Episode 405 - Eric Tansey - Police Officer and Author of Pig Latin

Summary

Cleared Hot – Episode 405: Eric Tansey – Police Officer and Author of Pig Latin

Release Date: September 1, 2025
Host: Andy Stumpf
Guest: Eric Tansey

Overview

In this energetic, unfiltered episode of Cleared Hot, Andy Stumpf welcomes Eric Tansey—former police officer, military veteran, author of the memoir Pig Latin, podcaster, sommelier, and all-around Renaissance man. The two dive into Tansey’s tumultuous, sometimes hilarious journey from a hyperactive Florida kid to military deployments, police work in Raleigh, brushes with authority, personal failures, growth, and ultimately, authorship and family life. This conversation is a candid exploration of leadership, humility, learning through mistakes, and mental health—punctuated by wild stories, dark humor, and a dose of jiu-jitsu philosophy.

---

Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. ADHD: From Struggle to Superpower

[04:46] – [17:07]

• Tansey’s childhood and early struggles with ADHD: Stigmatized in the ’90s as a "hyperactive child," Tansey was marked as a problem and recommended Ritalin, which he fiercely resisted.
  • “My dad was a very strict father, too. And he was like, excuse me. He's like, you listen to this doctor and you'll take whatever he tells you to take. And I was like, no, I will not.” —Eric Tansey [11:22]
• Life-changing diagnosis and formative rebellion: Getting labeled a “learning-disability” kid made him feel ostracized but also fueled his defiance and self-driven path.
• School experiences of misfit energy: Tales of acting out (escaping through A/C ducts, wearing mismatched socks to sabotage grades).
  • "That was my way of getting back at everybody for making me do something that I didn't want to do in the first place.” —Eric Tansey [15:22]
• Never taking the meds, learning to harness the chaos: Ultimately, the very qualities he was told to suppress made possible later growth and resilience.

---

2. Military Service: Falling Forward

[17:31] – [44:36]

• Surfer kid to the Army, prompted by the Iraq War: A spontaneous decision driven by guilt (“I felt like a pile of…”), with zero military family background.
  • “I was covered in fish guts and board shorts...I want to go to war. I don't want to be in the military, but I want to go to war.” —Eric Tansey [19:09]
• National Guard deployment to Afghanistan:
  • Unexpected insertion into a Green Beret unit, exposure to op tempo and embrace of "the pressure, the maturity—I do really well there."
• Special Forces selection process: Failing, retrying, misconceptions about leadership, and imposter syndrome.
  • "I’m absolutely 100 not a leader, but I'm a great pack mule. So I make it as the gray man…” [24:40]
• Candid mistakes and close-calls:
  • Marking ‘yes’ to “Have you ever considered being a mercenary?” on his psych eval due to fatigue.
  • Unintentionally landing in the “pack mule” lane: “We’re not looking for pack mules, we’re looking for leaders.” —Instructional Sergeant [32:41]
• Harsh lessons and one step forward, two steps back:
  • Failing out of key courses; the struggle to learn leadership; self-sabotage, probation, working honor guard, and eventual ETS (end of service).

---

3. Police Career: Baptism by Fire

[44:43] – [85:50]

• Becoming a cop after failing at wine sales.
  • “If you struggle at wine sales, definitely just become a cop. That’s just a total normal trajectory.” —Andy Stumpf [48:55]
• Training Academy: Lived experience vs. perception:
  • Labeled as “SF” and saddled with (misplaced) expectations, facing extra scrutiny and pressure.
• First night on duty: Thrown into chaos:
  • A legendary wild story involving a 400-lb woman, nudity, lewd acts, and a presidential portrait smashed over his head.
  • “My president’s black!” —Woman as she attacks Tansey with Obama’s portrait [62:20]
• Breaking into a tough squad (“Flex Team”) and repeated rookie mishaps:
  • Mishandling warrant arrests, earning the nickname “Leroy Jenkins,” and almost getting bounced from the squad.
• Hitting rock bottom—the value of mentorship:
  • K9 officer and a respected peer take Tansey under their wing after he finally admits needing help.
  • “How many times did you ask for help before this?” —Andy Stumpf [75:40]
• Learning real leadership and redemption:
  • How Tansey changed his ways, improved, and later trained rookies with empathy.

---

4. Pig Latin: Writing the Book

[77:37] – [120:11]

• Origins of Pig Latin:
  • Embarrassed by terrible report writing, shamed into improving, then mandated to “write for practice.” Began channeling traumatic and absurd police incidents into comedic stories.
• Accidentally making legal trouble:
  • Having his wife “edit” his police reports, which leads to an internal investigation.
  • “They had to go figure out which ones were going to trial. It was a big deal.” —Eric Tansey [83:08]
• Coping with trauma through humor and reflection:
  • Writing funny stories as therapy amid intense on-the-job violence and stress.
• Becoming Officer of the Year for saving a deaf girl in crisis:
  • “The only person that knew sign language anywhere is me… And so they call me and now I have to go work...” [89:27]
  • Resentful of the public parade/politicization of the incident: “If you really care about somebody, put away the ratings, put away how good this looks…let this die.” [90:15]
• Debate on public recognition and humility:
  • Tansey expresses discomfort with awards; Andy reframes the issue through the analogy of jiu-jitsu promotions and leadership responsibility.
  • “It is your leadership’s role to determine for you when you are ready for your belt. Should you be able to turn that belt down?” —Andy Stumpf [96:01]
• Meandering path to publishing:
  • Pandemic, personal and financial hardship, losing police job after opening distillery (deemed “unbecoming of an officer”).
  • Supported by the podcasting world; Pig Latin picked up by Simon & Schuster thanks to industry connections and positive reception from his wife and mentor, Nick Palmisciano.

---

5. Post-Police Life: Stand-Up, Family & Jiu-Jitsu

[120:11] – [154:05]

• Dabbling in wine and spirits:
  • Obtained sommelier certifications; opens a distillery; gets controversially fired from policing.
• Podcasting and comedy:
  • Shot into the media world by Drinking Bros, Failure to Stop, and continues building a voice as a cop-turned-comic and story-teller.
• Family as Redemption:
  • Real pride and growth are found in raising five creative, skateboarding, screen-free kids.
  • “Mainly, having five kids, it's really all about my kids. They're awesome, man. I am the luckiest guy in the world because I mean they just do crazy stuff...” —Eric Tansey [134:51]
• Jiu-Jitsu as transformation:
  • From never training, to starting reluctantly through We Defy Foundation scholarship, to complete buy-in and advocacy for cops to grapple.
  • “I was always good at making good decisions... But Jiu Jitsu does for you is going to change all of that. You're not gonna... when you know and you're confident... you're going to be a much better cop.” [154:28]
  • Warning about both the benefits and the necessity of responsible training:
    • “If you’re a cop man and you’re not training Jiu Jitsu… you’re going to be a better shooter, a better husband, frankly.” —Eric Tansey [145:23]
  • Discussed the risk of weaponizing predators if jiu-jitsu is learned for the wrong reasons.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On ADHD and early rebellion:
  • “I just felt like that was my way of getting back at everybody for making me do something that I didn't want to do in the first place. And I just. It was my way of control.” [15:22]
• On Special Forces selection:
  • Host: “What is that, the SFAS?” Tansey: “Yes. Special Forces Assessment and Selection. But before that, you know, again—didn't have a background in small unit tactics. ... I'm absolutely 100 not a leader, but I'm a great pack mule.” [24:40]
• On his first night as a cop:
  • “There's this 400-pound lady, like, I'm—dude, I'm not joking. ... She gets up on her toes and starts like ... rocking back and forth ... then takes her teeth out and sets them down on the railing ... She starts shimming her sundress up her body. ... Now she's naked—‘Now you gonna arrest me?’” [60:01]
  • “My president’s black!” —Woman, after smashing a picture frame of President Obama over Tansey’s head [62:20]
• On learning leadership the hard way:
  • “We're not looking for pack mules. We're looking for leaders. And every time we try to put you in a leadership position, you passed it off.” —Instructional Sergeant [32:41]
• On writing the book:
  • “My wife read it and she said it was the funniest thing she'd ever read. ... There's a police report for every story. And I wrote them in the moment, not thinking they would ever read books, so there's nothing [made up].” [119:11]
• On awards & humility:
  • “I was the only one, the only officer that didn't give a speech either. ... It's kind of like my ‘F-you’ to them.” [85:50]
  • Host: “It's your leadership's role to determine for you when you are ready for your belt, should you be able to turn that belt down?” [96:08]

---

Important Timestamps & Segments

• ADHD diagnosis and impact: [05:14]–[16:23]
• Special Forces assessment, psych mishaps: [24:36]–[30:02]
• Police academy vs. street reality: [51:01]–[58:05]
• “Leroy Jenkins” warrant raid gone wrong: [67:08]–[71:30]
• Book writing journey & getting fired for distillery: [82:54]–[114:12]
• Officer of the Year incident – Deaf girl crisis: [88:42]–[98:02]
• Lessons from fatherhood and skateboarding kids: [121:51]–[123:06]
• Jiu-Jitsu and law enforcement: [143:44]–[154:15]

---

Tone & Language

• Candid, self-deprecating, and unvarnished: Tansey’s language is direct; the episode is filled with gallows humor, dark comedy, and brutally honest self-assessment.
• Philosophical and reflective: Many stories are followed by the lessons learned, often with both hosts pointing out broader lessons about humility, improvement, and leadership.
• Occasional dark and explicit humor: Especially when recounting wild police incidents and academy stories.

---

Where to Find Eric Tansey

• Instagram: @EricTanseyOfficial — “It’s very silly. It’s very stupid.”
• Book: Pig Latin available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Hudson’s Books, and everywhere books are sold.

---

Final Thoughts

Eric Tansey’s story is one of relentless misadventure, hard-won growth, and the evolving pursuit of meaning after chaotic early years in police and military life. He embodies the lesson that leadership, humility, and excellence are forged through repeated failures, honest self-assessment, and the willingness to ask for help. Listeners will find themselves alternately laughing, cringing, and reflecting—and come away with a deeper understanding of why the best journeys aren’t linear.

Transcript

[Eric Tansey]

Ever notice how ads always pop up at the worst moments when the killer's.

[Host]

Identity is about to be revealed during.

[Eric Tansey]

That perfect meditation flow? On Amazon Music, we believe in keeping you in the moment. That's why we've got millions of ad free podcast episodes, so you can stay completely immersed in every story, every reveal, every breath. Download the Amazon music app and start listening to your favorite podcasts. Ad free included with Prime. Okay, I got the red smoke. Sun run north or south? West of the smoke, west of the smoke. Okay, copy west of the smoke.

[Host]

I'm looking at danger close now.

[Eric Tansey]

Come on with it, baby. Give it to me. I need it. You're cleared hot. Copy cleared hot.

[Host]

Was it weird sitting there listening to Austin and I, Austin Von, lick the hole yesterday as we did a. I've never sat through and watched somebody do a podcast.

[Eric Tansey]

I don't think I have either, because.

[Host]

It'S easy to sit across and have a conversation. You were just. I mean, literally, I guess, a fly on the wall.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Or can I say cuck? Yeah, I was like. I was like a podcast cuck.

[Host]

Well, what's Michael then?

[Eric Tansey]

A producer. Like the videographer or. The videographer's not really a cuck in that sense. Pornographer. Huh? Pornographer. Pornographer.

[Host]

No, hold on. Let's get the rules straight. Okay, so clearly Austin and I were the stars. So we. We were the talent, if you will. Performers.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

So you guys were behind the camera having. Oh, let's open with this. I don't know how gay porns are filmed. I assume there's a cameraman. Is this you? Well, producer.

[Eric Tansey]

Gonna have to be. Yeah.

[Host]

Okay. Would you then be the director, though? Is there a director on porn sets?

[Eric Tansey]

Are there cucks on porn sites? Porn site sets? Porn sets.

[Host]

I feel like there are people that are there.

[Eric Tansey]

Just watching is just voyeurism at that point. Like, if I'm not, I feel like.

[Host]

Nobody has a job there. Are there directors?

[Eric Tansey]

Sure, there's gotta be. Who is the fluffer in this instance?

[Host]

Well, we don't have enough people for all of that. If we had to dual hat somebody, that would be you, obviously.

[Eric Tansey]

Of course.

[Host]

Yeah. Who else is it gonna be?

[Eric Tansey]

I've got the most experience.

[Host]

Yeah. And appetite, if you will. You know what I mean?

[Eric Tansey]

Sure.

[Host]

It's not my fault you eat hot dogs without chewing. I can't help you. You eat corn the long way.

[Eric Tansey]

It's a talent. You just try it sometimes.

[Host]

Yeah. You ever eat a Snickers bar upside down? Just for the texture. Today's episode is Brought to you by Montana Knife Company. If you're a fan of the podcast or a listener to the podcast, you're going to know this brand. They've been one of the main sponsors this year. I've had Josh Smith on their founder a few times. A barand that was born and raised here in Montana. They're getting ready to open up a huge facility just west of Missoula. They're have a black rifle coffee at that front as well. A consumer experience. You can go see how knives are made and get an amazing cup of coffee. And you know what I'm going to talk about today. Hunting season's coming up and if you're a hunter, you know what I'm talking about. You need to have the tools for whatever animal it may be that you're chasing there. You're gonna have stuff for, you know, processing animals, caping animals, all of those things. So put that order in now. They also have the blaze orange series. That doesn't count for your orange when it comes to hunting. But I tell you what, it makes it a lot easier to keep track of your knife. What else? They have culinary knives, tactical knives, bushcrafting knife. I mean, it's pretty crazy. If you head over to montanaknifecompany.com you're gonna see what they have to offer. Not all of them are in stock. These knives go incredibly quickly. I suggest signing up for their text and email list. Thursdays and Saturdays are when they release these bad boys and they go quickly. I'd suggest going on there and making a small purchase so their credit card information is on file or whatever payment processing you would prefer to use. That way it makes it a lot quicker. I've had knives stolen out of my shopping cart. That's right, stolen. Theft. And I guess that's a good thing because it means the demand is incredibly high. Montanaknifecompany.com calm. They're going to ask you where you heard about the brand. Do me a favor and tell them either myself or cleared hot back to the show. You don't even know what I'm talking about. Think about that'll come to you later.

[Eric Tansey]

I do know what you're talking about. That was. It was. It was great because I've known Austin for a little while now and I've worked with him in a couple of different settings. So it was, like, actually cool to hear his story, I guess, because, like, that's not the conversations that he and I have. So it was cool to, like, learn because, like, for Example, I've always given him a hard time about his ADHD medicine.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

Because I think you're. I think ADHD is a superpower. And then when you start taking the medicine. But then after I listened to him articulated to you, I was like, man.

[Host]

Maybe, you know, I think like many things, there's a dial, I think depending on where you're at on the dial, maybe the lower end where you can manage it and control it. It could be a superpower, man. At the top end, where it's controlling and managing you. I don't know if that would be a superpower.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. I mean, I love my adhd. Do you actually have only. Oh, yes. Yeah.

[Host]

Have you been diagnosed by a doctor?

[Eric Tansey]

Oh, yeah.

[Host]

Okay.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. It's actually a really. It was probably the beginning of. Of my life was the moment I got. I was in seventh grade and then that's like pretty much changed my life. It changed the entire trajectory of my entire life. ADHD has been the biggest. Because you knew. No. Well, to get into that story. I don't think I've ever really told that story. But I was. ADHD was brand new because it was in the 90s. Okay. And so people hadn't really heard the term.

[Host]

What did they call it before that?

[Eric Tansey]

Just a hyperactive child. A hyper child, I would guess.

[Host]

And then what would they do for that?

[Eric Tansey]

Spank you or hit you in the hand with a ruler?

[Host]

No, that's just Catholic school of which I didn't go to. So I don't know if that went.

[Eric Tansey]

To public school and they had capital punishment there.

[Host]

They hit you with the ruler.

[Eric Tansey]

Isn't capital spank the. I don't know, but I thought they called it capital punishment. What were they?

[Host]

I believe capital punishment is if you're convicted. You should have known this. As a cop.

[Eric Tansey]

You're about to learn capital punishment. A cop meets. Is it. Is. Is there capital punishment in public schools.

[Host]

Or is that corporal punishment or.

[Eric Tansey]

That could be it, yeah. Capital punishment is the killing of a person. What is that? State sanctioned killing of a person. Okay, so it might be.

[Host]

Middle school's a little early for that. Here's a question.

[Eric Tansey]

We did get spanking.

[Host]

So let's say you identified Jeffrey Dahmer as a middle schooler. At what point do you step in?

[Eric Tansey]

Because I like, that's got almost like Minority Report style. Like you can't really like kind of.

[Host]

But like, maybe you can travel back in time. I don't know if you could. I mean, I would go back and tell myself to probably Invest in Bitcoin. I don't think I'd be tracking down Jeffrey Dahmer, but if you could and you went back and I. Yeah. There's no right or wrong to this. These are just fun thought exercises. What do you do? Do you try to change the kid? Do you try to interrupt whatever it was that turned him into that? Did he come out of the box broken? Or do you just meet him in the hallway one day and look?

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, I think I would. I mean, I. I. For me, I think I would try the. I would try to change him. Like, I would try to change him.

[Host]

You only have 24 hours.

[Eric Tansey]

If I knew. Oh, you only have 24 hours. Kill him.

[Host]

Do you sit him down, though, and.

[Eric Tansey]

Say, hey, no, just make it quick. Get it over with.

[Host]

No, me, like, explain to him what he turned into, maybe. Because maybe they already know it's a problem.

[Eric Tansey]

He's already gonna be traumatic enough. He's dying. He's about to die.

[Host]

Like, you have to tell him that part. You don't. You can surprise him with that. You don't have to tell him that part.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, but then he's gonna be like, man, I'm a huge piece of shit. And then all of a sudden, shank. And then he gets to die a piece of shit. But he wasn't a piece of shit yet. So it's like double punishment. That's like too much punishment.

[Host]

Or was he. And he just hadn't been able to express it. I am fascinated. I mean, so he ended up killing and eating people.

[Eric Tansey]

Right. But didn't he mess with animals prior to that? Possibly of the.

[Host]

You know, there is kind of like that trifecta of behaviors. I think he exhibited some. But then some people do that, and they don't turn into serial killers that just.

[Eric Tansey]

But I mean, like, it would be easier to kill him knowing that he just, like, tortured an animal.

[Host]

Yeah, I just wonder. I'm fascinated by that type of person. Do they come out of the box broken?

[Eric Tansey]

It's weird when you meet people that have, like, murdered somebody. Yeah, it's. It's. It's. It's weird, like, because they all have a story. They all got there somehow. And, you know, it's not what you think sometimes. Like, sometimes you think that, like, they're just a bad person. I mean, and they are. But, like, people are bad when they. When. You know, a lot of the murderers that I've talked to, matter of fact, one of them in the book, I drove around and help him, got rid. Get rid of the evidence on accident. I didn't know he just murdered somebody, but he got in my cop car with a gun and we drove around and got rid of the gun and a cell phone.

[Host]

Did you know you were getting rid of it?

[Eric Tansey]

Nope.

[Host]

Okay, how we phrase that?

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, it's in the book. It's a very funny story. I mean, it's unfortunate. It's a. It's an unfortunate story, but that's like my whole. That's my whole life too. But anyway. Yeah, it's usually not what you think, like when you, you know, they usually are really calm and. And polite and respectful. And some of them just had a really bad day.

[Host]

I get it. There are legitimately evil people. And I have known some people that I consider to be very good who make a mistake. They don't intentionally do something bad. And I also know people who I thought were to be very good, who had a side of them I didn't know and did do things that were bad. And then I know some people who probably couldn't find it in themselves to do something evil. And I think that lives in all of us to a degree. And I don't think there's a perfect person out there. Adhd, though. Go back to that. I'm curious how it was such a formative moment in your life.

[Eric Tansey]

So I was in seventh grade, and at that point, so to really understand the story, I lived near the river. And where I grew up in St. Augustine, Florida, there was the beach. That's where the rich kids lived.

[Host]

Yep.

[Eric Tansey]

Then there was the Intercoastal, which is where the like upper middle class lived. And then there was the river where the lower middle class live. And then across the river is where all the peasants lived. But there wasn't a lot of lower middle class on my side of the river. So I was lumped into the school with all the upper middle class and middle class and the upper class. So I didn't have a lot of friends because I lived basically in the swamp really, let's face it. So I. And it was too far to drive to have friends. So I grew up very, like, sheltered, you know, my mom was my best friend type deal. And then when I got to middle school, I found surfing. I found a guy who was really into serving a friend and he got me into surfing. And so in sixth grade, all I could think about was surfing. I could not sit in school and not think like, oh my God, what are the waves doing? And this is pre Internet. Yeah. So like there was a thing called the surf Report. And you would, like, call it. And they would be like, you know, do they. The waves are too 3ft.

