B (3:15)

Well, I love that you jumped on and I said, hey, I like to strike fast. You're like, let's get on the show. And boom, off we go running, dude. And so here we are today, you know, becoming friends. I love all the things on the backgrounds. I like the Fallout Shelter logo that you have on your wall, and I love the warning, you know, bombing Rangers, something. Don't cross this path. You have some really cool vibes going on. Welcome to the show.

A (3:36)

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's funny. I mean, I'm a Gen Xer. I assume you probably are, too.

B (3:41)

Yeah.

A (3:41)

The Fallout Shelter just reminds me of being in elementary school.

B (3:44)

Me, too. Junior high. My dad was a Green Beret, and he had an armory at the junior high school that he ran. And in that was a fallout shelter, which nobody really saw at school except for me, because I would go in with the guys, we'd go downstairs, see the shooting range. The fallout shelter, it was always locked off to the regular students. You know, how do they get in there in a fallout? I'm just saying.

A (4:05)

I don't know. I think I remember seeing a Clockwork Orange or just a little piece of it when I was a kid, and, oh, my gosh, I was scared like this for a while.

B (4:15)

You want to know. You want to know something about Clockwork Orange and me that I have in common? I. I started a movie with Malcolm McDowell, who is the main character in Clockwork Orange. Yeah. We did a Stephen King movie called Firestarter together, and I play the dad, Andy McGee to the firestarter. And so he plays the evil rain bird in the novel. In the. In the. In the one that we did. There's a first one with Drew Barrymore and David Keith. And then there's a second one, which is me and Malcolm McDowell. And then there's a third one with Zach. Oh, he's super hot. He's on Baywatch, and he's in High School Musical. Zac Efron plays. Yeah, so he plays. So I'm. I'm in good company. It's me, Zac Efron, and David Keith as the dad for Firestarter. I mean, you know what I say? So funny you say Clockwork Orange. Because there's a story that Malcolm told me when he. If you saw the whole movie Clockwork Orange, he's sitting in the theater and he's being like brainwashed by this movie. And he has his eyes peeled open with this device on his head. And there's an actual optometrist next to him dripping drops actually in his eyes so they would not dry out from having them stretched open. He told Stanley Kubrick, I would. I'm never going to do that again. Yeah, I had no idea. It scratched his retinas. It did all these things to him. And then if you watch Clockwork Orange, there's another take and he had to do it a second time. As you can tell, he's just hating.

A (5:41)

Pissed. Yes.

B (5:42)

He just doesn't even want to be in it. In the, in the thing that opens his eyes. So funny you mentioned Clockwork Orange impacting you. I had to bring that up.

A (5:49)

It's kind of funny and I don't want to go too much into movies, but did you, did you see the, the recent show that talked about the making of the Godfather?

B (6:02)

No, I haven't.

A (6:03)

It's fantastic, dude. I think it's on. I think it's on Amazon. I love the Godfather. And heads up, because two books from now, it's going to be Cuba, the CIA, and the Mafia.

B (6:12)

I saw that on your website.

A (6:14)

So stoked about that. But the scene where Michael reaches up behind that old, that old fashioned toilet to find the gun to shoot the mobster. I forget. In the crooked Irish cop, they had shifted around the gun. He didn't know where it was. So when he's like fumbling around, that's real. He's like, where's the gun? So, and I just saw that scene on TV again the other night, and I was like, oh, wow. School movie stuff is so neat.

B (6:42)

But yeah, yeah, little, little, little Easter eggs like that, right? It's like, you know. Yeah. And in Firestarter, I was filming it, and the girl, that's my daughter, she blows everything up. And the director's like, hey, rad. I'm all, what's that, Rob? He's like, we need you to slap her in this scene. Right? And she's like 8 or 9 years old, maybe 10 sky. And I was like, I looked at her, she's like, I can take it. I was like, I looked at the director, I looked at her again and I was like, well, we'll just, we'll just, we'll mock it, you know, but she's like, go Ahead, slap me across the face. I was like. We both looked at each other, like, for a moment, maybe I should for realism. But no, dude. So we blocked it out. It looks great. You see me in the movie and go, go watch Firestarter. I know this is all about me today. No, no, no, no, no. It's about Jack. Jack. So many years. My father's name was Jack. What a great name. Jack is also the name of the guy in cloak and dagger who I looked up to as also my dad because he had a beret and the silhouette of him walking out of the fire at the end of the movie of cloak and dagger.

A (7:44)

Jack.

B (7:45)

Such a great name. Colonel, just want you to know that. Mad respect.

A (7:49)

Thank you.

B (7:50)

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So when you were joining the military, let's just crack you open. You were how old when you decided, hey, this is my goal?

A (8:00)

I was 17 and six weeks.

B (8:05)

And you enlisted as a young man in high school or what?

A (8:09)

Yeah, I did. So I went to my parents, signed the papers for me. I joined the Maryland national guard first, the 29th Infantry Division light. And I joined initially as a medic, which is honestly the best thing I ever did. But I was probably one of the youngest guys in my basic training class, I'm sure. Yeah.

B (8:31)

When I was in. I was 21 and I met a 17 year old and I said, how did you know to be so driven at 17? I'm an older dude at this point and I was called Grandpa.

A (8:40)

Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. I mean, I love looking, you know, at 57, I love looking back at something that happened 40 years ago now. And, you know, it was weird. It was 1986. It was the Cold War. My drill sergeant, Staff Sergeant Geraldo Pedro Moore. You know, I still. I wish I could meet the guy today and say, this is what I ended up doing. It's interesting. I actually took care of my. My infantry company commander, or, sorry, my basic training company commander retired as a colonel as well and actually ended up taking care of his daughter as a patient. Oh, a bunch of years later. I think I was a. I think I was a lieutenant colonel then. But I was like. I saw the name and I was like, is your dad so and so. And she's like, oh, yeah. I'm like, oh, my gosh. He was my basic training company commander. But it was just. It was a great experience. And it. You know, my family has a large military history. My dad's a Marine. My youngest brother's a Marine. My youngest nephew is a Marine. My oldest Nephew is getting ready to be a naval intelligence officer. My middle brother is a paratrooper. I spent 36 years. All of my uncles, everybody spends time in the military. Nobody other than me makes it a career, but. Or at least chapter one of a career because hopefully I'll have a long, long writing career. Oh yeah, but it's just kind of part of what the family does. It's part of the family business. And man, I, you know, I got off the bus at Fort Dix, New Jersey, Funny story. I went back as a colonel to help run an exercise probably half a dozen years ago, maybe longer. And I go to the, I'm like, well, let me drive around because now I can drive around and I'm not a private. E1 and I found the old reception station and I looked across the field and that's where my basic training place was. But as a young private, they loaded my butt on a cattle car, drove me around for like, you know, an hour, two hours, whatever it was all around four dicks. And I was like, holy cow, this is the biggest place I've ever seen. This place is ginormous. And then in my 50s, I go back and I look and like a reception, ah, there's where I went to basic training across the field, right? They just made you have this oriented. It was crazy.

