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!
Pirmin Vieberink on Afghanistan, Faith and Finding Purpose After Military Service | Security Halt! Ep. 463
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What happens when everything you trusted—your mission, your identity, and your understanding of the world—gets tested?
In Episode 463 of the Security Halt! Podcast, Deny Caballero sits down with Pirmin Vieberink to discuss his journey through military service, the fall of Afghanistan, and an unexpected return to faith.
Pirmin shares experiences from serving in the Dutch military and reflects on the chaos surrounding the evacuation of Afghanistan, witnessing suffering firsthand, and the questions those experiences raised about life, purpose, and God.
The conversation then moves beyond war into Pirmin’s spiritual journey, his return to church, Catholicism, prayer, sacrifice, brotherhood, and what it means to trust God when you don't understand the path ahead.
This is a conversation about war and faith—but more importantly, it's about what happens when the mission ends and you begin searching for something deeper to build your life around.
Listen now. Follow the show. Share this with the veteran or entrepreneur who needs to hear it.
Chapters:
00:00 Meet Pirmin Vieberink
01:59 Serving in the Dutch Army, Marines & Air Force
03:50 Inside the Fall of Afghanistan
08:00 The Chaos of the Afghanistan Evacuation
11:59 Witnessing the Human Cost of War
16:04 How War Changes Your Mental Health & Faith
20:00 Pirmin's Spiritual Awakening
24:59 Finding Brotherhood Through Faith
30:05 What Suffering Teaches Us About Trust & Purpose
34:48 Pirmin's Journey Into Catholicism
39:59 Building a Life Around Faith & Service
44:55 Mass, Prayer & Spiritual Discipline
49:58 A Message to Service Members Searching for Faith
55:03 Finding Faith, Brotherhood & Community
59:58 Pirmin's Final Thoughts & Where to Follow Him
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Produced by Security Halt Media
The Shock Of Starting Over
SPEAKER_01So I got out. Dude, I know. We're pretty lucky. So I've got out and thinking like the same that every single guy thinks I get stopped. I'm like, oh I got this, man. I've had more difficult situations in my life to deal with. You don't realize though, you know, the support system is gone, all your friends are gone. They're freaking kids are still going off and doing things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no more signal thread, no more group. Yeah, the team room chat's gone.
SPEAKER_01I didn't realize how much of the uh identity I had built in the military. And that that sense of my I always thought that's like bullshit. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I know. Fuck it, no, this is really I know. It's really a big deal. And so it's it's taken a long time to kind of uh pick myself up again and sort of move on to uh to bigger and better things, which luckily I have that little boy and it helps have it a little bit focused.
SPEAKER_00It's up to you it's uh you listen, it's not for me to tell you in direct you to find out your real identity, but trust me, live you're much more than uniform. That special, that hair, that head feet, whatever badges you've improved in the military, that's great. I want you to be out of it. Welcome
Meeting The Flying Dutchman
SPEAKER_00to the show. Um it's it's funny how people come into you know social media, they pop into your feed, and instantly you're like, I gotta have this guy on the show. I gotta, I gotta talk to this gentleman. Um, everything that you're talking about, everything that you're doing, it's it's right along the lines of of the stuff that I'm passionate and I like to advocate and talk about. And as we were starting, you know, we were almost about to commit the uh ultimate sin in podcasting. We immediately dove in like we're old friends and started talking and sharing experience. But dude, um before we dive in, man, introduce yourself and uh, you know, like let us know, like uh where are you coming from, brother?
SPEAKER_01Well, dude, like I said, thank you for having me on. I uh I miss the days of old. I miss talking to guys like you. Once you get out, you we kind of alluded to this already, but you think like ah, I'm home free, like I can do my I'm freedom, you know, I can go do my thing, and then you start like, ah, I kind of miss the guys, and I kind of miss yapping about stuff that most people don't like talking about. And to give you a little bit of background, so I am a Dutchman, so I immigrated to the US a couple years ago. Um my ex-wife is the US military, so she's a US Air Force pilot. We had a baby together, we met in um Rammstein, Germany, of all places. Um really looking into my military career, I got into the army initially. Oh really? Yeah, in 07. So I was um Dutch Army, so this is all Europe. Supposed to be an NCO in Dutch Airborne. I'm like, that's you know if I if I don't do anything else, I just want to jump out of planes. That's the only thing I want to do. So I got hired, and within six months they changed the regulations where you couldn't go direct civilian to airborne. You had to go through, yeah. So you had to go through uh armored, whatever infantry guys. And I'm like, I'm not doing that. All right, I want to do I want to do cool stuff. So not that you know, nothing against those guys. But I was like, I want to jump out of planes and just kick indoors. So what happened was my one of my best friends was a Marine and he just come back from Afghanistan. Some Dutch Marines and US Marines are a little they're a little different. They're uh we don't need to fully get into that, but um he's like, dude, you're missing out. Like we're doing all the cool stuff. You're about to go to armored infantry. You sure you don't want to? I'm like, ah, I kind of do. So I actually quit the army, went to the Marines, became a paratrooper in the Marines. So that was great, check that box. Uh, did a number of years in the Marines, and then the itch came because I got full I got my beret in the Marines at um 2008 or 2009, towards the end of 2009. The Dutch uh Dutch politics said we're we're drawing, we're getting out of Afghanistan in 2010. So I'm like, shit, shit. Like I I have less than a year to to do a deployment. And the way the politicians sold the Afghanistan mission to the Netherlands was saying we're doing a reconstruction mission. There's not gonna be any fighting, we promise. The problem is, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00I swear we're not gonna fuck this up.
SPEAKER_01Don't worry. This is we're gonna build bridges and schools. That's what we're gonna be doing. So what happened was I I joined.
SPEAKER_00We're assholes, Pim. Americans are assholes. We lie.
SPEAKER_01I switch, and then the Dutch, uh, the Dutch go, well, the Marines have one mission set, and it's just a fight. The army has all the capabilities for re rebuilding and building schools, so we're not gonna be sending any more Marines. I'm like, well, shit. So I did a couple of years of that, and I was like, I'm only all I'm doing is exercises and it's being miserable. But these guys that uh dropped me off in their C-130s, they got a pretty sweet life. So after a number of years, I opted to go to the Air Force as a loadmaster, and they're like, we don't take military to military, you can't switch over like that. We only take civilians for whatever reason. So I had they were like, you're gonna have to make a big old gamble there. You have to get out, then apply, and then get lucky. Well, that's what I did. So I got out, I applied. They had 400 applicants for like eight spots, and I got one of the spots, so lucky there. There were six spots for Shinooks and two for C130s. Uh went to C-130s and basically lived my best life as aircraiser. So, and I do and I did actually get to do all the things I wanted to do. Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, bunch of Africa. So I was like, okay, that was a good, that was a good switch. That's about it. That's my that's the the condensed version. And you saw the um the post I did earlier.