[Host]

I actually remember the surf report. That's a blast from the past.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. And so it was dope. So, like, all I could think about was like, oh, my gosh, the winds are, like, switching offshore right now. Like, I should be out there. And I was in, like, sixth grade, so I didn't really even have friends in middle school because nobody really, like, surfed in my middle school. So then I get to seventh grade, and all of a sudden they're like, you're not going to go to seventh grade with the rest of the kids. You're going to go to this new program for kids with learning disabilities. And I didn't see myself as having a learning disability. I just. I didn't see myself as anything. I just was like, loved life, loved my mom, love surfing. That was it. And so now I'm stuck in this room with, like, bad kids, like, gnarly bad kids. Kids that are, like, 15 years old because they've failed so many times, and they just. They're unruly and they're disrespectful. And I'm just like, whoa, if I ever did that, my dad would murder me. Now I'm stuck in this class with these guys, and I get really, really quiet and just stay quiet, don't really talk or anything like that. And I end up. The guidance counselor calls me in. Never seen a guidance counselor before in my life. They're like, what's up? What's going on with you? And I'm like, I don't know, like, what's going on with me? And so they recommended me. I go to a psychologist, and I don't know why I'm in seventh grade. I really didn't. I wasn't able to. To look inside and say, like, what am I doing wrong? Or what? I wasn't supposed to be able to. It's in seventh grade, right? So I end up in this. This psychologist. And. And I'm really upset and embarrassed that I have to go. And they're like, we're going to give you this Ritalin now. I'd never heard of Ritalin. I've never heard of prescription drugs again. My parents were lower middle class. My dad was a mailman. My mom cleaned houses for a living. I wasn't all that educated in politics or anything like that growing up. And so. But they offer me this drug called Ritalin, and it's going to alter my mind. And I don't I think that was the exact words, if I can remember. But something that he said, it didn't sit right. And I immediately said, no, I'm not doing that. My dad was like, my dad's a very strict father, too. And he was like, excuse me. He's like, you listen to this doctor and you'll take whatever he tells you to take. And I was like, no, I will not. I will not do it. And it got to the point where my dad was, like, forcing me to take this medicine. I was sticking my finger down my throat. Didn't know about bulim. Bulimia or whatever, that anorexia. I don't know which one, but like. Like, instinctually, I knew somehow to put my hand down my throat and regurgitate this drug, anything I could do to not take it. And it changed my life because now I became this kid that was like, yo, I'm not. I'm not doing what you say. So we end up going to. From the psychologist to a psychiatrist, because it's getting out of hand. Like, I'm. Now I'm like, I hate my parents at this point. And now I'm really like, I'm going out to the woods. I read a book called Daryl Young. The author was Daryl Young. It was the first book I ever read. And it was. Or that I remember reading. And it was a element of surprise, okay? And it was a Navy SEAL book. I never heard of Navy SEALs or anything. And so I'm reading this book, and so now I want to go out in the woods and read. That's all I want to do, is just read Navy SEAL books. And so I go out to the woods and reading these Navy SEAL books and thinking, there's no way I could ever be that, you know? But I got immersed into the. The reading, and this teacher saw me with the book, and she opened it up, and of course, there's this, you know, the Navy SEAL lingo. If I shot the guy in the face or something crazy, you know, and so that was, you know. So they make me go to a psychiatrist now, because now they're like, there might be something wrong with him. He's reading these devil books, you know, which were not devil books. They were maybe SEAL books. And the psychiatrist ends up having a conversation with me. And then he says, let's make a deal. My dad's sitting there and he says, if you take. If you. Not this nine weeks, because it's almost over, but the following nine weeks, if you can make all Cs on a report card. I will not make you. Or. Or then. Then we won't. We won't make you take the drug at all. And if you. But if you make a D or an F on your report card, you're going to try the next nine week with the drugs and see if it helps you. And then I was like, well, if I want to, I'll make AB on. I'll make straight A's. My dad was like, well, if you did that, I'd buy you that dirt bike that you really want. And this is seventh grade.

[Host]

And I was like, be careful what you say, dad.

[Eric Tansey]

Game on. So I make all A's in 1B on my report card. I get the. I get the dirt bike. And I was so mad that I was put in that situation that I said to my father, I don't. I really was thankful for the dirt bike. But I said, thank you for the dirt bike. Of course. Like, I was crying. It was, like, beautiful moment. But I will never, ever make another ARB the rest of my life. And from. From seventh grade on, I would wear two different socks to PE to get five points off every day to. To get a D. And I have a report card. Why? I just felt like that was my way of getting back at everybody for making me do something that I didn't want to do in the first place. And I just. It was my way of control.

[Host]

But didn't you end up not doing it?

[Eric Tansey]

What?

[Host]

You didn't take the meds, right?

[Eric Tansey]

No, I never did.

[Host]

So what did they make you do?

[Eric Tansey]

Nothing. I got the dirt bike, and I made. I. I made.

[Host]

So what are you getting them? What are you paying them back for?

[Eric Tansey]

I was in seventh grade, man. I was, like, 13. Of course. It's like a.

[Host]

All right, I'm just checking. Make sure I didn't miss a part of the story.

[Eric Tansey]

Like, I just. I don't know. Like, I felt like the whole world. And I was in a. A small town, so I felt like everybody was judging me and thought that I was a bad kid, and I wasn't. I never really got in any trouble. And then I started to act out in high school in funny ways. Like, the. The window was open one time, and I walked out onto the roof, and all the teachers were like, oh, my God. And they called the fire department, and they were like, sit down. Don't get. You know, I was like, what? I'm just gonna come back. And they're like, please sit down. You know, and, you know, just stupid stuff like that. There was an air conditioned vent left open. And so there was a, like a fire ladder up there in the TV production room. So I climbed up and got in the air conditioned ducks and I would go through the classrooms and like try to knock on the little vents and get the kids to look up. And I got in a lot of trouble for that.

[Host]

Okay.

[Eric Tansey]

Just dumb stuff that I did and. But yeah, I, you know, my wife is extremely smart and she, my mom gave me a hope box when I turned 30, which is like all these memorabilias that she collected growing up. And on my 30th birthday she gave it to me. One of the things was a report card and had straight Ds. And my wife was like, is this a joke? Like what is this? And I said, oh, that was that report. This was the report card that I told them. I made the straight A's and one B. And now I'm gonna make straight tease just to be an. And you know, the teacher was really difficult. My seventh grade teacher. That's why I named my media company C minus Media because she said I would be nothing but a C minus student the rest of my life. And it was just a really traumatic, it was a really traumatic child. It wasn't traumatic, it was traumatic for me. And, and I was just.

[Host]

Who talks to kids like that as a teacher? Like, come on, be better.

[Eric Tansey]

I found out that she's still doing it, which is funny because I wrote this book now and so a lot of the people that, that were teachers and stuff back where I lived have actually reached out to me and I, I asked out of curiosity. I was like, hey, is this. She's still around. She's like, oh yeah, her husband's a principal.

[Host]

And she said she probably doesn't remember saying that. That doesn't excuse the impact it has on. Yeah, she's saying it too.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, I mean it stuck with me for, for a very long time. And then I got out and then I graduated. And when I graduated high school, I had two best friends. We lived in an apartment on the beach in St. Augustina and I, we worked on a deep sea fishing boat. And it was perfect. So the girlfriend worked on the dock, me and the other dude worked on the boat. It was epic. And I mean, every day, 5:30 at the boat heading out to sea, getting back late, flame fish until 6 or 7pm, swimming off the end of the dock and you know, surfing whenever. And it was, it was perfect. I had really long hair and really just enjoyed. I got up to like second mate on the Boat and I'm driving to work one morning and I think I was 19 at the time or I was 18, just about to turn 19 and I'm driving to the boat and the War of Fallujah was on the radio. 5:30 in the morning. And then I never thought about being in the military. In seventh grade I read those books, but I never read any more. Yeah, of those same B sealed books. It was out of the question. I was super skinny, 114 pounds, you know, like just screw rawny little kid. Now I was probably like 130, but I was a small kid and I.

[Host]

Weighed 150 when I graduated. Buds.

[Eric Tansey]

150? Yeah, I was like 1. I didn't get 150 until I was like 24.

[Host]

6 foot, 150 when I graduated high school. I wish I still had my original driver's license.

[Eric Tansey]

Gosh, that's epic. I wish I had like a physique like that.

[Host]

It's. Well, it, it proves that you can't judge a book by its cover. I'm sure the instructors looked at me and were like, are you sure? Are you sure?

[Eric Tansey]

I am. So I. I don't know, like, I was driving though, and I heard this war and I instantly felt like a pile of. I was like, here I am, long hair, getting on this boat and my friends that I just graduated with are in this war and I don't know anything about it. And I just. That the whole day on the boat I was like, yo, I should be. I gotta do something. I gotta do my part. I gotta join the military. So I got off the boat that afternoon around like three and. And I went straight to the recruiting office and I was covered in like fish guts and board shorts. I didn't know what the National Guard was. I didn't know the difference between the army, Navy and the Coast Guard at that point. And I walk into this armory and because it's a recruiting station, I don't know if you've been in a National Guard armory, but it's just like a wide open space, you know. So I walk in there and like the echoes of the door, you know. And I'm just standing there in fish guts. And this guy, the soldier, you know, is like, what are you doing? I was like, I saw a sign outside says recruiting. I was like, I just wanna, just wanna join this. I want to get information. And he like looked at me like, because I mean, I was covered in guts and I probably stank. He sent me down the recruiter's office I went in there, I sat down and it was a female, her name was Nicole Torres. And I said, I wanna, I wanna go to war. I don't want to be in the military, but I want to go to war. So like, what's the shortest enlistment conundrum and how fast can I go? But like, I don't want to be like Garrison. I don't want to do the haircut forever. I don't. I just want to go do my part and then get out.

[Host]

She's going to first have to describe to you how the military works. Yeah, because that's not an option.

[Eric Tansey]

That's not an option. So she was like, well, we could do this two year enlistment and you know, you're not going to get any benefits, you're not going to get GI Bill or anything like this.

[Host]

And so this was through the National Guard.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, this was like in the National Guard army, man. I. Yeah, this has been like 2003.

[Host]

My understanding of the National Guard and the way the time accrues. I think I know what they do a little bit, but people's different pipelines in and how they'll hop back and forth on act. That is a foreign language to me.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, it still is to me in the story. Like, but she's like, well there's this thing. Let me show you a couple recruiting videos. And she showed me this video, this guy's on a dirt bike, you know, in a ghillie suit. And I'm like, what is that? She's like, oh, that's a cab scout. And I was like, are there those. And are they going to war? She was like, actually they're deploying, but I don't think we can get you basic training in AIT and then over there fast enough. And I was like, well, what if we could, you know, like, what would it take? And so she's like, well, we can try. And so it was like, literally that was like maybe on a Thursday, like that Monday I went and took the ASVAB passed. And then she was like, okay, like, listen, I can do a four year enlistment for you. You're gonna get the free college, you're gonna get a five thousand dollar bonus. And I was like, oh, well, yeah, let's do that. Like, give me the four years. That sounds better. So I do, I go to basic training and I do the AIT thing and then I deploy pretty much straight after that, a few months later, pretty much straight over to Afghanistan. And I get to Afghanistan the minute we get off of the plane in Afghanistan, they're like, U6, you're going over here. And it was. It was a town between Jalalabad and Kabul. It was a new place. And. And we didn't know anything about it. It wasn't brief to us beforehand because we all thought we were going to like Kandahar Bagram or something. Yeah. So we end up going to this little town, into this Ford operating base, and we get there, we spend like, I don't know, like two or three months. And then this Green Beret unit comes through and they're like, we need two shooters and we need the rest of you guys to go to this new fire base that we're going to establish between Gardez and Kabul. And so everybody packs up and my sergeant's like, yo, you're going to go with them as a gunner and that's going to be you. So I end up being on a gun truck with this Green Beret unit. And we, we go to this fire base, Camp Cobra. But they changed the name Camp Cobra to like the rule amount or something like that later on. But it was just this very small. I think there was like 30 total people. There wasn't even Hesco walls. It was like Constantino Wire and.

[Host]

Damn.

[Eric Tansey]

But we were never there. We were just out all the time. This was 2005 at this point. And so we, you know, I'm with these guys, I'm super quiet. They're all bearded out. I didn't know what they were. Like, I didn't know what a Green Beret was. And, you know, because special operation was pretty new, but to the public, like.

[Host]

There wasn't, I think, I mean, the green bed around since what, six?

[Eric Tansey]

No, no, no. Yes, they have. But like public. The public didn't.

[Host]

You're talking about public facing or public knowledge, right?

[Eric Tansey]

Public knowledge of it. Like if you would have said like SEAL Team 6, they would have been like, oh, is that like you would.

[Host]

Have got probably back in those days. Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

So it wasn't. It wasn't like, it is now where everybody knows what they are. So I'm just like looking at these guys. Of course, the mission planning is crazy. The op tempo is crazy, the knowledge is crazy, and I don't know anything. And so I'm just trying to stay super quiet. And one of the guys kind of takes a liking to me and I start doing PT with them and we run up these mountains and we do all these seven days. Take me on a lot of operations. We go into Taga Valley and do a Raid in there and come back and getting really, you know, in my opinion, it was an epic firefight. I don't. They probably do it all the time, but for me, it was pretty intense and. And we captured some guy and we had to drive him all the way to Bagram and put him on an airplane like that. And I just, you know, and I was up on the gun and they're like, hey, they're going to be coming for us dancing. Keep your eye open. You know what? I was just like, it was wild. So by the end of the deployment, I was like, I can't go back to that conventional cycling. Like, this is what I was born. This is what I was born to do. I love this, like, the pressure, the maturity. Like, I do really well there. So I came home and I went to the. I was like, I want to. I want to be in the Special Forces. So I went to selection and got selected.

[Host]

What is that, the SFAs?

[Eric Tansey]

Yes, Special Forces Assessment Selection. But before that, you know, again, didn't have a background in smallina tactics, didn't have Ranger school, didn't have, you know, all I had was basic training really, in ait and then what I learned in theater. But the way you do things in theater is not exactly the way that you do things in small tactics, per se. So I went to like a pre selection because again, the National Guard at the time was spending a lot of money sending people to. To selection and things like that. So they wanted to make sure that you would pass. That makes sense before you could get there. So you had to go to a pre selection. It was like two weeks long or something like that. And I, I failed the first one, so I had to wait like four months and then I did the next one and then I passed. And then they sent me to selection and so I, I get the selection. And selection was brutal, but I. But it was great. Like, I felt like I didn't have the knowledge that everybody had at selection, but, like, I'm really good carrying heavy things for a really long way and just keeping my mouth shut and just. I'm not a leader. I'm absolutely 100 not a leader, but like, I'm a great pack mule. So I kind of just make it as the Gray man. Three Selection. But I don't know you. I don't know how much you know about selection, but at the end of selection, or at least back then, you would, you would finish selection and they wouldn't tell you how long it was, whether it was like 15 days. Or 21 days. Your orders.

[Host]

It ends with Robin Sage, right?

[Eric Tansey]

No, selection is just like a three weeks. I guess it's just like a three week.

[Host]

Okay, tryout. Got you.

[Eric Tansey]

That's like. Yeah, that's the first phase. It's like really Robin stage at the very end of the Q course.

[Host]

The Q course got you. They're two different things.

[Eric Tansey]

Okay. Yeah, So I don't know how that is in the SEAL teams, but like is three weeks. No, Buds is the whole thing.

[Host]

Half a year.

[Eric Tansey]

Half a year. Okay. So.

[Host]

And then at the end of that, you go to your team, but en route you get the additional training.

[Eric Tansey]

Is there like a three week tryout or something to even go to buds?

[Host]

It has. Well, I can't speak to what there is now and I can't speak to what there is after. I went through, I got you went to boot camp. They showed you this grainy VHS video in like the fourth week. Hey, does anybody want to apply for this? You raise your hand, you go to the pool, you did a swim, push ups, pull up, sit ups, run. Then you had to go pick an A school that was commensurate with what would be accepted at buds. You go to the A school. I picked the shortest one on the list. And then you show up at buds. I don't remember there being a three week tryout, but I. There used to be a pre selection course. Like I said, there's been changes. When I went through, I just showed up after high school.

[Eric Tansey]

So to get into the Green Beret program, to even go to the school, you have to graduate selection.

[Host]

Okay.

[Eric Tansey]

And you have to get selected.

[Host]

I mean, that makes sense.

[Eric Tansey]

You don't even. It's not even if you finish it. You made it. It's like you can finish selection and not get selected for peer evals. Or maybe you sandbagged.

[Host]

No, for sure. I get the concept. Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

So I, I finished selection and I think, I think our selection was like 17 days or 15 days, which, you know, you think it's going to be 21, but you know, you do the track, which you don't know is the track, and then you end up walking forever and it's terrible and it's awful. And then you finish and then they're like, congratulations, you're done. You're like, oh my God. You know, and so you made it, whatever. But now you have to wait four or five days to find out if you got selected or not. So we're waiting around and they would, you know, every few hours, six to eight Hours they would take. You know, I think. I don't. I don't remember. I know there was like 100 of us. I got selected. I don't know how many finished selection. Maybe 150, 175. Right. And so they. All the 175. We'd be together, and they would say, like, u25 go over there and u25 go over there, and u25. And they wouldn't tell you why. And so, you know, you're looking around and you're like, oh, well, Andy's a stud. Like, he's badass. So if I'm in his group, like, I must have got. It's like. But then you see, like, somebody else, and you're like, oh, but he's kind of sandbagger. Why is he in our group? Maybe I. Maybe I did make it, you know, and then eight hours later, they would switch you again, you know, so it was like a big mind and. But one day they were like, this group go to, you know, this group go over there, and this group go to psych. And psych is like, you know, because when you're really tired at selection, like in day two or three, you had to fill out this psych eval. It's like 700 questions. You know, do you like flowers? It's all yes or no. Do you like kids? Do you like boys? Do you like girls? Do you have a good relationship with your mother? It's all yes or no. And I remember going down the list, I was extremely tired, and I remember the one question, it said, have you ever considered being a mercenary? And I remember looking at that, being like, some dumbass is going to write, yes, of course we've all thought about it. That's why we're here. But, like, you don't tell them that you've ever considered it. So, like, obviously the answer is no. So I wrote, no, I'll never forget that question. But anyway, I'm in the cycline, and I'm thinking, like, what did I do wrong on this psych eval? And I sit down in front of this psychiatrist, and I'm. I'm guessing, like, I didn't make it because the rumor was if you had, if you got pulled out for psych, you're done. And you're probably going to get a never to return as well.

[Host]

Oh, interesting.

[Eric Tansey]

Because they're not going to take crazy people. And I sit down with a psychiatrist, and she talks to me for, like, 30 minutes. She's like, how's your relationship with Your mom and your dad and all these things, you know, like, I love them all there. And then she leans forward, and she's like, well, so the reason we brought you in is because on your psychological eval, you checked yes. To consider being a mercenary. Dude, I think I was so tired and I thought about it so hard that I knew the answer was no.

[Host]

Which you bubbled yes, but I bubbled.

[Eric Tansey]

Yes, because I don't know why, but I knew in the moment the answer was no. I don't know why I didn't check no, but I knew. I was like. I looked at her and I was like, I mean, I don't. I mean, I'm not religious, but I feel like if God called me to go around the world and tell people the good. The good word, I would do that. And she was like, excuse me? I was like, I mean, I'm not. I'm not religious, but, like, I feel like if. If I had a calling from God to go to another country and preach the gospel, I would learn that, and I would that. And she goes, are you talking about a missionary? And I was like, oh, my God. What. What are you talking about? She's like a mercenary. It's a hired gun from the government. And I was like, oh, no. Like, I didn't even know what a mercenary. I just played so dumb. And so I got selected. I got selected. I was like, all right. She's like, he's not crazy. He's just stupid. We'll take him. And so I end up selected, and I start the Q course, and. And. And just as my luck has it, I go to SP tactics, which is the hardest phase. It's kind of like the Ranger school of the program. Nine weeks long. It's very, very hard, very difficult. I'm sure you guys use small antactics in the se. All the OP orders and, you know, just constant OP after mission. Mission, mission, mission, Mission planning. Again, not my forte. I'm a corporal at this time on E4, and everybody there is, like, Ranger qualified super studs. CrossFit was just coming into the mix because now it's like 2005 or six or something like that. Everybody's doing CrossFit. Like, everybody looks like out of the movie 300. I don't. I'm still pretty scrawny at that time. And everybody's got great war stories, right? Like, they were in 1st Armor Division and Ramadi, and, like, you know, everybody's got these crazy war stories. I didn't have any of that, so I was like, all right, well, in somebody tactics, here's what I'm doing. I'm going to be a pack meal. I'm going to work hard and just not do any of the leadership because that's not my. That's not what I'm good at. So I go through all you tactics and I peer really high. I think it was like third in the class. And you go to a murder board at the very end, if you make it. And the murder board. Do you have murder boards in the seals?

[Host]

Describe what you're talking about.

[Eric Tansey]

It'd be like your sergeant major attack. Like the instruction.

[Host]

They're discussing your performance.

[Eric Tansey]

Yes. They will, like, you stand there, like kind of parade rest or whatever, and they basically tell you what you did good in the course and then what you did really bad. That exists.

[Host]

And then if you do different phases. Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

If you pass or you fail.

[Host]

Yeah, that exists.

[Eric Tansey]

And they might ask you some questions to like, clarify if they're going to pass or fail you. It's kind of stressful. So I get in front of the murder board, but I'm thinking I did good. Like, I don't think there was anything. Like, I didn't up any missions. I didn't have any light, you know, Indies on lights. I didn't fall asleep on patrols or anything. Like, so, you know, I was pretty confident going in there.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

And so they were, you know, they say a bunch of nice things about me and everything. And they're like, you peered really high. You know, they said, you peered really high. I think he said. I think they said that peer like third highest in the class. I was like, oh, that's great. And the attackers, you know, why you appeared so high? And I was like, no, Sergeant, I don't. I don't. I don't know why. He goes, because you're a pack mule. That's why. And I was like, yeah, yeah. Like, that's what I was going for. Like, that's what I'm good at, you know? So I'm like, all right, cool. And he's like, we're not looking for pack meals. We're looking for leaders. And every time we try to put you in a leadership position, you passed it off. Why do you think we gave you so many opportunities just so you could hand it to somebody else? And I was like, well, I mean, they're just better than me, you know, they're more qualified to be the leader. And they were like, well, that's not what we're looking for here. I was like, all Right. And then the sergeant major, maybe it was the lieutenant colonel, whoever it was, was like, tnz, if we were to say you could come back and start from day one on Monday, would you show back up? And I was like, of course. Thinking in my brain there's no way I would because I'm beating.

[Host]

That's the correct answer to the question.