B (11:00)

They just drove you around.

A (11:02)

17 year old kid. I was like, oh my gosh, the army is huge. It was, it was, it was an interesting mind game.

B (11:08)

I just remember the orange lights in San Antonio. It was like foggy orange lights. You're getting off the bus and you're just like humidity. And I'm like, this is where mold grows. I'm like, yeah, it was, it was cool.

A (11:21)

I mean, I, you know, so I mean I finished, I went to boot camp between my junior and senior years of high school and then came back and finished high school, came back to football camp in like the best shape

B (11:30)

that I probably could have been, I

A (11:31)

bet at that point, which is great. You know, finish high school, graduate high school, went down to the medic course at for Sam, came back, joined my unit. It was a light infantry company in the 2nd Battalion, 115th infantry, the Maryland National Guard. And I just loved it. I mean, initially I started out as just, you know, like a regular rifle platoon medic. And then very quickly, like, they're like, hey, this kid's okay, we'll let him work with the scout. So I ended up being a scout platoon medic. And you know, and very quickly I was like, you know, this is cool. You know, made PFC and I made specialist and, you know, thought I was the, you know, all that and got into rotc. And I mean, from there, you know, my love for Onward and Upwards kicked off. You know, I mean, next, next thing you know, I'm going to jump school and Air Assault School and went to Northern Warfare School as a cadet and, you know, just loved it. And then very quickly got commissioned and headed off down to the 82nd.

B (12:30)

What was your degree? Medical. Was it a medical degree as well?

A (12:33)

Yeah. So my, my undergraduate degree is in respiratory therapy. Okay. And so, but I never really did it. And my undergraduate degree in college should have been pre army because most of the time I was doing ROTC stuff. And then, you know, I graduated college, went off to the 82nd, spent about three years down there and decided that I wanted to practice medicine. So. And at the time, you know, I didn't think I was smart enough. I am. But ended up decided to go to physician assistant school. So I went to PA School at Wake Forest and graduated from there and have done a lot of emergency medicine and emergency general surgery since then.

B (13:14)

That's great.

A (13:15)

And a bunch of other stuff.

B (13:17)

You know, I had a friend, he passed away a little bit ago. His name's Jim Johnson. He was a general and he was over the 82nd Airborne, I think.

A (13:25)

Yeah.

B (13:25)

During those. Yeah. We'd email all the time up until his passing, and he, he'd always listen to the show and be like, rad, I love your show today. And I'm like, hey, thanks, General.

A (13:35)

I think General Johnson was the division commander. I think he was the division commander. And I'm, now I'm drawing a blank on his name. Started with an S. He ended up being chairman of the Joint Chief Staff. And I can't, I'm so embarrassed. I can't remember his name.

B (13:57)

Happens all the time. I interview hundreds of people.

A (14:00)

Yeah. So, yeah, but he was, he was a commander, I think a couple of commanders before my time in the 82nd.

B (14:06)

So that's very cool. Very cool. And, and cool legacy to go through the 82nd. Right. I mean, all American.

A (14:13)

Absolutely.

B (14:14)

You know, a LTW, right. I love that. Well, airborne to you. That's awesome. He. Hey, do you have a close call being airborne, like jumping out? Was there ever like a static line that went almost upside down on you?

A (14:28)

Yeah, no. I did get a concussion on the jump once it was out on Nijmegen Drop zone. I was, had gone to jump master school, was a second lieutenant and that became like My additional duty, I was jump mastering all the time. But, man, I don't know what happened. I did a feet, butt, head, PLF and swack the back of my head. And it was like a little man went like. I felt like the shock and it was like a little man like, went from my fingertips all the way up to my brain, turning off all the lights one by one, and vision just kind of closed in. And the next thing I know, I'm waking up and some dude's coming by on the next pass, like, yelling down at me, hey, dude, are you okay? That was like crazy. So I kind of shook it off, back to my parachute, stood up and walk back. And then I wondered, this is before I went, you know, to grad school. I was like, I never went and got it checked out. I was like, why the hell do I have this headache for the next six weeks? I had a. Had a post concussion, post concussive headache.

B (15:25)

Oh, yeah. Tbi. That's a. You call that a tbi?

A (15:28)

Yeah.

B (15:29)

Traumatic brain injury. Yeah.

A (15:30)

So.

B (15:31)

And definitely especially when you're coming down, landing. A PLF is a prepared landing, fall, parachute, parachute, landing, fall. So you have to go feet, knees, and then you roll with it and flop over. But you would.

A (15:42)

Balls of the feet, calves, thighs, buttocks, push up muscle. You know, if you. If you're being chill. Master dogmatic about it.

B (15:48)

But you missed those middle parts and just went like, feet, but head.

A (15:52)

Yes, exactly.

B (15:54)

No. I saw a guy get picked up at one of my dad's jumps. He was a halo guy. Just a small, you know, small dude on the team. Little dude. And he was all coming down. Everyone was all watching him. And then all of a sudden, he gets almost like 20ft off the ground, and the wind picked him up and just dropped him right onto his. I saw my dad, his guys run out onto the tarmac so fast. I just. That's a normal day. Growing up with, you know, the guys on the teams in my life. Yeah. You know, being able to get towed along and jump off picnic tables with them. We would be like, oh, get up there, little rat. Here, go ahead, jump off the picnic table with us. I'm like, yeah, can you put me in your backpack? Your rucksack?

A (16:32)

Yeah.

