Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
Join us as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, proving that even after the mission changes, the call to serve and thrive never ends.
Security Halt!
Veteran Entrepreneurship, AI & Building Purpose with Lukas Simianer
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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 sits down with Lukas Simianer to unpack the realities of veteran entrepreneurship, leadership, and mental health. They explore why veterans possess a unique advantage in building purpose-driven businesses, how accountability and self-care shape effective leadership, and why community support is essential during transition. The conversation also dives into the role of AI in veteran services, scaling businesses responsibly, and naming personal challenges as the first step toward growth and long-term success.
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Chapters
00:00 The Power of the Entrepreneurial Mindset
02:52 Veteran Superpowers in Business
06:00 Navigating the Veteran Transition Challenge
09:02 AI in Veteran Services
11:57 Building a Supportive Company Culture
14:54 Scaling and Growth Challenges
17:54 Creating Meaningful Jobs for Veterans
21:14 Real Impact: Testimonials and Success Stories
28:10 Building a Unified Team
29:27 The Importance of Personal Health
30:57 Prioritizing Self-Care in Leadership
32:31 Creating Accountability for Health
35:06 Finding Harmony Over Balance
37:24 Incorporating Positive Habits
40:10 Strategizing for Fitness in Leadership
42:43 Understanding Self-Neglect and Depression
46:10 Empowering Through Delegation
51:38 The Green Beret Connection
52:42 Hunter Biden's Missed Opportunities
56:31 Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life
01:01:20 Naming Your Demons
01:04:08 2026 Goals and Future Aspirations
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Website: https://vetclaims.ai/
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Produced by Security Halt Media
Lucas, welcome back to Security Hall Podcast, bro. How you been, man? I'm so stoked to see you again, Denny, and uh honored to be back on the show. Dude, absolutely. Uh to the audience, uh, you weren't privy to this. We had a great conversation before this, but um, I took a lot from our last conversation, and that little snippet played back in my head every day and every week when I was fucking tired and hustling. And if you guys haven't listened, I'll put the episode here in the episode description for you to listen to it, then come back and listen to this episode because you dropped some knowledge in it. When you were originally building that first company, somebody uh that you were engaging with, you know, trying to one-up you was uh you had this moment of discussion with them. It's like, dude, you're you're waiting and praying for the exit. You're ready for somebody to come in and save you. I'm fucking not. I live for this. And that that's a such a powerful thing for any veteran entrepreneur out there to realize your strength is in the fight. It's not when somebody comes in and rescues you and there isn't no stress. Like, look, we have to understand and and redefine this message of no stress. No, life's full of stress. You got to learn how to deal with it. And uh, what better way to fucking end this year than you have me back to talk about the wins, the fucking failures, and what you've been up to, man, because like I just said, man, like you left a big imprint in my 2025.
SPEAKER_01:That means a lot. Uh I'm glad it was impactful. And yeah, those lessons, it it multiplied over the course of the year. Um, and it multiplied into the culture that that helped us become what we've what we have become and what we are becoming, size-wise and impact-wise, and just everything, right? The the veteran entrepreneur superpower. There's many things that I've like going through tech stars, raising venture capital, losing a company, right? Pitching all these VCs, going through the trials, tribulations, blah, blah, blah. You know, I like to that that common saying, I failed more times than most people tried. That, of course, that is your tuition to the school. But man, so many times it boils back down to some shit from the army of leaders eat last. Let me take care of my people, let me put them first. Let me never ask them to do what I would not do. Right. And those core things, they may be tiny and fundamental, but as a company scales, you know, at a six-person company, when the CEO is the last person to leave in a work event, good, okay, cool. At a 200-person company, when the CEO makes sure that everybody else is out of there, home safe, fed, watered, good to go, people shit their pants. Yeah. And it's because it's it's not done. And to me, veterans have that superpower.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I've seen it in a lot of spaces, man. Uh, different industries, different places. Um, it's just awesome to see the wins, man. That there's a lot of competition these days. And I was talking about it with my buddy Liam uh from 3 Bravo. Shout out to you, brother. Um, there's this idea that you can't eat at this table, that I gotta push everybody out of the way. But the reality is if you focus on your lane, focus on your race, and just be a good person, there's enough room for everybody at the fucking table. There's enough opportunities out there. You just have to worry about you and doing good. There's there's this idea that needs to be squashed that I have to hold on the resources or I have to make sure that my wave is secured first before I ever look towards you to give you help. And uh I was curious, in your position, where you're at now with vet claims, as you're growing, because last time we talked, you were like six employees. Now you're fucking you're huge. And in the space that there is a lot of innovation, there are lots of different people trying to get in. Have you found yourself in a position to help others and help guide the next generation of guys coming out of the service?
SPEAKER_01:Remarkably so. And to the sentiment that you shared about people thinking they got to take care of themselves first, yeah, you put your own auction mask on first. That's surely that's the thing. But in reality, what I found is you just always do the right thing with the information that's in front of you. That has never led me wrong. Doesn't mean I'm always right, but it does mean that if someone wants to talk shit about that decision later, they're gonna have a really hard time finding a way to. And that's, you know, that's the that's where you want to find yourself. When it comes to helping people getting out, what I'm gonna be honest. I mean, the terrifying thing to me is that this problem is so much bigger than I initially assessed. I mean, and I'm a Purple Heart recipient. I'm uh I went through the thing. It took me six years to get my rating right. It took me going and doing the research myself, right? And uh and putting in the work and going doing that while going through nursing school, of course, was a bit of an advantage because medical etiology was something I was pretty familiar with. But like even outside of the claims thing, understanding the the depth and the width of the veteran transition problem is so insane. And I mean, uh this is not to hate on officers, but I'm gonna be very honest here. Uh what like we're engaged at the federal level right now, right? There's some impact that we want to make that we need to make, that we have to make, and we're we're winning that battle, which is exciting. But you go and you look at the House uh Veterans Affairs Committee, right? Name an enlisted veteran that they've listened to.
unknown:None.
SPEAKER_01:I can't name one, yeah. No one's no one's testifying, no enlisted veterans testifying. I will be the first in modern times. I'm not saying ever, but when it comes to regulation of an industry, when it comes to veterans' benefits or or even VHA, they're listening to officers because they're the only ones for the most part who find themselves in a pedigree where they can, you know, go stand in front of Congress. And it's interesting because, you know, I had a conversation with a member of the House the other day, and I said, let me make it as simple as I possibly can for you. When an officer gets out, they worry about where they're gonna get their MBA. When an enlisted person gets out, they worry about not being homeless. And that is it's it's not uh it's not hate, it's just a raw fact of the way the system works. And uh you haven't heard that voice. And she said, no, we haven't. And um the the depth and width, like I talk about we at our last company All Hands, I went into it, you know, in San Antonio we had that that Marine veteran take his life in the parking lot of the Audi Mercury VA, I guess four weeks ago now. And you know, listening to the voicemails and the the texts that were shared with us from his last messages out, it was because he didn't understand why the VA would give him a 10% rating for something that was chronically like stopping him from being able to do his job, live his life, affecting his life in every capacity. The VSO, the the people that were helping him, right, they were doing their best, but they had 30 minutes and then they had 20 other veterans to see that. They couldn't provide expectations, they couldn't be there to answer that call, they couldn't do the thing. And that's not me blaming anybody for anything directly, but it is saying that wouldn't have happened if they went to vet claims AI. That's that's the system we've built. And so it's it's not just the claim, it's the understanding of this is how this works. We need to level set expectations. Here's what you can do in the meantime, and and guiding people towards the resources that actually make it make transition a bit easier, right? Um, because I think it's gonna suck regardless. But we are we're actively building things that are gonna get in front of the fight. Um that claims that AI is just the tip of the spear. So I'm very excited for that.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Leave it to you. I knew I knew you'd be innovation, innovating something new. And it and uh I I have to ask, man, um since you know, since last time we talked, like this was AI was still something that was wasn't utilized, wasn't trusted well enough. Uh, there was just a handful of other people in the space. Just a few, I mean a little more than a year. Now every single person on a daily basis for the most part utilizes and engages with with a chat, GPT, DAL, whatever it is. They're they're utilizing some form and they're getting good at it. They're they're teaching themselves to utilize it for work, for school. I don't condone it. Don't condone it. You should learn what you're supposed to learn. But now it seems to be accepted. Have you seen that even that our veterans are finally getting around to the idea of like, fuck this, like doing it the the the traditional way isn't gonna, isn't helping me. Like, I need to try something that is actually user-friendly.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, there's so there's actually a study done, and I I think it needs to be redone just to assess the point you're making. But there was a study done uh a year or two ago, and it was like there's like a 70% um drop in favorability when it comes to a company that has the word AI in their name or title. Yeah. So me using vetclaims.ai was actually one of the dumbest damn things I could have done. Um you know, I might have created an uphill battle for myself. And, you know, I will say this, we have lost a lot of that apprehension. Like that's not an objection that like my team has to defeat when a veteran's saying, why should I work with you? You know, some of the older guys, they're still like, I don't want my shit floating around. And we're like, oh, it doesn't work like that. And you know, you know, which you're still talking to a human. The AI is a tool for us, you know, that's that's essentially anything you've got, what peer-reviewed medical journal or what piece of base housing report random data can we use to substantiate your claim here.
