Former Fighter Pilot Reveals Iran's Actual Plans... | DSH #2023

Summary

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Digital Social Hour: Former Fighter Pilot Reveals Iran's Actual Plans... | DSH #2023

Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Ryan (former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, entrepreneur, YouTuber: Max Afterburner USA)
Date: June 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Digital Social Hour takes listeners deep into the realities behind current U.S.-Iran tensions, the true intentions of Iran's leadership, and how modern war extends beyond the battlefield—into propaganda and information operations. Ryan, a combat-tested fighter pilot and former Thunderbird, details his unique perspective combining firsthand military experience and analytical commentary. He and Sean also delve into technology’s impact on warfare, military-industrial politics, mental health in veterans, and what it truly takes to perform under the highest stakes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Transition from Combat Pilot to Entrepreneur

• Entrepreneurial mindset matches a pilot’s mentality.
  • “As a pilot, you’re kind of out there alone and unafraid… judge, jury, and executioner. So it’s a personal sovereignty thing that I’ve taken into my own life.” – Ryan (04:11)
• Anecdote: Ryan hustled to upload content from a bank when WiFi failed, embodying an “athlete’s mindset” for getting things done (04:41).

2. Information Warfare and Propaganda in Modern Conflict

• Modern "wars" are fought as much in media and on social platforms as on the ground.
• “War isn’t just war; it’s also propaganda wars… Information operations (IO) the military does to shape conflicts.” – Ryan (09:09)
• Both U.S. and Iranian rhetoric manipulates perception, making it difficult for the public to know what is truly happening.

3. On-the-Ground Stories from Iran-U.S. Conflict

• Dramatic Rescue Operation: U.S. rescued a weapon systems officer from behind Iranian lines after he evaded enemy forces for 40 hours.
  • “We actually had to eliminate… over 100 IRGC commandos trying to kill our guy.” – Ryan (02:45, repeated at 20:21)
  • The stakes: Iran craved a propaganda win by capturing a U.S. operator for leverage in negotiations.
• Trump’s negotiation style is discussed as “4D chess”—speaking directly to hardliners via public posts for leverage. (16:56–18:05)
  • “He’s not talking about ending the civilization of the peaceful people of Iran… he’s probably talking about the IRGC, the hardliners slaughtering their own people.” – Ryan (17:31)

4. Iran's Actual Military Intentions

• Iran aimed to develop 10,000 ballistic missiles to protect its nuclear arsenal, making any preemptive strike nearly impossible.
  • “They wanted to have 10,000 ballistic missiles that could then protect a nuclear weapon. So then that nuclear weapon couldn't be destroyed.” – Ryan (24:21)
• Concerns over Iran’s underground uranium enrichment facilities and the future risk if bunkers became too deep even for U.S. bunker-buster bombs. (28:18–29:40)
• The logic behind U.S. (and Israeli) preemptive strikes and the risks of waiting too long.

5. Drones & Changing Nature of Warfare

• Drones have revolutionized asymmetric warfare; mass drone "swarms" are a real threat.
  • “China has a drone mothership… release thousands of drones.” – Ryan (26:07)
  • “You can’t shoot those down—they’re too small, too many… that’s why high-powered microwave tech is coming into play for anti-drone defense.” (26:31–27:13)
• Cartels and even non-state actors now use drones for combat and smuggling, with cartels sending fighters to Ukraine to learn new drone tactics. (31:09–31:24)

6. Debates, Media, and Public Perception

• The cycle of media figures harshly criticizing or supporting political leaders is partly driven by the pursuit of attention and “clicks.”
  • “At some point, what I try to do is… focus on getting what the truth is. Like, I’m okay with that.” – Ryan (22:55)
• Importance of presenting multiple perspectives in interviews and journalism.
• Noted that blaming Israel is a current media trend—often without nuance—while ignoring Iranian and U.S. interests. (23:39–24:21)

7. Veteran Mental Health, Personal Loss, and Healing

• Stories of personal loss: multiple friends, including best friend, lost to crashes and combat.
  • “I saw my best friend die in a plane crash six months into flight school… realized this is not just Top Gun.” – Ryan (37:11)
• Approaches to healing: faith, therapy, psychedelics, and lifestyle strategies (e.g., cold immersion for mental regulation).
  • “Falling back on my faith really helped… sometimes the only way out is through.” – Ryan (38:30)
  • On using psychedelics: “In a controlled environment where you’re able to unlock some of that trauma, look at it directly—process it.” (39:55)
• The importance of nervous system regulation, rest, and avoiding addiction as coping mechanism.

8. Inside Air Force & Fighter Pilot Training

• Rigorous training to instantly identify foreign aircraft enforces constant readiness.
  • “Get pictures of other aircraft and post around your house. So you see them while you’re walking around—even to the bathroom.” (11:44)
• Human brain’s ability to spot distant threats and the high-tech sensory equipment.
• "Hand-eye" and cognitive skills honed with immersive training: VR recognition drills mixed with CrossFit to simulate stress of real combat (13:31).

9. Political & Ethical Commentary: War, Profit, and Policy

• Critique of the military-industrial complex and government contracts as profit centers.
  • “Iraq and Afghanistan had that boots on the ground situation—literally a slot machine for Halliburton to make money.” (33:51)
• Reflections on Afghanistan withdrawal as a case of poor leadership versus transparency in current administration.

10. Physical and Mental Resilience Practices

• From cold exposure routines to nervous system awareness, Ryan shares performance and recovery strategies used by top military personnel and athletes.
  • “With cold plunge… it’s like doping, but you’re getting that regulation for a nice slow burn.” (42:49–43:16)
• The impact of withdrawing from high-adrenaline jobs on mental health and life adjustment post-service.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Iran’s strategic intentions:
  “The way that I’ve studied what Iran’s plans have been… they wanted to have 10,000 ballistic missiles that could then protect a nuclear weapon. So then that nuclear weapon couldn’t be destroyed.” – Ryan (24:21)

• On propaganda & information wars:
  “War isn’t just war… it’s also propaganda wars. War takes place now on the internet, right? Takes place in the media, public opinion.” – Ryan (09:09)

• On survivor’s guilt and healing after loss:
  “I had survivor’s guilt, things like that. Sometimes the only way out is through. I realized… do I want my story to be that I quit, or that I dealt with it, felt the pain, and moved forward while still feeling the pain?” – Ryan (38:30–38:50)

• On military-industrial corruption:
  “Halliburton was [Dick Cheney’s] company. That company got no-bid contracts… made over a hundred billion dollars… a slot machine for Halliburton to make money.” – Ryan (33:51–34:08)

• On drones and future warfare:
  “China has a drone mothership… it can fly over a country and literally release thousands of drones.” – Ryan (26:07)

• On public opinion and media click-chasing:
  “Are a lot of them turning on [Trump] for the clicks? And is that the popular thing to do right now?” – Ryan (22:22)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:45 / 20:21: Rescue of U.S. airman in Iran; fighting off more than 100 IRGC commandos
• 09:09: Information operations & propaganda’s influence on perception of war
• 16:56: Misinterpretation of Trump’s “end a civilization” comment; 4D chess with Iranian leadership
• 24:21: Iran’s 10,000 missile strategy to secure nuclear ambitions
• 26:07: China’s drone mothership—game-changer in modern warfare
• 31:09: Cartel use of drones, cartel fighters learning drone warfare in Ukraine
• 37:11: Personal story of loss: best friend’s fatal plane crash and aftermath
• 42:49–43:16: Cold water exposure and nervous system self-regulation for veterans and high-performers
• 33:51: Halliburton, war profiteering, and Iraq/Afghanistan contracts critique

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Episode Flow & Tone

• Language/Tone:
  Engaging, candid, sometimes somber but often energetic. Ryan speaks with directness, blending technical explanation with personal reflection. Sean Kelly keeps the pace brisk and relatable, inviting deep dives, controversial takes, and moments of vulnerability.
• Style:
  Authentic, unfiltered dialogue—combining hard-earned military insight, critique of media narratives, and frank discussion of mental health challenges.
• Atmosphere:
  Equal parts serious national security journalism, locker-room camaraderie, and self-improvement chat.