B (16:33)

So my dad would always take a baseball because I love baseball. He loved to train me, and he would always take a baseball wherever he went on deployment. So I have baseballs in Ziploc bags that are all slacked with him written on them. Like, jump 19, 1986. Jumped in the Florida Swamps. Yeah, Things like that. Yeah, I love. Yes, love that. Did you ever do anything like that?

A (16:53)

I've got a. I have a flag. It's actually on the other side of the room. And my little retirement shadow box. But it was my. It was my Uncle Charles. My Uncle Charles. My Uncle Chuck was a. He was almost like a circus strongman. That dude was strong. But he was in World War II in Italy. And I don't know how it came into my possession, but. But it did. And I took it to Afghanistan with me. I think I took it to Haiti, like in the early 90s when Air Steve got put back in power. I've taken it, like on every trip with me, everywhere. And I've kind of written in on it, you know, Black Shark.

B (17:28)

I love that.

A (17:29)

You know, where all it's been and in this guy. I mean, it's dirty and messy and it's got rips in it, but it's folded up and it's. When I retired, I retired it and put it in the shadow box.

B (17:41)

I love that. I love that. That's awesome. And so I love that you can write your novels based off of all of these types of experiences. I mean, you know what it's like to hook up and shuffle up and do the. This. Honk, honk. And you know, doing the whole door, everything and, you know, a lot of booty slapping going on there. You know, like, get out the door so you can bring that to your books. Yeah, I love that. My dad would love those books. He loved Tom Clancy because of the detail of the Navy ships and stuff. He thought my dad was Navy before he went Green Beret. And so he would read it with. He liked the details. Detail and like, knowing that.

A (18:17)

Yeah. You know that I've got a first edition naval press Hunt for Red October behind me on the bookshelf.

B (18:26)

Totally. We're just talking Gen X. Okay. I mean, dad would read that in bed, going to sleep at night. And then the movie came out with Sean Connery. We went and saw it and he left the theater. I thought it was great. I was like, oh, yeah, you know, Alec Baldwin, John Connery, he's a Russian, you know, talks like a Spaniard from Highlander. But at the end of the day, I'm like, that's how a Spaniard talks, dad Rush. So, I mean, he was kind of sad that it wasn't exactly how he thought in his mind. But, you know, when you read a book, it takes you away. It takes you into what you want it to kind of. You Know, how is the sunset in your mind? You know, on the beach, when the, the guy rides into the sunset, you know, in a book. But when you see somebody say, oh, well, I think sunset's cotton candy, you're like, well, mine was more orange and blood red, you know, and like, that

A (19:14)

has been one of the hardest things that I've had to learn as a writer. You know, I don't have an English degree by far, and I, you know, as I've worked with, I've worked with an editor and I learned a lot. I feel like it's almost like another graduate degree, right? So. Learning how to trust the reader and let them form their own, like, I don't need to tell you this guy's pissed off. I need to show it to you through action. And learning how to do that has been one of the hardest things. And I still struggle with it as a writer. I mean, one of the other hardest things about being a writer is learning how to edit. You know, go back through. There's a process called killing off your darlings. You know, like, you write this one sentence and you're like, this is the best sentence ever. And you're like, man, this totally does nothing to support. So you got to cut it.

B (20:07)

That's why you hire an editor to cut your finger off, because you'll never do it. But they'll be like, oh, you need your finger cut. You're like, wait, should there have been a moment of me to say goodbye? You're like, no, dude, it's got to go. You're like, but I could have done that. No, never.

A (20:22)

That's when you. That's when you, you know, copy and paste it into another document of, you know, darlings that you might want to bring back sometime, right?

B (20:29)

And revive that line and see if they pick it up in the next edit. Oh, hey, you know, that line got in there again. You'll get that line in one of your books.

A (20:38)

Yeah, on another book in the future.

B (20:40)

Well, on the other thing, let me jump over to your website real quick while we're chatting. And it's called jackmctavish.com very simple. You know, I'm looking at the artwork, you know, the Hawaiian shirt, the nice watch, the timepiece looks like he's rocking, maybe a Beretta. And I mean, the dame that's on his back. It's like shoulder to shoulder. It's like, do you want these guys to be your real estate agents on the island? Yes. Yes, I do. Back to back real estate agents. You know what I'm saying that picture, I mean, it looks great. The airplane flying with the pontoons on it, you know, the whole thing. I just find that kind of art pleasing to my mind. It makes me want to involve myself in your books.

A (21:24)

Yeah, I love. I love that kind of stuff. And, you know, one of the things with writing, like, you can write, like, I treasure, like, Jack Carr and Brad Taylor and Mark Graney and all these guys, I think the world of them. You know, I've been able to have interactions with all of them. Actually, Mark Rainey is going to be in Raleigh next week promoting this new book, the Hard Line. Love, you know, love the technical detail and all that. And, you know, of course, Brad Taylor and Elaine, his wife, they do so much good work with the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. And of course, Jack Carr, I mean, that guy is like the professor. You look at it, always repping. He was able to bring, you know, it's like built this whole ecosystem around his writing, which, you know, foundation is very good. You know, their books are all. Are pretty serious, and my books are not quite as serious. And I like that because I want to give somebody. You know, I've been to war, I've practiced medicine for a long time. You know, all had her personal tragedies in life and that kind of thing. And, man, I want people to be able to escape for a night or two while they read my books and just have fun. No, there's espionage, there's danger, there's things like that. But I want people.

B (22:38)

Oh, yeah, but.

A (22:38)

But I want people to just have pure, unadulterated fun while they're reading. And that's. That's kind of. That's one of my goals as a writer.

B (22:46)

You know, as a writer, I think you'd like to hear this. I had a gentleman on that. I interviewed Kyle Steiner, former Green Beret Army. He was at Restrepo in Afghanistan. He was one of the documentary guys that were in that unit. And I was talking to him on our interview, and I said, well, did the pilots ever, like, you know, they always brought you supplies and mortars and stuff up to your outpost on top of Restrepo because it's a hump. Did they ever, like, kick you down something, like, outside the. You know, outside? Like, he's like, as a matter of fact, yeah, they gave us licky and chewies is what he called them. But he's like, but books. The pilots would open up and say, hey, here's a couple. They toss down a bag, and inside the bag was some Books. Because these guys are sitting on top of this. Point of this, you know? Yeah. And he said, just tooling our thumbs, you know? And we'd get these books, and they would just, like, fill us all day long with just thoughts of the book, you know, And. And I find that to be what you're saying, something that's just gonna pull you in and maybe take you out for a moment, you know, like, let

A (23:46)

me tell you, I'm kind of. I'm kind of an empath, so. Which is maybe why I do medicine. But if I ever heard that some. Some kid was reading one of my books at a combat outpost, it would be the greatest honor I'd ever have as a writer.

