Security Halt!
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Security Halt!
The Legacy of Service: Leadership, Mentorship & Excellence with Michael Meegan
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In this episode of Security Halt!, Michael Meegan shares his journey from a family tradition of military service to serving in the elite Ranger Regiment and ultimately mentoring future leaders at Texas A&M. He reflects on the lessons learned through adversity, the pursuit of excellence, and the impact of rigid standards in shaping character. Michael emphasizes the importance of mentorship, continuous learning, and giving back to the next generation, while discussing how his podcast helps educate and inspire future service members. This conversation highlights the enduring value of resilience, leadership, and purpose.
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Produced by Security Halt Media
SecureDay Podcast is proudly sponsored by Titan, the kitchen wellness group at your Liberty Lab. Michael Meegan, welcome to Secure Dow Podcast. How's it going, brother?
SPEAKER_00:It's going. I appreciate you having me on today. Thanks for reaching out and I've been looking forward to uh to coming on the show for a while.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, dude, absolutely. It's it's important to find individuals that are being vulnerable enough and forward-thinking to give back to next generation of war fighters. It's really easy to focus on the things that are awesome, the the great assignments, and to be selfish and say, this is my service. I'm gonna stay here, I'm gonna stay in regiment, I'm gonna stay in group, I'm gonna suck all the life I can, but eventually we have to move forward. We've we have to give back. And what you're doing is it not only does it take a lot of time and effort, but man, it's remarkable. And I just have to have you on to talk about it, brother. So before we uh dive into it, dude, how did this journey begin, man? Where did it all begin for Michael?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so um, well, first off, thanks. Uh I appreciate that a lot. I I like to think um, moreover, that that we we um it's a very much a we commitment um out here from the entire team uh to include the cadets and everything else, um, obviously out here at uh Texas AM doing the job that I'm doing now. Um just for a little clarification, when you ask uh when you're asking that question, are you referring to what I'm doing currently or or where I came from?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, take us all the way back to the very beginning. A young Michael Meegan with uh long locks of hair as he was thinking of joining the military.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know about the long locks of hair part. I was in the middle of a little bit of an identity crisis, funny enough story, uh right before I joined. I knew that I was gonna have to, you know, cut my hair uh and that I couldn't do anything stylish or fattish with it, right? So like right before I came into the army, I actually dyed my hair jet black and did uh yeah, it was don't ask. It was it was an awful it was an awful decision. It looked like shit. Um I look like uh I look like uh a Papa Roach tribute tribute band dude. Yes, but uh it was yeah, yeah, it was it was pretty funny. There's actually some uh photos that are may or may not be floating around the interweb somewhere of me doing live band karaoke uh a couple of weeks before our shipping out of uh from uh from Mepps uh with jet black hair, uh just looking like a real shit kicker. Um so it's uh it was it was good times. Um yeah, so that's the long locks of hair story, I guess. Uh before that, man, I just uh I grew up where service was very much a thing for my family. Um I come from a long line of service uh serv service members, um war fighters, honestly, if you want to get down to it. I mean, uh my great-grandfather was a veteran of three wars, World War II, Korea, Vietnam. Damn. Served long enough to where he actually wound up serving with his son simultaneously uh in Vietnam. No way. At least at that time. Yeah, no, for real. And then um then his son, my grandfather, so that was my great grandfather. My grandfather served uh a couple tours in Vietnam, made his six and three, uh, unfortunately, because of you know, the battlefield promotion was a real thing, and and he had a couple of rough tours, unfortunately, for him. My dad, uh, God bless him, love him. He was the one that decided to go into the Navy, uh, taking the uh to this to this day, he does say that he regrets not going to the Army. Um he wish he had. Disappointment in the son's eyes. Uh womp, womp, womp, womp. No, I'm I'm proud of my I'm proud of dad too. You know, he he did say never again volunteer yourself, right? The that's what Navy stands for. So um, but had he not done, had he not done that, uh I would not be here, right? Because he met my mother, who was in the Navy uh at the same time. She was a corpsman um at the time going through that training and uh met my dad. They hit it off at least long enough for me to come into the world. Um and then, you know, my mother is actually uh, you know, she she served um four years in the Navy, then did a service transfer over to the Army, did some inactive time, but picked up an active guard uh contract, and uh she is officially retiring in February. She's a command sergeant major. Yeah. Down down in Florida, down in uh Florida AGR, right? So um, so my mom's been a lifer. Uh I come from a line of lifers before that. Um, and actually, funny enough, it as I continue to dig into my family history, you know, not to get too like Lieutenant Dan about it, but like every single American wall, some somebody from my line, my tree, going back somewhere in my family line, um, all the way back to French and Indian times, um somebody with my genes was fighting in some conflict. So I would just say that um ever since I was young, I never sought out easy things and I couldn't explain why. And I definitely I wasn't the fastest or the strongest or the biggest or the best or the brightest at all. Um, but I knew that I wanted to be um where things were tough, and I don't know why. I I I never understood why that was about me. Um I've like I there have been times in the moment where I've regretted it, but like overall in my life, like I'm I don't regret it. But like I just had an inclination uh inclination ever since I was young. I think one of the earliest times I can remember it was I was just I was in elementary school, and you know, at the time we had physical education before they decided to kind of take that out of schools, right? Hopefully that'll be a thing that comes back. But um, I remember they had kind of like ability group A, B, C, that kind of stuff. You know, they had that, right? And we would do this lap around the baseball field. It couldn't have been more than, you know, maybe a third of a mile or or or tops, right? But I just remember that was the route to run. And I was a terrible runner ever since being a kid. Like running is not something that I came by like naturally. It's something definitely I've had to work at and scrape and claw at and stay on top of and really focus on trying to be. But it irked me that I wasn't with the A group. And I I like every time we went out there, I would just push myself to the point where I was like throwing up, feeling like shit, just to get up there with the egg, just to make sure that I was in that, like that top pack, that front pack that was finishing. And I don't know why it bothered me. I couldn't figure out why. Um, it was like in my head, like, why do you care? Like, coach doesn't care. You could stay here in the back, but there was something about it that irked me, uh, that it that it I didn't have I wasn't with that. And so, you know, eventually I did, obviously, I just because I just ran harder than the kids around me were willing to run, right? And so I came from the back of the pack to the front of the pack before the school year was over. Um my mother obviously instilled a lot, like reinforced a lot of those. The the carrots and sticks in the household reinforced a lot of those things. So it was always, you know, do your best, always. Um don't settle for average, don't settle, don't settle for anything, right? Like go get what you're worth, work harder, put your head down. If there's something you want, then get it. If you if you're complaining about something that you don't have and you're not working towards getting it, I don't want to hear it. I I don't I don't I'm not