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How to Find Ryan

• YouTube: Max Afterburner USA

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Listeners leave with a grounded understanding of U.S.–Iran tensions, the realities behind military decision-making, the psychological toll of combat, and why nuanced, multi-perspective dialogue matters more than ever.

Transcript

[Sean Kelly]

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[Sean Kelly]

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[Ryan]

officer against all odds. This guy was evading Iranian enemy forces for 40 hours and we went in and got him. And what I've seen so far is we actually had to eliminate like Navy Seals, high level para rescue, these special forces to eliminate 100 plus IRGC commandos trying to kill our guy. Cuz right now it's, it's really popular to say everything's Israel's fault. That's what I see in the news. I'm like wait, so it's raining today, so it's Israel's fault? The way that I've studied what Iran's plans have been, they wanted to have 10,000 ballistic missiles that could then protect a nuclear weapon. So then that nuclear weapon couldn't be destroyed.

[Interviewer]

Okay, guys, got Ryan on the show today. Saw him on a, a fun interview on Pierce. Interview slash debate, right?

[Ryan]

Yeah, yeah, a little bit of a debate.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. And now he's here in Las Vegas. Had some wi Fi issues today. Dude is wild.

[Ryan]

It's like the entrepreneur life, right?

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Gotta make it happen no matter what.

[Interviewer]

I've been talking about this on a few episodes recently about the electrical grid and how the power just keeps going up and up. Interesting how there's, I'm looking into generators right now.

[Ryan]

Yeah, good to have a backup. I mean that's smart.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, a lot of brownouts and especially in Cali and blackouts and seems like it's only going to get worse.

[Ryan]

Yeah, being prepared is huge. Yeah, I mean the entrepreneur life, no one's going to do it for you. So power goes out, you still want to run your show or you know, provide for your family or whatever the case is, you got to make it happen.

[Interviewer]

How's that transition been from you from pilot to entrepreneur?

[Ryan]

It's been really good. It's been one where I use the same skills. I feel like in some ways like as a pilot, you're kind of out there alone and unafraid sometimes where they're like, hey, in combat, too, you're the judge, jury and executioner, where you might not be able to talk to higher headquarters. So you got to make a decision. So to me that it's like a personal sovereignty thing that I've taken from, that I use it in my own life, you know, my relationships, protecting my family. And then I do it with my business, too.

[Interviewer]

Nice.

[Ryan]

Or like this morning, I think I was just telling you, you know, WI fi was out. I needed to upload a video. We're doing a video pretty much every day. And so instead of sitting back and being like, oh, the WI fi is not working, I'm like, okay, I'm going

[Interviewer]

to make this happen.

[Ryan]

So I went to three different. Three different places, wound up at a bank. I'm in the back of a bank, sitting in a cubicle, acting like I'm like a manager there. You know, someone walks in, I'm like, hey, welcome. Welcome to the bank. Just make it happen, man. It's. It's. It's this attitude of be an athlete. That's probably how you've built a lot of your success, too.

[Interviewer]

I can relate to that so much because we film at a lot of conferences and events, and the WI fi is always an issue. Sometimes they'll say it's a day to upload an episode.

[Ryan]

Yeah. And it's like it's 2026 and we were solving WI FI issues. It's. The story was real.

[Interviewer]

It makes me want to get Starlink or something, honestly.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Starlink. And there's some places that outlaw Starlink because.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Well, the businesses feel threatened by it. Oh. And so it's.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Ryan]

Kind of like. It's almost like some of these WI FI companies have become like the Mafia.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. They have monopolized, especially in Vegas. There's only one. It's called Cox. And it sucks. Like, it always crashes.

[Ryan]

Yeah. It probably has ties to old mafia where they're like, we are the only business in town proper Monopoly.

[Interviewer]

The Mafia used to be out here. The actual Mafia.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Wouldn't surprise me.

[Ryan]

Yeah, we were just talking about that, how some of the mafia bosses actually, you know, kind of got brought into the fold to be made legit, and they took over and started running a lot of the gaming operations out here.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Which is smart, right? I mean, at some point, if someone, you know, you can't get rid of every single mafia operator, you got to at some point see if they'll become legit And I think that's what happened in Vegas.

[Interviewer]

Some of them are good businessmen, to be honest. You know, if you ask locals here that have been here a while, do they prefer Vegas now or when the mob ran it? Most of them will say back then.

[Ryan]

Interesting.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, like 80%, dude.

[Ryan]

That's crazy. So I did a flyby of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when I was on the Thunderbirds. Subtle. I got to drop the fact I'm a pilot.

[Sean Kelly]

Right.

[Ryan]

I got to drop that. But Boyd, he. He owns Boyd Gaming. The owner, the CEO, he showed up and it was like, I mean, he's a super cool guy, but you could tell he had some potentially, you know, allegedly some mafia connections.

[Interviewer]

What a surprise.

[Sean Kelly]

But he.

[Interviewer]

I've seen that name everywhere in Vegas. Board gaming.

[Ryan]

Yeah. I think he might have been a part of some of the original owners in Vegas, and then he's just turned it into a mega business empire, which is pretty inspiring in a way.

[Interviewer]

That's nuts. Yeah. As a pilot, I feel like you do meet some. Some cool people.

[Ryan]

Oh, yeah. Especially on the Thunderbirds. Like some wild situations, man, like flying over the Thunderbird or flying over the super bowl. And then afterwards, they kind of. They bring you up to show you around your champions. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a really special moment, but I got to meet, like, Dick Cheney, Have a story about that if you want to hear it. Kind of weird. Got to meet Tom Brady. I mean, just a lot of these, like, top level figures that I never expected I would meet. But, you know, they're pro America, pro military people that they're like, hey, the Thunderbirds just did a flyby. Bring them up.

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

It must be cool too, because you're kind of meeting them on a level playing field, like, they respect you.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You're not like a fan.

[Ryan]

I think so.

[Sean Kelly]

Right.

[Ryan]

It's like game recognizes game, even though, like, as a. A Thunderbird pilot, it's different than, you know, their business moguls or, you know, political moguls. But I think just like you, right, you meet. You're crushing it in the podcast space. You meet people that are doing things big in other walks of life. I'm sure you can resonate with them

[Interviewer]

really well, the respects there because, you know, the work that goes into it, like you're dropping a video a day. I know how hard that is. I do the same. And it's. I noticed it's hard, you know, it's expensive. It's time consuming. You got to research.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah. And you got to be on too.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

You got to like plan your whole night almost like to be ready and be on point when the interview comes.

