From Green Beret to Lieutenant Governor: A Veteran's Roadmap to Purpose After Service | Security Halt! Podcast Ep. 431

  Most veterans hit a wall when the uniform comes off, lost without a mission, a team, or a clear next move. In Episode 431, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, Green Beret and 21st Lieutenant Governor of Florida, breaks down how he turned a combat injury, an amputation decision, and a 23-year Special Forces career into the highest civilian post in his state. If you're searching for purpose after service or weighing whether to run, lead, or build, this episode gives you the blueprint.

 Key Topics Covered

• Why most military transitions fail and how to set yourself up to win
• Rebuilding identity after a career-ending combat injury
• The decision to amputate and what it taught him about control
• Leadership lessons from Special Forces that translate to civilian life
• Why veterans need to run for office at every level
• Florida's priorities on security, economy, and agriculture

 Listen now, follow Security Halt! Podcast wherever you get your shows, and share this episode with a veteran who's looking for the next mission.

 Chapters:
00:00 Intro: From Combat Veteran to Florida's Lieutenant Governor 
03:07 Special Forces Selection and the Leadership That Shaped Him 
05:58 The Combat Injury That Ended His Military Career 
08:57 Why He Chose Amputation and Took Back Control 
11:58 Rebuilding Identity After a Career-Ending Injury 
15:04 How Community and Brotherhood Saved His Transition 
25:11 The Decision to Run for Office After Service 
32:20 Why America Needs More Veterans in Public Office 
39:14 Leadership Lessons That Translate from the Team Room to the Statehouse 
44:05 Florida's Priorities: Border Security, Economic Strength, and Community 
50:19 Defending Florida Agriculture and the Families Who Feed America 
55:40 How Leaders Protect Their Mental Health While Serving Others

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Transcript

Why Warriors Belong In Politics

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Politics is the same, right? It takes heat and takes pressure to temper steel. And if we want politicians who have a warrior's ethos that's fine as steel, well then you better bring warriors into politics. And that's exactly why I jumped in.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Absolutely. We've I mean, historically, our nation used to have a great representation of veterans within our political system and in every branch. It feels kind of like by design, we've been pushed out. People aren't attracting, they're not reaching out, they're not communicating. There's no grassroot movements that are large enough nationwide trying to pull more service members or price or veterans back into uh the leadership roles within our government. And it's crazy because they used to be there.

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SPEAKER_00 0:38

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SPEAKER_02 1:24

Brother, it's good to be here today. How are you doing? Doing well. I am absolutely honored to have you on the show. It's um I always tell guys when you get out, try to find ways to give back. And one of the biggest ways we can do it, whether we like it or not, is stepping into the arena again and leading it in the civilian space, but then also taking that big deep and going into your local government or federal government, or dare I say, the state government. Uh, you've done that. You've led on many different avenues. And today, I don't want to just dive into immediately the political debates that we've got going on. I think we need to understand the man that's out there doing the work who's passionate enough to get back into the arena and fight for us again. So today, my man, I want to dive into your journey. So let's take it back all the way to that small town, Montana, where you first grew up.

Montana Farm Childhood And Loss

Army Intel And Learning Leadership

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Yeah, you know, uh, if you'd have told me five years ago I'd be in politics, I would have laughed at you uh 100%. Uh God's plan's crazy sometimes. It's bigger than ours, right? Uh to your point, man, I grew up on a farm. I'm the son of a failed farmer. I was born to a 16-year-old kid, adopted by my grandparents, uh, raised on our family farm. We lost it in the early 80s. Uh just the economy was in the tank. We brought from Peter to Bay Paul. Um, you know, our family started to fall apart. It really just caused so many issues. Uh, you learn an important lesson, though, is if you don't fight for what you have, you're losing. And that kind of stuck with me, right? Um as I went through, finished high school, played football, you know, did okay. Uh my dad passed away my junior year in high school. Uh, my mom had a little bit of a rough time, a bit of a nervous breakdown, and other things. So I stayed with friends, sometimes slept in the, you know, in the cabin of my truck and other things, just trying to get by. And, you know, we we we made it work, right? Uh went off to college for a couple of years, realized that wasn't going to work. I needed some more seasoning and uh joined the army. Uh I tore my ACL and MCL and messed up uh the cartilage of my knee, uh playing football in college. And uh they told me I couldn't be an 11 Bravo, that I needed to come in as one of like three MOSs. It was like an Intel guy, a medical person, or an admin. So I picked Intel. I was like, whatever, man, I'm James Bond, right? That was not my experience. And uh, you know, one thing led to another. But again, man, God's plan's bigger than ours because I learned strategy. I learned operations. I learned the impact of great leadership up here, but more importantly, how it impacts people on the ground. But I also saw really bad leaders and people who made life absolutely miserable. And I just started to pack that away. I continued to volunteer and uh or get voluntoled as the Army does often, and uh eventually made it to the UK in a combined joint assignment. Uh the most meaningful thing of that, honestly, was that it was pre-9-11. I lived in the UK, so that was pretty awesome. But I got sent back to Fort Wachuca, Arizona, for school. That's where I met my wife. Uh, we ran out to Vegas after two months of dating. True story. Got married. We're coming up on our 26th anniversary here real soon. Wow. Yep. Uh we have two boys together, Gabe and Colt. They're 10, soon to be 11 and 14. And uh that's the reason we do what we do. And uh Layla was a counterintel agent her entire career. Uh so oddly, she was much closer to James Bond than I ever was. Uh, you know, but uh whatever, right? Uh you make jokes about it. Now, uh, by the time the Army got us back together, uh living in the same place, uh, they decided Fort Bragg was going to be home, not where I expected to go. But in the end, I'm so glad they did because it actually let me see what I wanted to do when I grew up. You know, when the war on terror kicked off uh just after 9-11, I was actually in jump school for September 11th. Oh, no way. Sure was, man. We had just landed the first time, uh, first ever jump, September 10th, 2001, hit the ground, didn't die, was pretty excited by it. Uh, didn't love the landing because I'm like a bowling ball with legs, right? And uh, you know, we loaded up on the 11th, flew around. Uh, they, you know, cut the jump, we couldn't land, uh, almost ran out of fuel, landed on the on the tarmac. They left us in the plane in the hot sun, engines turned off, miserable. Then they put us on the tarmac. Then the cattle cars came and got us and drove us back to the building, the barracks. That's where we finally found out about 9-11, where we saw them, you know, like those TVs from when we were kids. They wheel them into your classroom. That's what we actually found out about September 11th on. So the whole world changed, right? My wife was living in DC. She worked in and around the Pentagon. So finally we connected, and uh, some people got pulled out immediately. Uh, I finished. So I was going to the 82nd Airplane Gang, 82nd Airborne Division. And uh, you know, you had to be able to jump out of an airplane. So that's what we did. I graduated, uh, one ended up getting deployed to the joint interagency task force, uh, headquartered out of McDill. And I saw Green Berets for the first time. I saw interagency ops. I saw some of the tiered people that I ended up working with through my career, and I realized what I was gonna do. So I came back, went to selection, uh, November of 2002, the infamous ice storm class got picked up to be 18 Delta, which was you know not my first choice. But they said, Do you want to be a green beret? You're gonna be a medic. Roger that. It's a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