B (23:59)

You know what I mean?

A (24:00)

Yeah.

B (24:00)

Right, Right. And to know that they cherish the books at an outpost. So if you're a pilot out there and you're flying a drop to the outpost, take him a book, okay?

A (24:10)

It'll send some to you.

B (24:11)

I tell you what, you know, really, really just hit up jack right here. And if you're. Oh, without a doubt, you know, and it's. It's just cool to hear that from the guy on the ground, you know, he's just like. We were happy to get books.

A (24:26)

Yeah. That's how I started reading. Louis Lamore was in the military in Afghanistan. There were Louis the. More books, like, everywhere. Like, there was this one chapel that I used to go to for. For church, and there's a bunch of books that were always kind of lined up there. And, yeah, I'd go in, I'd grab half the Louis Lamours and just kind of burn through them. It was fantastic. Loved it.

B (24:46)

Did you always have the inclination to journal when you were a young man growing up or writing like this? Nope, just college kind of turned you into a writer with dissertations and.

A (24:58)

Yeah, no, definitely not. Definitely not. I mean, I've got a doctorate, you know. Actually did that while I was writing the book that I wrote before, Royal Diamonds. They're not. Those two aren't published yet. No, I. I've always been a reader. You know, my mom was a teacher when I was growing up, and the summertimes, she would teach GED classes for the. For, like, the Maryland and State Highway Administration.

B (25:26)

Guilty. Guilty. I have a ged. Guilty.

A (25:29)

She was. She would drop me off at the library, and that's where my babysitter was all day. I. I remember being in, like, fifth or sixth grade reading Raise the Titanic, you know, by Clive.

B (25:39)

Oh, sure.

A (25:40)

And. And just in. Just history book after history book, there's this one section of the elementary school that I went to. And you know, it's just they had all these great books like George Washington Package or Henry Thomas Jefferson, you know, Ben Franklin, you know, Theodore Roosevelt, just this like, series. And I would read every single one of them and just love that. So I've always carried that love reading with me. And then, you know, when I was on active duty, I got turned on the Web Griffin, who's probably my all time favorite writer. I've read the core series probably 15 times. I've read the the Brotherhood of Arms, the army series probably an additional 15 times. I've got every one of them in hardback. And, and my friend Jack Stewart, who floored my book, just wrote Direct Action, which is, which is the latest book for the Web Griffin estate. Of course, you know, the great Griffin died a few years ago, but yeah, I love doing that. And then, you know, I've just gotten turned on to newer authors and older authors. And it's crazy as I've, as I've started writing, I, I read, you know, like, I listen to Jack Carr talk about Frederick for sights and I'm like, oh, holy crap, I've never wrote the Dogs of War. I better read it. You know.

B (26:54)

Yeah, dogs. Yeah.

A (26:55)

And, you know, Nelson DeMille has quickly become one of my favorite writers. And you know, I like his general, I hate to say, like, smart, acid this, but you know, some of these characters can be that way and, and I love it. So, yeah, like, the Cuban Affair is one of my favorite books ever.

B (27:15)

Mine is the Babe Ruth Story. I. One of my favorite books. I found myself in ninth grade. Great. Seventh grade, ninth grade. I couldn't put it down. I'd walk through the halls reading the book. I'd turn the page. I loved baseball so much. And I was just reading about this young boy who was just kind of like overweight and, but could slug the ball. And I was like, I can maybe relate a little bit to him at that time and you know, and just to know that he became Babe Ruth from an orphanage and everything. Yeah, you know, there's. I love the Babe Ruth story. That's, that's a book that has resonated as well as this one called the Darkest White, which is about a pro snowboarder, Craig Kelly, who was taken in an avalanche years ago. And a friend of a friend, Eric Blem, he's the editor for Transworld Snowboarding. He wrote the whole thing because he was a friend of Craig's. And those types of books really Kind of hit you where, you know, you're like, I snowboard.

A (28:05)

Yeah.

B (28:05)

I know the terrain. I know what the darkest white is going to be. It's, you know, Suffolk of the most lame way. Yeah, it's an avalanche.

A (28:16)

Yeah. It's a bad way to go, you

B (28:18)

know, and there's nothing you do when you have all these trees and boulders and you know, blocks of ice that are just rolling normally for that, but you're in the way, you know, it's like, what do you do? So the books like that just point. I'm emotional from it right now, just talking about it. Just like, you know, that's what a book, a good book can do that.

A (28:35)

Yeah, yeah. It's through definitely, you know, that escape. And one thing that I like about thriller writers and almost everyone that I've come in contact with, I usually go to a thriller conference called Thriller Fest up in New York every year. It's such a, it seems like it's such a non competitive environment because, you know, we spend an entire year, year plus writing a novel and you're going to read it and you know, hopefully if we did our job right, you're going to read it overnight and like wake up the next morning feeling like you need to call in sick to work. I mean, that's like, that's the goal. So I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna be competing with Jack Stewart for readers. He'll read my book on a Monday and read his on, you know, probably the previous week because he's a much bigger writer, you know. That's fantastic.

B (29:28)

Well, I mean, you have, are you self published or do you have. You are.

A (29:33)

Yeah, it's. And I'll tell you, getting, getting an agent is hard. I mean, I've, I've worked through the process and I've got a, I've got a book called Tales from the Caribbean that I'm, that I'm finished it. I'm just going to go through some final edits and then I want to go out on the query process and try to get in front of some more agents again and we'll see if that one bites. It's hard. But the flip side of it is, and this has been another kind of neat part about the process is learning the business and kind of viewing writing not as just, I'm a writer, let me write a book, but as a business. And that's very much how I look at it. You know, it's a brand, the Jack McTavish brand. I've built. I was Never on social media before I started writing.

B (30:18)

I love the name.

A (30:18)

Yeah, okay.

B (30:19)

Jack McTalish. I want to follow that.

