Episode 409 - Austin Von Letkemann - Exposing the truth of military service through humor

Summary

Cleared Hot Podcast — Episode 409

Guest: Austin Von Letkemann
Title: Exposing the Truth of Military Service Through Humor
Host: Andy Stumpf
Release Date: September 29, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this engaging and candid conversation, Andy Stumpf welcomes Austin Von Letkemann—Army officer, content creator ("Mandatory Fun Day"), podcaster, and advocate for military mental health—for a deep dive into the realities of military service, veteran culture, online criticism, mental health, and the power of humor. Through storytelling, self-deprecation, and sharp wit, Austin exposes the absurdities and challenges of military life while sharing his journey toward creative fulfillment beyond service. Key themes include the struggle for authenticity, the impact of social media, mental health (including ADHD/anxiety), and why laughter is often the best way to process the military’s darker truths.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Nature of True Friendship and Military Camaraderie

• Calling Out Friends: Genuine friends hold each other accountable. Austin and Andy reflect on the importance of honesty in veteran circles (00:50).
  • Quote (Andy): “A friend is actually somebody who will stand in the rain with you even if they could be dry.” (00:53)
• Owning Your Mistakes: Both stress the value of learning from errors and being with people who keep you grounded (01:54).

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2. Becoming a Military Content Creator

• Striking a Chord Through Humor: Austin shares how his content began as an honest, satirical take on Army experiences, resonating with both service members and civilians.
• Creating the ‘Creative Reserve’: Austin advocates for institutional support of military content creators, likening it to the World Class Athlete Program (21:19).
  • Quote (Austin): “We need to have a program similar to the World Class Athlete program, but for content creators... to step out of their role as a service member conventionally and just do this...” (22:04)
• Hard Numbers on Organic Reach: Austin details the “Army birthday” pilot, with 24 million impressions for an $18,000 spend versus $4–5 million in paid ads (24:10).
• Platform Risks & Monetization: Social media virality is volatile; selling merchandise (while facing 'sellout' accusations) adds stability (94:29).

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3. Military Bureaucracy, Culture, & the Absurd

• Commissioning Routes and Army/Navy Comparisons: Detailed banter about how officers are made; poking fun at the quirks in Army and Navy processes (13:24).
• ASVAB & Entry Standards: Discussion on waivers, test requirements, and what it says about modern recruitment pressures.
  • Quote (Austin): "It’s really concerning when we’re getting tons of people at once [with waivers]…when half…it would be 90% of your time [managing them]." (31:53)
• Institutional Inertia: Both critique the military's tendency to forget the rank-and-file experience at higher echelons and the recurring, contradictory enforcement of policies (27:59).
• Humor as a Survival Tool: Lampooning military drinking culture, Jiu Jitsu, and the ever-present “mandatory fun” (38:24, 76:45).

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4. Mental Health, Identity, and Growth Beyond Service

• Authenticity over Image: Austin discusses resisting the pressure to fit a narrow ‘warrior’ archetype and the freedom of sharing both struggles and humor online.
• Mental Health Transparency:
  • ADHD/Anxiety: Austin recounts how starting ADHD and soon anxiety meds changed his life (82:03+), using the resulting clarity to advocate openly and encourage peers to seek help.
    • Quote (Austin): “I want people to get help... when I took those ADHD meds... I felt great. And then I was so mad because all these senior leaders in the army have been telling me not to get on this for one reason or other.” (84:46)
  • Therapy, Panic Attacks, & Coping: Describing long-term anxiety, Austin normalizes therapeutic intervention and self-care (83:31).
• Transitioning Out: Austin debates when to leave active duty, weighing impact, well-being, and unfinished work (89:19).

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5. Navigating Online Criticism and Community Standards

• Crabs in a Bucket: The veteran community's tendency to “eat its own” is dissected, especially in the online world where creators face persistent judgment, rumors, and even personal attacks (61:04).
  • Quote: “Sometimes it feels hard to manage. Sometimes it feels like just…” (Austin, 61:21)
  • Andy: “It’s a tough balance between holding people accountable and then... just tearing people down…I found often that those most irritated by success post-military are those struggling to find it in themselves.” (61:21)
• Imposter Syndrome: Austin’s early doubts about discussing military life—fearing lack of 'authenticity' without combat tours—and the realization that impact and support roles matter (58:23+).
• Dealing with Haters: Austin describes responding to DMs urging him to “kill himself” with empathy instead of escalation, recognizing that such venom is rarely about him personally (104:11).
  • “Nobody will hate me more than me.” (Andy’s suggestion, 111:44)

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6. Humor, Vulnerability, and Positive Impact

• Dark and Self-Deprecating Wit: Austin’s most viral work blends gallows humor and candor. He tells stories about ADHD, strip clubs, tank tops (“I didn’t have sleeves”), and even being catfished by AI impersonators (39:01, 116:21).
• Service, Growth, and Self-Worth: Reminding servicemembers, especially those grappling with feelings of “not doing enough,” that all roles are valid and necessary in the broader machinery (55:03).
  • Quote (Austin): "You were not just a specialist, you were not just a supply sergeant…you are not just anything; you were an American service member in what is objectively the greatest fighting force that has ever existed." (55:05)
• Helping Others: From making people laugh to producing a podcast on alcoholism, Austin’s ultimate aim is real impact: “I want to make as many people happy as humanly possible, and I want to make as much money as I can ethically do it.” (112:20)
• Balance: Both men agree that money, while necessary, can’t be the sole motivator.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Friendship & Accountability: 00:44–02:56
• Military Bureaucracy & Humor: 13:24–28:14
• Becoming a Content Creator: 21:19–24:37
• Mental Health, ADHD, Anxiety: 82:03–89:43
• Burnout, Time Management, Army ‘Culture’: 35:45–37:58 / 87:51–89:16
• Drinking Culture & Hazing Stories: 71:17–80:39
• Online Hate & Community: 61:04–64:48; 104:11–105:40
• VA, Policy, & Interview with Secretary Collins: 100:57–103:47
• Money, Impact, Meaning: 112:20–114:03
• Social Media Risks, AI Catfishing: 115:38–117:59

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Genuine friends hold you accountable—even if it’s uncomfortable. They see the best and worst of you and call you out.” — Andy (00:53)
• “Sometimes roadblocks are in the way, and I think it’s a good indicator, like, ah, maybe this isn’t the best path for me… For clarity, I'm looking into the mirror.” — Austin (01:36)
• “You were an American service member… that's not 'just' anything.” — Austin (55:05)
• “I want to make as many people happy as humanly possible, and I want to make as much money as I can ethically do it.” — Austin (112:20)
• “Nobody will hate me more than me.” — Andy (111:52)
• “If you only sold the things that you like, you would sell nothing.” — Andy on business/creativity (44:16)
• “Dark humor is the language of healing—if you can laugh at it, you own it.” — Austin (Paraphrased throughout)

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a powerful encapsulation of the messy, funny, and brutally honest reality of military life and the challenges—and opportunities—that follow. Austin’s journey illustrates that growth, healing, and authenticity can stem from embracing discomfort, telling your story, and, above all, finding ways to laugh at the absurdities. Andy’s experienced, laid-back hosting draws out insights on vulnerability, community, and creative risk-taking relevant far beyond the uniform.

Follow Austin at @MandatoryFunDay on all platforms or visit mandatoryfunded.com for his latest work and merch.

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Summary compiled by AI Podcast Summarizer. For feedback and improvements, feel free to reach out!

Transcript

[A]

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[A]

Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[B]

Okay, I got the red smoke. Sun runs north and south.

[A]

West of the smoke, west of the smoke.

[B]

Okay, copy. West of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. Oh, wait a minute.

[A]

Give it to me.

[B]

I mean it. You're cleared hot. Can't be cleared out.

[A]

They've seen your darker moments.

[B]

Well, they're actually probably with me in my darker moments.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.

[B]

Like a friend is actually somebody who will stand in the rain with you even if they could be dry.

[A]

Oh, that's good. That's deep.

[B]

That's fortune cookie. Thai palace downstairs, which they don't use fortune cookies because I think that's Chinese food. But I believe fortune cookies were an American creation.

[A]

Yeah. American concept.

[B]

Something about the rain. Yeah, it was something like that. Or. And then there was another one. I said, when life gets hard, consider quitting. But I think that was associated with Goggins. So that's a different fortune.

[A]

Consider quitting.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Oh, God.

[B]

Never give people that type of advice. Like, hey, man, life isn't going to be about struggle and pain. Just give up now.

[A]

Yep. Like, I don't know.

[B]

You don't really give that advice.

[A]

No, sometimes I do some. I mean, sometimes roadblocks are in the way and I think it's a good indicator, like, ah, maybe this isn't the best path for me.

[B]

For clarity, I'm looking into the mirror. When I give this advice. This is how I start.

[A]

It's unfortunate because the only thing I can think when I look in the mirror is, God damn it, you're disappointing.

[B]

Yeah. Just wake up in the morning, rub your eyes like, hey, buddy, what are you gonna fall short of today? It's a real positive self talk. No, my. The true friends I have, they know who I am, they know who I'm not. They've been there when I've made mistakes. I do try to own my mistakes. As soon as I recognize them, everybody's going to. But they also will hold me Accountable and call me on my bullshit. That's a true friend. Somebody who sees something and says, yeah, I'm just not gonna say anything because maybe they don't want to have a little bit of conflict or whatever it is.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I mean, I'm sure that's a. It's a variation of being a friend, but that's actually not the type of friend that I truly would want if I'm messing up because not. I don't. I don't believe that people. There are people out there who do it. But I don't think most people intentionally have the desire to every day just. Let's see how. How bad of a person I can be. Yeah, life happens. Things happen. But I think true friends will call you on it.

[A]

Yeah. Another one of the reasons why I said like that, because I don't remember, like, I don't remember even bringing up whether he lied or not or whether I thought he lied or not. I remember saying nice things about him based on the interactions we've had. But coming from my perspective, people. People lie about me on the Internet every day.

[B]

Why?

[A]

I. I don't. I don't know. I don't understand. Like I went.

[B]

I watch your content. Why are they picking you? Today's episode is brought to you by Montana Knife Company. Let's go to their website. Let's see what they have. Let's that let them speak for themselves. Let's go across the top shopping knife selection here. Holy cow. This tells you everything you need to know. Hunting, culinary, tactical, EDC or everyday carry or bush craft and camp. Now, a lot of these knives that you're seeing over here on the right hand side may not be in stock. So let's see what they have. Let's shop the in stock knives. Knives will be periodically restocked. This is one thing you know, I talk with Josh about. They're planning 18 months out. It's not like they're not trying to make more knives. They are, I don't want to say they're a victim of the production cycle, but they're captured by the production cycle and they can only get things so quickly to restock. But here's what they got. We have the mini Speedgoat. We have the Stone Goat, the Blackfoot, the Jackstone, the Sharp Tail, the Stonewall Skinner culinary chef set. This is what I cook with every day. Speedgoat 2.0. The Speedgoat series are my favorite series of knife. They have the mini Speedgoat which is a version of the Speedgoat 2.0. That is a little bit smaller. These are the chef's knife. This is a meat church. The cut bank paring knife. I actually haven't gotten that one. I need to add that one to my cart. This blaze orange knife, they've done a whole run on blaze orange. I've talked about this. This is great for hunters. It doesn't add to your legal amount of orange you need to have, but it's just pretty cool. And I tell you what, when you put it down while using it on an animal, you're far less likely to lose it in the brown or earthy tone color patterns that are everywhere around. So this is again going down. They have some more of the blaze orange series, the TF24. This is now we're their tactical knife series, the V24. A dagger, essentially. Actually, I mean it is exactly a dagger, not essentially. Again, tactical series boning knives, breaking butchered knife, the beartooth. This is specifically for skinning. As you can tell, a hell of a selection. And that's not everything they have because a lot of the stuff that they have sells out quickly. They rene release knives Thursdays and Saturdays. Join up for their email list and their text message list because occasionally they'll do a little bit of a secret drop out of those ordinary scheduled times times. Built, bred, raised, founded in Montana, 120 miles south of where I'm at right now. So a two hour drive or 37 minutes in the helicopter. Montanaknifecompany.com Please go check them out and then tell them that I sent you either Andy Stump for clear back to the show. Like your content is diversified. I would like it for you to just be more in your army uniform, talking in your car. Right. I don't need you to be a breaking journalist. All right? I don't need you.

[A]

I love that geopolitics stuff though. I really do.

[B]

Well, maybe that's why people are telling lies about you. Were they telling lies about you when you were just sitting in your car with your. I'm not a detective, but I see dots here. You can. Who's the other guy? Kagan.

[A]

You're gonna go home and you're gonna have red yarn everywhere. Like different clips of different videos. Be like, all right, it all started here.

[B]

I follow both you and I'm scrolling through the day and there's Ken's. Like there was a airplane crash at the Kalispell airport. I'm like, yeah, dude, that's where I fly the helicopter. It was amazing. We were walking over to do.

[A]

Did you see it?

[B]

I didn't see it live. So we were at the coffee shop. We just walked from and for.

[A]

You're very careful about what you say now.

[B]

What are you talking about?

[A]

I'm kidding.

[B]

What?

[A]

You're making sure your statements are all accurate.

[B]

Now, me, dude, we live in the Kennedy era. We have to.

[A]

Right?

[B]

This is post Kennedy era. Pre Kennedy era fire.

[A]

And fast. Fast and loose.

[B]

Yeah. So I was flying the airplane that crashed.

[A]

I was on ground during 9 11.

[B]

No, we're at the coffee shop, was meeting a guest. And it's a normal traffic pattern. The airport is literally. It's probably two miles. Crows fly. If the wind is out of the south, they fly over the coffee shop. And as we were walking, I remembered hearing an airplane on little left hand base turn. And it wasn't anything abnormal, but for whatever reason, I was like, oh, yeah, somebody's doing a landing. We get to the intersection where we wait for the stoplight. As we're crossing it, I look to the right and there's a massive plume of black smoke. And I'm looking at the direction like either the city courthouse is on fire.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or that airplane just crashed. And now, if I'm being totally honest, my first thoughts in that moment were, this is a perfect time to say, you can't park there, sir. That's brass tacks. Honesty. That is the first thing that I found. Now, I didn't know it was a plane. I was just hypo. This is just stream of consciousness in my brain. I wonder if that plane crashed. If it did, that'd be a great time to yell at them. Camp. Park there. We went in to do the podcast afterwards, I found out that the plane had crashed. All four people in the plane that did crash got out of it.