And usually it's the other way around. Usually it's guys that are like, I want to be an 18 Delta, and they're like, You're an 18 Bravo.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

I want to be a Bravo, man. Uh I just want to get to the machine course and get in a team, right? Just get it done, get moving. And uh I took the uh two and a half, three years, whatever it was, to get through the 18 Delta pipeline, got to 7th Special Forces group, loved it, and was the first battalion guy deployed to Colombia, Afghanistan. Uh yeah, loved it was on 3-2 and 3-4. And uh awesome, awesome places. No shit. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Three five, three, five alumni right here. Okay. All right. Just down the hall, man. Love it. That's awesome, man. Yeah, we got we gotta pause and we gotta reflect on this a little bit, man. Like uh your story absolutely connects to almost every Green Beret I've had on the show, or C Laura Ranger. We the can't we have two two camps. Normally, it's like you have guys that had really good families, really good upbringing, and you know, they had all three pillars developed you know, mind, body, and spirit. They always knew what they were gonna do, and they waited and became a warrior. But more often than not, the other side, that's where we get some of the most incredible leaders, the great adversity that you faced. Looking back at your journey, man, like just pausing and reflecting right now, holy cow, that kid that faced, I mean, if you look at the statistics, you shouldn't be here, Jay. No, you shouldn't be here.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Brother, uh I I think back on that all the time. You know, my grandparents, they gave me everything they could, right? Yeah, but they gave me a home, they gave me that piece, and the rest is up to me, right? You make it work. You know, I tore my ACL and MCL in high school. Uh, I ended up breaking my neck in high school, and uh just thing after thing after thing. Uh yeah, I actually ended up driving to the next town and getting a doctor who didn't know me to do my physical so I could go play football. Uh in retrospect, maybe I should have communicated better, but I was really hell-bent on uh uh getting out there and uh, you know, yeah, I want to live life on my terms, which was really the hallmark of how I continued to grow. If you told me I couldn't do something, I wanted to prove you wrong. And uh yeah, I mean, I get it. You know, people like me don't end up in politics. People like me get end up getting trapped in welfare, trapped in the system. And uh when people tell you the American dream is not real, it's BS because I've lived it, I've seen it, and if I can do it, I'll so freaking looply. Everybody else can. It is possible.

9/11 At Jump School

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Absolutely. I think the the community that we come from shows us that every day we show up to formation. I've served with vast amount of individuals who were first generation Americans, guys from Dom Rep, guys from you know, Haiti, Haitians, everywhere, every you name it, we've had representation of individuals that came from nothing, absolutely just had the shirt on their back and a can't do attitude, and where there's a will, there's a way. And uh it it gives you inspiration and and that drive. And and you you served with some giants. Like you had, I mean, chip throwing some names out because now he's retired, Joffrey Solari, uh, amazing leader. You have these individuals when you look back on your journey, even though you start and proud alumni of the 82nd as well, but I know that the 82nd prepares you with that undergraduate degree for warfare. And when you get to seventh group or you get to SF, that's your that's your master's degree. Take us through that journey of getting onto that ODA, getting onto that team. And you're not a young buck. You're a seasoned guy, but now you you have to earn your keep amongst these giants.

Selection And Life On An ODA

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Well, you know, as an 18 Delta back then, you uh either uh were going to be in charge or you weren't gonna be in a team, right? There weren't two medics on most teams. So I came in and I was a senior. I didn't know my head from a hole in the ground. So I went in and figured out what I could, right? Uh ended up going to 3-2. Uh Sarun Sarr uh was my uh first team sergeant there. And then they'd just come back from rotation. But you know, the most meaningful thing that still just uh resonates with me, before I even got to a team, my first job was to bury one of my best friends from the Q-Corps. Uh Leroy uh Alexander, uh, just a good man, just a great man. He really was. And uh he was a bravo. Uh ended up getting to a team long before I did. But he came back uh from Afghanistan. Uh, he and his wife had struggled with fertility, much like my wife and I. And he came back and uh I bumped into him with the PX, you know, up up the road, the airborne PX, right? Wherever he meets everybody. And uh he had just told me that he'd gotten his wife pregnant, he was going back the next day. Uh gave him a high five and a hug, and uh said, Hey, look, I'll catch you on the flip side. And uh he got back to Afghanistan. It was like uh a month left in the deployment, I guess, or a few weeks. Do you want him to be there? And he ended up getting they they hit an IED, the entire truckload of people lost their lives. And my first job was to represent seventh group up at Walter Reed because I knew him. Uh that's tough, man. Uh two twins ended up growing up, never meeting their dad. And it hits you just how important this task is. Then a guy I just saw a couple weeks ago, my brother, my friend, uh, gone like that. And as a medic, especially, you just pack that away, man, because you gotta be strong, you gotta be there, you gotta think and take care of the people when things happen. And uh, you know, trying that forward, man, going to group. We went to South America a few times, always busy, always doing things. And then I had an opportunity to go to 3-4 there and go to the uh the free fall team before our Afghan trip. And when we showed up in Afghanistan, we went out to Firebase Anaconda. I mean, it was super remote, right? Out in the middle of freaking nowhere. Uh, and it was uh the Wild West, man. It was like a 95% troops and contact rate. You know, I got hit by a mortar there. I got shot off a ricochet. Uh, you know, April of 07, around hit the swing arm, came up into my arm. I lost about a liter of blood. I had no clue I'd been hit. Uh, I was just hyper-focused on the two dudes you were trying to whack uh me and uh, you know, everything else going on. And uh we put a tourniquet on, continued to do what we had to do. Eventually we switched it over to a pressure dressing, and everything we had to do, it'd be another three hours of firefighting, right? Gunfight. And uh you do what you have to do. We had a total of four or five people injured, and uh put a couple of guys out on birds, took care of them first, was I was a senior medic. Uh, but what happened is I did the old compartment syndrome in my arm. So everything got pressured up, and uh, we ended up doing surgery on my arm in the fire base. Uh, you know, uh junior medic, myself, our uh weapons guy, a couple other folks, all scrubbed in, uh opening up my arm. But I do have two hands. They mostly work.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