SPEAKER_03:And that's the key right there. That's the key. The guys, you know, being being part of Special Force Foundation, working as a veteran advocate, I hear from guys all the time. I don't have any paperwork, I don't know how to justify this. And I'm having to sit down and be like, hey, dude, did you deploy? Did you get her on um if you were on a green, if you were a Green Beret on a soft deployment, pretty sure your injuries were documented by the 18 Delta. And sure enough, they'll go back and they'll realize their 18 Delta did an SF 600 for it, and they have some forms. But then the other part of it is this the exposure here stateside at home, finding all those white paper studies. I'm lucky, just like you were. You went to school. I went to school and I'm able to go into these databases, still have the you know, subscription to go in here and pull all these uh white paper studies and read to them. A lot of these guys aren't doing that. They're not willing to look at these reports and be able to say, like, oh, this is something I need to substantiate my own claim.
SPEAKER_01:Here's the comorbidity rate. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. That's the stuff that the guys are killing themselves saying it's impossible, it's impossible. When the reality is, A, they need to be able to stand under two feet and say, no, I can do this and have the ability to confidently say, like, I mean, I know how to do it today, I mean I know how to do it at this moment, but I'm willing to ask somebody for help and realize that, dude, the answers are out there. And yeah, you might not want to do the legwork, but maybe connect with somebody like Lucas and his company and have them do it for you and see that there's a possibility. But it's really hard to talk to somebody that's lost all hope. That's one of the big things.
SPEAKER_01:That is that is where we shine, I would say. And I don't know if it's because the TikTok content I did in the early days, or if it's because the way I talk to people when I go live or whatever it is, but we get a lot of people who are like, I gave up on this six years ago. What can you do?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And we explain, like, you know, trying to explain multifactorial AI to someone who is a Vietnam veteran is a is a rough time, right? Um, trying to explain multifactorial factorial AI to me is a time on occasions, right? Like it exceeds my engineering knowledge, and thank God there's people way smarter than me that we've got. But it it's the the breakdown of it is that this the simple way, I guess we put it, right, is when a normal veteran submits a claim, it is them saying, like, some dudes will literally, right, I got shot in Afghanistan, like gunshot with GSW, you know, Afghanistan OEF-12, right? Um, and the truth is, like, okay, well, you know, are you claiming the scar from that? Did it impact anything internally? Like, what are the, you know, that itself isn't a rating. And so that's part one. But the other part is veterans fail to connect the dots. And it's because no one tells them that they should, right? You're trying to, you're almost adding a layer to something that just doesn't exist, and the VA doesn't tell you that it should exist. And my best example of this is like, I love using tankers as an example because they're always like, Oh, I got horrible knees. They got worse knees than paratroopers on average. Really? They're like, the VA denies me. They're like, well, you know, I told them I was a tanker, and I'm like, did you tell them how tall an Abrams is? They're like, no. Did you tell them how many times a day you're hopping on and off of that Abrams in boots with kit or with an ammo can? No. Okay, well, let's do that. And now we're talking about I jumped on and off of a seven-foot ledge 15 times a day, minimum, for three years, sometimes while carrying loads in excess of 50 pounds. Ask any orthopedic surgeon, holy shit, that what's the guy saying family Christmas? Holy shit, Merry Christmas, where's the tonal? Like it's like but then when the raider sees that, they're like, oh, yeah, of course. But they're not uh even using your own MOS as part of the narrative justification is just like we help that's build that out. We are the turbo tax for VA claims, and that's that's the beauty of it.
SPEAKER_03:That's the best way to fucking describe it right there. Like that is it. The idea that this malware, this the sentient AI system that's going to steal your data and sell it to China scares so many of our older and maybe some of our younger vets, but the idea of sitting in front of a tax uh, you know, prep official at HR block, you do that every year. Why wouldn't you be willing to do this for your rating? I was under the assumption for a long time that everybody, as they were leaving the military, 100% sat down, went through, and did what they needed to in order to get their VA rating. I'm hearing more stories from guys from our generation, GWAT generation, that got out and just refused to do it. Uh or refused to ask. The simple things, um, guys to get out, they they get out with a less than honorable, they have an issue with transition out, and they're just like, no, I don't want to fucking deal with it. I'll I'll never they don't understand. Depending on the case, it can upgrade their their uh discharge, they can go through, do their claims, like all these things can make somebody so fucking hesitant to get what they deserve, and they just sit out and limbo until they see a TikTok video. And I think that's one of your strengths is you put a face to the company that says, like, look, I'm just like you. Like, I'm just another dude, a former paratrooper. Like, I really hope that that still continues to be something that you lean forward on because connecting your service, your history to your mission is something that's so powerful. I well, I mean I appreciate that a lot.
SPEAKER_01:And I can tell you that we're only doubling down. Hell yeah. I'm I'm still Luke, I'm still a grunt. I'm still gonna openly admit that I was not the best soldier, and there's probably a few NCOs out there who I'm sorry that I was the cause of your divorce.
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SPEAKER_01:You know what? Like that shit happened, all right? I joined at a young age and I was a little ate up, all right? But the point, like it's a hundred percent that, man. It is a saying we're an enlisted company. I don't hate officers, but we are an enlisted company. Right? Like, that's just the way it is. 98% of the of the of the company enlisted veterans. Most of them didn't get a degree, some of them fresh out. We're the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard wrote me a damn letter the other day said, Hey, what are you doing? Can we talk? Why? Because by proportion, I don't know how many people get out of the Coast Guard every year, but apparently not many. By proportion, we've made the most direct hires from the Coast Guard out of any company. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. The number's not that big, it's like eight. But I'm like, this son of a bitch, they took Jim, Steven, and Danny.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, half the fucking cutters are down now. There you go. That's why they're blowing up the fucking bow. It's its vet claims' fault. Um can't keep letting them get away with this. You're welcome, Hank Saz. You're welcome. Um but no, I mean, so to that note, yeah, we we've grown from, like you said, we last time we talked, we were six people. We're now over 200 veteran employees. We get about 2,000 job applications a month. Um, and we literally can't hire and train quick enough to keep up with demand, which is a great problem to have.