[A]

Really.

[B]

It careened off. So apparently they stalled on short final. So they were going too slow, kind of bounced. And this is me. This is like 18th hand at this point.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It deflected off the Runway, went over some grass and rammed into other parked unoccupied aircraft.

[A]

No.

[B]

And burned them all to the ground. Oh, God. Can you imagine, like flying up here?

[A]

You save up the insurance claim on that?

[B]

I don't. I've never done an aviation insurance.

[A]

What's a cheap plane cost?

[B]

Oh, I think like 40 grand. Really? Oh, yeah.

[A]

Oh, that's not that bad.

[B]

I mean, it was.

[A]

You're telling me we can pool our money together and buy a fucking airplane.

[B]

It was flown in World War II, but I mean, you know, like, you can buy. Aviation is a pick your own adventure, man. Like you can buy stuff that was old, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That. The aircraft that crashed was a TBM 500, I believe. Michael, can you look up the cost for that? I think this is a seven figure aircraft. Yeah.

[A]

TBM 500.

[B]

There's a turbine up front.

[A]

They're fat, we cuss.

[B]

You asked me this last time. You know, this is going on the Internet.

[A]

I'm. I'm trying to be polite.

[B]

Yeah, I won't because then it's a nice juxtaposition. You'll look like you're just a total savage.

[A]

Yeah, I'll burp on here too. I'll crack open a Coors at some point.

[B]

Yeah, you're already two waters deep. What did you. Did you do a marathon this morning?

[A]

No, I take ADHD meds now and they make me dehydrated as fuck.

[B]

Really? Because you have to pee a lot.

[A]

I don't know. What? I don't know because I don't feel like I pee more than I ever have. But like the ADHD meds like make me feel like my mouth is dry all the time. So it's actually been good because I'm drinking more water, you know, I mean.

[B]

That'S a glass half full mentality for sure.

[A]

What is here all night? 1.6 to 4 million. I didn't get an exact. Oh, 4 million.

[B]

Oh. Depending on. Well, so there's. Hey, here's the tbm. Here's the TBM with the best.

[A]

All the fucking bells and whistles.

[B]

Glass. Yeah, you know, you know, upgraded engine, new propeller. So. Yeah, I don't know what it cost. I. I just imagine flying into. Oh yeah, there it is. Yeah. So he a little bit left of center of the Runway. Not advisable apparently. So you see how close those other planes are?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

There were people out there who look at them running. First off, I'd move that jet a truck a little bit farther away, but they saved a bunch of aircraft. People got out there and just started pushing stuff out of. Yeah, but.

[A]

And you know that it is hot as right there too.

[B]

That's jet A Aviation, which burns hotter.

[A]

Like way hotter, Right?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

Does it burn hot enough to melt doctors?

[B]

Hot enough to melt stealth beams? It's hard to say. Not in building seven, if you know what I'm saying. I wish our government was capable of over years sneaking high grade explosives into both of the twin towers with nobody like bladder. Not a single person ever coming forward. Yeah. Or maybe in the process Of I would assume it would take years. Having a conflict of morality and maybe being a whistleblower.

[A]

I'm convinced that people. And I love a good conspiracy theory. Like I really do.

[B]

What's your favorite?

[A]

My favorite is. Oh, fuck. What was that? Because I was just reading about it today. Oh. There's a group of people that believe time started like in the 70s based on some like fucking as in 1970. Yeah, yeah. And they. And they believe that it had something to do with some piece of technology. See, now I look like an idiot because I don't remember the details of this because I was reading about this at 2 o' clock in the morning.

[B]

Also, you just said this was your favorite. So for, I mean, you're, you're. What do we hear? A mile wide and an inch deep type of guy.

[A]

Honest to God, that's been my job for 14 years. So they literally tell us that in AIT for 35 foxes, all source analysts, they're like, you need to not be a, like a significant expert on anything. You need to like know a lot about a little.

[B]

Do they at least tell somebody that they need to be a significant expert.

[A]

A little about a lot? Yeah. The warrant officers.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Army warrant officers are like fucking subject matter experts. They're supposed to just be.

[B]

That's a fucking statement. That's not true. I guarantee you I can find one that's not. Because some of them are TF160th aviators.

[A]

I can't speak to the aviators. The MI warrants are actually pretty good.

[B]

I bet. When do they commission mostly? Cause you hopped over.

[A]

As warrants?

[B]

Yeah. Do they come in as warrants?

[A]

No. As far as I'm aware, no. So they changed it. Oh gosh, probably seven, eight years ago. And I believe you have to have three NCORs, so you have to have been an NCO for three years, which minimum is corporal E4. But probably what they were is a sergeant E5. And then you gotta imagine with everybody applying, they're probably not accepting a lot of guys who were just E5s because it's competitive.

[B]

Yeah. They're gonna take the best.

[A]

Yeah. So you're probably looking at a decent amount of E6s, E7s. Like you've got some, some decent experience there. But yeah, they've been an NCO for a minimum of three NCORs, which is probably three years.

[B]

Yeah. I commissioned through the same in the Navy. The ldo warrant program was actually the same package.

[A]

Oh really?

[B]

Yeah, it was just a different box up top.

[A]

Yeah. I Did federal ocs, which is officer candidate school. So you have to have your degree first and then you go to a 12 week. It's.

[B]

So you're a learned doctor.

[A]

Yeah, pretty much house of learned doctors.

[B]

Michael, do you get that reference? Yeah, it's step brothers. You guys made it yesterday.

[A]

And I got it. It's like the least prestigious. Like the least prestigious fucking commissioning source by far.

[B]

Oh, no. You didn't go through the LDO program? I don't have a degree. And got commissioned as an officer.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

How does that work?

[B]

I have no idea.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

E6 to 01 on the flip of the calendar from September. However many days are in September to October 1st of 2008. 01.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

I did not know how to wear the appropriate uniform. I went over to the Navy Exchange. You should go to one.

[A]

That's hilarious. I've been to Norfolk.

[B]

It's called Norfolk. Okay, don't say Norfolk. When you go up there, people are going to look at you funny.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yeah. I don't know. That's what people said to me when I got.

[A]

It doesn't look like Norfolk at all.

[B]

No, it doesn't. But let's just remember where it is. So I went to the uniform section and I talked to one of the ladies and said, I need navy 01 uniforms. And she said, which one? I said, I need all of them and I don't know how to put them on properly.

[A]

At least you're honest.

[B]

Yeah, E6 to 01. I did literally wore khakis. The next day, walked into my buddy's office and I said, do I have this on right?

[A]

I was at E6 as well. I had been in just shy of 10 years. Um. But yeah, and it's funny, if I had failed anything at ocs, I would have had to go back to my unit and like, reapply because I would have had too much time in service. They would have had to give me a waiver.

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

Yeah, Yeah.

[B]

I didn't go to ocs. I went to Rhode island at knife and fork school.

[A]

How when you say knife and fork, are you saying like a gentleman's course?

[B]

It was definitely a gentleman's course. It was 30 days long. The instructor there were.

[A]

She's quick.

[B]

Well, it gets even better because it was designed for fleet Naval officers in that commissioning, so the vast majority of it had nothing to do.

[A]

When you say fleet does that. Is that like when we say combat versus non combat in the army, what does fleet mean?

[B]

Are you familiar that the Navy has boats?

[A]

Yes. Okay. So you're literally just out on the boat.

[B]

I think they would call a collection.

[A]

Of boats a fleet.

[B]

Yeah, there you go.

[A]

So you're out on the water if your fleet.

[B]

Yes, we'll call it. I mean, and I don't say this pejoratively at all, but it would be like more maritime based. They were doing. They're called moboards, or they were doing radar stuff or they were talking about things that would. That really only had applicability to traditional naval officers and what they might encounter.

[A]

Gotcha.

[B]

So I was there with a guy who actually had commissioned as a warrant, because in the Navy, I think if you get to past E7, 7, 8 or 9, most of the guys go the warrant route as opposed to the LDO route. And I don't know why. And actually they shut the LDO program down for the Navy, so it's not even an option. But the instructors would say, yeah, just, you know, come back next week.

[A]

Wow, that's crazy.

[B]

We worked out a lot.

[A]

Yeah, I bet.

[B]

Yeah. Then I came back and I knew everything about being an officer.

[A]

Yeah, Everybody, you were 100%. After 30 days, there's plenty of time.

[B]

Well, of which I attended maybe 10.

[A]

Knew it all was just fully OCS, was actually army. OCS was pretty solid. Like, you know, I don't know, it was kind of like basic training light, honestly. Like, we didn't get yelled at as much and there wasn't drill instructors there.

[B]

But would be the point. At that point in your career, like, you've already gone through that, you know?

[A]

Right, yeah, that. Yeah, that's the thing. Because everybody that was there has gone through basic. Even if they were fresh out of college, they went through basic before they went to OCS. So there was 160 of us in the class and 11 of us were prior service. So 11 of us had been in the army for some period of time. And so it was so much fun to. With them. I'd like walk up to people and be like, did you guys start the paper yet? And they'd be like, what paper?

[B]

Yeah. Do you guys know we have an inspection tomorrow? It's the 1711. Make sure your forms are good to go. And then just walk away.

[A]

On the last day that we were all in an auditorium and the cadre was like, do not come back to the schoolhouse after you get your graduation diploma or whatever. You don't need to come back. Just go. Go to the airport. Go wherever you're supposed to go. And I was one of the only people there With a car. And so as I drove off, I saw, like, my whole cohort, and I was like, hey, guys, don't forget to go back to the company and check in with Captain Toro. And I put it in the group chat, too, and then immediately left. The group chat?

[B]

Yeah, of course.

[A]

And, like, seven people texted me, and they're like, you son of a bitch.

[B]

That's how you do that. When are you gonna make this smart decision and exit military service?

[A]

That should be fairly soon, honestly.

[B]

Is that by your choice, or is the military kind of saying, hey, no, they.

[A]

They want. I think the army wants me to stay, but I have other things that I want to do. Like, I want to be more involved with the American Legion. Black rifle, coffee. Like, I want to. I want to spend more time with my kids. Like, there's a lot of things that I want to pursue.

[B]

That's what you're growing. At some point, will the. The platform and the things you're doing outside of the military, even though they are attached, for sure. And that is legitimately, like. Like I was telling you. My wife is again pissed at you, by the way, for leaving again without doing dinner, because she's. Remember last time? You're like, oh, fuck.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Yeah. Her exact words were, tell that ferocious piece of shit, but I hope he doesn't come back. For clarity, she didn't say that. And she would be mortified that I just did and associated it with. But she knew who you were from. Because she'll ask me. She would watch. She'd be like, hey, is this true? Or she would say, accurate. Is this accurate? I watch him be like, oh, yeah. He actually could have gone much deeper in the paint down this particular. So that con. I mean, again, that's where I found you. And she was actually following you before. But the size of the platform, you're growing. At some point, you'll either be limited by being in the military, or you might end up at odds.

[A]

I'm already, for sure limited. Like, there's a lot of things that I've turned down, like, monetarily just because, like, I can't. I can't manage. I can't give everything that the army and the taxpayer deserves to the military and also do, like, everything that I would like to do. Like, yeah, if somebody comes and offers me an opportunity where I go work for, you know, a month somewhere, and I make, like, 50 grand because they want to do a massive ad run, like, that's a legitimate thing that's been offered to me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I can't do that. I'm in the army, you know, and it would be.

[B]

It's probably the same pay. I mean, I don't know what the army pays, but.

[A]

Oh, yeah, that's what we're getting as officer pay, for sure.

[B]

Oh, I know. So I became an officer. I immediately was like, low seven figures.

[A]

So you were. You were. You were on the OE pay scale then, too? Yeah, yeah. And that's crazy.

[B]

Otherwise, I would have taken a massive pay.

[A]

Right. That jump, though, is nuts.

[B]

O2E was pretty sweet. And then when I hit 03E, that was also dope. Yeah, I got out right after.

[A]

Right? Yeah. But, yeah, so I'm. I'm gonna. So what? I'm trying. We're piloting a program right now. They called it the Creative Reserve. I'm trying to get the name changed because I hate that.

[B]

Hold on. This is an army program?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The Creative Reserve.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah, we got to work on that.

[A]

I know we got to workshop the name, but. So three years ago, I was approached by an 06, and I was basically like, hey. I had talked to the Secretary of the Army's Chief of Staff at this point. I had talked to many, many senior leaders, and I was like, I want to use this, like, talent that I have and this platform that I'm building for the benefit of the institution. And everybody was kind of just like, you know what? We really like what you're doing. Keep doing it. See you later.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I. And it was. It was so frustrating because I was like, just give me, like, access. Just let me, like, do this for the Army. Let me teach people how to do this, because, like, clearly I have a talent for it. Finally, this 06, that was the. I think she was the director of an organization that no longer exists now. It just got disbanded. But the Army Talent Innovation Directorate, A tidal, all they did was innovative shit for the Army. So they gave the army the recruiting warrant officers. They gave the Army B cap and C cap, which is how we filter brigade and battalion commanders. And then there's a slew of other programs. And, like, the stuff they were doing, there were like two and three star generals testifying before Congress about the stuff that they were standing up. It's a really small organization, 35 people. But she was the director, and she was like, this is, like, right up our alley. And I was like, we need to have a program similar to the World Class Athlete program, but for content creators. A program that allows people to step out of their role as a. As a Service member conventionally, and just do this for like, I don't know if it would be for recruiting command or army marketing or whatever. And I told her, like, my intent for this is to. Is to make it a DoD wide program at some point. So we did the army birthday, right? That was the first test of the pilot.

[B]

Who's we?

[A]

Me and eight other content creators. They flew us out, Costa.

[B]

Oh, yeah, I got invited for that.

[A]

Yeah. Why didn't you go?

[B]

Because I saw the list of people participating.

[A]

Or is it cuz you saw my name on it?

[B]

No, it started with a T. I don't.

[A]

I don't know if I saw him there. I can't remember now.

[B]

I'm joking, by the way. It's the scheduling conflict. I had a calendar shoot I had to do.

[A]

I kind of figure. Yeah. Oh, yeah, Was it? How'd the calendar turn out?

[B]

Good. Thongs backwards. It's blasting out each side.

[A]

Can't even fucking imagine. There's a whole lot of TRT I got to do before I start doing that.

[B]

It's all it is.

[A]

It cost 18 grand to get us out there, right? All the influencers. I don't know if that number includes.

[B]

Flying with gold bars in your pockets. I mean, what the hell?