your shoulder to cry on. I don't want to hear about your woe was me. I don't have if you're not doing the things commensurate with what you said you wanted it to. I had to grow up quick in that regard. Um, and I just kind of grew up in in that sort of household, right? My my mom didn't spare the rod. Um, my grandparents, you know, they reinforced those teachings as well. And so, you know, some people are of the opinion that I was raised in a like a tough home. I was, and that's fine. Like that, that's okay with me. Like it there were there were things that I took away from it that made me strong enough for the world that was to come. So I don't regret those things. There's certain things that, you know, talking about my mom, my grandparents, stuff like that. They kind of you know, regret some of the heavy-handed stuff. But overall, like it made me kind of who I am. So it kind of primed me perfectly for you know, going into um something difficult, right? Uh, I didn't uh initially want a life of service, you know, because uh I saw how much my mother poured into it and how much my family members had poured into it certain times, you know, and I was all like, oh, I want to do something else, you know. I yeah, I want to go into sports, maybe I want to go into entertainment. I thought law enforcement, I thought a couple of different things, right? But it was just like I wanted to be challenged. Um, and when those things, you know, kind of fell through and and my path changed a little bit, I realized that I wasn't living up to my potential. And I realized that um something just kind of clicked for me, you know, something clicked like it's it's my turn. It's it's your it's your turn to go do what it is that, you know, like my father and his father, his father for him, you know. And so um that's just uh that's just kind of one day I woke up and it just kind of all made sense. Like, Mike, you're supposed to be a soldier, so get your ass over there and let's go. Um and not only are you supposed to be a soldier, but like you're gonna you're gonna go places and try things and do things that other people uh either can't or won't, uh mostly won't, um, won't allow themselves to get there. Again, trying to get to that, trying to get to that that lead group, right? Um so that's really what kind of fueled me coming into the army was making sure that that's what I wanted to do. And I've said before uh on you know um other times I've talked about this, but uh, you know, I didn't know what really what ranger regiment was or what rangers were. I just knew ranger, the word gets thrown around a lot, and ranger equaled elite in my mind. So it's like elite, ranger, cool, ranger, special forces, range, special rangers, something I I just want, I know that I want to go pursue something like that. I knew that I wanted to be more than. And um, if I wasn't sure about it at that point in time, I was damn sure fucking sure about it by the time I got done with basic training. Because the thought of being around like 90% of that population for the rest of my service, I was like, damn, dog, like none of them even want to sniff this, and I'm okay with that because I want to go the opposite direction of some of the things I'm seeing over there. And so that just kind of like made it up in my mind that like, okay, you know, I'm wired for this. Um I I took to this a lot easier than most of the other people that were very avoidant to it, resistant to it, didn't want to adapt to it. I just kind of just yeah, seamlessly glided right into it. You know, basic training wasn't hard. Um, and uh I I knew that I was kind of on the or at least I had a good assumption that I was on the right path of of where I was supposed to go and what I was supposed to do.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Absolutely, man. You get um a lot of people think that everybody's cut the same when you get to basic training, that everybody has the same drive. This is not saying anything bad about anybody, but there is a there is a division. There are guys that are just I'm just gonna get through this, get to where I need to go. And there are the kids that want that that ranger contract. They want that extra challenge. And um that is not for the faint of heart. It is not an easy thing. And you see you see very different people when uh you they get separated and the kids are going to rasp, uh or start, you know, they they go to their reception, they go to their their new home, and what was it like for you? Understanding and knowing that you were cut from a different cloth, you're made, you're you're you're looking for the challenge and that day one experience. It's no longer airborne school, it's no longer basic infantry. Now you're like, all right, now I'm starting my my audition for ranger regiment.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I you know, I I as I've pontificated on this before with uh some of my some of my friends um years ago, kind of trying to explain it to them and and you know, on uh other uh shows, interviews, other times I've been asked about this question, right? Um and I've said like I've said it before that I wanted to win. That's what I w I wanted to win, right? Um and I think that's what I think that's what really separates the guys that are supposed to be there versus the people that aren't gonna make it, right? Is is they have this drive and this need to get the W, you know, um because uh something that something that played to my strength as I was coming in and kind of gearing myself up mentally for these things, right, was the fact that I came in a little bit older, right? Um had I come in at age 17, 18 years old, 19 years old, maybe I wouldn't have made it. Maybe I wouldn't have. Maybe I wouldn't have been uh emotionally callous enough, mentally callous enough, uh tough enough to do those things. Because there were, I mean, there were moments even at you know me being 21 years old and having gone out in the world and lived some life through college, through working odd jobs, through, you know, ups, downs, failures.
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SPEAKER_00:Coming up short, heartbreaks, relationships dissolving, family relationships dissolving at times, right? I mean, like, not to play the world's smallest violin, but if you want to imagine like every single door that I was pursuing getting closed one by one in my face, um quite a you know, quite a bit of bit of it through fault of my own, some of it by through just sure sheer bad luck and and and the poor decisions of other people, right? Um I think those are blessings where I think those are blessings.
SPEAKER_02:They are no they are we don't see it in the moment because uh I've I've uh I've talked to so many of our our our generation of guys, and I was right there too. I was chasing all sorts of weird shit, and oh, I want to be a police officer, I want to go to get this degree, uh I I need to go to CSU, I need to go to Colorado State. But what? But uh every opportunity that I thought was my thing kept closing when I talked, and like I said, when I talked to other guys, they had the same experience. And then it's like, well, when am I really truly happy? Like when am I really excited about life? Like when I'm challenged, when I'm going through something difficult, like it it's it's such a unique thing. I don't think a lot of people understand that like we feel complete utter failure that that like oh this opportunity didn't turn out right. And it it's only when we sit down and take that knee and reflect that we're like, okay, maybe it's this, maybe it's that. What was that definitive like last door closing that made you just say, fuck it? Like, I'm going after service, I'm going into this. When I was homeless.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, like, if I'm be if I'm being honest, you know, thank God, th thank goodness for the generosity and kindness of some incredible people. Um, the Ford family is who I'm thinking about right now, you know. Um, I was uh I was couch surfing um over there in their apartment. Um, you know, before that, it was like literally had nowhere to live for a little bit. Um and still trying to fit this square peg through this round hole of, you know, no, I'm gonna make it. I've got I've got plans, man. You know, like that, like uh, you know that guy that always is like, you know what, dude, I got an idea. And he always has like some fucking startup idea, but like never actions it. That was me, right? That was me dyeing my hair black and shit. You know what I mean? I had earrings. I put earrings in. It got fucking weird, man.