SPEAKER_03:Sending one right now. But um Chief of Memes. Chief of, you know, hey, uh not opposed.
SPEAKER_01:But it's uh I'm sorry, I got completely the side of the Coast Guard joke got me got me sidetracked there.
SPEAKER_03:It's too good. It's too good. You know, let's uh let's give the Coast Guard some some um some fucking props right now. Like that is um I talked to another young uh I gotta be careful with words mean things. I I constantly get um messages from you know individuals that want to go to selection, want to get in the military. And for some reason I got one from a uh a kid that wants to go to Coast Guard. I'm like, dude, I'm I don't know the I don't know shit about the Coast Guard. All I do know is You should do it. There's a lot of people, they are very exclusive. They are very exclusive with who they take. Um, so I was like, hey, uh I've never had a Coastie on the show. I will say that I I've met a few and they absolutely love their fucking life and their jobs, uh, and they're very selective. So if if that's helped you in any way, please.
SPEAKER_01:I well I can say, I can say that an E5 and the Coast Guard, they've got better management skills than probably an E7 in the Army or Marine Corps. I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it. The whatever their pipeline, and it's also cultural too, and what they do have to actually manage, right? It's it's less humans and more organizational, I think. But their skill set when they come over, like that's why we hire them. I'm like, shit. And if you're listening to this and you're in the Coast Guard and you're thinking about getting out, please email talent if that claims.ai. Links in the episode description. I'm pretty sure now the now the Department of War is gonna send me a letter, like, please stop. We got like ten, we got like 10 left. Letter, oh, Pete's gonna slide in your signal chat.
SPEAKER_03:Well, let's talk about this growth, man. Like you um You know, you we talked earlier about how meaningful it was that first discussion we had about being in the fight, staying in the fight, and and not looking for that exit. But eventually that work ethic will lead you to success. And then you're gonna go through. Was it harder this time around, going through the process of scaling? Finally, you know, did you find yourself being able to rely on the experiences of last time, being able to, oh, I know exactly what to do? Or was it a whole new endeavor?
SPEAKER_01:Well, there's there's two folds to this that I really want to hit on. Uh, and that's a great question. Um the the first piece of this, right, is I got so much glamour, man, when I raised Luke raised four million in venture capital. He went to Tech Stars, Texas Business Hall of Fame, Texas CEO magazine gave me a three-page spread. And let me tell you, that shit's cool. That was more effective than Blue Chews for growth. But it the But like the actual like traction and momentum, then of course it was a different business model. We were fighting the government to sell into them. You know, I was building a thing and hoping the government did the right thing, which when that didn't work, this business model, I said, no, we're gonna build the right thing and put it in the government's face, and they're either gonna like it or we're gonna get in a fight about it. And that's what I've done. Um, and luckily they like it so far. The uh there's a the point to that is someone can look like they're full on Tom Brady and ain't shit moving. And then you can, and and you know how much press I've done on for this company so far? Like, I've hung out with you. You know, like I I have been so busy building, I haven't had time for the shit. The one thing that did happen is NPR called me like three weeks ago, and they were like, We're doing we're doing uh a full investigative report on claim sharks. And you, you guys, your company was said that you you kind of won, but not really. And I was like, Well, thanks. Um fucking hire. Sure, sure, would love to talk to you about it. And so I talked to them and I and I give them the receipts. I'm like, here's the testimonials, you know, you want to talk finances, here's where it goes. And there's a side of this that no one else knows, too, how much money we put into nonprofit and how much money like we've started uh an endowment at the community college I went to now, where every one veteran every semester gets$1,250 just towards life. And that endowment, we're just gonna keep growing it, and we're gonna do it at other colleges as well. But oh yeah. So we talked all that. Um, and in the report that they did, it's really funny, they're flaming every other company out there. They're like, these pieces of shit for all of them. And then there's one sentence, one sentence, like Luke Simoner says no one should charge this much. Like, they didn't say I'm a good guy. They didn't like, they didn't like, they didn't do anything favorable for me. They're just like, by the way, this CEO says they're a bunch of assholes. I'm like, I'll take it. Okay, thanks, NPR. So, anyways, yeah, there's that. Um when it comes to the growth of this thing, though, uh, no. There are definitely core fundamentals that prepared me of how to solve problems, ways of thinking about problems. Um, you know, always fighting the constraints, right? Some lean six sigma madness. I've never actually gone to one of the courses, but I read a book. The, the, you know, but the lean six sigma, you know, you're just always fighting a constraint at the most simple form. And for us, it was, you know, we've got this fulfillment team who's actually doing the interviews with the veterans, developing out paperwork, helping them prepare. And then uh we got the sales side of it, where like, how many phone calls do we need to take, make, figure that, that out? Um, and then scaling the advertising part, right? And of course, there's many more functions in the company than that, but at a high level, and it was always one is outpacing, outgrowing the other. One is a three, okay, now we're at a three-month backlog. We have to stop selling. Okay, we stop selling. What happens to the morale and the paychecks of your sales team? You know, well, we can't hire quicker because we can't compromise quality. Okay. And it was this thing of learning how to create harmony within an organizational unit. And we, I would say we, in retrospect, retrospectively, I'd say we did it pretty effectively. And I'm I am super proud to say, like over the last year, right, we've created over 200 enlisted veteran jobs. Health vision and dental good pay. It's beautiful. That that revenue is a cool number, sure. But what I'm proud of is the amount of jobs I've created because they're not just jobs, they are jobs where people get to work with other vets and they love coming to work. And that that's cool. Because I didn't I didn't have that when I got out.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, dude. It I'll tell you, I'll I'll even say like the the thing that you're providing as well is that that sense of purpose when you know you're going to work for an organization whose end goal is to help another veteran go through one of the hardest processes out there, fast, easy, affordable, without any sort of hiccups or feeling like they have to like wait on edge, that's huge. Like, I I I I would I can only imagine the atmosphere of understanding that whether you're a sales guy or somebody working in in development and just the the guy in the mail room, knowing that you have a mission again, knowing that, like, hey, what I do today matters because it's helping another veteran who might be one more drop phone call or bad experience or VSO from fucking doing something horrible. Like, that's fucking powerful. And that's a reality, man. When you sit in front of somebody that has almost given up, and the first thing that's out of their mouth is like, dude, I just want to get what's owed to me. I just want my veteran benefits so I can just live my life just a little bit better. They're already crushing their asses at work, trying to be the best version of themselves for their families, their kids, and everybody's kicking them down. And they got this one little thing where they know, like, if I could just get this figure the fuck out, I could breathe a little easier tonight. I could just breathe a little bit easier. Like, that's a huge fucking thing, man.