[A]

We did 24 million impressions over the course of five days. Okay. The guys, like, crunched the numbers and what they estimated is for the army to have gotten that with ad spend, it would have been somewhere between four and five million dollars.

[B]

And nobody pays attention to ads. The organic stuff, the reach is so much better.

[A]

I had multiple videos because I can only speak to my platforms, but I had multiple videos. Do like 1.52 million views. I mean, well, there's a deep math on that. People loved it.

[B]

Because if you had a couple, if you had 8 people and 24 million impressions, that'd be an average of 3 million impressions per.

[A]

Some of the content creators are very small. Not everybody was invited. I didn't pick who got invited.

[B]

That sounds like a waste of government money.

[A]

All right. Don't get my program doged before it's even a program of record.

[B]

Is Doge even doging anything?

[A]

I don't. I don't think so anymore. I did hear they're doging the entire Pentagon, though. They're just going to have it as a triangle.

[B]

That would be pretty dope. Yeah. I have fortunately avoided.

[A]

It's a geometry joke.

[B]

It is. I've avoided ever going to the Pentagon.

[A]

You've never been?

[B]

No. Do you know why?

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Because I never want to go. What possible utilization would there be for me there?

[A]

I mean, honesty. I don't know exactly.

[B]

Well, he can be honest about it. The readiness and lethality of the US military would decrease if I spent time at the Pentagon.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because I have nothing to offer. I never thought anything, you know, I never worked at the strategic level of warfare or the operational level. If there was a ladder and at the bottom rung, there was another rung hanging off of that, that's where I was on the little tactical run.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it's like, what do I have to offer to you guys?

[A]

I'm just surprised, given what you did.

[B]

Like, I didn't do shit. I've also been out since 2013. Like, bon voyage.

[A]

Oh, I guess that's true.

[B]

Yeah. Some of us make decisions earlier. We live our own life. Not the life that the government's trying to craft you into.

[A]

But yeah, the program's going really well. I want to help steward that on my way out. I want to give back to the institution before I get out, you know.

[B]

I feel like you already are, though. And I feel like you have been.

[A]

I feel like I am too. But I wanted there to be some tangible, measurable thing, you know, I believe that I do good things. Making people laugh, for sure. And our community has blessed me far beyond anything I deserve.

[B]

What would just never ending content of the dumb things we do? I mean, honestly, I don't know how you have enough time in your day. You could just sit there and be like, yep, there's another one. We'll do that. Yep, there's another one. We'll do that.

[A]

So that's the thing. When I started doing this, I was like, I'm not going to have enough ideas. And like. But coming up with the ideas, that is the create. The creative aspect of this is for sure my strength. Like, I'm not good with lighting, I'm not good with camera, I'm not good with audio. But generating ideas, like, it's like fucking. And people will try and be like, when we're gonna go do content, people will be like, all right, what are like, what are we gonna do? And I'm like, you gotta, like, we gotta wait till we're on ground because that shit shakes out, like in the moment. And they're. They it freak. First off, 0 sixes do not like operating like that. They want everything strictly regimented. And I'm like, you don't.

[B]

They remember being O2s?

[A]

They don't.

[B]

But where does that happen?

[A]

You can't. You.

[B]

Because an oath, you know, an 06 or higher. Let's say we're up in the flag ranks.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's like, hey, man, I know you were in 03 at some point.

[A]

Like, I know you remember how bad this sucks.

[B]

Yeah. You know how the sausage is made. Why are you pretending you had a lobotomy somewhere around the 07 level? Not like a full lobotomy. Elon Musk went in there, was like, we'll just pull out all of your operational knowledge on how bad the military used to be or the difficulties that we used to put in front of you because you're now gonna be in a position where you could change those.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So we need you to forget that. That.

[A]

Well, it's like when senior leaders lose their shit because somebody does slight something slightly different than the way they do it. And it's like, brother, you've been to like 17 different units. You know, people do things differently. Why. Why are you losing your shit right now?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

If it is not life, limb or eyesight, nobody should be yelling.

[B]

That's a good point.

[A]

Like, I genuinely. Okay, now if somebody's done the same thing wrong seven times, maybe. Yeah, maybe now it's time to yell. Even if it's not life limit.

[B]

But you study them, you put together a unit, and you keep giving them the same task. And you just. You're like, why? No, like, no guidance. Keep going. And we want to figure out who you are, where you came from. Is your family tree more straight up than out on branches? You know what I mean? Like, we have to get to the bottom of this.

[A]

We'll get to the bottom of this. We had a kid in one of my units that could not alphabetize, like folders. He just kept getting it wrong. And so one of the NCOs.

[B]

Did you put a chart up for him?

[A]

One of the. No, One of the NCOs printed out every letter on a piece of paper and they made him tape it to the wall in alphabetical order, like multiple times, which I don't think you can do that anymore.

[B]

I feel like what this is saying is that the ASVAB should be reworked.

[A]

So funny enough, there's a GT requirement. What does that mean on the asvab? The GT score, the general technical score is like, supposed to be your overall intelligence, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They dropped the GT requirement from 110 to like 95 at one point for my MOS.

[B]

Michael, let's play a fun game. We're going to pull up minimum ASVAB scores required for all branches of Service.

[A]

And so is it.

[B]

Let's. Let's play a betting game. Is it the same across the board?

[A]

There's no way. I don't think so.

[B]

What branch has the lowest barrier to entry?

[A]

Oh, God. I don't want to say. I don't want to. I don't want to alienate half my audience. I think it's the pride of the Marine Corps.

[B]

I do, too. Having said that, the Marines are the men's department of the Navy. I mean, they.

[A]

I mean, they are awesome. They've also got the best fucking uniforms.

[B]

Minimum ASVAB score. Air Force the highest.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And Coast Guard. Bastards. Look at that. Look who's in third place.

[A]

Wow. Which is the same as the Marines.

[B]

Look at this. Look who's in second place. Since the Air Force and Coast Guard tied for first.

[A]

No way. Wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That is incredible.

[B]

You know why? Cuz all that fleet stuff they do. They got to be. You know what I mean?

[A]

They got to be. I mean, it took me a long time just to register what fleet meant, so there you go.

[B]

Army, 31. Marine Corps 31. National Guard 31. What do you have to say for yourself? Does that check out?

[A]

I'm sorry? Marine Corps.

[B]

Is that trap?

[A]

I'm right there with you.

[B]

Yeah, man, that was a weird test. Michael, do me a favor and Google. Do they allow ASVAB waivers?

[A]

Google.

[B]

Just the military in general.

[A]

Yeah, I don't think they. I don't think they do. I don't think you can literally get a waiver.

[B]

Google. Does the army allow asvab? Yes, the military does allow ASVAB for those listening armed services.

[A]

But that's. AI. Is that accurate?

[B]

Aptitude Battery? No, it'll show you the link. We can go right to. Who do not meet the minimum required asvab. Oh, my God. But still show potential.

[A]

What's the potential?

[B]

That's an interesting questions. Not automatic read on case by case, subject to specific needs and policies of each military branch. I don't. I don't know if that's a good thing.

[A]

Oh, it's definitely not a good thing.

[B]

Here's a question. How much of a waiver is allowed? We talking 10 points, right?

[A]

Yeah. I'm not the guy to answer that.

[B]

I'm not either.

[A]

I do know.

[B]

Like, but I think you should be able to alphabetize also.

[A]

It's. It's really concerning when we're getting like tons of people at once like that. Like onesies and twosies. Whatever. Like one ASVAB waiver and a platoon of 40. Whatever. But like when half. Is it really, sir?

[B]

Is it really?

[A]

Let's go ahead and the other guys can. Can hem it up a little bit.

[B]

Yeah. Let's talk about. If you have a pie chart, how much percentage of your time would eventually trickle down to that one individual?

[A]

Oh, yeah, it would be 90% of your time.

[B]

No, we don't want that. I think it should be extremely difficult to enlist in the military, but we.

[A]

Already have a hard time getting people in.

[B]

Good. Have you forgotten what the core responsibility of the job is? Yeah, it should be harder than an Ivy League school. You should turn away more people than we accept. I can fix the recruiting problem right now. You ready? Tax free for the rest of your life. Oh, no problem. Obviously there need to be a minimum service associated with that.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Let's say you do 10 years, you don't pay tax. Again,.05 personal taxes.

[A]

Or if you own a business, the business doesn't pay taxes.

[B]

Whoo. Now we're getting deep. I would like to enlist through my llc. Welcome to my show. I would like to have this nebulous company enlist for me. I don't know, but you want to talk about ways that would be one that would have to be determined later on. But let's say point I think 0.05% of the population is actually serving at any time. It was like 6% in peak World War II. That was with the draft. We got called 360 million people. 10% of that would be 36 million people. 5% of that would be 18 million people. Yeah, I think we'd be okay to let it to start with. Obviously it would have some cascading effects, but I think it would drastically change recruiting instantly.

[A]

I also don't think it would have like a significant impact on tax dollars collected, honestly.

[B]

Well, if they can just tax us a little bit more, they're going to have it figured out because the government is an incredible steward of our money right now. They have almost an unlimited budget and they're. They're doing great. They pass audits. They're spectacular. So what would a few million dollars here and there make a difference?

[A]

Oh, Lord.

[B]

Imagine that, though. Imagine somebody. Because for as long as I paid attention to politics, one of the main points on either side is tax and taxation. You don't think you get an influx of young people who look at that and say, okay, I'll at least give that a look, because I can do. And the thing is, you know this as well as I do. If you do 10 years in the military, it Is very possible that you could exit that and have done no personal development because oh, 100% you could have.

[A]

You've got somebody holding your hand the whole time.

[B]

But the other side of that coin is you could come out of that a completely different person. With educate. You could have done a ton of like tuition assistance or all these other educational programs while you're in, still have your GI bill, healthcare and pension. That's not necessarily going to come at the 10 year mark, but I think that that would be a wash. If you go with the tax free aspect. You could have done vocational training. And this is what I tell people when they are getting ready to join the military gets their pound of flesh up front. Make sure you get your pound before you leave. But you have to research and find these programs. At least when I was in they weren't like being blasted in your face. But they exist at 10 years you could leave so utterly prepared from an educational, vocational and no tax. I mean, come on.

[A]

Yeah, you really need like, you need to have a plan. I mean basically going in but like quickly after you get in you need to figure out what your plan is. Some people's plan is going to be to stay in, but the vast majority of people don't. I think only like 17% of people that.

[B]

Dear Michael, how many percent of people actually retire?

[A]

Yeah, 20 years. But it's a, it's a small percentage in comparison to how many people actually do it in general.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so like, I mean you know you're gonna get out at some point, you need to have a plan. But yeah, that's, I mean telling peop. I tell people that too. The military is gonna take like perfect example. I had a, I had a leader more senior to me. They got pissed at me one time because I let the guys go home at like 15 to 20%.

[B]

You're right.

[A]

Yeah, I had the guys go home at like 1500, 1600. I let them go to the gym.

[B]

That is 3 or 4pm for those of you know the military.

[A]

So I let him go to the gym. I said, hey, keep your phones on you. After 1700 you're free to go. Like. And he was like pissed. He was like what? I was like, we're not doing anything. And then he was like, yeah, but like we work until 17. I'm like, Ah, Army's gonna get that time back. Yeah, like you're not giving them two hours when they have to work at two extra hours. You know what I mean?

[B]

Like now that I'm out, I would Love to sit down with that person. And again, I just love the question.

[A]

People forget that they're human and they, like humans, work for them.

[B]

But it's not even that I love the question. Why, like, sir, why are you actually upset about this?

[A]

Yeah, like, why do you care?

[B]

Is it you think that they're not doing their job? Because I would assume that you made sure that the responsibilities for the day were done 100%. So then go do some physical training, which, by the way, in a profession's professional arms is a part of your job. Even you people in the Air Force.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just saying. Space Force. I'm still not sure what they do.

[A]

Yet, but I don't know if they know what they do yet.

[B]

I think they do cybersecurity.

[A]

Don't. Don't come after me.

[B]

They do cyber stuff. I think. However, if they ever did need a door gunner for space shuttle, I will. A laser Gatling gun. I didn't wreck some with that. So it's like, why. Why are you actually upset? Are you upset because somebody else held you to that standard when you were in this position? Do you think that this is actually undermining your authority? Why are you so pissed?

[A]

Yeah, I don't like feeling like I'm just sitting around doing nothing.

[B]

Nobody does.

[A]

Like, I want to just get what we need to get done. Done. And then, like, if I got. If I'm the senior guy, like, I'll stay. You know what I mean? Yeah, but there's no it. Like, people have families. They. And even people that don't have families, their free time is still valuable. Like, that's the only resource we can't get more of is time.

[B]

Well, you're never gonna have a family unless you have free time to make bad decisions in.

[A]

That's true. Yeah.

[B]

Because that's how families are created.

[A]

If we keep them at work, they're not. I mean, they're not making babies at work. I mean, they shouldn't be.

[B]

I could give you some examples of where that wasn't the case, but, I mean, if you don't give an E5 time off, how are they going to buy a Mustang on a 37?

[A]

Exactly. Exactly. How are they going to drink and drive? How are they. How are they going to marry a stripper?

[B]

Standing rule in the teams was strippers are for fun. Don't take them home for mom.

[A]

What if they're really nice, though?

[B]

I could list for you many examples of people who came with that argument and ended in what I can only describe as a vicious Aftermath.

[A]

I've never been to a strip club. Well, okay, so I walked into one one time, I was so drunk that I don't really remember, and I didn't have sleeves, so they wouldn't let me go in. And then I was kind of like.

[B]

You'Re wearing a tank top.

[A]

I was wearing a tank top, yeah. It was the middle of summer in San Antonio, Texas.

[B]

Let me ask you this. Why did you describe it as not having sleeves as opposed to just saying I was wearing a tank top?

[A]

Because that's what the guy said to me.

[B]

Yeah, but it didn't describe the article of clothing you were trying to skirt around.

[A]

Hey, Andy, I'll tell you a secret. I'm autistic.

[B]

Okay. Because clearly, you were wearing a crop top here. Like, I'm sure midriff.

[A]

Oh, yeah, for sure. There's a little belly showing.

[B]

I mean, there's some ways to describe wearing a tank top that was barefoot. Most people don't say, hey, you know, an article of clothing without sleeves.