A (30:23)

Yes. So, you know, I mean, I've built a social media following. I've got seven. Seven thousand plus followers now on my Instagram, which is fantastic. I. I like it. I treasure each and every one of those. Those. Those followers. But learning, you know, how to set up an llc, learning how to research, learning how to edit, learning how to hire an editor, learning how to hire an artist to do the artwork for your. Your. Your product. I mean, Corey. I mean, I could never do my cover work, but Corey Club, who is a fantastic artist, darn sure can. And you know Corey, I mean, bless his heart, he's the nicest guy in the world. He's got a. The. The week that he delivered my cover to me, one of his covers was, like, plastered all over Times Square for another author. So, I mean, I guess I hired the right guy.

B (31:16)

So, yeah, I'm pretty.

A (31:17)

Pretty stoked about that.

B (31:19)

Once you're in that lane, sir, you find others in the lane with you that are going that same way, and it just starts to fall into place, like a little domino effect. Right?

A (31:28)

So, I mean, even things like this, like learning how to schedule a podcast or reaching. Learning how to write an email and reach out, like, hey, would you be interested? You know, like, right now I'm setting up stuff for, you know, kind of the book tour for next month, and, man, it's hard. You know, I've had. I've reached out to different bookstores and, like, yeah, we might be able to get you in in July.

B (31:50)

Right. Whereas, like, a publicist or an agent would come in, like a Shyman and Schuster or whoever, and they'd. They'd say, hey, okay, hey, Jack, you're gonna go get on a plane, and your itinerary is kind of built out, and they have a network out there that would help to alleviate that. So you can stay focused on what you should be focused on, which is bringing your thoughts to the page.

A (32:13)

Yeah, but, you know, but I like kind of doing it all right now, and. Because I'm. Because I'm learning from it, you know, Hopefully. Of course. Hopefully one day I'll have David Brown, who's Jack Carr's public, says, oh, yeah,

B (32:23)

no, I talked to Dave all the time.

A (32:24)

That dude is. I met him in New York and is. He's just. He's just cool.

B (32:30)

You should see our emails. I'm like, bring me the author of Rambo. And he's like, he's like, let me see. You know, those are just like the back and forth that I'm like, you know, he'll reach out and say, hey, can jack it on. Or, you know, we like Brad Thor. David's great.

A (32:46)

You know, tell him I said, hey next time you talk to him. I think he's got to think he's a cool guy.

B (32:52)

Oh, yeah.

A (32:52)

You know, it's funny. Doctor. Dr. Morrell, who is. Which is how I prefer to prefer to him. But I got a chance to meet him at the last thriller fest and I had not. I had not read First Blood. And I was. Sorry, I hate to admit it. I have not read violent. But, you know, Dr. Morell wears a Rolex. He wears a Rolex Submariner that he's had since like about 1977 or 78 and still goes out. He cuts grass in his Rolex. He chops wood in his Rolex. Rolex. And I was like, hey, sir, that's a really good watch. And if you look at my Instagram page, there's actually a photo where he and I are like, watch. Checking each other. I was wearing a Tudor some. I was wearing a Tudor gmt. We started talking about watches. And then he broke into this 20 minute class as me and Ryan Poe. You know, Ryan wrote. Ryan's debut novel came out Blood and Treasure came out last year. And we're sitting there, we're talking to Dr. Morell, and he just launches into this 20 minute class on setting a scene. And like, so first it's just me and Ryan, and then like two other people kind of come up and like two more. And before you know it, there's 10 people sitting there and we're all listening to the great David Morell talk about how to set a scene. And he's so freaking humble and nice. I mean, just. I could listen to dude for hours.

B (34:17)

That's awesome. I'm just. That's awesome, right? Because I mean, again, I grew up Rambo, First Blood, Rambo, First Blood Part two, Rambo First Blood Part three, Rambo, First Blood Part four, and then Rambo, the Home Alone ending. Hey, guys, I'm in here. Don't come in here. We better, you know, but to have it go on and like, just. I mean, it's iconic, right? It was like, whose knife was bigger, his or Schwarzenegger's, right? It's like, who had more kills, Schwarzenegger or Rambo? It's like, you know, we grew up in that generation. Yeah, you know, bro, it's like Contra video games, Zelda Arnold Sylvester, you know, Y.

A (34:56)

That's. It's funny. I remember. I remember having off, I think, for July 4th, when I was going through basic training, and we got a break for a couple of hours, and I think somebody brought in a movie projector, and we. I remember watching First Blood, and I think, like, another Rambo movie, and maybe, like, another. Maybe it was a Schwarzenegger movie or something like that. Oh, wow. These are cool. But it was neat.

B (35:23)

Yeah? Yeah. I mean. And again, you're dating yourself. I mean, a projector, bro, a failed projector. You had to, like, line the film up in it, and sometimes it would start.

A (35:34)

No, I think it was okay. I think it was like a VCR or something.

B (35:38)

I'm just kidding. Oh, I do, because I know about the projector, too. I'm 48. I'm a 77. You're 67?

A (35:44)

57.

B (35:46)

No, but you. You were born.

A (35:47)

Oh, yeah.

B (35:49)

69. Summer. 69. Brian Adams. What's up? Rock and roll, bro. Wow. Summer. Yeah. Love. That's you. You came from that mom and dad. Let's have Baby Jack. That's what they're like in 69. Dude, that's so cool, bro.

A (36:05)

Yeah.

B (36:06)

My dad was coming out of Vietnam. He was 17. 17, going to Vietnam. 6869. You were just coming out, you know, of. Into life.

A (36:14)

Yeah.

B (36:15)

So cool, dude. You're so cool. So, like, what kind of music do you listen to? I was just curious.

A (36:22)

Well, yeah, I mean, I love 80s rock. I love. I guess they call it, like, divorced dad rock, you know? Of course, I love. I'm a huge Jimmy Buffett fan.

B (36:32)

Okay.

A (36:33)

I mean, I'm a huge parrot head. When I was.

B (36:39)

I can only just say pina colada because, like, you know, if you like pina colada. Jimmy Buffett, right? You know, like, just relate to the listener who Jimmy Buffett is. You know, he sings that popular song, I won't sing it for you because you're not.

