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!
Byron Beplay on Skydiving, Veteran Community and Betting on Yourself | Security Halt! Ep. 464
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What happens when the adrenaline, camaraderie, and sense of purpose that defined military life suddenly disappear?
In Episode 464 of the Security Halt! Podcast, Deny Caballero sits down with Byron Beplay to talk about military service, skydiving, veteran community, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and learning to bet on yourself when life forces you to pivot.
Byron shares stories and lessons from the skydiving community, including why jumping out of airplanes became about far more than chasing an adrenaline rush. For him, it's about camaraderie, challenge, accountability, and being surrounded by people who continue pushing themselves.
The conversation also explores supporting veterans and first responders, Byron's philanthropic work, the Outer Heaven Foundation, and why taking imperfect action can be more valuable than waiting for the perfect opportunity.
Listen now. Follow the show. Share this with the veteran or entrepreneur who needs to hear it.
Chapters:
00:00 Skydiving, FOMO & Getting Back in the Air
02:16 Why Tandem Skydiving Is Harder Than It Looks
04:28 Wild Students & Skydiving Stories
07:45 Veterans Boogie, Black Rifle Coffee & Community
12:28 The Mission Behind Outer Heaven Foundation
13:48 Finding Purpose Through Teaching & Skydiving
16:16 Skydiving as “Adrenaline-Fueled Therapy”
18:14 Why Veterans Miss Adrenaline & Camaraderie
20:07 One of Byron’s Wildest Tandem Jumps
22:33 From First Jump to Licensed Skydiver
24:21 Finding a New Mission Through Helping Others
25:44 Supporting Veterans, First Responders & Families
26:40 Divorce, Business Mistakes & Life Lessons
28:03 Accountability, Ego & Learning From Failure
33:04 What’s Next for Byron & the Drop Zone
36:57 Bet on Yourself & Learn to Pivot
38:22 Changing Direction Doesn’t Mean You Failed
41:14 Building a Business That Can Scale & Serve
42:03 Navy SEAL Confusion & Stolen Valor Accusations
46:11 Accountability, Growth & Owning Your Mistakes
47:39 Why Skydiving Keeps You Humble
49:20 Outer Heaven Foundation & Final Thoughts
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Bet On Yourself And Keep Moving
SPEAKER_02Honestly, you're doing something I always tell people is bet on yourself. Be willing to bet on yourself. Like you don't have to have the entire plan fully flushed out.
SPEAKER_00No, man. Have a concept of your eye, have that con op and just execute because you and I both know in military, you know, when the first round is fired, that entire plan goes out the window, anyways. I've done everything like you said, like I've been a commercial underwater welder. I attempted to go work in the medical profession. I attempted, you know, a lot of different things. But in some people will look at you and go, you're a failure. But you failed at those things. I didn't fail. I chose to leave and I pivoted. Just because you fail at something in life, guys and girls, doesn't mean that that's like you should quit. That just gives you something like, oh, my needle has been pegged and here it is. Now I need to go and become better so that that needle can continue to move.
Jump Nostalgia And Community Plug
SPEAKER_02Iron, my man, welcome back, Security Hall, bro. How you been?
SPEAKER_00Busy, dude. Doing the doing what I always do. You know, staying out of control and uh trying to beat off the dudes, you know. You gotta keep them off me, you know. Just kidding. Poor choice of words or perfect choice of words. Not really, but you know, you know.
SPEAKER_02Oh man. Yeah, dude. Anytime I check your stuff out, I'm always getting a bit of FOMO and nostalgia. Because, dude, I miss Eloy. I miss fucking jumping out of an airplane. I got I was privileged to jump into Normandy this year, and it was amazing. But uh, you know, beggars can't be choosers. I'm not gonna complain about getting a fucking static line jump into Normandy. Those free fall boys, always having so much fun.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. Every time, dude. Every time. I mean, I'm I'm jealous of the Normandy jump. It's something that I've always missed and wanted to do. Hopefully, that's in my in the near future for uh 2027. But uh we shall see. I know some people, bro.
SPEAKER_02I know some people. And it uh shameless plug. If you want a seat on that aircraft, join Warrior Rising 6 Club. Six bucks a month, that gets your foot in the door. You still gotta pay for the flight training if you're not static line qualified, but it reserves your spot. I mean, you're gonna have to figure out your fair airfare and lodging, but you can jump with us. And uh if you don't like airplanes, tons of other cool shit. Army, navy, tailgate, you get a ticket, and all it costs is six bucks, six bucks a month. So shameless plug. Insert the graphic right here, editor. There you go. There's my pitch to you.
SPEAKER_00I tell you, I'm in. I'm in. You sold me.
