#197 Bob Parsons - Vietnam War Veteran / Founder of GoDaddy & PXG

Summary

Shawn Ryan Show - Episode #197: Bob Parsons - Vietnam War Veteran / Founder of GoDaddy & PXG

Host: Shawn Ryan
Guest: Bob Parsons
Release Date: May 5, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode #197 of the Shawn Ryan Show, host Shawn Ryan sits down with Bob Parsons, a multifaceted individual whose life journey spans from serving as a U.S. Marine in the Vietnam War to founding successful enterprises like GoDaddy and PXG. This in-depth conversation delves into Bob's early life, military experiences, entrepreneurial ventures, and his transformative journey through psychedelic-assisted therapy.

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Early Life and Childhood

Growing Up in East Baltimore
Bob Parsons opens up about his challenging upbringing in East Baltimore. Raised in a household where both parents were gamblers, financial instability was a constant presence. This environment instilled in him a strong work ethic from a young age.

Bob Parsons [22:19]:
"My parents were gamblers. They were always broke, so we had to figure out how to make money to get what we wanted."

First Entrepreneurial Venture: The Lemonade Stand
At around eight or nine years old, Bob decided to start a lemonade stand. However, his first attempt was a failure when he inadvertently used vinegar instead of sugar, leading to unhappy customers and the eventual demise of his young enterprise.

Bob Parsons [09:45]:
"I made lemonade with vinegar. Nobody wanted it, so my first business was an utter failure."

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Military Service and Vietnam War

Enlistment in the Marine Corps
At 17, influenced by friends, Bob enlisted in the Marine Corps with the intention of serving in Vietnam. Despite initial uncertainties, he completed his training and was deployed to Quang Nam Province.

Bob Parsons [39:35]:
"When I joined the Marine Corps, I was sure I was going to serve in Vietnam."

Experiences in Vietnam
Bob recounts intense combat situations, including setting up ambushes and surviving near-death encounters. One harrowing incident involved being wounded by a Chinese Communist grenade (chicom), resulting in shrapnel injuries to his legs and elbow.

Bob Parsons [84:53]:
"I hit a trip wire and got shrapnel in my legs and elbow. It was a tough time, but it taught me resilience."

Dealing with PTSD
Upon returning home, Bob struggled with PTSD, compounded by societal stigma and personal battles with alcohol. He found solace by immersing himself in work and eventually turning to psychedelic-assisted therapy to confront his trauma.

Bob Parsons [121:25]:
"I buried myself in my work. It was my way to self-medicate and deal with PTSD."

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Transition to Civilian Life and Entrepreneurship

Education and Self-Taught Programming
Utilizing his GI Bill, Bob attended the University of Baltimore, where he discovered his passion for programming. Teaching himself coding through books, he developed his first software program, laying the groundwork for his entrepreneurial endeavors.

Bob Parsons [120:15]:
"I bought a book on programming, taught myself, and eventually started my first business."

Founding Parsons Technology
In 1984, Bob launched Parsons Technology from his basement. His dedication and strategic advertising, particularly through magazine ads, propelled the company to $100 million in revenue before selling it for $64 million in 1994.

Bob Parsons [134:31]:
"Parsons Technology made it through dedicated work and effective advertising, leading to its successful sale."

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Founding GoDaddy and GoDaddy's Rise

Creation and Branding of GoDaddy
After selling Parsons Technology, Bob didn't stop. In the mid-1990s, he founded Jomax Technologies, which he later rebranded as GoDaddy. The name change to GoDaddy was influenced by a desire for a memorable and engaging brand identity.

Bob Parsons [128:28]:
"Jomax Technologies was forgettable, so we renamed it GoDaddy to make it fun and easy to remember."

Super Bowl Advertising Strategy
Bob shares the story behind GoDaddy's memorable Super Bowl ads. Faced with the challenge of capturing attention during the event, GoDaddy invested in creative advertising, including the iconic "GoDaddy Girl" campaign, which significantly boosted brand recognition and market share.

Bob Parsons [132:57]:
"We took a gamble with a creative Super Bowl ad, and it paid off by increasing our market share from 16% to 25%."

Sale of GoDaddy
GoDaddy continued its impressive growth, culminating in its sale for $2.3 billion in 2011. Bob highlights the strategic decisions and resilience that fueled GoDaddy's success.

Bob Parsons [148:50]:
"Selling GoDaddy for $2.3 billion was a testament to the company's growth and the strategies we implemented."

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Philanthropy and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy

Establishing the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation
In 2012, alongside his wife Renee, Bob founded the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation. The foundation focuses on funding psychedelic-assisted therapy to help individuals confront PTSD and other mental health challenges.

Bob Parsons [162:27]:
"We have given a total of a couple hundred million to charity, including funding psychedelic research and supporting organizations like Semper 5."

Personal Journey with Psychedelics
Bob discusses his personal experiences with psychedelics, including ayahuasca, psilocybin, and LSD. These experiences were pivotal in overcoming his PTSD, fostering personal growth, and strengthening his relationships.

Bob Parsons [201:44]:
"The first time I took psychedelics, it fixed a lot of things going on with my family and business. It changed everything."

Impact on Mental Health and Business
Through psychedelic therapy, Bob was able to address deep-seated trauma, improve his mental health, and enhance his entrepreneurial success. He emphasizes the importance of these therapies in healing and personal development.

Bob Parsons [191:41]:
"Psychedelics helped me confront my PTSD and find a sense of peace and purpose that I hadn't before."

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Life Lessons and Values

Belief in Dreaming and Passion
Bob attributes much of his success to his unwavering belief in his dreams and passions. He emphasizes doing what you love as a pathway to uncovering opportunities and achieving fulfillment.

Shawn Ryan [04:17]:
"I believe I was born a dreamer."

Bob Parsons [20:57]:
"You always should do what you love, because when you love something, it tells you all its secrets."

Resilience and Perseverance
Throughout his narrative, Bob highlights the importance of resilience and perseverance, whether dealing with the hardships of war or the challenges of building successful businesses.

Bob Parsons [121:33]:
"I worked hard and buried myself in my work. It was my way to overcome challenges and keep moving forward."

Philanthropy and Giving Back
Bob's commitment to philanthropy is evident in his substantial donations to various causes, particularly those related to mental health and psychedelic research. He believes in using his success to make a meaningful impact on others' lives.

Bob Parsons [162:27]:
"We have given a total of a couple hundred million to charity, and we continue to support organizations that align with our mission."

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Notable Quotes

• "I believe I was born a dreamer."
  Bob Parsons [04:17]

• "You always should do what you love, because when you love something, it tells you all its secrets."
  Bob Parsons [20:57]

• "The Marine Corps did more for me than I ever did for them."
  Bob Parsons [43:05]

• "Psychedelics helped me confront my PTSD and find a sense of peace and purpose that I hadn't before."
  Bob Parsons [191:41]

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Conclusion

Bob Parsons' story is a testament to the power of resilience, passion, and strategic thinking. From surviving the horrors of war to building billion-dollar enterprises and dedicating his life to philanthropy, Bob exemplifies how personal challenges can be transformed into widespread success and meaningful contributions to society. His candid discussions on overcoming PTSD through work and psychedelics offer profound insights into healing and personal growth, making this episode a compelling listen for anyone seeking inspiration and a deeper understanding of the human spirit.

Transcript

[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

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[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

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[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

They had VC or MVA come out of a and threw a chicom at this guy. He picked it up, went and threw it back and it went off in his hand. Arm gone, side of his head gone. People were starting, they were a little uncertain about the war, but they weren't like they were when we came home. Guys coming home throwing with signs and names. Nazi murderer, baby killer. Don't forget baby killer. Feel like your soul coming out of your chest.

[Sean Ryan]

Mr. Bob Parsons in the flesh. Welcome to the show.

[Bob Parsons]

Good to be here, Sean.

[Sean Ryan]

Man, I'm really excited to interview you. I've been. I've been watching godaddy you all your companies for decades now and I just find you to be a fascinating human being. So I just want to say thank you for making the time and coming into Nashville and knocking this interview out with me. I think it's going to be awesome.

[Bob Parsons]

It's my pleasure, brother. Thanks for having me here.

[Sean Ryan]

It's my honor. But everybody Starts off with an introduction here. So Bob Parsons, United States Marine infantry veteran who received the Purple Heart in the Vietnam War. Self taught programmer who started Parsons Technology in your basement in 1984, growing it into $100 million revenue company before selling it for 64 million. Founder of GoDaddy, the world's largest domain name registrar, which sold for 2.3 billion. CEO and founder of Yam Worldwide with ventures like Parsons Extreme Golf, Scottsdale National Golf Club and Harley Davidson of Scottsdale. Philanthropist who alongside your wife Renee, founded the Bob and Renee Parsons foundation in 2012. Trailblazer and psychedelic assisted therapy, using it to confront your own PTSD and funding over $19 million in research to help others. That's super close to me. I did that. I did an ibogaine experience in Mexico and totally changed the trajectory of my family life, my business life, every aspect. And New York Times best selling author of the book Fire in the Hole. Self made billionaire, ranked 338 on the Forbes 4002024 list with a net worth of 3.9 billion. You're a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. Welcome home. And you have a quote that I read that I love and it says, I believe I was born a dreamer.

[Bob Parsons]

I know it was, yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

When did you come up with that quote?

[Bob Parsons]

I just, I've always been a dreamer. So was when I was taking an inner child workshop one time, trying to find myself. This is way back when. And I had to write myself a letter. And the letter was from me now or then to when I was a young child, when I was a young boy. Wow. What would I say and then how would I write back? So I did that and then I had to write about myself, the different parts of me. And that's where, you know, I just sitting in my hotel room at night when I was writing this for the next day's class, I remember thinking, I believe I was born a dreamer. And I was. So that. That's how that came about and stuck.

[Sean Ryan]

With you ever since?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, sure it has. And as a matter of fact, I used that paper that I turned in, that is the introduction to my book or the preface and the letter to the little boy and the letter back and then about myself. And the letter about myself starts exactly with that I believe I was born a dreamer.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. When did. What, what is the letter to yourself? What did you say to your young self?

[Bob Parsons]

Did I say to my young self? Yes, you know, it's said that, you know, I am writing to you for many years in the future and I Know more about you than any other person alive. I know everything there is to know about you and I know that you're going through a tough time in your life. I know that my mother was insane and dad wasn't around much and so I just never understood it as a kid. But I was scared most of the time and I told my younger self to hang in there because you know more about the right thing to do than anybody's going to tell you. Anybody's going to tell you and to just hang on and that one day, you know, believe in yourself and never stop dreaming because more than anything, that'll be your salvation.

[Sean Ryan]

That's powerful.

[Bob Parsons]

So that's, that's that letter.

[Sean Ryan]

What did your young self write back?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, didn't write much. We had to write it with the left hand, you know, our non dominant hand, so it looked like a young child. And, and it basically wrote that thank you for writing to me. I cannot wait to be you and I'll see you when I grow up.

[Sean Ryan]

And what was that for?

[Bob Parsons]

That was for an inner child workshop. And I was just trying to get rid of my PTSD and deal with it.

[Sean Ryan]

When did you do that?

[Bob Parsons]

Oh, God, it had to be in the 90s sometime.

[Sean Ryan]

In the 90s, yeah. Well, we'll dive into all the therapy and getting better after war trauma. But Bob, I would love to do. I know you know this, but I want to do an expose on your life. And so we're going to go through childhood, the Marine Corps, Vietnam and all your business ventures and some life lessons you've learned. I'd love to know about your values and all that stuff. But before we kick it off, we'll start with something light. So there was this back and forth conversation from your assistant and us about the condom story. I don't know anything about it. I didn't want to know anything about it. I just want to hear directly from you. And the little I do know about it. It sounds hilarious. So what is the condom story?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, the condom story is when I was a. This was a junior or senior in high school, I had never been with a woman. You know what I mean? We talked about it day and night. But, you know, I never been with a girl. And this is. I'm growing up in East Baltimore. So my buddy Danny Thorne, who's a year or two older than me, who was my total advice on, you know, he told me everything I needed to know about women. Most of the stuff totally, totally wrong. Right. Like he told me, he said, you know, when you go down on a woman, right? And I see, I don't even know what it looks like. You go down on a woman, there's.

[Sean Ryan]

A lot of ways to do it.

[Bob Parsons]

He says, he says, you move all that hair to the side. This is back when, before the shaves, right? Move all the hair to his side and you kiss, kiss. You're going to see something that looks like the baby Jesus. Kiss it. And so anyhow, that was the advice I grew up with. So Danny was getting her home base action from this girl named Tony. And Tony was. She lived with her mom. It was her and her mom. And her mother was going out of town for the weekend. And so Danny arranged with Tony that he and her would have the upstairs. And Tony's girlfriend Pauline said that she wanted. She was ready to, you know, to plunge ahead and I'd be just the guy that she wanted to do it with. So I thought, oh, my God, it's here. So I'd go ahead and, you know, it sounds good to me. So the first thing I did the next day was a Monday. I remember I went to the pharmacy and I had just enough money to buy one condom. So I bought one condom. And so I'd go home at the end of the day and I have his condom squirreled away, you know, and I pull it out and I'd sit it on my dresser and I look at it and it'll look at me, you know, and, you know, you know, and each of us, each of us wonder what the other one's thinking. And so finally the day comes where it's Friday, and I come home, it's 3:00 or so, and I go ahead and take a bath. We didn't have a shower, so I took a bath. And I got all ready to go out and meet Pauline. So I put on my best clothes. They weren't much, but they were my best. So I go ahead and do that and then I pull this condom out and I guess by then it's 4 o'clock and I pulled his condom out and I said, shit, I take it out of the package, right? And I look at it and I go, wow, that's it. So I'm looking at it and again it's looking at me. And I remember thinking, and it's my first time. And you could just picture the condom saying to me, it's my first time too, right? So we taken. I as soon as I put it, you know, as soon as I pulled it out, I'm hard as a rock. I Mean, I'm thinking about this. I'm ready to shoot through the roof, right? So I take this condom and I think, I wonder what it feels like with this thing on. So I put the condom on and I put it all the way on. And I thought, you know what? I'll just leave it on. And that's the way when we get ready to have sex, I'll be ready. So I go up and meet them and so forth. And so from that was about 6:00, we were going to get together and I had done went flaccid then. And when I went flaccid, the condom rolled all the way up and it rolled up in my pubic hairs, right? So I'm there with Pauline. Dandy and Tony go upstairs, we're on the sofa. She's got this little club basement fixed up, and so we're on the sofa there. So I reach over and I kiss Pauline and we start smooching. And man, that thing was like a switchblade flapped back. But the only difference was, Sean, it didn't unwrap the way it wrapped up and the pubic hairs didn't let them go. So instead it hung onto every one and it just pulled with the force of it. Felt like somebody took my pubic hairs and glued them to the pumper of a Chevy and floored it.

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, my gosh.