SPEAKER_01:Do you care if I read you something really quick? Do it, my man. Do it. This can go in or out, but I I just want to um it's kind of long-winded, but we can we can trim it. But um this is a testimonial that was posted on Facebook about us, uh, and my team shared it uh in our channel. Um it says last April, my friend Sierra shared about her husband working for a veterans claim company. To be honest, I was skeptical. We tried a few times to get him service connected for a concussion uh TBI from when he was stationed in Alaska during the Vietnam War. It wasn't documented and they wouldn't do anything. And Sierra told me the company specializes in tough cases. Still, most companies want to take a percentage of your stuff or take some crazy multiple of your back pay. Um money wasn't the main reason for seeking service connection, uh, but it still didn't seem right to do all that. Well, we proceeded with the claim after talking to Ethan, or I skipped a part here. Um Ethan assured me that we have a flat fee, no back pay percentage required, and in fact, if we didn't see an increase in service connection, they'd refund the fee and an additional amount. We proceeded with the claim. My dad interviewed with the veteran intake specialist Sean, who walked through all my dad's services and what he expected. Long story short, after a few appointments with medical specialists, my dad is now 100% service connected by the VA. This is a huge answer to a prayer and will allow for better and paid-for memory care as he needs it. We're praising God for this tonight. So thankful for Sierra and Ethan and a company dedicated to helping veterans receive health care that they have earned and deserve. So this wasn't about the rating, it was the dad's gonna go into memory care, and that will bank that'll bankrupt a family. Or you're gonna have to put them in a substandard place. But because we were able to help them get that service connection, he's in a wonderful VA facility, and the family's not losing their financial stability. And we get notes like that, and my team shares them throughout, and it is just you should have seen our company Christmas Party. People would I've got an army, and it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_03:Fuck yeah, dude. That's like one of the greatest things in being able to build a team, a unified team, on the same mission, everybody rowing the same way. Like that's that's every veteran out there with an idea of formalizing a business plan or or just getting into that entrepreneurial space. Like that is like that is a phenomenal thing to show people. Like you can have the success, you can build this, you can make it a purpose-driven mission. You just gotta keep working, man. That's that's something that I really love about your your story and the way you share it. Like it's not just about Lucas' worldview, it's not just about Lucas and what he wants to do. You really put the team aspect there first, being able to give others a shot at joining the team, man. Like that's important. Because not everybody wants to be a business owner, they just may want to be in line with a company that believes in them and has an aligning mission, dude. That's important.
SPEAKER_01:It's it's massive and it oh man, it it's interesting too, because like I think to some degree everybody's like, you know, you want to do that or you own a business, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, there's this, not envy, but there's this must-be nicism that occurs on occasion.
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SPEAKER_01:I'm like, people don't understand. Like this company, I love it to death, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It has almost killed me. Like, I had a blood clot when I was launching this thing last November from sitting working for more days. Uh that leg sense, trying to rehab that and get it back, like that shit's broken, you know. And you're just like just visualizing a little tiny leg. I made it with my good hands. I'm like, wow, you know, like, you know, it is just this big compounding thing. Like, the my priority this year is definitely putting my personal health first above everything.
SPEAKER_03:That's a perfect segue, man. Like, we we don't put ourselves first. Um I'm looking at my board. Um, you know, I I'm not at Vet Claims AI status level yet, but I've put more, I put myself in the red more this year than ever. Um working until 3 a.m., 4 a.m., not like once or twice, like three times a week.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um answering phone calls, answering single chats on the weekend. But that shit will break you the fuck down. Like we have to normalize the idea that you have to prioritize yourself. And I say it all the time. I talk about sleep all the time, and I'm dog shit. I am in the red for the last um fucking four weeks uh thanks to my whoop strap. Uh, shout out to our whoop team. If you want to get on board, just uh use to code and episode description. Back to this though. Like, what are you doing in 2026 to prioritize you?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I'll be I'll be full up in Komono because I don't think Vets talked about this. Um and we should, men in general. Dude, my wife has to make my doctor's appointments. That's how it has been, right? I've got sleep apnea, I've got some shit from the army that like I should have got straightened out a decade ago when I got out, but I haven't. Right. I put off these things, and so I literally just made a list of like I need this specialist, this specialist, this specialist, I need to do this. And like I'm attacking that as a business KPI. And furthermore, I briefed, I briefed my chief of staff on it. And I said, if you don't see me doing this, hold me. Hold me to it. Like this is because if I fucking die, like I love you guys, but like I'm the face of this shit right now. And until we find someone handsomer and skinnier, you know, like you're shit out of luck, all right? So let's let's make sure I don't fucking let's make sure I don't kick the can here. And um, and and it's just like taking being intentional and being uncomfortable with creating a circle of accountability, right? Because it's not fair to my wife. I already, I already worked my ass off and she already supports the hell out of me, and she knows how our relationship's gonna be. She knows that I'm a builder, and if I stop building, I'll die from depression. She knows that. She knew that when she got into it. But it's not fair to her if I don't at least take care of myself so that we can have that for as long as possible. And the the other thing, too, that I've found is it's really useful to look at shit like a deployment. Like we start engaging on this federal effort, and I'm like, okay, I know I'm gonna be in DC two weeks a month, right? But that six-month period, right? Six-month period. I have six months to make that happen, and then it decreases. Op tempo has to go down, right? And and we got to reorganize, reprioritize. And being able to do that and brief my family and like have that kind of mental status of like this is the push period, right? Um, because I think there are times like I would be anybody would be remiss to say that like you can build a million-dollar company or build probably anything without those three or four AM nights, you know? Yeah, you need them. You definitely need them, and they're good for you. They're not good for you if they go unchecked.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's the thing. Like there's there's an importance, and there's a what I'm trying to to to emphasize and let the audience know too, because I I break the fourth wall and I tell you guys all the time, like, sleep is the primary thing. Like a lot of us GWAT veterans are carrying a lot of damage in our brain. That's just a fact when you can't remember where you're at, when you can't remember where you placed your keys, your wallet, and stuff like that, once or twice, yeah, okay, that's normal memory. But when it's the habitual, constant thing, you have to understand there's something up here: nutrition, sleep, proper mitigation for when you have too much stress, having a hobby, being able to walk outside, breathe fresh air, these are non-negotiables. I say it to you because I need to hear it so I can tell myself and do it. Um, but man, sometimes, sometimes you're the quarterback and the wide receiver and the fucking tight end, and you gotta fucking score. So I'm telling you, figure out when those nights where you have to stay up and strategize so you can get some rest on the back end. Because sometimes you can't. Sometimes the ball's in on in your hand, you have no other teammate in your immediate area to fucking get it done. It's gotta be you. But do it smart, man. Because I don't want to burn out. I've been there.
SPEAKER_01:I was I was at a very private dinner, and the richest guy I've ever got to like break bread with, someone asked, like, man, how do you balance it all? And he just sat his drink down and he said, fuck balance, make harmony. And that, that, fuck balance, make harmony. And you can interpret that in many ways, but to me, instead of a 50-50 line with a divider in the middle, was the understanding that you're gonna have octaves, right? And and being able to plan for those, accept for those, and be hyper excited about them. And I mean, like to the sentiment of the first podcast we did together, like, man, when I'm in my like, I took a vacation, took the longest vacation of my life this year, uh, over my birthday in Thanksgiving. And um man, by the end of that, whoo, God, someone had to hold me back. I I was just biting at the bit to get back into the shit. Like, what are we doing? When am I talking? When am I going live? What are we doing? How can we, you know, whatever, however. And my leadership team was like, bruh, like, you're good. I'm like, no, let me in, coach. Well, tell me that. And um, but that's how it should be. You should give yourself the ability to look forward to getting back into the fight.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely, man. You have to plan for that downtime. Um, I know it's hard. Like, but you have to do it. And and I think this is something that can be utilized in any industry, in any position. I don't care if you're the guy working at a factory, man. Like, you gotta figure out, take a knee. The biggest thing for me that I always I do advocate for is be willing to at least challenge yourself to be sober for one month and see how that goes. Like, be willing to do a 75 hard. Uh like see if alcohol really is a vital aspect of your existence. Because man, I gotta tell you, like, the more people that I challenge with that idea, the more people get on board. Everybody says the same thing, like, fuck, dude. I am so glad I quit drinking. Um it's it's for me, that's one of the things that and I and I know people like to drink, it's their thing, but um it's great knowing that when I go into this new year, I don't have to make that new year's resolution of throttle back to Jameson.