Tandem Instructor Reality And Door Stories
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man. You're fucking crushing it, dude. I'm seeing your stuff everywhere. Black Raffle Coffee, every friggin' cool guy page has got your clips from friggin' jumping out of airplanes. Like, how do you keep going, man? Like, it's I could eat it's easy to say, like, I could do that. I could fucking roll out of bed, but uh, let me tell you, uh, I don't know if I have the stamina to keep jumping at your rate, man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it gets pretty exhausting. I think the other day we were we were running tandems and we it was turnloads. I was dropping students and picking up a tandem rig, throwing the tandem rig back on, strapping on some extra person and doing uh, you know, you got your your it's funny because everyone always laughs, like, oh man, you know, you'll people ask me, you know, like who do you like better, the big people or the the tiny? Like, dude, it's the small girls, man. Them tiny little wiry girls that just like decide they're gonna do stuff and they start doing random stuff. You know, fat people are great, man. Weight is stability, dude. I'm just rocking in down to the earth, you know. I'm like, all right, cool. This is, you know, hopefully the canopy's good, man. Like you, you're a big person, so you know, we'll be good, you know. And it it's it's just kind of funny how it is. I did have a guy, it was really, really funny. He was 6'7, he was huge. Um, and I was just giving him shit the whole time as I normally do, you know. I it's just my personality, I can't not not do that. And um, you know, the typical, you know, jokes, you know, you know, me maintaining my professionalism, as we all know, you know. The hardest part of uh doing a tandem skydive is usually me. Um just raging all the way up, you know. Um, but there they they literally like people don't really like understand, like it is, it's one of those things. It's like it's very finesse. It's a very it's a finesse type of thing. Like you get one person and it's super stable, like that wasn't that bad. And then you get that that seven foot tall dude, and he's like, This is awesome! He throws his hands out, and you're like all of a sudden you're almost upright under a tandem with a drogue, you know, the bridle hitting the back of your head. You're like, Jesus, dude, like like let's bring our arms back a little bit here, dude. You know, like you know, they're out there planking like they're Superman, you know, and uh you're like, dude, come on now. This is awesome.
SPEAKER_01Relax, relax your body position, big guy. Oh, dude, I've seen some funny stuff.
SPEAKER_00We had one, there's this guy, he had his uh that was their first date. I'm sure it was their last. And he was like, oh, I was static line in the military, and they're trying to tell you about how cool they used to be, you know, the typical, or or they're lying about their entire airborne career in general. Like, I've got thousands of static lines. I'm like, okay, Roger that, you know, and uh, you know, he's got this girl, and she's I mean, she's she's a bohemist, and she's a pretty big lady. And uh literally the guy that's jumping her, they had to get a guy that was smaller to be able to, you know, for the wing loading of the parachute. So he's just like a tick on her back, and she just is like, no. And she just cats the door. I'm not doing it. I want to go. And he's like, Are you wanna go or do you not want to go? No, yes. We're like, what is she saying? And he's sitting there and he's laughing the whole time. And literally, they go out the door, and he just grabs her by like her fat, swipes her arm around the door, and they just gain her out the door. And all I see is her belly comes up, boobies come into her face, and like arm fat, like just flopping all over the place. And he like, you know, he's strapped to me, so we're like scooting up, and he just like looks back at me and he's like, Holy shit, that's a lot of fat. And I'm like, I'm I have a hand camera, I'm like, this is on camera, bro. So I'm like trying to edit this thing, like trying to take out all of his bullshit he was saying the whole time, so I don't create a domestic violence incident. You know, it was the funniest shit. And then it hit the ground, they're like, oh my god, you know, like this is so awesome. And they're like hugging and kissing, and I'm like looking at them like, not for long, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02You know, like people freak the fuck out. People freak the fuck out. Yeah. One of the funniest stories at at fucking when I was at the basic course, you know, a student, like I remember you know, that first jump for everybody. Like, you know, we don't do a tandem jump before you fucking jump free fall for the first time. You just fucking go. And I remember that there's this dude in front of me. No, like you practice it so many times, you know, dive out. Dive out.
SPEAKER_03My man comes out in a fucking static line form, just gets the final head nod from the instructor. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Go. Steps out.
SPEAKER_02And I wish, I wish I could go back and find that student. You know, they they burn your like your videos for you at the end of fucking free fall school. I hope they still do that. But like this, this fucking dude straight up takes the stuff off. And I can only imagine that like holding that body position, like, and then finally fucking like realizing what you gotta do. Fucking classic.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Dude, that's awesome. I really love it. I love it. Dude, it's it's pretty funny. But yeah, it was a lot of fun, man. We went out
Veterans Boogie And Airsoft Humbling
