Transcript
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Good morning everybody. Hope you had a good weekend. I hope you're ready for an awesome episode today. It's not very frequently that I'm able to sit down from somebody in my old career path from Naval Special Warfare. John Fussell is my guest today. Fuss is, I would say his nickname. And he is one of four SEALs in his family. Let's start with that. What kind of overachieving is that right there? Right. Obviously somebody's family won the genetic lottery. I'm slightly jealous. I don't have three other brothers. My sister definitely would not have made it through training. So, you know, he's got that he has the correct lineup. I think it would be. And although people think the SEAL community is small, which I guess it is in comparison to the Navy in and of itself, a lot of people, you don't know a lot of people, especially if you're separated by coasts and honestly if you're separated by teams, you might have heard somebody's name or have some idea of who they are, but having never met them. And that's actually the case for Fuss and I, I never had the chance to really spend any time with him. I think I had heard of him or his name, but sitting down with him for a few hours was the longest I've ever been able to sit and discuss our shared experiences. He started off enlisted as well, went to OCS or Officer Candidate School, so he actually has higher education. So we, we kind of took the same path, but he did it through actually educating himself and having a degree. I do not. I barely graduated high school and found a program that would allow me to commission absent having a degree, which I think they've shut down. Hopefully not due to myself storied career. Ended up at a national mission level command in charge of operational and maneuvering elements. And one of the things I appreciate about the conversation with Fuss is that it's not, hey, this is everything that we did, right? This is the stuff that could be the series of books or TV shows or movies. Sometimes you just gotta eat the ugly stuff up front too. And I mean, I'll let him get into the story, but imagine being a part of or in charge of a hostage rescue mission or the person that you're going after dies because it's something that people in your maneuver element or the operational element you're in charge of because of something that they did. Imagine living with that, having to eat that. I'll let him talk about that. So I enjoyed the conversation. I love connecting with people from that old world. I've said it many times. I don't ever want to be completely defined by that. I know it's inescapable to some degree. I try to tread on it very lightly. But I also love sitting down and talking about people or talking with people about their experiences. And that's we're gonna do today episode 374 with John Fussell, aka fuss. Before we get into that, bear with me for a few seconds. 60 to 90 seconds. Let me pay the bills. Today's episode is brought to you by Montana Knife Co. If you've been a fan of the podcast or listened to some episodes, you might have heard the name Josh Smith. He is the founder of of Montana Knife Company. First time I ever met him, he was sitting right across the table from me and filled me in on not only who he is, but what Montana Knife Company was at the time and what he wanted to grow it into. That was a few years ago. And the company that he was talking about then was a fraction of the size of what they are growing into now. Josh is the youngest master bladesmith and the history of master bladesmiths. He started this company largely, I'm going to say his backyard wasn't like in the grass, but it was in a building in his backyard and has grown it too, and is continuing to grow it to something that's unbelievable. They're building a new headquarters right now and I don't want to misspeak, but I believe it's over 100,000 square feet. The walls are just being erected. The brand draws its roots from Montana, but it's a global brand and it's awesome to see him build infrastructure and then bring jobs into specifically where he lives in the Missoula area, just south of where I. Their products are unbelievable. You know, this right here, I've shown it many times. It's the mini Speedgoat for clarity. I'm not out Here getting into knife fights. I use this to open envelopes and boxes. All right, I'm not trying to get into knife fights, but in my fanny pack, I have a slightly larger version of this. He has a tactical series and one of the other things that they've done. I mean, look at this box. This thing is ridiculous. They're almost mirroring Apple in that experience of open and receiving the product that you get. Having said that, it's really hard to get their product. Demand is outstripping supply. Josh orders steel way into the future, so it's a little bit hard for them to forecast exactly what the demand is. But if you head over to montanaknifecompany.com, you're going to see a variety of things, from soft goods to lighters to fundraisers. They've raised almost $300,000 for the Heller High Water fundraiser, which is giving back to communities in North Carolina. I mean, they have a knife for everything. They have chef's knives, they have tactical knives, they have hunting knives, and everything in between. They're hard to get, though. They usually drop on Thursdays. But I suggest you sign up for their newsletter as well. And if you put your telephone number in, oftentimes what you'll get is an alert that they're doing a surprise drop. So there are ways to get these things, but it's not that easy. If you're able to get one and you're over@montanaknifecompany.com at some point in time in that checkout portal, they're going to ask you, how did you find Montana Knife Company? Do me a favor. Click on the cleared hot button or the Andy Stumpf button or both of those. If they show up and let me know or let them know that I sent you and that's it. So if you want to support a brand that is literally Montana homegrown and is exploding all over the world, MT knifecompany.com you won't regret it. These lines are absolutely fantastic.