From Dutch Marines To C-130s
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Um I thought it was today, but it was actually yesterday was the five-year anniversary of the evacuation of cool. That was my last ever mission. I didn't know it at the time. I wasn't planning on getting out. I knew eventually one of us would have to get out because uh if we're ending up back in the States, then obviously it'd be a problem for me. Y'all get a really good deal in the military, you retire after 20 years. I didn't have that. So for the Dutch, you stay in until 63.
unknownWell.
SPEAKER_01So I didn't know it at the time, but my boy was six months old, and um, I went over there. And when you do exercises or you practice Neos, um it's always army reserves or whatever come in and they're the packs that you're evacuating. My first lift out there, out of there were all kids. And so they were all little kids too. And my my boy was six months, and that was one of my my grandma, like, okay, dude, maybe it's time to go focus on the little guy. Yeah, dude, yeah.
SPEAKER_00We gotta pop it out. We gotta fucking rewind on that, man.
Inside The Kabul Evacuation
SPEAKER_00We gotta we gotta fucking take that back a little bit, dude. Like that was arguably, I mean the surge was difficult, but the drawdown and the fall of Afghanistan is by far the worst thing. Insult to injury, man. Insult to injury, and look, I don't care what your feelings are. No matter what the administration uh did or tried to do, it was years of fuck-ups that all boiled down to one really fucked up decision. And I would say no matter what party was in office at that time, they would have fucked it up because that that was the entirety of the Afghan fucking war. Nobody wanted to take accountability on the US side and actually tell the truth of what was going on. But to sit back and watch human beings fall off a fucking aircraft. Yeah. So that's my fucking mind, dude.
SPEAKER_01That was right before we headed out. And I'm like, shit, this is this is bad. We don't even control the field. Like, we're gonna be going in there and like are we even gonna be able to land there, you know? So that was the image in all of our minds when we went over there. We just saw that C17, a bunch of people fall off. Uh so that you know, that shows you how desperate they were, and desperate people are dangerous because and and you know, not not to their fault, but they're like, I need to get the hell out because I'm on some sort of death list, the Taliban's after me, or whatever I worked with the US or any of the other coalition partners. So uh for all I know, we're landing there and they're coming over the gate, you know. So that was basically our uh our mindset, yeah. It's very quick, quick for us because we um I mean every guy that's in the military gets pumped for this stuff, right? You get a call, like, are you ready to go? I'm like, fuck yeah, let's go. And so for me, it was the Friday before uh we were flying a low-level sortie in Scotland. So from the Netherlands to Scotland, it's about an hour, and then we were doing a bunch of low-level. And um, you know, as a good airman, I had my phone not on uh airplane mode. So I was getting text messages. I'm like, I'm getting put on this group chat called Neo. I was kind of confused because we weren't fully aware of what was going on just yet, but I knew the next week we'd have some sort of exercise going on. I figured, oh, we're we're doing a Neo exercise next week. I'm just gonna add it to the group. So we come back, we land, we have to drop off the plane on another field because we're gonna be exercising out of that field, and we were driven back. And all of a sudden, one by one, all the aircrew started getting phone calls. And now once they hang up, they're like, can't tell you. Like, okay, it's kind of weird. Well, I get a phone call. It's the commander's like, dude, I don't know if you watch the news today, but uh it's going a little quicker than we thought. Are you ready to go? I'm like, dude, I'm always ready to go. Like, this is what we do, this is what we live for, you know. This is gets me excited. And so he's like, Well, it's not that urgent. We probably have a week or two, is what he said at the time. I'm like, okay, well, we got plenty of time. Next day he calls me back. Yeah, we don't have a week or two. So he's like, Can you come in today and prep everything so that we're good to go? I'm like, guess so. So I go in, I walk in, and uh three members of NL SOCOM are that are there. So it's a member of uh Dutch SF, Dutch Maritime Soft, and then uh liaison. And I'm like, okay, we're we're actually already in the planning phase of this thing. So we must be getting close to what's going on. And so I jump in, we kind of get the layout, and the layout is we don't know shit. We have no idea what we're gonna find. We have no idea how many people we're talking about. So I need you to prep everything and I need you to look at if we get waivers to bend the regulations, because we have a ton of regulations on how to transport people, what can and cannot be done. If we get waivers, what can you do? So I literally went to the plane after prepping all my stuff. I told one of the mechanics, sit down on your butt with your legs stretched out, let me measure, and then I'll just start calculating how many people I can just sit on the floor, which is normally not done. I'll just strap them down with straps. And so um we got prepped, and then either Sunday or Monday, we uh we got together, we had a contingent of SOCOM and uh two crews, and we were gonna board a basically a DC Tanis a transport plane. It's gonna fly us out there because we had a mission going on in Iraq already, and they're like, we got a plane in the area. We'll fly the plane into where you need to be. Well, where are we gonna be staging out of? We don't know yet. You're gonna find out at some point. Foreign affairs is working on it, so we just took off, not knowing the pilots of the plane they didn't know where we're going. They're like, we're going in that general direction, and we'll figure out along the way where we're gonna go. Well, ended up we going to um Islamabad, so Pakistan. Which is it's technically it's an ally, but let's just let's just say we came to Customs. First of all, we had a shit ton of weapons with us. All these SF guys had they brought the entire army, armory. So that's a but we were on a civilian field, they didn't know anything, they just figured it was an irregular plane coming in, and then um we get stopped at customs, it takes hours, and then a bunch of guys in um little black suits came in and they started taking pictures of every person's passport. So all these SF guys are already like, fuck, like this is not good. So um we end up going to the whole trip to get there was like 24 hours. We get to where we're supposed to stay. Everyone's like, let's try and hunker down for a minute. Well, within four hours I get the call, hey, you're going right now. So I'm like, I'm all zonked out already from that whole getting over there and waiting. Uh we we take off from there. I remember it's like a 45-minute flight to Kabul. First approach we do, we land, we taxi in, and somebody in tower is going, your plane's on fire. Like, what the fuck? So it turns out we we landed and one of our um brakes, the lines ruptured and was spraying oil on the brakes. So we had a fire going on initially. I go to the back and I start yelling, fire, fire, trying to get the the guys out. Well, when they heard fire, they're like, We're getting fired upon. So they immediately started running out and they started putting a 360 down, like, we're on fire. Sorry, my my bat. So this this whole thing started off in hindsight, it was fucking funny, but I'm like, shit, dude.