[Eric Tansey]

Right? But it's like, great, we'll see you on Monday. And so I was like. And I was like, well, which tent? I go, because there's a failure tent and there's a non failure tent. He's like, go to the non failure tent. So I go in there and of course everybody's like, yeah, dude, you made it. And I'm like, I didn't make it. I didn't make it. And they're like, of course you made it. You're here. And I was like, no, no. They like said, I got to start over next week. And they're like, dude, they're with you. They just want to see if you're going to quit. Like, they wouldn't have sent you here to this tent. So I'm like, oh, okay. He's like, dude, I bet you, like, on Sunday they're going to hit you up and you're going to be good, you know, so of course we go back to Bragg. Everybody goes out, celebrates at Logan's Roadhouse or whatever it was, you know, and so. But I'm like, I know I didn't make it. And so it's like really hard for me to, like, celebrate. And, you know, of course you've been out in the woods for so long and the steak didn't even taste good to me or anything. And Sunday came and there was. There was no word. And so I was like, I guess I'm going back to this thing. So I started the process of packing and getting the packing list and it was. It was so, man. I called my best friend who was a SWAT team down in Florida, and he was kind of my mentor when I was overseas, and he was much older than me. Like 12, 12 years older than me. And so, you know, I was like. I was like, basically crying. I was like, dude, I don't think I have it. I don't have another nine weeks. Like, physically, my body will not. I don't. If I jump out of the airplane with 110 pounds again, like, both my ankles are gonna explode. Like, I'm. I got shin splints. Like, I've got no toenails at this point. And, you know, I'VE like, basically would lace my boots, like one lace, and then I would skip like three holes and then lace it because my feet would swell and the laces were, like, cracking the little bones on top of my foot. It was just really painful. So, you know, I was like, dude, I don't. My body's not gonna be able to do this. And he was like, listen, you know, you're going and you're just gonna go. And you'll just go until those break. So there's no reason to sit here and cry on the phone about it. Like, just, you know that you're gonna wake up at 0400 and you're gonna get on that bus and that's it. That's all you can do. So shut the up and go get on the goddamn bus. Like, that's it. Like, there's no reason to even talk about it. So I was like, okay. And I didn't. And I showed back up. And they were like, their class leader, which is always a captain, is going to be Corporal Tansy. And they made me the class leader. The whole sut didn't give me a break. And I everything up because I was having to get jump masters, trying to organize, getting birds for jumps, getting demo, getting training rounds. I mean, anything and everything, plus briefing op orders. You know, at that time, we went from a tent city to these, like, brick buildings, and that had to be mopped and swept every night. And we had. They had skiffs that they had set up, like mock skiffs that you had to manage that and pat people down before they go in and out. Old stuff. And I'm in charge of all of it as a corporal. And I've got, you know, there were dudes there that are, you know, Purple heart veterans, real bronze star with valor veterans, like, real, real good guys, you know. And, I mean, I was it up and everybody was getting punished for it, you know, like, we were missing infills. So then you wouldn't get an infill platform. So they would just make you walk like nine miles in. And of course, everybody just hates me, you know, And I peer dog like, it wouldn't last, but it was pretty close. But I make it the whole nine weeks. And I think what saved me was the last final exercise. I was so fed up, and I knew that the final exercise, they wanted to see, like, motivation. And. And I was like, everybody, we're all going to paint our faces the same. And everybody was like, what? And I was like, everybody paint your face solid green and then have your Buddy, trace a handprint and we're going to be like, native. We're gonna be like savages. Oh, can I say that? Is that racist?

[Host]

I don't know.

[Eric Tansey]

Like old days.

[Host]

The Internet will decide.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, probably shouldn't have said that. But anyway, we're gonna go savage. That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go savage and we're gonna, you know, do these black handprints, and we're, you know, we're just gonna be animals. And because you're gonna lose the final exercise, I mean, it's set up for failure. But I was like, at least we'll be. We'll look badass and we'll be motivated. And matter of fact, I go to the murder board after the whole thing was over, and. And it did come up about the face paint. There was like, whose idea was it for the face paint on that final operation? I was like, I was mine. He's like, that's pretty. That's pretty badass. And I was like, oh, thank God. And they were like, well, you know, when you weren't in charge, you appeared really high. When you were in charge, you appeared really low. What do you have to say about it? And I was like, I have learned so much from even being here. Thank you. This is obviously not for me. I'm not cut out to do this, but, man, I wouldn't have traded the last, you know, however many months it was for any of it, so thank you, you know, and they were like, well, hold on, hold on. If we sent you to Seer, do you think you could dial it in, get somewhere in the middle? And I was like, yeah, yeah, of course. I was like, are you. Are you serious that I pass? And they're like, he passed. I was like, oh, my God. And then one guy was like, man, I think you're the first guy to be that excited to go to see her. I was like, I won't let you down, you know? And so I go to see her pass. Everything's great, go to all these other little courses and schools. I find myself in language school and at the time for Bragg didn't have on post housing. And so there was this thing and you can look it up. It's. It's. It's pretty. It was a big deal back then, but basically guys were renting apartments and then subletting the rooms out for full. Bah.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

And that's. I was paying it the full bh. I wasn't one of the guys renting the rooms out but they got caught up in an investigation. I just graduated Cyr. And the guys that were putting this thing together, they were all like E6s, you know, much higher ranked than I am. And I think one was a captain. And so I, they. The CID or whatever wanted to, you know, question me. And I wouldn't. I was like, I was focused on my responsibility. Like, dude, we have a check. Like, you wrote checks to these guys. Like, all we're asking you to do is like, initial here and tell us, you know, how long you were doing it. They already know. Like, they already have all the information. We didn't hide anything that we were doing. You know what I mean? So I was just refusing. I was like, I'm not gonna do that. And they're like, hey, you're not in trouble. Like, they are in trouble, but you have to cooperate or you're gonna be in trouble. And I was like, I'm not. So then I have to go to the sergeant Major of swic and he's like, what are you doing? You know, and he calls my unit, My unit calls me back and they're like, what the are you doing up there? And I was like, I'm not doing anything. Like, I paid my rent, I paid it on time, and I don't know what the. Those guys are doing. That ain't on me. And so since I wouldn't cooperate, I was removed from the course with a general letter of reprimand from the Training House with a return date. So I didn't get an ntr. I got sent back to a group on probation. So I got sent back to 20th group on probation. And that was really hard because I'm a corporal and I'm kind of like. The National Guard is not very happy about this whole situation. And they. They make me go to everything, man. They. They send me to waterborne operations. Little course that they put on is two weeks. It sucks. Like you're in a Zodiac boat in the swamps of Florida. It blows. I do that. They send me to RASP Ranger Indoctrination Program. I come back from that. But I don't go to Ranger school. And I got to go to. They sent me to California to link up. We did like, link up operations with a SEAL team, like doing link ups between an ODA and a SEAL team out in the field type scenarios. And basically just anything that came up, I had to do. And my team went to Nicaragua. I didn't go because I was supposed to have a Q course date. Back at language school, I go Back to language school. I, the slots were full. They send me back, I come back. By my time, I think they put me on funeral detail at that point. So now I'm working honor guard, which is also sucks because like I have the paratrooper boots and the red beret and so nobody else has that. And there's a lot of expectation when you're the only guy that has all the ribbons and the wings and the combat action badge and the boots. And so everybody thinks that you're like this really squared away guy, but you're really not. And so I become like the squad leader at the Sarasota National Cemetery. And you know, that was fun, it was great. But, but that was where I get to start practicing being a leader. I was like, oh wait, hold on, I got this. Like this is nothing. Like, you know, this is what we're going to be, what time we're going to be here. I get through it, I get a course back to the Q course. I go back up there and I don't have an updated physical, so not a problem. Do the physical on Wednesday, class starts on Monday, Thursday comes around and I do the HIV test, but it's a three day weekend and so the HIV test doesn't come back. But for swic, it wasn't a three day weekend. We started language school on Monday. In, in SWIC you. Which is not the Navy swig.

[Host]

Correct. It's a special warfare center.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. You can miss 5% of training with a waiver, but you can never miss the first day. I didn't get my, my HIV test back.

[Host]

Wouldn't it be just a classroom day anyway?

[Eric Tansey]

Essentially it was, it was, yeah, it was, it was, it was, it's language school and I've already did like six weeks of language school so it was like whatever. But they didn't have the, they didn't have my phys. My, my packet wasn't done. So I didn't get to go back. I didn't get to go to language school that time either. And it sucks because every time you' you're moving your whole ass up there with all your. Because you're going to be up there for months only to turn around and have to go right back home. It was just, it was tough. And I was married at the time to my high school sweetheart. She wasn't having any of this, so she was cheating on me and doing all this other stuff and so it was just wasn't working out. And I get back, she left me with my best friend. That I lived in that apartment with. And they end up having kids together and everything. And so now I got no friends. I'm not a Green Beret. And I end up going to this wedding, Meet my now wife, and she's like, yo, I would. I had a Green Beret wedding. I meet her. I was a groomsman and she was a bridesmaid. And so everybody there's a Green Beret but me, you know, so it's like a Hallmark movie. It's terrible.

[Host]

You're staring at each other across the aisle. Little winking.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, it's like.

[Host]

Also, you might want to re. Categorize the guy you described as your best friend who was banging your wife.

[Eric Tansey]

He's not my best friend.

[Host]

I was gonna say, I don't know if you ever.

[Eric Tansey]

At the time, was he. Well, I think at the point that.

[Host]

He starts porking your wife, he's no longer your best friend.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Yeah. Right. I mean, you can have. I've never talked to him again.

[Host]

You can have your own go. No go criteria. But for me, I'm gonna draw a lot in the sand on that.

[Eric Tansey]

It's been 20 years. It's been 20 years. So I. Yeah. So I meet this girl. She's beautiful. She's wonderful. She's from France. Totally the opposite of me. Really smart chick. We hit it off pretty well. I was. I was kind of just getting into wine at the time. And so she was kind of impressed by that. And my general. My very basic wine knowledge. And anyway, why I. She's flying back from France to St. Augustine for Christmas. I'm like, holy. I live in St. Augustine. That's where I'm gonna go for Christmas. So we meet up, whatever. But she's like, I'll never date a Green Beret. Like, that's just. I would never drate somebody in the army. Like, that's not the life I want. I want a lot.

[Host]

That life would mean.

[Eric Tansey]

Because her best friend married. Yeah.

[Host]

But they were just starting the journey together. Give it a few years to fall apart.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, but she knew. She knew that. She knew she'd. She wasn't gonna have it.

[Host]

So before you move on about. You know. Because I know that you made the decision to marry her. If you could go back in time and cooperate with the CID when they were asking you, would you cooperate?

[Eric Tansey]

I would have done everything different back then. Yes. Yes, I would have. I mean, I was wildly immature. Wildly immature. I had a very grandiose vision of my military life because I think I'd read those books and I thought, you know, I thought I was gonna, you know, I thought it was gonna be something much different than it was.

[Host]

And, and what'd you think it was gonna be?

[Eric Tansey]

Well, I mean, it was what I thought it was gonna be, but like, I just pictured myself as like being the Charlie Sheen character. The goofball did, like, the guy that just kind of like carries heavy and he's there when he, like we, like, I'm the guy that just shoots straight, does really good pt, but I don't need to be a part of, like, the mission planning and all that other stuff. And I thought I was. I thought I was gonna skate through.

[Host]

Yeah, but how are you ever going to get good at that stuff unless you practice? Leadership is a skill.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. I mean, I was a great shooter.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

You know, I actually qualified the highest in my unit. Not 20th group, but.

[Host]

I get it. But you kept telling everybody that you're not a leader, but how you ever going to become one unless you practice?

[Eric Tansey]

You know, I, I think at the time, Well, I know at the time I thought that you were born a leader or you were born a pack mule or a follower.

[Host]

Oh, definitely.

[Eric Tansey]

And you know, people tell you, you know, to be a good leader, you have to be a good follower. And I just, Just thought, well, like, I'm, I'm a great follower. Like, I'm really great. If you tell me to go bang rocks, I'll be the best rock banger you've ever met.

[Host]

Leaving out half that equation, though.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

I like, if you're gonna master the followership, it should be in the pursuit of being a good leader.

[Eric Tansey]

I get that now. But I was 24, you know what I'm saying? And like, it just didn't register to me. It just didn't. Like I said, I was wildly immature and I thought I could just snake by is just not having to take the responsibilities of being a leader and things up and being the bad guy. Like, that's what it was really. I didn't want to be the bad guy. I want to be the guy that everybody liked. I didn't, you know, in my mind, the leader was the guy that nobody likes. And it's an. You know, sometimes. Sometimes.

[Host]

Yeah, shitty leaders are all right. So fast forward.

[Eric Tansey]

So anyway, I, the, the funniest part of this whole story is that I ended up getting out like six months later. I, I figured out a way, like, to ets they want me to reenlist to go back to the Q course. And I was like, I'll reenlist But you have to guarantee me a slot back. Like, we're not guaranteeing shit. Yeah, we're not guaranteeing you shit. And I was like, okay, great. Well, when my ETSA comes up in August, I'm gonna bounce. So August comes for I bounce. The sergeant major calls me in, he yells at me, and he was like, you're gonna spend the rest of your life telling your, you know, your kids, your future kids that you're, you know, never a Green Beret. You're making the biggest. You're pissing away all this money. We spent all this investment on you. And I was just sat there and took it. And I was like, yes, sir, Major. And then I. I left, and that was the end of it. And so then I travel up to. I call her, and I'm like, yo, I'm out of the military. Where are you at? And she's like, oh, my gosh, that's crazy. I'm in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm starting my master's degree in NC State. And I was like, rad. You know, we talked for a little bit. So I was like, dude, I'm gonna surprise her in a few months. I'm gonna move up there and, like, chase this girl. So I wait a few months, I take to get my shit in order, and then I show up at her door in Raleigh. I got my own little apartment up there and everything. And I got myself settled, and I went and met up with her. And she's like, so I got some bad news. Like, I've got a boyfriend now. I was like, oh, my God. Like, do you like me or do you like him? Or, like, how does you know? She's like, I mean, if I would have known, maybe I was like, well, I'll take care of the boyfriend. She's like, well, what does that mean? I was like, I got this like, keep your phone on. So I drive to this guy's work. It was at a restaurant. And I like, can I talk with the general manager? You know, because that's what he was. And so I. He steps outside, and I just go, hey, man, listen. Like, I just got out of the military. I just moved up here. I know that you're. You're dating this girl. Two things can happen. Either I can cheat on her with, you know, sleep with her or date her, do whatever I want, and it'll be cheating on you, or you can just, like, break up with her, or she can break up with you. But, like, what I'm saying is, like, I'm here Now. And, like, that's gonna happen. He was like, what are you talking about? And I was like. So he calls her and she's like, so, I'm so sorry. He's like, this is the most up, up way to be broken up with on the planet.

[Host]

For sure.

[Eric Tansey]

They'd only been dating for like a month or something like that. So it wasn't that big of a deal to me. But, yeah, so then, yeah, so I got her and then we got married and. And so I needed a job and I thought I was gonna be a wine salesman. So I try to be a wine salesman. Shitty salesman, by the way. That's not gonna work. So I become a cop. And that's where life gets really up.

[Host]

I mean, yeah, if you just. If you struggle at wine sales, definitely just become a cop. That's just a total normal trajectory.

[Eric Tansey]

Like, what else did I have? So I become this cop and how much.

[Host]

We could go alphabetically, numerically. You could have been a mailman like your dad.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, well, sure. Yeah. I just felt like this was a. This is. This would be a good idea, a good fit for me. And. And it was. It was great.

[Host]

But it made you think that that would be. So what I'm getting is, is that you don't like to be told what to do, and then you want to go to a police academy problem being.

[Eric Tansey]

Told what to do.

[Host]

The story that you just told would be indicative of perhaps being resistant to rules or especially with, like, this.

[Eric Tansey]

I mean, am I going to live in an hoa? No, but if you told me to take your trash out right now, I would happily take your trash.

[Host]

Yeah, but that's not it. I'm talking, like, CID saying, hey, you need to work with us. You know, like, how about you take a step back and, you know, piss into the wind and see how wet you get?

[Eric Tansey]

Right?

[Host]

And I'm not saying it negatively because some people are inherently kind of like that. It's just wild that then you're going to go into an occupation where you enforce the rules on other.

[Eric Tansey]

Well, let's go back to the CID thing. Like, I didn't even know what CID was back then, basically. And I didn't really. Like, I thought it was all kind of a joke. Like, I was like, dude, I didn't do anything wrong. Like, these guys, like, who are they? They don't know me. Like, they don't know me. Like, I didn't do anything wrong.

[Host]

I get it.

[Eric Tansey]

Like, I didn't. I would. You know what I mean?

[Host]

Just, like, I'M gonna get.

[Eric Tansey]

I'm just trying to survive here for.

[Host]

The remainder of the year. And anti. Authority. I get it. There's nothing wrong with it.

[Eric Tansey]

But then I was stupid.

[Host]

But then you became the Authority.

[Eric Tansey]

I was stupid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I. And that. That's why I have this book, because I was a terrible cop, so. Which is. That's it. So I become a cop. And the academy was nuts because there's this, like, Navy SEAL that was actually kind of a stolen valor thing, but it hadn't come out yet that he was a stolen valor. Seal.

[Host]

Kim Tennity.

[Eric Tansey]

No. Was he a seal?

[Host]

I don't know if Kim was. I said Kim Tennity.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Hey, you'd say whatever you want. I don't even know the guy. But I. So this guy, he's. He says he's a SEAL and he's this. They're bigger than life. Yeah. Who knows?

[Host]

There is a chance that he was full of. But also a chance. Not. Who knows?

[Eric Tansey]

But so this big old black guy. And so, you know, you day one of any training, right, it's, you know, you line up, everybody yells at you the same. You know, I've been through this a million times. I'm good. So we stand out there and I'm like, dude, I'm gonna be the gray man at this course. It's going to be so easy for me. Like, this is gonna. Like, I'm gonna. I was born to do this. Like, let's go. Like, I'm. I've got the best tie on, the best suit. Like, I had it tailored. I look awesome, but not too awesome, but not. Yeah, but, like, I'm not too awesome, but I'm like, CIA awesome. You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, I'm gonna be the perfect gray guy. Like, I even picked out shoes that were, like, not shiny, but not dull. Like, I planned this out to a T. And I was like, dude, I'm gonna war game this whole academy, and this is going to be a breeze. And, like, all the things that I learned and I up, up at the. The course, I'm gonna dial it in here. I'm gonna be the leader. I'm gonna do all the things. First day lined up, you know, they're yelling, doing all the things. And the. The fake SEAL was like, big black guy, you know, he was like, which one of you? Where's my SF guy? Yeah, where's my green Beret? And I was like, oh, there's a green Beret in the class. That's cool. Like, I wonder if I know him. You know, Nobody raises their hand. He was like, oh, come on now. You don't think we've seen y' all TD214s? I know you in here. You better speak up. I know what you're trying to do. Where's my Green Beret at?

[Host]

Somebody needs to learn how to read a DD214.

[Eric Tansey]

He doesn't speak up. And I'm like, man, why won't this guy just say something? And all of a sudden, he gets right in my face. And he was like, why are you saying you're gonna hide from me, Cadet Tangy? And I was like, I'm not. I'm. I'm not a green bracer. And he's like, oh, oh. So now we're gonna play with words. Oh, yes, we're gonna play with words over here. You know, words matter. So he was like, drop down. And I was like, you know, so now I'm doing punishment. And so this guy calls me SF the whole class. And I'm telling everybody in the class, I'm not sf. I was in an SF unit, but I'm not sf you know, I'm like, you know, I'm being extremely transparent. And it was like, dude, the. You know, because I was on the honor guard, so now I'm in charge of the flag folding. Now I'm the class leader or squad leader, whatever, you know, it was just like, all. And I was everything up there, and it was awful. And I. I. I just had a rough. Like, I was getting smoked constantly because none of these guys are former military. They're all college kids, so they can't do anything right. So we're just getting smoked for everything. And of course, they're putting it on the military guys. There's, like, three of us, and they're like, why, you know, why can't you guys, you know, get these guys in line? And we need y' all to step up. It was just sucked, man. It was just like, extra. You go to the shooting course, and you're like, come on, sf, why don't you go first? Let's see what you. Yo, let's show know how to do it, you know? So then there's a lot of pressure because, like, you know, these guys have never shot before, and now you're forced to do it good. And, you know, the driving. You're the first one to go. And it was. It was. It was what it was, but it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. So then I get. Then I become a rookie and they move me to southeast district station right off the bat, which is the hardest district in the city. That's where all the gang members are.

[Host]

And this is in North Carolina still.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

Okay.

[Eric Tansey]

Yep. And so I, I show up and my training, you know, I'm. I get, it's. It starts at 6pm shift. I get there like 4:30. And because you have so much. You've got, you got your gun, your gun belt, you got all the belt keepers, which I think there was like six of them. Then you got your pepper spray and you got all your riot gear. You got shotgun, you've got road guard, vest, flashlight, flashlight, cone flare pieces, flare pieces, clipboard. All this stuff you had to have at the academy. So I'm thinking you got to have it. It for shift. So I've got. I mean, it's a lot. The packing list is a lot. So, yeah, I wake up at like three to like check it off as I'm putting everything into the car. Because I don't want to be the guy that shows up without a ship.

[Host]

Totally.

[Eric Tansey]

So I get there 4:30, just in case I forget something, I can run home, come back and get it. So 4:30. So I sit in the parking lot at 5:30, rolls around, I'm like, I'm gonna go into the, to the locker room and try to find my locker and stuff. Because shift starts at 6. I walk in the door and there's a cop, a real copy. And he's like, are you Eric? And I had never my first name. And you know, you know, for a while at that point. And I was like, I. I am Eric. And he was like, great, we have a call. Go get in the car. And I was like, oh. Like, I'm supposed to be in roll call at 6. So if I leave now and I don't make it a roll call, like I'm gonna be. Because in the academy, it's a big deal.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

So I was like, but I want to argue with this guy that I don't know. Plus, I don't. I've heard all the rookie hazing shits. I don't know if that's hazing or whatever. So I'm like, oh my God. Like, okay. So I go out there and it's a sea of cop cars, you know, And I don't know which ones. I'm just standing there. And I was like, hey, which cars? Ours. He's like, the one that's running, that's sitting right here.