SPEAKER_01:Have you ever heard of the watering hole method? It's one of my favorite positive reinforcement things I've ever ever come across. And I can't for life of me tell you where I picked it up. It might have been like a water cooler convo. But so the watering hole mechanism, right, is like you think about your morning. What do you do every morning? Well, like for me, I sit in my kitchen island, I have my coffee, I'll check to make sure no email says, holy shit, this is on fire. And then, you know, I'll I'll either read or I'll just sit there and kind of like meditate, prep for my day, enjoy my coffee. But I kept forgetting to take my damn vitamins. Now, the vitamins were not far away, they're five feet away on the other part of my island, right? Or on the on a kitchen counter. And what I did is I was like, oh, the watering hole thing. Let's try that. So I moved the vitamins right where I set my cup of coffee. So in order to set my cup of coffee down, I'd have to move the vitamins. I'd have to touch them. I'm like, oh fuck, take my vitamins. And that's the watering hole mechanism, is whatever you do throughout your your day that is like uh uh it's already an ingrained habit, put things at the water and hole. You're already going to be there, right? And so if it's if it's eating healthy, if it's I need to journal, it's I need to read, move the thing so that like you're like, ah sh I'm it's already in my hand. I'm a real piece of shit if I don't do this how. Like Yes, dude. It's the that to me is one of the biggest little like our brains, as smart as we are, our brains are funny little machines. And that that's one of the hacks that's just been a killer for me.
SPEAKER_03:Dude. Yeah, man. We're um I always tell people like when it comes to smart goals, everybody understands that you heard an acronym. If you haven't, I'll put an episode description for this new year for you. It's a great tool. Um, it's overused, but I always say, like, start even go all the way back. Be a beginner again and look at your life. Look at all the bad habits. Now, it can seem like a lot. So now focus on what good habits you do have. So if you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is work out, all right, cool. Tie another one of those new things that you want to incorporate into that habit. Like you, for a lot of guys that are getting out of the military, that fitness is already there. Like attach one more thing you want to do. Like if it's fucking reading, bring your freaking book with you to the trend or whatever you're doing. But it's far easier when you incorporate into something that's already pre-existing in your life. Like that's that's a great strategy. Which leads me to my next uh point that I want to dive into. We've already kind of started talking about it. You know, being a leader demands a lot from you. You're you're dealing with some of the stuff that a lot of our veterans are doing or dealing with um things like sleep apnea. You've had a major issue with circulation. Like as a leader working in a business, you're gonna be sitting down a lot. Like, what are you doing to really strategize in 2026 for that fitness pillar? And can you share some of those things that you like wrote out with your chief of staff?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, actually, I the um one of them, the chief one, is not one that's necessarily applicable to everybody. You gotta kind of earn the earn the earn the spot to be able to do that. But uh the first one is fuck it. If I show up to the office at 10, I show up to the office at 10 because I'm going to the I I tried to do the workout at night thing, and it's like there is so much. One, I'd I'd been out of the habit because after I had the blood clot, they said they said don't do anything for six months, right? Which sucks I gained a bunch of weight. Um and then uh it just wasn't happening. Being a CEO for 12 hours and then going to I'm gonna go do bench, I'm gonna go live. Okay. Well, I might just let the bar sit in my damn neck. So, you know, like like put 405 on, make it look good, and let's call it a day. Um and it just wasn't happening. And so I was like, you know what? No, nothing gets in the way. If someone needs me, they can call me, right? Like, but I'm working out in the morning. And you know, some people don't have schedules they can adjust to do that, but to whatever extent you can, prioritize it. If you got to go to bed at 7 p.m., get it in. Like just you have to force that. Uh one for me, the big thing is I don't have like a fear of medical providers by any stretch. I mean, I was a nurse. Uh it's just actually if I can, I I want to take us to a little side note because I had a I think you'll appreciate this. And I think the viewers and other entrepreneurs definitely will. There's a very well-respected nonprofit CEO that I'm like really good friends with. He's built one of the biggest nonprofits in America. He's in my office the other day, we were talking about some partnership stuff, and we both talked about survivor's guilt. I said, you know what's funny, man? I've seen this in me and a couple other veteran CEOs, and I just wanted to, you know, maybe this resonates with you or some of the people in your org, but like we don't take care of ourselves. And, you know, I'm familiar with psychology at a more than rudimentary level, given my current job, given my leadership experience, and given being a nurse. And uh one of the surest signs of depression is kind of intentional self-neglect, right? People with chronic depression, they won't brush their teeth. Sometimes it'll be a deodorant thing, sometimes it's or it'll be something else. In some way, they won't take care of themselves. And I said, sometimes I ponder if the work ethic I have is actually just a remainder of survivor's guilt. And oh fuck, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Fucking onions. Um We both started crying. And I'm just like, is that a thing?
SPEAKER_01:Is that where I is that is that where I've channeled the Survivor's Guilt is is into is into building.
SPEAKER_00:100% man. And if so, maybe that's good. But I gotta take care of myself too.
SPEAKER_01:So my so and I I bring this up because it's not always a discipline thing. I think sometimes we actually have to call the demon what it is. And for me, I went home to my wife after the conversation. I said, babe, I think I'm depressed. She's like, What the fuck you mean? You were crushing it. Like you have God, you've had to live your dreams.
SPEAKER_03:100%. You're dead on it. Maladaptive behavior doesn't have to be drinking, it doesn't have to be a drug use. It can manifest in being of service to people. People that are caregivers. There are they are 100% that there's there's a lot, there's caregiver fatigue. And what you're describing is that's how you're dealing with it. It can a hundred percent be that person that's always volunteering. That person that's always giving up themselves. It can a hundred percent be that. You hit it on the yeah, very good.
SPEAKER_01:And I I just think it's important for for anybody listening because this was such a breakthrough for me. It made it, it made it easier. It's why that's on my list. It's why this is number one on my priority list, is because I got to call the enemy what it was. It's not I'm not a lazy fuck. I'll work a 20-hour day. I don't care. It's not laziness or lack of discipline. It is, no, you I'm actually like fighting something here. I'm actually like, there is like a form of depression that I gotta like really work through and be intentional about. And and it and it will try to hold me back and it will try to rationalize and it will try to make excuses. And so I need to create this echelon above of accountability saying, hey, not just my wife who loves me and is gonna nicely tap me about things, but my chief of staff says, hey, asshole, we need you good. And and that's where this came from. And I I hope that's helpful to somebody, but uh it was a it was a very big breakthrough for me to even just be able to call it my name. Uh like, well, in Alcoholics Anonymous, what do they say? You gotta you have to own that you have a problem. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Well, that was my first step in this. So, yeah, the the you know, the list for me is really just making appointments with the right providers to get things done that I've put off. In the early days of building any organization, company, project, whatever, it's a it's a semi-justifiable fear that if you step away for 10 minutes, something might burst into flames. And, you know, I over over the course of the year, and and and I read a book called Who Not How, and man, that was a life changer for me. Um, getting the right people in the places instead of asking how can I solve this, who can I hire to continue solving this? And of course, you have to have capital to do that, so it's it's useless in the day one. But, you know, in in once you're zero to one and you're going one to two, that's an incredibly relevant book to read. And um I've got the who's. I've got a great bunch of who's. And now I can step away for a month if I need to. I mean, I could probably let it run as is. We've got an amazing team. And so I'm like, okay, there's zero excuse. If I need a surgery, I go get a surgery. If I need this, I go do this. If I need to show up to work at 10, I show up to work at 10. And um that's that's the list. So sorry for the tangent, but I No, that's not a tangent.
SPEAKER_03:That was perfect. This is a security hall. We fucking we go where we need to on this discussion, my man. So I don't do fucking outlines. Um, I'm not fucking Sean Ryan. You're not getting gummies anytime soon, and and I damn sure won't be giving you a SIG. I care about my my guess.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we we so we do a like a quarterly Glock giveaway for people for our customers. Like if you're a vet claims customer from any period that since we've been in business, you know, you can enter the quarterly, quarterly drawing to win one of our customized Glock 19s. And someone asked, are you ever gonna do SIGs?
