Valhalla VFT

Summary

The Antihero Podcast: Episode Summary – "Valhalla VFT"

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Antihero Podcast
• Host/Author: The Antihero Podcast
• Description: Part Delta Force. Part Street Cop. All Truth.
• Episode: Valhalla VFT
• Release Date: March 17, 2025

---

Introduction

In this compelling episode of The Antihero Podcast, hosts Tyler and Brent Tucker engage in a candid conversation with Nate Kornakia, a seasoned Green Beret and host of the Valhalla VFT podcast. The discussion delves deep into the intricacies of special operations training, cultural shifts within the military and law enforcement, and the personal journeys of the guests. Skipping over the promotional segments, the episode focuses on authentic insights and firsthand experiences that resonate with veterans and first responders alike.

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Military Training and Standards

The episode opens with an in-depth exploration of the stringent training processes within the Special Forces (SF) pipeline. Tyler and Nate discuss the rigorous selection processes, highlighting the intensity and low pass rates that define the journey to becoming a Green Beret.

• Tyler: “It’s an 18x Ray program. You sign up for at least four years, and when you know the least about the military, you have to make the biggest decisions of your career right off the bat.” [12:26]

• Nate: “The Q course is a lot the same. When you graduate, you're just the master of the basics.” [25:25]

They compare SF training to Navy SEAL training, noting the high standards and the profound commitment required to succeed. The conversation underscores the challenges faced by instructors and the impact of maintaining elite standards on team performance and mission success.

---

Cultural Shifts and Toxic Masculinity

A significant portion of the discussion centers around the evolving culture within the military and law enforcement, particularly focusing on the concept of masculinity and its portrayal in modern society. Tyler and Brent express concerns over perceived declines in physical and emotional standards, attributing some of these changes to broader societal shifts that challenge traditional notions of masculinity.

• Tyler: “It’s expected you have standards more than you have to have teams, because you can’t have substandard teams and embarrass the Green Berets.” [42:27]

• Brent: “We all know that standards are being lowered. Maybe it’s a generational thing.” [46:36]

They argue that these cultural changes have led to a dilution of the qualities that make Special Forces and law enforcement effective, emphasizing the necessity of maintaining high standards to preserve the integrity and effectiveness of these critical roles.

---

Military Career Highlights

Tyler shares personal anecdotes from his extensive military career, providing listeners with a vivid portrayal of life as a Green Beret. From intense training phases to combat deployments, Tyler details both the triumphs and the physical toll exacted by his service.

• Tyler: “I deployed to Afghanistan in 2018, and we hit that shift where the ROE changed. We were told to go forth and slaughter the enemy.” [54:22]

He recounts the challenges of navigating through rigorous training while managing multiple injuries, ultimately leading to his medically retired status. The conversation sheds light on the physical and mental demands faced by Special Forces members and the personal sacrifices they make.

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Post-Service Career and Content Creation

Transitioning from military life, Tyler discusses his venture into content creation and podcasting. Initially skeptical, he found success and a platform to share his experiences and viewpoints, despite facing backlash for his outspoken stance on certain issues.

• Tyler: “My channel started to grow dramatically after I posted a video about the harsh realities of being a Green Beret, which unexpectedly went viral.” [94:43]

He emphasizes the importance of authenticity and addressing real issues within the veteran community, even when it attracts controversy. The discussion highlights the delicate balance between entertaining content and meaningful discourse, and the role of social media in shaping public perception of veterans and first responders.

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Concluding Thoughts

In wrapping up the episode, the hosts reflect on the ongoing challenges within special operations and law enforcement, advocating for the preservation of high standards and the importance of honoring the brotherhood forged in service. The conversation is a poignant reminder of the dedication and resilience required to excel in these demanding fields.

• Nate: “We cannot have substandard teams and expect to maintain the integrity of the Green Berets.”

• Tyler: “Maintaining standards ensures that our teams can accomplish missions without compromising national security.”

---

Notable Quotes:

1. Tyler: “It’s an 18x Ray program. You sign up for at least four years, and when you know the least about the military, you have to make the biggest decisions of your career right off the bat.” [12:26]
2. Nate: “The Q course is a lot the same. When you graduate, you're just the master of the basics.” [25:25]
3. Tyler: “It’s expected you have standards more than you have to have teams, because you can’t have substandard teams and embarrass the Green Berets.” [42:27]
4. Tyler: “I deployed to Afghanistan in 2018, and we hit that shift where the ROE changed. We were told to go forth and slaughter the enemy.” [54:22]
5. Nate: “We cannot have substandard teams and expect to maintain the integrity of the Green Berets.”

---

Final Remarks

The Antihero Podcast’s "Valhalla VFT" episode offers a raw and unfiltered look into the lives of Special Forces operatives and first responders. Through engaging dialogue and personal narratives, the episode underscores the critical importance of maintaining elite standards and addressing cultural shifts that impact these essential roles. Whether you’re a veteran, a first responder, or someone interested in the realities of military life, this episode provides valuable insights and a deeper understanding of the sacrifices and dedication required to serve effectively.

Transcript

[Tyler]

I'm at the bar one night and one of my buddies who was the. Or one of the Oregon Ducks football running backs who blew his ACL out and was done. He joined the Oregon Duck cheerleading team. Sutton gymnastic team. For those who don't know, the Oregon Duck cheerleading team is like one of the most premier cheerleading teams. It's like the Delta Force of whatever.

[Brent Tucker]

You got to say.

[Tyler]

I'll get to it. I'll get to it.

[Nate Kornakia]

First time you ever talked about this publicly?

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Is this a. Yeah. You're going to hear first.

[Tyler]

Nobody. Nobody knows this. So where you guys go? I'm gonna get like. Everybody's gonna make fun of me for this forever.

[Brent Tucker]

Hold on. We're not recording.

[Nate Kornakia]

Wanna buy a raffle?

[Brent Tucker]

Do you wanna buy a shirt to support military dance? People wanna see their sausage get made.

[Nate Kornakia]

An appropriate level of inappropriateness. Something happens in my family tonight. The Delta Force isn't coming to rescue my family and my kids like it is. First responders that are gonna save my family.

[Brent Tucker]

They want the culture to be down. They want people to not wanna be cops. And the people that do wanna be cops are now walking into the.

[Nate Kornakia]

I'm gonna try to act like it didn't happen. Although we. We all know it did.

[Tyler]

JV team for life.

[Nate Kornakia]

The hair's flowing over there, Drew. And it looks. Looks like it has some bounce to it and some. Some shine.

[Brent Tucker]

What do you.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't. Doesn't look like your standard head and shoulders type of hair day.

[Tyler]

Great hair genetics. Good on you guys. Chocolate.

[Nate Kornakia]

You lost the chocolate. Is that what you're going with?

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. You guys do have good hair genetics. I didn't even think about that.

[Nate Kornakia]

We don't. We don't. We don't have the same hair. He doesn't have the receding hairline that, like the. The. The what?

[Brent Tucker]

They call those the point. The block. Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Widow speaks different. That's. That's like. That's. That's extra hair that goes down into a point.

[Brent Tucker]

No, that's because you. You lost it on the sides.

[Nate Kornakia]

No, but that's not what a widow's peak is. That's. That's the extra pointy hair. I forget what's. What's the word I'm looking for? Trying to sugarcoat it. Telling you what it's not without being able to tell you what it is.

[Tyler]

I can show you what it is. That's right here.

[Brent Tucker]

You just broke the Internet by taking your hat off.

[Nate Kornakia]

Oh, you want to break the Internet and tell him to take his Beard off.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah. Did I show you that?

[Nate Kornakia]

Oh, yes, you did.

[Tyler]

Everyone looks a little bit different from looking 45 to 22 years old.

[Nate Kornakia]

Really?

[Tyler]

Immediately everyone would be like, what the is that?

[Brent Tucker]

Who is that?

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, everyone looks a little bit different.

[Tyler]

That was like, don't ever.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, everyone looks a little different without a beard. That is a significant change.

[Brent Tucker]

All right, y'all ready?

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Brent Tucker]

I can't hear myself yet. Oh, there we are. Welcome back to the Anti Hero podcast. Part delta force, part street cop. All truth. I'm Tyler, owner of Refractive Wolf Apparel. Use promo code Anti Hero and get yourself 15 off the best and outsider culture. Graphic tees, stickers, hats, flags, ranger panties, beanies. Everything you need, we got it.

[Nate Kornakia]

And I'm Brent Tucker, owner of First Responder Coffee Company and First Responder Cigar Company. Use promo code FRCC15. That's FRCC1 5. To get 15% off the world's best coffee and cigars.

[Brent Tucker]

And of course, this episode is brought to you by hptrt.com human performance. Go to hptrt.com and use promo code HERO and get 20% off. Not just your first month, but every single month after that. And if you've gotten blood work done in the last six months by the VA or by a personal doctor, you can upload that on hptrt.com and your. Your blood work will be waived. So you can use that instead. So testosterone is big in our community. We're big advocates of it. Don't use Valhalla's code. He's probably got a better grade than us. So use [e-mail] 20 off and don't.

[Nate Kornakia]

Forget to support us via Patreon. 5 and $10 levels. You'll get behind the scenes, you'll get giveaways, promo codes, you know, get in different group discussions between lifting, shooting, general discussions, DM us with personal questions and you if you are a Patreon or if you're not a page, if you're not a Patreon, then you want to hear. You won't get to hear cool combat stories that that natal saved. Just, just for those guys.

[Tyler]

That was a great intro. You guys nailed that. It takes me usually like eight times before.

[Brent Tucker]

113 times.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, and we still. And we still screwed up. It wasn't. It wasn't as smooth as it should have been. There's.

[Brent Tucker]

That one sounded good.

[Tyler]

That one was good. Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

For being honest here. I had some ums and oz on. On my part, and I still have a little bit of hangover. Brain going. So it's not. We're not. We're not fully there.

[Brent Tucker]

I showed up ready to go.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, he did. Yeah, you did.

[Tyler]

I'm already drunk, so we're at different levels.

[Nate Kornakia]

Can't be hungover if I'm drunk. Again with us today. If. If you don't know, then you probably don't know who we are. If you don't know who Nate is, we have Nate Kornakia. He's has over a decade of service as a Green Beret with 1st Special Forces Group, and he's also the host of the Valhalla VFT PodC podcast. Nate, thank you so much for coming down here and being part of the show.

[Tyler]

Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. I'm stoked to be here. I mean, obviously, like you said, if you know. If you know who I am, then you already know who the anti hero podcast is.

[Nate Kornakia]

So it was. It was kind of weird being on your Live last night and seeing so many of the same screen names.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, the.

[Nate Kornakia]

Oh, but it's not all about you, Tyler. Some. You have a very. What's where? I want to say, like, groggly, grumbly voice today. Are you trans.

[Brent Tucker]

Gonna be. No coughing. There's gonna be no throat clearing. Everybody chill the out.

[Nate Kornakia]

No, I was gonna go the other way with it. I think. I think we're watching, like, your real time, like, Jocko transition. Like, if it just continues that way, that'll be a great voice.

[Tyler]

That was good.

[Brent Tucker]

It's the trt.

[Tyler]

Is that working?

[Nate Kornakia]

Oh, is it.

[Tyler]

Is that a fake voice? No, no. Are you guys. Are you guys calling that out?

[Nate Kornakia]

No, I don't think.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay. He's gonna get back on his channel.

[Tyler]

Yeah, that's the first thing. That's the first episode.

[Nate Kornakia]

Bren said he was on speakerphone with.

[Tyler]

Him and he has a really high voice.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, just coming off.

[Tyler]

Jocko transitioned.

[Nate Kornakia]

No, no, no, no. We're just talking about. That's it.

[Tyler]

See you on the next one.

[Nate Kornakia]

We're gonna scrap this one.

[Tyler]

Just kidding. First of all, I like Jocko. Have you seen me? I've defended Jocko ad nauseam on my channel over the Eric Deming claim. So we're just giving him a hard time. Nobody. Nobody at me.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, yeah. Eric Deming did kind of go hard on him. That was on our show.

[Tyler]

Yeah, it was.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, that. That controversy.

[Brent Tucker]

I know. He went on other podcasts, though. I didn't know if he kind of went more into it.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, he went on Greenberg Chronicles. He went On Jay's.

[Tyler]

I actually talked to him in private for about an hour and about a little bit. Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

He's a nice guy and he's very. He's very intelligent. He definitely knows a lot. He was. He was. He was in a SEAL team for like 24 years.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

An insane amount of time. So he knows what he's talking about. Yep. The. Speaking of someone's career, let's get into yours.

[Tyler]

Oh, great. That's. You know, let's talk about you. I know I told Brent last night I thought I was coming on to like, talk about everybody else, but apparently this episode is actually. I have to talk about myself, so. And here haven't done this really ever other than one time.

[Brent Tucker]

That's why.

[Nate Kornakia]

This is why I think it's ironic. Like, I know who Andy Stumpf is. Most. Most people don't. Most people do. I would. If I had to guess, I would say most people that follow Andy don't know his story.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, I did.

[Nate Kornakia]

And I would say the same thing about you and. Which is a great word to talk about. Like, we have so much crossover in our audience. Yeah. And I think it's appropriate you don't talk about yourself, like, obviously a whole lot in your podcast, or else you probably wouldn't be here.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And be.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

You'd be doing a podcast with Tim Kennedy.

[Tyler]

I was going to say I. I might be on like a person you talked about if I non stop talked.

[Nate Kornakia]

About myself, but I wouldn't be on the show. So you'll have to be uncomfortable for the next. For the next hour and dig in and then, you know, give a chance for. For people to get to know you. Which also think is important because I think it. I love that Special operations still has enough respect to where to some degree, the only thing you have to say is, you know, I served in combat. I was a Green Beret. My opinion matters on these, on these subjects.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

And it still carries weight. But in the day, I think it's. I think it's important for people to hear like your whole story and really understand, like, why they should listen to you.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's. I think that's. I love to watch that on other people, but you know what I mean? It always is one of those things. And we talked about a little bit last night. It's. It's not so much like not wanting to talk about yourself, but it's always like sort of the opposite of Tim Kennedy, which is like, I always want to make sure I'm Paying respect to my teammates and people that I thought did way more than.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. You know, that's called being humble.

[Tyler]

Right. Rather than, you know, the. The approach we've seen some other guys take, which is like, I'll just steal their stories and then pass them off as mine, which, you know. Well, that's not what I'm a big fan of doing.