SPEAKER_00to Eloy. Uh, they have the veterans boogie out there. It's uh was founded by the founder of Clear Hot. Um, Sam and Carlos did just an absolute phenomenal job putting it together. Um, Black Rifles uh is one of the title sponsors this year uh for all three events. So this was the first of three. Yeah, we have the uh Paraclete event coming up here shortly uh in September, the first part of September in um at Paraclete at Rayford. And then we have the actual vet boogie, the big vet boogie at Eloy, um uh in November. Uh if you guys are interested in doing it, go out, check it out on the Clear Hot webpage, or go to the vet boogie Instagram, and it'll uh there, they have all their dates on there and they sell out super fast. But we went out there and I I'm pretty positive, and I'm gonna be very clear. I am a pretty big shit talker of uh of airsofters, right? Never played airsoft in my life, never touched a rifle. So I'm gonna say it was a pretty humbling experience going to a 10-year-old, my son, and being like, hey, bro, we need to have a talk. And he's like, Am I in trouble? I'm like, I need you to teach me how to fucking operate this thing. And he's like, oh, you know, he's like, ah, you don't got no kidneys. You know, he's all like laughing at me. You know, he didn't cuss. He would have gotten his ass in trouble. I try to raise my kids to be better than me. But uh, he's just like, oh, you know, and he just thinks it's the funniest shit that he's having to teach me how to like do this thing. I'm like, all right, this is cool. All right, got it figured out. And then uh, you know, Sig um ended up sponsoring a rifle. So they sent us a bunch of MCX Airsoft rifles, and um, and then Night Vision Republic ended up sponsoring our night vision for the event. Let's go. Hell yeah. So what was freaking insane was like you were jumping, we're free-falling into the battlefield essentially. And they, you know, we had our full kit jumps, you know, we used a bunch of my parachutes. And what was wild was like it was me, uh, method endeavors, Devin, uh, one of our teammates, RJ, and then Kelly, who's the uh, I think he's the director for all the of um events, right? For Black Rifle. And Kelly's is I he and I served in Range Regiment together, and we just, we were just crushing nuts out there. It was so much fun. After it was all done, after the first one we did, we were like, that was kind of fun, man. Like, I can't really talk too much shit. Dudes are over here booby trapping, like cachet boxes, people are laying guns on the ground and putting like the grenades underneath that shit. One of the dudes, right at the end of the game, ends up killing me, but he threw the grenade, the game was over, gets into the building, and I'm staring at this grenade, it's like sitting there, and it's like, and I'm like, man, I would have cooked that thing off. I could probably grab that. No, I don't want to grab that thing. I don't know how that thing blows up. And then, like, a couple minutes go by, I'm like, okay, um, I'm gonna grab, no, I'm not gonna grab it. I'm gonna grab, no, I'm not gonna grab it. And finally it goes off, and I'm like, God, oh. So it it was uh, so the event that you know that they put on was absolutely phenomenal. Black Rifle will be at every single one of them. Highly suggested. If you guys have never jumped in your life and you want to jump and you want to do a tandem, they offer that. Uh, if you guys want to get your license, it's a great place to start. Um it's
Outer Heaven Foundation And Adrenaline Therapy
SPEAKER_00it's awesome. And then also, you know, for those of you guys don't know, you know, our nonprofit, the Outer Heaven Foundation, that is uh basically a fun, it's it's adrenaline-fueled philanthropy. Um, if you guys are interested in getting into this sport, you want to do it, that's what we do. We get you through uh hopefully up to your A license if we can. Oh, no shit. Yeah, at no cost. I mean, it's open to all people, it's open to veterans, first responders, and their family members. So the biggest thing that we can use, if you're not even interested in ever jumping, donate because without you guys donating, we can't support the unbelievable desire to, and and it's it's really what I realized is something I was missing in my life. Like even, you know, like in the last podcast, we talked about the Mr. Beast and all that stuff. And I was in a really weird spot where I was like, you know, kind of losing purpose, but kind of not. I I didn't, you know, I I have this business and I stay super busy, but you would think somebody with as busy as me would have a great sense of purpose, but there's like that thing missing, right? And what I realized is that I love to teach, I love to help people through things in general. Um, and that's exactly what was missing in my life. And I got a phone call from Jack Lynx wanting to get a little social media commercial put together for uh with B jerky. Um, you know, and uh, you know, me and Aaron Sweiser, Swisser, and and uh Devin uh fighting over meat sticks in the air, which isn't the first time we fought over each other's meat sticks. So um, but uh but we uh did the and I was like, man, I don't even understand why I left this industry. And you know, I'm now back in it. And Devin and I were literally just sitting around one day and you know, doing what we do best, you know, in the contracting defense world. And you know, Devin and I looked at each other, like, let's start a nonprofit, you know, and help people get their their stuff. And literally it just went off like hotcakes. And then one of my best friends calls and he's like, dude, I'm trying to get a job, I'm trying to do this, I'm trying to go do this contract, and I need to get my resert. And it was like boom. We were able to get him his his contract right there and get him reserted. And it was like we just started rolling it, and we have all of our own internal, we have um AFFIs, the instructors, we have tandem instructors that are all volunteers that come in and help us accommodate this stuff. We have specific drop zones that donate blade hours and um uh instructor time to get these guys going. Um I I will go at drop zones and I'll work at a drop zone um running tandems or AFF, and I'm like, don't pay me, put it into an account, and that account will go to somebody that needs a license or is shy money. Um because yeah, it's it's one of those things. It's like we lose that ability. Like, how many veterans do you like meet that are like they were always so mentally stable and like high stress situations, and then they get out and they're unhinged. You're like, what the frick happened to this guy? Like he's completely emotionally unhinged. It's like we lose this sensibility and and this ability to control our emotions. And in skydiving, everything happens so fast, right? Um, and you have to control that from the door to the landing. And it's such a broad field, you know, inherently skydiving isn't dangerous, believe it or not. You know, the basic, basically, the basic aspects of skydiving, you know, are not dangerous. It's when you add the other stuff like swooping or all the other things and the group activities or and or the um base jumping and stuff like that. That all stuff is obviously inherently dangerous, but the basic act of skydiving isn't because there's so many things in place to prevent bad things from happening, right? Um so it's it's a it's almost like I mean, it's adrenaline fueled, not only philanthropy, but it's adrenaline-fueled therapy, you know?