And uh it's a good story now. That is that is insane. The and that's a testament to what every 18 Delta has to go through to get on an ODA. But it's even more important to focus on the fact that you had to cross-train those guys, you had to instill that confidence in them that at some point they would have to scrub in and help you because God forbid something happens and they gotta dive in and help Doc. Like all those years, like I I can only imagine what the reunions are like talking about this, but in that moment sitting there, like how bizarre was it to have to operate on yourself. It's easier, like I mean, when you work on a patient model, it's almost easier. You can disassociate, you're you're doing everything, but this is your body, this is your pain level, and you're the one that's going through there.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah, no, it was it was pretty surreal. I'm not gonna lie, man. Uh when you prep one arm to be cut and the other one to uh, you know, assist and help do this, a lot going through your mind, man. Uh trying to get the nerves comb, not gonna lie, and we have to do a little bump of Valium just to kind of calm things down and keep uh thinking crisp. But you know, uh when you got to do what you gotta do, you just step up and do it. And uh you compartmentalize it, you block away the pain, you block away uh everything else, and you focus on the task at hand. And that's one of the things that 18 Delta course, the special forces medic course, does incredibly well is they teach you to compartmentalize, pull the emotion off, focus on the task at hand, and do what you have to do. And that's a skill set that's very unique. It's something that our special operators do incredibly well with pressure all around them. And it's one that I'm grateful for because in the end, I do have two hands. I live in Tampa, it's a city of pirates. We have Gasparilla and the Buccaneers. So though I have a great peg leg, having a hook as well might have been too much.

Grief And The Cost Of Service

SPEAKER_02 15:41

You can't vote it, right? That'd be a little bit too much, a little bit too much. And I I mean, if we look at the data, how many 18 deltas, I mean, there how many individuals performed something like that in combat during GWA? I mean, I this is the first I've ever heard. I mean, not to say there aren't enough stories, but I mean, amongst our our rogue, you know, community of individuals, man, like this story stands out. This has to be in the history books.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah, I think I'm still probably the only one. Uh, and uh, you know, it is what it is, man. Uh, I was also there the first time they tried to overrun a fire base, really, at Firebase Anaconda, you know, dropping bombs outside the walls, and it was pretty, pretty sketchy. You know, we had mortars and rockets, we had horses getting hit, we had fire, and uh it was just a mess. I ended up getting hit by a mortar and I fell and ended up breaking some of the bones in my T-spine, like the spinal processes, those little pieces that stick out, ended up grinding those down when I smashed into the dirt and uh it blew out a bunch of my lower back. Uh, but you know what? We were fighting for our lives, man. I wasn't about to just sit down. You get up and you fight. And uh I had no idea how badly I'd been hurt, honestly. I thought it was just one of those things, big whoop, man. I fall all the time, right? You get up, you don't whine, you got a few little scratches here and there, big deal, right? Uh get up on the roof, keep firing, uh, keep doing what you gotta do. And uh then that those injuries actually ended up leading about seven years later to the loss of my leg because of the back injury, because of the overpressurization, because of just everything there. And uh, if I'm gonna be fair and honest, some of it's because uh by nature, special operators do compartmentalize. Uh, we all have a little bit of the BDA sometimes, right? That big dumb animal, uh, where you're just gonna og through it and you suck it up. And uh, you know, I wasn't about to lose my opportunity, you know. I wasn't about to quit. I knew what I wanted to do, and you know, my body was still holding up to a degree until it didn't. And uh, you know, we all hit that point. So seven years ago.

Combat Trauma And Self Surgery

SPEAKER_02 17:45

People don't understand. Yeah, people don't understand the drive of a of a guy in special operations. Yeah, and it's they don't understand what you're willing to the the amount of pain you're willing to consume. And people are just now starting to understand it because of operator syndrome. Like we will we will walk through pain that will will cripple others, that that will say, like, and I'm not gonna walk. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna move this too painful. The mission's greater than me. Like, if I can will my body to move, I'm going to move. And I I certainly a hundred percent understand your mindset because I have I've seen it. I've lived it. My teammates have lived it. And I mean, I've part of the Fuse Net Club because I didn't get uh get checked out when the injury first happened, and I waited all the way till the death shot out the spinal column sheath. And that's just one two stories right here. There's millions of guys with hip replacement at 30, 32, shoulder replacement. And it's it's something about our community where it's you know, you're not gonna get us a slowdown. I will die before I I take a knee. But you absolutely had to, and and I can't we have to reflect on this story and dive into it a little bit because it's not about just taking a knee. You now you're having to make a conscious decision to remove a piece of your body that is not working optimally. Like people there are people out there that will get crutches that will go in a wheelchair before they say cut it off. But you made a decisive decision like a leader. Like I can get rid of this and I can get back to 100%.

Choosing Amputation To Keep Serving

Sponsor Break: Pure Liberty Labs

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Yeah, you know it was a weird time, man. They wanted to say everybody's leg. By the time they cut my leg off in January of 14, man, the hair had fallen out, the toenails had fallen out, the skin was blue, it smelled like Fremunda cheese, right? Like it was it was just not good. And uh, you know, I couldn't walk on it without a brace. So my leg was basically just a dead stick. And I was in so much pain every day, six, seven, eight out of ten. Uh, but brother, the explosions of neuropathic pain when that nerve would try to fire or whatever was going on, it would take my breath away. You know, I would be doing a CQB run. You can't focus through that, man. I mean, it would just divert all of your attention. And it it's a hard reset. And in that arena, seconds, seconds matter, right? Half seconds matter. You lose your opportunity in a window, and then, you know, you're done. And uh, you know, I I was probably ready long before they did because I looked at it very simply like triage, man. My leg was dead. It was not helping me, it was dragging me down. The rest of my body, I was compensating, I was able to do my job. Uh, you know, fast roping, repelling, jump out of airplanes, shooting, moving, communicating. Everything else generally worked. I mean, there were some, you know, certainly other things were jammed up and broken, but my leg was failing. And uh, you know, it took a while to get through the system because they had never seen people like us who just sucked it up and kept driving and pushing at these high octane units. And uh, when I got to Walter Reed, it was fascinating because there were three or four of us that all kind of came with a similar inner injury cascade over five, six, seven years where we've been trapped in this system because they couldn't believe that there were people who just sucked up that kind of dysfunction and pain every day and kept grinding. And I was like, Well, what did you expect? You select us uh for those traits, you ask us to put mission first to drive forward and to continue to focus on what has to be done in the art possible. Of course we're going to. You have honed those skills into us. You already came wired that way, right? So, yeah, man, you got to understand. And I think it was a big epiphany for many of us. It was a it was an awakening moment for me because I had never really realized that how different we were, if that makes sense. When I decided to cut my leg off, I looked at it emotionally, then I looked at it analytically. I put it out on paper, I looked at the pros and the conversation. And I was like, all right, well, there's your answer. It's done. Cut that shit off. Yeah. We're good.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