[Nate Kornakia]

We'll start. And I. You have a very unique story, which I'm a huge fan of. There's a lot of. There's a lot of reasons why people join the military.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

But I love the lineage in your family and the reason you joined. Get into that.

[Tyler]

Yeah. I mean, so most of the people and the viewers of the channel are going to know that My dad was a Green Beret. Right. And that's a big part of it. But we actually talked about it last night because you. Brent, asked me last night, you know, did my dad push me to join? Did he push me to go sf? And I didn't really thought about or talked about it, but no, he never talked about the military. He never talked about having me join or pushing me go to sf. It was, you know, and we get a little bit more into my. My lineage story and the starts of that, but I literally woke up one morning, 20, 21 years old in college, and was like, you know, off a Bender.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

DJing at a nightclub all weekend. You can imagine what was going on, you know, and just woke up one morning was like, I'm. I got to do something better than this and what I'm doing. And just, you know, my dad, luckily, as a SF guy, knew about the 18x Ray contract and knew what routes I should take, which was a big advantage in a lot of ways. And then. Yeah. Walked into the recruiter's office that week, signed on line and what. And went to.

[Nate Kornakia]

Your grandfather served. Your grandfather served as well, didn't he?

[Tyler]

Yeah. Grandpa was in the 82nd. Jumped into Normandy on D Day, Right. Yeah, yeah. My family lineage. It's a serious. Serious. I mean, now Tim Kennedy kind of did. Yeah. Yeah. So. But I mean. Yeah, when you look at it that way, like, it is a very, like, storied military, like, family lineage. Right. Grandpa jumped in on D Day in part of the 82nd training at Camp McCall.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Dad, green Beret in the A camps of Vietnam and then me and Gwat. So, yeah, I mean, it's three generations of no shit.

[Brent Tucker]

You have a son.

[Tyler]

Stepson. But we're in. I am a little bit more pushful of trying to get him to join the military. We'll see how that goes. He's 15.

[Nate Kornakia]

But is there a reason you guys some, you know, one of those guys didn't serve in Korea. And why were they scared of Korea?

[Tyler]

My, like my grandpa.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You guys scared of Korea?

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah. You guys were involved in every other war. You miss Korea. And I just want to know what, what was it about Korea scared your family?

[Tyler]

Yeah, I think, I think grandpa was done. And then dad was too young, you know, so that would be my guess.

[Brent Tucker]

He had a draft dodging uncle.

[Tyler]

You found like the one thing to talk like. Yeah, I didn't want to fight on the dmz.

[Nate Kornakia]

You got to dig really deep to find a joke with that type of idiot. That's all I had.

[Tyler]

Yeah, no, that was good.

[Nate Kornakia]

The. You hit it on the head, though, when you're like, he knew about the 18x ray contract. He walked me in there. And we talk about this on the podcast a lot. And you know, the military is one of those things, I guess, like any other career. But it is harder at times to change your career in the military. Like a regular job, you can pretty much just walk out, go, go start a new job. But you sign up at least for four years and I did six. You dedicate, you know, I'm saying, like a four year contract.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And when you know the least about the military, you have to make the biggest, one of the biggest decisions of your military career.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

And. And go with a job that you know nothing about.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

So for you to have that, you know that, that insight and that, that background and it wants.

[Tyler]

And it was deep insight too, because my dad, my dad was enlisted. He was an nco. And so I was debating on do I finish college and commission and then try to go sf. And he was the one that was like, you don't want to be a officer in sf. Right. You want. Because for those of you who don't know, an sf, like a team leader gets two years team time and then they're off to admin for the rest of their 18 years of admin.

[Brent Tucker]

That would be awful.

[Tyler]

And so he knew that and was like, you want to be on the teams for.

[Nate Kornakia]

That's right.

[Tyler]

For seven to 10 years, then you need to be enlisted. And I decided, all right, and I'll just enlist instead of commissioning. So.

[Nate Kornakia]

And you have to wait to your. And you have to wait to your captain. So you have to do another job. You don't want to do four or.

[Tyler]

Five years in the infantry or whatever. You're going to do before you can get there, which is the 18x ray program.

[Nate Kornakia]

Which is good. Like they. They need.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Like it's all necessarily.

[Tyler]

And even by the time that team leader gets to an oda, he's still the most junior guy on the team. Right. Even with that. You know, a lot of times with that experience, other than maybe like a brand new 18x ray like I was. But after two years on an ODA, even as an 18x ray, you are pretty well trained up.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

You know, so comparatively to a captain come straight out of the course. But yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Did you feel like you with. With that background? But I mean, your dad was a generation before. Did. Did you know you're getting into as far as like selection or Q course or, you know, because of his connections or maybe just your curiosity towards the profession, like you kind of knew what you were getting into as well when it comes to that?

[Tyler]

Not yet. I mean. Yes. Because the way I look at it now is like, all of us, what we do and like guys like Jay at Green Beret Chronicles that can walk you through everything and mentor you and get you ready and prep you and have all the physical fitness plans. Like, that wasn't a thing when we went through. So There was no YouTube.

[Nate Kornakia]

There wasn't a YouTube. Yeah.

[Tyler]

Where I could go and find out every. Every single thing that was gonna happen. Selection. But I mean, having a dad as a Green Beret, I do knew I did know a good about what was going to be at selection Star course, land app. Like, I knew all those things ahead of time, but I wouldn't say that I like, had a. A great. I think nobody really has a great understanding of what the Q course really is until you're in it and you're like, oh, shit. I don't know what I'm doing. Especially as an 18x ray with no. You show up to sut and I tell people, for me, squad union tactics was by far the hardest phase for me. Way harder than SFAS. SFAS is a 18x ray. Like, I'm big, strong, in crazy shape. Top 10%. I just, you know, Gray man, carry the heavy ruck, carry the heavy. At team week, I get selected Sut, all of a sudden you have to start setting up ambushes and raids and, like, knowing what's going on and leading and you're just. For me, I'm like, give me something heavy.

[Brent Tucker]

Give me something.

[Tyler]

Yeah, that was me. I'm like, give me the saw. I'll carry the saw and all the ammo. And just don't put me in a leadership position.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's really, it's a long school. It's essentially our Ranger school.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

But here's where I say it. To some degree it's worse because you're working in a small. A much smaller element than.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

Than your standard Ranger school class. And they get to, you know, company size elements and things like that.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Where, you know, we stay in our 12.

[Tyler]

12 to 18, right?

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, 12 to 16. And there's no hiding. So if you're a weak link.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

There's no hiding it.

[Tyler]

Yeah. You're going to have to step up. You have two or three instructors per.

[Nate Kornakia]

That's right.

[Tyler]

15 guys, right? Yeah. So there's, you know, one instructor per five guys. You're not getting away from it.

[Brent Tucker]

I didn't know this until recently when we started talking with Andy and stuff. Is that buds, that first, you know, initial phase, it's just don't quit.

[Tyler]

Yeah. So me and, me and Jake. Me and Jake Zweig do a Navy SEAL versus Bring Gray podcast every Sunday, which has been awesome because I've been able to learn. We've kind of like talked. We talked the differences between the courses.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

100. He was. And not only that, like you live like you're not at like a Camp McCall. You're just like, you go back to your apartment.

[Brent Tucker]

That's crazy.

[Tyler]

Like you're done with training at 5pm you get like seven, eight hours of sleep now they beat the out of you during it. But yeah, it's like, hey, as long as you don't quit and you can finish, you're good. Whereas in ours, there's so much more to it. Like how many 19 day non selects.

[Brent Tucker]

That would be awful.

[Tyler]

Did you have. We had maybe 30 or 40, I think of guys who made it through.

[Brent Tucker]

All of SFAs, now they're welcome back, right?

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah. The 19 day non selects, it's usually like one year.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

For those guys.

[Nate Kornakia]

Most of them are welcome back. I went in 2002 to selection, so there's the end of 2002. So it was in that kind of surge of a lot of people wanting to go into Special Forces because there's a reason to, you know, to be one. You're going to see action. I think we had a 300 person class. Do you remember the size of your class by chance for selection?

[Tyler]

440.

[Nate Kornakia]

440.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And that's. I guess that's the newer. I guess the, the excuse me, like a newer standard because before just not Everyone wanted to go to Special Forces. Yeah. Now there's a bunch. Yeah, it's very sexy now. Like you want to go to combat, you want to grow a beard. Like it's cooler to do it now. So. But they were struggling with how to, how to manage a 300, I think maybe 350. A 350 person class.

[Brent Tucker]

How many non selects did you have like ratio wise?

[Nate Kornakia]

Gosh, I gotta think about that. I, it was a long time ago, but we were in the Q course. Like, you know, all the guys, like at some point you sit and you kind of talk about it, like, remember where our selection class started? You know how many people are here and that this will be bad numbers. But I, I think they selected roughly like 30 to 40% of, of the people.

[Tyler]

Pretty high.

[Nate Kornakia]

It was, I said they were getting ready for war, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Let's just call that just real quick, you know, 30%. And so it's, it's 100 people. But of those hundred people, we lost almost another 30 or 40% in phase two.

[Tyler]

Oh yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And so of those hundred people, now we're down to like 70.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And by the time you get your green beret, probably 40 guys got the green braise at the very end.

[Tyler]

That sounds, that sounds pretty close. I think we had, of that 440 SFAs, I want to say around 80 to 90 were selected. So it's about close to like a 20 to 25% pass rate.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And then I think we probably had a good 30% of those guys wash out.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

By the time we put on our beret. So that then you're looking at maybe 50 of those 440 eventually finally dawn the green.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's, it's, it's funny because there's, we just talking about SEAL training. SEAL training is very different than, than, than SF training and the initial training. There's so many differences in them. But here's another pretty consistent similarity which is whatever the size of the force is, the Navy or the army, because like, oh, there's, there's fewer seals than there are Green Beret. So they're more elite. Well, there's fewer people in the Navy than there is the army, so.

[Tyler]

But also what's your mission set?

[Nate Kornakia]

So percentage wise, they're about the same in, in the force. And even, even pass, the pass rate is essentially mirrored.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

On both sides.

[Tyler]

Me and Jake talked about that and we sort of boil it down to final success rates and it was very, very close. Like on averages Within a couple percent of how many guys start and how many guys finish.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

But yeah, the pipeline's very different.

[Brent Tucker]

You guys do that every Sunday?

[Tyler]

Yeah, every Sunday that Live at noon. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, wow.

[Tyler]

Okay. Yeah, it's cool. It's been a cool. I, I'm learning a ton about it too. It's interesting to like hear a dude from the SEAL teams explain, you know, what actually goes on in BUDS and.

[Brent Tucker]

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[Nate Kornakia]

Cool.

[Brent Tucker]

They had the patented, they have the patented cooling technology.

[Nate Kornakia]

Nailed it. Nailed it.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Nailed it.

[Brent Tucker]

Goodsbed.com Andrew 50 off Tyler how many.

[Nate Kornakia]

Critical incidents do you think we've covered so far in this podcast, man?

[Brent Tucker]

At least five, six.

[Nate Kornakia]

And, and they're not going to stop. You know, there's you, you cannot stop them all. So they're going to happen. And you really have, you know, two charters of that. Obviously one is to stop them from happening, but since you can't stop them all from happening, you owe it to the people that you protect and depend on you to react to those situations in the most effective and efficient manner. And right now, really, whether, you know, you're a fire department, ems, law enforcement, you're stuck with essentially radios.

[Brent Tucker]

And Apollo is the best way to manage resources during these events because it's designed by first responders for first responders.

[Nate Kornakia]

It gives first responders a common operating picture which allows them to see where everybody is in real time, overlaid onto a map to see where they are. You can drop pinpoints and let them know where they need to go. And without constant talking on the radio, everybody knows where the incident is, where it's happening and where they need to be.

[Brent Tucker]

And Apollo is an app based application. This is just download and go.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's an app and so it works with androids, it works with iPhones.

[Brent Tucker]

Apollo makes sure on the back end everything works and you can just plug and go. They handle all the licensing, all the encryption compliance, all the Security, it's all handled by Apollo. It's crucial to know where everyone is and what they are doing in order to effectively control chaos in one of these, either natural disasters or shootings or anything like that.

[Nate Kornakia]

So if you want to learn more about Apollo, scan the QR code and ensure your department is ready to react to any crisis in its most effective and efficient manner possible.

[Tyler]

JV team for life.

[Nate Kornakia]

But it was cool. Also, I love hearing the more details of the SEAL qualification course because I don't know, I don't, I don't really know as much as I feel like I should know. Like how a SEAL team is made up, the boat teams and the platoons and things like that. Those are always really interested. Interesting to me. And Andy stumped into that a little bit and, and it was, it's, it's cool to hear from it. Of course Andy will shoot you straight because he's, he's right. Has no ego. And I was like, tell me a time you did something like really cool and an sqt. Sqt. And you're like, man, this is some SEAL stuff here. Like, this is cool. This is what I signed up for. And he was like, never, never, never. He goes, we just did the basics. Because we just did the basics even when we started firearms training. It was like, just don't, just don't shoot each other. Like it was just basic, basic, basic.

[Tyler]

That's one of the kind of like that Jake was telling me because we were talking about sort of differences and I talked about like sleep depth, food dep, constantly. Q course. All of the Q course is sleep depth, food dep for the most part. And he was like, yeah, man, I. There was like no sleep deprivation, no food deposit deprivation. We ate as much as we wanted. You get off at 5pm, you go to sleep, you get 8, 8, 9 hours of sleep. Come back in.

[Nate Kornakia]

Hell Week is legit. The Hell Week part is.

[Tyler]

There is. That's different. Right. But Hell Week is only one tiny little like five day span out of their entire year pipeline, which Hollywood's kind of reshaped thinking that like hell week is 12 weeks, 12 months for the seals.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And it's like, no, that's. That's kind of like their team week.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

That we have the.

[Nate Kornakia]

But. And as we were having a humble discussion of sorts and I thought like, well, that's very similar to the Q course. I was like, you know, the Q course is a lot the same. Like when you graduate, you're just the master of the basics.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And he Gave a quick pushback, which was absolutely right. He goes, well, kind of. He's like, you guys have Robin Sage and that's pretty cool. And we don't have anything like that.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

And he's absolutely right. Robin sage is a very unique thing that the green bra get. Get to go through and experience.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Even as in a very young training environment. Like, they. They will. They will let the wheels fall off if you want to. Like, they'll let you do whatever you want.