[Host]

And I was like, so you're not ready to be a detective yet.

[Eric Tansey]

Right? Yeah. So I'll go to that car, and I put all my in there, and I go to the passenger seat, and he's like, you're driving at this point. I've never driven a cop car. Like, the ones that you drive in the academy are like these beater. Yeah, they're Crown Vicks. They, like, have nothing in them. So now I get into this thing. It's like a cockpit, radar, radio, multiple radios, AR15, shotgun, laptop, all the things, like lights everywhere. It was like being in the cockpit of, like, a C130 at that time, you know, at that ground victim. He was like an aircraft carrier that morning.

[Host]

I feel like it's largely irresponsible for them to not explain to you how to use that stuff before driving it as well.

[Eric Tansey]

Right.

[Host]

Like, what if you guys had actually needed the AR and you. Because I'm assuming they're locked.

[Eric Tansey]

Well, that would have been his ar, not mine.

[Host]

Yeah, but what if he's incapacitated?

[Eric Tansey]

Sure.

[Host]

You know what I mean? Like, maybe just give me a once over how to get the thing out of the rack.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, yeah. No, that didn't happen. Yeah, that didn't happen. So we. We get in the car, and I'm not. I'm not from Raleigh. I've only been in Raleigh for, like, at this point, maybe like seven months. And out of that seven months, I've been in the academy the whole time. So I've literally just gone back and forth. I don't know any of southeast Raleigh. Never been there in my life. So we get this call, and I'm like, hey, man, I don't know where I'm going. You're gonna have to help me. And he's like, I got you. So we go. It's like 10 minutes down the road, maybe not even that. We pull up this house, and there's this kid standing in the front yard. And now it's like 5:40 in the morning. And the kid comes to the driver's side where I'm sitting, and he was like, my mom is off of her meds and she needs help. And I look over at my training officer, and he's like, what are you looking at me for? He's like, go help her. And I was like, oh, yeah, okay, great. Like, I've been a cop now for like, 10 minutes. Sure. So I'm like, all right, man, where's your mom? And she's like, she's right up there. So I get out of the car and there's this 400 pound lady, like, I'm. Dude, I'm not joking. Like four, like huge, standing at the top of a set of stairs. Big old black lady with a sundress on. You know, the Jamaicans wear like a thing on their head. It was an American flag thing on her head. And I'm like. I walk up there and I steeple my fingers, you know, like. And I'm like, hi, ma', am, I'm Officer Tansey with the Raleigh Police Department. How can I be of service to you today? Because I think that's what I learned in the academy. And she just sits there and she goes. And she gets up on her toes and she starts like. Like a street fighter, like in the game street fighter. She starts rocking back and forth with her fist up, elbows in. And I'm just taking it all in. I'm like, damn. Like, that's good form. Actually. I was like, man, what are you doing? What's going on? Why'd you just come down here and talk to me? She looks me dead in the eyes, takes her teeth out, sets him down on the railing. And I'm like, what the. Like, I'm taser. I'm about to fight. I didn't have one.

[Host]

What?

[Eric Tansey]

Didn't have one yet.

[Host]

Pepper spray?

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. But I'm like, I don't know what to do. I'm like, dude, this bitch is gonna murder me. So I look back at my training officer and he's standing back by the car, like this hand on his face, like, just chill for clarity.

[Host]

I don't think he was living up to his role as a training officer at this point.

[Eric Tansey]

At this point? No.

[Host]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know this person at all. I've never been a cop. I feel actually really great. I'm assuming he's fantastic, but I'm assuming at this point he is like, maybe had a bad day and is just entertaining himself.

[Eric Tansey]

I think that he thought because everybody had called me SF and everybody was hyping me up to be something that I absolutely was not. And it didn't matter how hard I try to tell people. Like, I feel like when they told me I was going to Southeast District, I was like, okay. Like, I mean, I kind of. I wanted to go there, but like, now I feel like there. There's an expectation of me to be there. And maybe, I don't know, I don't want to put words in his mouth, but I look at him and then I look back and here she comes running down the Stairs right for me. And I'm like, so, like a bull in the arena, I. You know, like a matador. She's the bull. I move out of the way, and she runs by me out on the yard. And I'm like, what the frick is going on, dude? And so she's like. She lays down. She takes the flag off of her head, fluffs it out, lays it like a sheet out onto the ground, and she lays on it this American flag. Now, at this point, a school bus shows up. Homeboy goes and gets on the school bus and leaves. The most fucked up part of this story that sticks with me. And the reason why it's in the book, and I've never forgotten it is because I'm like, that kid just went to school all day and has no idea what happened next. Which is fucking crazy. Cause this is a crazy story. So she's laying on this flag, and she's like, you want to arrest me, big boy? And I'm like, no, not really. I don't really want to do that. Why don't you just talk to me? And so she gets up on one arm, huge, like, this is like a manatee. Reaches back, grabs a sundress, and starts shimming it up her body.

[Host]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Eric Tansey]

She frees these big giant boobs, gets it overhead. Now she's naked, and she's like, now you gonna arrest me?

[Host]

Just get in your car and drive off, dude.

[Eric Tansey]

Yes. Yeah, I know, right? I mean, now, like, fast forward five years, I would have done. I would have have just been like, yep.

[Host]

And what's the training officer doing at this point?

[Eric Tansey]

Still standing at the car, leaning up against, laughing? No, he's still got the. Still doing this, so. And at this point, another cop car had pulled up. And, like, now there's a conversation going. And I'm like, neither of them are assisting you anyway, and nor do they give a.

[Host]

Okay.

[Eric Tansey]

And so I'm like, yeah, I. I'm arresting you now. She's like. And I was like, for lewd and lascivious acts, because I didn't know what the rule was. It's like, I was like, asking her what I'm arresting her for. And. And she jumps up like a half burpee. And I'm thinking in that moment, I remember going, how is she that fucking athletic? Like, this is the biggest chick in the world. Like, how did she just half burpee all the way to her feet like that? She gets up. And at this point, my mind. Because that's how my mind works. I process things in my brain, but my brain goes faster than my body reacts. Probably noticed that in my jiu jitsu. That's why I'm like. So I'm like trying to process everything. And it is like she's starting to grunt. She's like. And I was like, why is she grunting? And she's like. And then my body catches up to my brain and her butthole is opening up and a turtle head is poking out. And when she stops grunting, the turtle head goes back into her ass.

[Host]

Why are you behind her watching this?

[Eric Tansey]

Because she did a half burpee and it's like this.

[Host]

Oh, yeah, that's definitely. That's your cue to get back in the car.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, I'm like. So I like, once my brain processes that she's trying to shit on me, I turn around, I look at my train office. I was like. I turn around, like in panic. And he goes, put her in cuffs. And I go, she's trying to shit on me. At this point, she's now chasing me with her butt. She's running backwards and I'm doing one of these.

[Host]

And she's like, did you guys have body cams on?

[Eric Tansey]

No, damn it, I didn't have it yet. So I'm trying to outmaneuver this 400 pound lady trying to shit on me. And then she takes off running back up the stairs. And I look back at him and he goes, now he's mad. Like, now he's inched closer. And he goes, go get her. And I'm like, okay. So I run to the stairs, I go like halfway up. In the military, we don't go in anywhere. By yourself.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

So I get halfway up the stairs, I turn around, look, those two cops. One was a SWAT guy, which I didn't know at the time, but I knew now. But they're just standing. He's big as. They're just standing there. And there I'm like. He goes, go get her. And I was like, oh. So now I'm kind of mad. Like I'm pretty disappointed in myself, the whole situation. Like, I just want it to be over. So I run like three more steps up the stairs. She comes out of the house and she's like, my president's black. And she smashes something over my head. Now I'm wearing a picture frame of President Barack Obama over my neck. And I'm like, just standing there. And then both the other cops come pulling inside me. Almost fall. Like I like, get up against the Railing. They run up one dude like, smacks her in the face, hangs her over the railing, pulls out his pepper spray, sticks it up to her nose. He's like, you want to get sprayed? And she was like, no. And he goes and put your hands behind your back. She's like, okay, Dan, geez. And he cuts her up. And he looks at the, the SWAT guy, looks over me, he's like, was it that hard?

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

And I was like, yes, it was. I didn't know we could just smack him.

[Host]

Like, I don't think you can.

[Eric Tansey]

It's so I. Yeah, we can because she smashed a painting over my head. So yeah, it's game on from there.

[Host]

Is it though?

[Eric Tansey]

Yes. 100. If I hit you in the head with something and you're a cop, you can beat the out of me.

[Host]

After that, I feel like there's a limit to what you can do.

[Eric Tansey]

I mean, there's a limit, but like, it's definitely hands on. She's already putting her fist up, she's already taking her teeth out. Like she's in for a fight. I guess she's in for the fight. I mean, they didn't hit her hard. It's not like they like broke her face or anything. But we get her down, we get her in the cop car and that's, that's the whole thing that I'm trying to do because it's small car and she's a huge lady. So I'm having to like run around one side of the car, open it up, try to pull her back, and then she would try to. Sometimes I run around the other thing and now it's like 6:01. I'm missing roll call and I don't know if that's going to be a big deal or not, but anyway, you know, I get the door closed and I'm good, right? And he's like, you just gonna take her to the jail naked? And I was like, oh my God. So now I gotta go get this dress, open the door, start the whole fucking thing over. Yeah, throw this thing on there. So anyway, we get her down to the. We get her down to the jail, which is a whole nother fiasco. Down the jail. She gets butt naked again in the jail. Shits all over the floor, and it was awful. And you know, that was my, that was my first day and it really never got better. It was. I was a bad rookie. I mean, I was a good rookie. My training officer went on paternity leave and so I got thrown in with these other Three guys who eventually would go on to form their own squad. They were so good at their job that they formed their own squad. It was called the Flex Team. And they had a very unique way. It's all in the book. It's a very unique way of policing. And they were just badass. Like, the one dude, he has a story bigger than life. He looks like a Western. He was like 35 or 36. I don't know, like a Wyatt Earp stash, wider stash, you know, And. And he was lean and just super cut. And the other guy, Ralph, he's just jacked and looks like Wreck It Ralph. That's why I call him Ralph in the book. The other kid's a college wrestler. His name was Spoon. And they. They ruled the gangland. Like, they would stop a car, they would know the guy's name instantly. They serious and serious got into policing because he owned this ag, like, landscaping business. And his. One of his workers was on lunch break and gets murdered on lunch break. And so he gives up his, like, really successful landscape business, which he now has again. But he gave it up to become a cop to, like, avenge this guy. And so he's like a man on a mission. He's like a man on fire type guy. And so he would. He would, like, they would make arrest over a small amount of dope, and they would take him back to the station and question them. And then Spoon, the wrestler, he knew, he had like a photographic memory. He's a lawyer now, but he would know, like, every gang member. And so they would just wreak havoc in the district. They knew every player, everything. It was fascinating to watch him work like they were. They were getting foot chases all the time. But the three of them were just, you know, on point. They worked out together every day. And so he goes on paternity leave, and I get sent with them and I show up to them and it's just. They don't want me. Like, they're like, we've got our own thing going. And so. So now I'm trying to fit in with them. And it wasn't working out for me. I was just. Everything I would try to do good would be an epic failure, just catastrophic failure. And then it got to the point, and those are all in the book. But it got to the one point where we have a new sergeant. And so it's Sunday. We got to serve warrants on Sundays. It's normally what we do on Sundays. During the day, let's try to clear the beat bags of Warrants.

[Host]

Why Sundays?

[Eric Tansey]

Because in the hood, everybody goes home to mama's house for after church lunch and dinner, or they. Where they go to church, but they're. They're not out partying. They're not.

[Host]

You're likely to actually encounter them or know where they are.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. So it's. It's a good time to. To serve those warrants. And they're all, like, hungover from partying over the weekend and stuff, so. So they have a really high value warrant. And this. It's a violent warrant. Guy had a big rap sheet. Gun violence, the whole nine yards. And so they're gonna go do morning breakfast. And normally way it works is we would all go to breakfast, and then we would come back to the station and we would spend like four hours, like, coming up with a strategy. Like, they would bring up. Up the. You know, we had a big board like this, and they would try to say, like, we're gonna go with this guy first and we're gonna call him. You're gonna call this person, you're gonna start working this, this, that. Yeah. So it's a big ordeal. But I knew that they wanted this one guy, and we have this new sergeant, and the new sergeant was having breakfast with them. I didn't want to be there for it because I just. I just felt like I was a rookie. And it was just. It would be awkward if I was there, because I'm sure he wanted to talk to them about all their amazing work. So I was like, what I'm gonna tell is I'm gonna find everywhere this guy's not, and I'm gonna get it. Go ahead and check it off the block and, like, have a whole bunch of intel. So when they get back to the office, Eric's got it all laid out for them. And then, like, I've already talked to mom. I've done this, I've done that. I called, you know, these detectives, and I've done all this. This work. So the first thing I'm gonna do is make sure that he's not at mom's house early in the morning. Because now it's like 6:45 in the morning, right? So I drive down to mom's house, and there's no car there, no car in the driveway or anything like that. So I'm like, all right, cool. I'm gonna go talk to mom. I'd already seen all the notes that mom was very cooperative. And mom doesn't really support what her son does. So. Good. Good to go. Right. So I'll get that. Check all the box. I go up to the door, I knock on the door and it's like 25 year old chick opens the door and I'm like, hey, is. I'll just call him Marcus for the story. But I says, marcus here? Yeah. And she's like, no, what. What's up with Marcus? And I said, well, are you Marcus's mother? Knowing there's no way that she's Marcus's mother because he's like 22. And she was like, I am. So my heart starts beating because now I know she's lying. And I'm like, oh, she's lying to me. This is not his mom. And so I said, so Marcus isn't here. And she's like, what my baby do? I said, oh, nothing. It's just a. It's a. It's an ofa. It's a. It's just a order for arrest because of a traffic violation. And matter of fact, it's going to be a no bond. I don't even need to take him down to the jail. He can go down. He can just go to the magistrate's office and take care of the ticket and everything and he's got to be done with it. But can you let him know, since he's not here, can you just let him know that, you know, he. I'll give you my number and you can call me. And she was like, yeah, I can do that. And I was like, okay, great. I don't know why, to this day, I don't know why I said this, but I said, hey, listen, I've got a bunch of notes here from you, the mom from you, that says, you know, he's not here and that you haven't seen him, you haven't spoke with him. And I feel bad that all these cops keep having to come to your house, you know, every week. So if you just let me walk around the house and verify that he's not here, I will mark this off the list and no cops will come back since you're so cooperative with us. And she was like. She looks back into the house, she looks back at me and I know she's going to say no, which is great because then I'm going to call the guys, I'm going to say, he's here. And I'm watching the back door, the front door. Y' all pull around the side of the house, I can see both. And like, we're gonna get this guy. This is. It's gonna work out. She goes, yeah, come on in. Now. I haven't told anybody what I'm doing. I haven't got out on the radio, nobody knows I'm there. And now I'm going into this house by myself. So I go in and I don't have my gun out because I've told this just lie essentially that it's an ofa. And I don't want to like come in for no reason with my gun out at this point, which I should have didn't. And I go to the first door and I open it and I don't want to see him. So I just like open the door and like close it. Like I just want to get the out of here. I know the whole time I'm telling myself like, you're an idiot, you're so stupid. Like, just turn around and leave. I'm like, I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna get in and get out and I'm gonna call the guys and then I'll never do this again. I open the next door and there he is trying to get out the window. And so I run into the room and I grab him by the hair, pull him back from the window. I tell him that he's under arrest. He turns around, starts fighting me. There was bunk beds, so I pushed him over to the bunk bed and like a child, he kind of like crawled to the other side of the bunk bed. And so like I ran around the bunk bed to come get him and he went under and tried to come back out.

[Host]

Strong move.

[Eric Tansey]

It's like chasing a three year old at this point. So he goes back to the window to try to get this window open. And you know, I, I grabbe him by the dreads and I yank him back into the room and I get on the mount position. But as I mount him and I go to start punching him, I look up and there's girlfriend with a coffee mug launching it at my face. So I'm like deflecting this coffee mug, rolling off of him. I pull out my pepper spray, I hose her down. He's managed to crawl his ass back up underneath the bed. I grab him by the ankles, pulling back out of the bed, grabbing by the dreadlocks, which makes him scream. I put the pepper spray like right in his mouth unintentionally. I'm really, it was not intentional, but I fill his mouth up with capsicum spray. Mom shows up. I don't know which room she was in, but she's in there. And now she's slapping me on the back of the head grabbing my vest, trying to yank me off. So I grab Mom. Of course, I don't know it's mom at the time. And I sling her down to the ground. I'm pushing her face into the ground while trying to cuff him. The girlfriend, she's running around like, I can't see, you know? So I get on the radio. I'm like, riley, I need help. Send everybody down here to the Bubbly Apartments. You know, hang up. And it said batman. Yeah, like, send everybody the National Guard. And, yeah, so I end up getting all three of them. So I got two. I only have two handcuffs, handcuffed, girlfriend, and homeboy. And I got mom kind of like by the shirt. She ain't gonna go nowhere. She's too old anyway. And so I'm walking out of the house, and the door flies open, and it's the. It's the three guys, the flexium. And I'm. I'm like, I got him. You know? And they were like, what the are you doing? Like, what the are you even thinking? Like, you're so goddamn retarded. Like, dude, that's it. This is done. Like, we're so tired of this dude. Like, you're. You're so done. And this other guy that just kind of, like, loved me was like, Leroy Jenkins. And so I'm like, dude, I'm. Man, this is it. This is like. Because, I mean, I've lost foot chases up to this point, and it's just like, nothing. It's. It's. You know, the book is really funny. All my mishaps, you know, getting lost and car chases, all sorts of just bad moments. And. And so I, I, I. I'm pretty much off the squad at this point. I'm pretty. I think I'm pretty sure. And then I get a call from Sirius, and he's like, hey, I want you to meet me at Hibachi. This Hibachi place. And I was like, man, like, I just don't want to go. I'm already getting braided in the gym. Like, everybody makes fun of me. Like, they hide my shoes in the ceiling tiles now. Like, I am the. I am the lowest. Like, I went from being in the Q course, like, doing some really badass jumping out of planes. Got it. Like, and now I am that guy. Like, I am the guy that everybody is picking on, and I know it. Like, I internally know that I am this all up. And no matter what I do to try to be better, it just keeps getting worse. So I show up, and then there's the canine. The canine officer. And in the police department, the canine officer is kind of like the coolest guy in the school. Like, he's the popular one. And Bruno was no different. Big, larger than life Boston Irish guy, louder than life, you know? And he's there sitting at the table, and I know what's coming. And I just sit down and. And they're like, what's up, man? I was like, another. What's up with you guys? He's like, how's the wife and kids? And I was like, dude, I don't. You don't need to ask me about my wife and kids. Like, you guys, if you. If you're telling me that I'm moving the district, that's fine. Just. Just let Sarge do it. Like, what do you. What do you like? What's your angle? And Bruno's like, yo, it is no angle. We just want to have dinner with you, bro. And I was like, no, no, you don't. You're gonna. On me, you know, tell me how bad I sound. Like, I know, dude. I know I suck. And he was like, yo, listen, you're here every day for workout. You work out just as hard, if not harder than everybody else. You do your dry fires. You're always shooting like you give a. You care. You're always right. You just. Just need to be like, you just need help. And I was like, yeah, that's what I need. Like, I need help because this sucks. Like, this sucks. And he's like, tell you what, you're not gonna be. You're not. We're gonna be your training officer for now on. We're gonna help you. You're gonna ride with me. The Canaan officer says this. That's the big. That's the coolest thing in the whole department. And I was like, what? He was like, you're gonna ride with me, dude. We're gonna team up. We're gonna up, me and you and. Serious.

[Host]

How long. How many times did you ask for help before this?

[Eric Tansey]

None.

[Host]

Why?

[Eric Tansey]

It just. It just didn't. It didn't really apply. It didn't occur to me to do that. I don't know how.

[Host]

If you are self aware enough to realize that you were you. Your words, not mine.

[Eric Tansey]

Just fucking wasn't the culture.

[Host]

It's never the culture.

[Eric Tansey]

The culture was.

[Host]

If you're talking about a group of men, largely. It's never the culture to ask for help.

[Eric Tansey]

Help. Right. I mean, I already felt like I was in everybody's way.

[Host]

And that's why you ask for help.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, no, you're 100, right? Like, I know all this now, but, like, of course, back then it was, you know, I was. It was. It was dumb and. And Bruno adopted me and serious. And, you know, I looked up to Sears more than anybody. I still do still think he's, you know, probably one of the best cops, you know, nationwide. Just. He's amazing, an excellent cop. He's good with words, he's professional. And. And he never up. And. And so I started writing with these guys, man, and it instantly got better. Like, they became my best friends. And it was cool because, like, now I'm, like, friends with the coolest guys in the school, and we're starting to. And they just. Immensely. It got better and we just started taking down cases and. And life was going really, really good. And, you know, I. I learned so much for those guys, and then I end up having a rookie of my own one day and. But like, these still, these small, little funny details come up. But to get to where the book comes in at the time.

[Host]

Hold on.

[Eric Tansey]

All right.

[Host]

How did you treat your rookie?

[Eric Tansey]

It's in the book. And. Well, I treated him very well. I gave him very well.

[Host]

Different than the rookie treatment you got.

[Eric Tansey]

Well, I. His first night, his first shift, his first one hour, less than one hour, his first 20 minutes. Foot chase, gun, stolen gun, guys wanted for murder and a use of force in his first 20 minutes.

[Host]

One person helped him during that time.

[Eric Tansey]

100.

[Host]

Okay, good.