[A]

I've told that story so many times, and nobody's ever brought that up. And I've told. I tell it the same way every time. But, yeah, they kicked me out. So I walk into this, and they told me we were going to a hookah bar, because I told the guys, I was like, I don't want to go to a strip. I was married at the time. I told the guys, I was like, I don't want to go to a strip club. I don't do that. And they were like, okay. They were like, after they saw I was, like, damn near blackout drunk, they were like, hey, let's go to a hookah bar. And so then I walked in, and I've been to hookah bars before, and I'm like, why is there a metal detector in this hookah bar? And so then the guy's like, yeah, you don't have sleeves. You can't come in. And I was like, I don't have sleep. Why don't they allow no sleeves in a hookah bar? And then I walked out, and, like, my ex called me, and she was like, where are you? And I was like, I don't know. I'm somewhere in San Antonio. She knew. I was like, you know, blitzed. And she was like, well, just look at the name of the building. And so I looked up, and I was like, sugars? And she was like, you're at a strip club? And I was like, they wouldn't let me in. She was not happy.

[B]

Your operational security is poor. You should just said, like, where most of that's gonna be. Just say Applebee's Chili's. I've gotten tuned up at Applebee's. They're bottomless margaritas. What I suggest is you gotta get up in between drinks. Cause if you sit there and have like four of those, when you get off your stool to go take a piss, gravity reorients itself. It gets real dicey. It gets real dicey. You gotta stand up in between, man.

[A]

Oh, God.

[B]

They had an Outback Steakhouse. My God. Get a little Bloomin Onion. You know, Outback is.

[A]

I haven't been to Outback in forever.

[B]

I don't. I want it to be forever. Before I go to.

[A]

I go to Olive Garden. In Texas Roadhouse. It's pretty much the only. Yeah, I do.

[B]

You go to OG Bottomless bread rolls?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Why do you go there?

[A]

I just love the Zupa Toscana. They have a specific soup that's so good.

[B]

No, I feel like this is an issue of self respect.

[A]

It's high class white trash is how I describe all of that.

[B]

None of it's accurate except for the tail end. The tail end is sabot on. You know, there are people. So Kalispell is relatively small, especially in comparison. Where you guys live in Texas, there's a thread called flathead411, which is where I get all my banger information. Yeah, There are people petitioning to get an OG up here.

[A]

No kidding.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm not sure they're signing. They're getting. They're collecting.

[B]

They're not getting like a petition. They're just trying to rally support on Facebook. Right.

[A]

Facebook group. I just imagine it's every unemployed person in this city.

[B]

Gets a little bit wild out there.

[A]

Oh, God damn. That's funny.

[B]

Yeah. Okay. Texas Roadhouse. That's at least a little bit better.

[A]

I love Texas Roadhouse.

[B]

Did they just call it Roadhouse where you are there?

[A]

Yeah. Conor McGregor frequents it. Jake Gyllenhaal, does he. They're in the new Roadhouse.

[B]

Maybe if you are in China and you want to get Chinese food, you just say, I want food.

[A]

I think so.

[B]

Like, I can't control these thoughts. These are the things that are constantly going on.

[A]

You just break. Break down every statement I make.

[B]

No, but is you like Texas Roadhouse? So if you're in Texas, you just go to the road.

[A]

It's just Roadhouse.

[B]

I mean, you'll save money. Here's the thing. I know what signs cost. You'll save money if you take you'd.

[A]

Save money up front on the cost of the sign. And then also maintenance, too.

[B]

Yeah. And then in every other state, you could make people think they're in Texas.

[A]

Because I'm pretty sure you have to replace, like, the whole thing. Right. Because if you try and just replace one letter, it's like, looks different than the other ones because they all fade at the same rate.

[B]

Well, I'll open the statement with. I'm not an expert on signs, but I believe those are all connected in some way, shape, or form. Oh, they are. Yeah. JT hooked me up with those. He was. Those are his idea.

[A]

How? Really?

[B]

Nothing I have done in my life is actually my idea. I am a complete and utter believer. I've never had a unique thought. I just.

[A]

I like that one, too.

[B]

Yeah, he. I think he has that one at his bar. He ordered one, too. He hooked me up with the guy who made the signs. It was his idea.

[A]

Oh, I think he does.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Dude, I'm dead serious. I was talking with somebody about this the other day. If you'd have given me. So I got out in 2013, if you had given me probably a full week and said, I need you to write down 100 things that you think you might be doing 10 years from now, not a single thing I'm doing would been on that list. Even with time to be creative, which I'm not, I would have never even been able to.

[A]

You don't consider yourself a creative person?

[B]

No.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Oh, dude, you should see the T shirt ideas I come up with.

[A]

I mean, I just come up with the phrase, and the graphic artist runs with it.

[B]

I struggle to find. I don't. I have had good success with graphic artists. I guess I would say I would struggle to find, like, I know what I like. I'm not good at determining what other people might like, though. If I only sold the things that I like, I would sell nothing.

[A]

That's such a good point. I've never thought about that. Wow.

[B]

But also, if you want to be your own thing, I mean, it's a deeper question. If you want to be your own thing, should you even care what other people like?

[A]

Right. Yeah.

[B]

But also, if you want to, you know, turn the lights on and off, you need to sell a certain amount of them. I. So I. Sometimes I can have ideas and the graphic designers that I've worked with, and again, it's, you know, it's a spectrum of great to less great. Some of them have their own twist and turn on it. I'm not good at that stuff, man.

[A]

Yeah, like the podcast.

[B]

Not my idea. Coffee shop that came through. The relationship with Evan and just having conversations over time and asking him more questions about the coffee shops that they were opening. Jiu Jitsu, literally. This is how I started Jiu Jitsu. I had a buddy when I first moved up here. He would not shut up.

[A]

He wouldn't stop talking about it.

[B]

Oh, my God, you gotta come. And I remember when I had left the military, people were so pumped about it that it disgusted me. And like, I don't care if you guys are talking about drinking water to stay alive. I'm never drinking water again. Because you guys are so excited about it.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

I don't like it or you ever again.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And Jiu Jitsu is the same. Like, I'm never doing that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Pajama wrestling.

[A]

It's kind of like CrossFit. Like, you know when CrossFit. And I love CrossFit. Like, I think it's really cool. I don't do it, but, like, people talked about it. What was it like 10 years ago? It was like, just on fire.

[B]

I worked for CrossFit for eight years.

[A]

No kidding.

[B]

We can get to that story. It's a fun one. Not at all. But he come. He just. Jiu Jitsu. Jiu Jitsu.

[A]

Jiu Jitsu.

[B]

Jiu Jitsu. We're over at my house. He is he. I should say we super drunk because there's no way he was just super drunk and I wasn't. And he's like, if you start now, you'll never catch me. Four stripe white belt, by the way. At the time, he's like, this is what I would do to you. He's like, I'll choke you with your head and arm and blah, blah, blah, blah. He's like, you'll never tap me. And I'm like. And I said to him, if I go to one class, will you please stop bringing this up? He is a blue belt right now and basically stopped trading.

[A]

Are you kidding me?

[B]

Yeah. Wow. So I started. I was there at his Ironman, which is a ceremony they do or an evolution, I should say. I was a one stripe white belt when he got his blue belt. I've had my black belt for a year now and he is a blue belt.

[A]

No kidding.

[B]

Not my idea.

[A]

That's hilarious.

[B]

Not to him. I mean, I punish him.

[A]

Is anybody's idea to go to Jiu Jitsu the first time? Cause, like, you just get the shit beaten out of you. The whole class on your first class Unless you're like, have some grappling experience behind you, or you go to a.

[B]

School that cares about actually being in business, maybe can expose it to you at an intensity level that is not feeling like you're in the Pelican Bay.

[A]

Yard, but no matter what, like you're getting tapped a bunch of times.

[B]

I describe Jiu Jitsu, the first year and a half, you're looking up a lot more than you're looking down.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

You're just like, how many ceiling tiles do we have? There are eight blades on our ceiling fan.

[A]

They go around, they spin 16 RPM.

[B]

And I count every one of them as I'm stuck here in psych. Control ball.

[A]

Oh, God. While you're struggling to breathe and yet so funny. So after I, after I started getting bigger on social media, you know, the veteran community is massively involved in Jiu Jitsu. You go to any grappling anywhere anybody's doing grappling or really just martial arts in general, there's veterans and so like every, every time I go anywhere, it's always the most senior, like the best guys in the academy or the gym or whatever that want to train with me. And I just, I'm like, fuck. Like, I just constantly feel like I just started again.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because like, I love doing that too because I've been doing it long enough now and I'm not good at Jiu Jitsu, but like, I, I more proficient than most people. Yeah, you're purple belt at this point, but like, you train with some people and you're like, jesus Christ, do I grapple? Like, do I know anything?

[B]

Isn't that inspirational though?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Because you realize, because you're like, there's.

[A]

Never, there's never an upper limit. You can always get better. And that I feel like that is daunting for some people. I feel like some people want an end of the road, but like, daunting for everybody.

[B]

But that's the difference between people who continue to move forward in their life and those that are constantly and consistently looking for excuses or obstacles to place in front of.

[A]

Right? Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, it sucks. I'm convinced that the key to at least mental youth is learning new things. That's why I don't think you can master Jiu Jitsu. And I say that based off of. We just came back from a week long seminar up in Northern California with Henry Akins. I. It's like I roll with him and I just, I just start laughing.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yeah, because it's like, I don't know how to get out of this. And then he'll really. Dude, he is. We're. If. If we are using the example of a language. He is writing novels.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I'm trying to figure out how to spell the. You know, we're using the same Alphabet. And I'm convinced.

[A]

But that's insane. That's insane given your level of skill.

[B]

Yeah. But then I. So he was a Hickson. He's a Hickson. Gracie black belt. I'm like, dude, please tell me that you at least went back and forth with Hickson. He's just like, I don't think I ever scored a point on the guy.

[A]

I'm like, no shit.

[B]

How is this possible? So a dude who can do that to me. There's a dude out there that can do that to him.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That to me is fascinating.

[A]

Truly. Always a bigger fish.

[B]

Yeah. And to some people, they would say, oh, I don't want any part of that. Because one they don't like. They would not like the sensation of actually being dominated like that because it's helpless. But then excited to just start laughing. You know, you're not actually out on the street.

[A]

Yeah. It's not like. It's not people with that level of pride that's concerning to me. For them. I'm like, you can't. You can't hang it up for an hour. Like, you know what I mean?

[B]

But, dude, I could go down the list. I got into aviation way early on. Not my. Not my suggestion. Public speaking stuff that I do was never my idea. Somebody suggested that. I truly don't know if I've had a unique thought or creation.

[A]

Now I'm questioning myself now.

[B]

You make original stuff and some people have it. I don't have that. I could never have a. My job could never be. You're responsible for creative id. Like, I would just. I couldn't do that job. Like, I could not be a creative ideation guy. I could execute well on stuff. Like if you. If you give me a kernel of an idea, I can take it from there. But getting that kernel is tough for me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So, yeah.

[A]

It's so funny. Like, and there's so many things that I want to do and that's part of the reason why I'm transitioning out now. Like, I. I found that I love keynote speaking. Yeah. Now I gave a speech at one of our friends events and.

[B]

Male or female?

[A]

Female.

[B]

A, B, C, D. Just stop.

[A]

You really want me to save initials? But. And there's very few things that I've done In life where I'm like. Because I'm my own worst critic. Like, I'm very, very hard on myself.

[B]

Welcome to the club. I also think that's the key to growth, though.

[A]

I do, too. But there's for sure a level that can get unhealthy. Like, you can for sure hold yourself back.

[B]

Just lean into that part. How do you really know where the bottom is?

[A]

I don't. I mean, I don't think I've hit rock bottom.

[B]

There's always another ledge to leap off of.

[A]

I love the so. And that's funny. I just. We just filmed the first six episodes of a podcast on. On, like, alcoholism. And one of the guys on the podcast was like, brother, I know that there's a basement to rock bottom. And I was like, that is such a fuck. Um, but, yeah, so I gave the. I gave a speech, and I. After it, people were, like, emotional. People were walking up to me and telling me. It was, like, super impactful. People that I knew would not tell me I did a good job if I didn't do a good job. Or like, you murdered that. And I was like, wow, do I have, like a. Like, I'm good at this.

[B]

What was the topic?

[A]

It was. So the event centered around a military unit, and some of the guys were still in. Some of the guys were not. They had a deployment, you know, 15 years ago, and they have seen a rash of suicides from the guys that were on that deployment until now. I want to say something like, 20 suicides out of that group of people on deployment.

[B]

And, like, so ridiculously, statistically anomalous.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, right. And this was a. Not a battalion size. This was out of a company size element. So you're talking like you don't have.

[B]

Companies in the fleet.

[A]

Maybe somewhere between 100 and 120 people, probably.

[B]

Oh, shit.

[A]

Yeah. And 20 might be high. It was a lot. It was a significant number of people, you know, and so what this event was supposed to do is target units like that. They fly them all out. They do a week in seminar. And then after they do this, this weekend class and seminar and stuff like that, the program, they. They have zero suicides. And I gave, like, the keynote speech for it. And so it was basically just me trying to be inspirational. And. And I wrote the speech myself. It was probably. Oh, God, I don't know if it was longer than 15 minutes. I felt like it was really short because when you're on stage too, time just doesn't. Like, it doesn't feel like it moves the same, if that makes sense. It's really hard to gauge how long you're up there, but. Yeah. And then.

[B]

Do you have a watch?

[A]

I don't want to be looking down at my watch like I got someplace better to be, though.

[B]

There are modern, real world solutions to this problem. Were you at Elektron? I was in a. I mean, let me help you out here, buddy.

[A]

You know, I'm just. I'm gonna start bringing you to my speeches, Andy, and then you can just flash the light when I need to get off stage. Okay? You'll heckle me during one of my Q and A.

[B]

During. But Q and A is tough. Sometimes it's harder to get the first question. So I have a banger. Dude. If you're up at a lectern, you just put your phone up there on silent, obviously, don't be a douche. And you can look down or you could set a timer.

[A]

This is life changing for me.

[B]

It shouldn't be because this is day one stuff.

[A]

I've given speeches to military units now. Like, I'm giving another one at a. At a military ball at Fort Hood on, like, October 13th or something. I spoke at the American Legions event they did at the presidential inauguration. Student Veterans of America National Convention. That was really close. Like somewhere between six and 800 people I gave that speech for. And so every time I'm doing this, I'm getting better, obviously, but, like. Yeah. To see people so moved by what I'm saying.

[B]

What were you saying specifically to the audience that had the company size element, that had that suicide issue, what did you focus your message around?