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna seven minute abs.
SPEAKER_00:That's exactly it got weird. You know, it got weird, right? I was gonna be, I was like, yeah, you know what? Screw it. I'll be an MMA fighter. That's what I'll do. There's, you know, and I'm like, I don't, you know, like, um, but uh you know, and I'm like, oh yeah, you know, I in like if I put in like two good years of hard work, I could be in the UFC. I'm like, fucking moron.
SPEAKER_02:Um but so he's got one friend that's like, God bless him.
SPEAKER_00:He's like, fuck yeah, Michael, you can do this. I I'll I'll help train you.
SPEAKER_02:I know a guy. Right.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Actually, you know, funny enough, the uh the the Fords are uh they're both Brazilian jujitsu black belts now. Um yeah, he lives in uh he lives in Brazil uh pretty much full time. He does the um oh I don't want to mess this up. It's the it's the Brazilian, it's a BJJ Fanatics podcast. He's the host of that show. Oh, nice. Um and he uh yeah, he's out of Damian Maya's school. He's a he's a black belt. His brother Chris is also a black belt. So I mean they stayed with it. They they were good, you know, and everything, but it was like, you know, that wasn't much of a plan, you know. I'm like living on their parents' couch by their good graces. I'm eating rice aroni at their house, you know, like I'm eating their food, I'm like, you know, and I was just like, God, you know, hey, I, you know, as appreciative as I as I and indebted as I was at the time to those folks, like that's no way to live. You know what I mean? Like I I I was I was bringing nothing to anybody, you know, quick. You know what I'm saying? And so I just I couldn't live like that anymore, right? Didn't I had a similar thing?
SPEAKER_02:So that was sort of the definitive I was uh that was really yeah the last apartment I had um going back, it was a sublet. So I'm like living beneath a house, and it was a poorly constructed like basement apartment. Like it's it was no way in hell this was legal. But he the guy rented out the top to two guys fresh out of prison. Like I'm not talking about like local county jail, like fresh out of fucking prison. And I just remember having this day coming back from my dead end job and sitting down with these two dudes, they're like trying to understand how to live amongst other members of society, and they're like, man, like I I just I don't know how to live and move up in where I'm at right now. And they're telling me this, and I'm like, dude, I don't either. Like, I don't know where the fuck we go, Bo. But uh maybe what's that we go active duty.
SPEAKER_00:What's that movie Liar Liar? Where he's like, stop breaking the law, asshole.
SPEAKER_02:In for a split century, I'm like, fuck, dude. Like, I'm I'm in college, I'm in the National Guard, and but in this moment right now, these are my peers. They're trying to desperately stay on the right side of the law, find meaningful work, and feel like they're contributing to society. And I'm I'm on the same level as they are. So what does that tell me? Like, and it and you know, by the grace of God, I found myself realizing that like, dude, I I'm meant for something more, and if I play by the rules of society to where they're what they're telling me is what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm never gonna succeed in life.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I think I realized that, you know, it's it's kind of like that um when you're a kid, the parable of the the ant and the grasshopper, right? Yeah. Where it's like, hey, I can I can still I can sit here and you know, try to take advantage of people's kindness and basically screw around and and and not get serious about like really knuckling down and going through and going to the places and the paths that are seldom traveled. Um and I can go nowhere quick and I can essentially die next winter. Or you know, I can go ahead and say, hey, I I'm obviously not doing a great job of uh of figuring my shit out right now. Not much is going right for me right now. And maybe I need to listen to that little voice in the head that's saying, Hey, I think there's a path for you. I think I think there's a spot, there's a way that you can go ahead and at least eke out an existence for yourself in the meantime. And it's funny because, you know, uh, I know some people are not very religious or faith-based or whatever it is, but I I've I've come to find God in the design of life. Typically, when it's things that are not going my way and I can't figure out why, and then all of a sudden it all makes sense, right? I think I was born and destined to do what it is that I do now. That's what I was supposed to be. And when I leaned into it and embraced it, um those doors that were closed, they started flying open, right? Yeah. And not only was it flying open, but I was succeeding and I was winning. And after being a five, six, seven, eight time loser in the things that I wanted, wanted to do or thought that I wanted to do in life, all of a sudden I'm a winner. All of a sudden I'm first in basic training honergrad. I'm I'm the rasp honergrad. I was a ranger school honergrad. No shit. Just boom, boop, boop, boop, boop, boom. Oh yeah. No, a real one, not like Tim Kennedy. Like I was a real like Ranger School honor grad. I'm looking at the tomahawk on my wall right now. Hold on, wait, hold on.
SPEAKER_01:Oh. Hell yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_00:There she is. I got her. It's it's real. It's for real, okay? I don't need anybody coming after me. A little fact check, bro.
