stuff, you know, is is uh is sharing that stuff. Uh shared misery, shared humor, the absolute foul dark humor that we all have.

SPEAKER_01:

As long as I'm I'm part of this organization, the memes will flow. I've had to throttle back because I've got so many things to put out there, especially with asking for donors, but um I need I need to get it it's it's for the culture. I know you, I know what you like, because it's what I like. So the memes continue. And it's it's helped us grow. So thank you. And enjoy more to come. Before I let you go, Cody, what are some other things that you've identified in in life in this in this process of being there and advocating for others that um has helped you, like focusing on like things like family working out? What are some other tools and tips that you can give to the audience and people that are, you know, maybe still stuck and they're still going through it?

SPEAKER_03:

I think uh, you know, to avoid that isolation, um one uh thing I've started programming in is I'll go meet a buddy, uh try to do it once a week. Something that's just for me. Doesn't have to be work-related, doesn't have to be, or it shouldn't be, right? Um, whether that's uh uh coffee. I try to do more coffees than than beers these days, uh, but I'll still I'll still go do that. Uh or you know, another QRF case we had, uh him and a few other dudes that have gotten sober and found out after the fact like it was a secret, hush hush. Oh no, did you get sober? Uh they get together in rock climb uh like once every couple of weeks. Uh I mean uh that another QRF we had down in Texas, he does um I think we talked about last time, F3. It's like fitness, faith, and yeah uh uh whatever, some fellowship. Um he does that. Um so even like programming something as simple as a cup of coffee, you know, every every other week if you can't program it in. Um, but every week kept touching base with just a buddy just to hang out. Uh go do something, go get a sweat sesh, you know, Colorado fucking jump on one of the mountains, one of these easy hikes, whatever, go take your dogs out. Um, I'd say, you know, twofold, right? You get outside, that's that's a double whammy. You know, make your non-negotiables be that sounds like a soft serve to me. Get outside and move. Those those two, and and in combination, you can knock out two at once, right? Um, you know, Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird. So that's old school. Uh but make those non-negotiables, you know, touch grass, get outside, and and then go link up with somebody. I I I keep saying it. Call two dudes a week. I'm it's an easy one, man. Call while you're driving to work, right? Just curb your road rage for like 15 minutes while you talk to a buddy, or let them join you during your road rage journey. But just call those two dudes, and it's it's not, it's it doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be someone you're worried about or or who meets those indicators. It it just call somebody because it's as much for you as it is for them. If you call two guys a week, you're gonna find someone who needs something and you can start chatting about it or acknowledging what it is and that you both share that, and you can start working the problem set. Obviously, the foundation, we are adaptive, we are quick react, we we respond quickly. So the QRFs that are crisis mode for sure, but I mean Katie Matsy, our program, Greenberry spouse, she is monitoring comms constantly. When someone brings in a request, it doesn't go very long. I mean, minutes oftentimes. Um, that email, it's not it's not the email on some of these bigger organizations that like you fill out a form and like maybe. I mean, it is it is a quick response. If it's any if it's more than a few hours, it's because she had a long flight. And usually she's like, hey Danny, I need you to cover down an email while I'm flying. I mean, it's that that quick. You'll get an answer, whether it's the answer you like or not. Usually it is. We don't turn down many requests. You know, you make those calls and you find out someone needs a furnace, they're broke, things are rough. Uh just gave away a furnace. Uh that was a blessing, you know, for that family. That's incredible. But um, you know, buy dryers or washers for gold star families who are going through it. Um, you know, plug someone into behavioral health care, grief counseling, marriage counseling, um, man, just all good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, psychedelic therapy, all sorts of stuff.

SPEAKER_03:

All the alternative therapies, all of them. I mean, not every uh not every tool is the right fit, but man, we've got a lot at our disposal. We have phenomenal partners, um, hunts, retreats, that outdoor recreation stuff is is healing. There's a reason there's hundreds of nonprofits dedicated to getting outside and hunting, fishing, uh snowmobiling, skiing, because it works, man. And because guys who've done it are are are telling you, dude, this healed me. That pulled me out of the the the darkness.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, and that stuff, I mean, I mean, it's a a lot of work behind the scenes, but the people involved in this foundation care and they are part of the community. That's the one thing. You're not getting people that don't understand your needs or not that are outside the community. Their wives, Gold Star family members, former Green Berets. Guys are there. They've lived it, they've been there, and it takes a lot of money and resources. And that's why I'm asking you again to please scan this QR code right here. Just scan it. Donate 25 bucks, and you get entered into the Security Hall raffle uh giveaway. Um it helps. 25 bucks here, 25 bucks there, and it helps us continue because, like Cody said, like we don't sit on a request. That something comes in and we are trying to save lives. So please donate whatever you can because it goes straight to the Green Bray or their family. Um again, shameless plug. You get answered to a giveaway, you can win some awesome stuff, a whoop 5.0, a custom knife from um a Roborce Forge, and right now, like you can have your very own piece of shit high point. I don't know why he's making me do this, but thank you, Greg. That's uh you if you wanted a drop gun, now you get one.