[A]

Basically, like, a lot of people in our community feel like they didn't do enough. And so what I'll hear oftentimes, and I say this in every speech that I give to veterans. You were not just a specialist. You were not just a supply surgeon. You are not just anything. You were an American service member. You were a service member in what is objectively the greatest fighting force that has ever existed.

[B]

Do you think they feel like they didn't do enough? Because right before they were ready to do more. Tim came in and did it for me.

[A]

Okay, let's throw out. I thought for sure you were gonna say something ser. Oh, my God.

[B]

Why do you assume that what I just said isn't serious?

[A]

I think that we are ingrained. It's ingrained in us from day one that you can always do more. That's healthy to point.

[B]

Well, that's healthy for personal and professional growth. I get this. All I Mean, I've received thousands of emails, and it's almost always from conventional service members. And they say the same thing. And so every time, because people ask me a lot about military service and I. I don't want to answer the same question, like, over and over and over again. So a couple of times a year, I'll talk about it, and I start with reminding them, I don't care how sharp you are at the tip of the spear, good luck doing anything at a JSOC or a SOCOM unit without immense traditional conventional military support. Now I'm flying the helicopters, maintaining the helicopters, gassing them up, moving the troops. You could go down and down and down. It's thousands of people that allow a really small amount of people to do what they do. And that's just one aspect of it. And even in those. And this is another misconception, even in special operations, they think that everybody is out there living their Rambo lifestyle. I know a ton of guys that just because of bad luck or good luck, depending on how you view it, didn't get to do anything. I was vast majority of what they wanted to do.

[A]

Yeah, I was so insecure because I made E5 and I had not deployed. So I called my branch manager, who. In the army, your branch manager controls where you go.

[B]

Why do you guys use the same terms as Banks?

[A]

I don't know. That's a good question.

[B]

I mean, what kind of. What kind of.

[A]

Can we Google that?

[B]

Yeah. What kind of ecosystem? I know we should base the army off of banks.

[A]

Good moral institutions. But, yeah, so I called him and he was like, yeah, I don't have anywhere deploying for you. Because I was. I literally was like, I want to go to any deploying unit. And he was like, nope, I don't have anything. Which I know now was. I didn't know back then, but I know now it was a lie. Because my mos. The job that I did in the army was in. In quite literally every battalion level element or higher.

[B]

What did you think you were missing out on?

[A]

I just. That's the culture of the Army. If you don't deploy, you're not sure.

[B]

No, I get it. Because I think that's the same across all branches. But again, my favorite question is it goes back to why. Why do people feel that? What did they think if they deployed or didn't deploy? And, you know, this is what I do. Deploying is such a broad term. There's people who deploy to Thailand and the Philippines. There's people who deploy to Europe and they. Forward stage, there's people who deploy to combat zones, but they're back in a supporting element. And, you know, not that they're not at risk, but they're not out at a forward operating base.

[A]

They're not getting shot at every day.

[B]

That's what I'm saying. And so it's. It's what?

[A]

Well, also, the people that don't deploy, like, the military still has to exist, of course, those people in. So I'm not insecure about it anymore. Cause, like, I worked through it. You know what I mean? But, like, I mean, yeah, I tried. I volunteered for multiple special operations units because I knew they would deploy. And just. It didn't line up. It didn't work out. And I was so insecure about it that I actually put off starting making content for, like, two years because I was like, nobody's gonna care about my opinion, but, like, why would anybody give a shit if I deployed? You know what? I don't talk about tactics or deployments in my content ever, because there's not.

[B]

Enough time in the day to talk about the nonsensical nature of the military. You have to get through that first, which is impossible.

[A]

I've never gotten to the end of the day and been like, I still have some time. Let me talk. Yeah, let's talk some CQB here. The thing that I've never done.

[B]

Yeah, well, you'll never get through the nonsensical aspect of the military. So, yeah, leave. I feel. I don't know how to. I don't know how to make those people. I can't. What I take. That's not the right way to phrase it. I don't know how to help those people put that down, because they're gonna have to.

[A]

It has to be intrinsic. It has to be internal. And a lot of times it requires therapy. Like, I mean, like, I don't know. I had to work through. And, like, a lot of young men are super insecure. A lot of young men have very fragile egos. I did. And I think a lot of us in the military seek out those things because we feel like it'll quantify or qualify our masculinity. But, like, it doesn't, you know, like, you're either gonna feel good about yourself or you're not. And nothing you do externally, for the most part, is going to have any lasting impact. Like, that shit is internal. It's in your. It's in your head. And so, yeah, like, now. And, I mean, I get people take potshots at Me every once in a while. I don't care.

[B]

Oh, yeah, you never answer the question, why people are talking shit about you on the Internet. What do they say?

[A]

Oh, a lot of it centers around my, like, somewhat recent divorce. You know, the. The rumor mill started flying as soon as that happened. I'm not going to comment on why I asked for the divorce, because I'm just not going to.

[B]

Also, why do other people care?

[A]

I don't. I don't. Well, I don't know. And I don't even want to comment. I don't even want to comment on what the specific rumors are. There's so many of them. I've not seen a single one that was true. Like, nobody knows what happened. You know, it's just like, I don't know. Sometimes. There have been times when I have felt like the veteran community is very. And the military community is very ready to tear its own people down.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

And. And I love our community. I really do. I'm gonna keep supporting our community to the best of my ability. Part of the reason why I'm getting out of the army is because I think that there's more that I can do outside. But God bless, man. Sometimes there. I mean, sometimes it feels hard to manage. Sometimes it feels like just.

[B]

Yeah. Because it's a tough balance between holding people accountable and then going a little bit past that, and then it becomes just tearing people down. I've seen it internally in the community that I come from, the vast majority of people are very supportive of people when they get out, and they'll basically just say, hey, like, your experiences are yours to do with what you want. Traditionally, the community has viewed this approach to be maybe a little bit better, which is in and of itself a term that has to be defined by person. And this one is a little bit more frowned upon. But do with what you want to. A small fraction of that community will honestly do everything they can to tear you apart. And the comment is almost always the same. You're just out there selling the trident. It's like, dude, I earned my right to wear a trident. It's not anywhere else. And just because I did that job before doesn't mean that that was the key to my success moving forward. I found often that those that are the most irritated by people who are finding success post military are the ones who are struggling to find it in and of themselves. And I get that too. It's like, it's tough to look inward and have those do the work on yourself. It's A little bit easier, especially in the Internet, where you can kind of potshot at people. But it does.

[A]

And you can do it from a.

[B]

Place of relative safety and anonymity if you wanted to.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And, yeah, it's. Man, it's like. It flips on that little gauge, like, constructive, holding people accountable, tearing. It's.

[A]

Yeah, I just. I don't understand it because, like, there are. There's a decent number of creators that just really seem to not like me. I'm not really sure why A lot of them. I've never interacted with.

[B]

Military creators.

[A]

Yeah. I mean. Yeah, but. And it's odd because, like, I have. I mean, I have people whose content that I don't prefer, you know, But I can't really. I can't really say that I really don't like anybody or there's people that I wouldn't work with or anything like that.

[B]

Well, they don't know you through your content, right?

[A]

Yeah, they don't know. And I. I do feel like what you see is what you get for the most part, I feel like, yeah, but they don't.

[B]

They know your content. Yeah, they know you for that. Whatever, 60 seconds that you're up there. But do they really know you?

[A]

Right.

[B]

No is the answer.

[A]

Yeah. And so, yeah, there's just. I didn't realize how many aspects of this, like, I don't know if you want to call it a lifestyle, this profession, whatever this path I was choosing, I didn't realize how hard they were going to be to navigate. And also, you can't, like, put the genie back in the bottle, because even if I went down and took everything down, like, I'm still gonna get recognized, you know, for the next probably 10 years, until people forget, and then maybe they never forget. I don't know. It feels daunting sometimes and frustrating. But, like, then I get messages from people and they're like, hey, like, you know, your live Laugh toaster bath shirt got me to go to the VA and get it, like, get into counseling. And I'm like, holy shit. Like, I am having a positive impact on people. People will walk up to me and be like, you know, I joined the military because of your videos. And I'm like, did you watch the videos?

[B]

Like, they were like, those are not actually a recruiting pitch. Also, my bad.

[A]

But no, I mean, people. It's. The vast 99.9% of people are very kind. I do believe that it's a very small hypervocal subset of our community, because I believe our community is amazing. And a lot of people are just. They want to do their service, they want to get out, and they want to live a quiet life and. And they wanted to serve. And. Yeah, I believe most people come out of the military fundamentally better than the way they entered if.

[B]

If they choose to.

[A]

If nothing else, they did something hard and they made it through.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think that there's significant value in that. I believe that there. That is where we derive the most value from jiu jitsu. Because it is so hard. And just knowing like, okay, I'm gonna go do this hard thing willingly. Like, I think that there's a lot of value in that.

[B]

Yeah. I had to work hard on not over focusing on the negativity bias myself personally, because you're always. It's the. If you get 100 comments and 1's negative.

[A]

No. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

All your energy and effort is focused on the 1% versus completely ignoring the 99 other ones. And I think that's from just our ability to evolve as a species. Like, you're looking for the things that are a threat or a risk, but a comment on social media isn't. So I have to constantly. And it has helped reminding myself you can only give the negative input. As much emphasis as you give the positive, at very least. Needs to be a 50, 50 split.

[A]

Yeah, for sure.

[B]

Cause otherwise, for me, it's usually 99 to 1. 99 being the negative. That one person, it's like, here goes all of my. It's like, why? And then you just, like, you can sit back at the end of the day, what did I accomplish? Who cares? Focusing on this. Will I ever meet this person in real life? No. Does this person's opinion actually matter to me? No. Am I even sure that I'm talking with a person and not a bot at this point? No.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I love too. I saw one guy commented on like three or four videos in a row, and he kept commenting about how I didn't re rack my weights at the gym one time. And I'm gonna tell you right now, there's probably been a time when I didn't re rack the weights at the gym. At the gym.

[B]

That actually means you're a horrible person.

[A]

But he's like, clearly so mad about it that he's gonna comment on multiple videos. And so like a lot of times too. And I guess my point in saying that is a lot of times people will see one moment of me, you know what I mean? And then they'll base me off of it. Like, you know, I Have my bad days. Like, you know, I go to events and I'm fucking exhausted. Like, I traveled. So a lot of times I'm going to back to back events. And I really do try and give everybody the same energy. I want, like, I want everybody to leave the experience with me. Like. Like, oh, wow, he's a great guy. And he's exactly what I expected. Sometimes I fucking can't. Sometimes I'm exhausted, and sometimes I interact with somebody right after somebody was really rude to me. You know what I mean? That kind of shit happens. I remember I was at an event and I was literally being escorted out because people mobbed me after this speech. And this guy literally grabbed my suit and pulled me over to take a picture. And I was like, dude. And I pushed him away. Anybody that saw that interaction saw me push a guy. Right. And so, like, if you don't know where I was at, like, I don't like people fucking grabbing my shit and pulling me in.

[B]

Who does?

[A]

Exactly. But nobody saw that. Everybody just saw mandatory Funday push a guy. Yeah. And so, I don't know.

[B]

I was kegging on that one. I didn't see that.

[A]

But I've seen people comment about my. About me at that specific event. Somebody was like, oh, yeah, he wasn't very, very personable at this event.

[B]

Yeah. People forget that everybody you see is a person going through their own bs.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

It's tough.

[A]

And so, yeah, it's just. I don't know. It's funny. I do. Like, there's tons of projects that I'm working on for our community, specifically, like, the Emergence Health Network. I'm still in the process of vetting them because I want to make sure that the organization is VA approved. You know, American Legion approved. But I want to do some pro bono work for them because they cater to the largest veteran population in the country. They're in El Paso. I just did a podcast on addiction.

[B]

Yeah. The six series. One.

[A]

Check your six pack. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

You said it was a six. Six episode.

[A]

It's gonna be ten. We've filmed six specifically on alcoholism.

[B]

Yeah, That's a kind of a downer of a topic.

[A]

I know, I know. And so it's. It's. It was interesting riding that line of humor and like. Like lightheartedness while also hearing these, quite frankly, traumatic stories.

[B]

How'd you decide who the first six episodes were going to be with?

[A]

We workshopped it with the. So there's three. Two of them are PhDs. I want to say neuroscientists. One of them is master's degree neuroscientist. So Nick and I workshopped it with those three and we kind of just. We had a list of people, they had to approve it and then we gave recommendations based on that.

[B]

That.

[A]

But yeah, no, I mean, it was, it was great. I mean, I. I really do think it's going to be super impactful for a lot of people. I struggled with. I had a really unhealthy relationship with alcohol in my early to mid-20s.

[B]

Do you still drink now?

[A]

I do. And that was funny because when I. I cut out alcohol completely for year and a half, two years, and then I decided to reintroduce it and I don't even know why I chose to do that. But now I can have a couple drinks and cut it off and it's fine. Now I can go to a place that has alcohol and not drink anything and it's fine. It wasn't like that for me all the time when I was younger. And I had always been told that that is wrong because the AA mentality is like very prevalent in the addiction recovery community. And there is nothing wrong with aa. They've done amazing things for a lot of people. And abstinence is the answer for a lot of people. But it doesn't have to be the answer for everybody. And I don't want a barrier for somebody to get help to be. I can never do this thing again.

[B]

And I model totally black and white.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. And it's also religion based and I'm religious, you know, but that's also not everybody's cup of tea. Yeah, but the, these, you know, neuroscientists were like, no, like, the abstinence model works for some people. It doesn't work for everybody. You don't have to completely give up drinking forever. You can realize that you have problematic behavior and warning signs and address it and then have a healthy relationship with alcohol. And I thought that was so cool.

[B]

Like, well, the other model is like saying a 400 milligram ibuprofen is the perfect dosage for all human beings.

[A]

Right. Yeah.

[B]

Or since I wear a size 10 shoe, that will be the only shoe size worn. And you can either jam your foot into this or go barefoot.

[A]

Blanket policy.

[B]

It doesn't work.

[A]

It doesn't work like any. And it pisses people off because it's like somebody gets a DUI in the unit and now everybody has to work the weekend. It's like, I didn't drink and drive. Like, none of my soldiers drank and dry like, why are we here?

[B]

My favorite was early on in my career. By doctrine, you will not find alcohol usage in the SEAL community. However passed down through generations.

[A]

You will.

[B]

Find it steeped in the culture. As an example, we had a beer law for every platoon, which is an operational element inside of a SEAL team. It's like 16 guys would usually have eight.

[A]

You would you. So it's supposed to be 16, but you'd only have eight. Usually eight.