SPEAKER_02:That is not an easy thing to fucking accomplish, man. Not an easy feat. Um, just graduating it, man. Just graduating and getting through the process. Um, but getting that honor grad, getting those, getting through those doors are opening up and seeing the momentum, like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. That is a powerful reminder that you're living your purpose, your mission, your why. And to connect it to that, that spirit, to connect it to like, okay, God's looking out for me, that's important. To have it in the moment because I didn't. I didn't have that ability to reflect and say, okay, God's, we're really quick to pray when everything's bad, but I wasn't willing to accept and look at God's as He's operating, He's getting, He's giving the opportunities and He's putting them in front of me, and I'm succeeding. And I think that's something we got to talk about and help people understand that, like, hey, be grateful for the blessings, but you have to be grateful for the fucking missed opportunities too, man. And be beware, be aware when the happy, in those happy moments where you're succeeding, you didn't succeed all that by yourself. There's somebody out there looking out for you, whatever, whatever faith you have, whatever you want to believe, just understand, acknowledge it, man. Yeah. Um, because we don't get through this by ourselves.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, no, no, no, you you don't. And that's one of the things I laugh at the most is like the uh, you know, the the lie of the self-made man. You know, it's like this American dream or this kind of lie of the self-made man. It's like, I ain't self-made man. Look, somebody cared enough about you because I have kids. I've I've got uh we just we just uh welcomed our third daughter. Um, you know, three girls, three queens, right? Um you're so frail, you're so fragile, you're so helpless. Somebody cared enough about you in some way or form, someone did, to get you to adulthood. You couldn't do that on your own, right? So, I mean, even if you're you come from a situation that's rough, tough, you didn't get a lot of handouts, you didn't get the silver spoon treatment, you maybe you lived in a terrible place, you know, where you you barely kept the lights on, you weren't able to eat horrible things happen, whatever. But somebody, somewhere along the way helped you enough or did something for you to get you to this stage in your life. Because we live on a savage, savage rock in an unforgiving space, right, surrounded by a million things that could potentially kill us. And somebody along the way helped you out enough or gave you something to get you to where you're at right now. And I think people need to take uh account of that, obviously, and also God's grace, you know, in that in that life, in that journey, right, to to put strategically those people and those opportunities in your life to at least get you to another day. And um I've had to really do a lot of deep thinking on that because I I definitely, you know, there's there's times where, you know, I'm anybody that works with works with me, works around me, the cadets at the program can tell you this, fellow cadre, people that have worked with me before, I I always say, I say, aim small, miss small. We're gonna aim small, miss small on this one, which means I'm not gonna be satisfied with where it's at because I want us to miss small. I don't want us missing big. I don't want us completely missing the point of the training or you know, getting to a place where we get complacent and it's just good enough, right? Um, but with that, gotta be kind of careful in those moments not to be ungrateful, right? And uh and take stock of the things that are going well, right? So you can have that drive and you know, you can have that intensity, but you know, just remembering the off to the side, like, hey, thank you for blessing me with this intensity and this intentionality and this, you know, attention to detail and those kinds of things. But I do understand that this is a blessing. I do understand that we're where we, you know, thank you for for getting us where we need to. It could always be worse. Could always be worse. I'm not gonna change. I'm still gonna be obsessive over these things. We're still gonna strive to be the very best that we can, but I'm thankful for at least we have X, Y, Z, whatever it is, because it all it could always be worse.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely, man. And I gotta imagine that that lesson was uh was brought in when you, you know, we're being formed and molded in regiment. Um we we forget that our units, when we are whenever, wherever you go, that's the place where we get the most mentorship, the most development. And for every ranger, or I should say, clarify, for every soldier that I know that served within Ranger Regiment as a member of America's most elite infantry unit, that mentorship process is brutal at times. Absolutely brutal, but pressure makes diamonds. What was it like going there and and you know, that first day on the ground, meeting your team, meeting your platoon, meeting your team leader? What was it like going there and getting there? 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.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'll say my first day on the ground was literally on the ground, uh, doing a lot of push-ups, doing doing some bear crawls, um, you know, uh, welcome, welcome to the intensity of this place. The funny thing was, is like, you know, like I've I got my beret, I was the honor grad. Then I had a high G GT, high enough GT score where I was selected to go to the uh regimental combo course, right? So it's basically like I was just smarter than the dummies to go learn how to do some radios, right? And it was me and like everybody else that had a college degree. I didn't have a college degree, but like everybody I was noticing a trend, right? I was like everybody else pretty much had a college degree in this in this group. I didn't have one, but I happened to be you know smart good enough, right, to go. So I unf it was fun because you know, I got to be like in regiment, but it was pretty chill, like by regimental standards. The course 100% was, you know, because we just came out of rasp, it was like intensity 12 out of 10. This was like about a six, you know, and it's like, oh, okay, cool, cool. You know, yeah, obviously, like it's ranger regiment, like don't mess around, don't screw with these guys, but at the same time, they're teaching you. And we had, I think the course was two or three weeks long, and we had a four-day and a three-day, and it was like, what the fuck is this, right? Like all of a sudden we have like freedom, you know, these other things like that, right? So I I get out of there, I'm like, okay, I'm the top dog, and I've already done this course. Like, I'm I'm killing it. I'm gonna be like, you know, and it only took two weeks for the humility that I was storing up, you know, in rasp and rasp hold to kind of dissipate because I, you know, I was like, you know, I'm young, I'm look good in my uniform, crisp beret, and all that walking around the you know, big old hog like walking around battalion area like I'm the fucking man. I got the Charlie Company, they snatched my fucking soul right out of it. Boom! They were like, let me let me get that, homie. Just like it was a little chain. Give me that. Give me that, give me your chain, bitch. Get on the ground. It was like, whoa, dude. Like, you know, I it was it was funny because I thought I was the shit. I did realize I was the shit, but I was like the shit on the bottom of their boot, pretty much. I was the lowest guy on the top. And I realized very quickly that, you know, and I realized this when I met my rasp cadre too, but this was just like a continuation of it, right? Where it was like, oh, I've now met legitimate war fighters, right? Like, here they are. Here they are because they're they're literally still doing the job. And that level of intensity, that level of, you know, like I thought I I literally thought like there's a good chance I might get my ass whipped in here today. Like, like I'm like they may just like I felt like you know, anybody could have come out of anywhere and just been like, just start balling me up. You know what I mean? Like if you were like on pens and needle, like shifty eyeballs, like little sweat beads, like shit, man. I hope he doesn't talk to me. Who's that? And it turns out he's like a private, but he's like terrifying, you know what I mean? Dudes are walking around in PTs, it's like, who's that fucking guy? You know what I mean? He has one rotation, but he looks harder than woodpecker lips compared to you, right? Um, so that that's what it was like at Seiko 375. And anybody that knows Charlie Company 375 knows that that is uh quote unquote dubbed, you know, lovingly the standards company, right? It's like the standard bearer. Um they're gonna enforce them, right? Um, it's it's just that way, right? That's that's how those guys were. They were very professional, um, just no nonsense, hard-nosed, physical company, especially with uh the first sergeant that was coming in at that time, which was uh first sergeant Brian