A (36:50)

He died the day after my oldest daughter's wedding. Or was it. Yeah, because, remember, we were. We went to the wedding, and then the next morning, we were going to the Outer Banks. And just. I just remember sweet, sweet girl and I driving down the road to the Outer Banks, just bawling our eyes out like, oh, man, Jimmy's gone. You know, it's funny. It's funny because I finally understood, like, whatever I felt like when John Lennon died. Oh, sure. You know, that sort of thing. But, yeah, I mean, I. I like rock. I love country music. I probably Love, bro. Country, you know, Riley Green and all that.

B (37:24)

Country.

A (37:25)

Yeah. I actually played bass guitar and, and acoustic guitar. So love, love contemporary Christian music. I've played that and worship bands for 20 years.

B (37:37)

Oh, is that right?

A (37:38)

Yeah.

B (37:39)

So you still rocking a band?

A (37:40)

So, yeah, yeah, I still, still play occasionally. People. Not as much as I used to, but people still give me a call every now and then, say, hey, we need a bass player this weekend. Can you come fill in?

B (37:49)

You know, that's the first time I ever saw. When I went to boot camp and we went to our Sunday church for the first time. I come from Utah, so our faith was Mormon and we never had a drum set. We had a piano, an organ. There was an organist sister so. And so would play the organ. Okay. Or brother, so and so. But when I went to boot camp, there was like Pentecostal. Yeah. And other different types of religion that I had never seen before. And all of a sudden they're like drumming out and like rocking out and they're reaching for the sky. And I was like, oh, this is just what happened here. Yeah. This is another way to, you know, you know, worship. Exactly. Thank you for helping me there. And really eye opening, you know, coming from like kind of a bubble where you just raised here and then you go to the army or the air Force and you're like, what are. What do you mean? There's like seven different churches going on on the same day. What, what are there other churches?

A (38:43)

It's an interesting. It's an interesting shift if you've not been exposed to it and I hadn't.

B (38:48)

And so that. That is interesting, you know, and so to hear that you play bass in that. That's cool.

A (38:52)

Yeah, it's. It's really. It's really interesting because, you know, sometimes when you're. When you're playing, you can be, I mean, really small intimates, intimate setting with, you know, candles and, you know, soft lighting, that sort of thing. Or, you know, sometimes you're on stage playing that kind of music with smoke machines and lights and. Yeah. You know, rocking on, big production thing. So, I mean, I love both cons.

B (39:18)

Colonel Rocker Dr. Dude, sir.

A (39:24)

I don't know, I've been really lucky. I've had a chance to see and do a lot of kind of interesting things.

B (39:30)

Yeah. And now your author, you know, you've written some books and you've got this book coming out, Royal Diamonds. Now tell us where this is going to take place and the setting behind Royal Diamonds and your thought process, without giving away too much and tell us a little bit about Royal Diamonds that's coming out that you've written.

A (39:47)

Yeah, fantastic. So, you know, I live in the South. I love living in the South. I love South Carolina, love Charleston. And it's interesting because before even Royal Diamonds came about, I wrote two and a half more espionage military type novels that are probably more know Car Taylor and kind of their background with some Web Griffin thrown in. And like, yeah, they were doing good, but the guy I was working with was like, you know, he's like, I don't know if this is like the. The market's getting a little tired of espionage novels, you know, and shoot you in the face novels, like, okay, well, sure, whatever. He goes, can you write me an action adventure novel? I was like, man, what do you mean?

B (40:32)

Like, right?

A (40:34)

So I thought about it for a little while and I was like, you know, I was a little discouraged at first. I was like, ah, man, I don't know if I can do this. I was like, hell, no, I can do this. So, you know, I just started outlining, like an arc for a story, and I was like, well, what do I want to think about, you know? Well, I love the concept of the thought of, like, blood diamonds and all the crap that went on in Africa and how they were used, you know, to come to fund insurgencies. And I love piracy, like the study of piracy and the golden age of piracy and, you know, and I like family relationships, like the kind of things you see in a. Like in an older Web Griffin novel. I was like, how can I start weaving all that together? So I was like, well, let me come up with a character. My character's name is Jake Steed, and he was a marine as a young guy. So I joined young. He was. He was not a Marine officer or a high ranking nco. I think he was a lance corporal. And I think a corporal, I think, is a terminal rank that it put on him. And he ends up getting hurt in Syria. So the core, the Corps says, well, you know what, we'll make some arrangements. You love history. And they sent him off to Oxford for an education. He comes back as Dr. Jake Steed. The story opens up, he's in Charleston, he's hating academia, he needs an escape. Of course, he's fabulously wealthy because, you know, that makes things so much easier, of course. And he gets on a sailboat and says, I am heading off to the Caribbean, and the story goes on from there. And there's. So there's piracy. There's some overtones of Espionage from the British Espionage Services. Because there's a. There's a British noblewoman involved and there's friendships. There's. Jake's old friend Mike Diaz from the Marine Corps is down doing things in the Caribbean that are probably in the gray zone.

B (42:32)

Yeah.

A (42:33)

Part of the time. Sometimes he's working for himself, sometimes he's working for other organizations, organizations that don't. That aren't afraid to drop a duffel bag of cash off if you drop things off of them.

B (42:46)

Right.

A (42:46)

Kind of thing. And the story goes on. And it's interesting because it's a story about searching not only for Jake's own legacy and his family's own pirate legacy, but also this royal diamond that a damsel in distress needs help find it. So that's all I should say.

B (43:09)

And that is coming out around March 17th. So, you know that will be available basically on your website, right? We'd have to go to jackmctavish.com.

A (43:19)

no, it's on Amazon. Audible. The great Tucker Smith, who is a retired judge from South Carolina, is my narrator. It'll be available on IngramSpark. So if you're a school or a library or independent bookstore, you can buy it there. And also Barnes and Nobles dot com. So I'm really trying to spread out the availability of it.

B (43:42)

So it has a UPC code on the back of the book that can be scanned at these places, right?

A (43:46)

It does, yeah.

B (43:47)

And that is what helps. It kind of like show that you've had these sales to like, get up on the rankings, Right?

A (43:54)

Yes. Yeah. And let me tell you, as an. As an indie or as an indie writer.

B (43:58)

Right.