[Bob Parsons]

So first, first I was going to. I said, I'll just tough through this. I'll just tough through this. And I did. And then it got blinding. And then the seasons by would have talked. So I went right to the floor. And they had this little bathroom with this little door with a little latch on it. It's just a makeshift toilet, right? So I could crawl and get into there and shut it and latch it and try to get this thing off. I can't get it off. I mean, it won't come off. You know, my penis is like, I'm not letting it. And I'm saying how Mary's our fathers. I'm doing everything I could think of. And I mean, nobody ever talked to me how to get rid of a heart. I was thinking of Mother Superior, who was the gnarliest woman I ever seen, thinking about maybe what it'd be like to have sex with Mother Superior. Didn't matter. So eventually, I mean, she knocks on the door. Pauline knocks on the door. She says, is everything okay? I said, sure it is. I'll be right out. I'll be out, don't worry, I'll be out in A minute. So eventually, I think it took me 20 minutes to get it off, but I finally got it off. Hairs everywhere. And I put it back on nice. And pulled ourselves together, went outside, and she's long gone. She left. He lost her, I lost her. Yeah, that was the first. So I lost her. And I still remember my buddy Danny. I never. I never told anybody what happened way back then. Never told anybody. He said, how did you this up? It was a sure thing. And, oh, man, she told all her girlfriend. She told all her girlfriends that I. What we were going to do. And then we sat down, I kissed her, and then I ran into the. Locked myself in the bathroom and. And then, of course, I was Never.

[Sean Ryan]

Sealed the deal with that one, huh?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, I killed the deal totally.

[Sean Ryan]

Poor Pauline, she missed out.

[Bob Parsons]

Well, I'm hoping someday. I don't know where she is, but if she is, she gets the book or she says that's what happened.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. Well, you know, there's an old saying, two is one and one is done.

[Bob Parsons]

Taught me that.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, but. Well, that clears that up. The condom story.

[Bob Parsons]

Wow.

[Sean Ryan]

What a great way to start.

[Bob Parsons]

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[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

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[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

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[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

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[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

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[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

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[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

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[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

And Washington, D.C. this ad is paid for by Silencer Shop.

[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

Semper fire. Nate. Well, buddy, listen, the way I've always done it was I did what I liked. I did what I liked. And my dad, for all his faults, I mean, he had a lot of good ideas, you know, about certain things. But one of the things he said, he said is you always should do what you love, because when you love something, it tells you all its secrets. And I believe that. And it only stands the reason, Nate, because when you do what you love, you're gonna work harder at it, and you're not doing it just for the money. And, you know, depending upon why you're working, right. Why you're doing what you're doing, that's going to determine how successful you are. And you'll never be successful if you're just working for the money, because you won't do the things you need to do to be successful because they're counterintuitive. So there you have it, man.

[Sean Ryan]

That's great advice. I would 100% agree with that. And I'm doing what I love. And where this takes me just continues to surprise me every day. I can't even believe I'm sitting down here with you. But. But. So let's start. Let's get into the. Let's get into the interview. So you grew up in East Baltimore.

[Bob Parsons]

Yep.

[Sean Ryan]

Brothers, sisters?

[Bob Parsons]

I grew up in East Baltimore. Younger brother, younger sister. Mom and dad, of course, and we never had much. Mom and dad were gamblers. Neither one of them were that good at it. And so we were always broke. I mean, always, always broke. And if dad and dad bought anything, it was always with credit. And they always would goose in with the interest rate, so. Which means we even had less. So if we needed to have anything, we had to figure how we were going to work and earn it and how we're going to make money and get what we wanted to get. And we did things like newspaper routes, shoveling snow, running errands, working in filling stations, construction, all that kind of stuff. But my first business is an interesting story. It was a lemonade stand. And so one day, I'm probably about 8 or 9 years old, and I go ahead and decide it's one of those hot days that they get in Baltimore that, you know, you could see this heat wave off the tar street, you know, asphalt street. And when I did that, I decided, man, I'll make lemonade. I'll have a lemonade stand out here today. Well, mom wasn't around. It was just me. I was the only one home. So I go ahead and get this picture out that she had. And I knew that lemonade was lemon and sugar and water. So I get this bottle of lemon out, and she. This is called real lemon. And I fill this thing up with lemon, and then I put sugar in it, and then I put water in it, and I mix it all up. And. And no matter how I made it, it just didn't taste quite right. And then I get the idea. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to taste. So I just put. I just put more sugar in it, right? And I just keep mixing up, mixing it up, mixing it up. And then. So I go outside, I put this. Had this little table. I set this little table up on the base of our porch. And I put this little sign up. Lemonade, 5 cents. And the lemonade pitcher looked beaut. I mean, it looked beautiful. It had, like, the little sweat on it. I mean, it's just. It's perfect. Well, this is back during the days when. Back during the late 50s when the insurance guys would. Life insurance guys would walk debit routes, right? And they collect the weekly premium because that's the only way you're going to get it in East Baltimore. You go knock on somebody's door and they get it from them. So this Guy's name is Mr. Hill, H I L L. And he's got this little pork pie hat on. He's got his sports coat slung over his shoulder, got his tie undone. He's walking, squatting like a hog, right? So he says to me, he goes, and kid, I says. He says, man, can I use. Can I use this today? So I fixed him a lemonade and. And he gives me a dime, told me to keep the change. And it was Nick. I couldn't believe my luck. So he takes and he knocks his lemonade back. And he seems to wave, he. Waving around. His eyes bulge. He spits his lemonade out in the street. And he goes, this kid is the worst fucking lemonade ever since in my life. And he goes storming away. So I thought maybe, maybe, maybe it just isn't that bad. Maybe he don't know how it tastes. So next day, the lady, a girl across the street, Suzanne, she comes over, she buys a cup of lemonade, takes it over home, comes back and says. My mother says, you have to give me my money back. So I got her money back and same thing. Then nobody would come near my lemonade stand. So guy comes over. Later, my mother comes home and she says, what are you doing? I said, I'm selling lemonade. She said, you're selling lemonade? I said, yes. She said, how did you make it? And I showed her. I said, I took the lemon bottle and I poured it. She goes, I'll keep vinegar in that bottle. Oh. So I made. I made lemonade with vinegar. And she helped me make a better lemonade. That actually tasted good. Nope. Or it already done. Nobody wanted it for free.

[Sean Ryan]

Nice.

[Bob Parsons]

So anyhow, that was my first business. Utter failure.

[Sean Ryan]

So you said your parents are gamblers. What were they gambling in?

[Bob Parsons]

Anything they could or anything. Horses, sports, numbers. Let's bet that mom would go to bingo all the time. But that was more social thing than a pure gamble. But, you know, that's what they would do.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, yeah. And your dad was a World War II CB in Guadalcanal?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, he was in Guadalcanal. Bougainville, the Fijis.

[Sean Ryan]

Did you guys talk about that?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did. He was. Had all these pictures and told me. He says, yeah, it was a rough, miserable place. Had a picture of his ship that he took from the beach. And it. Japanese suicide sub. 2 man sub screwed into the side and blew it up.

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, wow.

[Bob Parsons]

And I said, how were you there? You knew they were going to take a picture? He says, yeah, we knew it was there. It couldn't do anything to the sub because the moment they touched it, they would blow it. Right. So they just all got off the ship and then. It wasn't that they waited for him to get off the ship, they just were able to too. And so, so he. So he had that and he did. Part of what he did was drive a bulldozer, I believe. And he said. He said they sounded like the Japanese. Zero sounded like washing machines, he said. He said the Marines. He said the Marines had it the toughest, he said, but he helped build the airfield and stuff like that. Wow.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. What else were you into as a kid? It sounds like life was pretty rough, you know. What kind of stuff were you into?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, you know, I was a terrible student. Terrible student. And I failed the fifth grade. And nobody can ever take that away from me. But when I failed the fifth grade, Sister Brenda, I was in parochial school. Sister Brenda was a nun and she didn't. And didn't talk much, but she sure hated me because she kept me. Almost every day after school she would just turn around and I'd think, man, I'm going to go. I'm going to go home. One time this kid would say, hey, Roberts, can you hand me that or something? I would. I'd hand it to him. She'd go, robert Parsons, you're staying at the school. My mother. So anyhow, it was the last day of school and me, this kid named Frankie, his kid named Anthony, and everybody got their report cards. It was one of them Baltimore days. Hotter than shit, you know. And it was maybe June or May, and I went to St. Elizabeth, Hungary. And so all I was looking for was a Nun Free summer. Sister Brenda handed everybody their report cards. And then she said to me, frankie, Nancy says, you3 wait here. I'll be back later. And as I take his line out then, you know, and there you go. And then I'll process your. Whatever's going to happen. But she didn't say we failed. So Anthony saying. I remember him saying what Sister Brenda wants us to stay back here for. And it occurred to me, I said, because we failed. And so she took everybody out to meet the parents. And the way this was set up, St Elizabeth occupied one big city square block. And she would walk out. If you were facing. I don't know the direction, but if you face in one of the directions and you go at the left side, you go all the way down. And you go. So he turned by the nunnery or the convent and take all the way down. And then across the street is where she'd meet the parents. Well, my father, every year on Lisda school, he'd pick up me and my brother and my sister later, she was involved in that. He'd pick us up and he'd take us over to sporting goods store or something. And we'd buy something and you know, for passing, and they bring us home. So I was thinking, there is no way I'm going to tell my father I failed. So as soon as she left, I left. So she's going left, I go right and I run through the schoolyard, down around the side, over where the parents are, up around the side of the convent and up against the wall or this black fence where was fencing off the convent. And I could see Sister Brenda in the class coming down, walking down with them. And everybody's happy with their report cards and so forth. And I said to her, well, the thing I had in my favor was I knew about Sister Brenda. She was a very lazy nun. I had some inside information. She would never. During the few times when I would go home one time, everybody else, she would break off and go right into the nunnery. She never walked to class all the way down. And so she did the same thing with this. She took and let the class go rent the nunnery in the class, turn right and gonna walk down by herself. And she went back to crucify the unholy threesome, right? So I stood and, you know, and I was halfway wondering, worried that the class, that the class was gonna see me and were gonna go, what are you doing? So forth. They didn't even. I mean, I could have been one of the bushes. So they Were too worried about themselves in the report cards. So they started away, kept walking. I followed them. And I go down the block with them and across the street where my father is. My father's already there with my brother, looking at his report card. And my father says to me, robert, where's your report card? And I said, dad's sister didn't give me one. He says, you didn't give me one? He looks at me like a dog that heard a strange noise, you know. And I says, I said, no, dad. This year, if you passed, you didn't get a report card. That's when the lie came out. So keep in mind, he's holding my brother's report card, and he goes. He's smoking tertins, right? Then he says. He takes a puff and he says, all right, get in the car. He says, not a problem. So he takes us to the sporting goods store. I know, but in the smarty goods store, I'm on death row. So he says, my brother's got a bunch of stuff. My father's going, put most of that back. Just pick one thing you want. And then he says to me, robert, don't you want anything? I said, dad, I got plenty. I had nothing. So he said, I'll get something. So I got this first baseman's mitt, you know, for a young kid. And so we go home. The same thing happens with my mother. My brother comes in, gives him his report card, gives her the report card, and then he hands me the. You know. She says, where's your report card? Same thing, you know. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da. And she says, I never heard of such a thing, that if you passed, you didn't get a report card. And I said, I pulled it out. I said, my call, sister. And she said, I'm calling that sister. I said, well, if you think you should feel better, call her. So I went and sat on a sofa and I waited for the school to call. Well, the school never called. No, they never called. I waited all summer long, and they didn't call all summer. So I'd have my buddies that I'd be playing ball with or something. They'd say to me, robert, what's wrong? I said, nothing's wrong. Said, oh, something's wrong. I said, nothing's wrong. Now, I knew if I told one of them, it'd be all over the place. So I didn't tell anybody. So, fast forward to the first day of school. Matter of fact, one time I went to tell my dad what was going on. And Then he goes. He's got a. He's got the newspaper up as hot as. There's no air conditioning in the house. He's sitting on his sofa that is covered in plastic so it would stay nice for my mother. Sweating his ass and smoking dirt. So I say, dad, dad. I'm going to tell him, dad. And he drops the paper. And I see these eyes bulging out, sweat running down his face. I said, never mind. I'm out the door. So anyhow. So first day of school, I get in. We go with Ms. Maui, the neighbor lady. You know, she had this little red beetle. She's this big, large woman, and she. It looked like there was 100 kids in that car. You could hardly move. But anyhow, she pulls up, we all go in, I get in line. And St. Elizabeth's had one class for each grade. And I get in aligned with the sixth graders. And I didn't know what else to do. And I look over in the fifth grade class. There's Frankie and Anthony, and there's motioning me to come over. I'm going, I don't even want to look at them. So they ringing the bell, and then they start moving in. You know, the first graders, second graders, third, fourth, fifth. And then time for the sixth graders. And I'm at the end of the line that year is Sister St. Thomas. She pulls me out of that line. She says to me, she puts me against the wall. She's got her nose about maybe two inches from mine. She says, sister Brenda told me what you did. And I thought, all right, there it is. And she told me what she did. And I said. I didn't say anything. And she says. And she didn't know what to do, so she passed. You?

[Sean Ryan]

No shit.

[Bob Parsons]

So that's how I failed the fifth grade. But I didn't have to repeat it.

[Sean Ryan]

You moved on to sixth?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. And she said to me, she said, if you give me any trouble, you're going right back into the fifth grade. Said, I'm old sister, and I wish I could tell you I was a lot better. I was a little bit better, right? And I remember when I got my sixth grade grades, I showed them to my mother, and she goes, well, this is nothing to be proud of, but she did pass. And. And I like it better when you get a report card. I said, so do I, Mom.

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, man. So at what point did. When did you get interested in the Marine Corps?

[Bob Parsons]

I got interested in the Marine Corps one day at the end of gym class. I was a senior. It was Probably March or April. And I had discovered alcohol and I had discovered. Rediscovered the opposite sex. And neither have ever been known to help grades in school, right? And so I took in with that. I was sure I was going to fail. I mean, this time I wasn't going to be able to pull it off. So I had two buddies say to me that they, you know, they were going to go talk to the Marine Corps recruiter on Conklin street. Would I go with them? And I said, sure, I got nothing to do. So I went with them. And there was a guy named Mike and a guy named Maggie Agoris, his name was. He was a Creek guy. And we take and go meet this recruiter, and he had us at, hello, buddy. And so I joined right with the boys, right with them. And my mother had to sign the papers for me to join.

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, really?

[Bob Parsons]

And she said, maybe this will be what you need. And it's during the height of the Vietnam War. That was in 1968, man. It was. Every war was rocking and rolling then. And so I went and showed all my teachers when I could finally get my orders because the Marine Corps recruiter said, you know, we check your grades and this and that and the other thing, you know, and, you know, we won't take you unless you're top notch and so forth. And so I thought, you know, probably not get in, but I'll do it anyhow. Well, I could have had no head. Nate took me back during those days, and so I got accepted. And there you go.

[Sean Ryan]

You knew you were going to war. You knew you were going to go to war.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, I thought it was. And then, like the idiots that young guys can be, you know, we all said, man, we hope it's not over until we get there. And, well, we got our wish.

[Sean Ryan]

So. So you, you must have joined what age 17?

[Bob Parsons]

I was 17.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, 17 years old. Joined the Marine Corps to go to Vietnam. And what, what did you. What was your job description in the Marine Corps?

[Bob Parsons]

311, buddy.

[Sean Ryan]

Nice number.

[Bob Parsons]

Familiar?

