C (209:23)
Yeah, this is. This is the latest one that again, the connection came through. Ben Sledge is. He says, hey, you should meet this guy Tyler. I have no idea who Tyler Gray is. I have no idea who's in, you know, Delta Force Operator, you know, tier one dude, actor, writer, producer on the CBS Paramount plus TV show SEAL Team. And so my phone rings. I'm in. I'm building up my horse arena, and I'm on my chainsaw or some kind of phone race. And, like, it's Tyler, you know, so I'm like, hey, what's up, man? Like, he's telling me a little about it, and he can kind of be a little all over the map sometimes, you know, and his. He tells me about this story. I don't hear from him for a long time. And then he introduced me to his co writer, Lauren Engelde and she's amazing, talented woman. Again, like, she's written 12 books. She wrote Darrell Utt's book Grit to Glory. He's a former Green Beret. She's. She's just phenomenal. I don't know how she puts herself like an alien in a human suit and can speak special operator. And she does an amazing job. But I don't hear from him. And then I see. So he finally makes a decision, like, hey. He goes, yeah, I want to work with you. Because although, yes, I'm an agent, I'm more of a hybrid because I do way, way more than any typical agent does. Like every, every blurb on this book, I think maybe minus one Jack Carr included. Like, I solicit these guys. Like, I don't say that slimy like they're friends. I'm like, like Scott Mann. I'm like, who you know is author of Pineapple Express. I met Scott, man, through my terp, who I wrote about in my book when I promoted him to lieutenant in the US Navy Cyber Warfare. He goes, you got to meet this guy, Scott Maner. He's like, good guy. You meet him. And so we go over, hanging out at Scott's place on the, on the lake. And that's how me and Scott became buds. And so when it comes time to like, sharing great stories, I'm like, scott, you gotta read this book, Jack, you gotta read this book. And you know, that's. Some people say, like, blurbs don't really mean anything. It's not really why I do. It is, you know, this, this story that he has written is the reviews that I see too is what's cool about this is we know we're talking about making an impact. Civilians are posting comments on Amazon. Is like, I needed this book. I really needed this book. Because he talks about the, his theory of lack of traumatic stress disorder that he dealt with and his man, you want to talk about rock bottom moment, like, again, like, it is. It gets pretty, pretty, pretty gritty down there with Tyler, but makes me want to read it. I read it in two days, man. I'm not kidding you. This was one of those books. And again, for a kid who has short attention span theater, like, I, I kept going like, I got to get back and I got to read some more of that book. Like, I wanted to know how this book was unfolding and how it would ultimately end. And Lauren and he did an amazing job. And you know what's cool too, is because of what I do and the, like, my Hybrid nature. Like I'm helping promote it. I'm help doing, you know, whatever I can. I'm editing like agents don't edit. Like right now. Lauren calls me like after this, like before the book even launches last month, month, she's like, I want to work with you again. She goes, I have been sitting on this story, but I have not found the right person. And it is just one of the most. I'm very excited about this project and I can talk about it publicly because it's already been out there. Lauren has written the story of Bibi Aisha. And most don't know the name, but will remember her photograph on the COVID of Time magazine as a young Afghan girl that had her nose and ears cut off. And we just finished the final edits. We're, you know, on the cusp of, you know, introducing it to major publishing houses. But it is one of the most important stories for people to read. Not men, not women people. What this young woman went through is for a battle hardened warrior, like, you know, me or you to read this. You think, just when I thought I had it rough, you read about one of the victims of the brutality of the Taliban in that culture. And I, I couldn't be more proud to be part of the, the project. And it's one of those things where like helping veterans and even, you know, civilians now have, you know, asked for me to help them out because of my love of sharing great stories, not just military ones, but, man, that this is going to be a good one. I'm excited about it. And then Guns, Girls and greed. We, we were talking a little bit about that. I get a phone call from. I was with the Writers Guild in la and I was in a, in A course. And one of the mentors, he goes, hey, man, he goes, I think you should take a look at this book. And this is a couple years back. And it. He kind of got hosed over by some indie press and they took a bunch of his money and they didn't do anything for him. So I, I read the manuscript and no, kid, no kidding, I'm reading this book on the, and like it reads so fast. Like I think I was through the first four chapters. I'm like, I gotta get off the toilet, man. Like, my legs are gonna fall asleep. It's like it was, I was sucked in. I'm like. And I'm reading it on my phone and so I, I call the guy. I said, you got to introduce me. This guy Morgan Lorett. I said, I want to read this Book. And it, man, it is like rapid fire. And it was. He makes no bones about him being a mercenary. And he's a Air Force veteran, Army veteran. He was all over the map. Lives in Arizona now. But. And I told you him, I said, hey, man, I think we should, you know, get this book published. And he, He. I told him this to his face. He. He thought he was doing me some favor. And I was like, no, it's kind of the other way around, but I'll just wait to hear back from you. So he goes with his other place and he gets screwed over. Well, sure enough, phone rings. Hey, Scott, how's it going? I'd really like to like you to be my agent and help me with this book. I go, I can't help you. I said, it's too late. It's downrange. Because it was hung on Amazon. I was like, shit show. You know, we had to go through all this. And I said, I can't talk to you legally, like, until you get the rights back. Like, you just. That's not how the business works. Like, I gotta, you know, protect everybody involved. So he calls me, like, months later, he's get the rights back, his court case, there's all this. And, like, so we got to find a way to kind of relaunch this amazing story because I wouldn't have even picked up the phone because he. Borg is a friend of mine, too. Like, all these guys are friends of mine. They're all veterans, you know, but, man, he's handful sometimes, you know? So I kind of had to lay down the law. I was like, look, man, this way it's going to work. I don't hear anything about what your wife wants. I want this. I said, you're going to do this. What I say, when I say and how I say. He's like, you got it, man. Roger that. So we added some other crazy, crazy stories in this book called Guns, Girls and Greed. We came up with a new title and kind of like, rebirthed it, and it's done great. I mean, I think that it's. It's, man, it's. It's crazy what mercenaries do. And, you know, when you're talking about Blackwater especially, like, and we all know that the guy that founded those, Navy SEAL Eric Prince, like, but there's a lot of scandal going in that community. There's a lot of turmoil with so many multiple agencies. And we work with all of them. I mean, especially we're in Baghdad, and it was like, ages. Triple Canopy, Blackwater, like, Mom and pop gun clubs. Going over there doing private security, man, is like, some of the stuff that went down. Morgan shares that. And again, he's another one of those guys. Like, I respect it if you're gonna name names or. Or Barf. 300 pages and hanging on Amazon, like, you better pony up, man. Give. Give the reader some entertainment and some information at the same time. That's tough to do. So. But it's. It's been a journey, man. You know, again, I didn't read growing up. My mom didn't read to me.