SPEAKER_02100%, 100%, yeah. There's a lot of guys and gals out there that they that's what they need. That's what they want, something that to make them feel like they're connected to that previous life, or or just have the adventure, dude. A lot of people don't, you know, there's a lot of the equine therapy. There's a lot of like, hey, like get on a surfboard, be out there, zen out with the waves. But there's a lot of veterans that are spending a lot of time and money trying to chase that that feeling of doing something epic, man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I mean, in in all the years that I've counseled through veterans and worked with veterans through things, you know, and the number one thing is like they want to be with the boys again, they want to be with the girls again, they want that sense of camaraderie, which you do, you get that on the drop zone again, especially like as a family and uh um, you know, it's a very family-friendly environment most of the time. You know, um, but like the other piece to that is like they are they you're right, they're hunting for that sense of adrenaline. They're hunting for that sense of like that rush they had when they were leaving the gate or when they were breaching that door, you know, and they're always chasing that. And for me, you know, that's kind of like why, you know, after, you know, when I was in the military, you know, it got to a point where skyding almost became boring to me because we were doing it so much. Um and what what never got boring to me was being a tandem instructor because you have somebody else's life in your hands. And then the second is being an instructor because you don't know what that person's gonna do. Dude, humans are the most unpredictable thing on this planet. You know, that person can sit there and, you know, I had this kid, uh, straight up Puerto Rican dude, you know, the eyebrows were done, I had the chain, the lined up hair, you know, he's like, oh, yo, you know, he had the all the bravado going on. He's like, this is easy. I got this. Ah, I'm good. He's got it on, he's got his girl there watching, and that dude gets to the door, he's like, And as soon as we leave the aircraft, he grabs my arms and pulls my arms into his chest, and I couldn't even get back. And I'm like, finally get my arm loose. I throw the drogue, and I'm like, and I was like, Don't do that again! And I of course he can't hear me. We're in free ball, and I'm like, oh my God. So now I'm holding his hands like this, and he's like, he's and then now he's like, it's almost like he's cha-chain with me under canopy, and I'm like, what the fuck is this kid doing? And I'm like, all right, we're good. And I'm like, I'm fine. And you know, we finally get there. I'm like, yeah, I'm looking at my altimeter and I'm holding his arms, and I'm like, all right, this guy's over. And I was like, we're out, you know. And I yeah actually, I let go of his arm. I pull the the the instructor, well, it's on the uh it's on the left side, and uh we over and he's like, oh my god, he's speaking in Spanish. I have no idea what the fuck he's saying. And then I'm like, well, I hope that means you had a good time, buddy, you know, and he's just like, oh, I'm sorry. He's like, that was just incredible, and I'm like, holy hell, man. And he didn't he, I didn't have any cameras or videos, so I was like, I was wishing I had just put it on, but they have to, you know, I was out of someone else's drop zone. So I had to like add a hand, a hand cam and they didn't pay for it. So, but it was it was hilarious. But like he like came down and we had this little talk, he pulled me aside. He's like, hey, let's not talk about how I acted in the airplane. I was like, I don't think you need to worry about that because everyone behind us saw it, you know? And his homies, by the time they were coming back, they're all making fun of him about screaming like Shia LaBeouf, like high pitched scream. Like I was like, oh my God. I mean, he went out the door. He didn't like he wasn't a jump refusal, but I could hear him screaming all the way down. But it was it was incredible. It was it was still a fun experience and and whatnot. And But it's neat to watch people work. You know, as funny as that story is, it's neat because now he has that experience. And now, ironically, um, I showed up, you know, I went off on a typical Byron trip, went off somewhere, and I came back and someone's like, You dude, you know homie, uh, you know, Mr. Cool Guy, Puerto Rican guy. I was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. My student that likes to jujitsu me in free fall. He's like, Yeah, he's like, Yeah, he got his A license. I was like, Oh, that's incredible, bro. Oh, no shit. Yeah, so he's like out there rigging somewhere jumping, but it was freaking awesome. It was so I and I love hearing those kinds of stories.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So yeah, it's it's one of the things that like it's a legit sport. And I think for a lot of people, like you just need to have that first jump experience to really get that friggin' like that taste of like really like being a fucking meat missile in the sky, man. Like it is the greatest fucking feeling. I know dive guys talk about being in the water and master the water domain. Fine, you can do that shit.
SPEAKER_00I I I I'm both, and I will tell you all day long, you know, from being a C pre-CDQC instructor and how no shit. Oh, yeah. I I worked at Six R TV as a pre-scoop instructor for several years. And I I am a CDQC graduate, and I will tell you right now, that's a lot of work to get to work. Now, I will much prefer to uh free fall to work than to uh to fend my ass in against the current um or anything of that nature because you know, trying to push into that Larfy re-breather.
SPEAKER_02There are things in the water that we have no business being involved in. That is not we, you know, God gave us two legs, two arms for a reason to do a perfect high lift track in the sky and be a sky god. Amen.
SPEAKER_00X initial, initial, initial, nothing else follows.
SPEAKER_02Dude, what's a what uh what's it been like being able to do this and being able to like like impact people's lives
Mentorship, Hard Lessons, And Family Life
SPEAKER_02for the better, man? Like to find a mission, like I always tell, like, within us is somebody that spent a lot of time mentoring, coaching other individuals. And when we find ourselves being able to like to step back into that arena to help somebody, you know, have a better day through a modality that we're experts in, it's gotta feel good, man.