SPEAKER_00So uh sorry, I meant to clarify. We are actually on fire.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, not burning down. We are not taking fire. So yeah, that was kind of the start of that whole thing. And it I think we spent 10 days or so doing double sorties. I mostly took night sorties and a couple of day sorties. And then that very first flight, or sorry, the very last flight I was supposed to do. I mean, I ended up doing, um, we were taking the ambassador out and her security team. And right as we took off is when we got the uh the report, like, hey, bomb just went off. And we had no idea what the state of the field is. We don't know if there's a massive uh uh, you know, if the field is under attack or or what, but we're just gonna take off and um we'll see what happens. We we'll take extra fuel so we can go in a holding pattern in case the field's being run over, uh, which wasn't the case, so we ended up dumping a bunch of fuel and then uh we went into land. But yeah, that was a big old shit show. We even had guys somewhere in the middle of that week where um rumors start spreading, right? Like, hey, the Germans just had a guy in their uh little bathroom on the plane. They were gimmicking something, like putting something together, and we think it was a bomb, and like all these rumors start going, and so it was one communication-wise, it was a big shit show. Which, I mean, it's to be expected, right? You're just flying in, you have no boots on the ground yet, and then once you land, you kind of have to figure out what's going on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but it's uh it's crazy, man. Like, yeah, you know, we do joint exercises, and we'd like to think that we've practiced this or had some sort of like iterations where joint forces could practice something like this, but the reality is there's no practicing for the fall of a fucking country, dude. Like, you may like having to fucking adjust a plant on the ground with all the different coalition forces, aircrafts are there, fucking dude. It's it's already a complex situation having a tower direct and manage all those aircraft. Uh being on the ground and doing that while everybody's fucking on edge trying to protect everybody, trying to take care of civilians. I I can't fucking imagine the amount. And and you're fucking pilots, all the pilots involved, dude. Fucking insane, man. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01No,
Kids, Chaos, And Lasting Images
SPEAKER_01and and you know, it's a weird, um, weird situation where there's a lot of suffering going on. Like the people that were coming in, people were being crushed to death outside of the gate. The Taliban was shooting people in the legs. Um, we had so many children, like an insane amount of children. We had the youngest adam board was born like the day before we took him on board. So it was a baby. Uh, we had multiple, I mean, our SF medics were they were like, this is terrible and awesome at the same time because we got all these cases around them trying to figure out as for flying, can't communicate because it's super loud. We had pregnant women collapsing in flight. So these guys were were really jumping on every every flight to try and figure out like what can I do to help. Um, so it's weird, man. It's like this is the mission that you always want, and then it's also it's it's hard to see all those kids because and it is nothing short of traumatizing for those guys, for those kids, you know. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, it's not um yeah, I always tell we always talk about like the the right approach to like discussing combat and and you know, meeting that young man in that moment where he's man, I can't wait to go to war. I can't wait to go do this. And like every a lot of my friends, I won't say every a lot of my friends have experienced this. You you experience mentoring someone through that situation of like, yeah, man, like I want you to be excited. I want you to also understand that uh, you know, be careful what you wish for. Like it it can be, you know, it can be the greatest adventure in a lifetime, but it can also come with a lot of a lot of issues. It can come with mourning the loss of friends, it can come with, you know, losing a lot of of you know that I want I don't want to say innocence, but yeah, in a way it is. Like you you you have to be able to understand that like every I I had it. I I was that that that guy that's like, oh man, I can't wait for it, I can't wait to get, and then you find yourself in that situation, it's like, oh wow, like this is a um, you know, it's a two-way gun range. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like exhilarating, but at the same time, holy shit. And uh when you, you know, when you get on the ground and you see that, and it's not it's not the conventional Hollywood movie depiction of superheroes and awesome excitement adventure, and everybody gets a cool hero tagline. And the reality is there's children, there are women, they're human beings that are desperately climbing over each other to escape this fucking oppressive government. Like, how did you deal with it on the ground? What was that like for you?
SPEAKER_01So uh I'm sure the US, I mean, I hope the US does something like this very similar, but um when you get back from something like that, it's mandatory to talk to psychologists in the Netherlands. And really their takeaway was uh they'd just talking to talk to a couple of my colleagues, and some of them were taking it pretty, pretty bad. Because I have one guy who was a former Chinook guy, and he he he'd taken a lot a lot of fire in Afghanistan, and he'd see people uh get hit on his Chinook. So uh for that individual, it was a rough ride. And she said, for you, it almost seems like the opposite. You seem like you feel like you uh you did something positive, and that's how I feel. So for me, it was really um the takeaway is like I did something good, I really helped some people out and made a difference. Because there's a bunch I've been to Afghanistan and Iraq a bunch of times. We're like, this is cool, but am I really making a huge difference in the world? I mean, I'm I'm bringing some guys in or whatever, but this really felt like okay, this is something where I helped some people and I really made a difference. So for me, it was a very positive thing. Um, you know, and then in other ways, like I had we had a uh the Marsoft team on board for the duration of this, and three of the guys were actually guys that I had served with in the Marines. But whatever. Oh, no chance. Yeah. So I'm like, dude, this is like a little reunion. I haven't seen you guys in 10 years. You're all uh operators now, and um, but even for those guys, they had done multiple deployments, they had seen combat, and you know, now all of a sudden they're caring for kids. I have pictures of them carrying little babies in the onto the plane, and they're like, dude, I got a kid at home, and this is it hits you different from you know, it'll fuck up your brain, man.