[Interviewer]

100%. It's a full time thing. Yeah, yeah. The interview is just what people see. But there's a lot that goes into it behind the scenes, the editing. Yeah, but prepping all that stuff, how

[Ryan]

have you dealt with that, with personal life, like with you got a wife and.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, it's been a balance. So I used to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week when we first started dating. And that's not sustainable at all. Right. So I had to get through that phase, build up a safety net and now we're pretty solid. Like I work a little on weekends, couple hours here and there.

[Ryan]

Nice. Do you still drop videos on the weekends?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you too?

[Ryan]

Yeah, I do. And kind of creating the team around me has helped me do that.

[Interviewer]

You've been crashing out your views. Have been. Has that been recent surgeons or were you kind of steadily growing over the year?

[Ryan]

You know, it's been like, it's, it's exploded over the last year. So I went full time about a year ago, kind of made that plunge and lately with current events, it's gone even higher. But right when I went full time and started doing more consistent videos, I definitely saw the rise.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

But lately, you know, with all the Iran war stuff.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

The naval blockade and all that, and I think people may be just wanting more understanding and ownership of the military. You know, I, I just noticed more of a desire for people to learn about it. And so I don't know, I don't know. I think it's just kind of that perfect sweet spot.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

I just happened to land during that perfect time.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Cuz you had the experience to speak on, right?

[Ryan]

Yeah, Yeah. I got to do. You know, I was in the military for 12 years, flew F15E in combat, flew on the Thunderbirds. And I. The crazy thing about the Thunderbirds was I, I, Sean, I learned like war isn't just war, it's. It's also propaganda wars. So war takes place now on the Internet, Right. Takes place in the media, public opinion. Like there's so many things.

[Interviewer]

Informational war, right?

[Ryan]

Information. Yeah, information. There's a thing called IO information operations that the military does to, you know, shape conflicts. And you can see in with Iran, us, there is like rhetoric from both sides.

[Interviewer]

Right. I, I see some people saying we're losing the war. I see some people saying we're destroying them.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Kind of don't even know what's going on, right?

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And so that's why I came in because I want to try to spread the truth the best I can. From what I see, just from being a military operator, being a fighter pilot and then being interested in geopolitics. So my last couple years in the combat side of the Air Force, I studied Iran and North Korea and I studied China and the Taiwan Straits. These like really like high level flashpoints that could happen around the globe. Right. And I studied a lot of those in classified vaults. But then there's things I learned that are unclassified, that I can share with the public. And so I kind of use, you know, the investigative acumen, I guess that I got from the military and I use that on the channel.

[Interviewer]

That's cool.

[Ryan]

And I think I'm hoping people come to the channel and they're like, oh, I feel a little more ownership over the U.S. military, you know, for U.S. citizens or for, you know, people around the world that watch the channel, they just have an understanding of the global conflict and you know, how this could play out and affect them for sure.

[Interviewer]

So you know the aircraft of other countries pretty well.

[Sean Kelly]

In business I'm always trying to get the best outcome for the best price price. So it's kind of crazy. I haven't looked at my life insurance in years. I don't even know if what I'm paying is competitive or if I have enough coverage with how things have changed. That's why I started looking into select quote. For over 40 years, they've helped more than 2 million Americans secure over $700 billion in coverage. Their whole model is simple. They shop around to find you the right policy for your specific needs so you're not overpaying or undercovered. Their licensed agents work for you in as little as 15 minutes. They compare policies from top rated carriers to find something that fits your health and your budget. And they do it for free. No medical exam, no problem. You could get same day coverage up to $2 million. And if you've got pre existing conditions, they've got options for that too. Get the right life insurance for you for less and Save more than [e-mail] DSH Save more than 50% on term life [e-mail] DSH Today to get started. That's SelectQuote.com DSH yeah, yeah, as a

[Ryan]

fighter pilot, you're pretty much studying that every day. You, you go through these training regiments where you actually get pictures of other aircraft and you like post it around your House. So while you're walking around like we're going to the bathroom, like you see pictures of other fighter jets.

[Interviewer]

That's wild.

[Ryan]

Cuz you want to be able to spot it from miles away.

[Sean Kelly]

Right.

[Ryan]

Going 500 miles an hour. So if you can have that imprinted in your brain kind of like, you know, if you're, if you're basically putting goals or something, you're posting goals, it's the same thing. If you see something every day, it's going to resonate and kind of you're going to absorb that. Right. Same thing with jets.

[Interviewer]

That's crazy. So if you're out there just going 500 miles per hour and you see an enemy aircraft, what's, what's the protocol there?

[Ryan]

Well, the big thing is detection first and being able to see it first. So you really have to be hyper aware of like little, a little dot in the sky and you see a little dot in the sky and then you bring a sensor over to it and that's a radar targeting pod. Like these jets have these like insane cameras where you could, I can't say the exact range where you can see from, but you could read a license plate from miles away.

[Interviewer]

What?

[Ryan]

Yeah, it's, it's wild.

[Interviewer]

That's nuts. And you could talk to them too, right? If you want to.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah. So there, there'd be common frequencies where you could talk to like an enemy pilot per se, or like someone who's not an enemy but not a friendly. You're trying to figure out who they are.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

You could say, hey, who are you? What are you doing out here?

[Interviewer]

That must be kind of like nerve wracking, right?

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I mean you're probably super trained at that point.

[Ryan]

But yeah, I mean I think there's always the jitters and excitement because we're all human, you know, and I feel that. But the more you train, the better you can center your nervous system. And high pressure situations, whether it's 500 miles an hour in a fighter jet or it's a high stakes interview.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Or you know, something that's, that's going down around the globe that you're trying to really get the best information from and you can't be frazzled. Like I noticed those same skills, centering your nervous system. It applies in so many different places.

[Interviewer]

100%.

[Ryan]

But yeah, now that we. Actually my girlfriend and I, we just went to the fighter pilot performance lab yesterday.

[Interviewer]

Oh yeah.

[Ryan]

And we learned how fighter pilots are better. Directing their nervous system to detect things just like that. To see See, aircraft sooner have better reaction time. And so we did a CrossFit workout, basically. And in between sets, we would do VR recognition of objects moving towards you, aircraft moving away. And it's like intertwining human performance into workouts to train for the same stress you're going to experience up in the air and then how you're going to react under pressure of, hey, is that a friendly aircraft or not? And so being able to do that in real time, when the blood's pumping.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Adrenaline's going. And you have to use discretion. Right.

[Interviewer]

Because if it's.

[Ryan]

If you shoot the wrong aircraft, you could cause an international incident.

[Interviewer]

So the stakes are high.

[Ryan]

Really high.

[Interviewer]

That's cool, though, that the training's got to that point, because I do think replicating as close as you could get to the real life is important.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I think so, too. And that whole centering the nervous system thing, it just applies in so many different.

[Interviewer]

So many. So many different things. It's what separates the top people in any industry, whether it's sports, academics, even podcasts. If you could just calm yourself down 100%.

[Ryan]

Do you feel that in some of the debates where you'll feel, like, attention rising?

[Interviewer]

Yeah. So if. If someone gets too emotional in debate, it's usually weakness, in my opinion.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Because then they're not arguing with 100% logic. Right.

[Ryan]

They're kind of going into fight or flight mode.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. So I personally see it as a weakness. I know these days with kids, they kind of like that, that blood sport debate style.

[Ryan]

Yeah. But it. You can definitely tell when the emotion starts to go up, the logic goes down.

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

There's a direct correlation. Yeah. But shout out to Pierce, man, he crushes it. He's figured out the magic formula. Oh, yes, debates.

