Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
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Security Halt!
From Ranger to RRC Icon: Leadership, Faith & Identity with Mike Edwards
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SPONSORED BY: PURE LIBERTY LABS, PRECISION WELLNESS GROUP, and THE SPECIAL FORCES FOUNDATION
In this episode of Security Halt!, Deny Caballero talks with Mike Edwards about his journey from elite infantry and reconnaissance roles to leadership and spiritual growth. They discuss the operational challenges of Afghanistan, the importance of cultural understanding, and the transition from combat-focused missions to mentorship. Mike also shares how faith, prayer, and community helped him navigate identity shifts after service. This conversation highlights the deep connection between military excellence, personal purpose, and spiritual grounding.
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Chapters
00:00 The Elite Infantry Experience
02:52 Journey to the Reconnaissance Company
06:04 Operational Challenges in Afghanistan
08:45 Navigating Checkpoints and Local Dynamics
11:54 Transitioning to Mortar Platoon Leadership
15:02 Innovating in the Mortar Platoon
17:59 The Importance of Leadership and Adaptability
20:57 Cross-Unit Collaboration and Cultural Exchange
23:58 The Path to Freefall School
26:32 Curriculum Development and Instructional Leadership
35:06 The Impact of Mentorship in Free Fall Training
39:55 Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life
43:27 The Journey of Faith and Personal Growth
50:10 The Importance of Spirituality in Leadership
55:35 Normalizing Faith in the Military Community
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Um I it's it's one thing I gotta I gotta tell you guys, I gotta tell you if you're listening, and uh you wanna you wanna be part of the premier fucking light infantry fighting force. Need to go Ranger. Like that's just the bottom line. And within Ranger Regiment, there's very there's there's one secret little fucking nugget that's still out there locked away, and that's a reconnaissance boys. Like that's uh and Mike today, man. I gotta dive into this. Everybody knows about CAG, everybody knows about fucking SEAL Team 6. You're a part of something that's more secretive than any of that shit. And we're not gonna go into uh anything that's classified, but uh I wanna I want to dive into your full journey and how you fucking made it to like the the one last closely guarded hard kept secret in the fucking military, bro. Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_00:It uh it the the the way I got there is because just like you said, everybody like not everybody, but most guys want to become a tier one operator. Like you do some time in special operations and you get to work next to these dudes. And that's the thing in Ranger Battalion, we get to work next to those dudes day in and day out. So you're like, hey, I kind of want to do that stuff. Um, but even us, we didn't work with the RRC guys, the reconnaissance company guys, that much because they were kind of off doing other things. So about halfway through my career, I decided I wanted to do something to the next level. So it was like go to Delta Force selection or something else. And and at the time, this was like probably midway through the GWAT um 2007-8 time frame. And uh I was like, man, Rangers are doing the same missions as Delta Force 90% of the time overseas. So I'm like, if I go to Delta Force, I'm just going up to the pro level of doing the same job. So I decided to go to the reconnaissance company. I bumped into a dude actually at Benock, or like either PLDC or Beanok, and I was like, what do you do? I've never seen you before. He's like, Oh, I'm over here in this this little secret spot. And I'm like, Really? What do you guys do? And he told me, and I was like, that's what I want to do.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, dude, chance encounters, man. That's that's uh, those are the best stories, dude. I think that good people that are doing great things and they have that honest broker mentality and they pass off that knowledge, not in an arrogant way of like, so you know, I met you know, some pretty, pretty shitty green berets before I became one, but it was the inner the positive interaction with people in service that are willing to share, like, hey man, like yeah, this is if you think this is cool, you should see it from the inside, and you can definitely do it. Like, go go try out. That's something that I wish more of our young service members that in those you know awesome, high-profile jobs would realize. Like, you're the greatest recruitment asset out there, yeah. Being able to just be a good dude, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I I met so many dudes once I got into that organization because I would be out doing stuff alongside Rangers and Delta Force guys and stuff, and guys would come up and they'd be like, hey, I've seen you around before. Like, what are you doing here? Why do you have long hair and a beard and all that stuff? You know, and I'm like, Oh, this is what I do. I'm like, hey, you want to come in? I'd give them like a capabilities brief. I'm like, hey, I can do this, that, and the other. I do cland clandestine reconnaissance, low viz stuff out in town by myself, rolling around. And I would even bring dudes on missions with me. I'd be like, hey, you want to roll with me on a daytime mission? Low viz in town. I need an extra shooter. And like I would take dudes from the sniper section or some guy, some of the more senior guys like that, and they would roll with me if their chain of command would let them. And then these dudes would come back and they'd be like, Yep, I want to do that. You know, because it's something different. You're training us, kicking indoors, doing CQB all the time. And that's kind of what allured me that direction. I just, I was like, man, I want to do something different. The CQB stuff's fun. I love it, but there's plenty of that to go around. And when I went to RRC, I still got to do that, man. I was, it was kind of like the best of both worlds. I was doing, uh, got to do all the free fall stuff, all the cool guy free fall stuff, you know, all the surveillance, surveillance detection, all that kind of stuff. But then overseas, I was running indige recce guys, kind of trained like me, um, clandestine operatives in town. And then I had rangers right next door. So I would go out on missions with them at night and do battlefield interrogation or sniper overwatch or whatever I could do to fit in, just so I could go out on missions. And I went out with them and the CAG dudes like night after night after night. So it was fun.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Dude, my first my first experience and exposure to to what you guys did was downrange. And it was kind of one of those, just like I talked about, being a good, honest broker of your profession, of where you're at. Um extremely professional, extremely capable, and it was an an insane added value. Like you go out into the local area by yourself. Yeah, yeah, by myself. It's like, oh holy shit. And and and and how much information can you give me? I'm like, oh a lot. Yeah, what would you like to know? And that's the thing that's like by himself in a compound and running these, you know, I and it's one thing to roll out in country with 12 dudes in a fucking CH 47 filled with commandos. It's another to go into the wilds of Afghanistan or Country X, often by yourself or maybe one other person. Like, how did you manage to do these operations and missions and feel like, all right, cool, man? I'm just gonna roll out here in my uh 1990s Crown Vic and just have a day.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I kind of got exposed to it even before when I when I was in the Lion Ranger Battalion, I got tasked to work for the Omega programs. And so I was working with the agency dudes and some of their AFO teams rolling out with just me and one of their dudes. And I was just kind of I was kind of like the Rangers I was bringing along. I was just an extra shooter, you know what I mean? I'm like, hey, I'm not scared of anything, man. I want to go out and do cool stuff like that. Just see you get to see the city kind of undisturbed. Because whenever you're going out like with a bunch of commandos or a bunch of rangers tagging along, dude, everybody knows that you're coming. Like, well, you don't matter how secretive you try to be, they're gonna hit the helicopters, dudes are gonna be calling up the trucks driving down the road. The city doesn't act the same. But when you drive out Lo Viz in a car that looks like theirs, dressed like them, you get to see the city operate the way that it normally does. So you can gather accurate intel that way. So I rolled with those guys, and and it really, I was like, this is what I want to do. So yeah, man. I mean, they trained us to do all that stuff, and we kind of had the freedom, man. Like I, like, for example, most of my trips, I was up in northern Afghanistan in conduce, and I was working technically for underneath CAG, you know, the Delta Force guys. They had they had a CAG troop there, and then they had a Ranger platoon there, and they would alternate missions every other night, and then I would provide their intel. So the the Delta Force guys were so much better to work for, honestly, than our own unit because Rangers didn't know how to use us for the most part. They they kind of did, but they didn't understand how free and how capable like they could just launch us and we could go um and do different things, and that we were trained to actually do this stuff. So I worked for the Delta Force guys and I had a lot of freedom, more freedom than some of the other guys because they knew what that stuff was about. They had dudes doing that stuff in Iraq. So they they used me pretty effectively.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it and it's it's um dude, it's it's one thing to get ISR footage and try to, you know, plan for your your mission, get some try to get some men's ration data, try to figure out where's all the doors, all the windows, and stuff like that. But getting information from you guys, it's literally across the street. It's hey, here's here's where you're going. There's here's the information. Like that's fuck, that's a lot of fucking A, it takes a lot of guts, a lot of steel nerves to go through that. Was it did you feel differently like going? I mean, I have to imagine it's completely different than rolling up at night with your boys fully decked out. Like, did you kind of have that feeling of like my ass is out here in the wind just dangling a little bit?