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, yeah, very familiar.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. I was in 03 11. Aggie was in 03 11. Michael was in 03 11. And so. And then crazy shit happens, and we come home, Aggie gets in a tussle at a bar his mother owns, gets stabbed to death. So he never even went. And then me and Mike went. I went to Delta Company, 26 Marines were in Quang Nam province. And then Mike, he went to first Marine somewhere, and I don't see him anymore. And there we go.

[Sean Ryan]

Well, it sounds like The Marine Corps was very transformative process for you.

[Bob Parsons]

100%.

[Sean Ryan]

Give it a lot of credit.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. You know, the one thing I'll say is, you know, it was, you know, they did more for me than I ever did for them. And everything I ever accomplished, ever accomplished, I'd have never done it without the Marine Corps because they give me direction, they give me the importance of understanding, responsibility. They give me, you know, the fact that, you know, to believe in myself and that I can accomplish more than I ever dreamed possible. And I always open for that.

[Sean Ryan]

So how long was it from when you signed in, when you signed the documents that you went off to Vietnam?

[Bob Parsons]

I signed the documents probably in April, maybe May. April, May. And then I went, I was inducted in, in August and six months after August, Vietnam.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. Wow. So you went basically you went through basic training, your infantry school, through 11 school, and then right to theater.

[Bob Parsons]

There you go.

[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

Well, boot camp took me a while to get adjusted, but after a while I got adjusted, which is fine. You know, man, the food was great and I still remember that ice cold chocolate milk. And you know, for me it was the food of parasol was stuff up. And so, you know, I liked it. I was able to do it. And I would have been a rifle expert. I was a rifle sharpshooter and I was doing okay until I had like two rounds left and I had drill instructor Sergeant Little. He said, you better even scream to my ear. And it was pissed at me because I wasn't.

[Sean Ryan]

What did your parents think about and your siblings think about Vietnam? You going?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, you know, my dad said he wish he could go in my place and mom, mom, you know, you have to understand my parents, they were very different. Mom, my mother was, when she was a young girl, she was beat a lot by her father and so forth. So she was abused in that sense. And so she didn't have a lot of. She had all the love beat out of her. So I remember when it was time for me to leave for to catch the plane at Friendship Airport, which is not Baltimore, Washington then. And I'd go to Friendship Airport. And before then I was out at night before. And my mother comes in and she says, dad just got up and went to work. He didn't even say anything.

[Sean Ryan]

No kidding?

[Bob Parsons]

No. And then mom said, well, I'm going to the racetrack when Aunt Burt, don't get yourself killed.

[Sean Ryan]

That was it, that was it.

[Bob Parsons]

And off they went. And so I called, called my brother, I mean not my brother, my cousin. And he gave me a ride to the airport and they had. There's a lot of guys there, they had their girlfriends and sisters and family and mother signs and all this sort of thing. And it was me, it was just me. But see The. The hell of it was I was so. I was ever used to. So I didn't. Didn't bother me too much. And then to Pendleton.

[Sean Ryan]

Holy.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

So you got no send off from family?

[Bob Parsons]

No.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. Were you guys close at all?

[Bob Parsons]

Family?

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bob Parsons]

No, Me and my brother.

[Sean Ryan]

Where do you fall in the birth order?

[Bob Parsons]

I'm first, my brother second, and my little sister. And now they're all passed except for my little sister and me. And she and I are close, so.

[Sean Ryan]

That's good to hear. What's her name?

[Bob Parsons]

Beverly.

[Sean Ryan]

I mean, was there any communication once you got. Did you write them letters or anything?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, yeah, they write letters, and mostly it would be my brother and my sister would write me letters, and my buddies, some of them would. And once in a while, Paris would write me a letter, but not much.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. Well, let's talk about. Let's move into Vietnam. What was it like landing there?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, man, I tell you what, that place smelled different than any place I ever smelled in my life. Smelled like rot. So we spent our first night guarding the rear area. And it's just someplace to put us, you know. So they trucked us out to our unit, and we were with Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 26 Marines, 1st Platoon, 2nd Squad. And I got to my squad, and we're in Quang Nam, Rice Paddy's as far as you can see. Right. And it was. It was. It was quite a place. I remember I got. The guys were staying in a tent, canvas tent. And so I had a. I had a bunk and a couple guys, I think like a Marine Corps rifle squad. It's about 12 guys. And there was. There was not 12 guys in the squad. There was like. It was like seven or. Yeah, seven and maybe even less because it was just the guys that were there and then us. And what happened is that they were ambushed a couple days before. You know, we were sent out there. We were sent there as. Me and a couple others were sent there as replacements for the guys that were killed in this ambush. So they were killed, and there was. Four of them were killed. One of them was seriously wounded. And to a man, it was all the senior guys. So the guy who was the senior man, this new squad leader, had just turned 19 and had been in the bush for six weeks.

[Sean Ryan]

That was the most senior guy.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

What did you think about that?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, at first, you know, we were going out on our first night's ambush, and I sat down and I mean, I went outside the hut and we had this. We're at the very top of Hill 190. And you know it means it's a Hill 190. The numbers. It's 190ft above sea level. So we're at the top of this and right at the top was this old French fort there. This was wall with shell holes in it. And stuff. So I guess the French were overrun there. And I sat on this wall and I kept. Started thinking about how the hell am I going to survive this? Because Army, Navy and Air Force, their tours are 12 months, Marine Corps, 13 months. I don't know shit from Shino about this place. The guy who I'm replacing, you know, I mean, the guy who replaced the squad leader, you know, he don't know either because, I mean, he hadn't been here much longer than I do. And so it didn't look good. So I started. I started, you know, I got scared for just a little bit. And then it occurred to me that I probably wasn't going to survive it. I was going to die there. And I mean, it was. It was a hard thought at first, but then after you accept it, then nothing bothers you.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, that's, you know, that's. It's interesting that you say that because you're the only other person I've heard that articulated that. And that's kind of the way meant to inject my own experiences because they're irrelevant right now. But I mean, that's how I dealt with it too. I just always assumed I was already dead. And so. So it kind of took the fear out of it.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, it takes the fear totally out of it. But what it does, though, is you can do your job. Yep, you can do your job. And so that night we went on our first ambush.

[Sean Ryan]

So you. You had. You had come up with that mindset before any fighting had even started.

[Bob Parsons]

Started. Excuse me.

[Sean Ryan]

You had come up with that mindset that you're already dead.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Before.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

You ever pulled a trigger before you were ever shot at?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Before you ever saw anything?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, I did because I've been in so many different types of situations, you know, and it just would just, you know, it's just this is what it's going to be, you know, and so anyhow. So that's the thought that I had. And the interesting thing is I'm friends with most of the guys in that squad. There's seven of them that. Five. Five of them. And most of them tell me the same story.

[Sean Ryan]

No kidding.

[Bob Parsons]

And they said, I never told anybody. I mean, one guy who is a squad Leader. The guy that was a squad leader, he turned out to be marvelous. But he had the same thing. He said, how can you do your job if you worry about, you know, you worry about, you know, whether you're going to live or not. Right. He says that's just not your problem at the moment. Right. And the machine gunner, same thing, you know. This guy's name is Brand. He lives down in Austin, Texas. I love the guy. So anyhow. But none of us told each other no shit. Yeah. Which just had that mindset. So anyhow, so we go out, we get our first ambush. We have a corpsman with us and then a sister squad. We're in a. We're just outside a village in a pagoda. And then.

[Sean Ryan]

What's a pagoda?

[Bob Parsons]

Pagoda is. It's like a little religious place.

[Sean Ryan]

Okay.

[Bob Parsons]

Where they have altars and stuff like that. At least that's what we call them, was pagodas. And so and then about a click or a couple clicks from us was another pagoda. And we had a sister squad set up there. And after we were set up on this ambush for maybe. Maybe an hour or 45 minutes or something. But it was before we did a first move, you know, because we would go out, we set up an ambush. We do a wait a while, let it get good and dark. And then there'd be a first. And then there'd be first move. And then we'd set someplace else and then there'd be another move and then we set in for the night. And the deal would be to move so nobody knows where you're at. So anyhow, that was the thought. So this squad, our sister squad, is in this other pagoda and all of a sudden all hell breaks loose where they are. And we get the radio call that they sprung their ambush. They had a fucking VC or MVA come out of a spider hole and threw a chicom at this guy. And then he picked it up, went through it back, and it went off in his hand.

[Sean Ryan]

Shit.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. So he's pretty fucked up. And so to get there with the corpsman. Cause they didn't have a corpsman with him. So we get there, we run through this fucking race pad. Ever walk through a rice paddy?

[Sean Ryan]

No.

[Bob Parsons]

Well, I'll tell you what. Rice paddy's the shittiest thing in the world to walk through. I think God put him there to say, don't walk here. So the mud would be like about water, be like about maybe a couple of feet deep. And then the mud would be a couple. Be a foot or deeper or so, so you go down in it and every kind of vermin you can think of is crawling around in there. So we're running through this rice paddy. I got my gear halfway on, halfway off. It's my first night in a bush. I don't know any way that it ought to be. It's choking me. It's magazines are choking me. I got them in like a Bay of Lero, like you see in the Old west, you know, stupid, but nobody was there to show me. Yeah, right. So. So we get there, this guy is. Is. Is hurt horrifically, not dead. Arm gone, side of his head gone. Trying to check an eye that's not there, with a hand that's not there. I mean, it's crazy, you know that. You see. You see in war, and the squad leader is this guy named Blackwell. And he starts. He starts standing in this rice paddy and he's throwing up, and then he's just standing there, and it's this helicopter just coming in. This Huey's coming in and it's going to land right on him. So I see it, I run and grab him and push, push, push, push, push. It misses him and misses me, but we hit a rice fatty tike and go in this, and he snaps him out of it. And then I saved his ass and then saved my own ass. But so then we took in, and they told us to go back out to a different ambush place after this guy Hunt gets taken back, you know, medevac back. And by the way, he didn't die. He. I've seen him at a reunion.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, no shit.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. And so, So I take in. We. We. We set in with this sister squad, which we weren't supposed to do at all, but we thought we'd. We'd get some sleep. So the next morning, the sun break, nobody's answering the radios where we are, and the hell we're at. What the fuck? Her firing a 50 caliber machine gun over her head. Then we motor back and they chewed her ass out. And that was my first night in the bush.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. I mean, so how did that. I mean, how did that experience sit with you? I mean, that's mission number one. You see a guy, well, gets his arm blown off, gets half his face blown off.

[Bob Parsons]

It didn't. It didn't, didn't, didn't.

[Sean Ryan]

Were you numb to it before it ever happened?

[Bob Parsons]

No. Pretty much. Yeah, pretty much. But. But the thing was, the crazy thing was is that those guys were the first family. I had just that little bit of time. I fell in love with those guys. I mean, they were my brothers. I mean, it happened like, boom, like that. So then to this day, I'm still close to them. I talk to them once a week, certainly once a month.

[Sean Ryan]

And so your guys mission said your mission set was to go set up ambushes.

[Bob Parsons]

That was it. Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

How many ambushes do you think you set up?

[Bob Parsons]

Oh, not a lot. Not a lot. I mean, I was. I was in a bush for a month, and then I got wounded. And then I got wounded, but. And then I had a. The chicom, Chinese Communist grenade. We call them chicoms. It was set up as a trap. And my buddy. What the fuck's his name? Because my mind just went blank. But he'll kill me. I forgot his fucking name.

[Sean Ryan]

We'll get there. We'll get there. Maybe it'll be.

[Bob Parsons]

So anyhow, he steps over a tripwire, and I hit it. And so it just got caught. Shrapnel, both legs and left elbow. And then I got medevaced out all the way to the naval hospital in Yokuzco. So I was there for a couple of months or three or. I don't even remember. I don't even know how long.

[Sean Ryan]

If it's. Okay, let's go, let's go. I want to get to that. Okay, and get a little more descriptive. But what were some of the other ambushes that you guys had done?

[Bob Parsons]

We're walking one ambush, and Brownie sees all of a sudden where we're at. We're going through this village, right? And it just gotten dark, right? And we're going through this village, and two NVA soldiers, both with NVA rifles, black pajamas, the whole nine yards, come running right at us. He turns with his M60 and takes them both out. I mean, they're dancing like dolls. And so, yeah, so. And then that night, at night, right then, you know, I. We sweep towards the area where we had the activity come from. And my place was. I was sweeping towards where there was the hooch that I think that they came running out of. And I took a hand grenade and threw it, right? And only it didn't go as far as I thought it was going to go. And it landed, but it landed on the other side of a rice paddy dike facing away from us. So when it blew, it blew away from us, right, guys, Logotic and George, the squad leader, scared the shit out of them. They turn around and go, did you just fucking throw that? And I said, yeah, I did. And they go, well, don't throw any more tonight. And so the next day, George tells me to. Don't throw any more hand grenades. I said, do I still have to carry them? He says, fucking ain't right. You gotta carry them. He says, just give them to somebody else to throw. And I said to him, suppose we're getting over them run? And he says, then you can throw them.

[Sean Ryan]

How were you guys moving around at night through that jungle?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, where we were. The only time I went through the jungle was. Was during the day because there was rice paddies on one side. There's not a lot of. There's not a lot of jungle on rice patties.

[Sean Ryan]

Okay.

[Bob Parsons]

Located. And then the other side is where there was jungle and so forth. So I never spent. I spent some time there, but it was all during the day. But mostly just quiet. Quiet.

[Sean Ryan]

Being in the dark with seven guys.

[Bob Parsons]

Well, seven and then 10 and then 12 and then that sort of thing. And then. I mean, there's just so many things. Like the first night I was there, I shot a snake. You know, we would sweep, and body count was a big thing, so we'd sweep through the rice paddies and we'd put up illumination. You know, it comes down on them parachutes, and we'd look for bodies. So of course we didn't find any. And because NVA that we did kill, they always would have something around, a piece of rope around their neck to pulled away by somebody else.

[Sean Ryan]

No.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

So that's how they would collect their dead.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

They would noose them. They would noose them and drag them through.

[Bob Parsons]

Yep.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

So. So, I mean, these guys. These guys have more stories, 100 more stories than I do 100 times. But I mean, so. So we start sweeping and I look and there's this big fucking snake in the water and swimming right towards me. I mean, it's swimming right fucking towards me, right? And it's my. It's my squad and this other squad, so we take in this squad. Squad, Snake. Anyhow, so the snake's coming down and it just went us about two or three feet. Cause I'm thinking, surely it's going to go left to right, right? This thing is coming like it's going to bite me into balls, right? So I put my rifle on automatic and all this water comes flying up and it hits me in the fucking eyes. And I move me and I look and I get my eyes clear and I look left, right? Nobody's there. They're all underwater. Oh, fuck. Well, I didn't hear the end of that forever. And then George was Nice about it later, because the next day he said, next time, don't shoot the snake. So anyhow, that was that night. So just crazy shit that happened. I remember one time we were on a tape patrol. For some reason or other, the whole company's coming out, and it's a day patrol where the whole platoon, it was, but me and two of me, Proctor and a guy named Pavlovich were sent to get water. So we go into the village and we get water, right? So we go into the village, we got everybody's canteen, right? And so we go in, and just when we go to get water, we get to see this kid. And he's coming out, he's got, like, one of these trays in front of him, like a small. Like, small Coke's coming, the wooden trays. And he's got a burlap strap holding it up, and he's got burlap covering it. You know what he's got in there? I swear to God, you're not gonna believe it. See, nobody fucking believes me and Proctor and the other three are dead. So. Vanilla popsicles. He had fucking vanilla popsicles. It did. It did. And so I take and we take, and before you know it, this kid had everything we had of value. Bread, cans of bread, cigarettes. I mean, we're just eating one Popsicle after another, right? Pavlovich goes, suppose these are poison. And then Proctor goes, who gives a fuck? So that's one of my happy, happy stories about the place. But crazy shit, crazy stuff.