[Ryan]

Pierce Morgan's great, and I think it's cool that he brings on people from so many different perspectives.

[Interviewer]

Agreed.

[Ryan]

And so in the. In the show that you saw me on, you know, I'm talking about maybe a side that a lot of the guests didn't agree with, you know, or they didn't. Haven't thought of before.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And he didn't have to bring me on. He could have just had everybody have the same opinion.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

Instead he's like, well, I know Ryan probably has a slightly different opinion than a lot of these guests, so I'm going to bring them on. And he says it's the place for fearless debate, which I think is. It's a shout out to him of, good for you. You're keeping the Conversation going in society where today a lot of people try to shut other people down or cancel people. Instead, let's just have the conversation, let's have the debate and. And then let's all learn something.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Did you know who you were going up against beforehand?

[Ryan]

Yeah, I think they sent us the list like maybe an hour before.

[Interviewer]

So you couldn't really prep.

[Ryan]

Not really, but I just kind of stuck by, you know, what I believe in and the things that I've learned and. And I was just honestly hoping to share a different perspective for sure. And he opened it up and let me do it. And then we got into Pierce and I got into a little debate. But again, it wasn't like a toxic debate. It was actually learning on what's going on on both sides.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

Instead of attacking or anything like that, it was like, no, what. Who's got the better information here or who's got information that we can both learn from?

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Well, what are you saying exactly, that people find controversial?

[Ryan]

I guess I think in that case, you know, a lot of people right now it's become super political for the Iran conflict.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Where there's almost this side of the political spectrum where people are like, we don't really care if the US Loses, as long as we get a political victory. And my thought is like, well, let's. Let's win. Like, I get it, the war is controversial right now. It's a ceasefire, so there's not currently a war going on. There's naval blockade going on, but let's just win this first and let's let the military be supported and then we'll figure out maybe how we could have gone about this better.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

But for me, it's just wild to attack President Trump and say, like, he's at the. The exact example was he was saying, we're going to end a civilization, but when I start to 40 chess this out, I'm thinking through and I was like, oh, actually what's happening here is Trump's actually talking to the irgc, which is. That's like the inner group of around the Iranian leadership that's killed somewhere between 15 to 45,000 of their own people. Both. Both numbers are bad. Right. And so I was like, oh, he's not talking about ending the civilization of the Iranian peaceful people. And at the end of the Truth social post, it said the God bless the people of Iran. And I kind of brought that up. And people. No one wanted to acknowledge that there was maybe this misinterpretation of I'm going to end a civilization which could be misinterpreted as, like, he's going to end all of Iran's civilization. And then if you continue to read it, you realize, oh, he's probably talking about the irgc, which that's like the core hardliners that are slaughtering their own people. And, and he doesn't have a direct line to them. They're actually probably reading his truth posts. So this is 4D chess.

[Interviewer]

So how did they negotiate that?

[Ryan]

I think it's a treaty or. Yeah, well, I think it's. It was leverage. So it was a US Military showing, like, how strong they were and that, that insane amount of pressure that Trump's putting on them and calling them out directly saying he's going to end them.

[Interviewer]

And that was a bold tweet.

[Ryan]

It's a bold tweet.

[Interviewer]

I'm gonna nuke you by 8pm tonight. Yeah.

[Ryan]

I mean, and at some point, rather some people that only the only thing that works is force.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

Or the threat of force. And that's actually if you see what the IRGC's done, that's how they've controlled their country. Yeah, they just threaten their own people. And if their people go against them, they kill them. And so President Trump was like, all right, well, we're going to use a little bit of your own medicine here. I'm going to put this pressure on you, get leverage over you, bring you to table. And that's what he's done at this point. So it brought them to the table where there's a ceasefire and now they want a complete ending of the conflict. And it looks like from what I can tell just from the video I did today, looks like they're like, hey, guys, we, we want to solve this and we want to give you some concessions that you want. So. But again, you gotta, if you're going to be in a high stakes negotiation, I mean, this is the highest of high stakes negotiations.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

And, and I've seen people freak out over this. Like, even like Tucker Carlson, he's been like, oh, President Trump used the F word on. He got really upset about that. And my thought was like, well, actually, you're getting an inside insight into a president who's in the middle of a war, like one of the most intense wars in US History.

[Interviewer]

It's got to be stressful.

[Ryan]

Stressful, but also strategic, where he's actually showing us the leverage he's getting against the IRGC or the way that he's pressuring the irgc. We get to actually see that, and maybe you don't want to know how the sausage is made, but like, conflict is crazy. Conflict is wild. So on that same day where Tucker was really mad that the President used the bomb on Easter, that was the same day we rescued that weapon systems officer behind enemy lines. You did you see that story? So we actually went behind enemy lines, rescued a weapon systems officer against all odds. This guy was evading Iranian enemy forces for 40 hours. And we went in and got him. And the. What I've seen so far is we actually had to eliminate like Navy seals, high level para rescue. These Special Forces. Had to eliminate a hundred plus IRGC commandos trying to kill our guy just

[Interviewer]

to get one guy.

[Sean Kelly]

Holy.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, but that's really wanted this guy.

[Ryan]

Well, the IRGC really wanted him because it's a propaganda victory. Like, imagine if Iran got that guy and then they did. Now they have leverage.

[Interviewer]

Prisoner. Yeah.

[Ryan]

Where they're like, okay, back off your Navy or we're going to kill this negotiation leverage. Totally. And so on that same day that Tucker Carlson was mad that President Trump tweeted out the F bomb on Easter, we literally killed a hundred Iranian commandos trying to get our guy. So I get it, like, the F bomb on Easter isn't great. But, like, we're in the middle of a war.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And so it's a different mentality. And we're actually getting a front row seat to a President who's letting us see the leverage and negotiation. So again, whether you love President Trump or not, it's pretty nice to know what's actually going on in that office, at least somewhat.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

I would much rather know that and see the uncomfortable truth, then not know, and then be kept in the dark. And then there's like a military blunder and no one takes responsibility for it, which we've seen that happen before in the past too. So we're kind of seeing the opposite end of this whole spectrum. Like with the withdrawal from Afghanistan during the Biden administration, that was a military blunder. Right. It was done haphazardly. Wasn't done. Right. And then we just got a little message that was like, okay, we're out of Afghanistan now. And everyone's like, why did 13 Marines die? You know, like, and we didn't. We never got an answer. And no one stood up and took responsibility. So there's two different sides to this. And I get what Tucker Carlson was saying, but at the same time, I'm like, hey, man, we're in the middle of a war. F bomb on Easter isn't Great. But also, we had to kill 100 Iranian commandos on Easter. Should we not have done that? Should we have let them get our weapon systems officer? Because we don't want to hurt anybody on Easter. Like, it's different when we're in the middle of a war, for sure, you know?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, there's bigger problems than that. Bombs on Easter, I think.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I think so, too.

[Interviewer]

Do you think the reactions from the general public is overreacting, or what do you feel like? Because there's a lot of people turning on Trump at the moment. I'm sure you've seen the polls. Yeah, he called out like, Alex Jones, Tucker, Candace and Megyn Kelly recently.

[Ryan]

Yeah. I mean, it's getting hot. It's getting heated. And I don't. I'm trying to kind of see is it. Are a lot of them turning on him for the clicks and is that kind of the popular thing to do right now?

[Interviewer]

It definitely is.

[Ryan]

Yeah. And it is working.

[Sean Kelly]

Right?