[B]

Eight elements of 16.

[A]

Oh, I got. I got you. I got you.

[B]

I was trying to give you some naval terminology, because there was a lot.

[A]

Of numbers, though, and I don't. I'm not good at that.

[B]

That's fine. You carry the one. I distinctly remember this. So it's a beer log. Your first platoon. Oh, first time on a helicopter. Case of beer. First time shooting a AT4 rocket. Case of beer. Oh, you missed the A zone on a target. Six pack of beer. You were late. And so first time things, which are generally like, first time being on a helicopter is pretty damn cool. Going to the grocery store to buy a case of beer while I was making $7 a month wasn't as cool. And I had to do that like 30 times because it was also the first time I had shot this or done that. It was all based in beer year. And they'll be like, same thing. Don't drink and drive. This is the operations officer on a Friday at Seal Team 5. Don't drink and drive takes a pause.

[A]

You guys on the teams were getting safety briefs.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

We were in the military, so you're not going to escape it. It was just like the Friday. All hands, no drinking and driving. I don't want to deal with this shit. Takes a breath. We're gonna do a monster mash pt. Keger starts at noon at the team. New guys. You better not be the first people that leave. And I'm sitting there like, I drove to work. You're telling me I have to go to a mandatory, like, run, swim, run with a kegger afterwards. Also, don't you have three DUIs, dickhead.

[A]

We talked about that in the podcast how the culture. And so basically what the military culture does is promotes this high risk, effectively, no reward behavior. Because ideally, you want high risk, high reward, but there's no reward for drink. I've never gotten to the end of a night of drinking and been like, you know what? That business idea was a. That was a banger that I discussed with my drunk buddy.

[B]

Totally.

[A]

Yeah. And so they promote this behavior and Then the consequences of the behavior. It's basically zero tolerance. Like if you get a DUI in the conventional force, I don't know how it is in any other branch of service service, but for a long time in the army, that was like, you're done. We are kicking you out of the army.

[B]

It was the fastest way to get out of the teams. But pre 9 11, I swear to God, it was a joke. Like, you're not going to make E7 until you have at least one dude.

[A]

I know. Yeah. And that it was a joke in the army for the longest time too. And then they, they, you know, of course, like, the pendulum swings one way.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The knee jerks one way, we got to jerk it the other way, like.

[B]

And so meanwhile, though, at this Friday event, the operations officer who has multiple DUI's trashed, and you just see him just driving down the silver Chand Woo. So I don't care what it says on your paperwork, on your doctrine, go ahead and write something down. These are the rules. And have a senior leader exhibiting the opposite behavior and let me know which way the wind blows on that one. With trends from people downstream.

[A]

Yeah. It's just, it's ridiculous. And it's across the board. Like, there were people that told stories, specifically guys in the soft community that were like, yeah. I had people tell me, like, I don't trust you if you don't drink.

[B]

I've heard that before.

[A]

And it's like, brother, I don't like.

[B]

What?

[A]

That doesn't make any fucking sense.

[B]

Yeah. But neither does a lot of this stuff.

[A]

That's true.

[B]

Yeah. Why do you wear a Batman mask on static line jumps? No one really knows.

[A]

I say this at the risk of sounding arrogant, but there have been many times, especially over the course of making these videos, where I have, like, felt like I, I've stepped out of line and kind of like looked to the left and right and it's like, oh, this is like, why are we doing this crazy thing? But then I realized after making the videos that there's so many people that have done the same thing. But it's just so hard to like, give any level of pushback because people have legal authority over you. So if the guy making these dumbass decisions is the guy with UCMJ authority, like, you're going to execute if it's legal, moral and ethical. And. But yeah, so it's, it's funny. Military, military culture and military doctrine are like, It's a paradox. Sometimes they're at odds often.

[B]

Yeah, I, I Don't know. I mean, I. It was. I have never had an addictive personality. We definitely drank a lot when I was younger, but I've always been able to turn it on and off.

[A]

Like, sure.

[B]

I went one time, I was like, God, I'm not going to drink for a while. It was like, two years later, and it didn't bother me at all, you know, And. And now at this point, I'm like, I might have a glass of wine with my wife once a month. You know, I honestly, we just travel so much and we're so active. It's like, what's. Nothing feels worse than getting up for an early flight, feeling like shit, and just, you know, it's gonna last for 48 hours, so why even do that to yourself? But I also had some absolutely amazing experiences with my closest friends that I worked with as well. You know, sometimes they also hazed me, which is another interesting conversation.

[A]

What did SEAL team hazing look like?

[B]

Today's episode is brought to you by Ridge. You know, one of the more common content pieces that I see put out these days are around edc, everyday carry. And a lot of people think phone, firearm, ifac, meaning first aid kit, tourniquet, perhaps. And I think oftentimes what's left out is your wallet, because for me, that's part of my everyday carry. I'm gonna take a picture at some point in time of my father's wallet. It is a trifold, and I didn't know that a wallet was capable of holding that much stuff, nor do I know what is in that wallet and what he is holding onto so dearly. It is a Costanza wallet if I've ever seen one. It is probably the thickness of several books put together, and I believe at this point, it is helping him develop low back problems. That's not what I'm going for. That's not my jam. My edc, when it comes to my wallet, is something along these lines. This wallet by Ridge, minimalist, but protecting my cards. It's got everything I need from cash on the backside. Don't get too excited. That's a $5 bill. Some real podcast money right there and all easy access to the cards that I take with me every single day. This wallet itself is in the brass pattern. They're slim. It's a modern design, obviously, and it can hold up to 12 cards plus cash. There's over 50 colors and styles to choose from. All Ridge products have a lifetime warranty. This will literally be the last wallet you have to buy if you want it to be. Guess what else they have RFID blocking technology keeping you safe from digital pickpockets. And there are over 100,000 five star reviews. If you're the kind of person who wants to be able to track their wallet, don't be worried about that. There's a Ridge airtag attachment so you can know exactly where it is. If you are forgetful, that's the word we'll use. And Ridge is not just about wallets. They create premium everyday carry essentials like key key cases, suitcases and rings all built with the same sleek, durable design. No matter what you pick, Ridge has free shipping, a 99 day risk free trial and a lifetime warranty on all their products for a limited time. Listeners of the show are going to get 10% off at Ridge by using their code cleared hot at checkout. Just head to ridge.com r I d g e.com it's right down in the show notes and use the code cleared hot and you're all set. After your purchase, they're going to ask you where you heard about them. Do me a favor, please tell them it came from cleared hot or me. That's all I have. Let's upgrade the wallet game. Let's get into 2025 verging on 2026 with our wallet EDC Tech. Or you can be like my dad and throw your back out with I don't even know what's in his wallet. Back to the show, there was a guy who was getting ready to get married and the last time I saw him, he was flex tied into a shopping cart under a shower.

[A]

Those are just basically giant zip ties, right? Yeah, yeah.

[B]

With his eyebrows shaved and a halo shaved into his hair like a fucking friar haircut. No, there was hair below and above. Whoa. Yeah. This was within 72 hours of when he was supposed to get married. Married.

[A]

Oh my fucking God.

[B]

So I mean, of course he went. He just bicked it all.

[A]

Oh, sure. Yeah. But then he still doesn't have fucking eyebrows.

[B]

I think you can draw those on. I don't know.

[A]

You for sure can draw them on.

[B]

But like, so that's an example of how much they care about your personal growth.

[A]

Oh, God damn, that's so funny.

[B]

But honestly, if they. If, and I'm not advocating for hazing.

[A]

No, of course not.

[B]

But if they didn't involve you in it, you were almost like, why did I get left out?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[B]

So there's a place for those type of activities. I think the intent behind it is critically important and Making sure that somebody's keeping an eye on safety.

[A]

So in my mind, the intent behind it is we're all going to go through something shitty together.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that brings people together because.

[B]

Which is why if you're not involved.

[A]

You feel left out.

[B]

Like, am I. Is there something wrong?

[A]

Yeah, we. When I was in the 303rd, they went to Poland, and I got there later because of when I graduated Bolic. And so I ended up showing up about a month after everybody else. And I felt there was a sense of loneliness because, like, all of these people did the really hard thing of mobilizing an entire active duty military unit to go across the world, and I wasn't. I wasn't part of it. You know, I was spending time with my family at that moment because we were settling in. We had just gotten there, and the battalion commander was like, I really want you to make sure your family is set. Settled before you leave for eight months.

[B]

Which is awesome.

[A]

Yeah. I was shocked. Like, I think she. I think she actually just picked up for 06, but, yeah. Lieutenant. Well, now, Colonel Jennifer Turk is one of the best leaders I've ever had. But, yeah, I mean, it. And they're. And they didn't do anything wrong. It's not like they were trying to make me feel ostracized or anything. But, yeah, I felt like I missed out on something. Something. Because they did that really hard. You know, they're working late nights and they're showing up early and. Yeah. I mean, hard things bring groups of people together.

[B]

Yeah. And it could also be taken too far.

[A]

It's a balance.

[B]

When did you start taking ADHD meds?

[A]

Oh, gosh, four or five months ago. I'm about to get on anxiety meds, too.

[B]

Why?

[A]

Because I have, like, panic attacks.

[B]

About what? That's just life.

[A]

Well, I've been told it's not normal. You're not supposed to have, like, moments where you cannot function as a human being multiple times a week.

[B]

Why? I mean, you're not operating heavy equipment. Let's dig into this.

[A]

Yeah, I. I mean, where do you.

[B]

Think it comes from?

[A]

I know where it comes from. It's not something that I want to talk about on here. I'll tell you offline.

[B]

You want me to get a doll so you can show me where you touch?

[A]

Oh, God.

[B]

This is a safe space here.

[A]

I can't talk about it on here. I'll. I'll talk about the panic attacks and the medicine and stuff.

[B]

Yeah. Is this from your childhood or current life?

[A]

Semi current.

[B]

Okay. Do you think that the meds are the answer to it.

[A]

So with ADHD meds, like, that is something that is a continual battle, like a continual problem in your brain. So it's, it's. There's a high level of potential that'll have to always be on those. But with anxiety meds, what I've learned is that you find the right meds and you find the right doses, and it basically gives your brain a break. So it's not constantly in crisis mode. Right. Because I wake up and I'm like, something bad's about to happen immediately. I have anxiety. I have a low grade anxiety all the time.

[B]

Like, there's a monster in your closet.

[A]

Seriously? Yeah, it feels like something bad is about to happen to me as soon as I open my eyes.

[B]

How long has that been the case?

[A]

Oh, gosh, the last seven, eight years probably. Yeah. And then I didn't.

[B]

Does anything bad happen to you during that time? Time?

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

But like, to the level that you were anxious about, I mean, so that's.

[A]

The thing about panic attacks. That's the thing about panic attacks. What I'm learning is the only time you should have symptoms that exhibit or you should exhibit symptoms of a panic attack is when you're in immediate, basically physical danger. And so if you're not in immediate physical danger and you're having these symptoms, that is a problem and that needs to be addressed.

[B]

Wouldn't having a panic attack when you are in immediate danger be a problem though, too?

[A]

Well, a lot of times it can, like, a lot of times it can spur some people to act, like, quicker, more efficiently, stuff like that. But when it's. When you're constantly having anxiety and we're. When this is happening multiple times a week, that's when it becomes, like, crippling. You know what I mean? But yeah, the anxiety meds, what I'm hoping and what my therapist has told me, and I'm 100% talking about this openly so that other people can at least go talk to their providers about it. Like, I want people to get help. Same dude. When I made that first ADHD video and it got like 3 million views on one platform, I was like, jesus Christ. And then I read the comments. People are like, you know what? I made an appointment. I'm gonna go talk to my provider. And so then I felt like I had to make an apology video to the medical community. Like, I'm so sorry, guys, But I am, I am glad that people are getting help because when I. Dude, I. When I took those ADHD meds. And like six hours later, my thoughts weren't racing. I had significantly less anxiety and I. And you can tell if you watch the video by the end of the day because I took the second part of the video and it was dark and I'm just like, wow, guys. Yeah, I feel, you know, is this how you guys all feel all the time? I, I felt great. And then I was so mad because I'm like, all these senior leaders in the army have been telling me not to get on this for one reason or other.

[B]

There's communities out there.

[A]

Pisses me off.

[B]

Let's use aviation as an example. Not banned. And again, I don't fly.

[A]

Strongly discouraged.

[B]

No, it's. You can get away with it. And again, I'm speaking a little bit. I'm right at the limit of my skis on what I know here because I don't fly professionally in that way. On an FAA medical, it's not that you can't take those, but you might get hard grounded for a year until you stabilize and then you're going to have to get another medical. How is anybody going to do that? That flies for a living?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And the thing is like, well, your.

[B]

Other choice is you lie. And that's not good either.

[A]

And that's exactly what we don't want to encourage. And so that's the, the logic doesn't make sense. So the first time I went to go get ADHD meds, the provider was like, yeah, well, you're not going to be deployable. You're not going to be able to do X, Y and Z assignment. And I was like, so, like, I'm having these symptoms and they're like making it really hard to live my life. I want to try a medicine that almost like we can almost guarantee is going to make it better because, like, even if you don't have adhd, ADHD meds will make you perform at a higher level. Like, but it.

[B]

What?

[A]

Oh, 100. Yeah, it'll, it'll sharpen anybody, for the most part. Like Adderall. Like, people without ADHD take Adderall illegally, obviously. Like, but people in college will take it to like study harder and like stay up longer and stuff like that.

[B]

That. Okay, I'm missing out on things. I don't know.

[A]

I'm not, not, not advertising. Don't take drugs illegally, please.

[B]

Yeah, totally. Or somebody else's prescription drugs. Probably not a great idea.

[A]

Get them from your medical provider.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not a guy behind Walmart. But where was I going with This, I don't know.

[B]

You're the one with adhd. Yeah.

[A]

Seriously? Yeah. I mean we were talking about how.

[B]

Basically you could take them and suffer the consequences.

[A]

Oh, that's right. And so. Yeah. And so I'm like, I'm, I'm having all these symptoms, like I want to try and fix it. And he's like, yeah. I mean these are the consequences of trying to fix that. I'm like, so you just want me to keep like performing at a lower level? Like, it doesn't, it doesn't make sense. Yeah, but the anxiety medicine specifically, basically how it's been described to me is it's going to give my brain a break. And then after, I mean, as little as 12 months. Months, people can get off of it. And because they haven't been under that constant stress and anxiety, then you can like function normally without the medicine. Like it's not a permanent thing for a lot of people.

[B]

Were you anxious growing up?