[Eric Tansey]

100. And he was. He was a lieutenant, and I think he was like the honor grad of the. Of the academy. I'm not. I'm not quite sure, but I knew he did really well in the academy, and that's part of the joke that's in the book. And he's a detective now, and he actually just got this book, like, three days ago, and he's on the swat. He just made the SWAT team like, a week ago. And so he went from detective to swat. And the SWAT team has a joke because he has a copy of the book. They made him read his chapter. And, you know, I'm really good friends with all the SWAT guys now. And my. My best friend who you should have on the show, like, he's been in a shooting, but he's an incredible, incredible cop, too. Very interesting character. I don't know if he'd ever come on a piece into social media or.

[Host]

Anything, but it can be tough for them while they're still active.

[Eric Tansey]

He's not anymore. He's out now, but that Makes it a touch easier. He's, he's, he's got an incredible. Matter of fact, the guy he killed, Deion Sanders, wore on his hall of Fame tie during his induction to the hall of Fame, but the guy was a complete piece of.

[Host]

Okay, I was gonna. Hold on. So the, the man that was killed, Deion Sanders, wore on his tie?

[Eric Tansey]

Yes.

[Host]

Okay.

[Eric Tansey]

During the Black Lives Matter stuff.

[Host]

Okay.

[Eric Tansey]

But this guy was like multiple time felon. And my buddy shot him in the gun first and then walked the rounds up killing him. But like it was a fight within. But he's a big CrossFit champion purple belt jiu Jitsu guy, you know, competed at Worlds, really great human being and just gets in this insanely, you know, it's a great story. It's in the book too. But so they make him read the story and, and it was really cool because they said, like, you know, was that how you're, Is that how you portrayed your rookie time with, with Tanzania? Really was. And so the guys at the Jiu Jitsu gym, because most of the guys that are on that SWAT team train at the jujitsu gym. I didn't. He said, dude, low key. We thought, we, we thought there's no way you wrote a good book. And he's like, we actually, like, now we're all reading a chapter. Like in our roll call, we end up rolling like two chapters we've already read out loud to the team. And he's like, dude, it's actually really good. And that was funny because. And if I have time to tell you about how I got the book, that would be a fun story.

[Host]

Well, and I do want to talk about the book because I ask every author this, just out of curiosity, what was the route you took to write it? Like your method? Some people have a full architecture what they wanted to. And I only ask out of personal curiosity because I, shockingly enough, was tricked, legitimately tricked into writing one.

[Eric Tansey]

Oh, yeah.

[Host]

So I have the way that I did it, which was a living word document. Did you do it? Did you find it hard? Did you do it?

[Eric Tansey]

Well, no, I mean, so the way the book came about was I wrote a homicide report as a supplement, and the supplement ended up being a much bigger deal in the trial than I thought it was. And so explain.

[Host]

So what, a homicide report with the supplement. What does that mean?

[Eric Tansey]

Okay, so you go to a murder, which I've worked a lot of murders in my district. Somebody got stabbed or shot every night. Yeah. Not they didn't die every night, but like Every night.

[Host]

It was not an uncommon occurrence.

[Eric Tansey]

Every night I worked somebody's. So, you know, I had blood on my uniform just about every single night. And I, at that time was a terrible report writer. But it didn't matter because my reports were always. Usually supplements. Because I was usually like working with other guys and they would write the main report and then I would just be like, I was there. I did this. Evidence got put into this and it's really short.

[Host]

Whereas, like, amplifying information perhaps.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. So like, you would. If you were the main guy on the report, you would say, like, I own the report. Yeah. Like on July 18th, you know, 2025, at 1500, we were patrolling the 300 block of Eastland North street when we came across three gang members that were wearing this. It's really long and detailed. And then what I will do is say, like, you know, on July 25, 2018, I was with Andy Stumpf. We encountered this gang member. I placed cuffs on him during the arrest. Please see report for details.

[Host]

Okay. And so it can add other people or attach people to.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, and it's just attached to the report. It's just so you. It's like, not everybody's writing the same long thing unless there's a big use of force. Then everybody is okay, because everybody's got to write their perspective of the fort. But you know, and just generally it's a supplement. So a murder happens and a detective or like the lead cop that is working the homicide is going to write all the shit. But maybe you were just the crime scene reporter, which just means, like, you're letting people in the crime scene tape and out. So your supplement might look like Andy Stumpf came into the crime scene. And at 4:30pm you know, Austin von Lechman came in at 5:30, Andy Stumpf left at 6:30. You know, so that kind of. That way. And I don't remember what the supplement really was that I wrote. Figured it was pretty insignificant at the time. But the homicide went to trial and the jury got a copy of it. And it was so horrendous. Like, the wording was terrible. Like, punctuation was bad. Didn't know there, there and there. And so, like, people were really upset that they were like, this is super unprofessional. This is like the worst supplement. Who's your supervisor? Who didn't check this? Like. And the supervisor, like, they usually do a great job. But since this one had so many supplements, probably just saw that mine was super short and was like, it's not it's like, you know, he. Up. He didn't, you know. And so this kind of sergeant was like, look, what you're gonna do is you're gonna go home and you're going to practice writing. I don't care what you write, but, like, you need to like, oh, no, not at this time. They just shame the. Out of me. So the funnier part of the story is they shamed me for a little bit for being such a bad writer. Tell me it's a big deal, I gotta fix it. So I start emailing my wife reports and having her edit them. She sends them back. Six months go by legal. No, didn't know what it's like. Didn't care. Six months later, detectives like, yo, Tansy, what up, dude? They're like, yo, did you start taking writing classes after that homicide report?

[Host]

Kind of.

[Eric Tansey]

And I was like, well, I was like, what I do is I just, like, I write the report and then I send to my wife, and then, like, she helps me edit it. And she was like, yeah, right. Dude, seriously, what are you doing, like, weight tech or something? And I was like, no, I. I email it to my wife. And he's like, bro, what? No, you're joking.

[Host]

And I was like, it turned to real serious real fast.

[Eric Tansey]

Like, dude, why did you tell me that? Like, what the. So then it goes, before, now he's in trouble. Oh, dude. So we had to go. Like, the DA's were like, trying to get involved. And they're like, well, which reports did you have her edit?

[Host]

And I was like, oh, just all of them since this date.

[Eric Tansey]

And they're like, yeah, they're like, how long? I'm like, months. And they're like, how many? I'm like, hundreds. So then they had to go figure out, like, which ones were going to try. It was a big deal. It was a lot bigger deal than I thought it was going to be. And now I'm in, like, kind of the hot water. I get away with it with like a. Like a verbal. Like, don't you ever, ever do this again. And he's. We're gonna make him right? We're gonna give him. We're gonna give him, like, writing exercises. And so. So now I gotta go home and write. So I. I live these traumatic incidents at work. Foot chases, you know, weekly punching, people getting kicked. I. You know, I broke my leg fighting a guy once. I had my teeth shattered in the back of my mouth and break my arm fighting another guy. I mean, a lot of. A lot of really crazy Fights a lot. I mean, my nose gets busted a few times. And yeah, there's. There's tons of them in the book. But so I. I write the report to these traumatic incidents, and then I gotta go home and I gotta write it again. And then it was like, dude, after, like, a year of doing this or two years of doing this, at this point, like, I'm. And I'm on night shift, you know, it's pretty depressing. And I'm starting to drink more and more. I'm getting. I'm enjoying writing. I love it. I fall in love with writing. Like, I. It becomes a. Like a jiu jitsu for me. I want to get better, you know what I mean? So I'm writing every night. You know, I'm working with people to edit these things, and. And I. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Two years in, I'm writing almost every night life and. But I was like, I. I was starting to get into a pretty bad place where I was just like, this isn't healthy. Like. Like, this sucks. And so I was like, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna start writing the funny that happens at work. And so I started writing funny stories and, like, goof. Like, you know, some of the funnier stuff. And. Anyway, I become Author of the Year from an incident in the book where, again, another crazy story, but become Officer of the Year. Completely unexpected. It's kind of a joke. I don't. I don't want to be Officer of the Year. I didn't want an award for what I did. I still think it's. I was a wrong person to give the award to, but the department really wanted to make a big deal out of it, and so they give me all these awards, and I go to all these award ceremonies all over the state. Like, they're parading me around and I didn't wear my uniform to the Officer of the Year thing or to the thing again, the authority, like you. I didn't want this. You're making me have it. I was the only one, the only officer that didn't give a speech either. They gave me my award, and I didn't stay for the picture. I just. I got the award and walked away from the podium. It's kind of like my. You to them.

[Host]

That's a good look if you're a member of a team, man. Today's episode is brought to you by Element. Sometimes you see it as lmnt, and you can say that if you want to, or you can just say Element I've talked about this brand quite a bit. It is an electrolyte drink. Now when you order it, it's going to come in one of two ways. These are the boxes right here. This is their watermelon flavor. If you pop this bad boy open, it comes in these very, very convenient little satchels. And this is what I load up in 1 gallon Ziploc bags when I've head to places like Origin Camp or Costa Rica. Per packet, a thousand milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium and 60 milligrams of magnesium. Now another way that you can get this, this is in their sparkling water. This stuff was a surprise for me. I didn't know I was going to enjoy it. I'm not a huge fan of carbonated beverages, but it's really good. Pour this thing over ice and oftentimes I cut it with a little bit of water. But you get exactly the same thing. 1260 of sodium, potassium and magnesium. Respectfully, variety of flavors in this beverage and a variety of flavors as well. When it comes to the powdered form for this summer, they have lemonade and it is by far my favorite flavor. It's actually the only thing I just took to Origin Camp and it's a minimum one a day when I'm training. When we're in Costa Rica, it's a minimum two. And the difference in your body, I mean, I could read all of the things scientifically, the electrolyte balance, all of that stuff. It's the difference between me feeling like dragging ass after a day of training and feeling at least a little bit like a human being again. I feel it in the ability to think, I feel it in my ability to move, my ability to recover all of those things, things when I don't have some after I train hard, when I'm sweating my ass off, man, I just feel like a sack of assholes for the remainder of the day. If you head over to drinklmnt.com ClearedHot, you're gonna get a free sample pack. And this is the best way to explore any new brand. Figure out what flavors you like. I actually like all of them. It would be really tough for me to actually rank them from top to bottom because they all really taste good. They also have seasonal flavors, so in the wintertime there's a chocolate mix, there's spicy selection that they have as well, which is great for cocktails and margaritas if that's your thing, but maybe you don't know what you want. Again, drinklement.com clearedhot and it'll give you the chance to get that free sample pack. If you don't like the product, send it back. They have a 100% refund guarantee for any reasons. No question. For any reasons. Any reason. Unless there would be plural and then it would be reasons, no questions asked. I'm very fortunate to know the co founder Rob. I've been friends with Rob for two decades at this point training partners with him for quite some time. That's how I got exposed to this and I can't say it enough. The difference in recovery for me, ability to think, ability to move, ability to maintain my functional situational just ability after a day of hard training it is a game changer. Drink element.com ClearedHot Go check it out. You won't be disappointed. Back to the show.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, probably. Probably. I didn't, I didn't think I deserve. I thought. What? No, I don't, I, I don't think that I. What they were, they did it for the wrong reason. They politicized an event that did not need to be. It was this. Well, the story is there was a deaf girl and I'm the only person that knew sign language. And that's a funny story how I learned sign language but I was, I had to do it in school and I learned, I learned quite a bit of. And then I, Billy Graham came to town and there was an opportunity to get paid to do an. And be an interpreter in high school. It was like 50 bucks and you had to memorize a paragraph and then you would, would get on this podium and sign and then swap out. And so I, it was like a three month train up for that. So I was pretty proficient in Sign Language 20 years ago and. But I wrote that on my application that I, the foreign language, I put American Sign language because.

[Host]

Yeah, but that's fair though.

[Eric Tansey]

That's fair. I could do it.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

So there's a deaf girl on a bridge going to jump and the only person that knows sign language anywhere is me. And so they call me and now I have to go work with, you know, I show up to this bridge, it's cleared and the hostage negotiator is like, we can't get anywhere near. She's like, she was hanging off the.

[Host]

Bridge like this like on the other side of the railing.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, yeah, but like ass off. Like ass off of the railing, like barely holding on and they're like, dude, like she's gonna go any second. So like, you know sign language. Good luck. Like do what you can. And I was like, do what I can. Like, you don't got any other words? And he's like, this guy has no idea who I am. He just knows that I'm the guy that shows up in his language. And I go, that's it? That's all your advice? You're a hostage negotiator. And you're just like, good luck. And he goes, tnz, you're one of the best cops I know. I've heard so many great things about you, and. And you're the right man for this job, and I totally believe in you. Is that better? And I was like, fuck you, dude. And I walk out onto this bridge, and it was bad. Like, she tried to sign to me because I started signing to her very quickly because she was inching as I was walking out. So I'm trying to sign as quickly as I can.

[Host]

That's going to be tough for her to do and maintain a grip.

[Eric Tansey]

Yes. So she goes to try, and she loses her grip and almost falls. And, like, that's when it really got real. Like, I wanted to throw up, dude. It was like, I was like, holy, this is real. Like, oh, my God. And, like, the highway is stopped. There's now a helicopter flying over, and I'm the only one out there. I'm like, dude, if she jumps, like, I'm like, not by the department. I'm. Because I up. You know? And so it became very, very scary. And it ended up, like, in the book, it ends up getting to a point where I just tell her, like, I basically just get really honest with her really quick. And I was like, look, stop. I'm dumb. I don't know how to do this. You're signing way too fast. Can we write on a new. On a piece of paper? But, like, I need you not to. To jump. Of course I didn't cuss. But, like, I'm like, I need you to, like, not do this for me. Like, please help me. And so she was like, go ahead, write it. So I write this whole, like, note, and I was very honest. I said, like, look, I'm not good at this. I'm not a hostage negotiator. I don't know you. I'm not that great at sign language, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I throw it to her, and she, like, looks at her. But. And I put. At the end, I was like, if you jump, this will ruin my life. And I know that your life sucks, but, like, please don't do this for me. And so she ends up Coming off the bridge and we end up having this like great conversation. She goes really slow and by the end of it it was, it was, it was, it was a really great moment for her and I. But she was in that moment because she was deaf and she lived at a hearing, a deaf school away from her family, which her mother was an enormous piece of work. Crack. Crackhead. We'd been over to the house for her hearing kids knocking on other doors asking for food. She was a, she was a very mean lady. The dad I think was already in prison. But she gets moved back to this house because when they're teenagers, they can't live at the deaf school anymore. They have to go integrate into regular public school because they don't do teenagers on campus at this, this school. And I guess it was like probably in Charlotte or something, but now she's like back at home and nobody in the family speaks sign language so she has no way of communicating. She doesn't want to wear a cochlear implant because it makes her look ugly. So she was on the phone texting boys, but like she was lying to them saying that she's beautiful, she had a fake profile and all this other stuff. And in knowing that she can never meet them because they would find out that she's deaf or whatever. And the mom took the phone away, which was her only form of communication for anything. Matter of fact, fast forward. I asked the mom why she doesn't know sign language. She looked me dead in the face and she said, I have three hearing kids. I don't need to waste my time learning sign language for the one that can't hear. That was her words to me. Later I would find out that she was pro. Well, later I would go to a call on a felony for a pedophile and she would have been in the room watching Nick Nick at night in her panties with this 39 year old pedophile that her mom was probably working on. But anyway, at this moment she's gonna jump off of the bridge and we get her off of the bridge and it was the worst moment of her life. And. And I had her friend come up and we. The story is actually really funny from that point forward, but this is the worst day of her life. And she was more concerned about being embarrassed. And the reason why she wanted to jump was because she could not go back to school if she didn't jump. She was like, listen, I have to jump. Like I can't go back to school not having jumped. And I was like, no that's like, that's the wrong answer. Like, I promise we'll get through this. Like, I'm gonna, you know, blah, blah, blah. Well, now the police department wants to tell that story. And so they. They want me to do a press conference. I refuse. They want me to give my name to the press. I refuse. The PR person from the department calls me. Never met these people before in my life. And he's like, hey, man, like, we really want to tell the story. It's already viral and you can Google it. It is viral. And. But I was, you know, there's videos of me doing this. And I said, no, I'm not going to give you my name. And it would be better if you didn't run the story. Like, this is like, the one thing she doesn't want is if you really care about somebody, then put away the ratings, put away how good this looks for the department and let this, like, let this die. Like, she needs this to go away. Please don't do this to her. And he was like, okay, we'll do what you can. They run the story. They put it all over the fucking news because that's what they're gonna do. And I'm fine with that. Whatever. I know that's. You're not. I'm not gonna stop that. But now they want to make me officer of the year and parade me around the state and tell the story over and over and over again. Like, you know, and at the time I was like, I asked you guys to make this go away, and now you're perpetuating the story. Because when they. They make you officer of the year, they put out the whole blurb to the newspaper of what happened. You know what I mean? Where it happened and how it happened. And so it's like, this can never. I shouldn't say that, but like, this victim is now having to, you know, see this pop up in the newspaper five months after it already happened, and it just keeps going on. And I just thought that was disgusting. And especially after. There you go. Yeah, that's a. Let's be on the bridge. Like, probably one of the craziest days of my life. But, yeah, so I was really bitter. I was really upset about that. And that would be the beginning of the information.

[Host]

I understand the bitterness and I understand being upset. I understand the potential of re. Traumatizing her or she could actually, depending on how, hopefully she was able to talk with somebody in whatever mean or mode that she was able to communicate. There's also another way to look at It. And she could really develop a lot of resilience by having to face that from time to time. So I'm going to put this through the lens since we both do Jiu Jitsu. You're a four stripe white belt.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

Which is awesome.

[Eric Tansey]

Thank you.

[Host]

Jiu Jitsu is great. Should you get to go to your instructor and say, I am ready for my blue belt?

[Eric Tansey]

No.

[Host]

Then using that same analogy.

[Eric Tansey]

Right.

[Host]

It is your leadership's role to determine for you when you are ready for your belt, should you be able to turn that belt down?

[Eric Tansey]

No.

[Host]

Okay. Apply that same analogy to the award that you received.

[Eric Tansey]

The police department is extremely political. And those people that sign the political letter aren't real cops.

[Host]

Doesn't matter.

[Eric Tansey]

And they don't understand the impact that they're having on the community. And I write a lot about that in this book. Like, they do more to keep the hood. The hood than they do to try to help the hood. And that's. And that's why we're having a lot of culture wars.

[Host]

Two things can be true at point. One, what I'm trying to say is, like, you don't have to diminish your actions that day because an entity outside of your control tried to do something about it. Like, it's tough to sit here and listen to you say, like, I'm the only guy who didn't give a speech and didn't wear a uniform because I didn't deserve this award. But the reality is you don't get to choose that. You did the best you could in the moment, and that's all you can do.

[Eric Tansey]

The mortar of the story is that I asked specifically not to. To not make me go to this.

[Host]

Yeah, try that with your blue belt.

[Eric Tansey]

And they made me go.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

And so I was like, well, if you're gonna make me go, then I'm just gonna take the award and walk right back to my seat and I'm gonna not be in my uniform show.

[Host]

For your blue belt and shorts and a T shirt. Take the same analogy. See what happens? They're gonna be off your ass.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, for sure. For sure. But I respect. I have respect for my choice. Yeah. I didn't respect those people.

[Host]

You don't have to respect them, but.

[Eric Tansey]

And I didn't want them to get clout for your folks. And it's even hard for me to talk about it now because, like, I feel like, like I'm. This story happened long enough ago. No, I guess. No.

[Host]

You could control. You saved a woman's life. You can't handle. Not you can't handle. You can't control anything that happens downstream of that or actually upstream of that.

[Eric Tansey]

I think a big part of it too is that the guys I worked with, Bruno serious rough, they all deserve to be officer of the year at some point. They'll never get. They don't make southeast district cops officer of the year because they're southeast district cops, which just sucks. Same with life saving awards. Like every southeast rally cop has saved a life, but they don't get the life saving award because. Well, yeah, but when you're on a team like that, you. The, the team did respect it. The team was like, you know, have.

[Host]

You ever considered they respected it because it was actually deserved?

[Eric Tansey]

No, they respected the fact that I didn't. I think they know that it probably wasn't deserved. They knew it was a political move. I didn't really get offserved. Here I was. I didn't have. Sounds like a great year. I didn't have a great year to, to. To deserve this. I had one incident which every cop has in the Southeast district multiple times.

[Host]

Do you think every officer that got it before or after you had a stellar year that never made a single mistake?

[Eric Tansey]

Serious did. Multiple.

[Host]

You think Serious. Never had a down day. Never up.

[Eric Tansey]

Not as many as I did.

[Host]

Why do you constantly compare yourself to others?

[Eric Tansey]

I don't. It's just that there's. There are people who deserve their belt and there are people who don't deserve their belt and it's. And that's.

[Host]

Okay, guess what? And that would be that person that gives them the belt. It's their coach.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Now you're, you're right.

[Host]

And as a participant in the sport, what I'll say is this. Be cautious saying there are people that deserve their belt and those that don't because it's not your call to give.

[Eric Tansey]

Well, yeah, that's true. I mean like I've never. I mean everybody's better than me at my gym. So it's like. And like because we're next to a NC State, so like everybody's wrestlers are way younger.

[Host]

They're grind you to the wood chipper.

[Eric Tansey]

They're so good. So like there's definitely nobody at my gym that doesn't. But like, you know, my point is.

[Host]

It'S the coach that gives it to him. And oftentimes the coach will see something that you don't see because it's not your job to be the coach.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

It's again, like it's obviously there's no time Machine in going back.

[Eric Tansey]

But yeah, and that's the thing too. It's like I'm a lot more mature now, you know, now I'm 41 with five kids. Yeah, these are when I was 28, you know, 29, you know, and there's a lot. And I matured a lot slower than a lot of people. And I, and I, you know, and that's one of the things that, you know, I, I live with that I don't use that as an excuse or anything. But my growth in life, I, I would like to explain it. Like, if there is a linear line, everybody starts at this line and then they climb their ladder to success is like this. Well, I start here.

[Host]

Where are you getting this data from?