[Ryan]

Because they're probably getting a lot of clicks out of it, and they're in the business of getting attention. And when I look at. At people like Tucker and Candace, I'm like, they got to remain relevant. And so if the popular thing right now to do is to bash Trump and, you know, get more views at some point when you're.

[Sean Kelly]

You.

[Ryan]

I mean, we. We both are content creators, right? So it's important to get views and get clicks.

[Interviewer]

It's.

[Ryan]

It's our business. It's the way that we're hopefully positively impacting the world. But at some point, what I try to do is I'm like, okay, even if I get a few less clicks, but I'm really just focus on getting what the truth is. Like, I'm okay with that.

[Interviewer]

I feel like I align with that,

[Ryan]

too, but I do want to get the clicks still. Like, I'm not going to sit here and say I don't want to get an audience to. To watch and I don't want to grow my channel. Like, of course. But I think when you get to those levels where, what you're at, where Tucker's at, it's like, okay, maybe you got to just step back and see, like, are you on the right side of history here?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

I don't know. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

That's why I like bringing on both sides. Yeah. You know, totally the truth. Let the audience decide from hearing both

[Ryan]

perspectives 100%, and then we can grow. And ultimately, I think you'll.

[Sean Kelly]

You'll.

[Ryan]

Your channel will be bigger at the end of the day. Like, I think even if, you know, Tucker was bringing on both sides or Candace was bringing on both sides, and it wasn't just all this anti Israel stuff, if there was more of a middle ground, I think at some point it would balance out. Because right now it's, it's really popular to say everything's Israel's fault. Like, that's what I see in the news. I'm like, wait, so it's raining today, so it's Israel's fault? Or like, you know what I mean? And so I think at some point it'll balance out. And then if this does balance out, I think people will look back and be like, oh, that was kind of silly that you literally just blamed everything on Israel. And you know, there's people coming out like Joe Kent, saying that the only reason that the US Got involved in the war was because, with the war with Iran was because Israel pressured us to.

[Interviewer]

A lot of people say that.

[Ryan]

Yeah, yeah. And the thing I like to say, and I said it on Pierce Morgan as well, is like, yeah, Israel's obviously benefiting from the US Getting rid of the Ayatollah neighbors. Yeah. And the Ayatollah screamed death to Israel, death to America every day. And they wanted a nuclear weapon. And so, yeah, obviously Israel is going to benefit from that guy not being there. But the U.S. i think, is going to benefit too. Just from the way that I've studied what Iran's plans have been. They wanted to have 10,000 ballistic missiles that could then protect a nuclear weapon. So then that nuclear weapon couldn't be destroyed.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Ryan]

And then if they got that likely, I mean, again, it's, it's hard to say, like, we're preventing something from happening when we don't know if it would have happened. But it's kind of like, all right, all the signs are pointing to this guy saying, death to Israel. He wants a nuclear weapon. He wants 10,000 ballistic missiles to protect it. At some point he probably is going to use it. Right. And then if he lobs a nuclear weapon at Israel, Israel lobs one back. Now we've got a nuclear war. And, and is that going to be good for the US or the world? No. So I think the big thing for the US is like, if we take action now, we can hopefully avoid that scenario in 10, 15 years where now our kids are, you know, having to deal with a nuclear armed Iran getting in a conflict with Israel and we can't do anything about it.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

Because they have those 10,000 ballistic missiles and probably 50, 000 of those Shahid drones, those little Dorito looking drones that they have.

[Interviewer]

I was just gonna ask you about drones. So those nukes are definitely to be feared, but drones, I feel like they're so cheap to make and you can just make so many of them and just wipe out whatever you want, right?

[Ryan]

Dude, it's changed everything. Yeah, it's really changed everything. So as a fighter pilot, I mean I've looked at systems that China has. They have a drone mothership.

[Interviewer]

White. Yeah, that's like Star Trek.

[Ryan]

It's wild.

[Interviewer]

It's wild.

[Ryan]

They have this huge aircraft, it can fly over a country and literally release thousands of drones. Oh my God.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, that's scary.

[Ryan]

That's scary.

[Interviewer]

Especially as a pilot because if you're mid air when there's thousands of drones. Can I fly up that high though?

[Ryan]

Well, there's advanced ones that I think, you know, probably haven't been released. But if I'm just kind of, you know, connecting A with B, I'm like, okay, China's probably going to make some drones that can go up really high.

[Interviewer]

You can't shoot those down. They're too small.

[Ryan]

Too small. And there's too many of them.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

So that's why we've seen like the evolution of high powered microwave technology. It's a, it's a new way to fight. So again, I love technology being brought into warfare because hopefully it creates deterrence. So if, if both sides have exceptional technology, it's kind of like with nuclear weapons ideally if, if the weapons aren't held by a radical cleric like in Iran, if it's a, like a maybe more predictable actor like Russia, China, US with nuclear weapons, we all kind of look at each other and we're like, oh, well, we don't want to get a nuclear war because we know it's just annihilation for everybody.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

So kind of the same thing with military technology and drones. The way I look at it is if we have the most advanced anti drone technology, which doesn't mean just projectiles.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

Projectiles is like, you know, the 2000s, you know, now it's like, okay, what kind of energy weapons can we use to fry these drones out of the sky? No one even knows we did it.

[Interviewer]

And they, that's what they did in Venezuela right. When they captured Maduro.

[Ryan]

I think there was rumors about that. There was rumors. There was like a security guard who came out and said, next. One minute he was standing there with a gun, next minute, yeah, gun had fallen down and he had blood coming out of his nose.

[Interviewer]

Crazy.

[Ryan]

It was something like that would make sense to me.

[Interviewer]

The way they captured him, it was just so in and out, easy.

[Ryan]

Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't know what technology they use there, but if I was in charge, I'd be like, let's get the best technology on these drones we possibly can.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. So that is nuts too. Yeah. If a nuke were to get launched like from halfway across the world, how much time would we have? Because you see people buying bunkers and stuff, but would you even have enough time to get to shelter?

[Ryan]

I don't think you would. I mean, it depends on where it was launched from.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

So nuclear war would be so wild. I think that's like the number one thing to avoid.

[Interviewer]

I mean, maybe you can agree on that. I feel like.

[Ryan]

Yeah, yeah. And so that's why I think this war with Iran, if there's a chance we're avoiding a nuclear conflict, didn't we

[Interviewer]

take theirs out though, I thought.

[Ryan]

Or was that. Yeah, we dropped. Right, yeah. In 2025, B2 bombers dropped on their uranium enrichment facilities. And so they took out their centrifuges that were underground. But part of my thing is if, if you're just building nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, why is it all underground? You know, like, why are all these typical.

[Interviewer]

I don't know how it's normally.

[Ryan]

I don't think so. I mean, I'm not an expert on nuclear reactors, but that there's a lot of, you know, if you look at nuclear power plants. Yeah, they're above ground, you know, that's what I thought.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I guess if you're hiding it, you would want to do it below ground because of all the imaging these days.

[Ryan]

Yeah, exactly. Yep, totally.

[Interviewer]

And I'm sure there's advanced mapping technology now.

[Ryan]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And it's pretty interesting too, how like the different bunkers themselves, there's, there's depictions of how big they are. I mean, they're under entire mountains, so that's a hard problem. Yeah. And suppose so we dropped bombs, B2 bomber dropped bombs on those in 2025, some of the locations around Iran. But they were building a new underground bunker that was way deeper than those that might, that a B2 might not even be able to reach. And so again, that's why I think another part of this action taking place makes sense because if they're going to build one that even the B2 with, it's a 30,000 pound bomb that it dropped, Gee, it's like the sky's the size of a skyscraper.