Strait. Um incredible, incredible NCO. Um can't sing his praises enough. Learn so much from him, mainly don't piss him off. That was the that was the main lesson I learned. Um, but he definitely uh he played hard and he partied hard. And you know, if if if you were doing the right thing, you never had to worry about anything with him. But when you didn't, you you knew, like you knew sure as Christmas Day that he was going to show up and hammer everybody. Like it was because it it was it it felt like a it felt like very much one big organic thing, Seiko. It was like we do things here this way. This is the Charlie Company standard. These are this is the place we're molding right now. I don't give a shit what's happening outside of here. This is how you're going to act. This is how we will be. And if we're not that, fucking heaven help you. And that's that's how that was run there. And that's something that has stuck with me throughout my entire career. When we talk about building places and building teams with a certain amount of intentionality, attention to detail and an identity and a culture. And what I'm saying right now will sound very, very familiar to my cadets at AM because that is how we have tried to model Rudder's company and turn turn that into that kind of a place where it's this is how we do it here. I don't care what's happening out there. This is how we're doing this here. And um, and that was that was kind of the biggest lesson that I learned at Seiko 375 um right off, right off the rip. On, you know, and obviously after that, it was all of the all of the skills, right? All of the all of the rangering skills, all the block and tackle skills, you know, your marksmanship, fitness was ruthlessly enforced, obviously. All of our battle drill six, uh CQB, CQC, 0300 mission, airfield seizure stuff. I mean, like, it was meticulous, meticulous, meticulous drilling on every single aspect of the basics, right? To bring this beautiful thing together where it's like you're so good at these developed hard skills that when you bring them all together, nobody can mess with you and fire and maneuver as a direct action force. You just can't, right? Um, I started off in weapon squads, like you're talking crew drills, you're talking rates of fire, you're talking understanding that weapon system inside and out, whether it was the 48 or the 240, whether it was bipod, tripod, whether it was whatever the loadout was, what was the mix for tracer uh versus the uh versus ball? Like what is plunging fire? What is grazing fire? How do we swing? How do we traverse? How do we search? All that stuff, right? You know, how do we pack it out when we jump it? What's a blocking position versus a support by fire? Like all of these things, right, um, were just beaten into the head and made some incredibly, incredibly lethal squads, teams that came together to be incredibly lethal platoons and an incredibly lethal company.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And I have to imagine that that formative development that's based on rigid standards just sets you up for success. You can apply that methodology to anything and bring that to young minds and help them shape their future careers just based on learning and understanding the principles of prioritize excellence in the small things. That is the the one thing that I've seen from so many successful guys that come from Ranger Regiment is that defining like a personality trait of seeking excellence in everything they do, um which can oftentimes set you apart from a world that praises mediocrity and praises being just willing to just submit the bare minimum. Like that is yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That hallmark, coffee shop, psychology, just hey, just be ha just you know, just do your just be you, just be your you know, live your truth. Like live your truth. Yeah. What the fuck is that?
SPEAKER_00:Like what what if you're delusional? You know what I mean? You know, like live your truth, really? You know, I yeah, no, I I find myself juxtaposed often to what is considered normal, average, good enough, or even what some people consider good, right? And again, it's it's it goes back to that aim small, miss small uh kind of mentality that, you know, for better or for worse, a gift and a curse, right? Um that that I I walk around with, you know. I like I said, trying to be grateful, but at the same time, it's like man, I'm really grateful. That's awesome. Now, this is how we could do it better, you know? And uh and you know bringing it down a notch. Yeah, I don't I don't think I don't think that's something I'll ever lose. And you know, to be honest with you, I don't want to.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Dude, that's there's nothing wrong with that. Um and and I have to imagine when we look at what it takes to be leading at the uh at that level, at Ranger Regiment, which is dude, it is known. There is one standard, one standard, and everybody needs it. Excellence across the board, through and through, and it's addictive. Nobody wants to leave a company, a platoon, a regiment that is fixated on winning. One thing, win. How do you get to the point or or what happened to get you to say, you know what? Maybe I can be a force multiplier somewhere else. Because everybody I've talked to, whether it's a sergeant major or a young specialist that's decides the ETS, walking away from Ranger Regiment is not an easy thing.
SPEAKER_00:Um to answer your question, um, you know, everybody has an expiration date in Regiment. And um I think, you know, for some people, that's being the RSM or the RCO. For some people, that's not even making it through your first enlistment, you know, or not even, you know, like making it through RASP, you know, I d I don't know, right? Um I've heard I've heard some statistics from Regiment uh that suggest that it has a very similar shelf life to the NFL, where the average career there is anywhere from about three to four years. And that's that's the average NFL career as well, right? And um so it's the reason I use that as a comparison is because soldiers are athletes, and I think that just completely gets lost a lot of times in the translation of what we do on the day-to-day. I think the further you get from the tip of the spear, the less you feel like an athlete, the more you feel like it's a nine to five, whatever. But at the end of the day, um working at AFLAC, no one's gonna come to your house and tell you to fucking move because you couldn't run two miles fast enough. You know what I mean? That is a reality in the military, right? That is a reality that, like, if you don't uphold a physical standard to wherever it is that is expected of you, you're looking at a lifestyle change, Bubba. Like a big one. You know what I mean? Like you got to go home and explain to your wife that you're too out of shape to keep the house. That's a problem, right? Um, and and that's gotta be humbling and just so just awful. And um, you know, there's no e there, they're really, you know, not trying to sound like a navy SEAL, but like there, there is no easy days in regiment, you know, not really. I mean, well, that's actually a lie. There's certain days that there's certain days that are easy, but there's a lot of days that are, you know, like tough, right? It's on the line. Like you, it's constant competition for your position, for your job, everything else, right? So, like, and and I've said before that a place like that absolutely needs to exist. Has to. Uh, you gotta keep that place sharp. You have to. And if that means, you know, taking off some of the dullness, then by all means, it's just the that's the nature of that beast. It's a volunteer unit, it's a special operations unit. It's not for everybody, and it's not for everybody all the time. It might be for you from X to Y, right? There might have been a finite amount of time that it was for you. And that same guy in another time space, it's not for him, right? The time has kind of passed him by. I am that guy. Uh and I'm very honest about that, right? Like, if I wasn't, I would have been called out about that already, right, from that crew. I physically and career-wise timed out where I timed out in regiment, right? I had a had a big injury to my shoulder, really messed up my timeline. I capped out. I didn't have the jobs available that I needed that were commensurate with my time, grade, rank, all that. And I probably, I probably could have milked a little more time had I looked into maybe like a going back to a shop job or a headquarters job or whatever. And that's, hey, listen, I'm not talking shit on anybody that does that. Like people have different circumstances for why, family, whatever. I knew that I did not want to prolong my time there by doing that. I I wanted to leave with, you know, as much of my good name still intact, having done some good things in the unit, and not, you know, be the guy that's like fish, you know, starting to like, oh sh, dude, he's still in the S5 shop. Like, what are you like? He's still selling fucking decanters, you know. Like, no, like I'm not doing that shit, right?
SPEAKER_02:So dude's been the Star Major's driver for seven years.
SPEAKER_00:What the fuck? Hey man, not this guy, right? Not this guy.