[Eric Tansey]

Years of being terrible in school, not.

[Host]

Being able to make a data point of one. But you're trying to define everybody else's.

[Eric Tansey]

Ladder and all the failures. Right. Like feeling small, you, tactics and feeling like you're really bad there. Feeling not linear, you know, you think in your brain that. Well, I had convinced myself and, and the funny thing is I had a conversation with Nick recently that now I get it. Like now I understand. But back then I didn't, I didn't. I finally figured out, like, not life, but I, I. When I held this for my first time, this hard book, so many things changed for me, especially like with my kids and my kids are incredible, and I'm a great father and a great husband and, and when I held this book, I realized, like, oh my God, like none of that shit mattered because it all mattered. Because like now, like now I am where I need to be and I'm succeeding at that as a husband and a father. So nothing else really matters matters to me right now.

[Host]

Or you could look at it as you had to go through those things to make you the man, husband and father you are.

[Eric Tansey]

Exactly. And I'm appreciate it for all these things, but the point still remains that I felt in those moments and I started down here.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

But I was able to learn like this. And so I started out as the worst rookie.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

And then I became a great training officer, I think to multiple rookies. And, and, and you'll see in the book where I got to do a lot of really great things because I became a really good cop. I became a good cop, but it was a long road of fucking shit up. And I'm harder. Or I was harder on myself back then. See, I don't think I could have done jiu jitsu back then because I would overthink it, I would have felt like it would just been too much of a failure. Like, it would have mattered to me too much that I wasn't getting better or that I would have perceived myself as not getting better better, and it wouldn't have worked for me. It's like now, like, so I'm saying, like, now, like, now that I'm 41, my maturity level is like. It really is. Like, I just don't care. Like, I'm gonna go and do my best, and that's okay. Like, I walked on a run for the first time in 41 years. I have never started to run that I ever walked on. Never, never done. I will run into, like, die before I walk. I went running. I did like, six miles at like, two in the afternoon run because it's the only time I could fit my run in. And my brain was cooking. And I. I just. I said, no. He's like, you got away from five. Like, who cares? Who cares? You will die here if you keep going. Like, this sucks.

[Host]

Cares.

[Eric Tansey]

I'm gonna walk.

[Host]

You gotta stay hard.

[Eric Tansey]

And I don't care. I walk. And I was like, yeah, yeah, I feel fine. Like, I'm Like, I'm good. Because, like, I'm at the point in my life where it's like, I. You know, I get it now. I get it. And it's. It's. It's a lot to this book and. And it was a very fun journey, and I think so when the stories got compiled, I ended up leaving law enforcement because I opened up a distillery. I got my sommelier certification. I broke my leg, and I was out for like, five months.

[Host]

Master sommelier.

[Eric Tansey]

No, no. I thought I was going to. I was like, yo, I love that series Psalm. Yeah. Oh, that was a good one. Yeah, that I did. So I started my sommel, like, before. Yeah, that documentary. But I got my certified specialist of wine, which is like a level two. So I'm. I guess if you were to. Yeah, it was. It was. My certified specialist in wine was harder than my level one song, the beginner level song. Both of them were difficult.

[Host]

Don't get me wrong, dude, that program is insane.

[Eric Tansey]

It's nuts. But it's so fun.

[Host]

I was. Dude, it's fascinated by that process. It's the blind tastings and people being able to just the total obscure vintage.

[Eric Tansey]

But that's why I got into it. Yeah, Like, I got into it way before that thing. But, like, I remember, like, when I got into it, I remember just being like, wait, this is like, there's no end. Which way? You think you know something about it.

[Host]

Oh, for sure.

[Eric Tansey]

You know nothing about it. So when I broke my leg, I was high on codecaine. That's what I call codeine. And then my wife went out and she was like, look, I'm going out to the grocery store, and I need you to, like, do something other than just sit here and watch porn and take pain meds. And I was like, message received.

[Host]

So just heavy on the porn.

[Eric Tansey]

I said. I said, I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm gonna sign up for the certified specialist of wine course. And she was like, no, honey, that's like. Like, that's very ambitious of you. But, like, it's not just something you. You just. That's not something you just start and then, like, background. You're like, you're only. You're only for like, five months. You're. You're gonna be fine. Like, you're gonna go back to work and you're. This is all gonna go away. Like, you're good. Because I was going nuts. Like, laid up with this shattered legs. I got 12 screws, two pins, a plate, and a rod in my leg. And my knee got all up in the incident and everything, fighting a murder suspect, which got him, though. Get him. But he did beat the brakes off of all of us. My partner read in the book, she got her neck cut open, slit real bad. And my other partner broke his arm on this guy's guy, a bull. I mean, he just did 14 years in prison, got out and went and tried to murder the same chick he tried to murder that landed in the 14 years.

[Host]

Nobody likes it.

[Eric Tansey]

And he wasn't going back. He wasn't. Yeah, exactly. No one likes, but he it up. He didn't even kill her.

[Host]

I'm not saying they're smart. I'm glad that he did.

[Eric Tansey]

He bounced it. He bludgeoned her, damn it. Then he jumped off the balcony at the jail, and that was the end of that.

[Host]

Interesting. He took that path out, huh?

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Yeah. Maxwell Mitchell. You can look them up and put them on there. It's a. It's a good picture to always share, but, yeah, we do it, Michael.

[Host]

We don't need to look him up.

[Eric Tansey]

I think we can skip that one look. Don't look him up.

[Host]

Let's. Let's not highlight pieces of.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, but anyways. Yes. So she leaves. She's like, I'm gonna get you a wine book, and we'll just. We'll just leave it at that, you know, so she leaves. I'm like, nah, f that. Like, I'm signed up for this. So I spent like 1200 bucks. Like, I put like, 500 to take the test, another $250 to do the Gallo Wine Academy. And then I get the. A 250 workbook and, you know, a couple other books. I think at the end of the day was like, maybe 1100 bucks or something like that. And so she comes home and she's, you know, she's like, I got a surprise for you. You know, it's like a wine book. It was called Wine and War. Great book, by the way. Really short, easy read, but fascinating book about wine and war. A really cool book. And so I was like, hey, well, I got a surprise, too. I spent 1100 bucks, and I'm gonna do this. Why? She was like, no, please. And so I was like, I promise you I'll pass this test. Like, I promise you. And so, yeah, I spent like a year and a half, two years studying, you know, and I volunteered for every homicide scene, every suicide scene. It got so. It got to the point that I was sitting on all these. These scenes so much that a detective was like, yo, dude, what's up with you? I was like, why? What's up? He's like, why do you just, like, love dead people or something? He's like, why do you always volunteer to sit on these scenes? And I was like, well, because I don't have to take any calls. And they're not gonna go anywhere because they're dead. And you guys are doing all the work, work. And I can study my wine. And I would sit there and study all night long, man. I would just sit next to some headless dude or, you know, some poor suicide thing, and I would. So when I took the test, it was really funny because I would be taking the test and it would be like, you know, what is the leading red wine grape of, you know, such and such? Grease, you know. And I'd be like, grease, grease, grease. I was like, all right, that was Corey street, you know, dead guy, blah, blah, blah. Half a brain hanging out, like, doing a lot of twitching. Musca Falero. Got it.

[Host]

You know, I mean, as long, however, your brain Rolodex is information, you might as well lean in.

[Eric Tansey]

I didn't know it was going to roll a decks like that. It just. Just so happened when I was taking the test that that's how I was able to. To roll decks. It worked out in my favor. But, yeah, I took the test and I passed. And I started teaching wine classes. I felt convicted that I was teaching a lot of wine classes. And I became a wine buyer for a lot of wine shops. And then I got into rating and reviewing. And some, like Aldi and Lidl, was new to the United States and they were sending me cases of wine to write and review for them.

[Host]

That sounds dangerous.

[Eric Tansey]

Professionally, it was great.

[Host]

We'll just take a sip and sample it.

[Eric Tansey]

Send me another case. You know, I'm not really sure how.

[Host]

I feel about it. I would like a second and third opinion.

[Eric Tansey]

Yep, it's. I just started teaching his class and I felt convicted. Like, I'm writing these reviews on these people's hard work that I've never done. Like, who am I to tell, like, some winemaker, you know, that worked his ass off like, that he's a, you know, know a bad winemaker, you know, if I've never done it myself. So I really wanted to get in there. And I met a lawyer and my buddy was a combat controller, Tier one combat controller at the time. He just retired. Doesn't have social media or anything like that, but a great guy. And he and I were on this wine journey together and really close friends still to stay. Really, really close friends. And I. I got with him and this lawyer and was like, dude, I want to let. Like, let's just. Let's try to, like, let's open up something. And so we thought, you know, winery was too expensive. None of us had that kind of money. So we opened up a distillery and we made rum. And then the department found out that I was about. Well, they knew for. It took me two years to build the distillery. I had to get all the permits. It takes forever. And you. Our building was built, like 1890, something.

[Host]

That could be cool.

[Eric Tansey]

And it was. It was really. But it took a lot of work to, you know, gut it out and do all this stuff. So, I mean, it was a lot. And my sergeants and captains, everybody was helping me do it. It was a great team effort. And serious. Did all the. The landscaping for it. It was a bit, you know, some of the detectives built the bar for me. It was a great team effort. It was. It was incredible. And just so thankful for those guys. And then the department, the. The city manager of Raleigh, and not really the department, but the city manager felt that it was unbecoming of an officer to own a distillery.

[Host]

Why do they care?

[Eric Tansey]

The values of a distillery owner do not coincide with the values. And it was in a different county business. It was a different county. And the way the ABC laws in North Carolina are, I wouldn't have sold it or distributed it. The state does that.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

So really, I'm just a manufacturer of spirits. Legally, they had a problem with it.

[Host]

And that's a weird one to me.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, it was. Huh. And so, yeah, I mean, it was a weird one to everybody. And it made national news, which is the next part of that story. Because that's how I got into podcasting. Because drinking bros. Ross Patterson. The, the, the. You know, this was the 2018. 2019, maybe something.

[Host]

Yeah. Earlier on.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. And they were like, hey, we just saw on the news that, you know, there's this officer that was officer of the year and fired the same year for opening up a distillery. Is that true?

[Host]

And so that's what they fired you for, was the distillery?

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm becoming of an officer. Yeah. And insubordination. Because I would not, I wouldn't. I. I would refuse to stop going to my own distillery.

[Host]

Oh, that's a shot. Well, you do so good with authority.

[Eric Tansey]

But. Oh, well, that was the best part though, because everybody was like, even my sergeants were like, dude, these people, like, you're, you're fine.

[Host]

I mean, you weren't going there in your patrol car, right? Or.

[Eric Tansey]

No, it's a different count.

[Host]

That's what I'm saying.

[Eric Tansey]

I know what I mean. Until like, like, you know.

[Host]

Well, what kind of shifts did you guys work? Like a couple on, couple off?

[Eric Tansey]

Yes. 12 hour shifts. So Monday, Tuesday, off, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You only work 14 days a month.

[Host]

That's. Why do they care?

[Eric Tansey]

They should not have cared. I mean, and a councilman, a city councilman, and Raleigh owned a brewery at the time. So it's like a councilman can own a brewery in the city of Raleigh, but a cop can't own a distillery in another county.

[Host]

Was it in their doctrine anywhere or.

[Eric Tansey]

I said, you cannot sell. You could not sell or distribute alcohol. But in the state of North Carolina, which I get. Right. Because you don't. I don't want to sell you alcohol and then have my friend give you a dui. You know what I mean? That would. I could see.

[Host]

That is an interesting business model.

[Eric Tansey]

I could see. Right, right. So but in a different county, and the state sells and distributes, so I wouldn't have any, you know, and I couldn't sell to a 19 year old versus a 21 year old, which was another thing. Because the state sells. It's a state controlled ABC board. You don't have that here in Montana in the state of North Carolina. They're state employees. They work for the state. They don't know anything about liquor. That's just their job. And they're not even allowed to, like, help you, man. This is a state ran. It's called the Alcohol Beverage Commission.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

But they handle all the distribution. They handle all the sales of the Liker. So all I had to do is manufacture it, but they didn't want to do it. And. And. And so it was great, though, because, you know, I. It was the first time that I really, like when I went to Internal Affairs. I went in there with, like, an open hand of kindness. And he started out the. And I never met this Internal affairs person either, ever in my life. And he started out the. The conversation with, what were you told on March and. Which was, like, two days prior to me coming in there, which was not to go back to that distillery, and that I was done. That I had an IA investigation pending for unbecoming of an officer, and so I could not go back to my distillery until the IA thing was complete. And I was like, that's not gonna happen because I just opened up the business.

[Host]

And, like, do they even have the authority to restrict you from doing that?

[Eric Tansey]

They thought they did.

[Host]

I mean, well, they'll. Their authority would derive from their ability to. To ex. You know, eject you from the job. But.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

So last I checked, you weren't on duty or shift. That'd be weird. Be like, how dare you eat pancakes for breakfast. You need to eat what we. Like, I'm not on.

[Eric Tansey]

I mean, but the police department has a really good way of trying to, like, control your life. Really. They do it like. I mean, they'll force you to work off duty. They'll be like, we didn't have enough off duty. People saying, you got to work off duty. And you're like, I don't want to go work a concert. You know, like, well, we don't have enough people go work it.

[Host]

You know, aspect of being voluntold.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. And it's like, you're. You're not insured the same way. I mean, it's just. Yeah, they have. They have a way of doing things. So when he. When he did the knife hand, it extreme. Like, it. It. I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna play this whole game. And like, I like. Yeah. So I was a real. After that, and it was great. I had a lot of fun being an. I got to play that out. And, yeah, they fired me. I mean, they gave me an opportunity to resign. I said, no, fire me. Like, I want to do this. I've never been fired before. Let's go, like, fire me. And, yeah, it was a. It was. It was a unique journey. And. And then I got fired, and I owned the distillery. And then I got to have the podcast with the drinking bros. And I came on there and I told funny cop stories, really, that I had written, but I didn't know, Like, I didn't tell anybody had written cop story, but I. Yeah, you know, and they were like, dude, you're hilarious. And they're like, would you ever want a podcast for a living? And I was like, not really. I don't know anything about it. Four months later, they called me and had me fly to Austin and they gave me a job doing a tailgate legend show, which I don't know anything about sports. And that was fun. And then Covet hit, and that kind of took the wind out of those sales. But they got with Mike the Cop, who's a big cop influencer at the time, and we did a show called Failure to Stop Is right after George Floyd. And it was a police breakdown, and we hit it off huge. Micah Cobbin. And the show went bonkers. It was great. Had big numbers. And then YouTube, you demonetized us two weeks before that election, and whatever. That was the first Trump one.

[Host]

Did they give you any indication that they were about to do that? Like community strikes or anything?

[Eric Tansey]

Like, hey, two weeks before the election, they were just like. And it was. It was just a pro cop. Like, we weren't political. It was a pro cop. But, you know, and. And that was so big for Mike the cop that he never went back. Like, he got. He got rid of his social media, he sold his YouTube channel, he became a preacher. He was done. He had been done fighting YouTube forever, but it was a huge chunk of change. And so I went back down to ground zero. Like, so when I opened up my distillery, Covet hit, I'd emptied out my 401k. Lee, my combat controller guy, who was supposed to be getting out and helping me with the distillery, gets deployed to Syria, which I think is when Brent Tucker got shot, if I'm not mistaken, on that rotation.

[Host]

Who knows?

[Eric Tansey]

Because he was there with Brent when Brent got shot. And that's kind of how I know Brent. Brent. And I've talked about it, and. And then I ended up working with Brent for a little bit too. Very short period of time. But it was. It was fun. He's a good person. I think. And so we end up. So he gets deployed to Syria, which sucks, and then he gets moved on to Florida because he wouldn't get the vaccine. They were going to process him out. And I think he was at an E8 at the time or E7, so he had, it was like a congressional thing at that point because he was high enough rank and that was a big deal. But he never did, never got the COVID vaccine. But they moved him to Florida as kind of a punishment, made him the commandant of the dive school down there. So I didn't have him helping me. And then the lawyer had a massive stroke and was like out for six months to a year or he was out for six months and then after that he was still not, you know, because he was elderly.

[Host]

So you're lucky it was, I mean, a massive stroke. You're lucky if it was not more than multiple years.

[Eric Tansey]

He was on life support for months and he had to learn how to talk.

[Host]

Yeah, that's no joke.

[Eric Tansey]

And it was, it was bad. And so like now I'm stuck just doing everything, which you know, is fine. But now I was working 17, 18 hour days. My wife's pregnant with our then fourth child. I'm not getting unemployment because I couldn't get unemployment from the department because I was fired. Also I had like, I never took in a sick day at that point. Like I had like all these sick days, so I had none. They wouldn't let me. They don't pay that out when you get fired. So then I had vacation days but I had been burning or I guess it was vice versa. I had all these. Either way I couldn't get paid. They didn't pay me for the sick. You got your vacation but you didn't get the sick. So. Because every time I wanted to take a day off, I would burn vacation and not sick. So I didn't have any vacation, but I had like 300 or 400 hours of sick. But they didn't give them to me because I got fired. And I didn't know that. I didn't know that you lose it. Should have known it didn't because again, not the brightest person, not the most best business person. Like I don't read between the lines very well. So anyway, so now we're broke and I'm running this distillery. Covid hits. Everything is shutting down. I've got all this money, all this, you know, a thousand pounds of jaggery and, you know, yeast and all this stuff and no way of, you know, none of the bars Are open. And that. That was terrible. So, you know, now I have no money, none. About to lose my house. Four months behind on payment. I've gone from never being laid on a payment ever for anything. Paying everything on time, you know, my whole life to now I'm gonna lose my house because I'm four months behind. Luckily, the government did that, you know, they pushed it out.

[Host]

Yes.

[Eric Tansey]

So that saves us by the skin of our teeth. My wife is extremely scared and unhappy. You know, pregnant with our fourth child. It's just like sucks. We homeschool, home birth, do all this. That Christmas, we end up having to take back the we bought a Christmas dinner. I get hit with a wastewater allocation fee from the city. I have to take back gifts and all this stuff to pay this, this wastewater allocation fee because I couldn't get a hold of my business partner because he's got the stroke thing. So I couldn't get any money from him. So it was all on me, which I'm not complaining about. I totally understand that. So now we have to go garage sailing two weeks before Christmas to buy gifts. We end up having spaghetti and meatballs. Couldn't do steak or anything because we just had no money and it was awful. And then, then I get this dream opportunity randomly from the drinking bros to come work for them and they offer me enough money that I'm able to get all my, my payments back on track and get, you know, get caught up. Luckily I have a. My mortgage is like 700amonth.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

I have three acres and a 1400 square foot house. You know, and so then, you know, that, that's great. And then, you know, it's a year of doing pretty good. Everything's going great. Babies are healthy, everything's great. And then we lose that YouTube channel and I go back down to square zero. What am I going to do for a job? The distillery is like really kicking my ass because it was. We never really could catch up after Covid and. And it was just really rough, man. And then I was still writing because I would watch the stills for 10 hours and write and watch the stills. And it just like threw like some weird friend, friend person that knew Nick Palmisano. I had told this guy that I wrote a comedy and my wife read it and she said it was the funniest thing she'd ever read. And my wife reads like three or four books a week. She's obsessed with reading. Her degree is in French Francophonics, which is interpreting French books into English.

[Host]

Oh, wow.

[Eric Tansey]

And that's what she loves. She. She's a. She doesn't do social media. She doesn't do a phone. Like, her phone's gone, like, three days before she'll turn it back on. And. And. But she's just a very, very quiet. And she reads constantly. And so she thought it was great. And she was like, you should try to get this in front of somebody. So Nick Palm Shano was like, I'll. I'll give you five paragraphs, you know, I was like, man, that would be great. Thank you. And he called me back, like, three days later, and he was like, I've given you five chapters. And then I made my wife read it. And he was like, this is the craziest thing I've ever read. Like, what are you doing with this book? And I said, I don't know. Nothing. I've just seen if it was any good for you. And he's like, man, I really think you have something here. Like, let's work on this. And. And it was great. He helped me restructure some of the chapters. Like, help me polish it up, make it make sense. And, you know, the good thing about my book is that there's a police report for every story. So it's like. And I wrote them in the moment, not thinking they would ever read books, so there's nothing.

[Host]

What are you trying to say? Are you trying to say some people write books that have other than documented backstories?

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Yeah. What I'd say is, like, interesting. When you read this book, you might be like, that's not true. It's 100 true. It's really true. Who did you publish through Simon Schuster? Okay, sweet. And it was a great. It was a great opportunity, and they offered me quite a bit of money, which saved my family. You know, it made life a lot easier.

[Host]

Advance is a bastard, though, because it stands for advance on future sales.

[Eric Tansey]

I mean, they paid me. They paid me a lot of money.

[Host]

No, I'm saying it's great. So that means the investment, like, the risk is more on their side. Yes, I'm sure it'll do fantastic. But if it doesn't, your check's good.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. And then. And then another opportunity came up when I'm working with Tyler Gray and AJ Blake Buckley from the TV series SEAL team, and Robert Munich. He's a great writer, director. And those guys approached me with another. I think so I've been working with them for. For about two or three months now on some stuff. I'm doing a celebrity golf tournament with them. Obviously, I Got onto your show, which is really crazy. And, you know, it's, it's, it's. Everything just kind of happened. Everything happened for a reason, and I know that now. And it was like, man, it's in the moment. I thought all the time for 25 years, dude, I thought, like, I just belong at the bottom. Like, there's just. Eric Tansey was never meant to be stable or, like, good. My mental health has always been stable. My relationship with my wife has always been stable. My family relationships, everything, like, on paper was stable, but I've always just been working for nothing. Like, I'm never gonna make more than $45,000 a year type mentality. You know, I live very small. I've never. I don't have a motorcycle. I have one. We've always had one. Car. Car. You know, we do a lot of traveling. My kids are phenomenal skateboarders, if you.

[Host]

That's what you're saying.