[Interviewer]

That's impressive that a plate can even carry that.

[Ryan]

Yeah. And carry two of them.

[Interviewer]

Oh, my gosh.

[Ryan]

And so it dropped those and then those penetrated down. I mean, the. The actual number is classified how deep each one can go, but they hit the vent shafts, so they didn't actually have to hit the uranium sites themselves. They hit the vent shafts, which cool all the different inner workings of that system. So we did that. And now if they're going to build one that is, let's say it's like 500ft underground and the first one was like 200. How do you. How do you do anything with the 500 foot one underground? And maybe you can't.

[Interviewer]

It would have to be drones, I'd imagine.

[Ryan]

Drones. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Or sneak in there.

[Ryan]

Interesting.

[Interviewer]

Through the air vent. Oh, like some of them are tiny these days. I don't know how true that is, but that's wild.

[Ryan]

So thinking of a drone that could be like the size of an.

[Interviewer]

I heard some. I've had weapons experts on that can fly through an air vent and take you out too. I don't know if they could take out a reactor, but. Wow. Crazy, right?

[Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah, that's crazy. We need anti drone technology in here.

[Interviewer]

I know I have anti EMF technology, but.

[Ryan]

Oh, that's cool.

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Stop a drone.

[Ryan]

Yeah, exactly.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Drones are scary, man. Those keep me up at night. Yeah, I'm sure technology we have access to these days, it's good and bad.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I mean, if someone else has it, we're gonna need it. Yeah.

[Ryan]

And then there was that incident in El Paso. Do you remember that?

[Interviewer]

El Paso, Is that Texas?

[Ryan]

They had to shut down the airport because supposedly cartel drones were flying over.

[Interviewer]

Really?

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Oh, wait, I think I do remember this.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Because they use. The cartels use drones for drugs, right?

[Ryan]

Yeah, I think they' used them for years. And they also use them to kill each other. So cartels fight each other. There's videos you can find on X where they're literally dropping bombs on each other with drones. It's pretty wild.

[Interviewer]

Nuts, dude.

[Ryan]

Yeah. And they sent the cartel got caught sending people to Ukraine to pretend to be on the Ukrainian side. And they trained in the drone academies that Ukraine was training in to fight Russia with. So they infiltrated those and they got

[Interviewer]

to learn about the drone you sent. Yeah.

[Ryan]

And then they came back and then they taught all of like, like whatever cartel how to actually use those drones.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Because I know that war. There's a lot of drone usage.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Definitely That's a wild one. It's crazy. It's still going on.

[Interviewer]

Still. It's been years. I feel like people don't talk about it as much.

[Ryan]

Yeah, it's out of the news cycle right now. Then Iran war has taken hold.

[Interviewer]

Exactly.

[Ryan]

But that one's probably, I mean, that definitely way more bloody.

[Interviewer]

Over a million dots, right?

[Ryan]

That's what I've heard too.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Because Iran only 15 US so far or something around that.

[Ryan]

I think it is. Yeah. 15, 13 or 15.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. No boots on the ground yet. So if that happens, that could be devastating. Yeah, I'm not a fan of that. No.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I'm a big proponent of no boots on the ground. I mean, if there, if it comes to it, you know, hopefully Iran makes a deal. I think making a deal will be great and then we can all kind of move on. We don't have to have this war hangover anymore that everybody seems to have. We can kind of all come back to center focus on our country. But surgical operations like Special Forces and things like that, I, that type of thing would make sense to me if needed, like take out high value targets and things like that. That's kind of what they did in the early days of Iraq and Afghanistan. But then they like dropped the ball when like Dick Cheney and these guys decided, oh, we're gonna do a massive invasion force in Afghanistan.

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And so I flew fighter jets over Afghanistan. I flew 70 combat missions over there. And I would fly over these Ford operating bases that had thousands of U.S. soldiers. And I remember flying over one of them that was in the bottom of a like 360 degree canyon. And so it was down at the bottom and I was like, this is the least strategic thing ever seen. And I asked the ground forces commander, so we'd fly these combat missions and I would call him afterwards because we ended up dropping a few bombs and.

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And I was like, why is that base built down there? And he said, oh, well, one of the strategies that we got from higher leadership was we had to draw out the insurgents from the local population and see who would shoot at us. And I was like, what are we doing? This is crazy.

[Interviewer]

Doesn't make sense to me. Right.

[Ryan]

But then if you. Then I started to unpack and I told you I met Dick Cheney at the super bowl. And, and it was kind of weird. Like, it was, it was awkward. He's like, oh, Thunderbirds, huh? And I'm in my Thunderbird outfit. And he's like, that's cool. I had a little project of My own. It was called the Gulf War. And I was like, oh. Like, it was just weird.

[Interviewer]

He didn't know your background at all.

[Ryan]

Yeah, exactly. But when I think about. When I thought about that answer he gave me, I started to research, and Halliburton was his company. And that company got no bid contracts to build bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it said that they made over a hundred billion dollars.

[Interviewer]

No way.

[Ryan]

Yeah. The company itself, Halliburton, over 100 billionaire billion. Oh, yeah. I think he passed away now, but his family, you know, that money's been passed down. But if you look at the whole reason why we. Why Iraq and Afghanistan had that boots on the ground situation, literally a slot machine for Halliburton to make money. To make money.

[Interviewer]

Disgusting. That's. That's when you hear the military industrial complex. Yeah, but I get stuff like that.

[Ryan]

And that's even worse to me, that's worse than the military industrial complex because military industrial complex might be creating amazing technology that saves American lives. Like the thing in Venezuela. Right. Like, but that's not a boots on the ground invasion where a couple guys are making $100 billion.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. That's disgusting.

[Ryan]

It's crazy.

[Interviewer]

There's a lot of fraud with gov contracts. Yo.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Some people in that space. And it's dirty money.

[Ryan]

Yeah, for sure. Well, especially in that case with Cheney and Bush where they're the. They're the ones signing the contracts. They're the president and the vice president. And so they literally can do whatever they want with our taxpayer dollars. Disgusting.

[Interviewer]

I got into it a little bit. Not intentionally, but during the pandemic, I wanted to help out.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So I was selling mass and like, PPE equipment.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Interviewer]

Government to states, cities, and hospitals.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And people were just ripping these guys off because the government will pay whatever. Right. You know what I mean?

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

It was nuts. The fraud I saw, though, man, like, they would get a mask for 10 cents and sell it for like 4 bucks. Wow. It was nasty.

[Ryan]

Fraud lately is crazy, man. All the stuff that's being uncovered. What do you. What are your thoughts on that? Like the quality leering centers and all that stuff?

[Interviewer]

Oh, yeah. Now Cali's trying to pass a stop Nick Shirley act.

[Ryan]

I saw that.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And so Nick Shirley was like, all right, I'm going to Cali next week.

[Interviewer]

Like, he's a nice kid. I brought him the UFC last time he was in Vegas. Oh, cool. I can't believe they're doing that to him for. Just investigating. Right. Even if he's wrong, why Would you want to stop an investigator?

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And pass an act for that?