SPEAKER_00It'll it'll fuck with you, dude. There's nothing worse. And I don't I and I I the hardest individuals, the meanest, nastiest dudes, the moment you go on the objective, the moment you go anywhere and you see kids that are hurt, dude, it fucks you up. It it doesn't take much to see that hard exterior fucking melt. And instantly you want to fucking ease that pain, you want to take care of them. Um everybody has a story of seeing the the the kids in Afghanistan or Iraq, man. Like it it it breaks your heart. Seeing innocent suffering like dude, the the adults got it, man. Like it sucks. But when you see a kid that like their only fault, the only they were born in the wrong fucking country. That like like holy shit, it instantly fucks with you and god forbid, god forbid it's It's uh it's injuries. God forbid you get on uh get on the scene, get get in the um objective, and there are kids that are hurt because that will stick with you for a very long fucking time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I remember like I said, I'm already a little skewed in that sense because I have a little one at home, so that's everything I see now through that lens, right? So I had a boy on board who's probably three years old or whatever, and he was terrified. Um, I have a picture of him actually, because so the I was under the Dutch MOD. I was a public relations manager as well. So they're like, dude, take a lot of pictures, take a lot of pictures. So I'm like, and that's kind of how my Instagram page came about because I'm like, I'm just documenting all the stuff we do. Um, but so I got a little uh a picture of this little boy, and he was so terrified, his eyes were huge, and he was looking up at me. And so I put him on my lap as we were above the threat band, uh, the threadband, and we were, you know, I I don't have to do the things I have to do while we're uh uh lower altitude. And uh I was just like fuck, dude. Like we're this is what I d what really pisses me off about the West or the US or whatever or Europe, like people don't fucking know how good they have it. Like you don't realize that you don't have to see your kids suffer. Like you don't, you don't, man. And and yes, terrible things happen here too to kids, and yes, I 100% agree, but that's the standard almost in other places in the world where it's like if your kid doesn't come out fucked up, then that's like holy moly, that's a special situation, you know. But um, and so that was big for me. Um two months later with that dude. I uh I'm like, that's it. I had a company that had in Europe already, and I was like, you know, they need me home, they need me at home more than they do in the Air Force. They can find another guy to fly this, you know, do this job.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, it's funny how fast your cup fills up with uh with bullshit, and then you that decision becomes very easy, dude. Like,
Getting Out And Losing The Tribe
SPEAKER_00and when in that process, like your your process for getting out of the military, that's something that we talk about a lot on this show. Like, what was that like uh for you? Different nation, different processes. Like, do you feel it was adequate or do you feel like it's it's still something that was you know lacking a lot of support and resources? In the Netherlands, it's just like any other job.
SPEAKER_01They're like, you're done? All right, you're done. See ya. Like nothing. They're like, good luck with your life.
SPEAKER_00It's universal.
SPEAKER_01They're like high five. Good job.
SPEAKER_00And so here's a there's nothing here's a pen.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, here's a pen and a lanyard. And so that's that's about it. So I got that.
SPEAKER_00I'm jealous. You guys got a lanyard? Dude, I know. We're pretty lucky.
SPEAKER_01So I got out and thinking like the same that every single guy thinks that gets out. I'm like, oh, I got this, man. I've I've I've had more difficult situations in my life to deal with. You don't realize though, you know, the support system is gone, all your friends are gone. They're freaking, you know, they're still going off and doing things. And and so all of a sudden you're you're kicked out of the little you know, uh communication channels and all that stuff, but you're not outside of the box.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no more signal thread, no more, no more group. Yeah, the team room chat's gone. Say no. And all of a sudden you sit there by yourself. I can do this.
SPEAKER_01So it's like and so it's rough. I I was one of those guys that thought the same as everyone, like I this is gonna be easy peasy for me. And it was that, and it fucking sucked. And um, especially because I just moved to Rammstein, I didn't know anyone, and so yeah, like we we said earlier, like I got lucky. Tyler, um, Tyler Gardner came up to me, we started yapping, we became friends. He had his little group of friends, so you know, you get absorbed into another little community there, but um now you're freaking searching. I didn't realize how much of a uh identity I had built in the military, and that that sense of I always thought that's such bullshit. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I know, fuck it, you know, this is you're gonna be fun. No, it is really a big deal, and so it it's taken a long time to kind of uh pick myself up again, you know, and and sort of move on to uh to bigger and better things, which luckily I had that little boy, and that helps have a little bit of focus. But it's uh it's rough once you get out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think that all of us, whether we want to admit or not, and and you you have to ask yourself that. It's up to you, man. It it's uh to you listening. It's not for me to tell you and direct you to find like your true self and your real identity. But trust me, from lived experience, you're much more than the uniform, that specialty tab, that hair, that headpiece, whatever, whatever badges you've accrued in the military, they're great. I want you to be proud of it, but that's not an identity. It's not dude.
SPEAKER_01I
Faith As A Stronger Identity
SPEAKER_01always tell so I'm I'm out here in uh in Del Rio, and there's a big pilot training base here. Um this is a great segue into the Catholic Church, because I know you want to go there at some point. Um we might get to how I got back into the church and uh shortly after that. But I always tell the student pilots here to go to church is like, do not forget, like your your whole being is not whether you're not to become a pilot or whether you're not if you get F-16 or C13, because that's really big for these guys too. Like, I want to be a fighter pilot, and so just keep that in mind. Like, that is your your identity is as a son of God, and that is the most important thing. Everything else, nobody's gonna remember that shit. Like, you're gonna remember because you lived it, and everyone else is just like suspecting this is Danny, yeah, you know, and so I try and give them that because the stress for this course that they're going through is through the roof. They're they're you know mentally really at the point of exhaustion by the time they hit the end of it. And if they even on Sundays can have that little bit of, oh yeah, this is what I'm made for, everything else is just a tool that God uses me for whatever purpose he has. And so once you can once you can let go of that that worldly identity and that it's really, yes, it's important, but not the most important thing, then that frees you up a lot more. And so I think it's good to instill that early on in guys. Um, because yeah, they're freaking eager, man. They want to go and they want to be, they wanna sit in that cockpit and be Top Gun. So I get it. And the same way you wanted to be Green Beret, and like everyone has that one singular focus sometimes where they're like, this is my my mission in life. Yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's uh it's funny. I had a I'm gonna look up his username because he sent me a a really really awesome question, and I think people miss me, because you know, I I I I'm very open with my story, but I think a lot of times people confuse it and uh they think that I was following my faith, my career. A lot of times they they they they haven't followed me uh since the beginning of my journey. They don't know everything, they just cap they've caught up with where I'm at now. And uh Carson, Carson, I don't want to say your last name because then they'll be like, oh man, you follow this douchebag, and like they'll criticize you and they'll make fun of you. So Carson, Carson reached out on Instagram and he asked me a question about my service and faith and how I balance both. And Karsten, I will tell you, and to all those out there who don't understand or haven't f found the earlier episodes that talk about it, I wasn't a man of faith. I wasn't a man of God. I walked away from my faith. And for a long time, I thought the only thing that fucking mattered was being a green beret and me, me, me, me, me, me. And it was great and wonderful, but you know, it's mind, body, and spirit. And as soon as you lose the ability to be the all you can be, the fucking cool guy, how far you will fall. And that's what happened to me. I didn't have all those pillars in alignment. There was no faith. I mean, I'd be scared in moments and I'd pray, or I'd have a situation where, like, oh fuck, I gotta pray. Hopefully, you listen to me. And uh, you know, he was always with me, but I wasn't with him. Um, and I I think