[Tyler]

And a couple cool things about Robin Sage. Did you know it's the. It has the Guinness book of world records, I believe that's correct. It used to be largest larping event in the world.

[Brent Tucker]

Because it's not real.

[Tyler]

You know, larp. You know, live action role play where they go out, like, do they count robbing battles? Yeah. Yeah. It's a giant LARPing. It is. @ the end of the day, I don't like that. I get it.

[Nate Kornakia]

Like, yeah, technically, yes, but you're not larping. Larping is a lightsaber to do something that he's not. But there's still military guys doing milit operations, but they're pretending to do military. Exactly. I know, I don't like it, but I. I do. I do see it.

[Tyler]

But no, you're right. Robin sage is amazing for. For us. I remember our final culmination, culmination exercise. We had the. The bunker. Have you heard about that? The nuclear bunker in North Carolina. You fly. It's this giant cell phone tower and you fly into a middle. We flew on. On helicopters into a middle of a neighborhood, which is crazy, right? Landed those helicopters inside of a big wire where there was a giant cell phone tower. And so the idea was we blow up the cell phone tower, like our Charlie's go and demo it and whatever. And there's this little shed. It's like a 6 foot by 6 foot shed on the very corner. And you go and you open the door and there's like a pole bunker that goes downstairs and it goes into. I'm telling it's six, seven stories deep. It's the size of like a mini skyscraper deep down in the middle of a town in North Carolina. They. They built during the cold war these like, government nuclear bunkers.

[Brent Tucker]

When you say neighborhood, you mean like Cumberland county, Like outside?

[Tyler]

I'm talking like where your sub. Your suburb is, where your house is, where there's the cell phone tower. There's a random massive nuclear escape bunker built down into like smoke weed in that thing. I'm talking like 5, 6, 700ft deep, and I'm talking like 100 meters wide. Was floor by floor by floor by floor by floor.

[Brent Tucker]

Huge.

[Tyler]

And we're, like, doing cqb, clearing all the way down this giant bunker, coming back up. So it was cool. Obviously, all the generals and everybody showed up to that one because that's the. That's the big one.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's a real unique one.

[Tyler]

Was lucky to have it. But, I mean, that's the type of stuff you're doing at Robin Sage, where it's like.

[Nate Kornakia]

I don't think crazy. Crazy stuff had an incident since then, but the Robin Sage right before mine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the. No, it was a couple. It was a couple classes before mine.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Because the class after mine one, one of the guys lived. He got shot up by the cops, and he was going back into. Into Robin Sage for the second time.

[Tyler]

Oh, my God.

[Nate Kornakia]

So how you want. Like how.

[Brent Tucker]

I always thought it was a big rumor.

[Tyler]

No, that's real.

[Nate Kornakia]

Oh, yeah. That actually happened to Q.

[Tyler]

Core students were killed.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yep. Two. Two were killed. A third and a third one took. Several.

[Tyler]

Fake bank robbery. Because we do stuff like that. Right. Or like, not a bank robbery or I forget what exactly they were doing.

[Nate Kornakia]

You're asking me to really jog them in your banks here.

[Tyler]

But.

[Nate Kornakia]

But. And the comment section will tell me.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah. They'll let us know. Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

But I'm gonna take a stab at it with. With. With some sort of confidence. They were in. Either in the back of a bread truck getting inserted somewhere or they were gonna. It was something with a bread truck or maybe they took down the bread truck like, for like, some sort of battle resupply. And the cops, generally speaking, I mean, this is happening over hundreds and hundreds and probably thousands of acres.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Multiple counties.

[Nate Kornakia]

Multiple counties. All the residents are involved. They've been involved for generations. Everyone knows, like, this is happening. For whatever reason, this cop sees this and decides to, you know, to stop it. Well, because we're briefed so well and everything to this point's going so well. Like, everyone is involved in this. Even people you don't think are involved, like, are involved in this.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Like the convenience store clerk.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Is like a role player.

[Nate Kornakia]

So they think the cop is just like an enroll. And these guys have sim guns. And so they thought that was like, you know, hey, we have to get out of here, and we have to take this food, you know, whatever they were doing there, and get back to our G camp. So they shot at the cop because they thought the cop was enroll. And the cop shot back because he was in his actual role. There's a police officer.

[Tyler]

There's been a.

[Nate Kornakia]

Killed two guys.

[Tyler]

There's been a. There was a lot of, like, risk management done. Like, we wear the big giant armbands to, like, let everyone in town know, like, you're a role player and all that. But, yeah, that was a. I get it.

[Nate Kornakia]

And I hate it at the same time because I don't want any part of that to feel like it's being controlled. Like, that's part. That's why Robin stage is so cool, because it feels so uncontrolled when it's.

[Tyler]

But like you said of people being involved in that mission. We did right where we were. We. No, we didn't fly in on helicopters. We got picked up on helicopters, but we basically, we were on foot, moving our way to the cell phone tower, going through people's backyards. I'm talking, like, opening fences.

[Brent Tucker]

Like, these people are all like that. We were used to this.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, they know. And not only that, when we got to where we were hitting the cell phone tower, like, there was hundreds of the people from the neighborhood out in lawn chairs, like, and we had a 240 set up in, like, somebody's front lawn, like, across the street to engage. Like, so. And there was people. People were just out there for the event. So they know.

[Nate Kornakia]

Well, they're big fans of LARPing.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

The. When the way your Q course was set up, I'll tell you mine, and you tell me, because I know it's changed over the years. Right. So when I went in, you know, it was. Phase one was considered selection. Phase two was sut. Yeah. Phase three was your MOS phase. So I went to echo school. So did you?

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

We're both echoes. That's why we're so intelligent. Obviously.

[Tyler]

Obviously.

[Nate Kornakia]

Phase four was Robin Sage.

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

And you got your Green Beret after Robin said, that's a little bit different. But you didn't get your special forces tab because you hadn't been through the whole course. And so that was a weird time.

[Tyler]

Did you guys have language at the end?

[Nate Kornakia]

And then phase five was language, and then phase six was Seer, so.

[Tyler]

Oh, phase six was.

[Nate Kornakia]

Phase six was Seer.

[Tyler]

So the only.

[Brent Tucker]

Sorry, that's not before Robin Sage.

[Tyler]

It was for me.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, yeah.

[Tyler]

I'll talk about it different.

[Nate Kornakia]

I can tell you essentially, kind of how that happened, because at some point, Cyr wasn't always a part of the Green Beret. Pipeline.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

It was just an advanced school that you would, you would go to. So when, so when it got introduced, it essentially just got tacked on the end and we're like, hey, we're just going to have everyone go to the school at the end. So it took them a little bit. And when they did change things up, I think they did change things up, like for the better.

[Tyler]

Yep. Yeah. So my 2013, when I was there, almost exactly the same in that, except for we had Seer. We went sut. Sut. Seer. Mos. So Cyr was transplanted right after. I believe that's correct, yes. Sut. So SFA seer. No, SFA s. Sut. Seer. Mos, Robin Sage. Language. But we didn't get our berets or our tabs until we finished and graduated. Language. We didn't get either one.

[Nate Kornakia]

I get that. But we really enjoyed walking around.

[Tyler]

Walking around Bragg. Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Sort of candy like, hey, like here's a small reward. Keep it up. Yeah, like that makes more sense to me. But I tell you what, what's got to be difficult and, and, and you lived it was having those two courses back to. Back in your Q course. The, the two physically most demanding ones and mentally demanding ones to some degree. Sut followed by Seer. I. I would want to break.

[Tyler]

Well, I'll tell you. And you know, I mean, I got my, I got my current wife here with us. But I'll tell you a little story about my SEER experience. My Q course experience. We talk about like you deal with. I went through selection in December, Sut in January, Seer in February.

[Brent Tucker]

Sounds cold.

[Nate Kornakia]

That's my nightmare as a Floridian. That's my nightmare.

[Tyler]

Horrible. Right? And so, yeah, Seer in this, in the POW camp at Cyr, we had like a giant blizzard came in. So we had like 6 inches of snow on the ground. Absolutely horrible.

[Nate Kornakia]

Inches of snow.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's definitely. So I get out of, I get out of Sear school and like you get out of the prisoner at war camps. Right. I haven't slept in 96 hours. I haven't eaten in eight days. And I, I get on a bus, go back, pick up my car, drive back to my apartment and my apartment's empty. And I'm like, oh, what the is going on? And my ex wife had just bounced while I was in the prisoner war camp and that was it. That was the end of our marriage. You can do, but you can imagine. But I had to start mos. I started MOS school. Like, I got out of Sears school on a Friday, got home, my apartment's empty, my dog's gone, and I had to start MOS school on Monday.

[Brent Tucker]

Make sure you got what you need for Monday.

[Tyler]

Yeah, on Monday, I started mos and it was just like, wow, okay, this is. And there's no. Like, I can't go to the Cadre and be like, hey, I need some time.

[Brent Tucker]

Welcome to the Army.

[Tyler]

Yeah, I need some time to figure this out.

[Nate Kornakia]

You know what?

[Tyler]

You're.

[Nate Kornakia]

You're ahead of schedule. You're ahead of schedule, buddy.

[Tyler]

Divorce. Green Beret. Harley, you got One of the three knocked out already before you finish.

[Brent Tucker]

30% APR and a Camaro.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Obviously worked out for the best.

[Nate Kornakia]

But, you know, I. I could imagine why they. Why they didn't do this. At. At some point. This is gonna be, I guess, like, our. Most of our traditional pocket is gonna keep telling stories of. Of. Of. Of the Q course and. And combat and. And things like that. So I know at one point they did a. They put language school before Robin Sage. And the reason you would want to do that, obviously. So when these guys would go into Robin Sage, they could only speak the foreign language. And so. But as you can imagine, it would be very difficult with an exercise that big to get that many Spanish speakers, that many French speakers, that many, you know, Tagalog speakers. Like, not. Not just, like, on one team. Yeah, on the. The role players. And your GS. Like, your GS have to speak all that.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And. Well. And they're all Vietnamese, so.

[Nate Kornakia]

From the so shops.

[Tyler]

Yeah, no, they are. They're all mutnyards. Right. All the role players, which is awesome. Which they're literally. They're literally descendants of, you know, my dad's generation being brought over. But. Yeah, so Q course has gone through. It stayed pretty. Pretty standard from your time to my time, things moved around a little bit. A little bit here, a little bit there, and then the Sontag era in about 20. 19. 2020 is when the big upheaval. I don't know if you guys have talked about that on the channel.

[Nate Kornakia]

We haven't. Yeah, I'm well aware of it. We haven't talked about it.

[Tyler]

So the big Sontag general. Sontag. Right. The bit. The DEI push, like, all this. Right. Like, women got to be Green Berets. That was the big. The big push. The Sontag era. He comes in. That's when we restructure the Q course completely to where it turns into this. Like, you go to SFAs and then you go to. I'm not sure if you. I'm pretty sure you went to MOS school. You get your MOS and then when you get to Sut, it's one big phase. Sut sear, Robin Sage is one phase. And you're in ODAs and they actually put you in ODAS where you have like 218 echoes. Now there's probably like the numbers a little bit different, but you actually like built a real ODA to then go through the course with. Okay, the problem with that was. And I asked this question because I remember I was in SLC as 2019 because when they were in the middle of it, I was a back at Bragg for slc. And I remember asking the cadre, well, it's like, okay, that's great that you have this oda. But like when I went through, tons of people wash out. So what happens if your 3 to 18 deltas wash out of the course? And the response was, they're not going to wash out of the course. And it was like, what do you mean? They go. It's on the instructor to make sure if you pass SFAs, you are expected to pass and don your green beret. So the way they did that is they gutted out physical fitness standards. So PT tests became diagnostic, the ruck marches. All the weight got dropped off.

[Brent Tucker]

This is during. This is in the pipeline.

[Tyler]

This is four years ago for the Green Beret pipeline. This is how we created a couple female Green Berets during that timeline. Oh, right. So and you don't have to carry a 55 pound rucksack. There's no more max gain. Max gain's gone. Like we get rid of all of the really nasty challenges that wash everybody out and we just make it a. If you get selected, you're going to become a greenbrier.

[Nate Kornakia]

It becomes a participation.

[Tyler]

Unless you get a DUI or something like that. Yes.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Then luckily, because I have one of my former teammates is an instructor over there right now, I got a good deep dive that, that all got regutted back to basically the original course and they're back to the same pipeline and phase that we had. And it's really hard. The problem with that now is though, like my buddy was telling me, the.

[Nate Kornakia]

Domino effect of that is that, yeah.

[Tyler]

That'S great that we went back to being that hard. But now nobody can pass because you have this new generation that's getting. I mean it's. Well, no, and this isn't. This is from the instructors who are like look, we have like a 16 pass rate at select, at SFAs because we have all these young new generation kids coming in that lack the emotional maturity and a bunch of different things. And again, this isn't for me. This is from instructors that you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. We need the numbers. But if you make it so hard back in your era, then all of a sudden now the new generation can't pass.

[Nate Kornakia]

Well, I was going to take it a little bit a step back and zoom out a little bit more is so you had this easy time that allowed a lot of people to. That shouldn't have been Green Berets are now Green Berets and they're currently Green Berets. And now you, you there that it wasn't just a Q course problem. Now it's a regiment problem.

[Tyler]

And I'll talk about that because I saw it right. So keep in mind, you know, I'm still on the teams, so I'm a senior leader on the teams at this point. And we start getting. It's not just, you know, we wanted to make sure females became Green Berets. That was the whole DEI push at the time. Well, what does that do when you get those standards out so a female can pass? Well, now you have all these men that would have never, ever made it through the standards get to the teams. And we started to see that. So 2021, 2022, we started getting these young guys out of the Q course to the teams. I had a guy on my team come to our team straight out of the Q course. First PT test that he does on an ODA with us, he runs, I think a 17 minute 2 mile. Fresh out of the Q course, right? Fresh out of the cucumber, straight from.

[Brent Tucker]

The army with that.

[Tyler]

Yes.

[Nate Kornakia]

And brain and ankle the night before playing basketball or something.