[Sean Ryan]

Did you get into any firefights?

[Bob Parsons]

You know, the one that was the most was we surrounded this village, small village, and somehow they figured out that there was a squad or part of a platoon of North Vietnamese in the village. And we caught him there during the day. And so we're in there and we're on the side, and there's a machine gun. Is the side that turns us at. I mean, that we're at. And so Browning is on a little knoll not too far from us, and George says, get you Parsons. And what the fuck is Bryant? The guy's name is Bryant. He goes, you and Bryant run. Run the. Run the can of machine gun ammo over to Brownie. And so we did. And then his fucking gun starts taking off, starts shooting at us. We dive. We're laying against this dike and shooting over top of us. We get up, we get this stuff over to Browning, and the funniest damn thing happened is I've thought about that that day many, many times, and I cannot Remember what happened?

[Sean Ryan]

No shit.

[Bob Parsons]

And so I go to reunion. I ask one of the guys there, said, you remember what happened, right? And he says, oh, we killed every fucking one of them. I said, did we? I said, I was there one night. I said, yeah, you were there. I said, anything unusual happen? No, I don't remember. I mean, I don't. It's like it didn't happen. I remember giving the gamma the ammo to Brandy and his kid Goodwin, who was. Right. Wearing his egg on her and. No, that's it.

[Sean Ryan]

Nothing.

[Bob Parsons]

Nothing.

[Sean Ryan]

Totally blocked it out of your memory.

[Bob Parsons]

Totally.

[Sean Ryan]

I'm just curious. I mean, did you. Did that incident come up during any of your psychedelic journeys? No, never.

[Bob Parsons]

Oh, no.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

Nope. Nope. Didn't. And that is the only. To the Western minority, the only incident like that. And firefights, exchange rifle fire a couple times, but not a lot. I mean, I seen light combat. I mean, compared to most guys, especially the guys who were up around the dmz. And, man, when I got wounded, I think I had about. I probably saved my life.

[Sean Ryan]

Do you think he killed anybody that night?

[Bob Parsons]

I don't know. I mean, how would you know?

[Sean Ryan]

Do your.

[Bob Parsons]

I mean, I didn't. I mean, they weren't close, like me to you.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bob Parsons]

Right. Or, you know, I could. Like when Brandy took those two NBA out, I mean, they come. Yeah, I mean, I could see that, but I didn't do anything like that.

[Sean Ryan]

Was that the first engagement when the two Vietnamese charged you guys? Is that the first engagement you've seen?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, I think so. No, no, it was one before that. That.

[Sean Ryan]

What was the one before that one before that?

[Bob Parsons]

There was. There was a bunch. There was some MVA about maybe a football field or two away from us in a village. We started firing on, and they firing that back and nobody got hit. And plus, my knowledge, we never hit anybody.

[Sean Ryan]

So the first time you saw Americans kill the enemy was when they charged you in that village?

[Bob Parsons]

No, no one Americans, they were NBA.

[Sean Ryan]

That's what I mean. They were charging you guys?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

[Sean Ryan]

What did that feel like for you?

[Bob Parsons]

You know, I. In some ways it was exhilarating.

[Sean Ryan]

Some ways it was to see it.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. I mean, it was. I mean, I was. I was like part of the team. I mean, it was just. That was. I mean, that was it. I mean, I didn't do much for the team, but I was part of the team.

[Sean Ryan]

Did you think much about it afterwards?

[Bob Parsons]

No.

[Sean Ryan]

Later on in life?

[Bob Parsons]

No. And, you know, and be honest with you, the stuff that some of the Stuff that I've seen that fucking rocked me was stuff that happened. Happened later. I wasn't in combat, you know, I mean, it was just the whole idea, the war. And I mean, I remember seeing those two guys. They look like dolls, dead dolls. Right. But their legs are all contorted and shit.

[Sean Ryan]

Where was this?

[Bob Parsons]

The same. Same episode.

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, okay.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, same episode. If you're looking for a war hero, brother, I ain't the guy.

[Sean Ryan]

Well, I'm just fascinated. In Vietnam. I mean, that was. That was you guys and your generation. That was. Was that was what really inspired me to. To become a SEAL and, and go overseas, you know, for. For my generations or Vietnam, baby. So I just have a ton of respect for Vietnam vets.

[Bob Parsons]

Yep. Yeah. So I. I got. I got a hell of a story. We should. Ready? You want to take a break or whatever?

[Sean Ryan]

Nah, let's go into. So let's start where you got wounded because you're a Purple Heart Vietnam recipient.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. So I go to. One of the things I have is I've got a good memory, which is unusual, me not remembering anything on that at a time when me and Bryant were running and running and I'm over. I. I remember they carried me back and they couldn't get a. Yeah. Another night I had a guy got wounded, point man hit a trap and was walking on a rice paddy dike, right. And I helped carry him back. And the reason we had to carry him back is because he was just. His legs were hur. Hurt and his legs were hurt and he was obviously going to live. And the war business of the war was really good some other place and all the choppers were busy. At least. At least that's what I was told when I was wounded. It's the same thing happened, only I wasn't walking on a dike. I was walking on a path through a village. So I take and get me to this road and there's these two guys in a robe and they just shoot me full of morphine, I think it was. And I mean, I didn't give a fuck about anything. And one interesting thing before that, which is a. A fun story, I take and I get sent back because I got cut in some barbed wire or something. I cut all my fucking fatigues up and only had one pair. So the company sent me back to the rear that day and he said to get a whole new set of fatigues and to get a haircut and then come on back. Yeah, it did. I gotta. I had that get it all cut. So I take And I go back, I get my hair cut and then I go to where the fatigues are and there's these two rear area guys with storage fatigues. And it's this big warehouse. And I said, I'm here to get some fatigues. And they said, well, you need a chit signed by the colonel. I said, well, where's the colonel? Said, well, he's up in Dong Ha, which is hundreds of miles north. And I said, well, I got to go back to the bush and, you know, pants are all ripped up. So they said, you brother, that's. They'll hang us if we give them to you. So we can't. So finally after, you know, it was useless arguing with those guys, I start walking back and I start walking back and I go through this area where there's the quonset huts. Well, it must have been there. One of them was there in one of the quonset huts. Like it. I opened a quonset, I opened the door up and I go in and it's like fucking candy land in there. So I take and open one of the lockers and it's got a brand new set of fatigues in it. I try them on, they fit me. I take mine off, put them on a hanger, hang them in there. And then I go ahead and I look on one of the mattresses. It's a rubber lady, an air mattress. Not a rubber lady like you get at the bed shop, just a rubber lady. So I take all the air out of it it and then put it on marm. And then I take and start with all my new pockets. I start stuffing Marlboros and Winston's. And of course those would take all the Marlboros at Winston's and they'd send us out like L. Ms. And Salems and cans and nasty ass cigarettes, all the shit. So I go back and these guys are saying, where the fuck you get that? I said, never mind. I just got it. So I gave him some cigarettes and so forth and I blew that, blew that rubber lady up. And. And so I only slept, had it for like two days. And then I got wounded, so I'm going away. And he says, hey, Parsons, who's going to get your rubber lady? I said, you guys decide.

[Sean Ryan]

Nice. So let's talk. Let's talk about the day that you got wounded is in as much detail as you can remember.

[Bob Parsons]

All right? Well, the thing I remember the most is these guys driving me with no headlights on through these dirt roads, right, to get to the field Hospital. And they had some country western music going. I remember that they were singing. I thought they were fucking loading, and I didn't really give a shit. But, you know, they were, you know, as long as they were there, taking me, so to take me, they take me to the field hospital and immediately cut all my clothes off. And then they do a triage. And, you know, they. I guess they determined, you know, I was not seriously wounded. And. And then they put me inside this big tent. I mean, and it was cold as shit. I mean, it was so cold in that tent. And because it was going from outside, it was like 80, 90 degrees inside, 60, 70. So I remember they kept moving. I was laying on just a canvas cotton, and they kept moving it closer, closer. And they had all these buckets of water, and they put me on this X ray machine because I was wondering what the water was for. And when they took me off the X ray machine, they washed it off. And then next thing I knew, I was in surgery. I don't remember anything after that. Then, next morning, I wake up, bed is soaked, pissed all over, and the corpsman says, don't worry, brother, you were just too busy. We didn't have time to put a catheter in you. And so I put one in me and then changed sheets. And then a colonel come over and say, congratulations, you, Purple Heart.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. In the actual operation, the ambush that you were on, can you describe how you were wounded again?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, I hit a trip wire. Hit a trip wire? Hit a trip wire. It was on the left side of me, and it caught my shrapnel here and in my left elbow. And I remember the surgeon saying, you know, you had a piece of. Big piece of shrapnel go into the joint and didn't damage it.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

So I was lucky. I mean, I was lucky as I can be.

[Sean Ryan]

Were you conscious the entire time?

[Bob Parsons]

No. A little bit. Just a little bit.

[Sean Ryan]

For the explosion.

[Bob Parsons]

Oh. Oh, the explosion. Yeah, I was conscious most of the time. I didn't. I didn't go out. Oh. I. I just. I just remember when that thing went off and I went down on the ground, I said to the. I turned it. It says George, because I was. I was learning to walk point. And so Bryant was walking first, I was walking second, and I said, jesus Christ, it fucking hurts. And then it didn't so much, and then it did. And then they shot me with morphine. And of course, I didn't hear it so much. I seen it, you know, didn't know what happened at first. You're disoriented. Totally.

[Sean Ryan]

Did you think you were gonna die?

[Bob Parsons]

No.

[Sean Ryan]

You knew you would live?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, I thought I would. Thought I fucking would. Oh, God. And the guys. The guys. I got pissed and started fucking putting a zip boat to this village. And he says they got. George. Squad leader got in a little bit of trouble for that. And he said he was in trouble. And then the North Vietnamese had a big push through the area that we were in. I wasn't in it no more, but we were in. And he forgave him. Cause he was a good fucking Marine. Jesus Christ. He was good. Like about a couple days after they set up on this. Set up on this bank in these reeds, and they seen a squad of NVA come through and started coming out. Started coming out of the water. They opened up on them. They killed them all. And then they were ordered by our captain, Captain Moorhead, to go all the way down, to go about a mile or two out of sight, and then turn around and go, you know, a couple clicks in, then come all the way back and reset up in the same spot. And they did. And when they did, they, an hour or two later, the company. The rest of the company came through. And of course, these guys being the fucking knuckleheads as they were, opened up on all of them. And then they said. George said there was a fucking whole fight went on all night.

[Sean Ryan]

Damn.

[Bob Parsons]

And they was fucking. A gunship was going around the. You know, so. And when the sun shone, he says there was bodies everywhere. And where there weren't bodies, there were drag marks, you know, And. Wow. Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Well, Bob, let's take a quick break, and then when we come back, we'll talk about your coming home.

[Bob Parsons]

Well, talking. We gotta talk about the hospital first.

[Sean Ryan]

All right, we'll pick up at the hospital.

[Bob Parsons]

There you go, buddy.

[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

Health?

[Sean Ryan]

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[Bob Parsons]

Yep. Well, I'm back at the hospital. And think about a military hospital in wartime. You see a lot of. A lot of up dudes, boy. And man, it's just really, really screwed up. And seen this young kid was a Marine Corps, Marine Recon and he was out on some long distance. LERP they called it or something like that. Long Distance Reconnaissance. Reconnaissance, yeah. And he hit a Bouncing Betty. You know, it's the only time I've heard of one or heard of anybody hitting one. But I heard about him all the time. But never actually anybody, you know, falling victim. But that's what he fell victim to. And you know, Bouncing Betty. It's a rocket on inside a pressure plate. Tread on it as soon as you tread on it. As soon as the weight goes off, that rocket's coming up and it's. I mean, you're fucked. That's just. That's all there is to it. And it blew his ass off. And he was. He was completely paralyzed. And the guys would take turns. He was sandwiched between two boards and a device that had, you know, opening for his groin and this was his tail. And we would take turns turning comic book pages for him and felt so sorry for that guy. And I mean. And other stuff you'd say, you know, she just so up. Thing, thing. I remember the hardest. One of the. The hardest thing is, you know about that. I mean, that what, whatever brought the war home, that did. I mean, you know, he spent some time in a military hospital. You'll. Yeah, you'll see. And Navy lost my payroll record, so I couldn't go off base. I used to say to some of the guys I had to had some civilian clothes and some money to go off base. And I'd say, can you loan me some money and your civvies and so I could go on liberty? He says, I like you, man, but not that much. Oh, God.

[Sean Ryan]

Gee, you know, I read somewhere, or maybe I saw it on an interview. I can't remember that. You think that you had a guardian angel?

[Bob Parsons]

I did. I did.

[Sean Ryan]

Why did you think that?

[Bob Parsons]

So many, so many things happened that I just come out. Okay, like another time we're in a firefight in a village, right? Again, nobody's hit Nobody's in anything. Me and this dude named Pavlovich, we go into this hooch searching for Christ knows what. And in there is one of these little tables. And this long table, it's about maybe four feet, five feet. Feet. Four feet tall. And on it is a bowl. One bowl. And in the bowl was an undetonated tall ground from the night before when we had this guy named Cook. And Cook was one of these guys go to jail or join the Marine Corps for stealing cars. And so he. You know, that's back when the Marine Corps was doing what it could to, you know, fill the ranks. And so anyhow, he fired. It didn't go off. Somehow. Somehow landed there. But our boy Pavlovich moved his fat ass and tipped the bowl. And they had this wooden floor put in. I mean, this kind of a crappy wooden floor on the altar. And this thing hit the wood, didn't explode. Motherfucker. Now, that got my attention. Yeah. So I go outside and I go, there's no way I'll go back in there, period. And so Cook goes back in there. And they used to have. On the helmets, they'd have these big black rubber bands, right? Pieces of rubber. Rubber. And they would keep bug repellent, bug juice in them. Right? Well, Cook put the dud. M. What's it? M79.

[Sean Ryan]

Holy. He put in. He put an unexploded round.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, it was M79.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah. It was M79.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. So he puts the M79 round in it. And we're walking back, and you could see he's got. You got about two, three guys. And then one guy walks in, watching him, and he's back about maybe 20 yards. And then 20 yards, next closest guy, and he's walking with this thing on his head. I kept waiting for his head to.

[Sean Ryan]

Just, holy shit, he made it. What? The rest of the time, when that damn thing.

[Bob Parsons]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. Well, let's talk about. I mean, I am curious. I mean, did. Is there. Is there. Do you feel like you had a relationship with the guardian angel?