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Requalifying After Losing A Leg

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Really? Yeah. Yeah. Like it we're there. And uh when they cut it off, man, I'll tell you what, three days after I woke up, uh I remember waking up without pain for the first time in so many years. It felt like an anvil had been lifted up off my chest. It was incredible. I could see clearly, I could think clearly. I was like, holy cow, but now I got to requalify, right? Now I got to go continue to serve. You guys tell me I can't do this. Well, now you have my attention. And uh I was um at a pretty unique organization on uh the DASER, on kind of the the other side of the army, right, where I'm not in the open books. So I had to exit that, get up in the regular army, go through you know all of that unique stuff. Uh like people think I hadn't done my annual training since 2008. This is 2014, right? That was really a question of Walter Reed. They're like, you you can't do physical training. You can't, you can't do PT. You haven't done annual training. I crutched my way all the way through Walter Reed, all the way down to the physical therapist, and just we just made it work, right? I was like, I'm doing physical therapy. I promise you, I've done my annual training, but I'm leaving before something pops in my forehead here and this thing goes sideways. Like you, you're not picking up what I'm laying down here. And uh, you know, eventually we got all that stuff sorted out. But uh six months later, we were Walter Reed for six months, uh, got back to Fort Bragg and uh, you know, knew I needed to go through and be found 100% fit for duty uh if I wanted to stay in. So that was the task. That's what I got to do. And uh, you know, at Walter Reed, it's pretty interesting. There was a few special ops guys. Uh, there was Ben Harrow, my buddy. Uh, you know, uh it's crazy. Nice. Yeah. There was me, and then there was um big Nick Lavery. Uh Nick looks like the Terminator in a human had a love child. Uh that's Nick, right? Just crazy dude. All of us just slaying it, doing what we had to do. But uh, you know, I actually bumped into Ray Odierno, the general. Now I don't generally wax, yeah. I don't wax philosophically about four stars, right? But I was doing box jumps on one leg and I turned around and that giant like the four stars are in my face, right? Yeah. And I'm like, oh crap. So I'm trying to get my leg on and do all the things I have to do. And he's like, what is your deal, dude? I don't even know what you mean. Like, what do you what do you mean, sir? And he said, well, something's different. You're older. And he went through this whole thing. I said, Look, I want to stay in. Don't give it to me. If I can stay in, let me prove that I can re-qualify, that I can do everything I need to do. After that means physical fitness, shooting, moving, communicating, fast stroping, repelling, skydiving, jumping out of airplanes. It's fine. Let me go prove that it can be done. So that's what we did. He said, All right, you're gonna get your shot. Uh the sergeant major of the army got notified. And then I guess they collectively called all of the generals above us, and then they called all the way down to uh our battalion level, and I got the call of like, what did you do? I was doing boss jumps, man.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

I know exactly how that conversation went.

unknown 25:38

Yep.

Turning Service Into State Leadership

SPEAKER_01 25:38

I'm gonna leave out some of the other sidebars, but uh you gave one shot, man. And uh I was able to do five years after I lost my leg. Uh, but I made a promise to them that when it got to the point where it was so hard to stick it out, uh, and I was putting more effort into staying up with the team or staying up with the guys, it was time to cut load, right? At five years, I was still able to run and do all of that, but I was having issues with the stump opening up and falling apart. And, you know, I I wasn't mad at my word. So I retired out of the 18 Delta Committee. Uh, you know, it was good for the young Bucks to see a one-legged dude in charge out there. And uh, you know, uh it made a difference. I think it's it's a closing promise, though, from our people, our leadership, to our young men and women, you know, that were there, and the mainly young men, that look, if you get hurt, you get injured, you get jacked up, we're gonna be there. We're gonna work with you, we're gonna give you an opportunity to get through and continue to make a difference and serve. And I think it was great to show them that. I'm so grateful I had that opportunity. Uh, you know, I wish I could have served longer. I miss our people. I miss the job. Uh never did I imagine I would have the opportunity to do this. But Denny, uh, you know what's interesting. I joke about it now, uh being hard-headed and all those things, but politics is the same, right? It takes heat and it takes pressure to temper steel. And if we want politicians who have a warrior's ethos as fine as steel, well then you better bring warriors into politics. And that's exactly why I jumped in.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Absolutely. We've, I mean, historically, our nation used to have a great representation of veterans within our political system and in every branch. And it feels like, and no conspiracy theory hat moment. I'm just saying that it feels kind of like by design, we've been pushed out. We haven't been, people aren't uh uh attracting, they they're not reaching out, they're not communicating. There's no grassroot movements that are large enough uh nationwide trying to pull more service members or prior veterans back into uh the the leadership roles within our government. And it's crazy because they used to be there. We used to have great leaders that were veterans that served. And it's important to talk about this because when you've served, when you've been there, when you've deployed, when you've seen what combat looks like, you can sit at the highest levels of government and understand the importance of temperance, the importance of saying, wait a second, it's not you that's going over there. It's that young 18-year-old kid. I was that kid. If we're gonna do it, it needs to be worth the squeeze. It needs to matter, it needs to be something that we absolutely are gonna stand on, and we're losing that. Uh I I don't want to name names, but I it's in to when anybody is calling for action and I see their face and they're usually slightly overweight, and they've never served, they've never been enough, and actually like in the capacity to do it. I'm like, you don't understand what it takes. You don't understand what it takes to go out there and do the job. Having the experience, having done the job, having been there now in the arena, do you feel like you have the ability to speak up and stand up for all of us to have been there and understand the importance of having good leadership when it comes to these trying times?