SPEAKER_00:I said I don't want to add to the rate. Yes. Sorry.
SPEAKER_03:Use your vigilance, elite gummies.
SPEAKER_01:I saw a meme. You know the scene from Boondock Saints where he slams and the it the gun shoots the cat? Yeah. It's like when you forget your homie owns a Sig. I oh, I'm glad I was already shitting for that one.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, dude, I've I've got uh I've got my SIG um and it's staying in the the safe. It's never going back out. Dude, I was a huge SIG guy for a long time. Rifles, pistols, 227, 226, uh SIG 762. Big fan. I'm not saying I wouldn't own another SIG. I'm just making fun of the issue. Uh I might might own a 227 again someday. It was just cool fucking random gun note.
SPEAKER_01:I, when I was in college, loved the HKVP9. Yeah. So fun to shoot. For the life of me though, I just couldn't get used to the butterfly mag drop thing.
SPEAKER_03:I fucking love it. I love it. That was oh man, yeah. I couldn't do it. Yeah. But you know, in these days, I've I've become that's what's actually on my board for things that you need to do.
SPEAKER_01:Are you so old that you've bought a 1911?
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah. I mean, I I dude.
SPEAKER_01:I um when's social security coming in, honey?
SPEAKER_03:I don't think there's enough money for social security for me. I think I'm fucked, dude. I gotta make this work. I gotta, I gotta make the podcast stuff work. Because uh by the time I'm able to draw, they're just gonna be like, I owe you. Like, sorry, dog. No, you just open a Somalian daycare. You're good.
SPEAKER_01:The new security hall learing center. If you didn't know, Vetclaims is opening one too. Uh it's for autistic veterans. We're it's actually we're actually Camp Le June, but we're gonna fit a typo in there somewhere. We're gonna make a killing, bro.
SPEAKER_03:Primo. They come visit, we're not there. No, no, no. Our hours of operation are are explicitly labeled on our website 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. That's it. When are kids gonna be there? Well, hey, you know, our kids like to stay up late. Yeah, yeah. You know, don't worry about that. It's OPSEC. Oh, man, yeah. It's uh it's crazy times we're living in, man. Um, crazy times.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm kind of wondering when everybody's just gonna stop paying taxes, but I don't want to get you canceled, so I'll leave it there.
SPEAKER_00:But sorry, I'm I'm not trying to fund a Haitian pastry class.
SPEAKER_03:A transgender Haitian pastry class. 4.2 million dollars for a transgender dance troupe in Nigeria.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that checks. Are those the guys on TikTok that do the birthday cards? Yeah, that's that's why the choreography is so good.
SPEAKER_03:You know what? Yeah, makes sense. I mean, it's worth it. I've my money should be going there.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, God.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, there's yeah, yeah. Between that and the uh the alien conspiracies, I just now more than ever.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, 2025.
SPEAKER_00:Aliens are fucking real. 100%. And all of us are just like, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Like, okay, I that's actually on my list. Um, there's a green beret. And if you guys listening, if if you know his name or know who I'm talking about, uh please send me a uh connect us, send me the link. We want to have him on. He's been on a couple big um documentaries. Uh he he claims, and I'm not saying that you know he's I'm just saying this what he said. He he can communicate and can be in contact with him. And and that is not the craziest Greenberry I've ever heard of. That's so I want to have that dude on.
SPEAKER_01:I think, you know, you know, in the realm of supernatural facts here, I think, you know, Tim Kennedy uh, you know, coming out with his 50 50 grenade bag was pretty pretty big. Um so aliens, 50 grenades in a bag, you know, tax fraud, hundred Hunter Biden got a got a pardon, right? And he was on Sean Ryan. And well, and he he wasted it. He got the pardon, he had a week, he had one week where he could have done whatever the f he wanted. What? Yeah. And he, are you kidding me? Bro, but I mean if I had a week, if I had a week, Danny, you'd know. You'd know. You'd have got a phone call. It's Hunter Biden. He's probably done it all already. No, I'd have been showing up at people's houses, been like, remember that TikTok comment where you called me a fat piece of shit? I do. Yeah, I had a blood clot, asshole. And so between that and like going to Vegas, oh, CNN would have been live streaming me for that week. I just feel like that's a wasted opportunity. Anyway.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I was just blown away to see him on Sean Ryan. And uh I've I'm I'm pretty I've watched that. That dude was high off fucking Coke for sure again. And but hey, cheers to him. Living his best fucking life, dude. Don't hate the player, hate the game. That's it. That's that's the name of the episode.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I I think, you know, what I'd love to see is, you know, we recreate that Nazi hunting show that Kennedy did, but we put him and Hunter together on it. And he has to carry a bag of 50 grenades the entire time.
SPEAKER_03:Dude, everything you come up with is fucking money, dog. Like my man's just laying golden eggs over here. TBS to make it happen. Start bucking this show. Hey Netflix, can we now?
SPEAKER_01:Netflix, can we? Can we I'll produce. Can we then he's got the sound.
SPEAKER_03:He's like I'd paid money to see that interaction, and honestly, I I'd be on, I don't know whose side I'd be on. Just just seeing a cracked out Hunter Biden with Tim Kennedy as they're like going on adventures, like in production, he has to be high on cocaine the entire time. Then you put the random thumb in there and introduce him to a room of married women, and you just keep it going with every big headline from Mill Mill Talk from 2025.
SPEAKER_01:Well, let's throw Nick Palmashano in there and tell him there's a bunch of loose Afghans.
SPEAKER_00:We'll see if we can just get them. Oh, absolutely. Fuck that.
SPEAKER_03:Get him on this plane right now. Tim, grab the bag. Hunter, grab the bag.
SPEAKER_00:They're both confused. Which one? Oh. Oh my god, dude. Fuck yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Imagine being that C17 pilot. You just look back and you're like, I just fucked it. I told my wife, you're like, babe, I'm I'm gonna take one for the team.
SPEAKER_03:Wait, man. Just I won't, I want to see that show. I want to see that interaction. And the crazy thing is that I honestly think it would bring a lot of Americans back into Tim Kennedy's fold. It's seeing him interact with someone as batshit crazy as Hunter Biden. That's the deme, that's how we we uh that's the uh you know, that's the arc. That's a hero arc. We we get Tim Kennedy becomes America's sweetheart by having to be on a show with Hunter Biden. That's uh I've got a book coming out next year.
SPEAKER_01:Get the fuck out of here. I do. And um and I'm gonna sneak a few Easter eggs in there about my bag of hand grenades.
SPEAKER_03:Oh fuck. What's the book gonna be about? Uh autobiography or autobiographical?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, I don't I don't think I'm that cool yet. It's uh I hope one day I feel that I've earned that. But no, it's so the title of the book's gonna be just a G Watt Kid. Um and it is it's about it's about the getting out and not just for service members, but anybody who's going through a crazy transition in life, a divorce, a lost job, a move, uh a death, whatever it may be. But it's these things that fight through the transition, and it's of course mainly focused for vets, but it's my whole mission in life is I call it getting getting veterans to zero. Because when a vet gets out, there's three things. They gotta unuse nice language here, they gotta fix their mental health, they gotta fix their financial health, and they gotta fix their physical health, right? And you know, obviously I haven't done all these myself, but their work's in progress. But getting to zero and then gaining gaining an ounce of stability, that's what it's about. Because my mission in life is getting veterans to a place where they can take bets on themselves. Whether that's starting a company or going back to school or starting a podcast on the side or any creative thing or or ballsy thing that they can put themselves out there for. To me, veterans are the backbone of this nation. They're what rebuilt us after World War II. They're they're what'll rebuild us after the next World War as well when that happens. We need them and we need them strong. And we need them not just pushing papers in a job they hate, but building something that changes or adds to society, even in some minuscule way. And um because people don't realize like you could have a podcast with 10 people who listen, but maybe you save two of their lives. Maybe you made one Instagram post that drove someone to get off their ass or get out of that bad relationship or stop drinking, or you do not know the impact you can have in this so interconnected world. And and I want more veterans to take that bet on themselves because I think when they do, one will reduce the suicide rate, and two, we just win more. And and that's what the book's about.