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, dude. Um, so we really planned for the worst case scenario, like all the time. When we rolled out, like when I rolled out, I usually had at least one team of Delta Force dudes kind of on standby in case the crap hit the fan and I needed to call. But like my QRF was like a cell phone, like I was pulling up a little Nokia cell phone, like, hey, what's up, dude? Hey, I need y'all to come get me. Roshan. Yeah, because I couldn't have all that military gear on me because we went through checkpoints, man. And um, I I would take, so I had an interpreter, and it, if I went to a place where I knew I was gonna have to talk my way through checkpoints, I would take my interpreter. But the interpreter that they gave me, he was um, I can't remember what they call him, like a class three, had a T S S C I clearance, right? But he was an old fat guy from lived, he was actually had no joke, he was born in Afghanistan. But this dude, um just an amazing dude, he he was like 60-something years old. So he lived actually in America longer than I had at the time. Because I was only 30 something years old back when I was doing this, you know? And so he and he was on, he's like, Mr. Mike, I'm just an old fat guy. He's like, I cannot help you. I do not even know how to shoot, shoot a gun. So I took him to the range, taught him how to shoot a gun, a pistol, you know what I mean? And then I took him with me, and then he got comfortable. He's like, I am not combat terp. I am not combat terp. I'm like, it's okay, buddy. It's okay. I just need you to talk to people. And so I coached him into going out with me, but he really didn't like it. Um, because we were in a really sketchy area, and like if you strayed one street over this way, like you could just they could kill you. They did it to some of our even our indage, man. Um, it was so tribal up there where kind of my A was that if you got across the river, even our indage had to have a reason to go that way, or they would kill those dudes. So um, and I I wasn't, I was careful. I kind of knew the area and worked it a good bit. So what I ended up doing was I ended up talking him into teaching me Dari, which was the dialect up there. Yeah. So I learned Dari good enough to talk my way through checkpoints, to talk directions, and I could carry on conversation. I could even do battlefield interrogations in Dari after a couple trips over there because every night, dude, we just he just told me Dari, and I would write it down, and then I would just practice saying these different phrases over and over and over again. And after one deployment of about four months, I was good enough in Dari that, like I said, I could do battlefield interrogation and talk my way through checkpoints. So I didn't really need an interpreter after that.
SPEAKER_01:Damn, that's I mean, there's comfort in having at least another human being that's you know, American in that car. Bro, I I can't imagine the the the balls on you to drive through Afghanistan by yourself. Like, and I'll mark this just in case I don't want to, you know, there's there's some serious, serious stuff, and I I don't want to make it uh, you know, all take too too much liberty, make it light, but um what was your reason for being there? Like, what did you come up with and develop as to say, like, oh hey, I'm just I'm an American, go through your checkpoint, how's it going? Like, what was the the story that you had to weave and develop to fucking get you through there?
SPEAKER_00:So a lot of times, I mean, it once they like they see you drive by, they they they're at glance. I looked like an Afghan pretty well. My hair wasn't this long, but it was about like this, and I had a much bigger beard, and I have darker skin anyway, so I could blend in. But when I get out of the car, I'm six foot two, so I'm a little bit big, you know what I mean? And then when they talk to me, that my dialect's not there either. So what I did is I piggybacked on um a lot of the uh USAID and like the um different nonprofits and Red Cross type stuff that was out there because those dudes are always in and around all over the place, and I just would act like those guys. One of the things I used to use a lot is that I was looking around for um different like signs of like IED traffic and stuff like that. In certain areas, I did that, like, hey, we were teen. If I had another dude with me, I'd say, hey, we're just looking for you know areas, we're just trying to make the place safer so that no children get blown up. So we played it off, and depends on where we were. We would play off the story like we were essentially some sort of nonprofit out there to dumb down our demeanor so people didn't think we were in the military. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, man. Like that's uh yeah. And we tried to make sure that we didn't go through checkpoints. Like I didn't go through checkpoints unless I absolutely had to, because I don't care how good you are, it gets, I mean, talk about it gets sketchy, bro. When you're by yourself and you're in a checkpoint, you're like, holy crap, I may not be able to get to my phone because they like to pull people out of the car and mess with them. I mean, they pulled some of our indage out. And uh the another thing that I did is we had indicts that were trained almost like us, and uh, they were completely covert operatives. They didn't go on bases, they lived in the city, they ran businesses in the city, and I won't get into the details of that, but I leveraged those guys, and a lot of times they'd be pulling counter surveillance for me when I was doing things, or sometimes I was pulling counter surveillance for them.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, dude, that's uh that takes a special person, dude. And that takes a lot to go and do that job over and over again, man. Because you roll the dice every single time, man, because you have to remember the human factor. One day you might get somebody that's in a good mood, another day, hey, I might decide to be Taliban now. Give me all your shit, give me everything. Like, that's that's a reality of Afghanistan, dude. Like, people don't understand the complexities of it. Like you're your own commando force, like, dude, by and large, a lot of them flip-flopped on when they're what year am I supporting the Afghan government, or am I Taliban this year? Like that's the reality.
SPEAKER_00:For example, I rolled through a checkpoint down south near Kandar. Luckily, this one we were rolling Low Viz, but it was three vans, and it was me and a bunch of SEAL Team Six dudes. So we rolled through there, and it was just an admin thing. We were running from Fob Gecko where we were at, which I probably bumped in some of you guys down there. Yeah. But at Gecko, we went up to CAF to the main base to just do an admin run, brief the commander and some stuff, and then driving back. And we got out of there a little bit late. Curfew caught us, and so here we are going through a checkpoint. And first van got through. I was driving the second van, second van gets through. All of a sudden, I hear over the radio hey, they're holding us up. So, like, hold what you got. So we stopped. I was on a bridge, and then I started backing up closer to those guys so I could support them. And same thing, it was an A checkpoint, but they decided that they're telebanded night and they wanted to mess with us. Um, but luckily, our interpreters talked our way out of that without a shot being fired, which is good because, dude, we're in thin-skinned vehicles, not wearing any body armor, just pistols and subguns stuck down on the seat. Um, but they they actually used the military radios. They're like, you see this green radio? We're talking to the night plane, and if you mess with us, the night plane's gonna kill you. And and that's what worked.
SPEAKER_01:Don't call my bluff, don't call my bluff. This thing doesn't even have fill in it. Yeah, I know that would suck. But dude, the the the reality of the these jobs, you can't do them forever, man. Like, how long did you were you in the RSC?