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Yeah, you know, uh, I'm gonna take it back just one step and then I'll answer your question kind of in the second part of that, if that's okay. Absolutely. I I look at it a little bit in a similar vein, but I think I put a lot of it on us as well. Look, man, after 23 years, I didn't want to go to politics. I wanted to be in a boat and they go fishing. I wanted to go to scuba dummy with my kids, right? I didn't want to jump into politics. I thought I'd run my nonprofit, make a difference. Man, but to whom much is given, much is required. Uh, we have to continue to fight and serve, man. Uh, to me, and this was a big moment to me. I had this big thought process. One, I didn't want to represent Green Berets. I didn't want to use you know the crossed arrows or Green Beret in anything that I did. So I called some of the old hats, like Chris Zetz and people like that, you know, Bijote. And uh I said, man, I'm thinking about doing this. And uh one of the responses I got back was, man, you know, for a smart guy, you're still kind of a dumbass sometimes, right? Like, look, dude, we want people like you to represent us, man.

Sponsor Break: Precision Wellness Group

SPEAKER_02 30:07

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Integrity And Outside Money Pressure

SPEAKER_01 31:00

What's going on? And I thought about it, you know, when our nation hits the skids, when things get hard, who is it that comes to the rescue? It's not the politicians, it's not the bureaucrats, it's the working class and the warriors. People who create jobs, sign checks, do hard things, and those who put their neck on the line and serve. And I thought, all right, well, I can do that. That's me. You don't have to be a politician. You got to be a leader. You got to step in. So I think we're at a position now where our people, you know, need to look to the greatest generation. We need to be that next group and step up and fight. You know, we grew up in a country built by the World War II generation that was great because of what they did after the war. It's our term. Now we worked with people who are left and right, they came from all walks of life. Race, creed, color, gender. I don't care. Just go do the right thing. Make a difference, be a person of action, say what you mean, mean what you say, and get things done. And I think that's where people in the military really do an incredible thing. So jumping into the arena now, look, I brought the same work ethic. I brought the same fixation mindset in terms of if this is a mission and this is what the requirements are, this is how we do it, and this is what we want to get done, well then let's backload that, figure out a process, and uh see how we can be more effective in what we do. I passed 55 bills in three years as a state senator. That's more than most people pass in eight. Uh constitutional carry, I banned China from buying our land, I codified prayer and sports, I did energy policy, tough on crime policy. I mean, things that mattered because I just wasn't going to be outworked. I was the first one in, the last one to leave, and I paid attention to detail and I worked. Sometimes I fell on my face, but I got up, right? And I figured it out and I put the time in. And now to being the lieutenant governor of Florida, you know, I have 23 and a half million people I get to serve. And you ask that being a veteran matters to step in and lead, it matters to everybody. You know what I find is it's what I call the political double tap. It's the head and the heart. You got to know what you're talking about. You can't be full of it. But people lead, follow, and they want someone to lead them who they trust. You earn people's trust. You gotta be present. You gotta see people for who they are, how they are, where they are. And when we do that, it's amazing what can get done. We are the American people. And if you would stop letting the people outside our nation divide us, and we focus on those things that unite us, our nation does incredible things. You know, when I retire from the military, brother, I did something called the Breaking Bread Tour. I ran and biked across America, 3,000 miles in 50 days. We fed 100,000 people roughly hot meals uh from the west coast of California to the east coast of Florida and back in Tampa, my family, my wife and kids with me. He's had people all over the country. But it was incredible to hear the stories. And we're the American people. Now I'm conservative as a day as long. But I also know this it's not about me. I lead everybody, whether they vote for me or not. Uh I serve 23 and a half million people, whether they would vote for me or not, it doesn't matter. I have the opportunity to serve, and I remember where I came from. That mindset is critical. That warrior ethos matters. And that's why I ask and I push and I press our people to jump into that next rich line to make a difference and continue to serve.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Absolutely. And I I think it's important that we highlight what's happening right now. And there's a lot of frustration, there's a lot of anger within the veteran space. A lot of people are starting to say, Well, I don't agree with this war, I don't agree with what's going on. Uh, I want to be focused on American issues, I want to be focused on what's happening in our nation. And they're starting to to understand a a very subtle issue that's going on. The big money push that's been going for decades, uh funding representatives, funding people in government, and that's APAC. The the amount of money that's being funneled into the government from other countries is is insane. When you look at the amount of veterans and everyday people that are just fed up with the amount of influence that Israel's had in our government, how do you run a campaign and address those issues saying, like, hey, I'm not taking any money. I'm not being bought out by somebody and pushing their agenda.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

So, look, what I'll tell you is this I had lobbyists, I had people come in from all walks of life. And uh I always stand and fight for our people. And what matters, you got to remember who you are and where you come from. Uh look, I'll have a conversation with anybody. We did it downrange, right? That's what we were trained to do. But in the end, what you do with it and being a person of integrity matters. Look, the answer is no. If it doesn't benefit my people, I'm not gonna do anything that doesn't benefit the when I was a senator, District 14, and taking care of my community. If it doesn't benefit the state of Florida, I'm not gonna do it. If it doesn't benefit the United States of America, I'm not going to do it. Uh, and this is where the balance comes in. We have to understand that we can't be alone in the world. You gotta have allies, but we also have to stand up for our people first. And that's where that balance comes in. And that's why you have to elect leaders who have discretion and understand what they're trying to do, what it is we're serving, and why it is that we have to be willing to put our neck on the line and make a difference uh however we do it, right? Um, you know, you mentioned something earlier. I won't ask anybody to do something that I wouldn't do. Look, man, I would deploy tomorrow to serve our people and our way of life. I wouldn't blink. Uh if they would let a 49-year-old one-legged dude uh get back in, if I needed to, I would. Because I love my family. Look, when I deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, South America, whatever, right? It wasn't because I hated anybody else. It's because I love my family. I love my community, my state, my country. You know, I think back to my first mission in seventh group, my first real duty to bury my friend. How many times did you have to stand up for flag drape coffins? How many times did you have to sit there and give a hug to someone you knew intimately, that spouse, that mom, or worse, the it is the children. Yeah. And look, there is a time to fight and there's a time to push. You know, and I I don't want to get into this versus all the other things. But what I'll tell you is you have to have people who've been there, who've bled, who've been broken, and understand what's really at stake. Because I'm gonna tell you what, uh I always look at it through that lens. Would I want to do this? How would I feel? Would I be willing to die for this cause? And then does this serve our nation? Does it serve our people? And when I have to sit there and talk to someone, should we do this? Am I gonna be able to carry the mail and feel good and right about it if I have to talk to someone's kid? And uh that that's tough. It is, it changes everything inside you when you've got to have that conversation. And uh I I carry that with me in every hard decision I make. And uh it serves as well. That's why what we did is so critical and so important. That's why in the past, when our nation was really pressing forward, I think you saw combat leaders step into political space. It just makes a little bit more sense when you've paid a little bit of a price in blood yourself.