A (43:58)

The author, those reviews mean everything. So, you know, if you get a chance to buy a book and if you're buying it online and my tinnitus just kicked in, it's like the sound of freedom. If you get a chance to purchase one of my books, if you would bless me about doing that, and then you could leave a review that would

B (44:21)

be hugely helpful, especially on the Amazon. The Barnes and Nobles.

A (44:25)

On the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles.

B (44:27)

So I'm not going to say who the author is, but I'm going to give you a freebie and you can tell me you can choose this or not in your life. So you carry your book with you and if you go to the airport, you go to the bookstore that usually has like all the best sellers, you know, like Jack Carr's out there. He's like, hey, I signed one. It's here on the shelf. Come and get it. Right.

A (44:46)

Yeah.

B (44:47)

But you go there and say your book is, you know, not on the shelf. Well, you pull your book out of your bag that has a UPC and you have them scan it as if you want to buy it. And you might have to pay for your own book because it'll ring up with a UPC in their system as out of stock, and that they need to restock because you are buying the last one. I heard a rumor.

A (45:11)

Well, you know what's interesting is my brother gets on a plane every Monday and travels the country every single week. And we'll say, hey, bro, I need you to do so.

B (45:20)

You kind of got to say, yeah, I want to get this book right here. Let's see, what do I got mission? Like, I want this book. And they, they just scan the back of it. You just go beep. And they're like, oh, let me see why that's not pulling up in the system. They do a little typing, find the price of it, whatever. And then it says out of stock because they're buying the last one.

A (45:37)

Yeah, that's crazy. It's funny, you know, you. You look, you'll see guys, like post stuff on Instagram where they're traveling through. Jakar does this all the time, where he'll roll through an airport and, you know, they'll just come in, they'll just sign a bunch of books and leave them there for people to. People to find. And I mean, what a. What a cool thing. Like, you know, hey, I'm have to fly out to LA for a business meeting. I'm looking for something to read and you pick up a Jack Carr book and oh, crap, look, it's son. That's fantastic.

B (46:02)

Thanks for reading a book, Jack, or something, you know, whatever he wants to write in that, right? It's that I see him do that on his Insta. Yeah, quite a bit.

A (46:09)

And it's a neat thing to do for people.

B (46:12)

Yes. And so, like, you know, that's just like a thing I heard, you know, authors that are traveling do. I just tell you,

A (46:20)

right?

B (46:22)

How do you get your book on that shelf? It's tough. It's placement, right? We know that it's. It's tough. Like you said, it's hard to get a publicist. I'm not trying to say that everything is easy. You get on the show, you get on soft rep radio and you have like just huge people hitting you up. It's like you are working to get yourself out there, you know, and hoping that I think self published is cool.

A (46:47)

I did. I really do too. Now that I've committed to it, I am fully committed to it.

B (46:54)

It's like an indie band doing their own thing and just like producing themselves and everything they did was all from their own hide. So they have nothing to, they have everything to lose, you know, so it's like. So they're going to overwatch it. Yeah, 100%.

A (47:09)

It's part of the American dream for me, you know, be able to build a small business on your own. And you know, and, you know, you know, like I said earlier, you know, if I have heard that some dude was reading my book on the Top of a Combat, I mean, that would be a great out, you know, a great honor. But you know, the communities that I've been able to associate with in the past, you know, the special operations community, the intelligence community, the, you know, all of, all of that, I want to write stories that honor those people. Now I'm not afraid to cook fun at them either, but.

B (47:41)

Right.

A (47:41)

No, but I want to honor it. And, and I want those communities, especially to. To enjoy reading these books.

B (47:48)

I love that. I love that. And you know, there's always a place here at Soft Rep if you ever wanted to like, put something up on the website or share some of that

A (47:56)

or anything look at doing that, you

B (47:58)

know, if you ever thought about it, it's just something. If you have stuff scripted already and you want to share it on Soft Rep, you know, insights into your world or hey, you know, you know, you're going. Jack's going to be traveling to some place to do a book tour. Why would we not want to support you? Yeah. You know, putting it out there. So if anything comes up like that and you're trying to hustle and you need some extra hustle behind you hit up us. My guy. My guy, actually his name is Guy. He's my editor. Yeah, he, he would probably love to see, you know, share some of your stuff on our website. No problem, you know. Yeah, exactly. And, and when this comes out, anybody listening or watching, thanks for watching blow you a kiss, but anybody listening, blow you a kiss. Anybody out there just, you know, if you buy the book, when you buy the book, leave a comment where you bought it at and just say, hey, you know, give feedback. Authors are going to go read it. And it also helps to bring their book in the algorithm up more so that it can be then found a little easier to help these guys offset, you know, doing this. Like he said, you're operating a business. You're now transitioning from tactical to Practical. Yeah. Okay. So you're bringing that and I find that like the Capri sun, you know, the drink, I love to call that tactical to practical. You know, it's like a NASA thing that became a school lunch. Okay. It's like tactical to practical. Tang. Tang. Tang was made for astronauts and, and then Tang is now in our household. Well, it was household name in the 80s and 90s.

A (49:34)

You know, it's crazy. If you're a Gen Xer, not excited about Artemis 2, I don't know what's wrong with you. Oh, I mean, I'm, I'm stoked. I'm. I'm like. I mean, I'm not like really. I've never really been a big sci fi guy other than, you know, Starship Troopers, which I've probably bought multiple dozens of copies for and given out to other like officers and leaders in the military. Read this. Yeah, read.

B (49:56)

The spiders are coming. Aliens are coming.

A (49:59)

Well, I mean, more so. I mean, if you want to look at the transition from private soldier to non commissioned officer to officer, freaking read this book, dude. It's fantastic. But yeah, it's kind of lost my train of thought a little bit.

B (50:15)

No, Artemis too. It's.

A (50:16)

It is, yeah. Like, it's so exciting, like for our generation, you know, I mean, I remember, you know, of course, the Challenger disaster, which was.

B (50:23)

Right.

A (50:24)

But. But also being a kid and, you know, watching Blasting off the Dang Moon and Walking on the moon and love it.

B (50:31)

Are you, were you alive during that? Was that something that was in your lifetime or is that history to you? The moon landing?

A (50:38)

It was funny. If you ask my oldest daughter, she's like, it never happened.

B (50:41)

Oh, right. But.

A (50:42)

Well, conspiracy theorists.

B (50:43)

But let's just say it happened.