[Eric Tansey]

I mean, phenomenal. Like, insanely good.

[Host]

Did they fall into that on their own?

[Eric Tansey]

Yes. Yeah. And. And look, dude, my 12 year old and my 10 year old, they're like survivalists. They make snares. They eat their own squirrels. They cook a little bit weird. Dude, they are so fun. They are the most entertaining. They're gonna go. They're gonna be. They're gonna be great.

[Host]

His.

[Eric Tansey]

His Instagram channel, they make content on. It's hilarious. And they do like, millions of views. They get, like, they have multiple videos that have over a million views.

[Host]

That's amazing.

[Eric Tansey]

On their Instagram. Yeah, they do. And they come up with that content generally on their own. They. They will scroll for ideas and things and then they'll.

[Host]

They'll say, like, it's okay to find inspiration elsewhere.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. They're like, dad, can we do this? Like, dad, can. I mean, they made a cooking video the other day that was so freaking. My wife and I were gone. They were babysitting and they called and they were like, dad, can we bake something? And. And it was. I mean, it was incredible. And the video. And like, so one son was like, doing all the video. The 10 year old was doing the video and the 12 year old was. And it was really good. And it's. And. But you know, they got. They get free stuff all the time from like, Liquid Death. Haritos the Sodas just sent a semi truck to our house with like, loads of. They're incredible. They're fine. Like, they get to travel. All their stuff's paid for. They get vip. They're, They're. They're great. So, you know, on paper everything has been good, but now everything just seems to be kind of working out and. But the funny thing I was telling.

[Host]

Nick, overnight, 10 year success.

[Eric Tansey]

Funny how that works. Funny how that works. I said, dude, I, you know, because I was very stressed out about your show. Extremely stressed out. Well, you know, because Nick's, Nick's name is on the book. So Nick's going through a lot of stress. That whole Tim Kenny thing, there's people starting to filter into my comments about it. Yeah, yeah, I haven't heard much. You know, he's, there's, it's another Navy SEAL book. Basically.

[Host]

Kim Kennedy is a legendary seal.

[Eric Tansey]

So, you know, it's like being on the Epstein, like, I almost would rather be on the Epstein Epstein list. Like, I think I could like, articulate, not get. Like, I could be like, oh, I met that guy one time and like, that's why I'm on the list. Whereas, like Tim Kennedy, I've never even met him and I'm already getting my DMs, like, go yourself. Burn your book, you know, ball. I'm like, dude, you guys don't even know me.

[Host]

Is it out?

[Eric Tansey]

No, it comes out next week.

[Host]

Okay. Okay.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, so, but, oh, so you're deep.

[Host]

Into like the pre sale. You're gonna have to do a bunch.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, yeah, but I was, yeah, we were real nervous coming on this show and then why though? Well, I, you know, I. Do you want to be honest with you?

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

Or do you want me to be Tim Kennedy? I thought this was gonna be a gotcha moment. I thought you were gonna bring me in here and just like roast, Roast Nick or what? Or, or roast me for like not doing my due diligence or like, I don't know. I just in my brain, the way my brain works, I was like, this guy's gonna, this guy's gonna got you me.

[Host]

I, I, you honestly watch 0% of my content.

[Eric Tansey]

No, I watched the show that you did with Austin and, and I, I don't consume content. And that sucks too.

[Host]

If you couldn't tell in the first sentence of that show that I was completely joking, I, boy, but you.

[Eric Tansey]

So like, if you were to joke like that with me and I don't know Tim or anything, I wouldn't have anything to say because I'm like, well, I don't know, I don't know him. I don't know. Like, I'm not a Navy Seal and I'm not a Green Beret.

[Host]

So it's like, But I couldn't joke with you like that because it's a. It's different context.

[Eric Tansey]

Exactly.

[Host]

Those two.

[Eric Tansey]

That's how I felt.

[Host]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So I could never. I wouldn't do that.

[Eric Tansey]

But I didn't know you wouldn't do that. So like I thought so I like, all night last night I was like, man, like my war game was like, okay, when he brings up this. How am I going to answer that if he. If he says this? Well, how am I going to. And I thought I was going to be playing defense the whole time. And, and, and so like, you know, I was. I was telling Nick, I was like. And I wasn't nervous that I would up. I was nervous that, well, like I'm going to get through it. But I was. I told Nick, I said I didn't want to get this far to look like a fool for this guy. And if he starts joking with me, I'm not gonna have any answers and I'm gonna look like a complete dude.

[Host]

I would never put.

[Eric Tansey]

And I went on this podcast called Angry Me Podcast. And the guy was a really good guy, but he caught me off guard and he brought up the next. Or he brought up the Nick Palm of Chano stuff and I got really defensive.

[Host]

And Cliff, for clear what we're talking about. Nick is the co author of Tim's.

[Eric Tansey]

Book, which is a book of fantasy, essentially.

[Host]

I can't speak with any level of. Of definity on that, but I can say there are other people out there doing research and it.

[Eric Tansey]

I met him once. Yeah, so I met Tim Kennedy once. I got my picture with him. I was actually in a TV series with him, but I didn't actually meet him even though I had a scene with him. They didn't use him for the scene.

[Host]

Oh, was it like a shot of you and like that?

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wasn't actually talking to him, but I mean, I don't. I mean when I did meet him the one time, he was an extremely nice guy. And then during the Hurricane Helene thing, we were. It was really bad for us and it was a huge team effort and Sentinel foundation and I think they're called Mighty Oak, which is like, that's Robishas. Rob Shaws. They. And then save our allies. Like we all work together in such a phenomenal capacity that like. And you know, I was so proud of all the hard work that everybody did there that, you know that again I was like, man, Tim Kennedy is a great. All these guys. Chad rockshaw Tim Kennedy.

[Host]

The data points you have are the data points you have.

[Eric Tansey]

That's all you have. Yeah. And I thought, like, this was handled really well. We did better than the government did. You know, it was so professional, faster than the government. It was. I mean, they set up, like, a talk, you know, it was perfect. They did. So. It's the greatest war story never told, to be honest with you. And. And it's funny, another one of my buddies is a Delta operator that I was in the course with. Haven't seen him in 20 years. We end up in this hangar together, and now we're reconnected, and we're really close. He's in Israel right now, but he was. He told me at the end of this, he's a dude, because I think we were there for, like, eight weeks total in. In western North Carolina. And he said, I don't know how I. I'm gonna leave here. He's like, I've been to Fallujah, Ramadi, you know, Syria, Iraq. And he's like, this is the one thing that I will take one of me. He said, I've never prayed as much as I prayed then on this mission. He said, I've never cried more than I've ever cried on this mission. And. And it was just a. It was. It was such a cool thing to see all those guys work together, and there was no hate, you know, There was no. I know there's some drama now that I hear about, but in that, mom, everybody worked perfectly, and they did great, And. And. And I was really proud to be a part of it, frankly. So that's my only. That's all I knew about Tim Kennedy. So when. When I came here, I told Nick, I said. I said, look, man, I'm at the point in my life where it's like, if I go. If. Even if I go in here and I. This whole thing up, I don't care. Like, I don't care anymore. Like, it's. All that matters to me is my wife's still gonna love me, my 5 kids are still gonna love me, and it's all I care about. So it's like, you want to DM me guys about, like, you know, because some of these guys got, like, Tim Kennedy derangement syndrome at this point. Like, they are. Like, the fact that you would message me not knowing who I am.

[Host]

Just remember, reading the DMS is optional.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, well, I've. I figured that out, sure. But, yeah, it's silly, but, yeah, it was. It's been a fun project. And Nick Palmiano is giving me an opportunity. And same with Ross Patterson and the drinking bros guys. I mean, all these guys have been. Been so great to me. And, you know, I always say that I've done a lot in this industry now since working with the drinking bros and being on the road with them, especially for a year, and doing all the things, you know, going to a different sporting event every weekend or nearly every weekend, and most of them with them. I've seen a lot of the industry. There's two people in the industry I would let babysit my children, and that's Nick Palmo and Mike the cop. Those are, like, the two people that I would trust with my family. So, you know, people want to hate on Nick Pomisiano. I would only say it's because you don't. You don't know him. I mean, he is a. He has done more to help others, and he does it for no clout. He doesn't have a social media following. He's not an influencer. He works behind the camera. And all he cares about is one. Your mental health, your physical health. And he just. I've never met a guy more caring. That's a celebrity. Ish. But he doesn't act like. I mean, he just wants to help you be successful. Like, he doesn't want you to tag him in anything. Like, I'll be like, hey, dude, like, how do I tag you in this? And he'll be like. Like, it's not about me, it's about you. And it's just.

[Host]

It's a rare quality.

[Eric Tansey]

I think it's. I think he's a selfless guy, from what I know. So I've. I've always appreciated. I have a gift for you, though, before you hang this up.

[Host]

Is it a dildo?

[Eric Tansey]

Yes, a green one. From the wnba. From the. Would you take it if it was from the court of a. Like, if it was one of those green deals that was thrown onto the court, would you take it?

[Host]

If it had a suction cup, it would go on the TV forever.

[Eric Tansey]

It would be badass, wouldn't it?

[Host]

Don't you think, Michael?

[Eric Tansey]

Don't you think it's funny?

[Host]

Or would you want it behind you on the flag so you could, like, reach back and, like, give it a swat? No, you'd have to go behind the head.

[Eric Tansey]

Like, it just thwap.

[Host]

And just.

[Eric Tansey]

I think the reason why they're so upset about the green dildo thing is that they've made, like, somebody made more money on dildos than the wnba. Has made on merch.

[Host]

Here's an interesting stat. More people have been arrested for throwing dildos than being on the Epstein list.

[Eric Tansey]

Well, that's. So this is.

[Host]

What you got there.

[Eric Tansey]

This is. This is a cop, and he's from Sheep Dog holsters. Oh. And we wanted to customize you a holster because that's what he does. He's just a Of couple. Cop. Cool guy. Cop.

[Host]

Hand that thing over.

[Eric Tansey]

And so Berserker, which is a guy you work with before. I think you just had operation. I. I'm blanking out now because I'm nervous, but Berserker makes skateboards. He's.

[Host]

Okay.

[Eric Tansey]

I don't know if he was a SEAL or some kind of special ops guy, but he makes these, like, decorative seal, Navy SEAL, and special operation skateboards that hang on walls, and he gives them out as gifts and everything. It's called Berserker. And they collaborated. These guys. I didn't know that time they saw a picture of my son skateboarding, and they found out that I was a cop through his social media, and they were like, dude, can we send your kid a custom deck and you a holster? And that's how I met him. And so, anyway, this is a fully custom holster for you, and I think it's for Glock 19, because I just assumed you would own a Glock 19. I do, in the waistband.

[Host]

And this is a 320, though.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, it's like 320. Which. Hey, I said. I called this. I said, I bet you there's more to that story. And now I. I've heard that they've made some arrests in that case.

[Host]

So.

[Eric Tansey]

So.

[Host]

And I. I also heard that because.

[Eric Tansey]

I've been to 320 a lot, and I've.

[Host]

Is it fair to assume perhaps, that somebody might have shot somebody else and then blamed it on the gun?

[Eric Tansey]

Yes.

[Host]

Maybe. I think so backstory there.

[Eric Tansey]

I mean, I've seen 320s fall off of roofs of cop cars. Like, cops carry this thing all the time and tackle people on concrete things.

[Host]

But I've also seen videos of cops having them go off in lobbies, so.

[Eric Tansey]

Oh, you know what I mean?

[Host]

I'm also not an expert on the internal mechanics. And guess what?

[Eric Tansey]

What?

[Host]

There are people out there that can weigh in on that. I just like sometimes to make irresponsible 320 jokes.

[Eric Tansey]

I think they're great. I just. Yeah. Be an expert on the platform. This is really cool. This is a holster that they sent you. I mean, a. Not a holster. A Koozie oh, nice. Anything. So it's like, it's like a. Like it would even fit on one of these little guys, you know, so.

[Host]

Ew. Interesting design there.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, it's really cool.

[Host]

Well, thank you guys for sending me this. I appreciate that.

[Eric Tansey]

I guess it gave you some stickers too.

[Host]

Yeah. If you don't know Glock, do you mean, like, do you even own guns?

[Eric Tansey]

Right. Yeah, that's what I had with me. It was a Glock 19. So I was like, yeah, so we. We didn't know to do.

[Host]

Like, how does that work for you? Does HR218 cover you?

[Eric Tansey]

Not anymore.

[Host]

No, it doesn't. I mean, in Montana's a constitutional to me.

[Eric Tansey]

Like, I don't care. Like, I will carry all the time. Like, I carry everywhere. Is that bad?

[Host]

I. I am not the. Well, here's what I can say.

[Eric Tansey]

I'll go to jail happily for it.

[Host]

Well, and that's the thing. People's decision to either obey the law or not obey the law is their call. All the cascading consequences that can come from that are in line with the decision that you make. What I'll say is, I'm not going to tell anybody how to live their life. Make the choices you want. Just understand the potential consequences. I choose to be prepared.

[Eric Tansey]

I want to be prepared, dude. It's like I'm fit to be prepared. I'm the guy that I want to trust with my life when shit goes down. Like, I want there to be a guy like me when it goes carrying in California. Yeah. I try to stay away from California anyway, but I'm just saying, no, I won't.

[Host]

There are some states that will treat it like. Like DC probably not a good idea.

[Eric Tansey]

Probably not a good idea. Not gonna say I've done it or not, but I'm just saying. Pretty bad.

[Host]

Caution.

[Eric Tansey]

Sometimes I. Sometimes I even forget.

[Host]

But that sucks because that retired.

[Eric Tansey]

Like, I forget that I have it on because, you know, it was a big part of my life for so long.

[Host]

Would have covered you.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

Because HR 218 allows people to cover or carry 50.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Forever.

[Host]

Well, as long as they keep re establishing that federal law, you'll be good.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

Because I think they have to like every four or eight years, but it seems like something.

[Eric Tansey]

But in Montana, this is like a free state anyway.

[Host]

Constitutional carry stuff state.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Is it concealed too or.

[Host]

Yes, you do not need a concealed weapons permit here anymore.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

If you get one, it'll shorten your time purchasing the weapon by 60 seconds. That's about the only benefit because they'll do that in turn in in lieu of a looking you up in the background check system. The CCW covers that.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, yeah. But out of respect for you, I left it in the pack. I didn't like carry it on my hip cuz I didn't know like what, I didn't know what your rules were in your establishment, but I felt like really safe. But, but I was like, I'm not going to not bring one. So just like I did in my studio.

[Host]

There's one in the fanny pack.

[Eric Tansey]

Great, great. That's perfect. Yeah. And I figured it was like in our jiu jitsu gym, sometimes people get.

[Host]

A little wild and it's like, oh, there you go.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. I think ahead, like I like when I was a cop and I would run into people that they would be like, I have a gun in the car. I'm like awesome. Like I didn't even ask like, like if you're gonna tell me that you.

[Host]

Have a gun in the car.

[Eric Tansey]

We're good. Yeah.

[Host]

How do you roll you 16 plus one.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Like good for you, buddy. Like that's the way I like it.

[Host]

You know I was going to give you 10 it. Now we're gonna have a talk, like.

[Eric Tansey]

Now we're gonna chat about these guns.

[Host]

What else? So I mean I think there's a lot of Runway for you obviously in the spaces that you're doing. What else, what else do you want to do with your life though? I mean you've obviously lived quite a few of a diverse experience up to this point. But I mean, you got some time.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

None of us know how much time we have left obviously. But I think stats are probably in your favor. What else you want to do? Like outside of the stuff you're doing now, what else interests you?

[Eric Tansey]

I do like stand up comedy a lot. A lot. I really enjoy doing it. I've been doing it for a couple years now and it's been a lot of fun. Yeah. But you know, mainly having five kids, it's, it's really all about my kids and full time job. There's. They're awesome, man. They're like I said, they're just so cool. I, I like, I sit back and look at them. I'm just like, dude, I'm the luckiest guy in the world because I mean they just do crazy stuff and you know, it's amazing what happens when you don't give kids screens. Like, it's just, it's insane like how creative they get and, and it's cool. So I know that they have a professional. They're already skating at a professional level. Like they, they do events where they make them skate in the pro division and they're skating with 25 year olds, you know, and they skate a jackalope three years in a row where VIPs. The jackalope, you know, he. I don't know if you know, Bob Burnquest was or.

[Host]

I do.

[Eric Tansey]

Like, my son, like in May was like on the vert ramp and he was up there with Bob Burnquest and Bob was talking to him and giving him some pointers on the vert ramp. Well, you know vert ramp's huge, right? Yeah, yeah. And it's even huge, huge for my, my little, my 10 year old and my 12 year old and my 7 year old to be up there. And so my son, you know, they, they talk. And I think Beaver Fleming was up there too, and he's a big name right now. And he comes off the ramp and I was like, yo, what did Bob say to you? And he was like, who's Bob? And I was like, Bob Burnquest. He's like, I don't know who that is.

[Host]

The dude standing next to me talking.

[Eric Tansey]

You don't know Bob. I was like, I have failed you. Like, I don't know if you know who Tim Pool is, but he's a big skateboarder and podcaster, Tim Pool. And he's got a. He's got a. A facility that he invites pros to. And he invited my kids and this other kid named Summer of Cam on Instagram, but he was on like 11 or 10, but he invited my three kids and him to this pro thing that was private at his facility and it was cool. He gave my kids money to like, do these like. Or my kids were like landing tricks. And he was like, if you land that, I'll give you 200 bucks. You land that I'll give you. It was really fun. And they, they had a really great time. But they were interviewing my. Because my son had a podcast too. And like Rob Machado, the pro surfer, was on it. Ryan Sheckler was on it. And then he took my kids to Woodward for a week and Pennsylvania paid for it. It was cool. Or my son Duke. And so the podcast was really cool. And so the Boonies HQ, they did a video. Like one of their first YouTube videos is actually with. With my children. And so he's interviewing my son Duke, and they're asking him about like, Bam Margera. They're like, have you skated Bam's place yet. And my son goes, is that the fat, sweaty guy? And so they just, like, lost it. I think bam. Somewhere, like, left a message or somebody made a comment, one of his team. It's on their social medias a while ago, but it was like, fat, sweaty guy. Really?

[Host]

We're all fading to oblivion. It's some point.

[Eric Tansey]

And I said, I failed as a father.

[Host]

You know that the icons are people that were memorable to us that just mean absolutely nothing to our. Like I said, we all. We're all twisting off out into orbit at some point. Fading just into obscurity.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

But it's been fun, man. And. And I'm. I'm so stoked that you gave me this opportunity.

[Host]

I'm happy to have you, man. I'm glad you got to come.

[Eric Tansey]

You guys today, too. That was. Why would I not roll with you?

[Host]

Like, that's insane. You got to.

[Eric Tansey]

Have you ever met celebrities?

[Host]

I'm not a celebrity.

[Eric Tansey]

Like, they are pretty weird.

[Host]

I am not a celebrity.

[Eric Tansey]

I mean, Ish. No, ish.

[Host]

You know who is. Who's recognizable? He sits right over there.

[Eric Tansey]

And he's super good at jiu jitsu, too. No, not a celebrity.

[Host]

He used to work.

[Eric Tansey]

Listen, can you, like, next time, if I ever get to roll with you again, like, if you mount me, can you just, like, act like you care that you mounted me? Like, can you not act so nonchalant about, like, sitting on top of me? Like, that's.

[Host]

Why did you let him mount you?

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, why were you. He looks so bored.

[Host]

I don't even know what you guys are talking about. Why was Michael looking down instead of. Yeah, yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

He was just kind of like.

[Host]

He's good. I met him as a white belt.

[Eric Tansey]

Really?

[Host]

He was, what, 30 pounds lighter?

[Eric Tansey]

Maybe 40?

[Host]

I don't believe that's actually true. That'd be a startling amount of weight you've gained.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, well, I. I did. No, you look great. I'm 188 right now.

[Host]

You weighed 148 when I met you.

[Eric Tansey]

No, I weighed 150. That's 38 pounds. So I just rounded up and said 40. Damn. So fat. I have to give one shout out to you, though. This guy's name is Tom Webb and he's a SWAT oper. Well, what? Just retired. Just retired. Just got in a really bad shooting, too. Another one? I don't know.

[Host]

Using his name.

[Eric Tansey]

I don't. Yeah, he's fine. I don't know if that was his first shooting. Anyway, he just got in a shooting, and our coach gave him two stripes for it, the Jiu Jitsu coach. But anyway, this guy's slightly non sequitur.

[Host]

But I'm here for that.

[Eric Tansey]

I was pretty pumped. I was like, dude, that's cool. But it was. So he got in the shooting and it was like. I don't know if it was like two or three o' clock in the morning that he gets in the shooting and like the next day at noon he was in class like story, but no, but there's more to the story. So he's on the SWAT team and he's the nerd of the SWAT team. He's got a lot of tism. He's got his children like full blown autistic and his. He's like in charge of all the equipment. Yeah, I mean he's an operator, but he's also, he buys all the equipment, tests all the equipment, does like. He's got a, a very vast job on the SWAT team and he's extremely intelligent when it comes to all this stuff. Gets crazy cancer. Beats this crazy cancer. It comes back. His testosterone got knocked down to like two I think is what they said. Like they had, they needed to get as close to zero as they could for this treatment.

[Host]

Really.

[Eric Tansey]

He was still coming back to Jiu Jitsu and still giving it like Pacey White. Just like you could just like it sucked because you just like in that moment, it's like you don't want to go so easy on him that he's like offended. But you all like, obviously you're not gonna like. But you know. And he's a much higher, he's a higher belt rank than I am. And it's like. But when he was in that moment.

[Host]

Like, no, you get to choke the when you can.

[Eric Tansey]

I couldn't do it. But he said, I didn't even know he knew you. But I, I told him I wasn't going to be in training and I was going on Cleared Hot. He says it's his favorite show.

[Host]

Go Sweet.