[Tyler]

Just out of shape and was just like, yeah, I mean, well. And then we had to like, you know, get him back in shape and you know, do the whole thing. But the whole thing was like, oh, yeah. Well, I mean, I just.

[Brent Tucker]

There was no excuses right there.

[Tyler]

Just they all had. So there was no physical fitness in the whole second half.

[Brent Tucker]

Not that you were out of shape. It was somebody else's fault.

[Tyler]

But that wasn't rare. We start now again, don't get me wrong, there was some studs. There was absolute studs. I had my junior on that same team was a freak of nature. Like he showed up as the most ungodly in shape. Dude, I've ever met. But we had two other guys show up to the team that were just trash cans. I mean, they were. And I was like, these dudes would have never made it through had we not gutted the standards out.

[Nate Kornakia]

So to me, people. People pose that question, and it's a valid question. But to me, the. The answer is just. Is just clear and straightforward to me. Well, what are we going to do? Like, we have to have teams. We can't not have teams. And we're hurting bad right now, and we're hurting. And guess what then, then that's. You have to have standards more than you have to have teams, because what you can't have is our Green Berets that you believe can accomplish this mission only to send out substandard teams and embarrass the Green Berets, embarrass our country. Greenberry is going to go. They'll go to places. All the special operations, including the Delta Force, will not go. Not. Not like it's not in their charter. Like, you guys will go all over the world in a small team with little to no supervision and expected not to embarrass us.

[Tyler]

Yeah, and it's.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's expected that or expected not to die on, you know, on.

[Tyler]

On operation or cause an international incident and just completely, like, break ties with a foreign country because of some dumb shit we're doing.

[Nate Kornakia]

So the answer is to maintain the standard. And. And guess what? I don't know why we have this. We just have this. This mental block that three line battalions per group is what it has to be. You know? You know, first, third, fifth, seventh, and tenth is the amount of groups we have to have.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

Maybe it's time to decommission a group. I mean, I'm not. No one likes that answer. But the other side is, is. Is. Is a much worse answer to me.

[Tyler]

So. God, should I say this? Should I talk about this? Fuck yes. I'm not going to talk. All right? I'm not going to talk about how I know this or why I know this. It's common knowledge in first group. So the manning was so bad and that our ODAs were down to a lot of ODAs, five to six guys. One of my former teammates as a team sergeant went out to Yakima, which is where we do a lot of our PMT training.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yep.

[Tyler]

He had four guys on his oda, him, the team leader, the Fox, and one team guy. And he was there, and they were like, hey, we need you to, like, run operations or do whatever you're doing in training. And he was just like, I have one guy. I have one guy who on my oda who's not a commander.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Tyler]

How am I supposed to do this? And they're. And this is the one I don't want to talk about.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's a half joke. But guess what? You are now. Yeah, you're a Jedburgh team.

[Tyler]

Exactly.

[Nate Kornakia]

Those guys work with four guys.

[Tyler]

The controversy then was everybody was saying, and God, okay, I can, I can't fucking talk about this. There may have been multiple senior level positioned NCOs who literally quit because they tried to bring forward to the command of like, we can't have four fucking guys on an oda. And they were told, we are not disbanding any. Any ODAs. We will continue as charged at the same op tempo. The same op tempo. Which means you still have to go do your J set with five guys.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right? Here's, here's the other thing that, and this, this has to do with like, leadership. And leadership wanting to maintain op tempo out of, out of careerism.

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

So there's a lot of missions we're doing that we need to jettison. They're no longer, they're no longer relevant or per, or pertinent. Some of it became a mission just because it was busy work. But we, but once it becomes that busy work, it now just becomes like something we have to maintain. We don't have to maintain that rack and stack what we're doing right now. Keep the important stuff and, and jettison the things that just don't matter.

[Tyler]

And the reason why all that happened was that because we had already agreed to all those mission sets. So the commander said, no, we already said we're going to do this. It doesn't matter if we have no guys. We are doing all these missions. So you will deploy with four guys to the Philippines, go train someone.

[Nate Kornakia]

That's careerism.

[Tyler]

And you're like, I have, you know, I have a team leader, a team sergeant and two team guys, and I'm supposed to go run a full J set in a foreign country. Yeah, it's not a thing. It's just not going to happen.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's. It's a little off topic. It's, it's, it's a different subject, but it's on the same topic. So. Tyler, law enforcement. It's. I'm just interested to hear your perspective of this because you guys deal with the same thing.

[Tyler]

Manning, right, man, is manning issues.

[Nate Kornakia]

And I want to say, like, I have my opinion about the green Berets because it's so much. I don't. Maybe it's a bigger deal on national level and, and maybe like more life and death is on the line. Not that life and death isn't in line for a police officers, but it's a different job to where when police. When you don't have enough police officers. Like there aren't people on the street to even deter crime. Like I suppose. What do you think the similar problem. Do you come out with a different answer on the law enforcement side?

[Brent Tucker]

No.

[Tyler]

Do you get the standards?

[Brent Tucker]

I was listening to y'all. They are lowering the standards. Obviously. We all know that. And I'm like man, maybe this is a generational thing. Like maybe factories are getting shitty workers now. Maybe like the whole workforce just sucks.

[Tyler]

I think that's probably true.

[Brent Tucker]

But like when you said careerism, I'm sitting here, you know and they're, they're pushing out, out of the job good dudes because they don't want to deal with it. Like I'm not going to go to work three zones down, take 10 reports, stay three hours later and then get shit on by admin. They leave, they go to another place that takes care of them or they leave the occupation. But no one will make any changes to at least keep those guys.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And we can't even get new boots in. And the boots we get in are you know, but like you said some.

[Nate Kornakia]

Studs there's right there.

[Tyler]

There is always going to be that, that small demographic of just badasses that's going to be in every generation.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah. And I think that's. I can order it a little bit better. Like after listening to you, I believe SF has the ability to, to, to jettison like non essential missions but law enforcement that like doesn't necessarily have that. What do you. We just can not patrol this neighborhood. Like you just don't you.

[Brent Tucker]

I know what they will do, what they will do for manpower is obviously you're right. Patrol has to be stacked.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Brent Tucker]

And then there's obligations like school resources, state constitution says you're going to have them. And then courthouses have a minimal manpower thing. So when you're looking at all these things they take from the specialty units. So now your robberies are going unsolved because now they're a two man unit rather than a seven man unit and so on and so on.

[Nate Kornakia]

So many resources go around.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And, and sitting here with you guys, it might not even be just a strictly SF problem, a strictly military problem. This could just be Culture, we have a culture problem. A culture problem that we're sitting through.

[Nate Kornakia]

We, we, we absolutely do. And we're just getting old.

[Tyler]

I think this is what all old.

[Nate Kornakia]

Guys do is pitch about that of sorts. And but we, we true, like you have to admit like this, this last 10 or 15 years and, and you could, I believe it starts, you know, 15 years, but last 10 and it's just ramped up even the last five. It's 100% a culture problem that we're dealing with that others necessarily didn't. Which is. Tell me another time in. And the dire consequences it had that toxic masculinity was ever a thing. So start attacking masculinity. Start, start, start having women say I'd rather see a bear in the woods than a man. Like start, start dividing everyone. Start trying to pretend that women can do everything a man can do. Try to bring women up, try to bring men down. And the domino effect of that throughout society of jobs that have to have rugged and men that are capable of violence. It's going to water it down.

[Tyler]

And I like to think about. So my mom's side grandpa has, he has diabetes before he passed away when he was. And, and what is it? Type A. That's the one you have is like genetically not the obese one.

[Nate Kornakia]

Type one.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah. And he wasn't able to join the military and you know, go fight in the war and that was like guilt. He carried his entire life that he didn't, that he didn't participate in, in that in World War II while all his peers did. That is not a sentiment that like generationally.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, you won't find that today. No.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right. You know, take the masculinity as well away as well. Of course like this ties into masculinity is that we have, we have kids that are 16 that don't want to get their driver's license. They don't want that responsibility of, of independence. They don't want that responsibility. It's like you have to work and get a job to afford this car payment to afford this.

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

Like there's so many men that are proud. You see it all the time. Like I'm just a big kid.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

What, what self respecting man is going to sit there with a smile on his face like oh, I'm just a big kid. Yeah. No generation before would ever look at that as a good thing.

[Brent Tucker]

I was thinking about this the other day. You think that they kind of play off that like how, oh, it's tough in society right now. Like for young adults, they can't get houses, they can't get jobs, dude. I said, do you think it plays in their minds, like, well, I don't have a chance, so I'm just gonna live at mom and dad's house till I'm 22, I think.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Brent Tucker]

Don't go to college.

[Tyler]

Right now, if you are a young man and you are. You are 16, 17, 18 years old, this is now. Yes, of course, the housing market's more difficult than it used to be, yada, yada, yada. But the competition right now, compared to.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

In the 40s, man to man, finding a mate, all these things. It is. If you have any work ethic drive to be successful as a young man right now in this generation, you are going to crush. Yeah, that's true. So my point is the amount of effort that, you know, prior generations and men had to put in.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right. The competition was also high.

[Tyler]

The competition was extremely high.

[Brent Tucker]

So now if the pond's smaller.

[Tyler]

Yeah, I think, I think that's the case. If you're. If you're willing and you're a young man who's, like, driven and you're after it, you're gonna crush the world, dude. Yeah, absolutely. It's. But I mean, what I think what I've seen is that when we talk about masculinity and toxic masculinity over the last 10, 15 years, what it seems to me it's been a. It's been an obviously an intentional and organized push to do this. I don't know, I don't want to say from conspiracy theory or the government or whoever's doing, but societally, we've basically had sort of the wolf tell the sheep the sheepdog is the problem. The sheepdog is masculinity. That's the way I look at it. The sheepdog who protects everyone. You need hard men to go do your job. To do our job. But the wolf says, tricks the sheep and says, oh, well, the sheepdog, the cop is the problem. The soft operator is the problem. The veterans, the domestic terrorist.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right, right. So they're not wrong.

[Tyler]

So the, the wolf convinces the sheep that the sheepdog is actually the wolf so he can get easier access to the sheep. And I just look at the sheepdog as masculinity. I love it. So, no, it's not toxic. The sheepdog is not toxic. It's that the wolf has tricked you into thinking the sheepdog is toxic. That's the way I look at what we say.

[Brent Tucker]

Well, put the.

[Nate Kornakia]

Get back on track here. Because no. And I see what you're doing like the longer we talk about these.

[Tyler]

Right. Well we don't talk about me.

[Nate Kornakia]

Talk about you. And what. How many deployments did. Did you end up going on?

[Tyler]

Well, combat or total?

[Nate Kornakia]

A. Combat.

[Tyler]

So I only have one combat deployment to Afghanistan. Obviously.

[Nate Kornakia]

First group we were talking was that 2018.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Which I was fortunate in that it was. I was on sort of the premier team with the premier mission kinetically super heavy kinetic. We did a bunch of crazy stuff.

[Brent Tucker]

What's heavy kinetic mean?

[Tyler]

Like tons of gunfights getting into a bunch of. So we gotten multiple near ambushes. We blew up. I believe NATO news said it was the largest cache of homemade explosives ever found in Afghanistan. We found the number nine japital target. So that was a awesome deployment. But I also deployed all over Asia and first group so deployed to Philippines, Mongolia, Australia, Japan. So obviously bulk of. I think I ended up with like 40, 40 something months deployed but obviously I didn't get as much as a first.

[Nate Kornakia]

I'm glad you got that. That experience because Afghanistan, the war. Afghanistan was historically kind of odd in some, in some, some degree to which you have the invasion.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And then you have a good eight, nine, ten years of war. Like real war. Yep. And even like the, the, the surge from Iraq had, was so effective. They, they kind of loosened things up and, and kind of surged in Afghanistan again with a little bit. So, So I say there's, there's a little bit of a roller coaster in war. Like the invasion. Everything's off. And then more rules came in and they're like, you know what? Let's let the boys loose again.

[Tyler]

So that's why I want to caveat. So our trip in 2018, it was about a month and a half after Donald Trump famously said we are not going to nation build in Afghanistan. We are going to kill terrorists. And the entire ROE was changed.

[Nate Kornakia]

They go hand in hand as we.

[Tyler]

Entered country and we were basically told go forth and slaughter the enemy.

[Nate Kornakia]

So they can't.

[Tyler]

We got fortunate on that deployment that we hit that shift.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

In op tempo to where they were like do whatever you want. You can't put in the package and you guys can do whatever you want.

[Nate Kornakia]

A fragile nation cannot nation build with bad guys in their backyard.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Like they cannot. And there was a, there's, there was a. It really goes back to charism. All the guys on the ground knew that all, all of us non educated, non officers, non high ranking strategic level thinkers.

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

That, that you know, that are supposed to have all the answers.

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

And, and, and people dog Donald Trump for this, but he was right when he was, when he basically questioned the generals. And, and the mean is like, how dare you question our generals as if they're some sort of gods, which they should be.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

But they're not. And the really first operation that was such a high level operation that required a lot of like general high level theater planning, a lot of general involvement would have been the exil in Afghanistan.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Let me know how that went.

[Tyler]

Well, you want, do you want me to talk about that? Because my, what was supposed to be my second deployment, combat deployment to Afghanistan, I was part of 1st Special Force Group who was going to, was going to backfill 10th group to facilitate the withdrawal of Afghanistan. That was my unit that was going to do that to the point that we were, we had, we did our full nine month train up or six to nine month train up, our validations, our PMTs, all of that. And this was in 2022. And then I've told this story I think once before. So we do the full train up, we have an entire battalion going and we are literally on 30 day pre deployment leave. I have my beard grown out. We had shipped our Conexes and our equipment into country. That's I'm telling you. So you know, the deployment doesn't get canceled at that point.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right, right. That's a point of no return for sure. Yeah.

[Tyler]

Beard's grown out. It's our equipment's in, in Afghanistan, we're ready to go. We get called in by our team sergeant like a week before we're going to literally into Phil in the country to a down or a bar downtown in Okinawa. We were the one ODA from Okinawa that was going to go to combat because Okie hadn't been to combat in 17 years.

[Nate Kornakia]

Wow.