SPEAKER_02:And and so it it took um this episode is brought to you by Titan SARMs. Head on over to Titansarms.com and buy a stack today. Use my code CDny10 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_00:You know, I think I you know, I'm not trying to toot my horn in any way. I'm just saying I think it takes some courage to, you know, know to like, hey, I know I need to go, and I'll I'll find another assignment, I'll find another way, and I'm gonna walk out of that brown fence um with my head up, as opposed to, you know, being forced out, RFS, you know, whatever that is. Because you're right, the the allure of that place is intoxicating. You miss the guys, you miss the culture, you miss the you miss the sweet stuff, you miss the facilities, the funding, the fire and forget nature of a lot of things. I didn't even do my own DTS pretty much the entire time I was there, you know what I mean? Like we had people for that, you know, and so like when you leave, it's a new story, right? I felt like in a lot of ways I was learning about the army for the first time in fucking 12 years. Um, like, what do you mean I have to do? What's that shit? You know, and so like I I literally over the last couple of years have been very thankful uh for this assignment here at Texas AM because I've had to learn how to army, not just special operations. I've had to learn how to be a holistic NCO in a lot of ways, uh, through some trial and error, um, as opposed to just being on the line. I had to learn how to be an infantry man, not just an assaulter, not just a ranger, you know, strike force assaulter, right? Which is like, I feel like in so many ways, the GWAT for all those years, it was very rinse repeat. You had a very distinct mission set, direct action point, raid, time sensitive target, go. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. Now I'm realizing how much my life was ruled by uh, and they're they're they're good because they have their time, they have their application, right? But SOPs, TTPs, things that were derived uh from doctrine, but are not doctrine and are nowhere near the whole, it's nowhere near the whole rule book, not even close. And so over the last couple of years with Ranger U and those kinds of things, like when I started delving back in and realizing like, holy shit, man, like I my scope of knowledge that I thought was very vast and very broad was not so much. Like I had to hit the books again and realize and start to learn and really like begin to unpack, like, okay, well, this is what Ranger Handbook says, but this is what ATP says, this is what the ADP says, and really kind of like start falling in love with that re-education of those kinds of things and like understanding what an a light infantry platoon and how they would function and the things that they would have to go through versus, you know, hey, time-sensitive target, wheels up, 10-hour op, back on the fob, gym, tan, laundry. Not to say that, not to say that I didn't, you know, I didn't do my fair share of roughing it, like definitely spent 24 days outside the wire on one of my rotations. And I know that's not as much as some people, but for Ranger Regiment, that's that's that's some time. That is but that be that that being said, right, like, you know, I can definitely rough it with the best of them, but like again, right, it just that that awareness of like what I was and and and what I was taught up to that point, and and really, really good at that, but this whole new level of awareness coming out to the conventional, and moreover, like where you're now educating future officers, yes, you know, running sticks, sticks and you know, FTXs in that more conventional space, as opposed to, hey, we've got little birds, we've got all the rounds in the world, we're gonna go out here, we're gonna burn this place to the fucking ground, and then we're gonna hit the waffle house at 2 a.m. Like that's not how the rest of the army trains. Like, they go to the box for like two months and live an apes existence out there, and that's like a completely whole different thing that you've gotta you gotta gear your mind up for. And so just I I think moreover, like leaving, it really just gave me that awareness. And I'm thankful for that because I'm able to take that foundation and those intangibles and the tangibles that the Ranger Regiment gave me, and then now have that broader awareness of the army, and then find ways to to plug and play and make you know, live the charter. Go make those conventional units and those kinds of places better with how we do things in regiment. It's not so much like it's not the what we do, it's the how we go about things that is I think the real impact.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, man. You you you're hitting so many things that I want the viewers, if you're if you're an enlisted man, if you're active duty right now, um, hell, even if you're not, you can still take away this this these bits of knowledge of professionalism. It's not about being complacent, being happy with what you have already achieved and sticking to what you're good at. And we've lost the idea, I don't know where. I I think it's partly because of GWAT, um, where NCOs are just comfortable being who they were, who what they did, and and and not diving into the text. The idea that NCOs are dumb and aren't educated and aren't supposed to be well versed in their profession and all aspects of a profession needs to go away. We need to bring it back to the professionalism. It's not just about our officers. Our NCO, our NCO core, the backbone of the military, is more than capable of learning and diving into their training manuals and understanding their profession inside and out. Because when that young officer comes to your platoon and they're supposed to be leaders, you're supposed to be that person right there helping them understand their job. And and that's something that I love about special forces, where it's like, yeah, you got a captain, you got a warrant officer, but it's a fucking team sergeant. It's the NCO. He's like, don't get it twisted. That's the fucking guy. That is your superhero. That is a dude that's a subject matter expert. And that's what I want people to understand. Like, the the fact that you were willing to sit down and say, you know what? I I'm not gonna rely on just my ranger regiment tactics and professionalism and everything I learned there. I'm going to dive into this and understand the wider conventional force, what it really truly means to be a an infantryman and understand that this is gonna change. It's not gonna be fun. None of it is fun. There's a lot of reading and a lot of deciphering information and very humbling. Yeah, and it's constantly evolving. It's evolving today. What our guys and gals are gonna be seeing in this next uh in in the future of warfare is still being written in books right now. Um, and like I said, man, it's individuals like yourself that are going back to these schools and taking on these leadership challenges of being a mentor, of being a guide, of being a coach to the next generation of leaders that uh like we need to fucking look up to and say, dude, you're doing a great job. Support them. Like, and I I find it really fucking awesome that you tapped into podcasting to put this knowledge out there, man. Where did this idea come from?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so um it came from me being so uh actually it was born of selfishness, uh, and it turned out to be like um kind of like a way more beneficial to people than I thought. I got tired of repeating myself. Um CO thing ever. I'm serious, I swear to God. I I uh I had given classes, you know, based off the the Ranger handbook, um, you know, so many times, right? Because I really do feel like that, you know, for all its faults, uh as it's you know, the applications um change on the ever-evolving battlefield and all that other stuff like that. Doctrine in and of itself is mostly descriptive in nature, mostly descriptive, and it's supposed to be that way. It's supposed to give you the lefts, rights, but you operate in here, right? Procedures are prescriptive, right? And so in the Ranger Handbook, there's a lot of procedures for how these things are done. I like to start there with new young units and uh students and whatnot for a couple of reasons. Number one, it's a good common operating language right off the bat to get a young cherry platoon to go accomplish XYZ quickly, right? You can get them spun up with the TTPs and the SOPs and the kind of the checklists quickly to go do a basic um, you know, combat operation, if you will, right? Next, Ranger School itself is a huge driving force behind, you know, um, career progression. So it would probably be good to at least know most of what is gonna be expected you and that school so that you can go get your tab, so that you can go plug in and be in the places that we want quality leaders to be. I would hate to think that you know, we have a really good dude, a really good quality leader, but um he just doesn't quite understand ranger school well enough. So he's not gonna get his tab, he's not gonna get his career advancement, he's not gonna be in a good position, and some rock eater that you know happens to get through the school that's all you know nails up here, um, he is, right? And now he's in a position just being an awful leader with a ranger tab. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna say, I would say most people, most, I would say most people with a ranger tab are good dudes. Most people with ranger tabs are problem solvers, but there are the examples of the ones that didn't get through, that are great NCOs and officers in their own right, but because they don't have that little piece of cloth, you know, it's okay, that's cute, your back burner. This guy knows what's going on, no matter how fucking dumb he might be, or toxic, right? Or self-absorbed, right? Because it has Ranger, right? So what the hell question were you asking? Where did this come from? So, anyways, that's my very long roundabout way of saying with I didn't want I Yeah, no, no kidding, right? Jesus. Brought to you by ADHD, big time. Um it uh it started from me just kind of getting tired of repeating myself. And then I I started to think like, okay, well, you know, if I had I can't get these kids to read a book, but I can get them to listen because they have a very busy day, right? So you can listen to a podcast while you're on the treadmill, the bike, walk into class, you can have it on in the background while you're studying something else. You you got a 20-minute drive, boom, you've got a podcast episode. You can go ahead and fire that up and learn about raid, learn about React to Contact, learn about land navigation pro tips. You can learn these things or at least hear these things, so it's not the first time you're hearing it when we go to that uh block of instruction, right? Um, and so that's kind of where it started for me was there. I had no idea the wider impact. And I listen, when I started it up, I was like, it would have been nice to have an audiobook companion for me sitting in my locker as a brand new private, trying to read the Ranger Handbook and decipher what the hell it meant, right? Um, and unpacking that tactical and putting it in practical terms, right? I wanted to make the tactical practical, right? That's one of my like little taglines, right? So, anyways, trademark pending. Um trademark, right? Um, but I had no idea that so many people were going to listen to it, right? I I thought I was like, hey, if I can get like if I can get like 50 of my cadets at the program to listen to this and they get a little bit better, wonderful. I had no clue the reach that sh that and and I I am an awful podcaster. Like I am so inconsistent. I gotta put more episodes out. I still only have like 20-something episodes of that podcast. I have to record more, it's just been so busy, right? But um, I've had so many people reach out to me from all across the Army, officers, NCOs, senior NCOs, junior NCOs, kids that want to join the Army, people that are going to ROTC, other ROTC cadets that have all made mention something from the show or the profile or something helped them out, right? Um, whether it was a block of instruction, whether it was something motivational that you know I had put up or something like that that that had helped them out. And then I've gotten probably two dozen messages of people that graduated Ranger School that are like, hey, I listened to your podcast before I left and I got my go this time. You know, and so that to me is so cool. Um it's it's really humbling to um to know that in some small way um I was able to just Help somebody level up. Other than that, I could care less. And contrary to popular belief, I don't make a dime off of this at all. I got accused of oh, he's making he's making money off. I'm like, I don't make a dime off this shit. I wish I did, but I don't. So like I don't make any money off of this. You know?
SPEAKER_02:People are so fucking yeah, yeah. People are insane. They're like, oh, you got a podcast? You must be swimming in money. The amount of people that come out of the woodwork when like you have like uh an episode that does really well, like, hey man, uh, you know, you seem to be doing real good these days. I'm like, sir, I run a poop and come joke meme page and podcast. I am by no means fucking swimming in millions of dollars. I am a small business owner working my dick off. Like you are barking up the wrong tree. Yeah. It's but it's when you make content that's purpose-driven, that's helping people, that's really the payoff. Like you might not be able to take it to the bank, but through your actions, you're making our force better. You're making our infantry leaders better, you're making a young soldier better. Like just thinking, just what you just shared right now. Individuals are able to get through one of the toughest leadership schools the military has to offer. And they're able to get a go, man. You're changing their trajectory, you're changing their path in the military, and you shouldn't take that lightly. That is a huge fucking thing, man. So kudos to you for stepping up and being willing to do that. Because, sure, it's just sitting down in front of a mic and recording and sharing some knowledge, but now more than ever, we live in the digital space. And if that young kid who has a dream of going to ranger school and and he doesn't have a good mentor, he doesn't have somebody that's willing to sit down with him, but he finds your show and your profile, and it's given him the motivation to succeed and just fucking try, man, which is something that I'm seeing that is just that's it, it's not as common as we is as we think it is. What people that are willing to try to just achieve more than the bare minimum, it's becoming a rare fucking thing. So kudos to you for being willing to reach across in in the podcasting world and wanting to aspire just a little bit of positivity out there. Um the the more important thing though, have any of your cadets graduated and have you been there long enough to see your guys or gals graduate and hit the force yet?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Uh actually, so um right now our company is at about a ninety four percent of the guys we've sent over the last couple of years graduation rate for Ranger School. Um we've had iBullock honergrad, we've had IBullock Iron Iron Man, we've had Ranger School undergrad recently. Oh yeah. Um we have yep, and we've had um a former um a former member of our company uh from my first year here who just uh was selected through RASP two. And we have more uh heading in that direction as well with interviews and whatnot. Um we enjoy a nearly flawless graduation record uh of uh army schools. There's one in particular and the and the one that I can think of right now uh unfortunately broke his leg at airborne. He's going back. So like he's he's he'll he'll go back, he'll go crush it. That's the only reason. Air assault grads, airborne grads, plenty of commissiones, plenty of guys and gals out there doing great things in the force. And then, you know, our numbers, um, you know, not to not to go down the rabbit hole of boring, but um here for advanced camp this last year for ROTC, um, we hit like historic uh benchmarks, like historic. Like no one has done that um for what we were able to do in in terms of yeah, regimental honor grads and racondos, and racondos are basically like, you know, you you maxed out everything. Um and um just top five percent national OML, top 10, top 15, top 25. Just the things that we've been able to produce from the program have been elite. We've put up twice the number of any other program across ROTC in general of you know, Rekondos and national