SPEAKER_03:

If you uh if you can't donate, right? Uh also like we need we need help, right? Um you know, I'm I'm located at Colorado Springs. We we throw guys on flights, um, but I'm also I'm always looking for those sleeper cells regionally, right? Um you know, so if if you're uh if you're want to be involved in the QRF, uh, you know, I mean it's I'll I'll warn you up front, it's all encompassing when it happens. It's all hands on deck. You gotta drop what you're doing and get on it. But the more people we have in that space, you know, so I'll I'll do a shameless recruiting plug for it. Um, because that's what I when I when I find something that's not local to me, that I can't just jump in the truck and head that way, I get on LinkedIn, I do a filtered search for like who do I know in Wisconsin, you know, Green Bay, Wisconsin, right now, who can get face to face with that guy within minutes, you know, hours. Um I go on LinkedIn, I go on um the SFA chapter local. Uh and so like if you're one of those people and you want to help or or set up your own chapter, you know, my vision would be one day we have like a regional set, you know, for for aligned or whatever, and then there's like a DA6, right? That uh you're on duty for January, it's or like funeral detail DA6, like you're on for January, and then all right, man, pass it on to Cody for February and whatever. That's like my that's the vision, right? Of of what QRF looks like. Um so we just don't miss these guys, but yeah, be aware of the sensors, be aware of the the indicators and warnings, and man, just recognize like there is thriving on the other side of that, man. That it it is you are not unique in your circumstances of going through it. And if we all start chatting about that, and you're you're gonna find it. And there's there is such a positive on the other side, man. Like uh, it's a lot of why we're in a lot of us are in the foundation, is because we we come through that stuff, and man, it's a it's I mean, my relationship with my wife and kids is so night and day better on the other side of that than probably it was the entire time I was active duty, right? Um, and so uh I said probably 100% better. 100% better. That it's preposterous to even suggest otherwise, like definitely better. And and uh you can be super equestrian dad like my buddy or super sports dad, uh, you know, like our buddy, or repairing those relationships with your kids and and thriving. I mean, it's just positive on the other side. There's no reason to think you're not gonna be a stellar performer on the other side.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, it's a perfect place to wrap it up, man. Um, just understand anything you're any sort of struggle, any sort of pain that you're experiencing, everything dissipates, man. I was there, I lived through it. Um, and now you understand the power of time, the power of allowing yourself to believe that things are gonna get better. Just understand the suffering will not continue for the rest of your life. There are resources and people that care and love you. You just gotta be willing to just reach out. Get on that text or reach out to your friends. Um, Cody, thank you so much for being here, man. One more thing. If people want to get a hold of you or get involved with the foundation, where can they go?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, you can go to www.specialforcesfoundation.org. You can call me on my cell phone, obviously, night or day. Uh Denny, I'll put it out there, or you can take it down, 719-359-1909. Uh, you can mess email me at my uh foundation email, c it's in Charlie, dot halfpop, h-a-l-f o p at specialforces foundation.org. Not half poop, as Denny has uh attempted to message me on at least two occasions. C dot c dot halfpop at at uh specialforces foundation.org. And then we have an info uh at specialforces foundation.org. That's the one that is also monitored round the clock constantly. Yeah. Reach out, man. Or and it doesn't have to be you if you think a buddy might be and you don't want to reach out to him, uh, let us do it. We'll we'll lie. We'll tell him he won a prize. We'll tell me won that high point pistol. And perfect. And we'll and we'll, you know, we'll uh Trojan horse it, whatever. But uh yeah, let's help your fell help the buddies, keep an idea of those indicators and warnings. Uh get outside, touch grass, move your body, uh, and and just know, man, you can thrive on the other side. And that guy that's going through it can too. So uh everybody who listens this day is a sensor out there. So, you know, uh if you don't know how to help somebody, reach out. We'll we'll help you get there. We'll hold your hand while you help them. We'll we'll give you tools, uh, whatever that looks like.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. And just one more time, right here, here's the QR code again. If you've got 25 bucks, I'd really appreciate it if you would. Just scan that QR code and donate to Special Forces Foundation today. Thank you so much, guys, for tuning in. Thank you for staying in the fight. Cody, thank you again, and we'll see you all next time. Thanks, Danny.

SPEAKER_03:

Appreciate it, brother.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. SecureDob Podcast is proudly sponsored by Titan's Arms. Head of the episode description and check out Titan's Arms today. Day, uh