SPEAKER_00:Fuck. Another great idea, man. That's gonna be a good book. That concept of getting back to zero, that is powerful.
SPEAKER_03:We're not trying to get to a hundred right off the bat, man. You're you're on a journey. Vast majority of your life, you're probably gonna be working towards that 70 to 80 goal, man. The idea and concept that we have to go from a deficit to 100% is leading more people in depression. If you're able to get up, put one foot in front of the other, brush your teeth, get dressed, and and move forward in a right in the right direction. Like that is that's a big thing, man. Don't take that for granted. Don't mark that as just a steady state. Like you made progress, small, measurable progress. That's a big change. Change happen. You're not gonna wake up and be a hundred percent. You're not. But if you wake up and get to that 20, that 30, baby, dude, you're crushing it.
SPEAKER_01:You're killing it. Every day if you get 1% better, it sounds corny, but it's the truth. And and and to add on to that, the big thing for me, like I said earlier, there is power in naming your demons. If you don't if you don't come out of the military, and not everybody is, but you know, do a self-assessment if you're listening here. You're out of the you just got out. Do you really think you're starting at zero? Or do you have a few things to get through before you're even at a at an even fighting stance, right? And and if you have a few things to get through before you're at that even fighting stance, name them, right? Name them. If I'm a CEO of a 200-person company that's killing it, helping 5,000 veterans a month doing the thing and growing 50 to 80% month over month, people throwing wanting to throw investments at us. If me in my position can say, fuck man, I think I've got depression that I gotta fight through here. If I can say that, who the hell are you to have an ego and say, I don't have any depression, I'm too tough. Fuck you. No, you're not. Right? You got some shit to work through, call it what it is and kill it. You know, why why does the army train with Ivans? Why is it the entire military? Why do we train with Ivans? They look like a human. What are you fighting? Humans. In particular, Russians at that point, but that's what they are, right? Know your enemy, then you can learn and research how to defeat that enemy. But if you just say, oh, I've got this bundle of shit, well, it's hard to beat a bundle of shit because you don't know what's in it. And that that to me is like just this it sounds silly, but it's such a superpower.
SPEAKER_03:It is, man. And knowing your knowing your enemy and killing the myth. Two big things that I champion. I say it all the time, whether I'm talking about PTSD, talking about migraines, um, you got to know what you're fighting. Once you're informed, just like G.I. Joe taught us all the way, all those years ago, man, knowing is half the battle. The next part of it is actually engaging it. Get through it. Have that positive mental uh attitude, the knowing that you're gonna get better. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in a week, but you will get through this. And stay in the fucking fight, man. Stay in the fight. You're worth it. You wouldn't quit on us in a fattle, in a in the middle of a firefight in Afghanistan or Iraq. You wouldn't quit on your friends then. Don't quit on us now. Stay. Be willing to work. Beauty in the process. You're not gonna remember, you're not gonna look back on this journey and say, man, I'm so glad and everything's great on this end. Like, no, you're gonna remember the days where you're making that 1% change. You were making a little bit, things got a little bit better. You moved out of that shitty apartment. You finally got a better place. The journey is what you're ultimately gonna reflect back on. So have the present moment awareness now. Develop that for 2026. Challenge yourself to be more focused on what you're doing in the now instead of focusing on that 10-year shiny goal of being on the mountain. I'm telling you, I've suffered, Lucas has suffered, and now that I'm better, now that I've been able to turn around and help other people, I'm not looking at this from like, I've achieved so much. I'm looking back at all the times where I wished for this sort of difficulty, where I wish for this sort of burden, and I'm happy that I have it now, and I'm happy for the difficulty. I'm happy for the challenges. And that's what ultimately all of us need to reflect on. It's hard. I didn't want to think of that as the end goal. I wanted to think of the end goal of being happy and focusing on all the good. Happy sweetings, it does not always stay. Life's constantly process of waves. Fall in love with the process, man, fall in love with the late nights, being there, and understanding within all the normal everyday life things that you go through, you're gonna have moments like this where you're happy that you're in it, that you're in the fight, that you're here, that you're having dinner with your buddies, that you're able to get away and have a break throughout the day. That's what we ultimately need to reflect on, man. That's the that's the reality of life itself. It's not falling in love and wishing for the exotic dreams. It's just learning to love your day-to-day life, man.
SPEAKER_00:And you can. You can. It's it's I couldn't say it any better, man.
SPEAKER_01:And I I with that, I gotta ask you though, what are your 2026 goals? Man, security hall and then what's happening? What's going on?
SPEAKER_03:Dude, for me, my biggest thing is realizing that um I I love what I do. But if I want to take this and make it a bigger thing, I have to be willing to go into the uncomfortable space and and scale and do the things that I know I I have to do. Um, but that means prioritizing myself first, too, as well. I have to say no to things.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:2025, I said yes to a lot of things. And I I love all the things I've been able to do. But sad reality, sad the sad reality is sometimes to experience monumental growth, you have to let go of something.
SPEAKER_00:Um not to go all fucking sci-fi.
SPEAKER_03:Great example. They're getting sucked into Gargantua's uh gravity, and what do they have to do? They have to let go of Tars and they gotta let go of Coop. That's heartbreaking. That moment in that movie, you're like, oh my god, they're gonna have to jettison themselves to for the betterment of the mission so they can advance. Sometimes you got to do that with some of the things that you love. And that's what I gotta do. I gotta be able to let go of some things, some projects that I really wanted to be able to do and see long term, but realize that if I want to make sure that Security Hop Media grows, I can't be divided. And I have to be able to jettison some things. So that means that some people aren't gonna get my attention. Some things are gonna have to go by the wayside. Uh, I can't do everything and be a husband, a father now. I have to let go of some things. I love being there for others and supporting other things, but my veteran peer-to-peer support group, I gotta scale that back. I gotta be willing to prioritize my family time. And there's a lot of people on the back end that I support that I gotta simply say, like, hey man, like, sorry, 2026, we gotta go separate ways. I gotta be able to move and focus on what I'm doing because this is what I love. But on the other side, getting rid of all of that and jettisoning it so I can escape the gravity of the black hole will allow me to grow security out media into something that I know that is powerful. I've got a couple of shows underneath my belt now. That's insane to me to think that I went through a program who had, you know, that was a great, great program for veterans. It gave me a lot of courage to do what I wanted to do. But within that, there were a lot of people that didn't necessarily believe in me. And that's that's okay. It's nobody has to believe in you. But to be here at 2025 going into 2026 tomorrow and knowing that I pay my bills through Security Hot Media, dude, that's insane. That's beautiful. This thing that started out as a hobby with my friends, that you know, eventually they had to go get big boy jobs and they walked away because a hobby's a hobby. When it becomes a business, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. And it was just me overnight. It was just me. And I quickly realized this was something I didn't want to let go. I didn't want to see fail. And to be here now with the asset mindset, broken brains, Dan Raven podcast, and my show, that's insane. Like I've been, I've been able to do that by myself for this long. And now I'm having finally bringing on board an editor, finally bringing on board somebody that can do the the content so that I can support the other bigger initiative of being there for a green berets through the Special Forces Foundation. Like that's been a really successful thing for me. But at the same time, Security Hall Media is still my number one bay. That's what I want to see.