graduates, distinguished military graduates, for the uh I think it's gonna be the fourth consecutive year, 99% of our company or better, well, like 99% of our company. This year it's 100%, but I think we're carrying about a 99% average for Rudder's company right now uh of getting a branch of choice. So these these cadets are going where they want to go. That makes me so happy and humbled and proud as their senior enlisted advisor, because I tell them do your best and you will be where you're supposed to be. And when they make that commitment to the company, because we have we have our own standards, we have our own constitution, we have our own tenets, we have a big five priorities, we have a vision statement, we have a mission statement, we have a motto, we have a culture of our own. We have a culture that we want to keep rock solid in that place, just that same kind of culture that I was introduced to at Charlie 375. We got that. We got that. You know, it's not the same, it's not the same. I'm not saying it's the Ranger Regiment, it's not the Ranger Regiment. But if they were to come hang out and see, it would be familiar. They'd be proud. I mean, they'd be like, mmm, this feels right, you know. And um, and that's that's that's how we get after it, right? And so that culture of do your best, do your best, always, no matter what. Like, and you will be where it is that you're supposed to be, because you will have earned what it was that you were supposed to earn. And if you do anything less than that, you won't. And to have it play out, to have it be success, to have it end in the way that validates that makes me extremely happy for for all of them. Um and uh it's it's just incredible stuff. Like I I never would have thought that I would have the the personal investment, the personal relationship um and relationships that I've had with those cadets um and those future leaders and really like really care and have a vested interest in you know their futures and the things that they go on to do. I don't have much time left in the Army. I hit 16 years like tomorrow in two days. In two days, I'll hit 16 years. By the time I'm out of this assignment, I'll be over 16 and a half years. So whatever assignment I move to after this is gonna be my last assignment in the Army.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I have put just as much, if not more, of myself into this assignment than I did in 12 and a half years in Ranger Regiment. And it's because I believe so strongly in showing those future officers the good NCO officer relationship, molding those future leaders to go be impactful leaders in their formations, outside their formations, and do things that make sense and start getting this our force and our country in general back to somewhere that makes sense, back to somewhere where we're doing simple better. We're getting back to the basics of what it is that we do and doing it at a high level and saving lives on the battlefield and off the battlefield in garrison, developing, developing formations to be successful, not just transactional shit, not just using people for three, four years and then they're just as bad off as they were before they came in. Developing those lower levels, exercising mission command and driving those things down to those lower levels, allowing people to, you're not abdigating the responsibility, but you're driving authority into this formation so that everybody owns it, right? That's where you make great organizations. And I want to take our guys and gals and shoot them out into the force where they go make little miniature rudders companies all over the place. Uh, that's that I'd love to see that. That would be so great to see that kind of an impact across the force. And I know it's not going to be a tomorrow thing, it's not gonna be a next week thing, but eventually, you know, eventually, I I I would love to see them go and make those impacts all in those places. And it would make old Sarge very happy.
SPEAKER_02:Um I think you will, brother. I think you absolutely will. That's a that's the power of your mentorship. And I I have no doubt that even the the viewers, even the people that are watching the things that you put on your social media are seeing that and making a conscious effort to be better on a daily basis. Just one percent better each and every day, because your reach is not just within the the echo chamber of universities or ROTC. Now you have a presence all around the world. You have veteran, non-veteran, civilians. The message that you put out to the world is to push. I think it was perfectly perfectly perfectly captured, sorry, in the post you put out the other day when you were talking to your cadets to finish strong, to run all the way through, sprint all the way through. Don't give up, continue sprinting. Even when you're gassed out, even when you're fucking tired, finish strong. And it was such a powerful message that uh it resonates with everybody that's trying to do better in what they're doing. And I I can't wait to see more of that content, man, because you never know who's gonna find that, and you never know who you're gonna inspire. And all of us in this space need to understand that. Um, so dude, thank you for what you're doing. For those of uh of the audience that don't know about your profile, where can they find you?
SPEAKER_00:Yep. So just uh on Instagram uh at ranger you. Uh that's r.a.n.g.e.r.u. Um and uh I don't I don't have like a mirror profile on Facebook or anything like that, but I'm just I'm just Michael Mega on Facebook. But um that's more for the the older crowd. I I I like to do family and college football sort of on Facebook and then you know Ranger use its thing. Um and uh so anyway, that's that's where they can find me. I don't have uh anything else fancy. Uh you can Google me. Um if you put in uh US Army, Megan, Ranger, Megan, anything like uh AI search will pop me right up to the top. I have found that out. So um so apparently Google knows who I am. So and then we'll give you plenty of links to my stuff, my podcast, podcasts from other people that have been on. So um you can find me that way too. Um and if you really want to find me, you can come down to College Station, come on down to uh campus, find the Trigon building, come up to the third floor, last office on the left. I'm there. So you ready to do some fucking push-ups too?
SPEAKER_02:Brother, thank you so much for being here today, man. It's an absolute blast. Like I said, you're doing great things, and I I I hope more young people find your content and get inspired and and choose to go into a life of service in the military, no matter what branch. I'd really like for you to consider the army. Maybe, you know, maybe pick up that 18X challenge. Maybe go see if you got what it takes to be an 18x ray straight up the street. Maybe. I don't know. Whatever it is, I just want you to take up the challenge to serve. We need more service members. Uh I think it's a great gateway to an amazing life. And um, you know, I was a kid dreaming, and I continued to dream, and doors kept fucking closing in front of my face. But the moment I stopped, I took a nean and decided to bet on myself and go active duty. It's the greatest fucking decision of my life. Win, lose, or drop, bad experiences, good leadership, bad leadership, shit deployments, fucking selection, being a paratrooper. It was the life, it was an adventure of a lifetime, and I just want more people to find themselves doing it. Absolutely. So fucking uh stories.
SPEAKER_00:You gotta know when you're in the good days. Yeah, you gotta know when you're in the good days, man. It's one of those things, right?
SPEAKER_02:Dude. Absolutely just a blast having you on today. Thank you so much, man. And to everybody listening, do me a favor, pause right now. The episode's over. You know the spiel. Go to the episode description, click those fucking links, support the sponsors. They're making this available. I really would like for you to help them out, maybe buy a couple things from them, but I won't push it on you. But please click those links. Say hello to Michael on Instagram, follow his account, and get ready to be fucking motivated, you fucking hooligans. Thank you all for tuning in, and we'll see y'all next time. Till then, take care. SecureDob Podcast is proudly sponsored by Titan's Arms. Head up an episode description and check out Titan's Arms today.