[Ryan]

I know. I feel like it's an opportunity even for guys like Gavin Newsom. Like, it's an opportunity to show you're on the, you're like middle of the road and you have common sense.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

If they were to kind of align with him and just say, hey, man, okay, how do we help? How do we fix this? I mean, that would probably be. If I was on Gavin Newsom's PR team, I'd be like, hey, this is, you know, this is an opportunity.

[Interviewer]

I agree. But I think he has too many skeletons.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You know what I mean?

[Ryan]

Too far gone.

[Interviewer]

I've heard some wild stuff about him.

[Ryan]

Gotcha.

[Interviewer]

And it looks like he might run for president, so. Yeah, we'll see if those come to light.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Do you think he could still win based on what Nick Shirley's finding in California?

[Interviewer]

Yes, because Trump's just getting hammered right now. So I feel like if this war continues, he's going to keep losing support and then people are going to want a change. Like, I think the right is going to lose the midterms.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You know?

[Ryan]

Yeah. Do you think if he winds it down and gets it kind of closed buttoned up, it would help in the next couple months?

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Don't you agree on that? Yeah.

[Ryan]

And I think elongated wars are terrible anyways. Even just, just despite political reasons, like just having long term wars, I don't think it's good for society.

[Interviewer]

And you're saying this as a veteran, you know.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I mean, like I was saying earlier, it's kind of like I feel like America has a little bit of a war hangover from all the Iraq and Afghanistan stuff, like all the different, all the different mental health crises that happen to veterans coming back from that.

[Interviewer]

Never the same, really. Yeah, he went. I think he went to both, but I remember Iraq. He lost his best friend that stepped on a landmine right next to him.

[Ryan]

I need to come back. How do you come back from.

[Interviewer]

His thigh blew off and then like he literally saw him die.

[Ryan]

Well, how's he doing now?

[Interviewer]

Terrible, dude. He ended up in prison and that's come, man. Drugs.

[Ryan]

So sad.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, he just like reached out to me. I hope he could get better, but, dude, it messes you up mentally. Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure you got stories for days on that.

[Ryan]

Yeah. I mean, I saw my best friend die in a plane crash six months into flight school.

[Interviewer]

Six months in.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm the kid who's like, you know, top Gun posters on the wall. This is just, like, sexy. Aviation's amazing. And that's the attitude I had right until I saw, you know, my friend crash. And I realized, like, oh, this is not just the Top Gun. I mean, the Top Gun is a part of it, but this is real. And, yeah, military and warfare is. It's. Can be very deadly and unforgiving. And so, yeah, seeing him crash right next to me, he ejected out the ejection seat, didn't have enough time to work, and so it hit the ground. And so him and the instructor pilot didn't survive. Yeah, so I won't. I went through the dark night of the soul. I mean, probably like your. Your family member, where I was like, do I. Do I quit? Do I. What do I do here? Didn't really know how to handle it, so I kind of fell back on my faith. And I think that's something that really helped me out a lot. I went and talked to a chaplain. The military gives us access, whatever religion you are, you know, it could be Muslim, Jewish, Christian, whatever. They've got access for you. And so I'm a Christian. So I went to a chaplain and I sat with them, and I was like, man, I don't know what to do here. This is on. This is uncharted territory for me. Like, I had survivor's guilt, things like that. And so I think just falling back on my faith and knowing that, you know, at the end of the day, I don't have to have it all figured out. And that feeling off sometimes is just. It's normal as a human. Like, you're not always going to feel centered and dialed and to just go through the process of healing, sometimes the only way out is through. It's kind of what I realized. And then I sat back and realized, like, what do I want my story to be? Do I want my story to be that I quit, or do you want my story to be, you know what? I. I dealt with it. I felt the pain, and then I moved forward while still feeling the pain. Most days, you know, some. Some. Some nights, going to bed crying, you know, having lost my best friend, but waking up in the morning with a determined. Just a determined feeling that I'm gonna. I'm gonna do everything I can to represent his memory well, and then I continue to do that. Unfortunately, I ended up losing three other close friends. And that's just fighter jet aviation. I mean, it's. It's crazy, man. It's.

[Interviewer]

The.

[Ryan]

The stakes are really. The margins for error are really slim.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

But I think losing my best friend early on kind of put me in a position where I was like, all right, I gotta have faith. I gotta have something stronger than just myself to get me through this. And helped me with the other three losses, but they still affected me, you know, and we're all human. So I think if. If veterans think that they can just power through, that's a. That's not the right approach. There's so many access. There's so many programs out there right now. There's regular therapy, there's alternative therapy, there's psychedelic therapy. I mean, there's things that are being passed right now. I saw that psychedelics for veterans might actually be a thing now.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, that's cool. I'm in favor of that.

[Ryan]

Me too.

[Interviewer]

I've talked to a lot of veterans that have tried that. Yeah. Spoke wonders.

[Ryan]

Yeah. I think in a controlled environment where you're able to unlock and access some of that trauma, look at it directly, process it. But I think we really get in trouble as humans, whether you're a veteran or not, when you just bury trauma or hard things that have happened to you and you pretend like you're fine and you just try to power through, it doesn't work. No.

[Interviewer]

It catches up to you every time. Every time.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You can't outwork it.

[Ryan]

Yeah, exactly.

[Interviewer]

That's what happened to me. I was doing that, and then burnout just caught up, and I started having panic attacks and collapsing.

[Ryan]

Yeah. What did you do to get through that?

[Interviewer]

Tried psychedelics. Tried regular therapy. Tried being in nature.

[Sean Kelly]

Surprisingly.

[Interviewer]

Worked pretty well.

[Ryan]

That's cool.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Because we're in such a technological age now. We're just inside all the. We lose touch with nature.

[Ryan]

Yeah. You're not like, grounding. You're not feeling grounded anymore at all.

[Interviewer]

Especially when you live in city. I feel like. Yeah. You know, but, man, thanks for sharing that. That's crazy.

[Ryan]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. I feel like in the pilot profession, I'd imagine the casualties are higher than average military roles. Right?

[Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah. It's just. It's. It's. Again, it's like a split second could just totally end everything. You know, you're going 500 miles an hour, sometimes 200ft above the ground. So if you just have a bad day, I mean, I had friends that were having personal issues and, you know, issues that, as an emotional being, we're all. Emotional beings are just affecting them, and they just weren't on point that day.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Ryan]

So.

[Interviewer]

And that's what. Holy crap.

[Ryan]

One of my friends crashed you know, he's having some personal struggles. Crashed and, you know, he probably wasn't sleeping very well.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

So there's just so many things that I think we got to go back, remind ourselves, like, we're all humans. We all need to take a second and process difficult things. And something that's really. And this is just a side tangent, but something that's helped me a lot is cold, like, doing. It's not for everybody. I'm not saying. Yeah, yeah. But I feel like it helps me when I get in cold water. It just helps me look at all the BS that I'm avoiding.

[Interviewer]

Interesting.

[Ryan]

I just have to. It just like, pops right there. I'm like, oh, I didn't want to see that.

[Interviewer]

Like, I always saw it as purely a physical health thing. But that's interesting.

[Ryan]

I think there's a lot more. There's a lot of mental health aspects to it as well. If you do it consistently, too. And. Yeah, I don't know what it is, man. I think there's something special about it.