a lot of it comes down to, you know, I had a really difficult life. I had a really difficult upbringing, and some of those things kind of made me, as I got older and became a man, I'd be like, why would you allow all these horrible things to happen? I'm gonna, I don't need you. You know, I don't I don't need to go to church. I was one of those people. Nothing wrong. I'm not trying to catch to cast judgment on you, but I would say, oh, you know, I believe, but I don't practice a religion. And then when I needed him the most, when I needed something in my life to make make sense of all the suffering and the things I was going on, that's when I found myself back in church. And it was, I owe it all to my wife. I owe it all to my wife. Um, and that's when I became a good husband. That's when I was gifted with the the the actual truly most important thing, which is having a family. Because like I I tell people the struggles that we had, and it wasn't until I went back to the church that we were given the gift of our little Izzy. I people want to always throw in their their interjections, like, well, no, you've you found a doctor that helped you. I'm like, I didn't have any other option. And the individual that helped me, shout out to Dr. Mark Gordon, came into my life and was brought into my life because I truly believe it was placed in there because of God. Um and and I understand now the what truly is important is being a good husband, being a good father, and helping others and and being committed to my past. Like I look back on everything I did, and don't get me wrong, I am proud of my service, but I see a broken dude, I see a broken individual that could have been better. I could have been so much better, but that's not my story. I'm not living in the past saying, oh, I could have been so much better. No man, I did it the best I could with what I had. And now my story serves as a testimony of like, did you really want to be the best? Take care of yourself. And and start by figuring out your your your prayer life, start figuring out your your path back to church if you haven't been there in a while, or explore your journey in the faith. Um, because I will tell you, the guys that were strong in family and faith, they were there. They were leaders. There were NCOs and officers that went to church, that put their family first. Look, the mission's gonna always take priority, but don't kid yourself and say that you can't be a man of faith and a man of your family, because like they're still there. They're still a priority. Like, and I now I now see it, and that's why I champion it. Because let me tell you, like, we could all have been better if we put a priority on it.
SPEAKER_01That's exactly. So I started a company called Catholic Masculinity. That's it. Because what is what is really at the crux of that is being able to be self-sacrificial, to be able to carry it across and be like, you put this on me. The one of the biggest realizations I had when I was in places or situations that sucks was like, first of all, you started asking yourself, why? Why did you put me here? Why do I have to go through this? Once you realize like it's not all about you, maybe he put you here for someone else. Maybe there's this one person that needs to hear something, that needs to see you push through. It's not all about you. And once you realize that, it's like, ugh. I was there and I hated every second of it. But through my conversations with two or three individuals, they're going to church now. Like, shit. I wasn't there because of me. You I was there because you needed me to work for you, to do something. And once you let go of this in intrinsic like feeling of everything, it's about me, but it's not. And yeah, there's a lot that is about you, and it's shaping you, and the Lord is doing all these things because he has a plan. But there's a million people around you that need that too, and he's using you for that. And once that becomes the mindset, it gets a it gets a lot easier to be in situations, be like, fucking hate it here, but you know, there's some good to this. So there is bad. There is it's for me getting back to the church, it was really um very sick. Like, I love hearing stories like that because I'm like, that's every freaking dude that comes back. And what they say in the church is like, those are the most faithful guys, like the the rebirths or the the newcomers, the converts, because they know what it's like to live that life without God. And they're like, I don't want to go back to that ever. And so for me, it's very
Back To Church The Hard Way
SPEAKER_01similar. I got out, I fell into this hole, and I lived the most hedonistic lifestyle ever. I was just partying it up and loving, like loving my life, but more myself more than anything. Um, which is obviously not the way you want to go because that in some way or form you screw other people over that way. If you only live for your own um gratify uh satisfaction, I should say. Um, so I got out, and uh, for whatever reason, all these people that I looked up to, like I would listen to Dr. Andrew Huberman, I would listen to freaking Sean Orion, whatever. Everyone all of a sudden started talking about God. I'm like, uh maybe. Who knows? Like, I'm going through a rough patch. I got out to the military, don't know where to go. Uh, my wife wants to divorce me. Like, I got all these things going on. You know what? Fuck it. I'm just gonna go back. I'm just gonna go back and we'll see what happens. So I go a couple of Sundays in a row. And uh the third or fourth Sunday, they're like, hey, we need someone to go drive to San Antonio, Texas to pick up some stuff. I'm like, oh shit, I'm going there in the next week. Like, I'll pick it up. Well, later on, I learned uh who said it, man. I think his father Dan Reilly's like, once you commit to the church, the devil will come for you. I don't know if that's what happened. I was already one foot in, and then um one night, Benny's mom was she was out flying, she was awake for the night, and that little boy, we we'd slept separate in separate rooms already for a long time. And uh that little boy was in bed with me, and I had a like I do not dream. I don't remember dreams at all, but I had a dream that felt like it was reality. It felt like it was truly happening to me. And in that dream, I hear something. I'm like, his mom's already home. That's weird. It's in the middle of the night, it's pitch black. So I walk out the room, I go across the the corner of the uh of the uh alleyway or the hallway, and I sense like there's someone in there in the other room. I'm like, ah fuck, there's someone, like somebody's trying to get our shit. So I'm like, let me just have a look. I open the door up and I can feel this door is being held shut. And I'm like forcing this door open, and until I feel like, oh, this person's now shut between the door and the wall. And I look around the corner, and what I see just fills me completely with dread. And I still get boos bumps when I see it. I saw a person standing there, no emotion, but their eyes were bright like lamps, like shining bright light. And in my freaking map, mind, I'm still like, oh, it's a burglar. So I run to my room to get my Glock. I get my Glock, I go around the corner, and as I go around the corner, these guys closing the door, I go forward, I start squeezing the trigger. Nothing happens. Then fire. I'm like, fuck, I can and by that time I'm at him, and he just goes, grabs the pistol and just lowers it. And I wake up. I'm like, what the fuck just happened? I am completely confused. I fall back asleep. Next morning I wake up, the sun is shining through the window. I have my boy in my arms, who we see he's always needs a little space, but he's in my arms, and I feel this intense peace. And I still to that to this day, do not know what that was. But months later, I love uh watching episodes of a guy called um uh John Burke. He does research into near death experiences, and dude, I love that stuff because it's all so consistent. He's he's investigated 1500 by now, and he uh and one of these guys comes on and he says, Yeah, so it went, I died and went to heaven, and I saw Jesus. And he had, he was like a regular person, but his eyes were bright like lamps. And I got I'm like, holy shit. Like I still to this day, I don't know what happened, but it it scared the crap out of me more than anything I've ever seen anywhere. I'm like, you guys, man, I'm going to church and this is uh this is this is part of what I'm doing now. And consistently things have started happening where you know if something happens once, that's that's maybe a coincidence, but once it happens again and again and again and again and again, you're like, fuck, dude, like something something bigger is going on here. Yeah. And so it's brought me a lot of good, and it and you know, it's it's a process. You don't all of a sudden be like, well, here I am. I'm a better person, and I'm you know, I I uh I'm the I'm the perfect Christian or perfect Catholic right now. It's like, no, it's a process. And I got lucky when I when I arrived here, I got a good group of people. Um all super super Catholic um family men, but also former military, former pilots. So they kind of know the language you speak in both directions, the the church and and life. So you gotta you gotta you gotta find your little band, your little brotherhood. That's always important. If you don't have that, if you're isolated, man, you're you're just asking for a world of trouble because our our mind just tends to tends to take us places where we don't want to go.