SPEAKER_00Man, hey, dude, I'm I'm unbelievably blessed. And like I get super emotional when I start thinking about it because I like one, our team at Outer Heaven with between Devin, all of the guys, everyone that's on the board. Um, it's my my team is like they're genuine people who want to see other people succeed. We don't really care about, you know, money's great. We everybody likes money, money makes life easier, but it's not our sole purpose. Our sole purpose is to see people thrive, right? And it doesn't matter what it is, whether you're a law firm, the main reason why this was started was because I didn't have the ability or the freedom to help people outside of dogs. If my nonprofit that I was working with before, which is a great nonprofit, by the way, and I highly suggest it was only for veterans. But there are so many people out there that are dispatchers who have to listen to little girls get raped on the phone and wait for the police to get there. And they have to live with that, those, those sounds and those voices in their head forever. Firefighters, who's one of our one of our recipients, who is one of my longtime friends, who's known me since I was a young, young man in regiment. He's now a uh a licensed skydiver who's also a fire, a very, very, very good firefighter who went through a really rough year. Um, we have veterans. We have this ability to help them, but I can help them like get a dog if they need a dog. And that's what you need. We're gonna provide that. Hey, maybe you don't need any of this shit, and you just need a dude to go do some cool shit with and talk to and actually get mentored in the realm of whether it be business or the mindset, because I mean I got master wings in divorce, bro. Like, I haven't been divorced once, I've been divorced twice, and it took me my third time to get it right. Now I got this baddie who is like a rock star who's on our like in our nonprofit, helping us. She's our CFO. Because I'm a ranger. I can't, we all know I can barely pass my fucking digits. Um, and we gotta leave, we gotta give it to my, yeah, I give it to a woman to handle the finances because you know, can't be out there thinking, you know, we'd be doing some stupid shit, most of us dudes. But but like we want to help those people and have those like real serious talks, like, hey man, like this isn't the right way to go about this. And here's why. Let me tell you, because in my experience, and when I was an idiot, because I tell people all the time, you know, and the guys on my team like always make fun of me because they're like, oh, um, you know, Byron's always right, and I'm and I'm right about always bad shit. And it's not because I'm better than you, it's because I'm the dumbest of all of you. I'm the worst of all of you. And I've done it already, you know. Like mom and dad told me, don't marry that first woman. I did it anyways, and here we are today. You know, I'm still financially paying for that. You know, I, you know, business decisions, my wife has told me before, or hey, I didn't do the correct paperwork in my first business deal. And then in that business deal, I ended up losing $3.5 million because I didn't do the right thing, right? Because I felt like the good old old boy handshake would be okay. And that's not okay, right? Paperwork keeps everybody honest, paperwork keeps everybody accountable, and we have the ability and to like check our ego out the door and go and say, you're right, I'm not fulfilling my end of that deal. And there's a lot of times where that's been the case for me, where you know, Devin and I, I've had, you know, Devin with Method Endeavors, we're business partners, right? And he's been like, Byron, you slacking, bro. What's going on? This ain't Byronism, right? You know, this isn't the normal type of Byron we know. You know, it's like, you know, uh, you know, and Greg, you know, Greg Blobden, um, you know, or or Christian, you know, we we we all keep each other accountable and that community, iron sharpens iron and makes us stronger. That camaraderie, that community, and we learn from each other's mistakes. It's you know, not that I'm better than anyone at all. I'm just the worst. You know, it's just like and and I have to remind that all the time. I I tell my son, I was like, son, I know what you're thinking before you think it, because I did it. You know what I'm saying? I was like, I see, I I'll never forget, dude. This is some one of the funniest things I ever seen in my life. A young lady was working out in her yard nearby and my son just face turns beat red, and I look out, and she's a good looking lady. And uh she wasn't wearing a bra. And I got like look over at my son, I can see kind of what's going on, and you know, I already know what he's thinking at 10 years old because he's starting to go through that shift, you know, and he's like, and he's like looks at me and he gets really beat red and he giggles and he runs away. And I was like, Oh god, we're getting close to the talk. And it wasn't even a week later I had to have it with him. Excuse me. And I I I walked in the room, I was like, What's so funny, bud? And he looks at me and goes, Dad, did you see her out there? I was like, Well, I mean, who didn't? He goes, You could see her boobies. You know, and I was just like laughing because you could just tell, like the dude, it's it's it's all like the hormones are starting to come, and you know, like, oh no. I'm gonna have to have this talk.
SPEAKER_02It's there now that things are changing pretty soon. You're gonna have the challenges uh of a young man at home.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I know. And I have two older girls that God um depends, I feel like the blessing are a curse. And my two older daughters, my oldest is in college, she's kind of independent, does her own thing. The my middle daughter, um, you know, she's 16, and you know, God did not not um I'm gonna call it a curse. Most would say it's a blessing. They would definitely say it's a blessing. I don't have ugly kids, unfortunately. Um, so it's I'm screwed. I I I I literally I do it. I went to my social media the other day, and my daughter had posted a photo of herself, and I'm like, oh shit. You know, here comes the creepers. Oh, yeah, I know, I know. Well, she's got a she's got a little boyfriend, and then she's got his name up on them like, oh well, I'm I'm trying to like subliminally give her the education by you know, like sending her the information through social media because I know she's in it, you know, like, hey, this is how you protect yourself. You know, like don't listen to me. Listen to me and listen to the meme with Henry Kebble, you know, like and his daughter, like dude.