[Bob Parsons]

I did. I did, and I still do. And, you know, it's just stuff I've come out of. Like, for example. For example, I'll give you this. Okay, I'm on Okinawa, and I get sent to Okinawa to get processed back to Vietnam, back to the unit. And it depended a couple of months or maybe three months have been, and I really don't know, but it was around that. Okay, So I take and get to be the doctor there. Got to be friendly with me. I thought he was a good dude. And so when I got to the point where all my wounds were healed, I said to him, I went, I said, doc, I'm ready to go back, you know? And he said, you ready to go back? He says, parson, you don't have to go back. He says, I'll keep you here for the rest of the war. And I said, no, I want to go back. I want to be with those guys. I mean, they were my family, right? I loved them more than I ever loved a lot of my. I mean, we were closer, even though it was just a month. So he said, okay. And he signed off. And the day that my orders come through to leave for the next day, our payroll record showed up. My payroll record showed up. And so he said, go off base. Enjoy yourself. They might have given me 7, $800. I don't know how much they gave me. Might, might have been. Might as well been, you know, 20,000. You know, Okinawa beer was a dollar. You know, it's just, do anything you want. I mean, it's just a lot of money. So I take in. I, I. You might have figured out by now, I'm never much of a rule follower. Yeah, you figured it out.

[Sean Ryan]

I'm figuring that out.

[Bob Parsons]

Okay. All right. So I go off base. I'm supposed to be back at midnight. It's about three in the morning, and I'm walking down the street, and it's raining like hell. It's almost coming down sideways. And there's a guy walking back up the other way, coming right towards me. It's Blackwell. It's that guy I saved during the first night.

[Sean Ryan]

Are you serious?

[Bob Parsons]

Dead serious. And he told me it was his third heart and he didn't have to go back. So he was in G2, which is orders and all that sort of stuff, intelligence. And he said, I can get you the guy that runs this little printing press and goes back and forth and delivers orders. I can get you that job, he says, because the company gunny and I are tight. And he said, and by then I think he was staff sergeant. And he says, I'll get it done. And he says, when do you go back? And I said, I'm 7:00 tomorrow morning, and this is like 3 in the morning. He said, says, I don't think I can over. I can get it done that soon. And I. I said, brother, that's okay. That's okay. Because I was kind of looking forward to seeing the guys anyhow, so. You Know, we part. I tell him where I'm at, so forth we part and. And he goes his way, I go mine. And I go back immediately get arrested. They take me to the officer today, and the officer today goes, you know, he's this young second lieutenant. He's got their shit jobs, look, talking to butt heads like me. He's going, why can't you be back? And I said, I'll go back. I was in Vietnam and I was wanted. I got to go back to more. And I. I lost track of time. And he goes, get him the fuck out of here. So they take me back and I fall asleep. I slept for maybe an hour, and then I fall asleep with. Fall out with the hangover from B. Jesus L. And I had orders to station to me back. Blackwell got it done.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. I mean, that happened. I mean, to me, that's. We're like the fifth grade. I mean, it just repeatedly have happened like that. And I think my angel's there still to this day. Yeah, I think so. I think hopefully I'll meet him or her or it. And it'd be kind of nice one day. I know whenever I meet her, he's going to look more exhausted than I do. Huh?

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, man.

[Bob Parsons]

I get pictures just going. I was going to take the night off.

[Sean Ryan]

Let's talk about coming home.

[Bob Parsons]

Coming home. Coming home was. Was hard. I'll tell you. Tell you what I did. When I had just about two months left, they disbanded my unit. I was with and 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade and marched them, marched. Didn't send them home. Sent the guys in it that were coming in, the new guys, transferred them all to that unit. Unit. And they all went over to Vietnam, right? And. And this unit, the guys coming home, they put them in this unit and they brought it home. So it was like. They brought it home, but they didn't. It was. It was a farce. Did you follow me there?

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bob Parsons]

Okay. So. So I take in. I get sent over to the. I. I get sent over for processing where I get to get processed to go back. Back to Vietnam. Now, I didn't want to go back then. And the reason I didn't want to go back then is because I had been in touch with the guys. I had seen them. They were on a helicopter ship just offside barrier island. And they, you know, I. I told him, I said, guys, I. I had put two. Two requests to. To. To go back, to transfer, to leave this unit that I was in because I wanted to be with. I wanted to be with him. So bad. And. And Blackwell left. He said, he left and he says. I says, why? He says, I said, goodbye. I said, you're going home. He says, yeah, well, he says, I'm going to go back. And he says, I can't stand it here. He says, at least I understand it there. I see you, buddy. And so anyhow, I take in both times the company gunny that he told me about my request to transfer got approved by everybody and gets to him. He calls me, his office, rips it up, says she gets self killed and never got proofed. And so I was getting ready to go back, but I didn't want to be with a bunch of new guys. I want to be with them, right? So I'm in the processing area and this place is like a zoo. And this is one lieutenant, first lieutenant. And then he's running around like he'll know what's going on. So I go over to him, I said, lieutenant, I could do this job. You need some help here? And I said, you know, and I'm going to rotate a couple months anyhow. And he said, all right, we got the job. He said, where's your id? And I give it to him. He says, okay, I get it all taken care of. So I went right away and started processing, got. And what I would do was I would take guys and put them on planes that were coming back and so they could go home. And guys that were coming there, I would confirm their units. And one of the things that bothered me so much is I would see these guys that were like assigned to 9th Marines and guys going up around the Z and. And you know, it's. I mean, there was no place there that was a walk in a park for the Marine Corps. But there were some places that were much worse. And while I wasn't that much older than these guys, if I was older than them at all, you know, I had the experience which aged me a bit. And also from being intelligent and knowing what was actually going on there, I would just look at these guys and I'd feel terrible. I mean, I would feel terrible because they had this little tinge where they're a little excited and so forth, and they're walking straight into fucking hell, man. Yeah, so I remember that. And I time went up and I went home. And then when we went home, it was a different place, different place than when we left. When we left, I mean, people were starting, they were a little uncertain about the war, but they weren't like they were when we came home. There wasn't anybody taking it out on the guys coming home, throwing shit and with signs and names. Nazi murderer, right? Drug addict and yeah, ironic, you know, fucking anti war crowd calling us drug addicts. Those fucking dope addicts, on and on and on. And baby killers, don't forget baby killers. And then on and on. So I mean, you know, it's just. And then those of us that weren't confronted with that, we see it on news anyhow, so, you know, it just, it's just, it's just feel like your soul coming out of your chest.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bob Parsons]

And you know, at the time I knew it bothered me, but I didn't think it bothered me to the extent that it did, you know, because I got to the point where I had people come up to me and they'd say, hey, weren't you in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, Sean? I start crying. That's when you up. And so, and then one of the things that, that I found I was doing, I was doing a book and I took some mushrooms, psychedelic mushrooms, when I was working on a book. And I had a flashback. I had a flashback, baby. And it was flashback, not to Vietnam, but to when I was in troop processing seeing those guys, man, it bothered me to the core. And I, you know. Well, you know, I'll never say I don't haven't cried. I have, but I've never cried like that. And then I don't cry over it again since. I mean, it purged me some somewhat. So. So anyhow, and then, then I just went to. Went to work in a steel mill, shoveled steel and was a hard job. And then, then I got another job, applied for a job as an apprentice, machinist apprentice. And this guy that set me up to hire was this old guy named Roy that was with the union so long that he had, you know, he had tenure. He couldn't, couldn't be fired no matter what. And the guy wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't talk to me. And you know, I'd say anything to him. He'd say, leave me alone. And he would set his machine up every day. So he was running this huge turn lathe, right? So he was making, mowing down these lathes for ships, seagoing liners, right, to do propeller shafts. And he would. So it'd come all the way up, but never touch it, just go back and forth, back and forth. And my job was to help him. And so after a couple months of this, I went to. I seen an ad by the University of Baltimore where I could Go there with the GI Bill. And I didn't have to. Didn't have to take any of the entrance exams. My high school grades didn't matter. I mean, I couldn't have got into Harvard with an army. So I went to the University of Baltimore. I go into the registrar's office, and I said to him, I said, I want to register for college. He said, what do you want to major in? I don't know. I said, well, you know, nobody in my family went to college. So I went. He says, go see this counselor. And I did. It was a huge line to see this guy. I'd have about been just getting to see him today if I got into it. I mean, I never got to see him. And so I went back, and the guy, the registrar's office says, if you can sign a waiver, you can pick your own major. I said, why didn't you tell me that? I said, you have a list of majors? He gave me a book. I opened it up. First one, accounting. I said, what's accounting? He said, what do you like, numbers? I said, yeah. He says, you go at math. I said reasonably, says you're interested in business. Yeah. Says you should make sure in accounting. So that's what I did. And, you know, had I opened it up backwards, I'd have been a zoologist. And I said to him, sure, sure. And I got to be a very fortuitous choice because I loved it. And it was, you know, very solitary. I like that. And I. I graduated magna cum laude.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

I'm now one of the school's biggest benefactors.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

Me, man.

[Sean Ryan]

What a curve.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

What a curve.

[Bob Parsons]

So I did that, and I went to. Yeah, went there.

[Sean Ryan]

What was it like for you in school as a combat veteran at that time?

[Bob Parsons]

You didn't talk about it?

[Sean Ryan]

You didn't want anybody to know?

[Bob Parsons]

No, no. And one that you didn't want everybody to know. You just didn't talk about it. Nobody asked you about it.

[Sean Ryan]

Did you stay close with your guys that you had served with? Yeah, many of them live close.

[Bob Parsons]

No, no. I mean, they live. One guy lives in New Hampshire. Another guy lives in the mountains of Pennsylvania. He was the other guy to hit the trap. He lives in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Another guy. Two of them live in Florida. Another one lives in Iowa. And Brownie. Brownie the rascal, he lives in Austin.

[Sean Ryan]

How'd you. I mean, how did you get through it? Sounds like that was the hardest part for you.

[Bob Parsons]

Coming home was.

[Sean Ryan]

And so, you know, there's a lot of Veterans today that are dealing with similar issues and can't fit back into society. How'd you get through it?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, the thing I did was I worked hard and buried myself in my work. You know, everybody that has any degree of PTSD self medicates in some way, shape or form. I think they do. And my self medication was always my work and my studies. So I turned things around when I was in college and then when I eventually worked for a, a firm, that firm, that Commercial Credit Leasing Corp. Worked for them and they would send me to schedule the assets of companies they were looking to buy and then I'd schedule the assets, schedule the leases and then come home. And this was in the 70s. And what I did one day when another day, another fortuitous thing was had I was looking at this company in Redwood City California and I was going to get my work done and I had a 12 hour layover until I was going to catch a flight. And so I wound up on a Stanford campus and I went to the bookstore and I bought a book on how to program in the basic computer language. And I bought it and went to the airport. Matter of fact first I went to Fisherman's Wharf and looked at a charcoal and showed this little Chinese kid lighting the firework and a bunch of other kids standing by, some older kids holding their hands over the little kids ears and Cyril grimace, you know, and it's just wonderful. The guy just caught it, artist named Wai Meng. And I asked the guy, the guy said to me, he said, you know this by so forth. I said how much is it? He said 10,000. And how many? Might as well have been 10 million. And so I see you later. And by the way, when I did the deal on Parsons Technology, I bought that paper painting.

[Sean Ryan]

No kidding.

[Bob Parsons]

I tracked it down, baby, I have it in my bedroom and I see it every day.

[Sean Ryan]

Nice.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. And only I, I bought it. The, the original is now in, in a museum. I bought an artist lithograph or so forth, which is I'm told the best you can get and then cost nearly ten grand. But the memory is what matters. Yeah, yeah. So anyhow, so I read the book or the salient parts of the book while I was waiting and wrote my first couple programs on the way back. And based on that book I taught myself how to program and I eventually switched to the Pascal language, sold my Apple computer and bought an IBM and then started my first business which was called Parsons Technology.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. Just going back, you had mentioned everybody with PTSD self medicates. One Way or another.

[Bob Parsons]

I think so.

[Sean Ryan]

How are you self medicating?

[Bob Parsons]

I buried myself in my work.

[Sean Ryan]

No drugs, no antidepressants, booze, none of that.

[Bob Parsons]

Just work, baby, work. And then when I first started getting Parsons Technology off the ground, I wrote the code for a program that would take care of home finances. I called it Money counts. And it got to be pretty good. And then I quit my job. I was working, was working, started this leasing division for this company. And if I had stayed there, this was like November, no, October. Had I stayed there through the end of the year, I'd have got $50,000, would have got a bonus. What quit? And the reason I quit was I figured I could just add just enough time if I worked hard to write a tax tax software program, do a 1040 and I got it done. But to get it done, I would work 60 hour shifts. I would come in to work, let's say 8am Monday morning, worked 8am Tuesday morning, 8am Wednesday morning. And then work half a day. And when I say half a day, I meant half a day. Yeah, yeah. And then I would know I needed to stop by. The reason I needed to stop is because I started to hallucinate. I was a dragon walk across my desk.

[Sean Ryan]

Holy shit. So you buried yourself in work, started your technology company. I mean I think a lot of people just from my generation.

[Bob Parsons]

I feel.

[Sean Ryan]

Like entrepreneurship is a. I feel like it's the only segue, you know, to really bury yourself into and into kind of of leave the. What am I trying to say here? You have to be willing to. For me, myself, a Navy seal, a CIA contractor, that's just some. That I did and it took me a long time to, to. I mean people expect a certain body style, a certain attitude, a certain and demeanor. You know, when you are in those type of communities and war fighting communities and it's almost like a fucking trap that you're in. And it wasn't until that I had discovered entrepreneurship and started doing what I love. Like you were saying at the very beginning that I started getting better and I started. Started putting more importance on what I'm building rather than the past and eventually coming to the realization that I'm not a seal, I'm not a CA contractor. That's just some shit that I did. This is who I am now. And I mean, did you find that when you became an entrepreneur?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, for sure, for sure. I mean that was the only thing I was interested, I talked about. I mean, I don't think I owned a mar. Marine Corps Cap. I mean any, anything like that. Not that I, I denied it. I didn't, you know, if somebody wanted to talk to me about it, I'll talk to him about it. But that wasn't going to, you know, take care of my family, put them where they needed to be and, and, and so forth. To me that was the only way.

[Sean Ryan]

What got you interested in coding was just a random book on a shelf and you just decided, hey, I'm to take a peek at this.

[Bob Parsons]

Yep.

[Sean Ryan]

Especially back. Did you say the 70s?

[Bob Parsons]

75.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. So you buy a book on coding, you read it, you work three and a half days a week, and then you build this entire empire.

[Bob Parsons]

Eventually, yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

How long did it take you to get traction on your business? Business?

[Bob Parsons]

On parcel technology. That first year I did the tech.

[Sean Ryan]

Software in one year.

[Bob Parsons]

One year. Well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was doing it for a couple of three years before that because it took a while to build it. Know how I wanted to do it and what I wanted to do for the software to be right, you know, and, you know, it couldn't be buggy and on and on. It couldn't be. I couldn't make my lemonade with vinegar anymore. Right. Yeah. So anyhow, all those things, you know, I needed to have things just so. Yeah. And so it took about three years. Three years for that. And so that third year, when I got the tax software done, I made quarter million dollars that year. Year. I never seen that kind of money in my life. Quarter million. I mean. Yeah. $257,000.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

The next year I made two and a half million. The next year I made five. Next year I made seven. I mean, and it just. I mean, I've never missed too much since.

[Sean Ryan]

How did you get it out there? Was it just you? Yeah, it was just you.

[Bob Parsons]

Just you and my wife.