SPEAKER_01:You're getting your who-not how.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And I have something really, really exciting for 2026. Um, I don't want to really reveal it yet, but um I met some amazing people, and I've had this dream, this idea of a show that's completely different. It's in person, it's part documentary, part podcast with another well-known veteran that uh I looked up to when I was still in service. He was he was one of our first generation of uh wounded warriors that came out and kind of started doing the social media stuff. And their journey, their story just always stuck with me. I was like, fuck, dude. If that kid can do and can keep pushing, like, I can continue it. I can continue doing this shit. Years later, we uh met through a mutual friend, and now I'm like, hey, you know what? Like, I think we could probably do a show that could be really impactful. So in 2026, I've got two other veterans and myself will be doing something that's pretty fucking cool. Um, we need capital, so we're actually working on that right now because I don't want to bootstrap this. I don't want this to be something that's done in uh in remote. I mean it doesn't work. It doesn't work in remote. It only works if it's in person. And when I pitch it to my buddy, and and to I mean, this is God working in in the greatest capacity. Um the one other veteran is in film school and has everything that we need to shoot the pilot episode without having to pay for cameras, paying for you know, uh audio person, second cameraman. We have everything we need. Now it's just a matter of like, hey, look, we're gonna film this the right way, we're gonna get it the right way, and then hopefully say it to the right person. We're hoping to get it in the hands of the Taliban. We think that the Taliban are the right person to bring this to market to have enough enough resources. I was like, I mean, it's a travel documentary in the backlands of Afghanistan. No, no, it's completely it's uh well within my my scope and and uh what I've done with Secure authentic, impactful, purpose-driven stories that have the veteran focus in mind. Um, but I'm keeping it really tight. I don't want anybody to take this idea from us because I think we have something that is exciting and you'll want to listen to it. And and it gets away from the broken veteran, it gets away from the war focus, it gets away from like let's dive into the trauma, and it focuses on real things that can give that veteran that's about to trans or that service member is about to transition something to strive for and can see themselves in a new light. So I'm excited. That's 2026. But more importantly, more importantly, I have a kid now who's about to be one, and that is ultimately the number one thing in my life. Um being able to find a way to continue growing, but being a father. Because if I can't be the person that picks her up and wakes her up in the morning, helps getting her dress, like it does feel like a failure because I served my entire adult, you know, young men, you know, as a young man, I served in the military, never had any kids. Now that I'm not in the military and I am a father, it doesn't seem right for me to miss out on any of this stuff. So I gotta figure out a way to prioritize that fate, that, that aspect of my life because I have no excuse. I don't have a higher mission like serving uh the greatest nation on earth and its people. So yeah, while I love Security Hall Media, that's my number one thing. So I gotta be able to balance that out or find harmony in that part of my life.
SPEAKER_01:I would that last bit, man, I would I would say you do have a higher mission, and I would say, yes, but your normal doesn't have to look like everybody else's either. Absolutely, dude. You might be the one waking her up in a hotel room somewhere else and you're filming that day, but you got the closeness or whatever, whatever, whatever it takes, man. That's awesome though. I hype for you.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'm excited. And it it's the only this has been the only time I've given myself enough time because I strategized for everybody else, and I didn't strategize for myself. And I'm like, nope, 2026, I've got my my giant ridiculous whiteboards over here, and I'm mapped out, and I'm like, okay, like if I'm gonna hold other people accountable, if I'm gonna be that person looking out for everybody else, I got to do the same thing for me. So I've got I got my maps. Oh, and then on top of that, finishing out my master's program and trying to figure out a PhD. Um, because letters mean something in the world, and uh damn it, um I enjoy school. Like I uh I really do. And finishing out this master's, like I didn't realize I am almost done with my master's program. Didn't fucking realize that until I went to sign up for classes. I was like, wait a fucking second. I'm almost done. She's like, Yeah, you're almost done. And I'm like, well, I don't want to take these classes. Well, you kind of have to. It was like, fuck. Oh, yeah. I love it, man. Yeah, dude. That's uh that's it. That's everything for me on the docket. Um, man, I I I can't thank you enough for coming back, man, dude. Like just like you were influential in 2025, this conversation has been even more impactful. And uh re-energize me, man. It's always good to connect with you. You have an amazing insight, and uh your journey's just great to fucking dive into, brother. So you're appreciated for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, man. Thank you. And I I uh, you know our 2026 for the company. I want to say this. I I haven't announced this publicly anywhere, so you'd be the first. Uh as of right now, in December, that claims.ai is by volume the leader in claims processing out of any company. Fuck. So in one year that's huge. So in one year we overtook the market. Next year, next year we're taking it home. Uh we're gonna be the de facto solution, the best solution, TurboTax for VA claims. But I to me it's these interactions, man, it means the world to me because the company is the company, and then uh that's one mechanism of helping veterans. But I just hope the guys getting out and girls getting out get to hear this and be like, look at these two nerds. Like, like I can do this shit. And you can. If you're if you thought that, look at these fucking nerds. You can be be one of us, be one of the nerds. And man, I can't wait to hear more about that show.
SPEAKER_03:Hell yeah. Well, I'll I'll talk more as soon as we wrap it up. But uh, Lucas, if people want to connect with you, where can they go?
SPEAKER_01:So vetclaims.ai is our handle on all social media TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, so on and so forth. I would really ask now, people follow me on Instagram. I think that's gonna be the number one platform for me. I haven't done much with my personal branding or personal profiles in the last year, but as we start to launch our expansion into the podcast world, you know, if you're a veteran that has a cool job, a cool transition story, you track the code, you figured out a way through, you got a cool show, or you're just doing something interesting and want to be on a podcast. Uh, we want to get interesting veterans who are doing interesting things, been through the transition themselves, uh, and it might even involve a flight out to DC for you. So follow me on my personal Instagram, Lucas Siminer. It's spelled funny, but I'll send Denny the details so you can put it in the link there. Um, but that's gonna be the best way to get involved with that and uh you know support the things that we have going on in the future.
SPEAKER_03:Hell yeah, man. Guys, do me a favor, you know the spiel. It's uh new year, but definitely the same old spiel. Pause right now, go to the episode description, see those beautiful links right there, click them, or better yet, because by now this uh new editor is gonna be doing the work for me. Scan the QR code right here. Yeah, right there. Just go to scan it. It's too easy, take you two seconds, unless you're in a Samsung phone, take it like 35. I saw my wife struggle with that for like an hour the other day. It's like, fuck, just get an iPhone. It's so much easier. Scan that QR code, go directly to vetclaims.ai, and start your journey to getting your fucking claim finally figured out. Don't be like my friend Jimmy. Jimmy took fucking five years to figure his shit out. He was missing an arm. True story. Um, dude's doing great. He's working at a cheesecake factory, just serving up fucking hot cakes, doing great. Not a real thing, not a real person. But you get the one-arm cheesecake factory employment. Dude's fucking crushing it.
SPEAKER_01:Does he know we're hiring?
SPEAKER_03:We can talk to Jimmy. Oh man, but please do me a favor, connect with Lucas, figure your shit out, and get what you deserve. Life short. Start living your life and getting your benefits. You deserve them. You fought for the American dream. Now go fucking live it. That's right. Love that. Dude, Lucas, thank you so much for coming back, sharing your knowledge with us in the audience. Uh, absolute fucking treat having you here. I greatly appreciate it. And to everybody listening in 2026, thank you. I really appreciate it. I appreciate your support. I appreciate the support you backed my sponsors with. Um, that's been awesome. Uh so please do me a favor, continue supporting them, especially Pure Liberty Labs. If you like awesome protein and great creatine, check them out. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm Denny Caballero. This has been Lucas Seminar, and we'll see you all next time. Till then, take care.