SPEAKER_02You're in it. You're in it right now. This this is the season for things to change and having individuals that are uh you know trying to get into the kaleidoscope when we Yeah, it's always a kaleidoscope.
SPEAKER_00See your original question was what's it like to uh to help people? And it turns into me talking from that to freaking my kids. You never know what's gonna come out of this mouth.
SPEAKER_02I have to say though, you don't even look old enough to have a kid in college, man. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate it. I was 42 over here, and so broke.
SPEAKER_02It's what free fall does for you. It keeps you young.
SPEAKER_00It keeps my face really, really tight. You know, it's like at 120 miles an hour. You know, I don't do boat talks, I do free fall, you know.
SPEAKER_02Dude, it keeps you young because you're surrounded by guys that are friggin' at half your age, half your age doing the same shit. Like you can't afford to slip. You you gotta be on every black market peptide you can be on.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly right. That's exactly right.
New Drop Zone Plans And Ranch Reset
SPEAKER_02Dude, what's next on the docket, man? What do you guys got on the uh the horizon? I know that there's uh did you guys already break ground in your facility? Where were you guys located at?
SPEAKER_00So we're in Dupuniac Springs right now. Um, no, we're not open yet. Uh I mean, well, the drop zone's open, so if anybody wants to come bring their airplane down and skydive here in Daphneac Springs, by all means. But the drop zone is there, uh, working on aircraft as we speak. Um, you know, we've got, you know, some military dudes utilizing the DZ, um, really just that. And lots of work uh with Black Rifle with the upcoming events. You know, we've got Paracle coming up here in about three weeks. Uh, we have um the Big Bed Boogie in November. Um my uh my best friend's wedding, I think. I gotta be a best man in a wedding. God, what an idiot. He's I'm I mean he's smart in the woman that he's marrying, but he's an idiot to make me his best man. I'm just like, are you crazy? Like, you can't find you need to find some better friends, homie. We've been friend, we've been friends for 20 years. You couldn't find anyone better than me. No, he's dude, yeah. Uh everyone knows uh Dino Ryan Norman didn't he's he's one of the best dudes in the world. So um yeah, he's he's phenomenal. Um, but really, you know, just spending time with the family. Got home recently, got a you know, you know, worked a ranch, worked the cows, you know, um you know, just you know, doing some more jumps, gonna go do some skydiving tomorrow at Panama City and hopefully and uh weather permitting, you know how Florida is. Oh, dude, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's gotta be a a very jarring, you know, you spend one one week and jump in at the airplanes, then you come back and like I gotta take a care of my livestock.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I actually I mean, I couldn't, I couldn't be happy. I mean, literally, as I as I look out, you know, I'm looking at, you know, four or five of my longhorns standing here staring at the fence. I feel like they can see me. They can't, they're just staring off into the distance. You know, my horse and my sheep are over there right behind me. Uh, and then we have a random uh pot-bellied pig that wanders my property. My dog's barking at him right now. His name's Wilbur. Uh, and my 200 chickens that I have over here.
SPEAKER_02So please tell me you sell your let your eggs on the local economy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know. Once we find you a permanent home, you'll have to come up here. We'll have to do, you'll have to come out and ride some horses and have fun. We'll throw you out of an airplane again.
SPEAKER_02Dude, I'm in, man. I need to get back into free fall. That's one of the things that I want to try to build out. Like every year um Warrior Rising is doing their Normandy jumps. I'm like, dude, we can build our own internal free fall experience. It wouldn't be so much of a heavy lift. And I know tons of people that would pay a premium to jump out of a friggin' CH47 and do some uh in free fall, dude. That'd be fucking sick.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. I mean, and we have the literally the perfect drop zone. It's static line certified drop zone right here in Defuniac to do it. It's huge. And uh it's it's a really, really good time. I'm I'm super blessed to be working with one in one an incredible city. Our mayor is phenomenal. The uh the whatever you call it, City Hall and all of its well, we we in the military would call that the head shed. Um, but they are all phenomenal. Um, don't know if that's the appropriate political term, but you know, Bayron will be running for office anytime soon.
Tactical Pivoting In Business And Life
SPEAKER_02So I think your story is a testament that like what I I truly appreciate is you you jumped into so many different arenas and you didn't stop. You changed, you innovated. I mean, to start off coming out thinking that you're gonna be working in the medical field, thinking that you want to do this, you want to, you want to help people as a nurse, shift over to this, you want to do so many different verticals. And uh honestly, you're one of the you're doing something I always tell people is bet on yourself. Be willing to bet on yourself. Like you don't have to have the entire plan fully flushed out, man. Be willing to take a first step, be willing to fucking put together a business plan, be willing to say, you know what, maybe I can do something else. I talk to so many people that are always like, well, I don't have the full thing flushed out. But well, if you got a general concept, start building.