[Tyler]

And so finally it was like, hey, you guys need to support the war effort. And my, my former teammate the guy was telling you about, he was the team sergeant of a team and he of course having like five, six combat deployments was the team sergeant. They're like, all right, yeah, we're going to send you. So that was our ODA and we're a part of Battalion or 1st Group Main Soda, if that's going to go. We get brought in and we get sat down and he goes, I hate to tell you guys this, but the deployment's canceled. No special forces unit is going into Afghanistan. And it was maybe, maybe three weeks later that Bagram fell. And we saw all that happen. So for everybody. What I want everybody to know, because nobody talks about this. Right. And they don't. They just don't know about what the real backside plan actually was. Okay. So you had an entire soda of ODAs, 22 ODA's that was supposed to go into Bagram to basically facilitate ancaf, to facilitate the withdrawal. And so I'm sure, you know 22 ODA is used to buy 2019, 2018 would own the entire country of Afghanistan.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yep.

[Tyler]

You're going to have all of those facilitating the withdrawal. The Taliban would not fight us by 2020. Right. Bunch of bearded dudes show up, we're out. We'll wait. And instead, what we did is for no reason, no rhyme. And I still have never been given a reason. We came to that entire deployment with all of those ODAs, and they just said, and then pull 10th group out. Right? 10th group. Hey, get the fuck out of there.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And then we just watched Afghanistan fall and then sent in a bunch of kids from the 82nd panicked to try to help the airfield when you. The entire plan was to have 250 green berets there facilitating that. I was a part of that unit that was going to do that and was called off at the last fucking minute to not do that. So when you say, could it have been done better? Yes, it could have been done or better. Because I know the plan, because I was part of the plan. Right. Could 250 green berets have potentially held off that better? Yes. They would have never even fucking tried to take Bagram or calf.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Tyler]

Or any of these.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah. And you would have relieved a lot of that pressure off the 82nd guys and the Marines at gates that were dealing with overwhelming numbers because you had.

[Tyler]

No layered plan and you had all these infantry kids with, like, at this point in the war in 2022, no combat experience, no nothing. And you just show them out there. Or you could have had 240 combat veteran Green Berets on the ground. But we decided, or as far as I know, Joe Biden decided that cancel. It can't get. And I think what it really was is. I don't think they. I think they were worried about the risk of, well, if we send all these Green Berets in and then there's shots fired, it's gonna. It's gonna make us look bad during the withdrawal. That's what I think it was. Because we got no reason. There was no reason ever given other than just like, canceled out of nowhere.

[Nate Kornakia]

I would bet a large sum of Money. That, that is why they pulled you guys out.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And in a weird way, their fear of something going wrong, which is very small when you have a highly trained force going in.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

But they let the fear of something going wrong completely dictate their plan. And by trying to, by trying to make it more safe, if you will, they made it more dangerous. They got treed by a Chihuahua, to quote.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And then we had. And then we had A bunch of U.S. server Service members killed and maimed.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Right. And then, and then we decided to like airstrike random Afghan families after that to like show the boss.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's like it was so, so bad.

[Tyler]

So all the things you were worried about doing, you just end up doing anyway.

[Nate Kornakia]

So. So let's go back to this. That is a, that is a general level operation. So let's go, let's, let's, let's make proper comparisons. So if your ODA went out and did an ODA level mission and completely screwed it up as bad as that was.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

Do you think your team sergeant would have a job? Do you think your team leader would have a job? How many people do you think would have been fired?

[Tyler]

So top three are fired immediately.

[Nate Kornakia]

They're even. While the helicopter is still flying in the base, they're fired. They don't even know it yet until they get off.

[Tyler]

The top three are fired immediately. Your senior E7s are very, very likely to be on a chopping block. Their careers aren't going to end, but they're probably going to be off an ODA and they're going to be in the arms room or they're going to be on the B team or they're going to be up at Bath or wherever. Right? Yeah, I would say. And then your younger dudes are going to, you know, they're going to get spanked and then they're going to get sent to different ODAs. That whole ODA will be disbanded.

[Nate Kornakia]

So this is. Maybe it's an unfair question because I'm looking for an exact number.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

But do you know the exact number of generals that effed that up and caused Americans to die? How many of them were fired? I want the exact number.

[Tyler]

How many were fired?

[Nate Kornakia]

How many of them were fired?

[Tyler]

I know the exact number. Zero.

[Nate Kornakia]

That's impressive. You knew the exact number?

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not a. I don't even have to think about it.

[Nate Kornakia]

How'd you know?

[Tyler]

Well, and it's one of the reasons why. It's one of the reasons why I hate general Millie so much. It's like whether it's his responsibility or not. You were the highest ranking special operations general in charge when that happened. And what do I know? I know that you knew about the plan and all of us scream beret. You knew about what was supposed to happen and you didn't do jack to stop that from being canceled. Right? So it's.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's really. There's no way for me that he escapes it, so. Because either you knew and you let it happen anyway, or you're so incompetent.

[Tyler]

That you didn't know.

[Nate Kornakia]

Because again, that's. That's the type of pressure officers put on us when operations don't go flawless. So the, the, the, the double standard is. It's, it's just. It's sickening, to be honest with you. It's sickening.

[Tyler]

Yeah. I don't want to get into ranting about the general officer corps because there's. I've got nothing good to say about it. So.

[Nate Kornakia]

Especially, Especially Millie. Miley. I don't even know how to really say his name.

[Brent Tucker]

He messed his name up on purpose.

[Nate Kornakia]

That's right.

[Tyler]

Yeah. What's. What's his actual name? Because I want to say it wrong.

[Nate Kornakia]

Exactly.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah. That's. General Beta is just how he will be remembered in history. I. I do believe that that's how he will be remembered in history.

[Tyler]

Absolutely.

[Brent Tucker]

JV TEAM for Life.

[Tyler]

Revenge is an act of passion.

[Brent Tucker]

Vengeance is an act of justice.

[Tyler]

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[Brent Tucker]

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[Nate Kornakia]

Tell us about the. The end of your career.

[Tyler]

Oh, like actually like the end in. Yeah, yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

You end up medically retiring, correct?

[Tyler]

Yeah, so I medically retired. I did not want to get out. I was not a guy that was like happy about medically retiring, about to make. About to be team sergeant about take a team and. Yeah. So I was on a military free fall team and. Which is halo. Military free fall skydiving for the viewers, I'm sure most of you already know. And we were at a. A level one exercise, which in military free fall, it's basically we go out for two, three weeks and we do three, four jumps a day. Working, working as a team, as an ODA to like actually do our infiltration. It's the big, big train up that we do down in. You were in Yuma, Skydive, Arizona. That's where we're doing.

[Nate Kornakia]

Okay.

[Tyler]

And we were doing a. We're actually doing a big offset jump. 18, 18, 000 foot offset jump with 10th group. And we were doing. They were out there too. We were doing like a joint jump in together. I was, I think, coming in either one or two, man. And as I'm coming in, we weren't going to make the drop zone. And so out in Yuma or out in Arizona, wherever we were, I don't remember exactly where we were. Yeah, it was skydive Arizona. Right off drop zone, you have a, like farmland.

[Nate Kornakia]

Okay.

[Tyler]

Everything is sort of fenced off by barbed wire fences, triple line barbed wire fences. So you can't see them from the air almost at all. Right? Yeah. Which is not great. So we're coming in. We're gonna. We're not gonna land in the drop zone. We're probably like a click away because we did a huge offset and we just didn't do the math right. And we didn't make it. I'm coming in. I may be maybe at most 100 meters off the ground. Like I'm on final. And so for those of you who know and when you do skydiving, when you're on final, you're not doing any hard turns, you're not doing anything crazy. Like you're coming in. As I'm coming in, I may be 50 meters off the ground and I see, like, I'm gonna run straight into this barbed wire fence. Yeah. And so I just pull pitch as hard as I can to just get a 45 degree offset. And when I do that, I turn with the wind, not into the wind. Just as like a panic. Last minute, don't hit the fence. When you go with the wind on these ROA1 parachutes, you go from going 10, 15 miles an hour to 40 miles an hour. And. Yeah, so. And it was high winds.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

So I remember coming. I remember coming in. I remember my feet touching the ground. And then I remember my buddy waking me up because I basically went feet, like, feet head on the side of my shoulders. And then there was probably like a 30, 40 foot drag. I mean, like where I just hit the ground and like motorcycle cratered in. Like a motorcycle accident.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

So basically come to and I just remember the whole. I didn't notice it on the right side at the time. Whole left side of my arm, just immediately as I came to was like, oh, right. Like, this is not good. But I've got like the long combat uniform on at the time. Yeah, but in level ones, you're doing like jump after jump after jump. So it's like, get your parachute, get back to the hangar, get your other parachute on because you got three parachutes. Get back on the plane, jump again. So I'm like, what the fuck's going on? This hurts crazy bad. Still coming to. I'm also probably like super concussed.

[Brent Tucker]

Nate's over here puking.

[Nate Kornakia]

Is he good?

[Tyler]

Massive concussion on top of it. Right. I get back to the. The ready room, and at that point in my career, I was. I was actually the. I was acting as the 18 fox because we didn't have one. So I was the most. The most senior E7 on the team outside the team sergeant. And I'm like, I don't know. I don't. I don't think I can jump again. My buddy, long time teammate, worked together forever. Love the dude. He's the team sergeant in front of. Everybody looks at me, he's like, don't be a. Like to basically try to pump me up to like, hey, get back on the horse. Because in military free fall, when you have a really up exit or landing or whatever you're doing, like, guys get scared. Yeah, because you almost just died. And so he's like, he grabs our 18 Delta and he's like, give him a bunch. Like, shoot him up with tort. All right, so take a giant shot of toradol, which is like a giant anti inflammatory. I feel a little bit better. And I'm like, okay, I'm feeling okay now. Put on my stuff, rig it up again. I still have this long sleeve shirt on, so I haven't really noticed. And I'm still probably. I barely remember any of this. So I'm still, probably still like half knocked out. Get back on the plane, we go up, we jump out again. We jump out, I pull, I open. I go to pull my toggles out and I can't lift my arm up. My left arm above my shoulder, it's here. And so I'm like, I get my brake unstowed. I'm like, oh, I unstow my other brake and my warrant officer, he still laughs all the time about. He was right behind me. And then we get to the ground and he was like, dude, you were doing some crazy one arm tricks. Like you just guided in the whole way, one arm. And I'm like, no, I have like both toggles with one hand trying to like follow the stack and get in. I finally get in and at this point I've come to completely. And dude, it's like it hurts so bad I can't lift it up. I take my shirt off and like my whole arm is black. And so yeah, I ended up. And my other shoulder's completely up too. But I don't know at the time, ended up having. I mean, I've shown you the scars. Both my biceps were torn off my labrums. Rotator cuffs were torn.

[Nate Kornakia]

You're gonna want those.

[Tyler]

Yeah, rotator cuffs, labrums, biceps. So I had bicep tendonis on both sides to where these big scars here. Put your biceps off your labrums. They attach them to your pectoral muscles. So like you said, I can't. I flat bench not a lot of that AC joint over the top. They had to pry my AC joint out, fix all that. Rotator cuff and labrum both torn on the side. Rods, anchors all the way through. And at that point and. And this was late injuries. I also suffered a bunch of injuries. Knee surgeries following my Afghanistan deployment. Got injured in Afghanistan, ended up having four knee surgeries, two lower back surgeries before this. So I was already like hanging on for dear life. You like for the shoulders walking around. And. And I had had massive reconstructive surgery back to back. So like this arm, three months later, as soon as this was out of sling this one. And at that point I'm about to take a team and I'm like, what am I going to fucking do? Am I going to be a team sergeant that can't do anything right? I can't, I can't jump I can't.

[Nate Kornakia]

Lead from the front.

[Tyler]

I can't lead from the front. I can't be a military free fall team sergeant because I can't reach back to grab my boc. And at that point I realized, you know, I've got seven, almost eight years team time. It would be awesome. Like the next pinnacle is like take a team, right? For a guy at my level. And it was just like, I can't, I can't. I physically cannot do it. And that's what did, that's what eventually ended the career for me.

[Nate Kornakia]

Like, after all the surgeries. Did your, did your team sergeant, like come to the hospital and be like, my bad.

[Tyler]

Oh, we're like, he's one of my best friends, right? He was actually at shot show with me, right? Yeah, yeah, he's one of my best friends.

[Nate Kornakia]

That one's on me.

[Tyler]

It's still. It's a funny, it's a funny story to talk about. Now looking back, like, you remember that time you called me a and everybody after I had no connection to my shoulders anymore. 17 surgeries and you made me jump out of a plane with a non working arm. Like you almost killed me. Remember that?

[Nate Kornakia]

Remember that? I Do you remember that though, right?

[Tyler]

Yeah, but. But that dude saved my life in an ear ambush. So it's like, all right, so it's, it's even. You know what I mean? But yeah, that's, that's how pretty much the, the end of the career was injury based, unfortunately. Otherwise I'd still be in.

[Nate Kornakia]

Did you, did you skate out of swick time or B team time?

[Tyler]

Yes, I did.

[Nate Kornakia]

Was it all ODA time?

[Tyler]

Yeah, that's pretty rare, so. Well, yes, but I mean I did first group. We can do it, right? Okay. Is a big way that we do it. And that's how I did it. So. Okay, so I did team time. So I graduated the JBLM main first.

[Nate Kornakia]

Okay.

[Tyler]

From 2015 to 2020. And then when I basically got told like you're. You've been in E7 for two, three years at this point you're going to go to SWIC, I said, well, I see it. I've got my team sergeant or a team sergeant on Okie who used to be the 18 Delta of my combat team, who just took a team in Okie. And I text him and said, hey, you got spot for an 18 echo. And he said, sure do. And so I walked in the company sergeant major's office and said, I'd like to go to Okinawa instead of Swick, sir. And all right, head out. So yeah, I was able to do from 2015 to 2023 straight team time. All team. Which looking back on it was dumb because of all those injuries.

[Nate Kornakia]

I know I hate it and I agree.

[Tyler]

I had like a four month, a six month B team stint when I had the knee surgeries back to back. And then I was one of those guys to where I mean I wasn't even ready to go back to A team. But I was on the B team for six months recovering and I walked into my company sergeant major's office and was like just put me on any od.

[Nate Kornakia]

So I just want to stop for a second and translate some of this for the listeners.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

So first group, like all groups is made up of three line battalions voting. Two of those battalions are stationed out of. Was it JBLM or.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

What does that stand for? Joint Base.

[Tyler]

Joint base Lewis McCord.