SPEAKER_00Dude, absolutely, man. Like it is one of the coolest things. And uh, me and my wife, we have like this, you know, we whenever we go to the mass, we're you know, just we're people watching. And one of the things that we love is when we see groups of young individuals that are obviously service members, but they go to church together in little groups, like church, like little LGOPs, little groups of paratroopers going to church, and like there's this, yeah, I can tell that they're they're soft guys. I'm not gonna say what what group I think they're they're either you know, Air Force or Army, but like I love going to our church and seeing these little soft dudes. There's like four of them that go to mass together every Sunday. I'm like, that's what we need, man. Like you I look back to my brotherhood and and you know all the times where it was just like debauchery, red door, AJs, drinking ourselves. And and I'm not judging, I'm looking at my lived experience, looking at like the things that I was involved in. And I'm like, look, it made sense for me at the time. But I am so proud and so happy to see individuals that are like, no man, like we're gonna have fun, we're gonna do whatever we want and enjoy ourselves, but we know where we need to go Sunday or Saturday. Like, we know where we're going.
SPEAKER_01Like, so that's that's really the big thing why I started the company. Like,
Building Brotherhood With Structure
SPEAKER_01we have a retreat coming up in Dario, Texas on October 9, 10, 11. We organize a retreat. Yeah, dude, like guys are coming out, all kinds of walks of life, but it's because of that. Like, we get inundated with all the content, everything about Catholic life. You can find it anywhere. But we're missing, we're missing that the structure of how to implement it and how to live that life. It's like if you just get a shit ton of information, but then like what do you do with it? How do you incorporate that into your life? And so all the guys that are uh they're gonna be, I don't want to call them instructors, like let's call them guides, all the guys that are gonna be there, uh, all former military, they they know their Catholic life because they've been Catholic for freaking a million years. Um, so it's it's really um what we like to say, it's Catholicism through the uh military standard, you know, where it's like, okay, you can freaking start your day off the same way every day. Like if you have to get up at three in the morning, fuck it, dude. Get up at three in the morning. If you have if you need that to do your holy hour or to do your prayer, that's great. Like start your day off that way. Like God appreciates that sacrifice. Um same thing. We started a school as well. I don't know if you're familiar with school, but it's like an online thing to just have a weekly uh regiment, you know, because dude, I see so many guys just like that coming to church and they're all like skittish looking around. That's okay. I was the same way. I walked in and like everyone's kneeling and standing up and doing all these. I'm like, I don't know what the fuck's going on. Like, I have no freaking idea. But once you get some guys around you and some structure in that whole life, dude, everything is gonna fall in place. Once you orient yourself towards God, everything else will fall into place. And so that is kind of what I'm trying to instill in, guys. Like, first of all, you're not the the only one going through this. You're not the only ones trying to figure out how to do life. That's all of us. And second of all, there's a million people that want to help you, man. Like, you're you don't be afraid to just step out and ask. You know, you're fine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's real brotherhood, that's real stewardship of the faith. That's being uh a good, just a good dude, man. Like I I look back in my service, and there was a few times a few friends brought me to their church. Um, Rod, if you're listening to us, I still remember, and I thank you greatly for sharing that with us. With me. And I just I think we need more of that. If if you're look, I want you young to join the Catholic Church. Like we're the originals. Like that's just that's just my little thing. That's just gonna throw it out there and do with well what you will. But if not Catholicism, yeah, if not Catholicism, be willing to explore your faith, be willing to go to church, however that that fits in your life. But if you're already going to church, if you're already established in your faith and and you're willing to accept that challenge, bring a friend with you next time. Talk to a talk to a brother that you serve with and just ask them, hey man, like I'm I got masks coming up Saturday night. I think you you dig it. Try it out. Look, stop feeling self-conscious about it. I know I didn't want to talk about it at first. It was a there's not a lot of cool individuals out there championing this like to think that uh there's more. I think I think it's growing. I think something crazy. I see it in the church.
SPEAKER_01It's like a bunch of new people and young people coming in. Yeah, and that's exactly the problem because it takes some some level of vulnerability. Yeah. That's kind of scary, right? That's like shit. I don't really know.
SPEAKER_00Nobody wants to be a beginner. Nobody wants to, you know, and and I will say, forget that. Be a beginner, follow the path, be willing to pull the string. Come on, join us. Whether I dude, I think it's incredible. Let me tell you one of the coolest things that I've experienced since my journey began. Uh I was fortunate enough to go, you know, go to Normandy this year again. And uh Mont Saint Michel. Like I St. Michael is a huge presence. I was a paratrooper. I carried on every deployment, I carried that medallion with me, and it meant something to me. Even though I wasn't going to the church, it meant something to me. And I always wore my dog tags, always kept it with me. There's always been a powerful draw to that. Going back to Mont Saint-Michel, having the ability and that the gift to go there for Mass, that was insane. And and I and you call it just by chance, like, and I don't think it's chance. I don't because I didn't have a schedule. I didn't know when mass was going to be conducted. I was fortunate enough to be there with another man of faith. Shout out to you, Jeremiah, that was able to say, like, well, we're all busy like looking at all the pictures and taking photos. And he was willing to say, hey man, come on inside, once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm like, walk in, and mass had just started. And being able to sit down there and experience and really understand how long, how long we have been going to that place, that cathedral to have mass. And then take it all the way back before he was even built, how long people were going to mass, and you're you're part of that tradition. So I will tell you, whatever what whatever flavor your faith is, be willing to dive into it. Become a good steward of it, become a good ambassador, be willing to talk about it, be willing to share it with your friends, but more importantly, figure out how to fits in your life and don't let it go. Like build the hobbies, the rituals around your faith. Like one of the biggest things for me is I do my rosary in the morning. I do my workout in the morning. I do the things that are gonna keep me, and I do the Halo app. It's the easiest way to go about my morning prayer with my man Marky Mark. I I enjoy it. I think it's funny. I think it's hilarious that I'm using my guided app to go through and and do my rosary. Do um, you know, it's it's the um uh we're we're now going on the 40 days of St. Michael's um. St.