SPEAKER_00:I was there from like 2008 until like 2013. And I could have stayed there longer. Dudes, a lot of guys did a lot longer of a time there. Um, but I went there as a senior E7. So I got into the company and then I loved it, man. I enjoyed it, but I was uh I was the number three on the team right after I got to my first team, uh, number three or number four on the team, and then bumped up to number three, and then moved to another team, and I was the number two on the team as an E8. I actually got penned E8. So I was the number two on the team as an E8, just kind of riding it out. And it was kind of cool because they didn't hold us really to an emto that much. We had a lot of E8s in that company and a lot of E7s. And then eventually the next year, E8 list came out, and dude, we had, mind you, this is a company of 60 dudes that has 36 operator positions, so six six-man teams. And so there's not a whole lot that I think there was actually nine Mtowed E8 positions in the company. But that list, that next list came out, and we had like 18 in the company. So then the regimental star major started knocking on doors, like, hey, we if you're not in a team sergeant position, you got to go back to Ranger Battalion. So that's what ended up happening. I was an assistant team leader as an E8, and I was actually getting ready to take over another team, but I wasn't really chomping at the bit to be a team sergeant. I mean, I was still pretty new. I was only like maybe four years or so on a team, three, four years on a team. And I was happy at being an assistant team leader. And then um, so when that another guy, I ended up taking an extra deployment, and so I ended up missing it when that new that team came back. So another dude took that team sergeant position. I'm like, no big deal, they're not gonna kick me out of here, dude. Then next thing you know, they're like, hey, if you're not a team sergeant, you need to go back. So I ended up leaving and going back to third range of retine to do platoon sergeant time for a little bit as an E8.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, it's it's hard when it the choice isn't yours. And that can I was talking to somebody a little bit earlier today. You know, you're at a position where you are enjoying your life, you're enjoying everything, and you're a part of an elite unit, elite group of individuals, worked your entire life in a military career to get there. Somebody comes in and says, now you gotta go back down. You gotta go down one notch. And it, yeah, it's gonna kick you in the dicks. And and how long before you were able to see it as an opportunity to give back rather than a curse?
SPEAKER_00:It took me, well, first off, I went over there because I didn't want to say, yeah, they asked me to go back. And I was like, wow, you know, I'm brand new here, I don't want to go back. And so then I heard that it was it was the mortar platoon for third ranger battalion, and I don't know anything about mortars. Uh, so I'm like, all right. So I roll over there and I talk to the platoon, and I met the squad leaders, and I was like, man, I like these dudes. Um, so I was like, you know what? I guess this isn't that bad. I'm always gone. My wife started complaining about me being gone all the time because I had I was newly married at the time, and only, you know, she'd only been with me for about a year and a half while I was on a team. And um, so I said, okay, I'll think about this. I'll talk to my wife about it. She was cool with it. So I went back. And then after I got there, it wasn't long afterwards where I was like, you know what? I'm not here for me anymore. I'm here for these dudes. And I tried to do the best that I could. These the mortar guys were like the black sheep of Ranger Battalion because at this time the ROE was like a lot more strict. So they weren't using mortars, even though these dudes, no joke, hands down, the best mortarmen on planet earth. Like, these dudes were amazing how accurate they were and how fast they were. That's all they did was drill this. And I was impressed by these guys. Um, but I get there and uh they're not being used, man. These dudes are getting stuck out on BPs with like other units and people like that that are supporting or with a like a machine gun team or something like that. And they just want to go in with the assault platoon and kick indoors and kill bad guys. So what I did was I was like, well, maybe I can make them more versatile. So I send dudes over to battlefield interrogation courses with RRC guys, and they got cross trained in that. So now they could go to that platoon leader and be like, hey, sir, not only can I carry this mortar tube, but I can also go on target and battlefield. Interrogate and it frees up one of your squad leaders from doing that. So did that, sent a bunch of guys to um army sniper school, and then sent a bunch of dudes to the special forces sniper school, Sodic or whatever we used to call it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And uh these dudes, and so in the Ranger Regiment, we have um a lot of people may not look know this, but we have the army's issue like equipment, and then we have USASOX issue equipment, and then we have what is like the black side equipment, like you guys Crifts probably had that too. So we had like three different sniper rifles that everybody could choose from, and nobody used the regular army stuff because it was actually pretty decent at the time. They had come out with this SAS, right? Um and so the sniper platoon sergeant was a buddy of mine, so he issued, he gave up all the sasses um and some of the other like SR25s to my dudes. So my dudes had their own assigned sniper rifles, yeah, and they would take them on deployment and they'd go on with the platoons and they'd be like, hey, I got an extra, I'm an extra sniper if you need me. And they'd climb up. And you know, like if you're doing CQB with the commandos and stuff overseas, man, being up on that wall with a sniper, that's the place to be. That's the dude that gets most of the kills, man. So I like doing that job. So we trained those dudes to do that, and they were I think it it brought value to the platoon, but not only that, it brought the morale up for those dudes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Dude, and that's a that's a testament to what one leader can do. The impact of one good leader that can see the bigger picture, the bigger problem. Because anybody else could have gone there and just been like, oh, this normal mortar platoon, this is just just uh the way it is. We're just gonna keep training, keep doing what we have to do, and not innovate and not change, and not realize what the guys wanted, which is be part of the fucking team, to be part of the picture. Yep. That's a testament to your ability to get over that what could have been a situation where you could have pity for yourself, where you could have sat there and be like, oh fuck, I don't get to be part of this amazing culture of something I worked hard for, and saw it as an opportunity, man. That's uh something that a lot of people can take from, regardless of where you're at, whatever you're performing, whatever job you have, like be willing to see past like the immediate letdown of not being given the opportunity you want, but seeing the promise and seeing the the possibilities and where you're going, where you're headed, and fucking maximizing your potential, man. And dude, that was that's a good idea.
SPEAKER_00:I was this close to to getting a free fall capable mortar section in third ranger battalion. So I was a free fall, I was already MFF, or I was already a free fall instructor course graduate from the Yuma Freefall. Oh shit. Yeah, so I was already a graduate from that. So I was like, hey, um, I hadn't worked out there as an instructor, but I went out there, I went through the course and all and taught, you know, we we have our own, you know, the Ranger Regiment within JSOC has its own military free fall program. So uh what I well, and this is how it came up. Some SEAL team six dudes called me up on like the you know, the red line, and they're like, hey, are are you guys' mortars freefall capable? And I was like, no, bro. I wish they were. I wish they were. And it'd be a lot cooler if they were. Yeah. And I said, I said, that's interesting. Got some wheels spinning. And then next thing you know, Delta Force dudes called me up. One of my buddies who was a squad leader with me, heard I was the mortar platoon sergeant. And he's like, hey, dude, he's like, Are any of your mortar guys freefall capable? I was like, no, dude, like none of them are. But they had these very unique, specialized missions that they were doing in places, other places outside of the theater of Afghanistan and Iraq, and they were and they only wanted Ranger mortars. They're literally like they're legit trained mortars. So then um SEAL Team 6 um wanted our some of our mortars for a ship to shore mission. So we sent mortars up there, and these they trained our dudes in water stuff, and our dudes swam to shore and did some maritime stuff with the SEAL team six guys and provided mortar support. And so I was like, you know what? Dude, everybody wants to use our mortars except the Ranger Battalion. So I said, Crazy. Yeah, so I came up uh so in the mortar platoons huge in Ranger Battalion. It was like a 60-something man platoon because we had 80, uh, you know, 82 millimeter mortar sections. I can't, I can't even remember the the one, is it the 105s or what I can't remember? The big mortars, and then we had the 60s, the 64s, so or 62s and 84s, I may be mixing them up. But we had all different systems and we had crews to man them all for battalion level all the way to platoon level to all these different things. And I had in the platoon, I had two E6 senior E6 section leaders, and then I had four E6 squad leaders, and then I had tons of other dudes under there. So I was like, man, I'm gonna take these four squad leaders and my two section leaders, that's a six-man element, plus myself, and we'll create a military free fall capable team. And um, I was like, we could tandem in stuff, we could do all this kind of stuff, we could tandem in guys' equipment and mortars, and then our guys can jump in and provide mortar support. Briefed it all the way up to the regimental commander, but it ended up getting shut down. I wish it had it was that close, man. That battalion was all for it, but regiment ended up shutting it down. Ultimately, I briefed that mortar capability up to the battalion level. The battalion ops serge major was a forter former mortarman, so he was like, heck yeah, I love this idea. Yeah. And then the battalion sergeant major was such an amazing dude. Um, this guy named Vic Balsteros, he was all for it. And then we briefed it. I finally got the meeting to brief it to the regimental serge major, and I guess he had no clue who I was. He's like, you know, we spend like$2 million a year just to train RRC's small teams. And I was like, Yeah, I know. I said we could piggyback on this. You're talking six dudes. Let's do it as a proof of concept. And if it's successful, then we spread it to the other battalions, but it's still gonna be a lot less than training up RRC. They don't need to be to that level. Like the RRC guys were jumping, they're jumping at least a hundred jumps a year, just in the jump train-ups, plus you know, all the other stuff they're doing. So I was like, we don't need to be to that capable. We just need these dudes to be able to be safe, jumping out of a plane, and follow the leader. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Talk about bringing a whole different level of lethality to that forced. Yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_02:Fuck.