[Nate Kornakia]

Okay. Which is in Washington state.

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

The other battalion is forward staged in Okinawa.

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

And so. And there's only one other. There's like seventh group used to have but something used to have it. But the only other one now is 10th group which holes their. Their two battalions is in Colorado and their forward battalion is Germany. Is in Germany. And it's. And it's great. It kind of shows how important if really if you think about it like how how important both battalions are or both groups are at a strategic level.

[Tyler]

Yes.

[Nate Kornakia]

They're so important with their areas of operation. 10th group has Europe and 1st group has Southeast Asia that Europe is so important we we forward sage Green Berets at all times to be close to Europe. The same thing with first group.

[Tyler]

Well, and Okinawa is a 30 minute fighter jet flight from Taiwan. So I mean strategically and you're talking about. And not only actually with that. My ODA in Okinawa was the first ODA to proof of concept a military free fall jump into the South China Sea onto an island to bring in marine high mars.

[Nate Kornakia]

Wow.

[Tyler]

To basically fight that war if it needs to be fought.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

So strategically and not only that, when I was there, one one actually became the siege of Soda for the potential Taiwan conflict.

[Nate Kornakia]

Okay. So. And one one being 1st Battalion. 1st Group.

[Tyler]

Yeah, the Command Joint Special Operations Task Force. So basically the special operations unit for the viewers that's in charge of whatever happens special operations wise if a war between Taiwan and China, mainland China kicked off.

[Nate Kornakia]

And the last one, I'll say just so people can track is that you know the A team which most people know the oda. That's why they're called the A team. The B team is the headquarters element. That's over six ODAs so they're. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tyler]

You're the admin guy.

[Nate Kornakia]

They're just there to make sure the six ODAs have fun and can do their job. So you're not doing anything fun. You're just making sure that they can do their job right. So which. No one wants to be on the B team.

[Tyler]

Which is why, like Brent was just telling you, I walked in the sergeant major's office and was like, get me the. Off this B team. You know, it'd be like admin for you. It's like writing paperwork for everybody that.

[Nate Kornakia]

The. So you did, you know, because it, because it came, it kind of came quick. As far as like you, it knowing that you're going to medically retire. Sure, that decision somewhat comes quick, but.

[Tyler]

It seems like not really. No, it didn't.

[Nate Kornakia]

So as you're deciding through, through all these surgeries, you have time. Are you already starting to think though, hey, if, if this is the end of this road, what I'm going to do next? Or did you not come to grips with that mentally until like, all right, now I'm getting medically retired now I have to think about it.

[Tyler]

No, it actually I, you know, and had so many. I could have medically retired years before I did. Like, I was running the wheels off the fucking body like for an extended period of time. But I love, I loved the job. Right. So. And I actually was, I was set up. I was the number one ranked E7 at the time in the company and I was going to take the HSC first sergeant position at Group Main. Basically set me up, which is. Right, so you do your one one year as the HFC for a sergeant, make E8, take a team. So that's where I was at. And I actually turned down, which caused a lot of hubbub. Of course. I, I turned down that position to medically retire, which made some people who offered me that position upset is what it is. But again, at the same time, I'm walking around with like, yeah, that type.

[Nate Kornakia]

Of drives me crazy. Literally get mad at you, you know, for that. It's.

[Tyler]

And try and try.

[Nate Kornakia]

And it's actually my career trying to fuck my body. It's my, it's, it's my career. Like in the military, there's a lot of things you don't have, you know, decision making skills. You know, it's really a small amount of like options that you really control. Yeah, that's one of them. Like, you don't get to control my whole life. I. My retirement's kind of on me, guys.

[Tyler]

Well, and it was, it was a. It was a fun. Not fun. Not at the time, it was the opposite of fun, but it was an interesting experience of going from like a prize child to, hey, I don't want to do this anymore because I'm so fucked up. To commanders being like, that's the biggest piece of in the unit, how quick the time. And I mean, just from like we went from you're the number one rated guy to you're a piece of like the second you decide, you're like, I'm just a number.

[Brent Tucker]

What?

[Tyler]

Yeah, exactly, right? And it was a reality check. Like, oh, yeah, you guys don't give a.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right?

[Tyler]

Like, I made you look bad for eight seconds because now you have to find someone new to fill a position that everyone wants. First of all, right? Like all the E7s want that position because it's going to set their career up. But. But yeah, but I mean, it's as. As for, was I ready for it? I mean, I was just so fucked up. I couldn't do the job at that time. I couldn't run at all. Like, at all. Couldn't run. And I was just one of those guys on the team were like, yeah, Nate's up. Like, he can't do PT with the team because he's fucked up. It's cool because we know, right? You know, we know that he's senior leader position. He's like tactically going to be able to do everything for us, but like, well, he can't. I couldn't squat more than 135 pounds.

[Nate Kornakia]

But neither could the new guys coming in.

[Tyler]

So you were good.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, you're good.

[Tyler]

But. But for me. And you know how this is like, you don't want to be that guy, right? I don't want to be the guy that can't. Or, or you would know too, right? Like you don't want to be the guy who can't do anything, but it's just like, yeah, but we know you're a good dude, so we're gonna keep you around. Like that doesn't.

[Nate Kornakia]

That's a bad culture.

[Tyler]

So I knew it was, it was time for me. So once I figured that out, you know, I had. I went poopy faced for a while, you know what I mean? Like, it was a hard thing to come to deals with once I actually finally made the decision of like, it's time for me to get out but, you know, looking back on it, I had a great career, you know. Great, great career. Did all my time in sf, bunch of deployments, great combat. I mean, I can't. You can't ask for. The only thing I didn't get was the team sergeant time.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Tyler]

That I wanted. That would have been the capstone of my career. And after that.

[Nate Kornakia]

And it's just human nature for. For guys in that position, you never think about all the things you accomplished. You only think about the things that you didn't get to do, and it consumes you, and it's. And if you. And when you get. And then a little bit later, you get to change your mindset a little bit.

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

But if we're being honest, it. It'll. As it probably. It'll always bug you a little bit. Like, it never fully goes away. Like, of course, you start realizing I did a great career, but.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

I still kind of wish I'd done that one thing.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah. No, no doubt. Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah. The. And at this point, because of your arms and maybe it was your age, was going back to DJing not an option?

[Tyler]

Because we really just skipped over.

[Nate Kornakia]

We really just skimmed over his DJ career, and I'm not letting it go.

[Tyler]

No. While I was active, I, you know, I DJed the ball. The military balls. Balls. Oh, yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Oh, man, you're so.

[Tyler]

It wasn't like a hidden thing.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

You really. And, man, that's. That's cool.

[Tyler]

So you probably DJed Air Force balls. I do. Like, I would do a bunch of different stuff, but also our own unit, so. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

I mean, he turned those tables on you, didn't he?

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Well, I didn't know how much you enjoyed military balls, so.

[Tyler]

Yes. For everybody to understand. Yeah. I mean, well, that's.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Drew got. Took me a second. Yeah. That's what I did before. Before I joined. Did we talk about cheerleading, too?

[Brent Tucker]

What?

[Tyler]

Send it.

[Nate Kornakia]

Go ahead and own it. That's right. Like, oh, yeah. Put it on your terms. Don't. Because. Because I'll. I'll bring it up in a. In a. In. In an embarrassing way you might have forgot.

[Tyler]

Right. So.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, I wasn't forgetting.

[Tyler]

So how did I get to the point of joining the military? Okay, so, yeah, you hear, like, oh, Dad's a Green Beret. Obvious. Well, not quite. Right. So it was an interesting road. Interesting road to get there. Right. So I thought I was going to be a major league baseball player. Ended up. I was an all state baseball player. Ended up blowing my knee out, which the military doesn't know that. No, I didn't do that, actually. If anybody in the VA Is listening to that.

[Nate Kornakia]

But, yeah, Doge is around. They'll. They'll figure it out.

[Tyler]

Yeah, I know. Right? But anyway, so. So that gets cut a little bit short. I'm at the University of Oregon. I don't know what I want to do. And I'm at the bar one night, and one of my buddies who was the. Or one of the Oregon Ducks football running backs who blew his ACL out and was done. He joined the Oregon Duck cheerleading team. Sun gymnastic team. For those who don't know, the Oregon Duck cheerleading team is, like, one of the most premier cheerleading teams. It's like the Delta Force of whatever.

[Brent Tucker]

You got to say.

[Tyler]

I'll get to it.

[Nate Kornakia]

This is the first time you ever talked about this publicly. Is this a. Yeah, yeah. You're here first.

[Tyler]

Nobody. Nobody knows this. So you guys go. I'm gonna get. Like. Everybody's gonna make fun of me for this.

[Nate Kornakia]

Forever unconvincing. Why? You're not 24 hours.

[Tyler]

Okay.

[Nate Kornakia]

Okay.

[Tyler]

So. So I'm at the bar. My buddy comes up to me. He was like, hey, man, you should come out to the. For the cheerleading team tomorrow. I'm like, what the. You. I'm like, that's. Can I.

[Brent Tucker]

You can say gay.

[Tyler]

Can I say, okay? I'm like, that's gay as. Dude, I'm not going out for a cheerleading team, right? And he was like, just show up. And I'm like, and. And he's one of my good friends, right? I'm like, all right, fine. He, like, convinces me to. Over the night, we're, like, out drinking on, like, a Thursday night. Tryouts are the next morning. I have no idea what cheerleading entails from the man's standpoint. And this isn't like, rah, rah at University of Oregon, you're doing the crazy, like, holding girls over your head with one hand by their feet, like, doing backflips. Doing crazy. So I.

[Nate Kornakia]

Always by their feet.

[Tyler]

Yeah, always. Right? So I Show up to MacArthur Court, which is the Oregon basketball team gym, the next morning, like, all right, what the fuck is this? Oh, my God. What am I doing here? Right? I open the doors to the gym, and as I walk in, and again, for. For girls, this is the cheerleading Delta Force, right? So if you're a girl and you're 18 and you're a cheerleader, this is where you want to go to school. Yeah. So I open the door, and my wife's here. She's just like, what a piece of shit talking about this, right? She does because she was a competitive cheerleader too, right? So both of us were. But I walk into the door, I open it and there's 250 of just the hottest 18 year old girls I've ever seen in my life in sports bras and tiny little booty shorts. As I walk in and I just see the dudes like hanging out and like stunting with these girls. And I, as I walked in, the second I opened the door I was like, I get it, I get it. No, no, I'm like, I get it. Right? Like no duh, right.

[Nate Kornakia]

I owe you apologies.

[Tyler]

And I did. I walked up to my buddy and I was like, oh, I get it. Right? And he was like, yeah, I told you, just chill out.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Tyler]

So I did that for a couple years, ended up dating one of the girls on the team, which was dumb because then it ruined my opportunities with all the other girls on the team, but. Idiot. But no, it was, that was also was a nightclub DJ at the same time. So yeah, when you talk about like I went from just.

[Brent Tucker]

You're fending those chicks off with a broomstick.

[Tyler]

Oh yeah, yeah. So that's why it's kind of. I was telling Britain it's kind of funny. It wasn't like I was in a position where I was like, what do I do with my life? I was in a position where I'm like, this is life. This is the best thing ever for a 20 year old.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right?

[Tyler]

And that's when I woke up one morning and was like, no, I'm done with this. Got to do something better. So yeah, but yeah, so for those I. It's an interesting lineage story.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's super interesting. I, I want, I want the like the, the regiment admin to do a deep dive on the history of Green Berets and I want to know how many Green Berets were ever in the regiment that were DJs and cheerleaders, male cheerleaders, division one. And you may be a one of one.

[Tyler]

Yeah. If you put them all together.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right. Yeah, you put them together. Which is a really interesting, interesting dynamic.

[Brent Tucker]

Well, I don't know if any will admit to it.

[Tyler]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Hard to do a survey with people.

[Tyler]

Our daughters, you know, I mean you got to be able to make fun of yourself, you know what I mean?

[Nate Kornakia]

I mean, I don't Again, when you tell. It's one of those things if you just say I was a DJ in a Mel Cheeler like, like Here comes the jokes, right? And then, you know, out drinking with you. And I'm sure, like, once they hear a couple stories and they're like, hold on. Maybe like, he's on to something.

[Tyler]

We, We. I, I think joked about it with my stepson where we're talking about cheerleading. I'm like, yeah, you should probably maybe consider it because it I. The running joke too, because, like, half the guys on the team were like, prior athletes that got injured. Like, you got to be. There's crazy athletic dudes that are doing this type of stuff, right?

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And the running joke was like, what the fuck are we doing for the last 10 years? I would think, showing up for, like, daily triples for football. And I could have just been doing.

[Brent Tucker]

This, I think, in high school. That would have been hard to do socially. But you enter college and it's like, now the girls are into the running backs, star quarterbacks. The girls are into anybody.

[Tyler]

Well, and. And like, you know, again, this is for all you guys might be interested in it. The other thing is if also there's not that many straight dudes on the team.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, man, you're just.

[Tyler]

But also, you gotta think about a trust factor. Like, your life is in my hands at all times.

[Brent Tucker]

I won't break your heart. I won't break your heart.

[Tyler]

That's my point. So. So these girls that you're working with, you know, they become, like, intimately trustworthy with you, and it's just like shooting fish in a barrel for the guys who, you know, are straight that are, you know, have figured out, like, it's the cheat code. So for all you young guys watching who think it's dumb, I promise you there's a. There's a cheat code that you don't know about.

[Nate Kornakia]

I would like to think between, you know, the tens of thousands of views YouTube will get and the a hundred thousand, like, audio downloads from all platforms.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

We may have changed the trajectory of some young man's life.

[Tyler]

Oh, 100 some young man.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, I'm gonna be a cheerleader.

[Tyler]

Some of your man is gonna hear that and is gonna, like, Google University of Oregon cheerleaders, look at the roster.

[Brent Tucker]

And be like, oh, can guys get scholarships to cheerleader?

[Tyler]

Yes. And not only that, it's Nike University, you know, Oregon Ducks. Right. You've seen all their uniforms. All the athletes get that. So that was the other thing. So then, you know, and I may I make the team? Because all you got to do. And I had no idea. Idea what I'm doing. But, like, not many Guys will show up that are big, strong, athletic 20 year olds that aren't like Division 1 athletes, that aren't playing other sports. So you're going to make the team, they're going to teach you. And then at Nike University, you get the same perks as all the other athletes. So I walk in, first day, and they're like, here's a duffel bag the size of this table, this high, with all brand new Nike everything you can imagine, five, six pairs of shoes, socks, everything top to bottom. It's like tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff. They're like, here you go.