SPEAKER_00Right. And that's the that's one of the things that I see a lot, a lot of rangers are this way. Uh, a lot of group guys are this way too, where they they feel like they have to have the perfect plan and everything has to be absolutely perfect. No, man, have a concept of your have that con op and just execute because you and I both know in military, you know, when the first round is fired, that entire plan goes out the window, anyways. So it's the exact same thing in business where we got to have a pretty much a pretty good idea of the way we go. We can't go off of hopes and dreams. And you've got to have a pretty good footing in what you're going to do. And it has to obviously make sense. But being able to get into that arena and actually be able to engage whatever it is that you want, whether it's I want to start um car detailing business, um rap, or I want to be a mechanic, or I want to start my own law firm. It doesn't matter. Like I've done everything, like you said, like I've been a commercial underwater welder. I attempted to go work in the medical profession. Um, I attempted, you know, a lot of different things. But in in some people will look at you and go, you're a failure. You know, uh, you failed at those things. Um, I didn't fail. I chose to leave and I pivoted. It's learning how to tactically pivot to understand, okay, this isn't really where I want to be, right? I I don't like to be honest, you know, when I was working with GSMSG, the funnest part about the medical stuff that I was doing was working with the global surgical medical support group. And if that was an actual paying job, uh uh it's an NGO that's out there teaching and training our allies, you know, TCCC, providing aid, and in actual countries that are in active war. Phenomenal nonprofit. Aaron, the president of the of the organization, is an absolute stud. Um, but that was the only thing that I loved about the medical industries was working in that environment and doing those things. Working in a U.S. hospital just wasn't for Byron. You know, we're in an entitled society and it just wasn't working. And me telling someone to stop being a little fucking bitch, your your ingrown toenail isn't that important because we're right now trying to deal with somebody not dying, a child not dying, and them not understanding that just blew my mind, right? So, like, you know, that being said, like, you have all these arenas, and so just because you choose to go some different direction doesn't make you a failure. It makes you smart, in my opinion, because you're like, I want to find my niche. And look, I still have a dog training business, I still train dogs here and there. I've just learned how to duplicate myself to make that profitable enough where myself, my wife, and my team can go and actually expand the business into larger avenues of approach. That's why I'm able to go and work with and for Black Rifle and do the things for them when they call me a week before an event. Hey, we we need an extra person. Gotcha, no problem. Hey, can you do this? Yeah, no issue. Or some, I get a phone call from, you know, a photo shoot company where they, you know, some media company that needs another body that they need a studly operator-looking dude that's still in shape at 42. Um, they call the Sex Panther, you know what I'm saying? And they say, hey, we need you to come in with your quaff and uh look studly. And I say, Yeah, I got you, you know, not arrogant at all. Um so but no.
SPEAKER_02We need dudes and we need them to be hot and in tactical gear. I know a guy.
SPEAKER_00Everybody's favorite fake Navy SEAL. So that was my favorite one because I've been all over the um the uh the Navy SEAL Foundation stuff because uh me and my buddies all went, and one guy was a support dude, and the one dude was a Ranger V with me. I was uh obviously a Ranger, another dude with a PJ, and uh we're all in some guy I was out at uh Elo and he's like, Yeah, man, that guy was a Navy SEAL. I was like, nope, I just play one on the internet, bud. I was like, never been a navy SEAL. Here we go. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not stolen value. Yeah, it's like I I deal with this shit enough. I'm like, I didn't please. I was like, I I keep hitting them up. It's like, hey, when is my whites? When do I get to put on the whites and wear a trident? Because I want to break the internet.
SPEAKER_01You know, I'll be on one of those YouTube channels of those people's, hey, I'm veteran so-and-so today. We're gonna talk about the biggest piece of shit. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00So funny, man. I love it. But it's a lot, it's good times, man.
Handling Online Hate With Accountability
SPEAKER_00And it's just it's a huge blessing to be able to like take my experiences in my life and work through all of the things that people and and I think a lot of the things that people also because now we live in a world of information, and this is a great segue, is like a lot of hate, man. Our our community is full of FOMO, and they it it shows in the form of jealousy and hate. And they make big deals about shit that doesn't matter. They make up stuff, they take assumptions and turn them into facts, and they're not. They're that's to say that's called defamation, um, is the legal term, and it's still a lie. You're making up lies about somebody, and it's like those, you know, people will see things. This is like it's uh, it's like somebody would that would see me and go, Oh, yeah, that guy was a Navy SEAL. Tell everybody that I was a Navy SEAL, and I'm like, no, no, no. You saw me on a commercial playing a Navy SEAL that. Doesn't mean I was a Navy SEAL, or that I think I'm a Navy SEAL, or I act like I'm a Navy SEAL. Um, I went to CDQC uh for a means to get to an objective that would never happen for the Army. We have Navy SEALs for that. You're just filling the bullet for land, air, and sea, right? You know, um it's not saying never, but it very low chance of a combat dive insertion on the army side, right? Um, but like that doesn't make me a Navy SEAL. Um or special forces, that's the other one I've got like, oh, he's he's special forces. No, I was a special forces combat diver. It's a school, it's the title of the school, or CDQC as you know, whatever CDQC C combat dive qualification course. Yeah, there we go. All the acronyms. So, you know, you know, it's uh you we we've got to like work too because people get fearful of because unfortunately we live in a world where marketing is social media now. And when you put yourself out there, and the more you do it, especially as an operator, you're gonna catch some hate.
SPEAKER_02Um lots and lots of hate. Even if you're doing something positive, people will still slide slide into your DMs and call you a fucking piece of shit. Quite literally, like verbatim, exactly what you just did.