Courageous Leadership And Florida’s Growth

SPEAKER_02 38:46

Yeah, absolutely. And and the thing that's unique about Florida is not only our our great service members and veterans that call that state home, um, but the amount of freedoms and the things that we enjoy. We have a we live in a beautiful state. Um, can't wait to get back to Florida. Um, but it comes with a lot, uh there's a reason why I'm not gonna be moving my family anytime soon once you know I'm still a military family moving back down in a few months, but Florida is unique right now. It it is a leader in freedom, and it and you can feel like your money goes a little longer. You feel like you live in a real community, and there's a big fear that under the wrong leadership, we're gonna see uh, you know, individuals flooding the state of Florida from blue states that you know are fleeting their policies. Like, how do you take care of those individuals, welcome them, because they're American citizens, they're they're part of our community. But how do we protect and safeguard our state and the rules, regulations, and the freedoms that we love and and and hold on to so dearly and still support everybody? How are you gonna be able to lead our growing communities of individuals that you know they're they look to Florida like the crazy ones and now they're seeing the great freedoms are there and they're flocking to us?

SPEAKER_01 40:09

Yeah. Look, man, you gotta be able to understand, even if by yourself on the right issues, uh honestly, getting to know Governor DeSantis, that is a thing that we have bonded on more than anything else. During COVID, that guy stood while other countries attacked him, while our president attacked him, while members of Congress and people in the state attacked him. And he was right. And soon people started lining up to his left and right, right? He had this echelon with people who were pushing back. You know, uh I don't know where our our state would be if Governor DeSantis hadn't been in charge then. And I'm very concerned about where would our nation have been if he hadn't had the moral courage to stand and fight. That example matters. And as a leader and as someone who's running to be the next governor of Florida, you gotta be under, you gotta be willing to step in on those hard issues. Look, the best indicator of future performance is past potential. We know that. I want someone who's been battered and bruised and gotten up and continued to fight and serve for our people. I want someone who, no matter where they've gone, they have had success. They've gotten things done. And I want someone who's fearless, aphobos, right? No fear, not because they're crazy, but because they understand there's something bigger than them that is worth serving. And that's our people, our way of life. And it's our kids. You know, I I want my boys, I want them to have everything I ever dreamed of, but so much more, right? We you know, I'm okay if we have to fight now, if it means peace may come in their time. I'm willing to do the hard work, the scut work, everything that has to get done, if it means my children will have an opportunity to better life. That's my dream. That's how I was raised, and that's how our people uh resonate. But you know, you've got to be a leader who's willing to lead from the front, to step in, to stand up, and do what matters. And sometimes it's not falling victim to what everyone's talking about. Uh, other times it's leading from the front when everyone gets behind you. You know, I think about the immigration discussion we had, man, a few months back, I guess now, a year or so ago. Uh, there were three people in the Senate who stood, uh, just three, with the governor, and everybody else was against us. And that's not picking on the guys who weren't with us, but we were right. Like the 95% of Florida was with us on that. I can't get 95% of people to agree that we should breathe oxygen. And 95% of people were lying to us on immigration. It was just fascinating. But it was hard. I mean, it's a tough fight, but you got to stand for what you believe in. And again, man, that's why I think people from our special ops community are so well suited in politics. Because look at what we did downrange. We worked by what's and through people. We got them to espouse American values abroad to stand up and fight beside us. That's just the same thing we do in politics. Uh, there's just not the pointy edge of a gun pointing back at you. It's people's words with tweets.

Sponsor Break: Security Hall Media

Building A Team You Can Trust

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Yeah. You bring up a great point, and I and I want to highlight something that Kobe Jenkins out of Utah brought up when he was on the show a few years back. When we get into the space, when veterans get into the idea of running for an office, getting into government, you can't do it by yourself. You have to build a team. And it it stuck with me and it resonated. Stories shape culture. They build trust. And when they're told the right way, they move people to action. That's what we do at Security Hall Media. We don't just produce content, we create authentic, impactful, and purpose-driven storytelling for podcasters, nonprofits, brands, and leaders who are on a mission. From people who've lived real experiences and want their message to actually matter. From podcast production and video to strategic storytelling and distribution, we hope you clarify your. Voice, elevate your brand, and connect with the audience you're trying to serve. If you have a story worth telling and a purpose behind it, Security Hall Media is here to help you tell it the right way. Click the link in the episode description to learn more today. You got into this space, you volunteered, but how have you built your team, your A-team, so to speak, to help you run? Because you can't do it by yourself.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

100%. Look, politics is a different world. Now I brought some people in from that past life, right? You know, uh, they may not have had the political experience, but I know they can problem solve. I know where their moral compass points are. I know that I can trust them with my six. That matters. It's not always that way in politics. It's just a different world. And you've got to find people that have the necessary skills and the competencies, but man, you really got to find people who you can trust because there is so much that goes on. Uh, and there's so much money that runs through our government. Uh, you know, sometimes it corrupts people, sometimes it causes fights and infighting. And, you know, it's looking at it holistically, one, what are the gaps? What do we have to fill? And what are the critical things? But then it's also second-guessing how they've always done it. Uh, often in politics, you'll see this is how it works, this is why we do it, and you see all of this frivolous waste, all this spend that goes to consultants, to the lobby corps, to this, to that. And I want to ask the question is it necessary? Does all of that extra spend actually make a difference for winning? If it doesn't, why are we doing it? Figure out a new path. And that's been successful. You know, you got to guess a second guess. And then as a leader, I think you just have to measure it and decide is the juice worth a squeeze to fight on this issue, or should I just kind of roll with what we got? And that's where experience matters, right? More than anything else. Uh looking at things legislatively, it's the same exact thing. When we start talking about laws and passing laws, some things are un unequivocally worth a squeeze. I will always fight for Second Amendment rights. I will always fight for freedom uh on an individual basis. I will always fight to grow our economy. Uh I'll always fight for religious freedom, freedom of speech, for the things that our constitution uh guarantees. God gives us these freedoms, but our constitution guarantees them to the government. And we gotta make sure we're on the right side of those issues. Uh I I will do everything I can, always on those issues.