[Sean Ryan]

So you built it. How did you.

[Bob Parsons]

Magazine ads.

[Sean Ryan]

You bought magazine ads?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Holy shit.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, I was spending. Early on. I was spending 55,000amonth on advertising, you know.

[Sean Ryan]

How early on?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, this is my third year.

[Sean Ryan]

I mean, your ads, your godaddy ads.

[Bob Parsons]

Were phenomenal, you know.

[Sean Ryan]

Did you come up with those?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, me? Well, me and. Me and a group of other people. Together? Yeah, together.

[Sean Ryan]

So you got a knack for marketing and advertising as well?

[Bob Parsons]

More of that than anything.

[Sean Ryan]

What was the first ad?

[Bob Parsons]

The first ad for what?

[Sean Ryan]

For Parsons Technologies.

[Bob Parsons]

Okay. The first ad. Let me tell you how I bought it. Okay. I'm in the basement and this is. I'm still working the other job And I have this magazine call me. And they said, now, one of the things I always did, always pay my bills, always paid them. And they said, taken. Let me see, let me see. Okay, they called me. It was called a computer bargain line out of Fort Dodge, Iowa. And this was a rag. I mean, one of them looks, little rags who look like a magazine cover. I mean, a cheap magazine cover. And inside it'd be like print, like newsprint, and have different stuff for sale. Cheap, all sorts of deals, right? And that's what it was. So they said, we have on the outside front cover, we've got that ad. It's normally like 12,000, $14,000 if you can get me creative in a couple of three days. It's $5,000 now. So they thought I had money. I never had the money. So I took it and I said, I'll let you know in the morning. So I looked at it and I said, call Moore wife. And I said, I just got a feeling that this could be it. So I said, let's do it. And I said, and if it turns out, it busts? Because every ad I ever had run up to that point was a bust. So we decided to do it. And I pay a kid in a local ad firm firm, and they do an ad. And I sold my software. I had sold it for like $99, $79.69 on and on and on and on. Now I was selling it for 12 bucks. When it said 12 bucks, and then it said, no shipping. No, no, it's not copy protected. Remember copy protection? He said, it's not copy protected. It's not copy protected. It used to have agreements you had to be part of. If you used it, that would signal that you could only use it like a book. You couldn't make copies and give it to people on and on and on. I said in mine, you do anything you want, just send me 12 bucks, right? So the ad said, money counts, but it only costs $12. Send.

[Sean Ryan]

It blew it out of the water, right?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, first couple days, I mean, after the magazine come out, there wasn't anything, and then there wasn't anything. And then there was, you know, half dozen orders, then a dozen. And then. You ever see these ads where you see the mailbox of stuff with orders and checks? That's the way it looked. And then there was a box. They had a sort of box next to it. And so, oh, my God, I think I made 20 grand on that ad. And then I took my wife and I and the kids, we took and did a mailing and we broke every direct mail roll there was just mailed place had that ad printed up and mailed it to everybody that ever inquired. Census that we got a 30% return.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

So then I took in, I think I added a $3 shipping charge. Didn't matter. Then I added, I made it $16 instead of 12 and made the shipping charge $5 and left it that way for a couple years. And I would get big ads made of up in all the big magazines. And that's how Parsons Technology made it.

[Sean Ryan]

How long was it before, with Parsons Technologies, how long was it before you started hiring people?

[Bob Parsons]

It was right after, Right after I quit my job. Right after I quit my job, actually. Before that a little bit. And my wife would have, some of the neighbors, ladies would help her and they'd all be down there taking orders and they'd all have their hair and curl or dungeon. But they did a good job and you know, they were happy, they made some money. I was happy. I was launching this company. And then eventually, eventually I had, oh my God, I had thousand employees and Holy.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, a thousand employees.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, it might have been 500. You know, I think about it.

[Sean Ryan]

And then you, you sold it.

[Bob Parsons]

I sold it to Intuit. My wife and I, we got together, we decided we would sell it for, for 40 million if we were ever offered it. And intuit offered me 60. I knew enough to tell him I was insulted and most I could get him up to was 64. So I sold it for 64 million. Wow.

[Sean Ryan]

In what time frame?

[Bob Parsons]

10 years.

[Sean Ryan]

10 years.

[Bob Parsons]

I started it in 84, sold it in 94 more.

[Sean Ryan]

I mean, where did you, where did you learn your business sense just comes naturally to you?

[Bob Parsons]

Selling lemonade.

[Sean Ryan]

Selling lemonade.

[Bob Parsons]

You know, it's just, just, just working, trying to make a living.

[Sean Ryan]

How, how long. What? How long was it after you sold Parsons Technologies that you started GoDaddy?

[Bob Parsons]

90, 95, 96.

[Sean Ryan]

What time frame is that? Between, between the two.

[Bob Parsons]

Couple years.

[Sean Ryan]

Just a couple years?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

What was the inspiration for GoDaddy?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, really, there was none. Sounds crazy. What, what happened was when I, when I did, did the deal with parts of technology yesterday, my wife didn't want to be married anymore. And to be honest with her, I wouldn't be married to me anymore either. So she finally took all she could and she fucking booted my ass. So I moved to Phoenix or Scottsdale so I could work and you know, I just, I had a non compete assigned, I had to honor it. Only their non compete Was I couldn't work, period. So I honored it. And when that thing came due, came up, started working and started, started my own job, started, you know, to start a company. And, and I like being in the. In the hunt. I like being out in the business stream. I like doing stuff. I like being active and like having myself on the line.

[Sean Ryan]

Right, and you like the risk?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, yeah, I like that. I like that. And so. And I like the risk, but not too much risk. So I started. Started that. And at the time, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew the Internet was going to be something. I knew that was going to be an area where there was going to be opportunity. So what I did was I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know exactly what. So I hired about maybe 10 or 15 people and we tried a bunch of things. I named the company Jomax Technologies, believe it or not, after Dirt Road. Now why did I name it after a dirt road name? Didn't matter. We didn't do anything. I would send people to. They would go to a business meeting at the chamber of Commerce and people would ask you, what do you do? And they said, we don't know yet. And I said, you know, I have never talked to anybody that don't know what they do. And so who did you hire?

[Sean Ryan]

I mean, if you didn't know what you wanted to do and you just knew that you wanted to be in the Internet business at some capacity, how do you even know who to look for?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, I just would look for people that were looking for work.

[Sean Ryan]

Any particular job description or.

[Bob Parsons]

Not really, not really. I mean, people that knew a little bit about tech and that sort of thing. And, you know, they were the people that I hired. And some of them actually were with me till the last day. Not many of them, but some of them. And so I went ahead and we tried all sorts of things. We tried building intranets, extranets, we tried doing education, we tried selling other people's software, tried selling hardware. None of that stuff worked. But one thing worked. And the one thing that worked was building websites. We could build websites and make some money. Not a lot make some money. And the money that we made when we would start doing these websites, there was one problem with them though, and that is they didn't scale. You had to do the work of building a website in order to make the money. And so what we did was we built a software program called. We called it Website Complete was the very first one. It was one of the first companies and guys in the world to do this. And that would be you could take. And dudes just put some fill in the blanks and this and that. And this thing would write the code for a website. Primarily primitive, but you'd have a website. So we'd do that. And then the next step was where things looked like they were going to Joe is every website needs a domain name, needs an address, needs SeanRyan.com. right. So then what we did was I found that I went to all the website companies, I mean all the domain companies, and they were all pain in the ass to deal with. So we had one of our engineers went ahead and just filled the applications to do that for us. So we could become a domain name registrar. And not in the domain name. A domain name registrar is not in a sense where you take and then you have to buy a bunch of domain names to resell, Although you could do that. It's more like the dmv. So in vanity license plates, you know, once you get a vanity license plate at the dmv, it's yours as long as you pay the annual fee. Well, that's the way domain names work, right. The only difference is you have companies that can do that and they're called domain name registrar. So we started doing that and then what happened was the dot com boom and the dot com boom. There was so much noise for the dot com boom. You couldn't. Nobody didn't even pay attention to you, not even close. And so I mean, the noise, you could see like these super bowl, stupid super bowl ads. Ads. Or they were playing a piano like chopsticks. And because they didn't have time to run an ad, but they bought it and I mean make an ad and stuff like that. And it got to the point where it got to be. It just got to be stupid. And then what happened was when I did that, I had about 38, 38 million. I split it with my wife. She deserved every nickel she got. And I moved to Arizona. Best move I ever made. And I then worked on making this company work and renamed it GoDaddy. And then the way that came about was I was just, you know the name Jomax Technologies and it's just very forgettable. Means nothing. Godaddy. Doesn't mean much more, but at least it's fun and easy to remember. And so me and gal that I still work with, we come up with that one night after about our third night, we tried. It's fat daddy taken, Big daddy taken, Go daddy Using the AOL go keyword and the word that available. Bought it for $8.95.

[Sean Ryan]

Damn.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. And so that's what I did. And I started with 38 million. And then I started losing money. And I started, I said, I'm not going to worry about this company till I get down to 30 million. Then I said 20 million million, 15 million. I don't know why. Sorry, I'm choking up here.

[Sean Ryan]

No, it's all fine. There's a lot of pollen out.

[Bob Parsons]

So anyhow, so I decided I get down to. I get down to 15 million, then 12, then 10, then 8, and I think 8 or 6. I decided I'm gonna close the company down because it didn't look like there was no ball chance in hell of this company ever making the turn. And then, so what I did was I sold my original company. I mean this. Sold all the furniture and stuff. Had really nice furniture. Furniture, stupid furniture don't make you no money. And moved, bought a horse farm, an area where it was legal for breeding horses, but it wasn't legal for developing software. That's a fucked up sauce. The Phoenix is right. So I bought this big sign, I had it painted, called it to go Daddy Ranch. Put it right over, right on the wall. And then, and then I decided. I went to Hawaii by myself. And I was going to decide how I was going to. Going to shut it down, how I was going to pay any severance, how I was going to pay my creditors, and then what I was going to do. So I went to Hawaii. I went to Hawaii. I was in. The epiphany happened more and more. I was there. I didn't want to shut it down. Epiphany happened where all of a sudden one day this guy comes up to me and you know, he's happy as can be. Throw the keys in here. Hey, ole Miss Parsons. And I said, I'm doing great, buddy. And I mean. And I think this guy's parking cars probably has nothing, right? He's the happiest guy in the world. I got six or eight million dollars. I'm miserable. Now. What's wrong with this picture? Ah. So I decide at that point to go back home and not shut it down. As a company goes broke, I'll go broke with. I decided I could always park cars. But then I decided, you know what? I'm not a big time gambler, but I like craps. I said, I'll go to Vegas and just work on a table. Sounds like a fun life. So I do that and Then this is about January, February and then October or maybe later that year year the dot com crash happens. And when the dot com crash happened, GoDaddy was born. And then I had instead of guys waiting in line to. I mean instead of not refusing to sell me anything at any price, I mean, every week at least one or two companies were doing business with Vanish. I mean Vanish disappeared. Fucking gone, baby. You don't even know where they were. No forwarding address, breath gone. And so, so we just. Things started. Instead of us trying to, you know, buy advertising, I have guys stand in line to give it to me. Damn. And then, so, so we take. And then in October we wait and they, they, they, we turned a company. We became cash flow positive and never missed a month since.

[Sean Ryan]

Well, for somebody that was just telling.

[Bob Parsons]

Me now tell me I don't have.

[Sean Ryan]

An angel mitigated risk. You just went from 38 million down to 6 to 8 million.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, well that's cause I'm a knucklehead.

[Sean Ryan]

The valet parker decided is the one that made the decision for you of hey, fuck it, I'm going to do this. Go back willing to lose everything, the rest of your money and then you blow GoDaddy out of the water.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. Yep. And so sold GoDaddy until 2011 and sold 71% for 2.3 billion.

[Sean Ryan]

Damn.

[Bob Parsons]

And then sold the other 29 for almost 2 billion.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. So wow. Not bad for a young guy from East Baltimore.

[Sean Ryan]

Not too bad. Not too bad. I would say you've done well.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, so. So anyhow, I mean the ads all, they all happened. They were just funny as how that came about.

[Sean Ryan]

I love them. I love them.

[Bob Parsons]

You want me to tell you the genesis how that happened?

[Sean Ryan]

Yes.

[Bob Parsons]

So I'm running GoDaddy and I am never quite sure why our business just stalls where we got. We got a 16% market share worldwide. I said, we got the best prices, we got the best systems, we got the fairest policies, we got the best customer service. What are these other dogs? Why are they still writing business? So I hired a market research firm to kind of look at it for us. And they come back with an answer. They said, the reason those people aren't doing business with you because those people don't know you exist. You only advertise on the Internet. These people are only reachable on direct media. I mean on conventional media. So what I did was that was in August. I said, all right, well you know what? I had a $10 million war chest built up and I decided the super bowl was right around the corner. Corner, let's make a Super bowl ad. Damn. And then you see there's the super bowl ad back then will cost you $3 million. Cost you way more than that now. Cost you like 10, 12, something like that. Maybe, maybe far more so. But anyhow, so, so what we would do is we took. And I could not understand how you would get people's attention, people to look at your ad and people want to buy because they're at a Super bowl party. Your ad is only on for 30 seconds, right? And then after 30 seconds they, you know, they're talking, they're drinking cocktails. Some are, some are. There are certainly cabets in all this. A lot of them aren't even paying attention to the television and all that. How are you going to capture their attention? And then I was one day, I was with my second wife and I'm watching television and I seen an ad from Mike's Hard Line, Mike's Hardline aide. And I knew, I knew. And what the ad was. You got three really good looking women at the end of a bar, right? And Caddy cornered them as this guy. He's got his hunched over as Mike Hardlamide and he's got a little bit of drop in the bottom and he's looking around, looking around. And instead of him holding it up and letting it run down, he sticks a 12 inch tongue down and swirls it around and then pulls it back. And the bartender says, ladies, what do you have? And they point to him and go, we like one of those. And I said, that is it, baby. Oh God. I said that is it. And so we did our first act. We did a spoof on the Godaddy Girl. She didn't even have a name then the media named her the Godaddy Girl. We named her. And she was at a hearing by a Super bowl board of censors or whatever she was. And they were you know, kind of the, you know, trying to decide if they're going to approve her being in an ad. And she was going to be a, she was going to be in an ad. And it was just hilarious because the guy, the guy running the whole show, his name was Booth Coleman, I think he said he passed, but he was an older guy and she was, he says, ma'am, what are you going to do, you know, on the game? And she stands up and she goes, I could do something like this. And she, her bra, tank top strap snaps. And it was a spoof on Janice Jackson and Justin Timberlake, right? And she stops it. And it's just. It doesn't go, you know, know all the way. So you see nothing. You see nothing. And you know, you look at it, you know, it's filmed at a distance. See things that a blurred the cleavage on and on and on. A lot of the ad is shut, shot from behind. So Fox News said they would do the ad. And then when we sent them the actual ad, they said, no way. And so, you know, we said. They said, you know, do we hate guys with me said, well, why don't you. Why don't you just say they denied it? You can, you know, people might want to see that. It didn't get approved. No, no, I wanted to run it because I had bigger aspirations. So. So anyhow, so we went ahead and do that, all that to minimize the ad. Shoot it from the distance and on and on. And so he's taking oxygen. And I had a line in there that said, where there's a woman up there, the dais was Booth. And she says, those are not real. And he. And then. So I had to change it. She'd say, may I suggest a turtleneck? And so anyhow, they approve it. And three days before the super bowl, they call me back and they say, you want to buy another spot? And I said, really? And they go, yeah, we got a spot open just before the super bowl. And it could be a very good ad or a very big, very great ad. And I think it was Buffalo playing Philly or something like that, or Patriots, but whoever was one of them was on the one yard line just when they did the two minute warning. This ad was gold. And then our ad doesn't run. Doesn't run. And I mean, and we wait, maybe it's the next ad. Maybe it's the next ad. Maybe it'S the next never. Our ad or ad never runs. So I get a hold of the president of Fox Sports and I asked him what happened. He said, your ad was out of tenor with the rest of the ads we had to pull. It was out of what?