SPEAKER_01:I wish it was the endless.
SPEAKER_00:So did he the did he uh kill it right there on the spot? Yeah, pretty much. He pretty much killed it right there on the spot. He like I tried talking to him offline, but he wasn't hearing it. So I'm like, come on.
SPEAKER_01: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 a super greens drink. Pure Liberty Labs has you covered. Use my code security hall10 at checkout today. Old heads, man. Old people kill ingenuity and innovation, man. Fuck. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They do, man. And that's one of the things uh Ranger Battalion's a great place to be, but within the battalion, the line battalions, it's way more, way more open now than it was then. Um, but there was still a little bit of closed-mindedness. Not necessarily, it was just they didn't know what they didn't know, right? Whereas like we could work with you guys, we could work with you know, Delta Force guys or whoever, and they understood stuff a little bit better because they had at least some free fall experience or something like that. So um, but they've it's come a long way even since I left there, man. The line ranger battalions are so much more open, especially with my buddy who's the regimental star major, man. He's such a good dude. And the last couple regimental star majors they've had were the younger generation, like our age, you know what I mean? So they brought a lot of um innovation and ingenuity in.
SPEAKER_01:You know, one thing that I really loved that I wish we would see more of is there was a program. I think it's still alive, but I think uh it needs to be in not in force, but um maybe championed and and brought out to the light a little bit more. But you could do an exchange program with Green Berets and Rangers. And I remember seeing it at my company. Uh I think it was a six team. No, it was a dive team. I think a dive team had a ranger regiment, dude, that was dive qualified for a little little under or maybe plus or minus a little bit for a year. And uh it was just a cultural exchange, if you will. And it was one of the coolest things you could like you could see, and I think we need to bring that back, more of that. Be able to like show guys like what the other life, what the other world is like, and innovation, ingenuity like that, it not only like it helps the spirit to core, but under keep you it allows you to understand that you're still a big you're part of a bigger team. Everybody gets raptor. I always hear this like, well, who's better? Ranger or seals or or or green berets? I'm like, dude, different jobs, different people. You should be able to like, hey, if you're qualified for this, take a PT test, we'll send you over to the Ranger Regiment for uh a few months. Go hang out with some Rangers, go see what it's like over there. And I bet you having that interoperability, being able to see what the other side's doing, like, dude, I I I hate to say this, but you might see a lot of guys jump ship from the other way.
unknown:Yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_00:That happened, man. Um, and you know, I didn't realize that until I met this old crusty serge major up in Alaska. I went up there to do some training with third ranger battalion when I was in the Mortal Platoon. Met this old retired sergeant major, ranger sergeant major. Come to find out he was a sergeant major in ranger regiment. He was also a sergeant major in special forces. He was a platoon sergeant in ranger regiment and a team sergeant in special forces. And I was like, how are you going back and forth? But back in the 80s, man, these dudes were hopping back and forth from SF to Ranger to SF to Ranger to SF. And I was like, man, that dude, that's such a good thing. Because within our own units, we get inbred, right? Like you, because it's so close knit, and like you don't talk to people outside of it much. So Rangers, they do cross-pollinate with Delta Forest and SEAL Team Six a lot, but not so much with SF or Whiteside SEALs or anything like that, or the Marsock guys. So, and there's a ton of good information out there, but they did bring that program back, like you said. I guess like you saw it at your team, and I knew some rangers that did it, and then they transferred over to SF, and then I knew some SF dudes that did it, and they were talking about wanting to come to the regiment. You're right. Because you see the other side of the fence, and I think that's so good, man. And I can't believe they did away with it. But I talked, I was actually surprised. Um, last time I was back at the regiment, I guess the entire Ranger Regiment is technically like a tier one unit now, and they're doing exchanges with like SEAL Team 6 and Delta Force, from what I heard. Um, and that was from the regimental commander. I was like, oh, that's interesting.
SPEAKER_01:That's badass. Yeah. It's true, man. It it we need to be able to see both sides. If you can give guys the opportunity, you already made it through selection, you already got your fucking funny hat and your long tab and you feel cool. Like, be able to experience the other side of the military, the other side of those other elements. Like, I think it's needed, man. Uh, and it gives you the the ability to dream again, like, and and then get rid of the stagnation, that feeling of like, fuck, I can't innovate, I can't go anywhere else. Like, I'm just I'm tied to this. It wasn't long before I realized, fuck, I'm married to seventh group forever. Like, this is my language, this is my area of operation. Like, even within that, like, fuck, I wonder what it would be like to go to 10th group. Yeah, what would it be like to go to fifth? Uh, never first group. Fuck Asia, wouldn't want to do that or third group, no thanks. But I could definitely see myself trying to J setter two uh with 10th group. And now, I mean, the um we gotta be able to innovate, man. And it gives guys in those senior level positions something to try, man, towards the end of your career, because it it ends for everybody at some point. Everybody has to walk away from it. Like, which leads me to the question: when did that come up for you, man? When did you know, or when did you start thinking, like, I've had this career, I've been doing this for so many X amount of years. Like, what else is there?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, man. So I think the thing for me was um after my time was done in the mortar platoon, I was gonna go back to RRC and take a team. And me and one of me and the the senior enlisted advisor, which is like our star, it's our company SAR major, um, because it's that company's kind of formulated like an SF team, kind of, or a company. And I he me and him kind of got in a pissing contest a little bit. And I was like, come on. Uh he was keeping some dudes around that I that were already, you know what I mean, kind of short time and they're about to retire. I'm like, dude, send that dude somewhere else and let me come over there. I'm so fit and ready to rock, you know what I mean? And uh, and he was like, You're gonna, you're gonna, I'm not gonna listen to another E8 tell me how to run my company. And I was like, come on, dude. I was like, the heck with this, I'm not gonna do it. So I started looking for things so that I could spend time with the family then. I didn't want to stay, I didn't want to be a first sergeant in Ranger Battalion, even though they still get to go out on a lot of missions. I just don't, I wanted to stay operational. So, or give back to the force. So I was looking at ROTC, had an idea to do something like that, and then ultimately ended up, I found out that they had dudes or they needed dudes out at the free fall school. And I said, shoot, I love jumping, man. So I I looked into that, and the SAR major was like, hey, if you'll decline E9, I'll take you. And I was like, sweet, I don't care to be an E9. Decline, you know what I mean? I've already declined it anyway. So I roll out there, and man, I went out to Yuma, Arizona to the free fall school, and uh, and I enjoyed it, man. I ended up uh got there, and as soon as I got there, a guy named Jeff Thompson, a fifth group guy, um, super solid dude. He was the NCIC of the basic course, and he brought me in. He's like, hey, I want to make you a debt leader, like like right after I got there. And I'm like, bro, I don't even know how this course works. Um, but he liked me, and um, and I don't know, he loved Rangers and he loved RRC guys. He had bumped into an R former RRC guy doing ROTC actually, um, right before that. And he was like, Those dudes are solid. I want you to be a debt leader. So he made me a debt leader right off the bat. So it's kind of a Steve learning curve because I had been out to the instructor course, but I hadn't done the shadow program yet. So I was shadowing as a shadow instructor while running courses as a debt leader, and then did that for about a year. And then after that, I ended up having to get um neck surgery, got this neck fused. Yeah, see you here. Yeah. So, and back in the day, you're out of ops for like six to seven months. So at the time, the MFF JM course was not jumping. So I said, Hey, Sergeant Major, I I know you need a new NCLC for the jump master course. I'll go do that if you move me over there so I can get this surgery. So I went to Freefall JM, got the surgery, did it jump for like six months. But the whole time I was scheming and I was planning, I rewrote the curriculum and added jumping back in. The most jumping that there ever was in the free fall jm course. And this was after your time because um Brian Schrader was the NCIC probably during your time. Do you remember that dude?