SPEAKER_00It's true. You know, I there's a guy that's like running around that nobody knows who he is, and all my buddies at RRD don't know who the guy is on social media. He's like, oh, that guy was kicked out of regiment. I was like, no, I wasn't. You know, like did I have did I leave on really shitty terms? Yeah, fuck yeah. Uh do I ever claim that I was rural's greatest ranger? Absolutely not. I I I walked amongst giants and I still do. Um, you know, it's humbling to see guys that came in regiment after me and did far better. Like, I mean, perfect example is Kelly and getting to work with a lot of the guys that they have at Black Rifle now that are just, I I'm I'm humbled to even have the ability to have share the stage or even be in their fucking presence. And, you know, these people, you know, you the more you but I I've noticed like it doesn't matter who you are, you're gonna put you put yourself out there and you now just put a bullseye on your head, and everyone's gonna want to air out your dirty laundry, everyone's gonna want to air out all your shit, everyone's gonna wanna, and the best thing you can do is just be as clear, like, oh Byron cheated on his first wife, and he had all the yeah, you're right. I sure as fuck did. Like, yeah, it's it's public, it's public information. You know, it's just like who cares? Like, I care about what you're doing today. Are you doing still good things? Are you, did you change your ways? You know, that's what we need to look at. And that doesn't mean that I won't make a mistake after this podcast, you know, like, and I may have to go and be like, hey, I fucked up, you know, and I've had to do it to people, you know, where I'm like, hey man, I made a mistake. I made an assumption and I said something that you need to be aware of, and I did say those things, you know, total accountability for ourselves because we don't want to do that. Because what does that do? That hurts our ego. And it's it's bad, you know, and and in skydiving, I'm coming back into an industry with a lot, I already have a lot of jumps, and I'm no sky god, I'm average. I mean, some people depends on what you're comparing me to. It's a very relative term. You compare me to some of these other legends in skydiving, and I'm sky trash. You compare me to another, you know, guy in that's at the same level as me. He may be the same as me and should be better than me, but you know, you don't know. So you it's every time you gotta like, that's the thing about Skying. It's constantly humbling you because it's like, damn, I missed that formation. I should have been there. Um, I wasn't where I needed to be when I needed to be there when we were trying to do this, whatever it was. And so you're constantly on it, or I could have done this better, or helped the formation out better by being here. So you're constantly humbling yourself. Hopefully you're not doing that with students. Um, you know, and and and it does, but that even so that happens. And so you're like, man, I I I should have been better. And so I need to go do better. And it's, you know, just because you fail at something in life, guys and girls, doesn't mean that that's like you should quit. That just gives you something like, oh, my my needle has been pegged and here it is. Now I need to go and become better so that that needle can continue to move. You know, and hopefully you guys can hear my kaleidoscope of speaking because I'm all over the fucking map today.
SPEAKER_02That's perfect. That's what we do here at Security Hall, man. Dude, I can't thank you enough for joining
Where To Follow And Support Causes
SPEAKER_02us today. Um, before I let you go, let us know where we can follow you and where we can support you in your new endeavors.
SPEAKER_00Man, if you guys are really wanting to check out uh an awesome nonprofit that is doing great things right now. Um, and it's it's comprised of law enforcement, uh, military, and first responders. Go check out the Outer Heaven Foundation um at the was it www.outerheavenfoundation.org. Go donate there. Um, we should be posting up some events hopefully soon. Um that's number one, number two. Um I also encourage you guys to go check out all of the philanthropy that Black Rifle is doing, um, and check out who Black Rifle is supporting. Uh nonprofits are vetted in Black Rifle. And so if you see Black Rifle vetting nonprofits, that means it's been vetted. Dean does a great job of that. Dean is in charge of, and Dean is one of my really good friends, and he's out there crushing nuts every day for Black Rifle with all of those different nonprofits. And so go if if this isn't your cup of tea, totally fucking fine. Go out there, check out Black Rifle, check out what they're doing, check out who they're supporting, and follow along because they're just absolutely they are genuinely a business that is out there for the first responders and for the veterans.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, man. And uh you couldn't find a better, better person to lead that front and Dean Gobel. Um, I owe a lot to that man, dude. I owe a lot to that man. And um, dude, you seriously, Dean, thank you for everything you do, brother. Like that is one person that like is if you're a friend of him, he is constantly championing you. Like, before like you don't even know it. And that dude's working miracles behind the scenes to help out just about everybody he's involved in. So shout out to you, Dean. Thank you for all that you do, brother. Uh, it's not lost on me of all the ways you've blessed me in this endeavor.
SPEAKER_00Um doesn't go unseen, buddy.
SPEAKER_02Never does. Yeah, that dude, he's gonna be he's gonna be huge, dude. In in the coming years, watch out for Dean. Uh he's fucking crushing
Sponsors, Links, And Sign Off
SPEAKER_02it. Guys, do me a favor, pause the episode. You know what I'm doing here? New setup, new place back in Florida. Nothing on the walls yet, but uh later on tonight I'll be doing some work. And I've got a great outdoor setup going on, but um more on that later. Do me a favor right now, pause the episode, go to the episode description, click those links, send a friend request or two to Byron, and do me one more favor. Go to the episode description and click the links to all the different causes that my sponsors are doing, because uh that's how daddy pays the bills. So please support Warrior Rising and support the war the Special Forces Foundation. So I need to get paid. Byron, thank you for being here, and we'll see you all next time. Till then, you know what I always say? Take care of yourself, folks.