[Eric Tansey]

And he said that you are the reason that he started Jiu Jitsu. And I think that's important because one, Tom's kind of a quiet, nerdy guy and. But he has overcome so much in his life and his career as a cop. And he's a perfect cop. I don't know that he's ever had an IA investigation ever. He just retired, but phenomenal dude. Phenomenal guy. And then gets in this shooting and like, like right after to break it down, he's like, yeah, you know, he breaks it down in A very like scientific, like it didn't even like affect him, you know. And he was like, yeah, you know, it's, he's great. But so when he texted me, I was like, dude, there's no way I'm not gonna like shout out Tom Webb on your show. So. Well, really great Raleigh.

[Host]

I'm glad he found it. I don't understand how police can do a job where they're required to touch people and they don't train grappling of some kind. That is insanity.

[Eric Tansey]

That is insanity. I will tell you from my perspective being a cop. Yeah, I got into a hand. This was again wrong. Yeah, right. We do have grappling. We do good. We do a lot of grappling in the police part. It's not jiu jitsu level grappling, but we do a lot of control techniques. And Raleigh has a phenomenal training program. We have a reality based training team which makes you do lots of training all year. Reality based. I mean we shoot from windows, we shoot from under cars, over cars. We do sim rounds constantly. They've got so many ways to stress you out and make you shoot. And they are so scientific about it. They have videos and they break it down. A lot of these guys are ex military, ex Green Berets, MARSOC whatnots. And they're so great about working with all of the officers. The guy that's running it now, Eric Scott, he's a per. A brown belt. He's a brown belt and he is like writing some doctrine on grappling. But he works like they'll pull people off the street, they off the, out of their cop cars and say like, hey, come down to the station. We just watched one of your videos. This control technique would have worked better in this scenario. Like let's go ahead and run that scenario back with you and let's replay it. They do a great, they do a phenomenal job. But obviously you need more. Your time as a cop is stretched so thin. You're always shooting on the range. Believe it or not, if you're a big city cop. Yeah, not New York, that doesn't count. But like I said, you know, most big city cops, you're going to the range a lot. You have court a lot. You have off duty. I mean, yeah, it's only 14 days a week that you're working on paper. That's not reality. The reality is you're constantly going and you never sleep because you work 12 hours all night. And then you got to be at court at 8am you're falling asleep in court, then you got to be right back on shift. It's, it's gnarly. But I was putting my hands on somebody. Every single, every single night I put my hands on somebody. So I felt like, like, why do I need Jiu Jitsu? I do this every day and I'm good at it. I mean, I'm not good at it because I got my blasted so many times. And I think now I'm like, unless you and I. I would have known Jiu Jitsu. I wouldn't have got my face pushed in.

[Host]

Well, you never know.

[Eric Tansey]

It's like you don't know what you don't know.

[Host]

I, I am an absolute nobody. But I would kind of be a handful for a cop.

[Eric Tansey]

Every cop, I would be a handful. I tell her on my show, Failure Stop on my podcast, I tell you cops. Like now I'm like that guy. Like, have you heard about my lord and savior, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for cops. Because it's like, you have to, you have to train. You have to. And my cousin in law. No, my brother in law. My brother in law, depending on the.

[Host]

State, be the same person.

[Eric Tansey]

But he's, he's like, I'm going to do Muay Thai or he's a cop in Orlando.

[Host]

That's actually legit though too, because strike.

[Eric Tansey]

I do more. I do more.

[Host]

I was going to say Jiu Jitsu. I say this every time. It's not a complete elite self defense martial art. You have to be able to get through striking ranges or use striking because if you get knocked out on the ground and you have a black belt, it's like, cool black belt, dude.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

But also, if you're a great striker and somebody is able to get their hands around you and you are just completely screwed. It's like cool striking.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. I would say, like, I told him that I would do Jiu Jitsu. I do Muay Thai too.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

I train Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu at Gracie Raleigh under Brandon Garner. And, and I would, I told him, I was like, look, if my, from my point of view, I would do Jiu Jitsu and not Muay Thai. Because you're gonna put your hands on somebody every single day.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

You're not gonna punch somebody in the face every day.

[Host]

And you're. Honestly, when you guys are touching them, you're already really, really close to grappling distance, if not perfect.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. I mean, like every one of my fights as a cop and then they're in this book and like there's some, like, really bad ones, but, like, every one of them went to the ground. Every one of them. And. And I. And I get my. Kicked in on the ground quite a few times in that book.

[Host]

That's what I'm talking about. Learn the hard way.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. I mean, I. You know when your head's like, bouncing off the concrete. Like, I was like. I remember, like, one time, like, I was the guy that broke my leg. Like, when I was on the ground, I kept seeing, like, a flash of white, white, white, white. And I was like, why is everything flashing white? And he was stomping on my head. My head was hitting the concrete. But, like, I didn't feel it, you know, you're flashing, you know, into the white concrete. So. Yeah, but I would say that you got it. If you're a cop, man, and you're not training Jiu Jitsu, you know, you're going to be a better shooter from Jiu Jitsu. You're going to be a better husband, frankly.

[Host]

You can solve problems better.

[Eric Tansey]

So much better. You're going to be less stressed. Yeah, I mean. Yeah, I. I don't. Yeah, you're. I don't know how cops. I do know because I was there. Yeah. And I know your mentality. It's like, oh, I don't need that. Because CrossFit kind of like, ruined that for cops. Like, a lot of, like, especially our department built CrossFit gyms in every precinct and had coaches.

[Host]

It's a legit modality to train in. But you're not going to burpee your way out of a triangle or you're not going to burpee your way out of somebody being on top of you who knows how to grapple. If they don't want you to get up, you're not getting up.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, you're done. Yeah. And, you know, in my, like, so when I got into my Jiu Jitsu journey, it was really funny because that same guy, Twitty, he'd been trying to. He was a CrossFit champion state, I.

[Host]

Guess, nightmare if they learn Jiu Jitsu, because the engine behind it, he's so.

[Eric Tansey]

He never died, you know, he never. And now. Now he's like, on peds and all the other probably. Like, he's so jacked, dude. He's. It's just. It's crazy.

[Host]

And mostly chicken breast, but he's so.

[Eric Tansey]

Quiet and like, he's. Out of all the guys that are on testosterone and stuff, like, he is the only one I've ever met that's like extremely, like legit humble. Like, like a very soft, gentle.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

So beautiful father on the correct dosage, does great duties. He's such a solid guy. He's like. He's not running around like, that's the.

[Host]

Difference between a therapeutic dosage. Yeah. A performance enhancing.

[Eric Tansey]

But he is. But I mean, he is a monster. And so he'd been trying to get me to jiu jitsu forever, and I just kind of like, gave up on life. Not like on life, but like, I'm not a competitive person. And. And I was like, I. Doing crossfit him with him wasn't very fun because it was like just a murder session every time we did it together. So I enjoyed training with other people that weren't going to murder me. But even trying, dude, like, you got to do. You got to do. You gotta. I'm like, I'm not doing that, dude. And I was getting kind of fast. That run the distillery and everything. And he put. He was like, hey, dude, you're a disabled veteran, right? And I was like, yeah. And he's like, there's this thing called We Defy Foundation.

[Host]

I'm familiar.

[Eric Tansey]

And he's like, I want to put you in for a scholarship. And if I get. If I put you in for it and you get it, would you train with me? And I was like, I mean, if it's free, I'll try it. And so he puts me in for it. I end up getting the scholarship. And I, again, wasn't really paying that much attention. I get this package in the mail with this gi. I call him. I'm like, dude, where these pajamas? I'm not wearing these. Like, I'm not wearing this. Dude, dude. He's like, you're gonna wear it.

[Host]

You're gonna wear the cult clothing to the cult place.

[Eric Tansey]

He's like, you're gonna wear it and you're gonna drink the juice, you know, which is, you know, your electrolytes. So anyway, like, I was like, man, this sucks again. And I guess we defy. You have to train at least two days a week to maintain this.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

So I was like, being that anti authoritarian. I was like, I'm gonna do it, but I'm only gonna do two days. Only gonna do two days until you.

[Host]

Fall in love with it.

[Eric Tansey]

No, no, no. Yeah. And then I got there and I thought. I thought I was gonna be a lot better than I was. I was like, dude, I put my hands on people all the time.

[Host]

That first day was rough, brother. Here's the thing, too.

[Eric Tansey]

I loved it.

[Host]

There's. I mean, it's Jiu Jitsu. People say it's exploding, but that's because there's like eight people who love it and pay attention to it. So when there's nine people, they're like, yes, we grew by 10%, which is slightly tongue in cheek. I've talked with Pete from origin. I've asked him, you know, because they sell ghee's. I'm like, what do you think? Think how many total people? He's like, I don't know, a couple million. So criminals can learn this stuff too. Can you imagine being on the wrong side of that?

[Eric Tansey]

So, yeah, we've arrested a UFC fighter before, multiple times. Dude, he would say, like, he would legit tell you, like, because we mess. We would. He's was mentally like, just off his rocker. And the stuff he wasn't. I mean, the domestic violence stuff was kind of serious, but I mean, he. He could kill that if he wanted to, but he didn't, you know, so. But every time we were doing, I mean, he would. He would like, articulate it to you. He'd be like, I would. Would you up this way, this way. But I'm gonna let you take me. But you just know that I will you up if I want to. And you're like, yeah, that's.

[Host]

I throw the cuffs the guy at that point and be like, hey, you figure out how to get these on behind your back?

[Eric Tansey]

I have done that. I have 100% do. I have looked a dude in the eye and I go, dude, you are big as. You can either cuff yourself or I will tase you. If that doesn't work, I will shoot you. And the guy would be like. And I'd hand him those handcuffs and I'd have my taser right out.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

And they would cuff themselves. I have done it a few times. I have done that a few times. I. I ran from a guy time this guy chased me, big ass guy. And we were running around this car and he was chasing me around the car and he came around the car and I, I sprayed him. Like, I tricked him. I juked him and I sprayed him. And I was like, I'm gonna throw this canister and I'll pull my gun out because if he gets a hold of me, like, he's going to kill me. And he was jacked up on all the drugs too. And as soon as I sprayed him, he fell to his knees. He's like, why? Why? I was like, gotcha. You know, and then of course, I'M a big man. After that, I'm like, yeah, you know, take that.

[Host]

You know, that's what worries me is that there are enough people training. I don't want cops to end up on the wrong side.

[Eric Tansey]

But I feel like if you're training jiu jitsu, you're probably in a better headspace. You're probably not committing crimes.

[Host]

You probably are. And I'll. But what I'll say. I'll speak super broadly. I have now encountered a couple people that have been ejected from jiu jitsu gyms because they were learning a skill that weaponized a predator and not somebody who would utilize it for what I think are altruistic purposes.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah, I've dropped into a lot of gyms around the country. I try to drop in everywhere I go. Which, by the way, is. I was telling him, like, it's very hard to drop into a gym because you. You go in there, nobody knows you. I'm a white belt, which is kind of good, because I don't have any expectation, so I don't have to, like, defend a blue belt or any of that. But, like, you're walking in there, nobody knows who you are. You have to learn the stretches, you have to learn. Learn the etiquette. You're meeting new people to roll with.

[Host]

You don't have a party.

[Eric Tansey]

Oh, it was perfect. But I've been to some weird ones, man. But, like, I have been like. I went to this one in particular, and I was like, that is gonna rape one of these chicks. Like, every girl that was like, there, he was like. Like over there just staring. And I was like, how? I've never even been here, and they have dudes creeping me out. Like, how does nobody see this guy?

[Host]

You have a more tuned radar to looking for that. That. So. And again, I got to speak about it super broadly. I. There was somebody that I rolled with relatively often, and I always knew that there was something weird. You could feel it. And. Yeah. Eventually booted for reasons that would make you want to get a wood chipper out.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. Oh, I imagine. I mean, that's. That's.

[Host]

But let's say somebody does that, and they get to, like, purple belt or brown belt level, you have completely weaponized. They will be able to control.

[Eric Tansey]

But, I mean, don't you think it would be good if, like, do you think it would? Because now you got me questioning my philosophy. What I wanted to do was get pretty successful in life and then use my money to start a BJJ scholarship for people in the hood.

[Host]

I Think. Well, here's the thing. I think it could. I don't. You know, if you associate the hood with people who, for whatever reason, they have to be on a bad path, if you're that type of person, then it may not work. But I don't believe that people just because they grow up in the hood have to be on a bad path. I think it could change the trajectory of their life.

[Eric Tansey]

Life. Yeah.

[Host]

I'm talking about broken people who find it, who are legit predators. They exist in the hood, but they exist in gated communities too.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

The people that I'm talking about, specifically upper middle class for sure.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah.

[Host]

The ones I've had direct experience with.

[Eric Tansey]

And we start putting like testosterone on those guys and peds on them. Like, it gets them like hornier and like, you know what I mean?

[Host]

Like, it can. It. You need. There's a difference.

[Eric Tansey]

Again, I would say, like, I would say I know more people that have taken tests, cheated on their wives and up their whole lives.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Eric Tansey]

Then I know dudes that are still on the straight narrow.

[Host]

It depends on a. Are you actually managing it from a therapeutic dose? Are you trying? I mean, will it make you feel different? For sure. But does taking more of it mean it's going to make you feel different? Even better and better and better? Like, testosterone doesn't make you do anything crazy? No, in my experience. And, and, But I've also never been on a massive dose. I've been on TRT for a year and a half.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. I'm not anti. Like, don't get me wrong, I'm not an anti. But like, I, I like, I know.

[Host]

Like, I'm not more aggressive. I'm not gonna cheat on my wife. It doesn't change my behavior. It hasn't changed my outlook on anything other than like, wow. I actually.

[Eric Tansey]

Do you notice other guys that, that get on it and immediately start making bad decisions?

[Host]

Sure. But then you talk to them like, what dose are you on? They're like, oh, I'm taking an entire vial this week. I'm like, dude, that's not. Not again. TRT is testosterone replacement therapy. If your test is up at like 1800-2000, you're just on juice, dude. You know what I mean? Like, if you. And again, I don't care how people choose to live their life as long as they're not victimizing other people, largely. If you want to be on that dose, accept the consequences.

[Eric Tansey]

Right.

[Host]

And don't blame it on the juice because you chose to get to that level. Also work With a doctor, get your blood drawn, check all your other hormones as well. Well, if you want to have a positive impact on your life and work with a therapist or a doctor and manage the. And not have to worry about that, just be on a therapeutic dose. My God.

[Eric Tansey]

You know what I mean? It's like, it's totally possible. That is scary, though, to think that, like, you know, that, you know, the weaponization of, of Jiu Jitsu, that's why you have to train, like, you got to be better than them.

[Host]

Do guns kill people or do people kill people with guns? You know what I mean?

[Eric Tansey]

It's just a tool.

[Host]

You could save lives with a gun or you can take somebody who is, is broken, that wants to do damage to others and it, and it multiplies their ability to do that.

[Eric Tansey]

When you're a cop and you, like, I feel like one. I was always good at making good decisions. I do case breakdowns and I have for years now. That's what I do. Podcasting every week. I break down these cases. And I think I do a pretty good objective job of it because I've been in a lot of the scenarios that they've been in. And so I'm able to look at it and say, like, this is what he was thinking. Probably not the best decision he made, but this is why he made it. You know, it's like, I won a quarterback practice the same thing over and over again for weeks and weeks and weeks, and he draws back and he still throws an interception. Like, there's a reason why he didn't just say, like, oh, fuck it, today I'm throwing an interception. Like, there was a build up of mistakes that were made along the way that he, he inevitably own, has to own. But, like, there's a reason why I'm not defending his actions. I'm just giving you the why it led up to where it has. And this is where we dropped the ball. And so, you know, for me, though, because of my experience being in special operations and being. And the amount of stress that I was always under, I do very well when shit's not going good. I have a. I can turn things off. A lot of cops can't do that. And they get into repetitive repetition really quickly and a lot of things go south. And I think one of the things that Jiu Jitsu does for you is it's going to change all of that. You're not gonna, you're. Because when you know and you're confident, like, I'm a confident shooter. Like, I know If a bad guy is going to look at me through that window, approaching this house, and I get a. He doesn't hit me on that first round. Like, I'm good and I'm staring at the window. So if he comes out there, like, I'm not scared to walk up on that house because I know where he's going to shoot me from, probably. And I'm probably going to get him first. So I don't mind walking up on a house in the middle of the night. It's, you know, but for some people, they're like really slow and they're, you know, they're very hyper paranoid because they're not. Not super confident in their ability to win that fight.

[Host]

They have less reps and less experience.

[Eric Tansey]

Less reps and less experience. So when you're not afraid to put your hands on somebody and I guess back then I wasn't afraid to get my ass whooped. Like, it's just like I was perfectly fine getting hit in the face. So, like, for me, I'm like, oh, like Leroy Jenkins. That's what they call me in the book, the whole book. Leroy Jenkins. If you know jiu jitsu and you have that confidence that when I put my hand on you, you're going to jail. Yeah. Like, there's nothing you can do once I grab your wrist, there's nothing you can do to not go to jail. You're going to be a much better cop. Because what we're seeing right now is these cops get in front of a person. They don't. The cop doesn't know how to fight. He thinks he knows how to fight, he doesn't know how to fight. And then he finds out in that moment when the guy says, I'm not putting my hands behind her back, they go, sir, put your hands behind your back. I'm not putting my hands on. Sir, put your hand. Sir, put your hands behind your back. Sir, put your hands behind. Sir. I'm not going to tell you again. And it's just like, because he doesn't have the confidence that if he puts his hand on him that he'll win. And I think now if I was a copy, you had a four stripe white belt is what I tell the cops. Like, if I could go back to the people, I would be like, bro, like, don't you. I would talk to you like this. I'd be like, bro, don't even. Like, if you're going to jail, like, you can run, that's fine. Maybe you're gonna get away. But like, you're not gonna stand here and fright fight me. I'm telling you right now, this is not gonna work out for you. And then I would touch them, and then I would take them to jail and that's the way it would go.

[Host]

Odd sentence. Then I would touch them, then I.

[Eric Tansey]

Would touch them and I would murder them. No, I'm just kidding. Where can people find your book?

[Host]

Every time this episode comes out, the book will be live.

[Eric Tansey]

Oh, I just got a cramp. Hamstring cramp.

[Host]

Well, you need to drink element. Go to drinkelement.com ClearedHot it's not a big deal.

[Eric Tansey]

Good water. Glover Glovers.

[Host]

I don't even think he sells it anymore. I'm convinced he fills it up with his garden hose in his backyard.

[Eric Tansey]

He's just like, here you go. No, it's everywhere. I mean, Barnes and Noble, Hudson's books, a million, Amazon, anywhere you can find. Anywhere you can find books. I got sir. It's everywhere.

[Host]

And then your socials, where can people find you to send? You mean dms?

[Eric Tansey]

Just Instagram. Eric Tansey Official, which is kind of a joke. It's Eric Tansey official because I was being a smart ass when I made it. But it's funny how many people think it's real that like I think I'm official, but if you look at my content, it's very silly. It's very stupid.

[Host]

I get it. I reposted your picture from yesterday.

[Eric Tansey]

It. Oh, that was a good picture.

[Host]

Actually though, you know what's funny is I hit the repost button and then I had to google where do pictures show up when you repost them?

[Eric Tansey]

What is the repost thing? It does, it's just popped up. I just got a brand new phone and it just popped up and I, I don't know the ends.

[Host]

And so there's a, you know, on the top of your grid it'll be like the pictures and then there's a reels. Now there's another one for repost. Cuz I hit the repost and I assumed it would show up when I could see it in my feed and it did. And I was like, where did I just push this?

[Eric Tansey]

That's smart. Because like I hate when people get a picture with me or do something with me like on a comedy show and then they want me to collaborate on it and I'm like, I don't really want this comedy show to pop up on my feed. And when you hit the collab button, it pops up on your.

[Host]

Well, you become a co owner of it essentially.

[Eric Tansey]

Right. And I don't want to do that. But a repost is great. Like I would rather repost something that doesn't go on my grid.

[Host]

Listen, I gotta collaborate with one based off of your post. So I don't know, maybe it's awesome, maybe it's not.

[Eric Tansey]

Yeah. I mean, I just used it for the first time on. On mandatory fund aid. We did a video and yeah. Which is. Is super funny. Like how many people hate that? I mean, everybody loves it. Like there's 400 something comments already and they're like, oh, that's the funniest thing. Very dark. But bro, I got this message last night, this DM, it was from a doctor. It's like Dr. Some. Some lady. And it's like super long. And they're like, I actually live near that town and there was a suicide that this town is grieving and you know, blah, blah, blah. And I also think that you need help and you need suicide in California. I believe. Believe it. I believe. I didn't respond because I was like, man. But like it. It is crazy. Like when you do. I mean. But I've been doing comedy for a while, so I. I get it. Like people are going to just not. But it was funny that she was like, do you know? You know, do you. Do you want to talk? Do you need to talk? Because I made a joke about putting.

[Host]

A mouth dark gallows humor comedy so I don't have to talk to a professional. This is how I offload my stress.

[Eric Tansey]

Like the reason why I'm not putting my gun in my mouth is because I'm making this ridiculously dark real. But it was a fun one. So I use the repost for that one.

[Host]

But yeah, it shows up in your repost feed. For those of you again, Data point of 1. Take that sucker with a grain. Let's get out of here. I think we've been out close to three hours.

[Eric Tansey]

Sorry about that.

[Host]

Oh, no, it's fine. It was fantastic. Yeah. Off to origin camp next. Thank you for the sheepdog holster, guys. I do have a 19.

[Eric Tansey]

They wanted to send that to you and testify with if they mailed it to me. If. If I would give it to you. And I said I would. And we redesigned it ourselves. We didn't know what you would be into. And I don't know where he got that design, but we. He made three and made me pick one. I picked that one.

[Host]

I think it's awesome.

[Eric Tansey]

Obviously, because. Obviously because I'm so anti authority. Totally. Marketing is hard, but I'LL tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now, and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements, or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsynads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.