SPEAKER_01:Um I I I remember him. Um, and oddly enough, do you remember Jason DeWees, JD? I do know the name. I can't remember what he looks like. Yeah, he was my butt quick segue. He was my free fall Jesus, and uh don't never fuck, I'll never fucking forget JD. Mustache and Aviators. I was having a rough time in uh the second portion, uh, combat equipment, full wall locker daytime. I just for some reason, just fucking couldn't get stable, and that dude comes in like fucking free fall god out of the mist, and I'm fucking sweating because I haven't gotten my go yet. He's like, so uh what's that? What's your problem? Again, the whole spiel, get get stable, Kim. It's like, yeah, all right, you're gonna get it this time, trust me. Nothing to worry about. I don't know what the fuck it was. I don't know if it was the hand of God, but I had my best fucking jump out of that series with JD, and I get on the ground. I'm looking to you know, talk to the instructor and uh never see JD ever again. A year later, he comes walking into my team room. That's our new as our new 18 echo 18 Fox. Dude, what a story. So he saw that story, man. You'll have the best mentors, and like that's like the greatest thing about free fall is and I I remember it like it was yesterday. It's like, dude, like that that pep talk JD gave me a little more, it was uh a little bit more prolonged, and I always tell people that that dude gave me the best advice, like, dude, whatever happens when we go back up there, win, lose, or draw, like are you having fun? Is this enjoyable? It's like, yeah, well, have fun and enjoy it. Because yeah, at the end of the day, it doesn't fucking matter. You're in that moment, your free fall, like it could be your first it could be your last time. Are you gonna remember it? Are you gonna be able to walk away from it, having a good experience? Like, go up there like it's your last fucking time. And I think that's what finally clicked for me. That uh I wasn't having I was more like any other military course, you're just stressed to fuck out, and rightly so, like it's your life.
SPEAKER_00:Like you got and it's not easy, it's like trying to learn how to walk for the first time. You're you're in a substrate that you're not used to, trying to fly your body, and it's not that easy, and it's not intuitive either. Like you can tell it how to do it, but when that wind hits, it's gonna get it can get squirrely. Yes, and you could take the baddest tier one operator and throw them out of the plane or some chick from the the chow hall, and she might crush it better than that dude. You never can tell, man. And it is a challenging thing, and sometimes like just swapping instructors could do that because I could pitch it to you the exact same thing. Then I could grab you and say, hey, teach this guy, and you say the exact same words in the exact same format, and he just performs. Um, so we used to swap instructors a lot too. But that's interesting. Thinking of the JM thing, though. I went over there and Brian Schrader, who was an old school RRD guy before it became RRC, he was the NCIC. And so um, well, he was in NCUIC when I got there, or probably during your time. And then he swapped out with another guy, Justin Crawford, who I ended up swapping out with. Justin was like a third group guy, super cool dude. But I went there and I added jumping in and also and tandems because I'm like, dudes are gonna be doing tandem ops because we were adding tandem to the ADIC course. Um, another RRC guy, buddy of mine, they brought him over to run the tandem course because we all do the military tandem bundle and all that kind of stuff. And he was a tandem bundle guy, so they put him over there to do that. And so I was like, we're incorporating tandem and atic. So these jump masters need to know the sequence of a tandem. You know what I mean? Uh so we added that in, and me and some of the other instructors would do tandems with them, and then we would do, we added in it was a six-jump profile that we added in for a little bit. We were able to do it for a little while, and then funding was slacking, and we had to end up getting rid of it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, that's the thing that sucks, man. Like that's that's one of the courses I always thought needed more love and more specialty. Like, every free fall guy should have the chance and the opportunity to go to ADIC and be proficient in all these different things. Like, and it's to me, like that was the the one of the best courses I ever got to go to was ADIC. Like right up there with Sniper School. Like you you never have as much like autonomy, and I think that's what makes it so much better. Like the moment, yeah, you're already you're a free fall JM. You graduated that course tomorrow uh yesterday. Here's the ADIC. Here's what you're planning for. Like, this is what we're doing. Like, get to it, jump master. Like, this is for you. Like, you're doing it. Um, and it's just so much fucking fun jumping out there. It's like the one thing I fucking miss is jumping. But that like, it's one thing to go get your certifications and jump free fall, but jumping with a team, like that's what I fucking miss. Jumping with the boys. Yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_00:Uh it was fun, man. I like, yeah, I wish Aid could have grown more. It was a it's a good course, but we we tried to push it, but they just didn't have the funds for it out there. Yeah. But yeah, man, uh it was a good course. Uh, we I ended up doing that. And so kind of to answer your question, I ended up going to the free fall instructor course for like my last two years, which is the best place to be if you just want to jump, jump, jump, jump, jump. And so uh did that. Uh, worked with a guy named Kai Christensen from 10th group, super solid dude. Um, and then some other guys, Ryan McManagal, and another uh, you know, some civilians. But then after that, I got into um I retired and I went straight out to contracting. So a buddy of mine, I used to I did the JSOC course. So I was working the JSOC courses on my leave times because they needed structure. Yeah, so I was taking leave from Yuma and driving over to JSOC to the compound and jumping. Seriously, um, and I was doing it for free, dude. I was doing it for free shit. Yeah, while I was active duty still, just to kind of get some more reps in out there and getting to know the new NUICs for like the CAG course and the Ranger courses and stuff like that, and the Ranger guys, different, all the different tiers. So I started jumping out there, and then I met a guy named Raul Bocanegra. I don't know if you ever heard of that guy's name, but he was tasked to send up Marsock's free fall program. And Marsock went to Delta Force, went to SEAL Team 6, went to RRC and saw all their free fall programs. And they said they wanted theirs to mirror the RRC program, which I have to be honest, we had the most robust free fall program out of all the JSOC elements. We had less dudes to spend a lot of money on. Uh, so we jumped a lot and we jumped hard, we jumped hard DZs, we pushed the limits um more than anybody. And so they wanted a program like that. So I ended up going straight in as soon as I retired and started contracting, um, work in the Marsock program. And then I was also teaching the JSOC basic course as well, and then ran some jump master courses and things like that. Ended up doing the Navy EOD PPT, which was actually a good course. Um, a lot of SF dudes would go to that as well, and SEALs, too, because the SEALs didn't really have a lot of free fall programs, so they would tag along with the EOD. So I did that, man, and that's what I kind of transitioned into after I retired, did that for a few years, and I quit jumping probably about three years ago.
SPEAKER_01:Oh man, was it uh just falling out of love or more for preservation of the body?