Day One Priorities: Security And Jobs

SPEAKER_02 46:37

You know, there's a there's a few individuals that are running that you're running up against that are are constantly in the airwaves for either good reasons or bad, but they're constantly putting out their policies. What they the promises, the the big if I win, I'll do this. What are the things that you absolutely want to focus on day one in office?

Energy Transport Healthcare And Trade Skills

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Yeah, so if I get elected, right, I'm the next governor of Florida, day one, we have to understand the threats in the world around us. Everything starts with security, safety in the community. The world's changing. Look at the adaptation of modern warfare. And now look at the applicability of what happens with our cross-border operations, with uh, you know, uh the gangs and all of the things that go on there, right? And then look at how it's gonna happen. Usually you'll see that happen two to three years after warfare. And then two to three years after you see the cartels do it, you see criminals in cities start to do it. Well, it's already starting to happen. Cyber offensive ops, drone warfare, uh, weapon systems that are very unique. We have to prepare our men and women of law enforcement for that. We got to make sure they have time, tools, and training to complete that mission, keep us safe, but get back home to their families. We got to make sure there's time and energy focused on those things. And as someone who's been a warfighter, they're not used to that. They're not used to someone who really understands that footprint. I'm the only one like me in state government in our country right now, uh, from our background. It's that unique. Uh that's the first thing. Then I think you got to look at our economy. We have a$1.8 trillion economy. I believe we're the 14th largest in the planet. By 2030, we'll have somewhere near$3 trillion economically, the 10th largest economy in the world. That's incredible. We got to build jobs, right? We got to bring in more opportunity. The American dream isn't predicated on just sneaking by to me. Uh, the American dream in my mind is on blowing that roof off, getting more money in my pocket, and have my kids do even better to provide those opportunities. And that means as a leader, we got to bring in the right businesses. We got to bring in things that provide opportunity. Uh, and reciprocal with that education, man, you got to fill those gaps in our economic model now, three years, five years, and 10 years down the road, we got to project that and understand. The average tradesman is 58 years old. Dude, you want to make good money? Go be a plumber. Go be an electrician right now. There are opportunities of plenty, but we're gonna have to get that moving quicker from an apprenticeship side. I think more public-private partnerships are gonna matter. Uh, those three things are the staple of everything else we do, right? Now, look, I have fought on many big issues. Uh, I will always push back against some of this uh what we call the woke mind virus, right? Uh guys, don't be crazy. Just be a good dude. Let's focus on the things that unite us, not the things that separate us into race, creed, color, gender. Show up and just be an American citizen, a Floridian, and get things done. That's where we're at, right? Uh, you know, that has to happen. And we'll chart that course and we'll be aggressive and strong in standing up for those issues because we've been right uh more than anything. You know, I think we're a republic for a reason. One of the things I think that Governor DeSantis understands in a way that very few leaders do is that uh sometimes the federal government having an action or being able to solve problems across the entire nation isn't going to happen because Congress can get laws passed sometimes, right? But what happens when state leaders who can get things passed start pressing? So as a governor, I want to work with other state leaders. I want to push things across the state. I believe in term limits. I believe in good energy policy. I believe in growing those opportunities. But the more the states work together to solve these problems and push them vertically to DC, the better off we're going to be. We're republic for a reason. And as Ben Franklin's saying, we're a republic if we can keep it. So as a leader at the state level, let's check some balances matter. I'm going to lead. I'm going to be bold in that process. Uh the last thing I'll tell you is this there are two things that I think are going to be either the biggest limitations of real growth and you know, managed growth, or they're going to hinder us. And that's transportation and energy. Uh, you remember the movie uh Feel the Dreams, right? Kevin Costner of baseball. If you build it, they will come. That's not how we roll with energy policy here. You can't solve problems if we don't have energy on demand. And that means we're gonna have to be aggressive on things like small modular reactors, micro reactors, hydrogen that actually puts real energy out there. And then we got to get roads broader, wider, better, and get people moving across the state. You know, in South Florida, like Miami, some people like trains. The rest of Florida, not really big train people, right? They want to drive. We got to solve that problem. We got to get people where they're going quicker. Those are the things that we're focused on right now. Uh, and then the last, I guess the last, last, last piece, that extra addendum, right, is healthcare. We've got to bring down the cost of healthcare. We got to get better opportunity, better health care to people. But we've also got to educate people on getting left of the issue, living a healthier life, kind of that Maha mindset, I think it matters. Know what you put into your body, strong body, a strong mind, a strong spirit. That triangle, you do that, man, we are knocking out of the park because you're gonna live a long and healthy life. That's the stuff we got to start educating people on, making better decisions for the life ahead.

Food Security And Protecting Farmers

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Yeah. And you know, to add to that, you know, a lot of people don't uh don't focus on agriculture when it comes to Florida. And we're more than just a citrus state. And that is an issue that has been on the forefront of my mind. Shout out to our our great ranchers, uh Kevin Key. Uh a few of our green berries have gone out there, they've gotten agriculture, they've gotten to ranching. So that's come to the forefront of my mind because they're feeding America. They're they're feeding our country, they're putting food on the table for us all. But we don't focus on our farmers. We don't focus on our agriculture. And if you open up your social media feed, if you've if your algorithm favors Florida, you will find lots of young men out there talking about land being bought out, different entities coming in, especially in the citrus world, uh, companies that aren't, you know, aren't structured here in the United States, pushing them out, taking over land. What are some of the things that you have you guys thought about things that you can do to help out our farmers, our ranchers out in uh the Florida area?