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, it was out of what?

[Bob Parsons]

He said it was out of tenor.

[Sean Ryan]

What does that mean?

[Bob Parsons]

It means it just. It wasn't. It was. It shouldn't have been approved. All right, so any. Yeah, I know. I felt the same way. But I turned around to my. My buddy that, you know, he's my chief of staff, and I said to him, can we be this lucky? Can we be this lucky? That never happened before. So what, they run instead of our ad? I'll tell you what they run. They run a picture of Simpsons and Bart Simpson, right? He goes in and he's stabbing a baby in a crib.

[Sean Ryan]

That's what they run.

[Bob Parsons]

Much more acceptable than a press. So anyhow, that's what happens. So I get in touch with the president of Fox Sports, and here's what happens. He takes and he. You know, we go back and forth because we had attorneys working on it and so forth. And so we got a deal. We got a deal with him. So I don't have to pay for the ad that didn't run. I don't have to pay for the ad that did run. And, you know, life is good. I mean, basically, the market share worked. It went from 16% to 25% a year and held. All right. So, I mean, it was just great. So anyhow, so we take. And I'm there sitting them. Sitting them at the table, and these guys are on a conference call. And I know as for anything, anything. I'll get it. Anything. I'll get it. I can't think of anything. I can't think of anything. So here's what I think of you ready for this was the best I could do. I said, tell you what, Give me a game ball for two game balls from every super bowl, and we got a deal. And he'd go, done.

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, man. Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

And that's. And that's how it came about.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bob Parsons]

So the media named her the Godaddy girl. I mean, it's just. It's just funny how it all came together.

[Sean Ryan]

Then you got in. You. You got a NASCAR or. I'm sorry, not a nascar, an Indy car. Correct.

[Bob Parsons]

Indy car with Daddy Compatrick. I'm playing golf with her Sunday, by the way.

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, nice.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Nice.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

So are you guys pretty close?

[Bob Parsons]

She was. She's a buddy of mine. And so it was me, my wife, and her and other friend and had a nice time.

[Sean Ryan]

Are you into racing?

[Bob Parsons]

No.

[Sean Ryan]

How did that come about?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, I. I was up in. I was up in the Arctic and I was hunting, and I was talking to the two guides and these guys, I mean, they didn't know nowhere. And they were talking about the Indy 500, Danica Patrick. And I said, wow, she's young. She's in a man's sport. She is. She is drawn a lot of attention. I said, she ought to be our spokesperson. So we reached out, we hired her, and then we. We did. We were partners for eight years.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, Eight years. And she's now a member of my club, Scottsdale national and good time.

[Sean Ryan]

I'll bet, I'll bet. What were you hunting up there?

[Bob Parsons]

Grizzly.

[Sean Ryan]

Grizzly. Did you get one? So you sold Parsons Technologies, then you immediately started another company, then you sold ownership of Godaddy and then you move into golfing.

[Bob Parsons]

Golf? Yeah, golfing motorcycles.

[Sean Ryan]

How. I mean, how much time was it it. By this time you're a multi billionaire? What? I guess I'm just curious. Why do you keep moving into new business ventures?

[Bob Parsons]

Why not? I'll ask you.

[Sean Ryan]

I mean I'm addicted to it. I love entrepreneurship, I love business.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, I, I like it too. I haven't worked for anybody since 1980 for. I just, just worked hard.

[Sean Ryan]

I mean it's just. You hit a point where you don't need anything more.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, my wife and I, we move, we move a million to charity every other week.

[Sean Ryan]

Every 14 days.

[Bob Parsons]

Yep, every 14 days. And I think we've given a total of a couple hundred million. I know. Oh, and we help Semper 5 fund 10 million a year. We just crossed 120 million a year with them. I mean 120 million with them. And you know, when it's all said and done, probably it all go to charity.

[Sean Ryan]

How do you. I mean, how do you. I think that's amazing that you do that. And that's, you know, that's something I try to do here. I'd showed you all this stuff around the room and we've brought a lot of my friends on that have started non profits and psychedelics and healing and mostly combat stress type stuff. And I mean I just, I just enjoy like watching them succeed from not. I got to be careful. I say this because they built everything. I'm just a conduit to the public. I'm the advertiser, I guess is the way you'd see it and, and the traction that they get after they come on this show is just, it's tremendous and it just makes me feel good to watch them succeed with all the exposure and, and you know, I, I think ed was it 19 million you've donated to psychedelic research. And how do you. I guess what I'm asking is, you know, the nonprofit game is tricky. You know, you really gotta make sure that you're finding people that are doing the right things. And I'll light people up for sometimes a year before I bring em on to make sure like hey, is this money going to what it needs to go to? And is this guy. You know, I really enjoy finding people that are, that are just really grinding it out. And I Don't know. I guess I see myself in them and I didn't have anybody to lift me up. So I guess what I'm asking is every 14 days, you're donating another million. How do you find these people that resonate with you or the companies that resonate with you, the nonprofits?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, I have staff at our foundation that's run by a very sharp lady by the name of Laura Mitchell, and she's been in that particular end of business for a long time, been with me long time, and she has staff. So they sort it out. I mean, you know, if you're in a foundation, you're giving away money, you're a product everybody likes. Likes it. Yeah. So. So you do have to be careful. And. But what we do is, you know, given. Given the money to the, to the. Whatever the organization is that we're donating money to is only part of the. Part of the contract. You know, we're also in touch with them monthly and they're assigned an individual from our foundation to. To be in touch with them and to help them in any way that they can and to also report back to us when the next time comes where they knock on our door if they did what they said they were going to do.

[Sean Ryan]

What's your success rate? You mean that of nonprofits that follow through with.

[Bob Parsons]

With it overall? Close to a coup, 100%. And, and I mean, do I. Do I have little disagreements along the way? Yeah, yeah. But I mean, I'm. I'm there to work it out. I'm not there to, you know, it's different than buying a pair of shoes, you know, like. Yeah, right.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, that's. That's amazing. Amazing. Great person for doing that.

[Bob Parsons]

Well, thank my wife. And there you go.

[Sean Ryan]

So how did you get into the golf industry?

[Bob Parsons]

I decided to do it. I bought Scottsdale national. And that was first. First thing, you know, when I did the Godaddy deal, I decided I was going to buy either a football team or a really, a really nice golf course. And praise the Lord, thank my angel, I bought a golf course. So I love it. Do you play golf?

[Sean Ryan]

I'm not any good.

[Bob Parsons]

Who is? Nobody's any good.

[Sean Ryan]

Danica Patrick's pretty good, isn't she?

[Bob Parsons]

She has her moments. Yeah, she has her moments. But, you know, I bought Scottsdale National. It is one of these deals where it became available. It is. Right now it is 730 acres in prem real estate in Scottsdale, surrounded on three sides by. What is it? 3 million acres of land.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow.

[Bob Parsons]

Government set aside has one house on the property. You guessed it very nice.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, very nice.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Well, Bob, let's take a quick break and then when we come back, I want to dive into psychedelics, which I didn't bring in. Granny, I got you covered.

[Bob Parsons]

Good.

[Sean Ryan]

I'd like to invite you to gain access to an exclusive experience on Vigilance Elite. Patreon. Our patrons are the driving force behind the success of this show, and their support allows us to keep doing what we do. Depending on the tier you choose, you'll get access to benefits like behind the scenes footage before each interview, early access to episodes, end of the month live zoom calls with me, exclusive merch and more. Join us and become a patron starting at just $5 a month by visiting patreon.com vigilance elite. That's patreon.com vigilance elite. Thank you for listening to the Shawn Ryan Show. If you haven't already, please take a minute, head over to itunes and leave the Shawn Ryan Show a review. We read every review that comes through and we really appreciate the support. Thank you. Let's get back to the show. All right, Bob, we're back from the break. I want to dig into psychedelics. It's something that, like I mentioned earlier, it fixed a lot of things going on with my family. My son was six months old at the time when I finally decided to take that leap. And I've. It's just totally changed everything for me. My family life, my business, old relationships, opened me up to a lot of things that maybe I was. Wasn't confident diving into before and I think would be a great way to put it. And, and sent me on a spiritual journey and, and found God and in faith in Christ. And just so much good has come from since the very first time. And so I know for you, I mean, we had talked about, about your childhood, having grown up in a rough environment, talked about Vietnam, coming home from Vietnam. I'm sure there's a lot of business stress. I mean, I can only imagine because I'm stressed out of my mind just with what I'm running. And I find a lot of peace through those. And it took me, I guess, almost 10 years, almost 10 years after I finally left doing contract work for the CIA in various combat zones, to finally take that Leap took you 49 years, if I'm correct. 49 years. How did you hear about psychedelics?

[Bob Parsons]

How did I hear about psychedelics? You know, when I, when I was a kid in the 60s, you know, there was LSD around and. And of course, marijuana. Marijuana I don't consider a psychedelic. There was. And then you had guys talking about mushrooms and other stuff. But I never did any of that then because, number one, I. I just. I didn't feel need to and I didn't. Didn't. I was a little afraid of it because I didn't know much about it. You know, you had all these rumors that, you know, if you took. You took lsd, you might try to fly off a building and, you know, shit like that. So I didn't pay any attention to it and I didn't even think about it, that it would be. That it would. Would have the medicinal properties that it would. Would do, even though, in spite of. For millennia, we have other cultures that have used it to handle problems that we have all the time, and they don't have it all because of their wise use of psychedelics. So the thing that made the difference for me was in 2017, it didn't happen until 2017. I read Michael Pollan's book, how to change your mind, and Michael Pollan spoke is. Is a treatise on psychedelics. And, you know, and it talks about. It doesn't talk about iboga, even though that is. That's granddaddy a mole baby.

[Sean Ryan]

Have you done that? No, I have. That was my first one.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. I mean, you know, I haven't, and maybe one day, but I don't. I haven't so far. But I read his book and, you know, and I was. I was fascinated at first. The book reads like a novel reads like mine reads, and like, you know, and it's just. I could not. I could not get over that that could be solution for me. And so I told my wife, Renee, that I would like to try this, and she had me fixed up within two weeks.

[Sean Ryan]

Are you serious?

[Bob Parsons]

Dead serious. She had me hooked up. And it just so happened that she had been talking to a friend who had been talking to a friend who had a journey like this and on and on and on, on, and it's just. Everything just dovetailed together. And so she introduced me to these people. And two guides work under the radar, of course, and I met them in Hawaii. And I. I did for three days. I did three different types of psychedelics. First day I did ayahuasca, and, you know, that's different. Yeah, you would never buy that at a soda fountain, would you? Nasty taste of stuff. But anyhow, you know, it is what it is, and some people swear by it. The second day, I did magic mushrooms and the. Let's tell you a story that is funny. My guide, he made this. He had this pot, this teapot, and he said this holds three large cups. And I made it very strong, this magic mushroom tea. So you only need one cup. Now, I swear what I'm telling you, gonna tell you is true. True. I drank all three cups and I ate the tea bags and I was righteously stoned and I was. I was here, there and everywhere, you know. And did I did. Did I have a journey? Yeah, I did. And it was. It was all. All positive. Some tears and so forth, but it was all positive. And then the next day I took off, took a break. And that day my wife and I went and played golf. And what I liked is it felt like the fauna, like the bushes and the grass and the. They'd all knew I was there and I was alive and what I've been doing. And it was supportive and I never putted that good in my life. It was like whatever green I was on, it was like the grass would say, hit it here, Bobby. And I waited to go right, bend right around into the cup. I mean, it was incredible. Now, never happened, you know, again or since, but it happened that one time. And so it was a great, great experience the next day. It was. It was lsd and the lsd, I took a strong dose of it and it was, you know, had the same impact the other two did. And, you know, I didn't have any. Any hallucinations on. On, on that, but I sure had a righteous buzz and was happy to talk and felt good about things. And when I was all said and done, my wife noticed it first. She said, you're different. You know, you're easier to talk to. You're easier to get along with. You, you, you know, it's. You don't have that temper and that edge about you is gone. And then I could feel it too. And then the people that I work with also knew it. You know, they could see it. And so I made a sharp turn away from PTSD at that point. I like to say at that time, it had been. Been 49 years since the war for me, and I finally came home.

[Sean Ryan]

Wow. What. I'd like to dive into that a little more in depth. But before. Before we get into each specific journey, I'm just, you know, what. What is it that. I mean, I know you found the book, but what, what was going on in your life at that time? I mean, what was. What sent you on the search?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, brother, I had an edge about me that I didn't like. And I would lose my temper and I just would hate myself for it, you know, because it was no reason. It's always something stupid, you know. And so, I mean, it was always under a quest. I knew that, you know, first, you know, I had a battle with some depression. I had fought this horrid temper that I had. And I just never liked being around people. People. I like being alone, you know, and that's. It's not a good thing. At least if you can. You can overcome why you're like that, you know, it was terrible for me when days like the. Like the days the trees fell. And that reminded. It was an experience I had in Vietnam. And I would always go back there on the 4th of July and I would do whatever I could to avoid fireworks, to stay away from that sort of thing. But it's stuff like that. And, you know, I've been. My wife, my third wife. I mean, I've been giving my walking papers twice, and it's never a pleasant time. So. And, you know, and I knew that the women that I married both times were good women. I mean, there was nothing wrong with them. But the problem was. The problem was me.

[Sean Ryan]

Would you. Let's. What do you mean, the day the trees fell?

[Bob Parsons]

Okay, I'll tell you about the day the trees fell. We set up for ambush one night in a graveyard in Vietnam. And Vietnamese are buried sitting up, at least most of them are that I'm aware of. And so we had a squad a couple of clicks right of us, a couple clicks left of us. And so I was facing just inward to this area where all these trees were. And I was leaning against a. The mound. And they were. There was all of a sudden on the right of us, there was a firefight started. And then there was a firefight on the left of us. And there was bullets. You've been shot at many times. You know what it sounds like when a bullet goes by? You know, it sounds like beef or something flying by. But I mean, it was like. And it's going like crazy, crazy. So he couldn't stand up. And then some. One of our. One of the guys in our squad, probably George, called in artillery. It must have been NVA moving towards us from the front, in front of us area. I was. I was facing. And all I could see was. I could see, you know, I don't know how far out it was. Maybe a couple hundred yards, maybe 100 yards. I don't know, but it would be like everything would light up and then you'd see these trees, these palm trees just falling down, falling down, and then. And then on and on and on. And that must have been for like 15 minutes. And then quiet. And that was. That's what I'm. I'm talking about. That particular night. That night was crazy. And what was crazier about it, that particular graveyard. There was a squad of ours a month or so before I got there, that set up in that graveyard. And they all died because the Vietnamese.