SPEAKER_00:Preservation of the body. Um, it was kind of a good segue. COVID happened, and then I was jumping during COVID a little bit and all the contracts shut down. So I was like, hey, I needed a break anyway. I was I was making ridiculous money because I was just stayed busy. Everybody wanted me to teach. And then I said, you know what? I I think I'm tired of jumping, but if I stop, I'm never doing it again because I was kind of at the pinnacle, man. Like everybody, like a lot of people wanted me to come teach their courses, and uh, and I was like, I'm on the top of my game. If I step away from this for a while, I'm not gonna be there and I don't I shouldn't be teaching. Yeah, so I pulled out of that and then started doing other consulting stuff and contracting, doing other things, other training and stuff, and kind of what I do now. I'm kind of more retired now than I ever have been, but just doing the side consulting with Titan Performance.
SPEAKER_01:Nice. Yeah, man, it's um it's it's important to understand you can't do it forever at some point, whether it's contracting, doing the fucking, you know, shoot 'em up range training consulting, like at some point for your own mental health, for your family, for your preservation, like you gotta walk away. But it's like I gotta imagine it wasn't an easy thing. Um did you find yourself having to like rehearse the idea of walking away from it, or was it just like on one day you're like, I'm you know, this COVID thing's happening, it's easy to just fade into the black. Like, how was that process for you?
SPEAKER_00:I just pulled the trigger on it, but uh I went straight to sitting on a desk like this working, and I hated it, dude. Like, I wouldn't build for it. I worked and it was kind of um kind of a blessing, though. I worked for a company called ACI Consulting for a bit, and uh they man, it was during COVID. So we had all these military contracts, and they brought me on because you know, in the free fall, we use ATAC a lot. So I was an expert at ATAC. I knew how to program it ins and outs, all that kind of stuff. I worked with one of the Delta Force dudes that helped develop ATAC and still a good buddy of mine. He's super solid, he's probably the top dog in free fall in the realm still, because he still jumps. Um, but he helped develop ATAC back in the day, and he taught me everything. He knew about it when I was running courses with him and stuff. And uh, and I knew about it from using it before, but he really knew the nuts and bolts. Literally, the dude helped design everything of it. Wow. So I got really good at that, and this company hired me on to be a subject matter expert to advise commanders in different units on how to employ ATEC. And I was like, sweet, that's easy. But then I get to these this company, and none of them, it was all conventional army contracts they had. So nobody was using the free fall piece. That's the only thing I really knew. I'm like, oh, ATEC, I was like, ATEC does other stuff? I didn't know that. So um I was like, man, I really I can figure this stuff out because it's the same platform, but it's not really. I thought you guys were bringing me in for like free fall stuff and uh, you know, planning free fall missions and all. So it wasn't the case because I was a soft subject matter expert, but none of the contracts were for soft. So, and because of COVID, we couldn't travel. Like we had to write an exception to policy just to travel. So nobody would let us travel because they were afraid they were gonna get sick. So I would dial onto VTCs like this and just sit back here and twiddle my thumbs and listen to logistics planning and all. I'm like, none of this has anything to do with me, but it sucked my life out. But it I sat back and it honestly felt like I was stealing from the government, man. I was getting paid good money to not do anything, and it just kind of ate at me, man. And I eventually then they started enforcing the COVID vaccine stuff and like that. My wife was like, that's not good. So I said I wasn't getting it, and they fired me um for that, and then ended up, man, taking about a year off, just chilling, man, studying my Bible, um, which I know you're a religious guy. Like, I like I'm in the faith too. Like, I study that thing relentlessly. And that kind of led to what I do now, man. I preach the Bible and then just consult with people and minister to people all over the place while doing some side consulting just to, you know, pay the bills, man.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, so it's it's such an amazing journey. I for a while I used to focus really bad on or focus really on the bad of like, why couldn't I found my faith earlier? Why couldn't I figure this out sooner? Because I started seeing how reflecting on my journey and seeing how some of my peers or some of my seniors who were meta faith, you know, they didn't have a crisis, they didn't fall apart, they didn't have any of the stuff that I was dealing with. And I'm like, fuck, if only, if only, if only. But then I realized it's not on, it's not on my time. Like I had a specific journey to go through, and it got me to where I am. I'm grateful for that now. I see it as a gift. Like everybody has to go on their journey and find their faith. And it's important to champion it, it's important to talk about it. One of the greatest things is like understanding that, like, yeah, dude, you were broken for a long time. But how wonderful and how lucky are you now that you're saved, now that you figured it out. What's important in your life? What truly matters? And I realized, like, oh shit, man, like I don't have to be sad, I don't have to be upset. I can use my my story and my testimony to help people figure it out sooner. That's the important part. When you look back on your journey, look back in in your history and your career, were you always a man of faith, or is that something that you had to develop and work on on the back on the backside of your journey?
SPEAKER_00:I thought I was. You know what I mean? I was one of those people that, you know, Jesus says proclaims him with their name, but their heart is far from him, right? Um and it like I grew up Southern Baptist and going to church and all that stuff like that, but it just never really sank into me. And then when I went in the military, I just stopped going to church because I was just doing my thing, you know. But then when I got married, to be honest with you, I just uh I started um going to church again. And I was like, man, I liked going to church and all, and like checking the block, you know, but it just didn't do a whole lot for me. And the same thing with with you, you know, like it was for me later on before I really figured out how important it is. And uh, and it was kind of when I was in my lowest part, you know, I'd lost that job, right? And for the vaccine, and I was like, God, you know what? I'm I had already been like studying the Bible and like, you know, studying stuff and just actually seeking out about how to walk like Jesus, you know what I mean? And then I ended up uh that spent that whole year. I just studied the Bible for relentlessly. I had farm work to do around here and stuff, but I studied the Bible and studied the Bible and studied the Bible, studied the Bible. I was like, if God is real, like and I was having rough times, man, like you said, a lot of guys do, like the demons were after me, man. I was mad, I was angry, I was pissed off at the world. Yeah, I was making good money and all that stuff before that, but I wasn't happy. Well, I guess when I quit doing the free fall thing and started doing the death's job is when I started getting angry because I'm a hands-on guy, dude. I want to be shooting a gun, I want to be jumping out of a plane, and and it tore me apart. And I was angry, pissed off at the world, and and then I lost that job. And I studied the Bible and studied the Bible, and it cleansed me. You know, the Bible says you can be washed by the water of the word, and it cleansed me. It cleansed out those demons and uh it completely changed my life. Our marriage is better than it's ever been. Um, and man, it's it's you know, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, man, and it it's true, man. It's the most important thing to me now. This episode is also brought to you by Precision Wellness Group.