SPEAKER_01Michael's Lens, yeah, dude. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it's it's it's it's incredible to have that as part of your life to sit down and be like, yeah, man, like I'm I'm fasting and I'm doing it for this. And it's structured around my life, and people, people are gonna be curious about it. Be willing to share it, man. Like the time for us to be quiet is over. Be willing to talk about it. There are so many stupid shit that we talk about and rant and rave on this episode on this podcast and on this episode we talked about Afghanistan. We talked about so many different things, but the most important thing that I want you to take away from this is like you have two individuals that have never met before with with military service as a connective tissue that gets us talking. But what are we focused on in life right now? Being good stewards of our faith, man. Yeah, the most important thing. Yeah, there we go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, dude, it's uh I you know, I have a feel it feels like God is really calling all the strong men to stand up right now. I feel like there's some sort of resurgence going on, which is great. Um, and you know, I've I I mean I don't know what was the the propellant there, what was the uh the one driving factor, but I'm happy it's it's it's happening because I see a lot of people, like I said, on this base, they're struggling, it's freaking hard going through this training, and they're like, you know, I'll give this church thing a try. And it's like, yes, you should. That is a great way to start. And um, yeah, don't be afraid to um to give up something. You know, I think asceticism is at least for me, it's very important. Um, you know, I said giving up comf small comforts. So for me, I usually go with the uh Exodus 90 app. That's my version of Halo. And so during St. Michael's Lent, every Thursday night at 2 a.m., you get up, you do an hour vigil, and it's like, oh, that's kind of rough on Friday. You go into work, you're like, I miss an hour of sleep. But it's like, don't be afraid to give something up for a higher good. You give up something temporarily for something that's gonna last forever. And so, you know, once you get into that mindset, this is not for you know, it's something for today or tomorrow. This is gonna be something for eternity. That everything shifts, everything starts looking different. So it's it's hard for us because our lifespans are so short as humans, and we can only think in that little let's try and step out of that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, man. And there's there's um the the last thing I want to leave you guys is it's um you know, we're talking about Lent right now. We're talking about sacrificing something, like whatever it is for for you, whether it's maybe it's swearing, maybe that's the next thing on my chopping block. I'm trying, I'm working hard for that one. But uh, that doesn't mean like you suffer and then when it gets uncomfortable, you you give up on it. No, no, like that in that suffering, in that moment of the hunger pang, like reflect. Say a prayer, do a rosary, do a decade of the rosary, do something. That's what you're offering. That that is the thing that you're when it gets uncomfortable, that's that's when you're supposed to reflect, not give up and go have a midday snack.
SPEAKER_01So if you're in that journey with us, that's you know, that's the freaking New Testament line. Those guys were all suffering like crazy, like all the apostles. So, and it's like rejoice in your suffering, rejoice in your suffering, and you know, something good is in there that will that you might not even ever see until you get to heaven. You know, you might never you know, I always I start all my prayers with um Lord, thank you for the blessings seen and unseen. There are so many blessings that we that we will never know that we were blessed in certain ways, and so you know, embrace this. It's freaking hard, dude. It's hard when there's something sucky going on. You're like, I have to embrace this shit. But that is try and and and build that virtue step by step. And it's gonna take days and months and weeks and years, but that's okay. I always say, you know, the Lord perfected you for 90% and he gave you a lifetime to do the last 10%.
Suffering, Sacrifice, And Trust
SPEAKER_01Like you've got a lifetime to get there and finish the race.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, man. Every all the bad is still something to reflect on. All the things that, all the missed opportunities, all the bad moments that you think are supposed for you to like drop down to your knees and just be sad and and mope about it and be woe is me, and have the mentality of like, why me, God? Like, no, like understand everything that's happening for purpose. Like you might not like it, you might not be able to understand in that moment. And I know it sucks to have that mindset when it's ex like it is a horrible circumstance, but there is a purpose to it, there is a meaning behind it. Uh, every obstacle, every closed door that's leading you closer to your true purpose.
SPEAKER_01And and again, that's not always that doesn't always mean that that purpose is for you. It might be for those around you. And keep that in mind, for your family, for your wife and children. You don't know that, but it there is a purpose.
SPEAKER_00There is, and that's exactly it, man. Like, um, I got a friend that's going through something really difficult, and he's still stuck in in that mindset of like, there's nothing good of this, or something like, dude, you're alive, bro. Like, you, you, you died. You literally, literally died, and he brought you back. That that says something. And after everything that he, you know, he's breaking down his challenges and struggles, and I can clearly see the outline of all the greatness are is in there. Like, you're still here, you've got this ability, like you can still talk, you can still communicate. We're on the phone, and you can't see the gift. You got people that care about you, but you're still stuck on like the negative aspect, the bad thing, the the quote unquote horrible thing that's never gonna, you know, dissipate. And the reality is like the moment you stop focusing on the misery and start focusing on like the greater good, like the the easier it gets, man. Like, and I and I I get it, I had to live it myself. No one could tell. I remember doctors, it's hard. It's absolutely hard. But I will tell you, now that I'm back in my faith, it's infinitely easier to go through a bad situation and take a deep breath and realize, okay, I can't change this. This thing that I don't like is happening whether I'm on board or not.
SPEAKER_01And I'm just gonna That's the hardest thing is to trust in God. Yes, dude. Trust Him. Trust Him. You know, I there's so many times where I've gotten on my knees, I'm like, all I'm saying is, Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust until you're like finally getting there. But that is, like I said, there's no oh, I'm there. Yes, I made it. No, this is it's gonna be an ongoing process. There's never gonna be, you know, that that one guy that you might have that you look up to in the faith, guaranteed he has the same thing, where it's like, I'm not there yet, I'm not there yet, I'm not there yet, and that's fine. That's okay. You know, the Lord doesn't want perfection, he wants you to to to follow him and put that effort in. And, you know, there's no such thing as a you know, I love the saying saints, the saints are just people who kept getting up after they fell. They're just they keep getting up. I sinned, I keep getting up, I sinned, I keep getting up, and just keep doing that. Just do not give up. That's the only thing you the only thing you have to do is do not give up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. Keep moving forward. And and it's the same mentality we had in the military, same mentality you can have as you're walking your path. Uh just keep making that commitment. Just keep getting.