[A]

I don't feel like I was. I for sure feel like that started in the military and specifically my second assignment. We were just, I mean we were either. And this was all field stuff because. Cause again, I never deployed, but we were either prepping to go to the field in the field or recovering from the field and then we'd do it all over again when we weren't in the field. We were working until 9 or 10 at night. And this was when I was a brand new E5 too. And so I was. No. And we. This was, this was a situation where leaders would wait until like 4 o' clock in the afternoon to put out the due outs for the day. And like, I don't know if they did it on purpose to keep us there longer. Cause they thought that made them a look themselves look better. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if they weren't getting the information in a timely manner, you know, who knows where the breakdown was. But like after doing that for two years, I was so fucking mad. And like I lost out on all that time with my kids. Like, I genuinely feel like I didn't know my children after that time. I didn't know my then spouse. Like, and it's just so unnecessary, like time. And that's why very few things make me angry. But I will immediately become exceptionally angry if I feel like, especially junior service members, time is being wasted. Like they cannot get it back. Every minute you take from them on a random Tuesday is a minute they will never have again.

[B]

How long do you have until you exit the military.

[A]

I mean I could be out in as soon as 90 days. But I'd like to see where this program goes for the next year to a year and a half. Like kind of help steward it and then also find the next group of people that will kind of take it on if that makes sense.

[B]

I can see that totally making sense. But I don't want to see you light yourself on fire to keep other people warm.

[A]

Right. Yeah. And that's. I've had to balance that too because.

[B]

I feel like you are being in the inn again. I nothing but pride in the military. I want people to join the military. But what you're describing, I feel like, like because you are. You're on two parallel tracks right now and I totally understand what it is that you're trying to do. And there's a lot of overlay. Exiting the military service and being able to create and paint the walls where you want them to be. It's going to help I think a lot anxiety wise.

[A]

Right.

[B]

It actually. It might get a little bit worse initially for sure.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Because the military is great at presenting obstacles for people to knock down and then they get into an environment where, where it's like, hey, where's the obstacle? Like you work for yourself now so you have to find your own. It can be.

[A]

Some people find the worst obstacles. They can.

[B]

Oh yeah. Just. They just build themselves into a brick wall. Like I don't know how I got.

[A]

In here as they've got the shit enhanced. Yeah.

[B]

They're like, who is doing this? I'm like, I don't know. Follow your vision down back to your own arm. But I think you can it just. You get to take a wrap off.

[A]

I am, I am really excited and like I will never. I have started doing content that's outside of just military content because I want to continue to grow my audience. But I'll never stop advocating for our community and I'll never like, I'll. I hope the American Legion keeps me on forever because I want to keep working with them. You know, I love working with black rifle coffee and then there is good plug. Nice. I really, I genuinely.

[B]

Check for the month is in the mail.

[A]

It's actually not yet but like. And there's. There's companies that approach me all the time that want to want to work with me. But if it doesn't have something to do with the military veteran community, I just, I generally don't do it because I would rather charge less money and do something I feel is Meaningful.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Then I don't know. Like, that's. That's how I feel.

[B]

I'm the same way for me.

[A]

And I get paid. Well. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining.

[B]

Yeah. But for me, money is probably the least motivating factor of any decision that I make.

[A]

That's so funny, because I'm the exact. I'm very money driven.

[B]

You will be until you make enough horrible decisions with money to realize that it's. It's, It's.

[A]

It brings as many problems as it solves.

[B]

I have time. I want to be able to say, no, I don't want to do that, because I'd rather do this. I'd rather have the ability to do what I want to with my time travel where I want to for the reasons that I want to. Don't get me wrong. Wrong. Money is a driving factor. Right. Like, hey, guess what, everybody. The lights don't turn themselves on. It's. It's so funny to me. One of the complaints people have about podcasting platforms in general, why you got.

[A]

Hyper successful veterans that are clearly doing well for themselves.

[B]

Why you got to do ads? I'm like, you're consuming this on a free medium.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Like, you didn't pay for this.

[B]

Yeah. I am trying to monetize this to a. Allow me to do this and also grow it and grow as a person. So why don't you do what everybody else does with the ads? Hit the skip button.

[A]

Yeah. You know, I. When I started selling merchandise, people, I got immediate comments. You're a sellout. You know, you're a piece of. People were literally calling me a criminal. People. They were.

[B]

The first two of those comments were accurate. I don't know about the third, but I don't know about the third.

[A]

And he's like, I can't prove the third.

[B]

Yeah. No demonstrative data that shows me that. Why. Why did.

[A]

I don't understand. Because. Yeah.

[B]

What.

[A]

And at the time that I started selling shirts, I had put out thousands, like, thousands of free pieces of content.

[B]

Also, who cares if you sell shirts, don't buy one or buy one. Right. As if the decision for you to look at the platform that you have taken the time to grow and monetize that in a way that, let's be clear, has no impact on anybody else's life. If they don't like you talking in the video that you're talking about about the shirt, swipe it.

[A]

That's the thing. I don't even advertise the damn Shirt. So I advertise them in my long form videos, but never in short form content, which is the majority of what I do.

[B]

But why do people care?

[A]

I don't. I don't know.

[B]

Buy it or don't. It's as if you balled up the shirt and threw it into their face. Like the old school. Like you would take a glove off and slap a man and challenge him.

[A]

To his T shirt. Canon.

[B]

Yeah. Like, how in any way, shape or form did this impact your life? Why do you, if you don't agree with it? Cool. This whole ecosystem is voluntary participation and you can also voluntarily not let the door hit you in the ass.

[A]

Yeah, but it's also like the most volatile space to be in.

[B]

Only if you prioritize the negativity.

[A]

Volatile monetarily, like social media is incredibly volatile. Like if you're trying to make a.

[B]

Business work and things don't work rapidly.

[A]

Or you can just lose things fucking overnight. I mean, part of the reason why I started selling merchandise is because the platforms are so finicky and I wanted more stable income.

[B]

Oh, do you monetize the platform itself? Yeah, yeah, like, oh, so I don't on social media or maybe, I don't know. But for me, the monetization comes in the podcast medium. I don't think it's as volatile.

[A]

You could do. Well, if you're talking about you could do some stuff.

[B]

Like, I could really. I mean, if you want to, we could explore the space because I have advertisers now. Should we see how far we can go? Let's begin with the discussion of World War II. Who's your favorite character?

[A]

Yeah, like, I get on. On most platform. Well, I think every platform I'm on, except for like LinkedIn, I get paid based, basically based on views.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[A]

But it goes up and down so much. It's really. I mean, it's.

[B]

Podcast medium is the. The same, but yet at a certain point you have kind of like a stable base.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

But yeah, it wouldn't take long for you to get on the wrong side of the Optic and that stuff would vaporize.

[A]

And short form content. Like, I'll have months where I do like 50 million views on a platform and the next month I do literally like seven. You know what I mean? Like that happens. And I've learned now to not really be stressed about it because I'm like, whatever, bad month, this month, next month will probably be good. But the merchandise has been nice.

[B]

I love how you're calling a 7 million million view month.

[A]

It's a bad month for short form content. Like, because it pays so much less and it has whatever.

[B]

I did a reel the other day. 200,000 views.

[A]

That's good.

[B]

It was the one where I was like, don't send me dildos in this box. And I pulled out the copy of the galley. The galley copy of the book.

[A]

Did you hear what they're doing in the wnba? People are throwing dildos on the court.

[B]

Did you not hear what I said in the video? I was like, I don't want you guys sending me dildos. Save that for the wnba. And then opened up the box and it was. The publisher sent me six total galley copies.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that's amazing.

[B]

I think I'm supposed to send one back with you. That's what Nick said, but whatever.

[A]

Oh, yes. Yeah, I do need to grab that.

[B]

First off, Nick is not the boss of me. How uncomfortable was he when you guys came up for your first time? Because you were sitting in that chair and I just. We just opened straight up with.

[A]

I know. Yeah, he. I don't think he was that uncomfortable. Honestly.

[B]

I saw the sweat forming in the pores and just. Which none of that actually happened. But.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Seeing how it's not a big deal.

[B]

You can get there if you keep trying. Stay with it, Austin. I also just don't give a shit because I never really. I don't. I'm not a fan of, like, having a camera on that. Medium pointed. I mean, obviously there's cameras in here, but I forget that they're here because.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But when it's just me, I'm like, why am I actually doing this?

[A]

It's definitely. It's so funny. So I was doing Content with Justin Nunley last weekend, and it's so funny, too, because even he. Like, I do the. When I do. When I film the content on my phone, I can see myself on the phone because I have the camera turned that way. But I did that.

[B]

We know how phones work.

[A]

Thank you for that tutorial I did. Yeah. That. Follow me for more mansplaining.

[B]

Did you guys know the person that you're seeing on the screen? It looks like you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Slightly delayed. It's your shadow.

[A]

Do you guys know we're not actually in your computer or your phone? We're in.

[B]

We're in Montana right now through the Internet of things.

[A]

But I turned the phone around to do a video with him, and he was like. He was like, flip the camera. I don't want to see myself and so it's funny even, like, even creators that have seen some level of success, we all have a different way of doing everything. And I don't know, it was, it was a lot of fun. Fun.

[B]

But I just, I like, I look at Kegen, my channel would be so different than his if you had.

[A]

If you primarily focused on short form content.

[B]

If I did news, because I wouldn't actually, I don't think I would say the news about, look at this dumbass. Look what this guy did. I don't even know if I would break down what happened. I'd be like, can you believe some did that? And you know, I just, I don't think he would trend. He actually is educating people.

[A]

Yeah, he does. I like what he does.

[B]

What's up with military officers and content? What's going on?

[A]

What do you mean?

[B]

Isn't he a military officer as well?

[A]

Yes. Yeah, he is. And it's funny because we have a very similar story. He also commissioned after he made E6.

[B]

Hey, what's going on here? Is there something in the water?

[A]

I think so. Yeah. I think we just. We are so tired of not hearing our own voices all the time.

[B]

I get it, I get it.

[A]

People will walk up to me in public and be like, is this you? And like, shove the phone in my face. And I'm like, Like, I've wanted to for so long, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. But I want to be like, no, who is that? Like identity theft. But yeah, hearing my own voice in public sometimes when people are watching my videos is like the worst thing ever.

[B]

You ever just go sit down next to them and quietly say nothing.

[A]

So actually here at the bar at Fat Boyz, I walked past somebody. Is the first time I ever encountered somebody wearing my merchandise out in public. They had one of my hats on.

[B]

On. What did you say?

[A]

And I was like, hey, I like that hat. And they were like, they freaked out.

[B]

You should have smacked it off his head. How dare you wear something like that, You Nazi smack.

[A]

Just went full woke on him.

[B]

Yeah. And then. Cause in his shock, it would take him a second to recognize you. And then it'd be fun.

[A]

You know, I'll do that next time. As long as they're smaller than me.

[B]

You'Re a purple belt, you're fine. Make sure they stay seated.

[A]

Make sure they have a big jacket on first. First.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Indeed. Yeah. That's wild. How long have you been at it?

[A]

Content?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, three or four years.

[B]

Yeah. You're Already into seven figure. I don't. Honestly, I don't know how. I don't. I only follow you on Instagram because I've never opened Tiki Talky or whatever my daughter calls it and consumes it on. I just feel like it'd be hard to manage that many followers.

[A]

Oh, it's very challenging. You never really know how they're gonna respond to stuff. Like we did. We did an interview with the Secretary of Veteran affairs. And like, people were super, super angry about that. And like. Well, first off, a lot of people were saying, like it. Because we were all active duty that did the interview. A lot of people were saying it should have been veterans doing this interview. And then. And so I kind of see their logic. But also like all of us that did the interview, like, we've got a finger on the pulse of the junior service member community. And given the statistic literally still up on the screen.

[B]

Yeah. Michael doesn't do his job well.

[A]

The. The vast majority of people like that we cater to are going to exit the military sometime in the next 12 to 36 months.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So, like it. It's still very relevant to them. Obviously, we're all active duty, so we cannot give our unfiltered opinions on anything that is happening with the current administration. My intent with that interview, because I got thrown into it very last minute, was to get information to the community. That's what I wanted to do. And I feel like I did that. That he taught, you know, Secretary Doug Collins talked about how he is going to push for psychedelics to be used in the treatment of veterans, which I think is really cool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Also, a lot of the anger came from the fact that they want to make cuts. And here's my take on that. I understand. And I, you know, I'll validate anybody's opinion that is angry that they're making cuts. Fine. I get it at face value, it's frustrating and it looks wrong. Wrong, but also hard for the last hard.

[B]

Disagree.

[A]

I. I knew you were going to say that. Well, I'm not saying I agree with it. What I'm saying is I understand why people are angry, but for the last 40 years or longer, you have to.

[B]

Do one additional step and actually research where the cuts are going to go and arrive at the place where you realize the VA might be able to provide better care by reducing bureaucracy.

[A]

Yes. That's how I view it too.

[B]

And that's what I'm saying. Like this. This Internet outrage, which is completely optional and largely based on people seeing headlines and doing no additional research. Let me give the. So I'll give the option to the people who are outraged. Okay? We'll keep the same level of staffing and the care stays the same. Or we cut 50 to 80,000 people largely from the bureaucratic nature of the VA, and care improves. You pick, asshole. Which one do you want?

[A]

Yeah, so the thing is, like, people have been railing against the VA for fucking in, like, ever, like, since it started. People have been saying, so now somebody comes in. This is the way I view it. Maybe this is harsh. But now somebody comes in and says, all right, you guys, like, you don't like the way things are now, we're gonna drastically change this. And then you're mad about that too. And we haven't even actually seen the results of it yet. Like, you're getting what you have asked. You're getting change. It's not the change you wanted. Why don't you go run for political office or go vote? Because statistically, a lot of the people that are angry don't fucking vote. Where do you get that data from the Internet?

[B]

It's dangerous.

[A]

I mean, how many people voted in the last presidential election? I don't think it was even 50% of the population.

[B]

It was like 78.

[A]

78% of the population?

[B]

No, total.

[A]

Oh, 78 people. And I could be wrong about that statistic.

[B]

No, because it's like, depending on the site you go to, it was this many people, but these ones were fake and these were uncounted. And this, that, or the.

[A]

I. Yeah, I do want to say even the people that were angry at me were sending me. People are telling me, like, kill myself in my DMs and shit. I'm not angry at you guys. I understand why you're angry, but I also think the anger is misplaced.

[B]

Who sends a message like that?