SPEAKER_01: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 it's it's funny you you brought it up, and it's when we slow down, when we're not jumping out of the plane, when we're not on the stack with guys, when we're not in the team room. Like it's easy to continue living the same life and not going, not experience that crisis point when you're still doing some of the things that you thought are like the the pinnacle of your life. Like that the most important thing, jumping out of an airplane, chasing that adrenaline rush. Like it's only after you kind of walk away or separate from maybe it's an injury, maybe it's getting sent down to the S3, maybe it's getting that job that no longer keeps you in that platoon. That's when a lot of our guys are figuring it out. Like, okay, there's something's going on. I don't know what it is. But like one of the best, one of the best pieces of advice I'm telling you mind, body, and spirit. If your body fails you, if you're having a ton of surgeries, if your cognitive performance isn't there anymore, things are slowing down, you're having a crisis, your TBI, whatever it is, and that last domain, spirit, man, I'm telling you, you can build back the body and the mind, and you're still you're you can still feel pretty good. But if you want to be at your optimum level, if you want to feel like 100% like you're living 100% of your your best capacity, you gotta work on the spirit. And in whatever capacity, whatever, whatever religion, whatever, you figure that out. That's your journey. Like I'm not gonna tell you what to believe in or who to fall for. I I I want you to come over. I want to be part of the team. Come on. The the water's warm, it's great. But I'm telling you, more often than not, when I talk to guys that have finally found that happiness or finally figured things out, they're they're really quick to say, hey, I've I went back to my faith. I found found God and it's working for me. And I won't take any credit, man. It wasn't this wasn't something that just like this was all thanks to my wife, all thanks to to her that just one day was able to get through to me and say, like, we're we're going to church, we're going back. Like, this is this is what we're doing. And dude, it changes your life. It changes your life. And if I can come back and I can be here talking openly, I can fuck the comment section, forget YouTube algorithm. So it's really important. Being a man of faith, being able to look in your look at your family and see the importance of being a husband, of being a father, being being somebody that's walking the right path, man. Um, and it's for you, even if you're a single guy. Like you're gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00:I think the biggest Yeah, I think the biggest issue that hits us is it's an identity crisis. You wore this identity of being a ranger for 22 years, you know what I mean, or of being an SF dude for 22 years or whatever. And then when that's torn off, like if you're staying in the contract realm, that identity is still there, you're training dudes. But then when that goes away, it's like you have a lack of purpose because you have no identity now. And so you need to have your identity in in the father, you know, in the creator of all things. And you're right, it is the most important thing. And that's the thing for the men out there. This is the best challenge. You want to be the baddest, most bad to the bone elite operator, you have to have the spiritual concept. You know what I mean? Like our physical bodies can fail, but like you have to have that spiritual, you have to have that armor of God on. And in not only that, we're called to lead our families. And if our family is failing, you like in the military, the leader is responsible for everything the team fails and you know, does and fails to do. As a man, we are the leader of our family, and we're responsible for everything our family does and or fails to do. And if we're not leading our family like a man of God, it's gonna go in the wrong direction.
SPEAKER_01:Abs freaking Lutley, man. Absolutely. And like I said, I reflected back on those guys that did have their priority straight, the were men of faith, that went to church. You know, they never had the moral issues, they never had the crisis of character, um, because they knew where they were going on Sunday or Saturday evening. They knew where they were going, they knew what was important in their family. And it it's it's important to understand that we have to champion this. If you're listening and you go to church and you f you're strong in your faith, be willing to talk about it. Be willing to engage with people. You know, you don't have to force anybody, but be open, be proud. You know, when people, you know, when I go do my morning walks and I'm doing my rosary, like I'm really quick to say hello, but like people ask me, What are you, what are you doing? I'm like, pray my rosary. Like this, uh it's 5 a.m. I'm going on my walk and I'm gonna experience it the way I want to experience it. There's nothing wrong with that. There we have to be able to normalize it. I think that there's a far worse things out in the world than being proud of your faith. And I think it starts with us, man, being able to have that discussion with people, being able to help guide other people in that. We're willing to coach and mentor in the military, but we get so weird about it on the outside when it comes to faith. Yeah. Like, did you find it difficult to start talking about it and helping other people and guide them? I did, man.
SPEAKER_00:I thought like all my buddies would hate me for talking about it because like nobody ever talked about it in the military. Dude, because we had to be like cold hard killers, man. Like, believe it or not, like people may not realize it, but it's another like when you're in a special operations unit, there's a lot of emotion and compassion that gets ripped off. Like I was just a hard, like, like rough, like tough dude. Like, and not because I'm trying to say that in a in a good way, it's in a bad way. Um and it makes it where relationshipships struggle. So I was, I did struggle with it for a little bit and just speak a little bit, and then I found out, man, believe it or not, that there's dude, there's a lot of dudes like us that are talking about this stuff now. And it's a big, it's starting to become a big movement, and that's good. And people need to get into it. And guys like us are the perfect ones to do it. Because here's the thing some dudes out there are not going to listen to it from the regular old dude that's sitting at his computer every day. Yeah. But they want to hear a bad to the bone, killing machine who has now swapped and now trying to preach the gospel. That's where they want to hear it from because they're like, I can look up to like, you know, and it's bad to say, but people can look up to guys like us, you know, whether you know it's a for a good thing or a bad thing, depending on some of these personalities like we talked about earlier on TV. But what we should be is a good role model. And the only way we're gonna be a good role model is to be clean and talk about clean things and you know, push the faith, you know, talk about the faith, be open about it, talk about how it helped you, talk about the struggles. And that's the thing a lot of special operations guys, you know, it's taboo. Like if you admit that you're not performing top-notch, they're gonna fire you. Um, or or you got to go to the psych or whatever. But we have to be open about that. And, you know, people can look at all the podcasts that I've been on, especially the more recent ones. I talk about it. I mean, I've had rough times, dude. I've had a glock to my head snatching the slack out of the trigger before. Um, and just like you, it was my wife, dude. My wife prayed for me and prayed for me. And I say that she's the most valorous war hero I've ever met because she followed this killing machine straight to the face with a gun like this. And she prayed for me and prayed for me and prayed for me. And dude, God changed my life. Dude, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:There's there's um, you know, my wife, I call her, I it's a joke, I call her the oracle of my of our family because she is so smart on our faith. And uh there's not one day where she doesn't bless me before she goes off to work before I take our little one. Um just a monumental pillar. And it's funny because her mother's just like that. I mean, a PhD level scholar in our faith. And she talks, I mean, just like if we have Jeopardy and anything comes on about faith, the scripture, friggin' Mama Farnum knows it, and it's just like so quick to throw it out there. I'm like, fuck, like I'm blessed. I married somebody that is just so well educated and constantly bringing about like information to help me to to hey, whatever crisis you're going through, the power of prayer. And I never believed it. You know, we we guys like us, we find ourselves talking or being spiritual when something isn't going our way. Like, yeah, God, I'll pray, I'll pray for this. But what about praying on a daily basis? Praying and talking to God and and and making sure you put it as a priority. Like, man, like it's it's important to understand, like, you can come to him at any moment of your life. And in the power of prayer, man, it's not just to be praying for yourself, but to pray for others, pray for your friends, the brotherhood. Like, it's important to understand, like you're willing to text your friend, bro. I will tell you right now, I've sent more for more prayers for my brother Tim Milleschi because every day before that before I go I get into my rosary, I take a moment, I pause, and I pray for my brothers because it's the power of prayer. Like, you never know. You never know what someone's going through. And that prayer is so important. You're sending out, it's it's it's um it's a powerful thing that is going out of your mouth. Into the world and it's helping impact. And I know a lot of people don't believe in it, but I'm telling you, try it. Pray for your family. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I agree. I used to not believe in it. You know, like I mean, I was taught it my whole life. I was like, prayer doesn't work. You know, I prayed and prayed, prayed, prayed. Nothing ever happened. But I was praying, you know, we have to pray in God's will too, right? Yeah, yeah. So we want to pray those unselfishers, like you were saying, that prayers, like you said, we don't want to selfish, like back in the day, I prayed in the military. I'd be on a helicopter. I'd be like, please God, please God, give me an enemy that will fight so that we can kill them on the battlefield. Or I'd be like, please God, leave my parachute open. You know what I mean? Like stuff like that. Exactly. Like selfish prayers. Uh, but then like now, I'm like, hot, like one of my ranger buddies is struggling. I'm like, man, I need to pray for that dude. Or other dudes that I know that I that just don't want to even entertain the faith. Some dudes even say, um, for example, that people feel like they can't be saved because of what the stuff we've done. Um, and and I just, man, I just pray for some of those guys too. I'm like, man, it like changes heart. Let him know, dude, I was a corrupted, horrible human being, man. You know, killed lots of daggone bad guys, drank, parted, acted a fool all over the place. Um, and it he's cleaned up my life and and made me feel better. And now I enjoy it. It's literally the passion of my life is talking to other guys about it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's important to understand that now more than ever, we need to be vocal, but not just in a in a forceful way. It was the same thing for me when I started getting better. I wanted to share every resource with everybody and and try to teach everybody everything that I was learning, but that I quickly learned some people don't want that. And they'll let you know, real fucking quick, I'll get real angry. What I realized is like all I have to do is live and and put my practice out there. Let people see my rosary, normalize it, normalize talking about, you know, if you talk to me on Saturday evenings, you know, very quick. If you reach me at like 3 p.m. or 4 p.m., it's like, hey, I'm going to mass. Like I'll hit you back up when I get done with mass. Like I said, I I don't care what what you do. You don't have to be Catholic. You don't you don't have to come kick it in my circle. But I find myself like who are we're Christians. We can sit down, we can break bread, we can talk. But most importantly, we can pray for each other. Yeah. We can talk about the hard stuff, we can talk about the difficulty, and then share scripture. Like, or or share, share a tiny little thing like, hey man, I'm gonna pray for you today. Right on, I'm praying for you as well. Like, that's a powerful thing. Knowing you've got a friend in the fight that's willing to do the same for you, like that's a powerful thing. What better way to start off your day than knowing that your friend's sitting down at 5 a.m. doing a rosary, but the very first thing he's gonna pray for is your well-being and and for you to have a better day. Like, that's powerful, man. And the reality is the more people we get on board, the power of a community, the power of like-minded individuals that are out there doing the same thing and championing because there's no shortage of horrible stuff in the world. Yeah. There's no shortage of negativity, there's no shortage of previo you know horrible stuff that our kids and our brothers are being exposed to. But we can bet combat it in the in this space by being able to share something positive, man. Um, Mike, I I can't tell you how much I appreciate you being on here, being willing to talk about this, man. And and uh, you're right, more people are doing it, and we just have to continue doing it. Do you do an online uh worship or do you do anything on Zoom or anything like that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we do. So I've got a YouTube channel. Everybody kind of knows me because of the RRC thing. So it's RRC Mike Edwards, kind of like my Instagram. Uh yeah, dude, we do, we go, so the way I believe, just for those out there, if they want to check it out, I believe, like you cat like the people in the Catholic Church call it solo scriptura. I believe that the scripture is the divine word of God, and I only follow that as explicitly as possible. And I teach it very in-depth. I go deep, deep, deep into it. Um, but yeah, we keep the Sabbath day holy on Saturday, Friday evening to Saturday evening. And like you, like people don't want to sacrifice, dude. I'll shut my phone down and it's not, I'm not gonna be on it. You're not gonna catch me on Saturday, you know, like Friday evening to Saturday evening, you're not gonna catch me at all because I'm devoting that entire 24-hour period to the Most High God, you know, our creator, and trying to obey and walk like Jesus walked, you know what I mean? So yeah, we do that. We do it on Saturday and with no religious affiliation, just strictly as the Bible describes it, you know, in the ancient ways and the ancient paths, as the scripture says. So that's what we do. Some people try to say it's Jewish. I'm like, no, we're not Jewish. Um honestly, yeah, it's totally different. We just go get me started now, Mike.
SPEAKER_01:You're gonna get my Alex Jones voice going.
SPEAKER_00:Dude, I mean, hey, honestly, you know, I've got sermons on that, the synagogue of Satan, you know what I mean? Like, you guys want to look into that? It's um yeah, you know, it's and it gets in depth, but uh yeah, we don't do Jewish things, to be honest with you. We try to avoid that as much as possible.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Absolutely friggin' losing. They're gonna get me. They're gonna get me. No, it's um, man, it's a different podcast for different times, but that it's um, I will say this. I will say this and I will leave it at that. Why do we have a foreign entity getting involved in our government? That's it. That's all I'm saying. You're not gonna get me anymore. And why are they all going to Israel and pledging allegiance to Israel and going to the Wailing Wall?
SPEAKER_00:It's actually satanic, brother. It's satanic to be. I'm right there with you. And I can tell you scripturally. Um, and for those out there, check out my Synagogue of Satan series. The first one, it was my biggest video, hit over a hundred thousand views, and then the most recent one went pretty viral as well for my little channel. Um, but we do every Saturday, we pr we just video it and post it later. It's not live or anything. Um, but I dig into it, and the Bible backs all that stuff up.
SPEAKER_01:Heck yeah, man. It'll be brought to the light soon enough. More people are are waking up and seeing it. And like again, you just figure it out, man. Why are they all going there? Why are they all like you never see them go to the Vatican, you never see them go to any other church, any other major religion. They're not going there. They're not visiting a Hindu memorial, they're not going, oh man, I'm definitely getting in trouble for this one. Why are they going? Why are they going to Niger? Why are they going there to talk about what's happening to our Christian brothers and sisters? No, they're not going there. No, they visited Ethiopia, the Holy, the Holy Land. No, no, I haven't gone over there. They haven't gone to any other place. Kind of weird. I'm just saying, kind of weird, but hey.
SPEAKER_00:And if you want to do another episode just on this topic, let me know. I'll be happy to explore it.
SPEAKER_01:Heck yes, dude. Mike, I can't thank you enough for being here, man. I've taken too much of your time. Um it's just an honor to have somebody else that is willing to share their story and share that powerful testament of like, I didn't get here. None of us got here by ourselves. There was some, there was a higher power saving us. And um what and you know, like I like we said, you know, it's not about lamenting on like, man, if only I would have come to Christ sooner. It's like you got to do an amazing career and do amazing things. And now you get to champion how much more of a powerful warrior you can be if you develop that other, that third domain, that spiritual side, man. And that's what our that's where our young elite service members need to be hearing. Yeah, it's a cool mission, but what about being a father? What about being a man of God? What about being a husband? If we would have more leaders talking about those things, choosing the right spouse, choosing the right relationship, whoo, what a powerful force we would have. Guys that aren't falling wayside to the temptations, man. And and we saw it because we had service members like that. We had brothers that were like that, and some of them are still there, and they're still lethal, and they're still taking it to the enemy, and still training and doing hard things, man. So don't say that you can't do it. Don't give me, don't, don't slide into DMs and say you can't have lethality with faith. Because the book is filled with examples of great warriors.
SPEAKER_00:God was a man of war. The scripture straight says it. God was a man of war. It is the most detailed war manual there is. Not for physical combat only, but spiritual combat in every aspect. It's applicable, man. It's like it's a war manual. It's like a 7-8 for war, all aspects of it.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, I love that. I freaking love that. I'm hyped. And even talks, you know, when you talk, I'll leave you at this. When they talk about the rosary, you know what they refer it to as? Your weapon. So every single day I carry my weapon and another one. Depending on where I'm going, maybe I carry it in the bag. But yeah, don't walk out of the door without your weapon. Don't walk out of the door with your kit. Um, it's an important thing. And Mike, thank you for being here, brother. Everybody listening, do me a favor, pause. You already know the episode's coming to an end. Go to the episode description, click those links, check out Mike's channel, be willing to learn something new, be willing to see somebody that's open and honest and out there with their faith to share it openly with you. Um, it's something that we need more of. So if you've been thinking about doing it yourself, get out there, create that YouTube channel and share it. But until then, check out Mike's content and uh hit up the links for my uh my uh sponsors. You know, got Pure Liberty Labs, Precision Wellness Group, check them out, be willing to support those that support your boy because we don't get through this by ourselves, get through it together. And uh, folks, I need you to rally behind those sponsors. Mike, again, thank you for being here. And to all y'all listening at home, thank you, and we'll see y'all next time. Until then, take care.