A (50:46)

Let's just. Yes, we believe it happened.

B (50:48)

Yes, yes, yes, I'm sure it did.

A (50:51)

Yeah, no, definitely. I think. I can't remember what day it was that Armstrong walked on the moon, but it was, but it was in 69, I believe.

B (50:59)

In the year of your birth.

A (51:00)

In the year of my birth. And yes. You know, I remember being a kid having like, you know, rocket models and like big plastic models. I'm just like, yeah, this is so cool.

B (51:10)

So, yeah, I just remember watching Challenger.

A (51:13)

Yeah.

B (51:13)

You know, I was in school, but then I came home and it was on TV all the time. It was like replaying over and over. And I remember just sitting there watching the, you know, the shuttle going up and just dissipating and coming back down in pieces. And there was just a teacher. I remember she was Like a teacher. And it was such a big deal, you know, that it was a civilian that was going up in space. And, you know, we want to believe that that's the final frontier space, you know, who knows, right? Wild. Yeah. We're finding planets between our planets, man. It's like what we thought was, is, you know, it's crazy, right? And for those out there that have a conspiracy about the Earth being flat, I just want you to look at like a diagram of the sun which is round, right? We agree on that, right? And then like Pluto and Mercury and Uranus and everything's round and then Earth flat. Right? Is that right? Think about it for a second. I just want you to think about that. Okay? Come on now. Come on now. I'm still stretching from boxing this morning, bro. I went out and hit that gym up, dude. We did non stop ones and twos on the bag. Filling it right in that left shoulder right there. It's like, oh, bro, you know, minute 20 on the bag multiple times. Ah, I love it. It's good for the heart.

A (52:28)

Yeah, good for you.

B (52:29)

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I'm proud to have had you on the show today. You know, we've talked for like an hour. You know, we've just been back and forth. Banter. I like that, dude. And you're great.

A (52:39)

And I really appreciate the interview. I really do. It's, it's. I mean, this is not my comfort zone, but I've really enjoyed it.

B (52:48)

Yeah. And I hope it's a little different than what a lot of interviews are like. You know, I'm just like, hey, you tell me what's going on? How are you doing? You know, are you doing well? You need a pat on the back because a, you should get a pat on the back for your service to our country. Thank you for so many selfless years of, you know, doing the right thing and being a respiratory therapist and helping people and being empathetic. Being a colonel. Totally cool. Going back to basic training with a colonel on your shoulder.

A (53:17)

Yeah.

B (53:17)

Crazy things happen, you know. You know, to go from having to salute a cardboard box with a colonel on it to being the colonel. You know what I'm saying?

A (53:27)

Yeah, I was, I was pretty lucky, you know, I mean, sure, I've got. Got to a rank that a lot of people don't get as an officer, but I'm proud. It's funny. One of the things I, you know, I retired from the Army Civil affairs and Psychological Operations Command and they were still on jump status back then, so. You know, I made my last parachute jump, as in carnal. But one of my favorite things to do, you know, as a, as a medical provider, was actually go out, walk around the drop zone with a, with an aid bag on my back doing jump coverage. We love that because, you know, like some dude with land is, you know, like, you know, you know, you walk over and you check them out, hey, man, you all right? And they'd look up and they're like, I thought you were a specialist. Oh. Oh, no, hey, hey, sir. Yeah, no, I'm fine. Like, no, I just, it's like just doing it for the love of the game. Just, just being out there. I mean, if you ask me if the one thing I miss the most about the army, it's doing things like that, being out on the DZ and hanging out with other people, doing, you know, watching the drop, controlling the drop.

B (54:32)

I'm sure in the field, I'm sure in the office, you're a colonel, I'm sure you earned that rank. But in that drop zone, at that moment, you're, you're a buddy that's like got the skill set to make sure that they're good.

A (54:43)

You know, it's like I pretty much had a 50 mile, no hat, no salute area around me.

B (54:48)

I would imagine, I'd imagine my dad growing up in the Green berets, they, they rarely ever saluted anybody around. They were all first name basis.

A (54:55)

Yeah, I'd rather operate that way, you

B (54:58)

know, and I love that. And, and, and I hope you much success with your, your books and your, your storylines and I love the artwork. So congratulations on a great looking book. I look forward to having it, you know, in my local airport.

A (55:12)

Yeah.

B (55:12)

Because it's now in stock. Okay, David Brown, if you're watching this for some reason, let me just point over here to my man. Okay. And I don't know if it's appropriate for me to create an email for us three, but I could always like, say, hey, I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. I don't know where it could go, but have a nice day. You know, there is something like that. And again, if you want to come back on the show, if you want to put anything on our website, Colonel dude, sir, you're more than welcome to do so.

A (55:40)

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I'd love. If you're listening and you're not following at or at Jack McTavish Adventures on Instagram. I'd love to have you as a follower and Manctavish m a C T A V I S H Adventures on Instagram. And would just love to have you all follow me.

B (56:01)

Okay, well, before I let you go, let's see how fast I can do that. Hold on one second here. Let's see if we can do it this quick. Hold on one moment. Let's see here. So we're going to look up Jack McTavish. J A C K M A C T A V I s h McTavish adventures. You got a blue check mark. Legit follow. I am now following. It took me less than like a minute to do that. And you can do it too. That's what's up. I just did. So feel free to follow back. And if you don't like what I'm posting, unfollow. But you know, it's that easy. So go follow Jack. Jack McTavish adventures at Instagram. Check out jackmctavish.com where you can definitely get his book when it comes out. Check out all the other places where you can find quality books ex, including your airport. Let's hope it's there. And Jack, again, you're welcome back to the show and thanks for being a very cool, humble, bass playing, rock and roll author, doctorate of everything, dude.

A (57:03)

Appreciate it. I really do. Thank you so much.

B (57:06)

You're so awesome. And again, on behalf of everybody here at Soft Rep, Brandon, Webb, Callum, my producer, Gia behind the scenes, you know, Logan out there, you're hustling Logan. Thank you so much. And Xander and everybody that posts up all the time. And Guy, you know, thanks so much for being there and, and believing in me to host this and letting me interview guys like Jack, which just make me a better person. So thanks again and behalf of everybody else. This is rad saying.

A (57:31)

Peace.

B (57:48)

You've been listening to Soft Rep Radio.

A (57:51)

This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.