[Nate Kornakia]

And you're like, still wearing some of it. Some. And still wearing some of it for the first time. Like, I'll wear this one finally.

[Tyler]

Yeah. So, I mean, that was, that was the lineage, a weird lineage into. But like I said to you, that's how I went from sort of black sheep of the family. Right. Like, imagine that lineage with the dad who's a Green Beret, highly successful family, and then you got shithead son, the youngest, the baby who's a nightclub dj, cheerleader. Right. With a Green Beret dad.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Tyler]

Yeah, right. Who's like. I mean, my dad is always. My dad will always say, like, odd. And you weren't the black sheep. And it was like, yeah, well, we had a little bit different relationship once I became a Green Beret yourself.

[Nate Kornakia]

The. Which I know, like podcasting has become more. More popular. Yeah, but you know, those were cool niche things. You know, we make fun of it, but those are cool niche things.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And so, but after your military career, you kind of continued in somewhat of a cool niche thing, which is podcasting. And anyone can say, you know, if they want to like, oh, there's a bunch of like vet, like podcasters out there.

[Brent Tucker]

Would you identify as a podcaster?

[Tyler]

I mean, I, I don't know.

[Nate Kornakia]

You want to ask a good question?

[Brent Tucker]

Because I know.

[Tyler]

Well, you, you want me to explain how I started?

[Nate Kornakia]

That's. We're getting, we're getting to that here in a second. But I was gonna say yes, like there, there are plenty, but percentage wise of, of the veteran community. It's so small. It's so tiny. So small. So what, like, what, what made you go down that. Right, that, that down that road?

[Tyler]

So. Yeah. How did I start? Well, let me give. Can I give the whole backstory to how I got to where I'm at?

[Nate Kornakia]

I'm interested.

[Tyler]

All right. So I'm going through the medical retirement process. I'm about close to done. I'M like, everybody else. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna go manage somebody's business. I'm gonna go do some cold consulting like every other Green Beret that's going to get out. I go down back home to where we live now in Eugene to take my mom to the range to go shooting, because she likes to shoot. And we're at the indoor range. And so I'm like, you know what? Let me just. Let me just ask the people at the front desk, like, if they need a firearms instructor. That seems like an easy, translatable job. I don't know if it's a thing, but, like, I'm a Green Beret. Yeah, okay. So I start talking to people on the counter, and they just blow me off. They're like, yeah, okay, man. And I'm like, okay, that's weird, right? And then I hear a voice behind me go, hey, hey, let me talk to you. And I turn around, and there's a guy standing there, and he was like, hi, my name is Mike. I'm with Delta Defense. And I'm like, I don't know what the fuck that means. I'm like, cool. And he was like, you need to. You need to call me. And I'm like, okay, maybe I will, maybe I won't. I put my card in my pocket. I move on with my life, move back up. A couple months later, I'm getting close to retirement. My mom calls me, and she was like, hey, I was just getting my concealed carry permit. And Mike, a guy. Same guy said he. That you didn't call him. He wants you to call him. And I'm like, okay, I'll call this fucking. Turns out that he was, at the time a representative with the uscca. So basically, the USCCA has firearms instructors, right? There's a lot of drama behind the uscca, obviously, with their issues, whatever, it doesn't really matter. This is how I started. And I'm like, okay, cool. So he actually knows everything about the process of becoming a firearms instructor.

[Nate Kornakia]

Okay.

[Tyler]

He's like, here's how you do it. Here's what you need to do. Go get your certifications here, here, here, here, here. And I'm like, cool, I'll do that. And then. So I decide, all right, I'm going to get my. I'm going to go to the University of Oregon, start getting my master's degree, and I'm going to try to be a firearms instructor, start a business, move back home and start that. And it takes off successfully right out the gate. Which kind of makes sense. I'm the only special operator in A2. Nobody lives in Oregon. That's a soft dude. Right. Nobody wants to live there, so there's no competition for it. So the business does great right away. So then my buddy Mike's like, dude, you have to have. Who's also. He's my head pistol instructor for my business now. Right, okay. This same gentleman. And so he's like, man, you have to have social media. Because I don't have any social media channels. Because like every other quiet professional. Right. Like, what do I need social media for? So I start an Instagram and a YouTube channel to try to market my firearms business. Right. Like everybody does.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

I'm doing firearms content here and there. No, really pick up for it, you know, like, the channel's not doing much. I put out one video. You could still go back. It's like my fifth video called the Harsh Reality of Becoming a Green Beret. And I just sat down in front of camera and I just talked about all the shitty stuff, all the surgeries, all the injuries, the ptsd. My channel had a thousand subscribers, maybe. And that video did like 600,000 views out of nowhere. And I was like, oh, yeah, this is what I should probably.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right. This is what the people want.

[Tyler]

And so I started doing. I transitioned from that to soft related stuff. And then the channel started to grow dramatically and I realized, okay, I guess this is what I'm doing now. And now it got to the point that the social channels are so successful that the firearms business is sort of like a tertiary to that. So.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Tyler]

Do I identify as a, As a podcaster, I guess? Yes, I do now. Like, I'm a content creator. I'm a military influencer.

[Brent Tucker]

Everybody hates saying that.

[Tyler]

I'm a content bro. Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

Like, I'm telling. We're. We're taking the term vet RO back. Yeah.

[Tyler]

But I'm, you know, and I, and I still struggle with it. I, I honestly, I know people might be surprised to hear this. I. I don't like doing it. Like, not that I like the engagement. I like doing what we're doing here, but I, I just, I don't like being that guy, the vet bro guy, the content creator guy, the Tim Kennedy. Right. You know what I mean? Now, obviously not like Tim Kennedy, but you guys know, I mean, you guys know how that is. I'm just not that type of guy. But at the same time, like, it's. It's still a really cool thing to do. And what kept me doing it, I Hit a point. If you look at my YouTube, you see this like two month hiatus, about four or five months in where I made no content because I was like, I don't, this doesn't feel good. I don't like doing this. And I had so many of my former teammates, commanders, group like group level commanders, contact me and be like, we love your stuff, man. Like keep doing what you're doing. And I got that feedback not from, you know, and I love the community. Right. But like getting it from your peers when you're doing something that doesn't feel like great to be doing. Like, my buddies validated. My buddies are going to judge me for this. They're going to think I'm a douchebag for this. And when they all overwhelmingly were like, we love your stuff. We're proud of what you're doing, then you're like, right, you're, you're, you're okay. You are the ones, you're the guys that matter when it comes to that.

[Nate Kornakia]

You're your own biggest critic. Oh yeah. And no one wants to do it the wrong way. And when you hear them saying, hey, we think you're doing it the right way.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

It matters.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Well, and how the. Did it, did it start out the whole time as Valhalla vft or did you go or did you create another channel?

[Tyler]

Well, no, it's to create that. It's the same channel. It started out as Valhalla Firearms Training. That's my actual business. But I realized very quickly my Instagram is permanently shadow banned. We just hit 10k on Instagram right before I walked in here. So we did it. Congrats. But I realized very quickly the word firearms on social media, not a great idea, especially not in the title of your channel. So that's why I shortened it down because it was just the algorithm and everything.

[Nate Kornakia]

Don't get me started on that.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Just by exercising a constitutional right.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

You get, you get punished for it.

[Tyler]

And people will be like, oh, what a, what a for that. And it's like, you have to play the game. I. At some point. Right. You can't go full.

[Brent Tucker]

Punk rock. Never go full.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah. That's the first thing I thought of was, was the, the punk rock.

[Tyler]

You just won't have a channel.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Tyler]

And they'll make you're great.

[Nate Kornakia]

Oh, now you got successful and you haven't changed. You suck.

[Tyler]

Well, and you have that too. Or also I get it all the time of, you know, the type of content I put out, you know, a lot of My stuff is, like, comedy laced. It's like, I might talk shit about X Y. Dan Crenshaw. You watch my videos on Dan Crenshaw? They're funny. Like, I'm giving him a hard time. Yeah, I think he's a piece of shit. Let me just be transparent. Personally, it is what it is. But they're comedy, right? Like, a lot of it is comedy. So when people get super upset of, like, vets attacking other veterans, it's like, this is YouTube.

[Nate Kornakia]

We're like, the war is over.

[Brent Tucker]

This is a new war.

[Tyler]

This is entertainment. Right? Like, if you don't like my channel or your podcast, just change that. Don't watch it, man. Like, I'm not your mommy. Make you here to feel good. If you don't like it, go turn on Bluey. You know, maybe that's more your speed. I don't know.

[Nate Kornakia]

The. How long have you been doing the. The YouTube channel?

[Tyler]

Oh, a year. Ish. Yeah, over a year.

[Nate Kornakia]

And the.

[Tyler]

So it's been an insane.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, your growth has been crazy. I. I remember. I remember watching you hit a hundred thousand and then I'm really bad with time. What feels like a month later and you're at 120,000. Your growth has been. Has been off the charts, really.

[Tyler]

And that kind of is what also sort of makes me think that I'm like, I'm doing the right thing, right? The proof's in the pudding. A lot of people don't like it. You guys, I know for sure. I get those same comments, like, of all the. All the hate. But, like, majority. What I always like to do is look at the analytics of my videos and go to the, like, dislike ratio, and I'll put out a video in the comment section. We'll just be brutalizing you. I'm sure you guys get those sometimes. Oh, yeah. Where you're like, oh, okay, I don't read them. Everybody hates my guts. Right? And then you go to the analytics and you'll be like, oh, 96, like, to 4% dislike, over 100,000 views. And you're like, oh, okay, this is like the 4,000 guys that watch this that hate my guts.

[Nate Kornakia]

This is. I'll open this question up to everyone as well. I'll start with you, Tyler. Do you have a. Do you have a favorite video of ours? I mean, out of 100. That's a tough question.

[Brent Tucker]

But you have a. I don't know.

[Nate Kornakia]

I'll give you maybe even like a top three or just like the, like a few that just pop into your mind. Like, do you have a favorite one or. Or maybe you don't.

[Brent Tucker]

I really like our year anniversary where we talked about us and, like, it's really not interesting to anybody, but it's interesting to us. Yeah, we got to, like, actually sit down and look at our growth in a year. That was last year. We did it a year in, but. Oh, that was fun.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Well, you guys have had a lot of growth too, in this last year.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We can't complain, but I look at.

[Brent Tucker]

It all the time. You, the drama, the entertainment side of it is what will make you grow. So a lot of people say, well, you 100, you wouldn't be anything without Tim Kenny shows. But I mean, the entertainment side of it is people want to be entertained.

[Tyler]

I will tell you this, and people say this, and I agree with exactly what you just said, Tyler. The drama will get some decent videos. They'll get some engagement. Right.

[Nate Kornakia]

The won't keep them.

[Tyler]

The Tim Kennedy. The biggest Tim Kennedy video I think I did. 350 ish thousand views. Pretty big video. The video I just did on Dan Crenshaw in three days is beyond that. It's funny, it's comedy, it's entertaining. Yeah. Right. And so the same thing I think you guys realize is like, yeah, I have multiple videos that are two to three times as big as anything I did on Tim Kennedy.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Tyler]

Because you'll bring some drama and some followers in, but they're not going to stay. Because if they're just here.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. They stay for the real stuff.

[Tyler]

If they're here for. Well, a lot of those. Like, if you only do drama, they'll come for the drama. But once the drama's gone, they're not going to engage with your stuff.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right. There's only so much drama to go around. Yeah. There's almost so much real drama to go around.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

Then you. Then if you want to stay in that space, you'll start pulling at strings and you'll start doing things that are trivial. And they'll. They'll see that right away and they'll. They'll jump.

[Tyler]

But it's also. I also hate the word drama because.

[Brent Tucker]

I don't like it either.

[Tyler]

You exposing Tim Kennedy. And I talked to Brent about this, Tyler, yesterday of why I. I don't know if you know, of how I got involved with this. This wasn't like when I jumped in on this. I wasn't a Tim Kennedy hater. I was in business negotiations with Sheepdog Response.

[Brent Tucker]

I did not know that. I thought you. I Thought you were like, I resonate with these.

[Tyler]

I was a guy who did. I defended Tim Kennedy in YouTube videos over his stupid fucking 2A comments, like, multiple times. I was in business negotiations. Tim probably doesn't even know this. With their training director to basically start bringing the Protectors Academy to the Pacific Northwest, literally. I was building the pro. The project out when your episode dropped.

[Brent Tucker]

No, I did not know that.

[Tyler]

And so for me, that was a massive financial. That would have been huge for my business. Right. To be able to bring basically their giant network of students to me. And I watched your guys episode, and typically. And I knew your guys stuff. I'd seen a few of your episodes before. I liked your guys stuff. But I started watching that episode, and I'd watch the whole thing from. I didn't expect to. It was like, I have five minutes. I'm gonna watch it. And I watched all three hours, and by the end of it, I was like, okay, no, like, this is. As a Green Beret. Like, I don't give a. About the potential business relationship. My feelings. I've got pictures of me and Tim Kennedy together on my Instagram.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Oh, yes, I have seen that.

[Tyler]

Yes. Right. So I was. I was one of the few Green Berets that would always defend this guy. So that's why when everybody's like, you're just. You're just veterans attacking veterans. No, I was one of his biggest cheerleaders.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Until the reality is you cannot. You cannot be a Green Beret. Who. And I talked to my dad about this. What do you think about this 100? Same way. Yeah. We cannot have this in the regiment. It cannot happen.

[Nate Kornakia]

And I didn't know that until, like, maybe a month or two ago. Yeah.

[Tyler]

Yeah. And I didn't tell you up front. That didn't. What mattered to me, what mattered is. Was like, okay, you guys are doing something important. I would like to help out.

[Nate Kornakia]

But it. It made me even more because I realized, yes, you. You could have continued to defend them, which you weren't willing to trade in for that. But however, you could have done this as well, which is just. Just sidelined it, which a lot. Which a lot of people did. And we wouldn't have been as effective if it wasn't for guys like you and. And Jay on the Green Brace Chronicle and the community, like, getting behind us. And we. We talked this last night when we did that episode. You don't know how it's gonna go. Like, you don't know if it was A weird feeling. Yeah. We got done recording that and I remember this way. You're gonna drop this Monday, man. Being like a little bit. I'm almost a nervous.