[A]

And I. Fuck, I don't know. Not somebody that'll fight me, I'll tell you that much. One dude said, it's not somebody you.

[B]

Would want to fight. Because think about this. Can you imagine how much of your own crap you must be going through to think it is okay to send that type of message? You. You wouldn't want to fight that person because they clearly are fighting. So, yeah, I actually have.

[A]

They're going through something.

[B]

I have empathy for that person because a normal person does not reach out over social media and say, you should.

[A]

Kill yourself most of the time. Because the only reason I really look through my DMs anymore is to try and find people in Crisis. Because so many people reach out to me sometimes. So many.

[B]

Feel free to share my feedback.

[A]

Please send me a picture of your feet and then I'll overlay your messages over the picture. But I. I want to message those people and even people that are angry at me that tell me like that one of the guys that told me like, you should go kill yourself, I was like, hey, man, like, are you good? Like, yeah.

[B]

Like that's actually the appropriate response.

[A]

And he was like, I feel like I totally changed his mind about at least me or maybe the situation. I don't know. I. I started sending him voice messages at one point because the messages he was sending me were so fucking long. And like, I couldn't like respond to all of it over text effectively. So I just started sending him voice messages. And that was like the most incredible thing in the world to him. He was like, oh my God. But yeah, like, there was one guy that I just trolled, he said, I'm gonna like, beat your ass if I see you in D.C. or something. And I was like, I'm gonna hug you so hard if I see you. And he was like, of it's kind. He said, it's going to be hard to hug me when I'm choking the life out of you. And I was like, well, Josh, little do you know I'm into that.

[B]

I'll put my tongue right down your face. You'll do a rear naked choke from the front.

[A]

But yeah, like, you bring up a good point. And I think that you can't take anything, especially on the Internet, at face value. All these people are. Even if they're expressing anger towards me, they're not angry at Austin, they're angry at something else. And I think a lot of times, myself included, we don't even understand what we're angry about because we don't fully. We don't fully understand it. That's probably the number one thing that college taught me was that I don't know shit about anything. Like, I took one economics class, I thought I knew something about economics. I don't know shit about economics. And that's why I don't comment on economic. You know what I mean?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I took one class glass what's helped me?

[B]

And this is not my creation. I heard somebody talking about this. I'll use the table as an example. Let's say the table is all of knowledge for humanity. And then you give somebody a pen and you say, draw me a circle for how much of that you think you have. Yeah, some people would Cut this table in half. I am asking, do you have a finer point pen so I can make the smallest thought humanly possible?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

And it's very grounding because in that exercise, you realize, man, there is so much more. So much on every topic that I don't know anything about.

[A]

I think that was in Coach Carter, too, the movie. Was it about basketball? He, like, holds up the basketball and he's like, this is all of knowledge, like, in basketball. And he's like, this is what you guys know?

[B]

Pah.

[A]

And he, like, puts a dot on it. Yeah, some basketball movie, for sure.

[B]

It's crazy accurate, so.

[A]

And the more you learn, too, the more you realize, like, I don't know shit. Like, yeah, for sure. Yeah.

[B]

I think you should get out next week.

[A]

Well, if you've got somebody I can call to make that happen.

[B]

Dude, let's get some sheriffs lined up. We'll go do some shots, get you behind the wheel. We'll get you out.

[A]

Can you imagine? I have, like, a police escort for my Dewey?

[B]

Yeah, well, you'll be driving right to a sobriety checkpoint that we'll know exists just, like, right at the parking lot of the bar, which might be entrapment, but I'm not a legal expert.

[A]

I'm pretty sure that is entrapment.

[B]

Yeah, I think. I do think that your anxiety will increase slightly as you're getting to that precipice, but then it will decrease as you get out.

[A]

Yeah, I'm just. Honestly, the biggest thing that I'm excited to do is, like, I love going to events for service members, because the way I describe it to people is it's literally almost like being a parent all over again. Because I show up at home and my kids are just excited to see Austin. And if I show up at an event, I think people jump, like, when they see. Like, jump for joy when they see me. And I'm like, what the fuck? And it's like, was this, like, a middle school event? No, it's a grown man that did this. Nick was there for it.

[B]

Did you guys at least move him to the back of the room? So.

[A]

People are so excited to see me, and it's just because I'm me. You know what I mean? It's a really cool experience, and I want to. I just want to do that as much as humanly possible.

[B]

Possible. Yeah. Yeah. You will have more ability to do that and to diversify. It is amazing, man. If you're willing to take opportunities I. Again, I would have never guessed that I would do any of the stuff that I do now.

[A]

Really?

[B]

It's all from. Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm at a place where I need to say yes to this. And then you. It's like, yeah, it's not working great. But then you met three other people along the way, and you're like, oh, well, what's this over here? Maybe I'll go do that. Yeah. I couldn't. I could not have reverse engineered the stuff that I do now.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so I've.

[A]

Did you ever think you'd be doing a podcast?

[B]

No.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Here's how stupid I am. I went on Rogan's podcast without ever having listened to one.

[A]

The first podcast I did. I did without listening to one, too. I mean, it wasn't Rogan's.

[B]

I did not understand the.

[A]

Had you been on other podcasts at that point?

[B]

I had been on two. So the first podcast I was ever on was a CrossFit centric podcast called Wodcast Podcast. And this was back in 2015 when I was doing the wingsuit stuff. A guy on that show named Tate Fletcher was one of the hosts. I met him that night. He introduced me to Brian Cowan and Brendan Chaub. So I did the Fighter and the Kid. Then Tate went with me. The first time I was on with Joe, he was the person who introduced me. But it was a pretty rapid series of events, and I had not listened to a podcast.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Boy, did I learn about. You should probably think before you say things.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Oh, people will. Yeah. So. So one of the things that I tell people that I wasn't expecting, but it's kind of obvious in hindsight, is that we no longer get the luxury of misspeaking.

[B]

You can misspeak, but you better be real quick to own up if you misspeak, which a lot.

[A]

And you can only misspeak to a certain correct.

[B]

Like, you can't be habitual. You cannot lie on Monday. Every Monday, you're doing something idiotic, and every Tuesday and Wednesday, it's this apology. You can't do it. That.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But if you can get a volume of data out there where people can understand, like, hey, maybe. You know what I mean? We got to the limits of the knowledge. We went a little bit, too. It's. You can recover from it, but not unless you own it, man. Which is a wild step for me, the number of people like, oh, man, it must be really hard to do. Like, no, it's actually really easy because I'm a human being and I made A mistake. And so let's talk about that and then just drive on with daily life.

[A]

But there's also just, like, those people out there that when you make a mistake, you're just always going to be that mistake.

[B]

That's okay, because you don't actually know those people. You're only engaging with them on social media. Media. And if they were in your social circle and they viewed you that way, they would just manage it through proximity and you wouldn't have to deal with them anyway.

[A]

Right?

[B]

You can only be you.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. The. I don't know. The Internet's a wild place. People's level of anger on the Internet is equally wild to me. I mean, I've seen stuff on the Internet and gotten too pissed off about it, too. But I've certainly never messaged anybody to kill themselves.

[B]

I just. To me, I worry about the person sending that message. I can't even fathom what you must be going through to think that that's acceptable.

[A]

That is how I feel, too. Like, yeah. And I have said things on the Internet out of anger that I regret, but never anything like that. I mean, I don't think. But, yeah. I mean, that guy, like. And I. And I'm almost 100 sure. I messaged him like, brother, like, are you good? Like, you can keep hating me. I don't care. But, like, do you need some help? Or, like, do you need somebody to talk to?

[B]

The move is this. You write to him. You're like, listen, regardless of how much you hate me, nobody will hate me more than me.

[A]

Just send him an audio message. Like, all right, fine. Cut the audio message.

[B]

That's actually not a bad idea.

[A]

It's 23 today, Josh.

[B]

Yeah, but I'm trying to think. You need to go to a gun range to do that, or outside. So there's some logistics involved.

[A]

I would just throw audio, you know, Like, I'd find audio on the Internet.

[B]

Yeah, I appreciate the dark humor there. Actually, I would add to that. This is your fault.

[A]

You did this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, God, yeah. Yeah. And. And it's funny to me, so I always tell people, like, I'm fairly transparent about my goals. Like, the goal I have with what I do is to make as many people laugh as possible. Like, I want to make as many people happy as humanly possible, and I want to make as much money as I can ethically do it. Doing it.

[B]

Like, I remember, like, how much money is enough for you where you could live your life?

[A]

Such a good question. Honest to God, I don't know. That I need to make more than I make now.

[B]

So I think it's good to identify that because if you can't identify your number, I think for a lot of people the number becomes more.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

So you have.

[A]

And it's this. You're. What is it? Sisyphus rolling the boulder.

[B]

What?

[A]

Syphilis.

[B]

I think he's one. I don't know the first one.

[A]

Yeah. You rolled the boulder up the hill. Syphilis, right.

[B]

Sisyphe. Sisyphus.

[A]

Am I. Am I. Look this up, please. It's not syphilis. It's Sisyphus. I thought it is.

[B]

Why would he roll a boulder uphill?

[A]

Well, it was just never ending. The never ending task.

[B]

I was gonna say just go find one higher up the hill so you. God, man. Are there more boulders where this is at? Why does it have to go up the hill?

[A]

But. Yeah, no, it's anything. Anything humans do, we can make unhealthy.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, don't get me. I. I am not. I am motivated by money, but I try to keep control of it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because. Yeah. At a certain point, what would you do? You could have more stuff.

[A]

I mean, I bought. I bought a house. You know, I bought myself a nice truck. It was a used truck, but it's a nice. It's like my dream truck. I bought. I just recently bought a Harley. And I employ one of like my best friend. He's my business manager and video editor and know. And I. I'm.

[B]

I'm happy, you know, get you the business manager. What a douche. Manage your own business.

[A]

I don't even want to be in my own business.

[B]

You think you'll ever get married again?

[A]

Oh, yeah. I mean, if I find the right person. 100%. Yeah. And we have an amazing co parenting relationship now.

[B]

Give it time, huh? Give it time.

[A]

We are very much both prioritizing the children. And I just. I don't talk about anything because I will always, always protect the image of my ex for my children.

[B]

I take the same approach, period.

[A]

I'm not gonna. You will never hear a disparaging word about her. And if people want to believe that I'm a terrible person, I will gladly. I will gladly take those shots. It's true. I don't give a shit because I will gladly take those shots. You know that I kind of look at that almost as the cost to do in business for what we do. Some people are just not gonna like you. And they're going to choose to believe things that they're. There is no evidence of. So one of my favorite things that I ever saw, I can't remember where it was, the comment that I saw, but somebody said, I always thought he was such a good guy. And this was in reference to one of the rumors and they were like, he makes all these videos and he's like, he seems like a good dad. And I wanted to be like, hey, the evidence of that still exists and you've been provided no evidence that that isn't the case. So like, are we just believing things on word of mouth now just because somebody said it? It's true because I don't do that. And it's a tough world and it's kind of like, what are we, what are we doing? You know what I mean?

[B]

What if that was a bot?

[A]

It could have been a bot for sure. That's what I'm honest to God, I think it's the same half dozen people making new accounts and just commenting, like, just perpetuating.

[B]

There's an argument for that too.

[A]

Yeah. I, maybe not in my situation, but some of my buddies situations. I genuinely believe that's the case.

[B]

Case. Yeah. And it's going to get more and more complicated as AI continues to.

[A]

Oh, my God. Have you seen. Well, yeah, of course. You've seen the AI videos that are looking more and more like lifelike.

[B]

Yeah. In five years, how do you determine what is real and what isn't?

[A]

It's going to be the next, like, first it was the Nigerian prince scam over email and that. Then telemarketer, like the telemarketers popped up. And then I think the next thing is going to be AI scams. And I don't know how we address it.

[B]

You have enough volume of information on the Internet about you that in a bet five years somebody could recreate.

[A]

People message me all the time and they're like, I've been catfished for a year. Like, I thought I was in love with you. And I'm like, I, I say sorry. Like, obviously I didn't, I didn't do anything wrong.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But like, I feel bad.

[B]

How do you in a year not figure that out?

[A]

Yeah. I don't understand, like just one face time, like on the phone. Because AI can't. As far as I know, AI can still not effectively replicate, like, phone calls. Yeah. But I don't want to disparage these people because, like, we've all had vulnerable moments where we did things that we probably wouldn't do otherwise. And like, like. And I mean, I'm single now. I get it, like, it's lonely. Like, I could see if you were single for 15 years and you're just looking for some level of companionship and then this guy that you've been watching his videos forever reaches or you think he's reaching out to you for like 20 grand.

[B]

Hey, I'm really going through it. I just need 20k.

[A]

Yeah. I promise you, no matter how low I ever get, because at some point I'm going to hit a low point. You know what I mean? It's just part of life. But I will never be like reaching out to people and asking for money. It's just not, it's not going to be a thing I do. But yeah, people have messaged me that too. I've. People have said that somebody using. Somebody catfishing with my stuff has like gotten money out of them. Couple people have said they've gotten catfished into like relationships and. Yeah, I don't know.

[B]

How do you get catfished onto a digital online only relationship Know.

[A]

I don't know. But I'm also not in those people's shoes. And I, I don't, I, I genuinely don't want to judge them. You know.

[B]

I won't. Externally.

[A]

You won't verbalize it.

[B]

I have questions more than judgment. It again, it goes back to the why. Like, what's going on?

[A]

Yeah, why.

[B]

But, you know, whatever. All right, well, you're at Army Diva and I have to get you out of here because you have a, a flight and things you need to take care of. What do you want to close it out with?

[A]

Thanks for letting me on.

[B]

On.

[A]

And thank you.

[B]

Thanks for taking months to schedule a date and canceling multiple times.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Thanks for being so easy to get a date in Austin and then while.

[A]

I'm here changing it again and, and genuinely thank you to our community because I, if I didn't have an audience, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be doing anything, you know.

[B]

So is it mandatory fun day on all platforms?

[A]

Yeah, all platforms. And then the mandatoryfunded.com that's got all my links and stuff. You can go check out my merch. I just dropped new shirts.

[B]

What do you got?

[A]

I put the TISM and patriotism.

[B]

I'm surprised the military let you do that.

[A]

I mean, if you've spoken to me for longer than three minutes, you know, I'm on the spectrum, so.

[B]

Yeah, because you wear a sleeveless shirt, not a, not a tank top. Yeah. Yeah. Where are we going with this?

[A]

Oh, God. Thank you guys. Thank you for everybody listening.

[B]

Awesome 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.