SPEAKER_01 53:13

Yeah, 100%. Look, I was the ag chair for my first two years in the Senate because I wanted to be. Uh I'm a son of a failed farmer. Food security is national security. If we can't feed ourselves, we lose everything. Uh unless I diagnose the problem. We have 300 lines of uh economy, 300 plus commodity lines uh in our in our agricultural world. That's really hard. That's a lot of different crops all being managed, and uh, we don't have the brokerage power of the wheat belt, the barley belt, things like that. So it puts us at a disproportionate risk uh for really bad federal trade deals uh like NAFTA back in the day and all the derivatives thereof. They really hurt Florida disproportionately. So we got to make sure that we, one, make sure we fight for tax uh relief for our farmers, which we've been doing. You know, property tax relief is a critical component of that, your homestead property. Uh, but in the end, we've also got to give them the tools uh to get out there and manage uh the issue. That's me pushing people like IFUS, University of Florida, their agricultural extension, to get solutions out there quicker, whether it's merging technology with drones and robotics to help uh pick uh pick the crops and harvest more efficiently, or it's making sure that as a governor, we fight for our people and help get better price and more opportunity for our crops, we have to do that. But we're gonna have to work hand in hand with the federal government and other states to really make this happen. And it's something that's 100% a priority, and within that economic space is 100% part of the things we got to focus on. Uh, you know, right now, the last thing most farmers plant is a subdivision. It's a joke that people make, but it's a sad one because we're losing farmland and we got to protect it. And we're giving everybody the opportunity, but we got to get real solutions out there. Right now, uh permitting is killing people, uh, impact fees are are killing people. And after hurricanes and after, you know, all these disasters, they're really elongating the process of recovery. If we fix that, it'll help with insurance, it'll help with uh property values, and it'll also help get our farmers and people doing real jobs, farm jobs, out there quicker and serve them in their role. But we got to help streamline that. But the biggest thing that our farmers need is to go out there and shine a light on it, you know, pop that uh that that flashlight on and talk about what's going on. You know, during the the freeze that happened in Hillsborough, one of the best things I could do, and I did, was to go out there and talk to strawberry farmers. Brother, tell me about what's going on. What does this mean to you? He got more attention and more problem solved by having one media hit where he was there with the lieutenant governor of Florida than ever. And that's always going to be a priority because I watched my family fall apart when we lost our farm. Uh you prioritize what matters.

Staying Grounded And How To Connect

SPEAKER_02 56:13

Absolutely. We're much more than just a sunshine state and Disney World. There's a lot of hardworking people, a lot of people that are breaking their back to put food in our grocery stores so we can enjoy them. It's important that we uh we focus on that. Like our our nation deserves, you know, the best when it comes to our our our nutrition. We've got some great initiatives and and they uh and you know, higher government. Um but it starts at the local community level, it starts at the state level. You know, be focused on the people around you that are doing those jobs, be willing to amplify their voices. And I'm and it's absolutely perfect for you, your background coming full circle, now being in a position where you can take action. You can help that family that's on the verge of losing their their farm by implementing the right policy. And that's that's gotta be a good feel, like that's gotta be a full circle moment for you. Finally being here in a place, in a position where you can change, you can affect positive change for Floridians that are suffering or just want to feel and do a little bit better. And I I feel that. I can absolutely feel that I've you know, like a lot of Green Berets. We travel across the United States, we are we're nomads, we work here, we work there, but I I look back to my time and and where I'm gonna be moving back to in a few months, and then that's why it's my home base. The state of Florida is without a doubt, one of the best places you can live and raise a family. And um and it's not something I take lightly. Uh, I am absolutely thrilled to have been able to have you on the show today because I believe in you. I believe that there's something to be said about serving your nation as a as a soldier and then getting back into the arena, willing to put on the suit and tie and walk in there boldly, knowing that you're gonna have to ruffle some feathers. So, brother, thank you so much for being here today. But before I let you go, I want to reflect on one last thing. You've gone through so much. You're constantly putting yourself out there. What do you do to pour back into yourself? Because I know the nights are long. I know the days are even longer, and I know you're constantly traveling. What are some of the things that you do for yourself that can help a veteran right now? Because like we like I always say, like that's one of the things that we're horrible at is taking care of ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 58:34

No, uh, you're you're right. And it is true. Look, uh, I still live off more caffeine than I probably should. Uh it's just the reality of life. You know, I'm not uh running marathons like I would want to be, but I find time to go do things that matter. You know, we schedule time to get out there with my boys, to go throw the football anytime I have a break, to go do things they want to do. That that's what fills my battery up is finding those moments, spending time with my family, and just making sure that what we have is quality, getting off the phone, getting out and doing something, right? That really makes a difference. And then honestly, man, I love getting back out in the backyard, working on the trees, working in our yard, and just breaking free from the monotony of phones and phone calls and zooms and you know political decisions. Sometimes it's just about getting your hands dirty and getting the sweat on and just recalibrating everything. Man, those are those moments that make a difference. And I love doing that with my kids uh because it's a it's an important story to tell them. I'm the lieutenant governor of Florida, but I'm still not too too uh high up on the totem pole to get out there and do yard work with my sons. And I think it's a leadership thing, you know.

SPEAKER_02 59:46

Yeah, absolutely. But brother, I can't thank you enough for being here today. If people want to connect, if they want to support your campaign, or they just want to get in touch, where can they connect with you?

Final Push To Support And Vote

SPEAKER_01 59:56

Yeah, so uh hit us up on social media, you know, Instagram, Twitter, uh, Facebook, or also on LinkedIn, LinkedIn. It's J Collins F L. And then you can go to our website, jforflorida.com. That's J F O R Florida.com. Uh hit us up on those areas. Let me know what you're thinking about, what we can do. And then the last thing I'll tell you is this I can't solve problems if I don't know what they are. Use your words, tell me what's going on and you know, be a part of how we solve these problems. Uh, you know, the last thing we want to do is wait until the last second because we have a critical problem. If we wait too long, we can't fix it. So I look forward to talking to people down the road. And brother, thanks for having me on, man. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:37

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely a great pleasure. Guys, do me a favor, hit pause on the episode. You know the spiel. It's almost over. Go to the episode description, click those links, go and support our brother. If you're living in the wonderful state of Florida, understand you're living in one of the greatest states. Um, it's far more than just sunshine, beaches in Orlando. It's it's a rich state filled with amazing stuff, amazing people. And if we don't protect it, if we don't go out and vote for people that are going to put our best interests first, we're gonna see that wonderful bastion of great American spirit dwindle. And I don't want to see that. I I don't I grew up in Colorado, and let me tell you, it is the last place I want to visit. I've got great friends that still live there. And I hate what's happened to that state. And I I will tell you, it can happen real fast. So be responsible, get involved. I don't want to hear another veteran talk about not being represented if they're not voting. If you don't get your butt into the polls and vote for people that support you, you have nothing to complain about. So do yourself a favor, do us a favor, get out there, get registered, and vote because it does matter. Again, Jade, thank you so much for being here. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll see y'all next time. Until then, take care. See you.