[Tyler]

How's this gonna go?

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Did we get something wrong?

[Nate Kornakia]

Did we get something wrong? Is the community not going to back this and turn on us? Because we can have. We can stand on our morals and our integrity, but, you know, just. Do people share that?

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And it was really. We will be forever, forever grateful for the community that you guys did that.

[Tyler]

When you talk about your best episode, I mean, you have really good ones. But that one, again, it was so good that someone like me, a. A supporter.

[Nate Kornakia]

Right.

[Tyler]

A heavy supporter of Tim Kennedy watches that episode and within that three hours goes, no, this. Like this. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna just sit idly by and watch this guy do this. You. We. We cannot. And I know people are, oh, it's not that big of a deal. It's like, no, but it is. You know why? Because I. I'm lineaged from the Vietnam era, global war on terror, whatever you want to call it. And I. I listen to those guys stories and like, the brotherhood. The brotherhood means something to me. And like, I don't care that Tim Kennedy didn't have that impressive of a SF career. Doesn't matter to me. He would be up here as a brother no matter fucking what. Yeah, but when you start stealing the valor off of not only other Green Berets, but your own teammates, we cannot allow that to happen.

[Nate Kornakia]

And even dead Green Berets, it cannot happen. But we said like, you know, there's something like, it's not that big of a deal. What you really end up finding out if. If you engage with those comments is that they actually don't know the whole story.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Nate Kornakia]

And once they find out the whole story, like, oh, okay, but kind of. My bad. But the. The whole reason. Not that. Asked Tyler that. Because I want to hear Tyler's answer. But do you have a favorite episode? And I'll give you a follow up to that. Do you have an episode that you're not proud, not. Not proud of, wish you wouldn't have done? Or you look back and be like that. That was. That wasn't my best work.

[Tyler]

One I'm most proud of, and I never expected it to be, was probably the one I did where Special Forces soldiers aren't role models. I don't know if you've seen that. It's one of my biggest videos. The whole video basically is just talking about why, you know, soft dudes, you know, the way, what we're selected for, why you shouldn't be surprised when someone like.

[Brent Tucker]

Was that recent?

[Tyler]

Yeah, it was a couple months ago.

[Brent Tucker]

You had the people on the thumbnail. Yeah, yeah.

[Tyler]

So that one, it got. It got such crazy response to it.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

That I didn't expect, because I did it candidly. And I think if you watch the video, you can tell me I'm doing it candidly. And I kind of speak from my own perspective. I. I talked about, you know, how what we do is, like, think about what we do as a job. Right. We go downrange, we go into people's villages, we kick doors in, we end people's lives. Whether we're doing that on behest of a good cause of America or not, we're still doing that type of thing. And you bring that home. And the type of human being that can do that, decompartmentalize it, move on with their life like nothing happened. Not necessarily nothing happened. You shouldn't be surprised that some of those same individuals may engage in fraud, may be liars, maybe domestic violence. Like, you should not be shocked. That was the entire premise of the video. I did not expect the response to the video I got.

[Brent Tucker]

So was it mixed?

[Tyler]

It was massively supportive. Oh, really? Like 99.99 of, like, that video got me hundreds of emails, messages of, like, people like, this was such a great video. I had no idea that. I'm sure there was some negativity on different sides, but. So I would say that one was one I guess I'm kind of proud of, just because of the impact it had on so many other people that I wasn't expecting. Oh, ones. The ones I sort of regret. Oh, man, this is a tough one. I don't even want to get into this. All right, so the Mike Glover situation, okay, this is a tougher one. I do not. I came to bat for my Glover hard, hard before anybody else did, defending him when he went through his stuff because he was a Green Beret, and he's a quality, quality Green Beret as well. Not a Tim Kennedy. I do not regret that at all, however, because of what then happened recently, where he gets arrested again, same type of issues then for me, and people got mad at me for talking about it in another video. But it's like, I did five videos defending you. You got arrested again, right? You expect me to just sit silent now?

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

All. Even before anything happened. The second that happened, you know how many messages I got? Oh, you're just gonna. You're just going to fucking sit silent now? So that one. I don't regret doing the initial videos. I stand by everything I said. But that's a hard one, man. When you like come to bat super hard for someone and then they sort of. And then it's kind of like you think about, let's say you got a family member that's a drug addict, right? And you. And this is just not that I'm not saying Mike's a drug addict, right. I'm just saying you got a family member that's a drug addict and you come to bat form, you do all these things, they get clean, you're doing well, and then later down the line they get back on and they steal a bunch of your. And they disappear. You just kind of feel like, man, I put myself out there for you. I like defended you. And then. And I'm not saying what the charges that have come forward are true or anything like that. I'm just saying it's one of those hard things of when you decide to go down that road like I did, because I could have sat silent, right? I could have not said a fucking word on the first time, right? But I did. And then you sort of get slapped in the face for it a little bit. So that one I kind of. I wouldn't say I regret, but it's one of those where it's like, that sucked. That this sucks.

[Nate Kornakia]

And I don't think people realize, you know, me and Tyler have to deal with this all the time if you want to weigh in on a relevant and current situation. Because if you wait on it, so the news cycle moves so fast, then no one covering something old like that's, that's. No, no one cares. So if you want to cover it while it's still relevant, the problem is as well, you're going to cover it with the least amount of information and then that information was relevant at the time and it's what you knew. And then when it changes, you don't get to go back and, and update the video. Like that video lives in that time frame on, on, on the Internet.

[Tyler]

Yep.

[Nate Kornakia]

And it's a, it's a really tough, it's a tough predicament to, to be in this space. Do you cover. You cover it early while people care not have all information or, or wait and be around.

[Brent Tucker]

We. We decided to wait on the Michael everything we did.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tyler]

So I mean, I'm not gonna get super into it on the first one. Like I, I was privy To a lot of information no one else had.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

That's why I was, I knew. I knew that what he was being charged with wasn't true. And I'll just leave it at that. That's why I was willing to. But yeah, I mean, it's one of those things if I'm typically not the first one into a space on a story for that reason.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

But the, the one time I decided to was bit me in the ass. You know, it is what it is. Right. But at the same time, I'm also not going to be the one that deletes content off YouTube. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna try to backtrack. I'm just gonna tell you, look, this is what I thought at the time, you know, and I, I won't delete content. I'm not going to apologize for anything I put out. I felt what I felt at the time and it is what it is, man. And I. And again, for the Mike stuff, I like Mike. I have nothing against Mike. I wish him the best, but it's one of those things that sucks, man. Yeah, it sucks all around. So.

[Nate Kornakia]

Well, what's, what's next for you? Any.

[Tyler]

All right.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, any plan. Plan by ear. You got a three, five year plan? What. What do you think's next for you?

[Tyler]

Yeah. So for the ch. Like right now I'm trying to finish this master's degree which is eating up all my time. Two year program. I started it right when I retired. Not, you know, I didn't have the business was just starting.

[Brent Tucker]

Like this is something that now you just got to finish it now.

[Tyler]

Yeah, now I have, I have one term left over two years and I'm just like the business successful social media channel. Successful. What the am I doing here? That's where I'm at. Yeah, that's where I'm at in the degree is like you're doing it first Certificate. Give me the piece of paper. I don't care about. Let me get out of here because I'm two years deep and I can't quit. But once, once we finish that up, which is going to be end of May, we're. We're doing about 20% of our 15% of our effort and time is going into social media right now. We're going to try to ramp that up into like 90 to 100% of our professional time. So we're going to actually invest into the channel, start a few new channels. We want to start the VFT Fitness Tactical fitness channel. So again, I Used to do a lot of fitness and like tactical fitness, firearms related stuff. So we want to get back to that on a separate channel and then potentially some new offerings in the in person business. Maybe I'll get Brent to come out and teach some courses. I don't know if I can pay him enough for that.

[Brent Tucker]

But you know, let me tell you what he charges.

[Nate Kornakia]

Yeah, yeah. I can assure you I've done a.

[Brent Tucker]

Lot more for Flurry and a large Fry.

[Tyler]

But yeah, so we're, we're going to lean hard into the social media, try to be a real content creator, I guess because you know, the, the people have told me they like it. You know, this channels have been successful. So that's, that's what we're going to try to do. If it doesn't work, I guess I'm going to go work for Pepsi or some, I don't know, like, you know, but that's what we're going to try for now.

[Nate Kornakia]

It's always easier for, for the, for the guys on the other side to tell you this, but if, if, if you're at where you're at with 15 to 20%, like you'll be super dangerous and really successful, you know, when you put more time in. And we're interested to see where that goes and, and how much it grows.

[Tyler]

Yeah, I appreciate it.

[Nate Kornakia]

I'm, I'm already upset that you're growing faster than us. So, you know, I like a good, healthy competition. But at some point.

[Tyler]

Well, here's the problem is you guys are too professional. So you know what I mean? Like you exposed some important people. People. Yeah, but you have to do it super unprofessional and comedic. Like I do it.

[Nate Kornakia]

We did a hot tub. What else do you want?

[Tyler]

Yeah, but did that video, did that episode Crush?

[Nate Kornakia]

I think, I don't, I don't know if it would have done a whole lot. I don't, I don't know if it did any more than the light seemed.

[Tyler]

Like it was going wild when I was in there.

[Nate Kornakia]

I personally enjoyed it. And for the haters out there that, that disliked it, which, which are, which are few. I didn't do it for you. Like we, we did it for us. It was, it was fun.

[Tyler]

Also, first of all, like, if you, if you can't get some comedic value out of some tier one dudes sitting in a tiny hot tub together, inflatable. Because think about like what are these guys known for? They're known for being the most professional dudes on the planet and all of.

[Nate Kornakia]

A Sudden with rubber duckies floating in.

[Tyler]

A YouTube rubber ducky hot tub episode. Just. Just dudes doing the dude stewing. Right. You know, and so if you can't find any comedy in that, well, I don't know, man. You sucks. You're pretty lame.

[Nate Kornakia]

Speaking of comedy, I'll put you on the spot. I think you know where this is going. Tell us a funny story.

[Tyler]

Tell us a fun. Oh, I got a great one. Okay.

[Nate Kornakia]

Come prepared.

[Tyler]

Well, it's kind of up though, right? So I don't know.

[Brent Tucker]

Even better.

[Tyler]

It's a war. You know, there's all the snow. Like, war's up. But there's a lot of.

[Nate Kornakia]

A lot of comedy.

[Tyler]

A lot of comedy and more. So let me tell you. Let me tell you a little story that's kind of like wizard of Oz, the Afghan wizard of our Oz and involves dicks also. So let's jump into it. Right? So we're on. We're on an operation. We'll probably maybe talk some more stories later, but this is a great, great one. So actually we are actually stopping Camp Anaconda from being overrun. Okay. Not the fake version that Tim Kennedy talks about.

[Nate Kornakia]

400 Iranian freedom fighters. I've heard this story before.

[Tyler]

The. The real version of this in Kazaru's gone. My ODA gets called in because at this time there had been basically nobody at Camp anaconda for like 10 years at this point. I don't know the exact number, but it'd been a while because we abandoned it during vso.

[Nate Kornakia]

Okay. Yep.

[Tyler]

So the Afghans though, still had the compound and they were just getting up for weeks. Bunch of dead dudes. They couldn't get out. They couldn't get helicopters in. And they asked our ODA if we'd be willing to do it outside the med rings. Had to get like forward state surgeons, generals involved, blessing off on all this. We finally get it all to go, we infill and basically what we do for. They won't be able to see, but you got Camp Anaconda sits next to a big mountain, and then the Taliban are basically pushing up to it. So we infill behind the Taliban in between the camp and we just basically pincer them in. And so it's a. I don't want to get too much in the. Into the mission itself. We ended up killing 50 or 60 dudes. It was highly kinetic, great mission. But when we first hit the ground, we're five minutes in. Right. I think, I mean all of mint leader at the time, and I hear the AC130. No, not AC130. ISR comes over and he goes. Because they hear the birds come in, but there's been no Americans there for 10 years. So they think it's Afghan pilots coming in to try to get bodies out. Because they kept trying to do this over and over again.

[Nate Kornakia]

Okay?

[Tyler]

So we get the chatter on the terp, the TERP radios, and we hear the TERP saying, oh, they think the Afghans are landing. And so they send out two full patrols in the open to basically come attack us. And ISR is like, there's 25 dudes marching rank and file in the open towards your position. So our team leader's like, okay, well, we got an AC130 right over the top of the mountain ridge that you can't hear. Bring it on station. So that comes in immediately. Five minutes in, they all get wasted. They end up hitting a little bit later in the mission, hitting a DFP defensive fighting position, right? And me, me and my two buddies get called there, or we go to do a BDA battle damage assessment of what this AC130 struck. So we move up to this. It's a, you know, mud clot that's been knocked in. So we start walking up, we come up to this mud clot. It's knocked in. There's sort of dust and dirt and gravel anywhere. And I just see a pair of legs sticking out from the gravel, right? Just some feet. Like, just like wizard of Oz, right? You know, just the feet sticking up. And then we come in, we look a little bit closer, and I'm like, oh, there's a dick out of the gravel, right? It's legs. It's feet. Legs and dick and like, pristine dick. Good dick, dude. Like a good 4 inch or soft. Like, this is a pretty impressive dick, right? And so we're looking at this and.

[Nate Kornakia]

We'Re like, king of the valley. You got the king of the valley.

[Tyler]

We're like this. This is a hung Afghan, right? Like, all right, this is kind of. And also, you just got a 500 pound bomb dropped on this. The fact your dick is in such great shape. Yeah, it's actually impressive, right? So, like, we go, we grab them by the legs to pull them out. And as we pull it out, there's no upper half of the body. It's just dick and legs. It's just a perfectly pristine dick with no upper half of the body on, right?

[Nate Kornakia]

Which is even more impressive that it's such pristine condition.

[Tyler]

Not a scratch on it. Not scratch on it, but no. Upper half of the body got ripped in half, but the dick? Perfectly pristine.

[Brent Tucker]

No burn, no nothing.

[Tyler]

Dude, nothing.

[Nate Kornakia]

None of the Afghans came out, and we were like, hey, what are you going to do with that? We could still use it.

[Tyler]

I don't remember.