SPEAKER_01When's the last time you jump talking about the military? Did you jump in Normandy? Yeah, did you? Did you get to jump?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. This last year I got the the first opportunity to jump in uh in uh right outside of St. Mary Glee's beautiful historic. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, never in a million years, never in a million years that I did I think I would have that opportunity. And I will tell you, God brought that into my life. And here's why. Everything that I do now, every vertical, every different aspect of my business, I wouldn't have had it if I just kept moving towards my original goal. There's always been a door that was or a path that had reaverted me back into what I was doing. And I would chase something and then not have that materialized into anything. And I'd be broken and sad and like, oh man, woe is me. Why can't I get this? And then months later, a week later, another opportunity kind of shifts me back to my course, keeps correcting me, guiding me to where I need to be. And then it guided me into that, that, that project. It guided me into that team. It guided me into where I'm at now. And that opportunity materialized. And I said, yes. And I absolutely went there and had the time of my life, like going, going to mass at Mont Saint-Michel, jumping into Normandy, going to Notre Dame, uh, having the ability to jump in a bunch of rosaries for my family and be able to say, like, hey, these I jumped these into Normandy. Let's let's uh here's your Christmas and your birthday gift. Because I spent a premium on these. But like all those things, all those wonderful blessings, like they would have never happened. They would have never materialized if I just kept focusing and pushing my way. Because we we were all hard-headed. We're all you can force your way into something that's not meant for you and then completely negate everything that God's putting in front of you and move it out of the way and say no. I could have said no to the to the team that I was brought into. I could have said no to that client, I could have said no to all these different things, but I didn't. I trusted and I understood the importance of being being willing to listen and say, okay, this is the same thing.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's one of the things I learned is just say yes to when stuff pops up. Yeah, the Lord brings people in our life, and sometimes in a moment you can't see it. But yeah, no, I this is my US jump points right here. I uh I did Arnhem. So I jumped uh you know, the Battle of Arnhem. Uh I jumped that one, and then the years after I would fly it. So I got to see both sides of it. So I'm like, this is freaking awesome. Um, but yeah, I love that because the Tyler Gardner and then uh one of our other buddies there will call her off. He um years ago we would sit on the table, we'd kind of bring up faith, and all of them were like, ah, not really, not really. And now when we're in our little in our signal chat, we're all like, oh, you know, God, and everyone's like, bring coming back. I'm like, dude, this is great, love it.
SPEAKER_00Like all of us had our little moment where we're like coming back, so perfect. Yeah. Oh yeah, dude. It's it's um it's a natural revolution. Look, I I I want to raise my little ones so that they don't walk away from it. But there's nothing wrong with us. There's nothing wrong with our our experience. And I think it makes us better advocates, better warriors, better, better men to understand how we can preach, how we can talk to others to say, like, hey, don't veer. But if you do, don't let it be something that keeps you from coming back. We all have a story to tell. We all have a life filled with adventure and journeys, and it's never too late or or too early. Um, but yeah, I want my kids to walk this path and never walk away from it and have an amazing life following God and following the Catholic Church. Um, I think we've got a good formula. I think we've got a good way of ensuring that. Um, but every that's everybody's journey. Everybody's got to figure it out, man. And I'm excited that you're in there in the arena helping others discover that and find their passion and joy in it because it's not doom and gloom, and it's not this servitude of like, oh man, be excited. You can have an awesome life. Mass is supposed to be awesome, it's supposed to be a great so friggin' hard throughout the week, and the only time I feel like I'm like at rest and at peace is hanging out with my wife at the end of the day, and when we go to mass.
SPEAKER_01I get the same thing, and I get so peaceful when I'm at mass that I start you know, dozing off. I'm like, this is great. I feel so at back. I'm paying attention, but I'm like, I'm so peaceful when I'm in there. Like, this is awesome. And you know, we're also we're not there for us, right? We're there for the Lord. And it doesn't matter if we're loving it or we're thinking it's boring, or like we're there for him, we're not there for us. And just keep that in mind. I think that's important. Um, so yeah, man, dude.
Where To Follow And Final Asks
SPEAKER_01I I invite everyone to uh to come to the church, even if you just want to check it out for one day, you know. Go have a look. There's a ton of people there willing to talk to you. Just strike up a conversation and be like, I have no idea what's going on. Can you talk? Can you help me? Can you talk to me?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, easy. Yeah, dude. And uh for the audience listening right now, you have a one-time free affiliate code to the Catholic Church. Is your security all 20 and get in for 20% off? That is a joke. You don't even have to use my code. You can just walk in. Brother, I can't thank you enough for being on here today and for sharing your story and um for doing what you're doing, man. We need more, more men like you that are willing to take up the cause and willing to help. Um, but before I let you go, where can people follow you? Where can they find your programs, and where can they join you to go to mass?
SPEAKER_01If you go to Instagram, go to at flying underscore Dutchman underscore C130. That's my main page. Then there's uh YouTube, TikTok, all of them for um Catholic masculinity. We have www.catholic-masculinity.com. You can go to any of those. If you just go to my main page, you'll find anything right there. You've got some cool military content with that as well. So we've got a little bit of everything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, gambling.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for watching.
SPEAKER_00Dude, I can't think it up. Heck yeah. And guys, do me a favor. You know the spiel, this episode's almost over. I'm in my new studio. I haven't designed it, I haven't put anything on the walls yet, but I just put my travel cases up and uh the old uh old vinyls of the ballad of Green Beret. Uh so if you want to support the show and you want to help my sponsors out, do me a favor, go to the episode description, click the links. The sooner you do that, the sooner I'll get off my ass and put my new display back up. But I won't do it until you support the sponsors. Please also, while you're in the episode description, click the links and help out my man, help him grow. Give him a follow, give him a like. Dare I say, subscribe to his YouTube channel. I'd appreciate it. And one more thing, leave me a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. I'd greatly appreciate it. Apple Podcasts uh is crushing it right now. You guys are loving that platform again. That was my heaviest lift. You guys are Spotify for the longest time. I checked my metrics today. Looks like you guys are bailing on Spotify and joining on Apple Podcasts. I don't care where you consume it, it's all the same to me, but I appreciate it. Brother, thank you for being here, and we'll see you all next time. Till then, take care.