[Interviewer]

I might have to get one up house. I got a sauna. I know the hot. Cold is. Is good.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Bouncing back and forth. Yeah, good, too. Yeah. And again, that's just nervous system regulation. And so. Absolutely, a lot of times when we feel ungrounded, it's. We're losing track of our nervous system. So we're. We have to, at some point, get back to center. And so the body will do things to get back to center. And a lot of times that leads to addiction. So it could be a nicotine addiction, alcohol addiction. But all these drugs are basically built to make us feel and pretend like we have a central nervous system. But the way it works is you'll do, like, let's just say it's a cocaine or even nicotine. It gives you a nice spike, and then you crash down relatively fast. But with cold plunge, it'll spike your adrenaline levels and your hormones, and then it does a slow decrease over the course of, like, three or four hours.

[Interviewer]

That's why people do it in the morning.

[Ryan]

Yeah. And you don't feel that crash. Right. Like, I've never tried cocaine, but I'm assuming, like, it's probably awesome. That's why I don't want to try it.

[Interviewer]

I don't want to try it.

[Ryan]

Yeah, same. But you'll get that, like, extreme spike, and then it feels good, and people. That's why people get addicted. And then, like, 30 minutes later, boom, Crash. Oh, gotta do more boom. But with a cold plunge, it's basically doping, but you're getting up to that level of regulation and it's just keeping you there for a nice slow burn.

[Interviewer]

Try that. You got one at the house.

[Ryan]

Yeah, yeah. It's got like a blow up one. It's got a little pump next to it. Wasn't that expensive. I do like 45, 45 degrees.

[Interviewer]

I will get crazy with it.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Wim Hof. Have you seen him?

[Ryan]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Oh my gosh.

[Ryan]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

There's ice on his.

[Ryan]

Oh, dude. I don't know. That guy's like a mutant is an alien.

[Interviewer]

I did one last week actually at a health conference. I was filming two minutes. It was tough.

[Ryan]

Oh yeah.

[Interviewer]

I felt great after how.

[Ryan]

What was the temperature on it?

[Interviewer]

Probably there was ice in there, but he just put it in. So maybe 50s.

[Ryan]

Okay. Yeah, yeah. I feel like you can get to a point where it is counter and it's not helping you, it's actually hurting you.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. If you stay in too long too. Same with sauna.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Right. Because it's balance. Yeah.

[Ryan]

Because it's just balanced stress. Right. So it's like the perfect sweet spot is good. We actually learned that in the human performance lab, the fighter pilot performance lab, where if you're too exhausted from the workout and then you go in and you try to do the hand eye coordination tasks which mimic like a fighter jet task. If you're too exhausted, your ability to have hand eye coordination goes way down. But if you're in this nice little like if you're just sitting there and you hadn't done anything for the day or it's your first couple minutes of the flight, you're not as dialed in and tuned in. But if it's a couple minutes in, you've pulled a few GS, G forces or you know that pressure that's put on your body.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And in order to, to fight that, you have to squeeze all your muscles to push the blood back up into your brain. So if you've done a few iterations of pulling GS, then you're better at hand eye coordination. But it's the sweet spot.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

If you're exhausted, your hand eye and

[Interviewer]

your reaction time must be nuts. Like an F1 driver.

[Ryan]

And especially when I was flying every day. So on the Thunderbirds we flew pretty much twice a day.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Ryan]

Every day.

[Interviewer]

And how fast are those going?

[Ryan]

Those are like you're, you know, average about 500 miles an hour.

[Interviewer]

Sharp turns.

[Ryan]

Oh yeah, sharp turns. You're rejoining another aircraft. You're 2 1/2ft away. 3ft away from a fighter jet.

[Interviewer]

500 miles per hour.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

That's insane. Yep. Actually nuts.

[Ryan]

Oh, man, it was so fun. But it literally. Sean, you'll appreciate this, like broke my adrenaline system, man. Really, like for a while. Like I. So I was flying twice a day and then when I stopped. So you have to leave at some point.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan]

And so I stopped flying and I literally felt withdrawals. It was like adrenaline withdrawals.

[Interviewer]

I could see it though, because you're living such a fast paced lifestyle.

[Ryan]

Yeah. So I'd wake up at like 2am and go to the gym. Like, I just, Yeah. I was like, oh, I gotta do something. But the gym helped.

[Sean Kelly]

Okay.

[Ryan]

Gym really helped me. I mean it wasn't, it wasn't the same. But over time, the gym and intense workouts really helped me to regulate and get back to that center. Just like you talked about regulating the nervous system. Because my nervous system was like, wait, why aren't we, why isn't our adrenaline spiked today? You know?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, that's nuts. Is AI going to get good enough to do what the Thunderbirds did? Like, like the best pilots. Can it actually do that at a certain level?

[Ryan]

I think it could. Yeah. I think it could get there. And I, I think if it was drones, it could probably be way more maneuverable because the human body can pull roughly nine GS for a small amount of time. That's just nine times the amount of weight we feel right now. We're at 1G. So we feel 1G on our body right now. Nine is how much these fighter jets can pull. And the only reason they stop at nine is because that's when the, what the human body can handle.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Any more than that and you're just gonna pass out right away.

[Interviewer]

Top Gun, they went to 10, I think.

[Ryan]

Yeah. And so you could probably spike to that really quickly.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan]

And. But in an, in an ejection, you can pull like 20.

[Interviewer]

Damn.

[Ryan]

But you're, it's going to make you pass out momentarily. And that's okay because I never had to do that. No, I trained for it. We all trained for it. And then you do, you go and you drop out of an airplane with a parachute and you practice falling because the big thing is falling. Because if you fall wrong when you land. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Right. You could break a leg.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Then you can't run. Like this weapon systems officer in Iran, if he would have broken a leg, he would have gotten caught like that. And now we got an international incident because he, he didn't land correctly. Wow.

[Interviewer]

So it's 20. So you literally get knocked out when

[Ryan]

you jack for a second. Yeah. I'd say you're. You're. You lose consciousness probably for a couple seconds.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Ryan]

Just because it's so fast and it's. All the blood in your brain just goes.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, I never thought about that. That's crazy.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So you're just, like, on autopilot as soon as you regain consciousness. Yeah.

[Ryan]

And I've heard you get temporal distortion where everything slows down too. So as soon as you come back, you're kind of seeing things happen in slow motion, you know, And. And people have experienced that in, like, car wrecks and things like that too, really. Of violent things where your body's getting shaken around. Temporal distortion happens. And I think it's a way our nervous system is trying to actually assess what's going on.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Yeah. The human body's so fascinating, so incredible. Adaptable.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I saw a video of a broken bone being healed yesterday. It's just like, oh, man, it's cool. It made me believe in God, honestly, because it's like there's no way that's just happening.

[Ryan]

That's so cool.

[Interviewer]

You know, like, it was a time

[Ryan]

lapse of the bone healing.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Like.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Our body just heals broken bones by itself.

[Ryan]

Yeah. It's intuitive.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Right?

[Interviewer]

Smart.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Well, dude, this was great. How could people support your show and keep up with you, man?

[Ryan]

Just go to Max Afterburner USA on YouTube. Check us out there.

[Interviewer]

Cool. We'll link it there. Thanks for coming on.

[Ryan]

Hey, John.

[Interviewer]

Thanks, man. Catch a flight with you one of these days, dude.

[Ryan]

That'd be awesome. Let's do it. Let's go. Pull nine G's.

[Interviewer]

See you guys. Thanks for watching all the way to the end, guys. Means a lot. Please click here if you want to watch the next episode and please subscribe to the show.

[Sean Kelly]

It helps us get more guests and

[Interviewer]

helps grow the brand.