[Sean Ryan]

Somehow or another, they were buried sitting up.

[Bob Parsons]

No, they weren't buried. They were just mutilated. Like sometimes happens. But none of us were hurt that night. Just the trees. Just trees were.

[Sean Ryan]

What about the family life? I mean, two wives, got kids, grandkids, great grandkids. You're running a major enterprise. I would imagine that takes somewhat of a toll on family.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, it does. It does. But, you know, I can tell you what. What I've. The. The painful thing is what I decided was early on, it was. Might have been a good thing that I wasn't always around.

[Sean Ryan]

Because of your temper?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, temper. I mean, I never got. Never got physical. Never. Never once. But she was verbal and loud and that's. I'm happy that with my angel. I'm past that. At least 99%.

[Sean Ryan]

Are you close with your kids?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

All of them?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

How many kids do you have?

[Bob Parsons]

3.

[Sean Ryan]

Close with the grandkids?

[Bob Parsons]

Grandkids. Not as much. Great grandkids. Haven't met them yet.

[Sean Ryan]

Haven't met him yet.

[Bob Parsons]

Haven't met him yet.

[Sean Ryan]

How old are they?

[Bob Parsons]

They are, I think two and a half and one, something like that.

[Sean Ryan]

Do you want to meet them?

[Bob Parsons]

Of course I do.

[Sean Ryan]

What's going on? On?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, I will, but. I will when I'm ready, dad.

[Sean Ryan]

Gotcha. So you got all this going on in your life. You find Michael Pollan's book, read it, decide you're going to do it. Wife. Wife makes the connection.

[Bob Parsons]

Right.

[Sean Ryan]

What are you seeing in your ayahuasca drink?

[Bob Parsons]

What did I see in my ayahuasca journey? You know, I've seen less in the ayahuasca journey than I did in the mushrooms and the lsd. And I. I think the reason for it is maybe give me a lighter dose.

[Sean Ryan]

Anything get revealed?

[Bob Parsons]

Any epiphanies in the ayahuasca? You know, if it was anything, it's that, you know, I needed to change and I could change, and there you go, but that is it.

[Sean Ryan]

How about the psilocybin?

[Bob Parsons]

Psilocybin had the biggest difference over me. A number of times. And it seems to, seems to work. Work good.

[Sean Ryan]

What did you see?

[Bob Parsons]

What did I see? Well, I. I had that, that flashback of processing those, those guys to Vietnam. And then I told you when I was in troop process and just before I rotated home that, I mean, that I, I could see those guys like I was there like they were yesterday. I mean, like I was sitting here with you.

[Sean Ryan]

Now, was it. Look, was it looking at that experience or a different perspective?

[Bob Parsons]

You know, it's just. It's just I seen the horror of it. I mean, the, just the how that happens and, and these guys are walking into that and they don't have a clue. I mean, I seen that and I mean, and the mess. If I had, if I had to tell you what my most stressful points were to cause ptsd, I would have never picked that. I just wouldn't have because I buried it. But it came out and it was one of the most profound.

[Sean Ryan]

What else did, what else was revealed?

[Bob Parsons]

That's it.

[Sean Ryan]

The whole experience was Vietnam.

[Bob Parsons]

Well, Vietnam, the war is rough for me. Being a kid is also a rough, rough time. But see, I was never, when I was a kid, I was never abused. I was neglected. And it's just as bad, maybe worse, I don't know. But I don't know. Both times bothered me early on when I was talking about the introduction and that letter I wrote myself. I mean, it was everything I could do to tell you about it without crying. Totally. And maybe one day I would. Will I'll be able to talk about it. But I mean, it. It just wrenches my soul every time.

[Sean Ryan]

So, you know, I think a lot of, A lot of firstborns, kids with neglect, kids that are abused, I mean, I think a lot of them, they become overachievers and like, we're always trying to prove something on the oldest. I can relate somewhat, but it's just when you were building all your companies when you were in Vietnam, I mean, who were you trying to prove anything to? Anybody? Were you looking for some type of acceptance? Were you looking for some type of self worth?

[Bob Parsons]

You know, no, and no. Self worth, maybe. You know, it's tough to know what I was. I just know I, I love doing it. And that's an area that I, That I think was a big advantage for me. I just loved it.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bob Parsons]

And so, you know, I was willing to channel my, my energy and time into it and use that as a release to kind of self treat or self medicate ptsd, if you will. I mean, you Know, and you know, when you, you don't work 60 hour shift followed by 8 hours sleep, followed by 60 hour shift followed by, you know, for, for a few months, unless you, you're a bit of a workaholic, right? Yeah. Oh, that's what it was. But I love doing it. But I didn't do it because I hated doing it. I used to look at my watch and I never looked at it and said, oh, it's 4:00. I got another 12 hours left to work. I would look at it and say, oh, it's 4:00. Oh man, I only have 12 hours, I can work.

[Sean Ryan]

I mean, that sort of thing that resonates with me. But I mean, I'm just, I guess what I'm saying is if you were neglected, if you were neglected as a child, then, you know, all therapists go back to childhood and they say that a lot of this stuff stems from childhood. A lot of, even with a lot of war trauma, they die more into, in my experience, they died more into childhood than they do anything else. And so that's what makes me curious is if you built these companies to gain the approval or interest or just having your parents be proud of what you've built could be a major driver to a lot of people. And sometimes you gotta dig for it. But that's what I'm asking you is if you think that, you know, by growing up rough and being neglected, if it was a driver in your business, in your entire life.

[Bob Parsons]

Well, you know, I think, you know, it had to be in the sense that I grew up knowing that if I really wanted something, I better be working for it. All right, so. So that in itself is a driver as opposed to somebody that's working with a silver spoon. Right. You're born with that, you know, they might not, you know, have that. Discipline doesn't register. Yeah. So I was, I was born with a dirty plastic spoon. You act differently with one of those.

[Sean Ryan]

And what about your experience with lsd?

[Bob Parsons]

LSD has been a different type of drug for me. I think it's been helpful. I tend to get a little with lsd, a little nauseous with, with it, but never so nauseous that I purge and then move on to the next step, just nauseous. So knowing that I've avoided it, but I still think having having LSD at the same time, I had the combination of ayahuasca magic mushrooms and, or psilocybin and osd, I think that is a powerful combination for me.

[Sean Ryan]

And you saw the effects immediately. And your wife did?

[Bob Parsons]

Yes.

[Sean Ryan]

What did she see?

[Bob Parsons]

Well, she, she seen I was kind of the guy she wanted to be married to. There you go. So, you know, it's, it's like, it's, it's, it's like I was told once that every young couple that gets married, right, the husband thinks that, you know, doesn't want his wife to change and the wife doesn't want her husband. No, wants her husband to change. And often they're both disappointed. Well, she was happy to see that her husband changed or maybe changed and it stuck. Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Do you continue to use psychedelics?

[Bob Parsons]

You know, I have, but I don't, I don't. I mean, I haven't, haven't in a while. My wife did a journey not, not too long ago with her sisters. They had some, some family stuff they were dealing with and it's been great. And I tell you what, and it's been. I mean I love the woman tremendously, but since her journey I love her even more.

[Sean Ryan]

Have you guys ever done anything together?

[Bob Parsons]

Oh, we have, we have, we have done MDMA and done it twice, I think, but it's been a while.

[Sean Ryan]

It's been a while. See what, so what, why did you dive back in? Did you start to see any fall off from what you've gained from your initial journey?

[Bob Parsons]

No, I did because it was there and I thought maybe I could still be better.

[Sean Ryan]

Did you have an ego death?

[Bob Parsons]

An ego death?

[Sean Ryan]

Have you heard of this?

[Bob Parsons]

No.

[Sean Ryan]

An ego death. Have you ever heard of 5MEO DMT?

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah.

[Sean Ryan]

Have you done that?

[Bob Parsons]

I have and let me tell you a story with that. I've done that. And, and that's the kind that you smoked the right toad bomb. Well, well, I've smoked it and did it three times. Smoked it, felt nothing. And my, my guide, who is my dear friend, said there must be something wrong with this and he took a puff of it and was on the roof. So for some reason or another that stuff doesn't affect me.

[Sean Ryan]

No kidding.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. I don't know what it is, but it's the damnedest thing.

[Sean Ryan]

Damn. I did ibogaine and Then followed by died 5 Meo DMT and that was a total ego death of that. You legitimately think, you don't think in your mind you are a hundred percent certain that you are dying and then you cross over into this other realm and once you. It's the most anxiety, the most fear, the most all of that stuff that I've ever experienced at any one particular given point. In time lasts for maybe 15 to 30 seconds, but it feels like an eternity. And I think a lot of people fight it and maybe they don't cross over, but if you can actually let it go, just let go and actually die because you are 100% certain you are dying, you know, so it's like your entire life and it's hard to. It's hard to describe, but it's like you just start letting go of everything. You let go of possessions and friends and then there's like the final thing. And the final thing for me was I was having a problem releasing my wife and my firstborn son. I didn't have my daughter at the time. And that was my last thought before I crossed over was I can't fucking die because I can't leave my wife and my son in this fucked up place. And then I let that go and you cross over into this other realm and man really opens you up to all the good in the world. And, you know, I'd always heard about. It took me a long time to do this because I always thought psychedelics are just for hippies. And I don't. I definitely don't consider myself a hippie. But. But I've heard him talk about energy and good energy and bad energy. And once I crossed over into that realm, I could see, like, I could see all of the energy flowing from the beach into the ocean, into the trees, the birds, the sky. I could tell that everything was connected one way or another. But I wasn't hallucinating. It was more of an intuitive type. Experiences, experience. I felt my best friend Gabe that I was telling you about, whose Glock and Flag is up there. I felt his presence. We didn't talk, but I could just feel him. And that stuff just changed my entire life. It cured my addiction. I was. I was a major alcoholic, sucking down pills, Valium, Xanax, Ambien, Selenor, Oxycodone, any. All of it. Anything I could get my hands on just to numb. Just to numb, just to numb it out. Gone like that. Haven't had a drop of booze since.

[Bob Parsons]

Wow.

[Sean Ryan]

Yeah, it. Totally. And then on top of that, you know, just being. Just being on a. On the platform that I've built in front of millions of people, there were subjects that I felt beholden to my audience. I have to. I can't venture into this because my audience doesn't want to see it. And it took all that away. It said, fuck it, just do whatever the fuck you want to do. And I started Doing that. And my business was already on a rocket ship. And then. And then once I didn't care anymore about anything but my own curiosity. My business just. It gave me the courage to say no to things. It gave me the courage to dive into new areas. It gave me the courage to start looking at the afterlife and what that looks like. And we were talking about guardian angels. It sent me down a whole spiritual journey with that and looked into the universe and all kinds of. And eventually landed on Christianity. But, but. And I continue to do self maintenance, you know, it. Not on any particular cadence, but. But I've done a fair amount of psilocybin. And man, that stuff really cleaned me out too, with a lot of the stuff that was going on between me and my wife. And I think everybody should do this.

[Bob Parsons]

I think so. I think it is one of the answers. I think when we start doing it as a people, should we ever stop doing it as a people? It'd be a renaissance.

[Sean Ryan]

Why did you decide to do it again after your initial experience?

[Bob Parsons]

Why did I decide to do it again after the initial experience? You know, the first time it was I wanted to fix a problem. Second time I wanted to get better, keep getting better. See? And now I feel I'm, you know, probably about as good as I'm going to get. So, you know, I. Not, not. Not doing it as much.

[Sean Ryan]

Do you think you'll do it again?

[Bob Parsons]

Might hope so. Hope so. I'd like to. Like to do it with my wife again.

[Sean Ryan]

But what do you like to surround yourself with nature when you do it?

[Bob Parsons]

Nature. Nature is one. It's hard to go wrong with that. And.

[Sean Ryan]

Friends, do you find clarity? Do you find answers?

[Bob Parsons]

Not in the sense that there's something that I'm looking for. No, no.

[Sean Ryan]

Do you go into it with intention?

[Bob Parsons]

No, no, no, no. You know, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let me. You know, I was. I was with. With one of the guides. Who was he? He was. He was the guy that did my first journey in 2017. Him and. Him and his partner. And, you know, I had thought about what I wanted to accomplish when he was there with me. And we went ahead and we, you know, had a journey and so forth. And I never thought I accomplished anything, but I accomplished everything. And I know you're going to ask me, you're going to say, what is it you wanted to accomplish? I don't fucking remember. And you're going to say, well, how do you know? Well, I did. At the time I knew, but now I got my brain Just. I've been eating chocolate chip cookies and they've clouded my thoughts.

[Sean Ryan]

Oh, man. Are you a Christian?

[Bob Parsons]

Yes.

[Sean Ryan]

How did you find faith?

[Bob Parsons]

How did it. How do, how do I find.

[Sean Ryan]

Did you find faith?

[Bob Parsons]

What does that mean, faith? How do I find faith in God? Faith in Christ or how do I find it?

[Sean Ryan]

How did you find it?

[Bob Parsons]

How did I find it? I, I think it takes an effort for me, but, you know, there's, there's a saying, there's no atheist in a fox. Right.

[Sean Ryan]

I know that saying very well.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah. No atheist in a foxhole. And, you know, I, I mean, that's, that's the best I can do.

[Sean Ryan]

Do you think that psychedelics is a bridge into a spiritual realm?

[Bob Parsons]

You know, I think so. I think so. And I, and you know, and I, I'd like to thank that I haven't been able to really get in there as deep as is there available for the getting now. The one thing I can tell you, under the supervision of a doctor, of a physician, I've taken a strong injection of ketamine and have an absolutely total hallucination, almost geometric and stuff like that. Don't think I'll see anybody again. And I mean, pretty heady stuff. But coming through that, you know, I don't have any particular thing that I come away with other than love solves most things, violence solves nothing. And those, those particular things would be what I, what I came away with. That as well.

[Sean Ryan]

I would say that's pretty profound.

[Bob Parsons]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, I do know when I, when I spend time and I studies Christianity and I, I read about it, I get a feeling that I don't get from anything else.

[Sean Ryan]

Me too. Yeah, me too. Well, Bob, I really appreciate you coming and it was an honor to interview you and, and document your life journey. And I just want to say thank you again and God bless.

[Bob Parsons]

Thanks, brother. Well, I, I appreciate being here. You, you're quite a guy. You had, you've had quite a life. And you know, God bless you. I mean, you know, you, you, you could, you could be an angel.

[Sean Ryan]

I don't know.

[Bob Parsons]

You are an angel.

[Sean Ryan]

But thank you.

[Bob Parsons]

Thank foreign.

[Sean Ryan]

MLB all star Sean Casey, AKA the Mayor. Keeps hitting it out of the park.

[Bob Parsons]

Take my 30 years of experience, take the wisdom and knowledge I've learned from.

[Sean Ryan]

The failures when I got sent down.

[Bob Parsons]

My rookie year, all the injuries I had to overcome. Your mind is the most important tool you have in life. Be relentless, keep charging. It matters how you talk to yourself, how you look at the world. That matters. We talk about that? I don't know. I'm fired up. Baseball's back, and it's going to be incredible. I love it.

[Sean Ryan]

The mayor's office with Sean Casey from Belize. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.