Navy Seal | French Foreign Legion Taylor Cavanaugh

Summary

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Tier1 Podcast Episode Summary

Episode Title: Navy SEAL | French Foreign Legion Taylor Kavanaugh
Date: March 23, 2026
Host: Brent Tucker
Guest: Taylor Kavanaugh

Episode Theme Overview

This episode features a deep, candid conversation between host Brent Tucker (former Delta Force operator) and guest Taylor Kavanaugh, a veteran of both the Navy SEALs and the French Foreign Legion. Together, they explore the reality of elite military service, the struggle for purpose after leaving, the hardships of personal downfall and recovery, and the lessons learned from both U.S. and international special operations experience. Taylor’s journey, from high-performing operator to facing addiction and homelessness, eventually rebuilding his life through discipline and mentorship, offers a raw and relatable account for veterans and anyone facing adversity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Challenge of Transitioning from Elite Military Life

• Loss of Structure & Clear Mission (06:04–09:09):

  • Both men talk about how military life, though arduous, offers clear daily goals, a tight-knit team, and structure. Civilian life, in contrast, is uncertain and often lacks clear direction, leading to struggle post-service.
  • Quote: "You really take for granted how easy team life was. I mean, it was clear. ... It was a simple life. I knew what I had to prepare for every day." —Brent Tucker (06:23)

• Nostalgia vs. Moving Forward (07:04–08:31):

  • Taylor shares a poignant quote: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." Holding onto positive memories without letting them become anchors is key.

2. The Role of Purpose and Humility in Personal Reinvention

• Rebuilding from the Bottom (09:10–10:34):

  • Brent describes going from Delta Force command to selling coffee at a farmer’s market, highlighting the humbling work required to rebuild.

• Learning from Setbacks (10:34–11:48):

  • Taylor reframes setbacks as maneuvers, not retreats: "It's not a retreat, it's a maneuver... now you have full autonomy."

3. Guilt, Shame & Self-Correction

• Dealing with Regret (11:48–14:12):
  • Discussion on guilt and shame as unproductive anchors, and how self-awareness and gradual improvement (Kaizen) are more powerful drivers.
  • Quote: "It's not about perfection. It's about consistent correction." —Taylor Kavanaugh (12:01)

4. Taylor’s Downfall in the SEAL Teams

• The Path to Discharge (14:35–16:00):
  • Taylor recounts arrests, a failed steroid test, and getting a general discharge. He describes the escalation—bar fights, substance abuse, and failing a performance-enhancing drug test sent to Olympic-grade labs.
  • Notable Moment: "They sent my blood up to the Olympic testing center... I lit every test on that thing up." —Taylor Kavanaugh (15:20)

5. Steroids & Health in Special Operations

• The Realities and Ethics (17:09–23:16):
  • In-depth discussion on performance-enhancing drugs among operators: the double standard, the root causes (stress, depleted testosterone), and policy changes post-Taylor’s discharge.
  • Quote: "For someone to fix that problem that the government won’t fix and then punish him for it... it’s just crazy to me, dude." —Brent Tucker (19:56)

6. Homelessness, Addiction, and Rock Bottom

• Taylor’s Collapse (24:18–38:14):
  • Taylor gets brutally honest about life after the teams: jail, Adderall and Xanax abuse, emotional volatility, a spiraling opioid addiction, leading to homelessness, living in his car with a shotgun, and nearly taking his own life.
  • Quote: "I remember sitting there and I had a sawed off shotgun... and I'm thinking about icing myself really. I'm like, dude, I'm homeless in my car and I'm starting to smell. You know, what am I gonna do here?" (35:41)

7. Decision for the French Foreign Legion

• Why the Legion? (38:14–40:47):
  • Taylor chooses the Legion for its structure and simplicity—a way to reset, survive, and find purpose while rebuilding discipline and life from the ground up.
  • Joining Process (41:27): Just show up at the Legion’s door, no paperwork—old school style.

8. Deep Dive: Life in the French Foreign Legion

• Selection, Training, and Multinational Chaos (42:27–48:26):

  • Harsh boot camp, language barriers ("Legion French"), and diverse backgrounds (150+ nationalities in his class).
  • The Legion’s culture is extremely top-down, no-nonsense, and "disposable"—the mission comes before the man.
  • Quote: "You’re there to pick up a gun and go forward. It is very much top-down... 'Shut the f*** up, don’t ask any questions.'" —Taylor (57:06)

• Day-to-Day Life & Social Dynamics (53:11–55:15):

  • Recounts the roughness and the rituals—beards ("pioneers"), camaraderie, and local respect in French villages.

9. Recovery, Discipline, and Rebuilding

• Developing Financial Discipline (58:32–61:18):

  • Taylor describes using the Legion years to live minimally, pay off debt, and create a solid plan to avoid repeating past mistakes.

• Key Turning Point (64:33–66:10):

  • Injury interrupts his momentum, leading to a period of stillness and the courage to share his story online—sparking a new sense of purpose and connection with veterans.
  • Quote: "I started getting hundreds of emails from veterans going, ‘Hey, dude, I was sitting with my gun in a car and I was gonna kill myself, but your honesty...’" (66:11)

10. Reintegration and Moving Forward

• Mentorship and Giving Back (68:15–69:20):
  • Coaching, nutrition, fitness, and mindset—finding purpose by sharing concrete daily disciplines that facilitate transformation.
  • “I never broke pace... pushups in my Foreign Legion barracks room, I still do them in my master bathroom...” —Taylor (69:20)

11. Reflections on Vices & Self-Awareness

• Honest Talk on Addictive Personalities (71:09–74:21):

  • Both men reflect on their "good time" drinking, and warn about the slippery slope—“Momentum is something you’ve gotta be careful with...” —Taylor (71:53)
  • Notable Quote: "Have you ever met anyone that was going through bad times and was like, ‘I started drinking heavily, and things got better?’" —Brent Tucker (74:08)

• Escapism & Coping (76:00–79:23):

  • Taylor admits to painkillers as an emotional crutch for heartbreak and warns of their “too-good” effectiveness.

• Healthy Escapes (77:17–80:22):

  • Brent and Taylor discuss the "cigar break" as a positive release, contrasting it with harmful escapism.

12. Lessons & Wisdom for Veterans and Listeners

• Power of Second Chances (84:44–86:22):
  • Brent: "You can have bad things happen to you. You can make bad decisions, but every day is a new day to make a different decision... The longer you go down a bad road, the harder that decision gets—but it’s always there."
  • Taylor: "You're never out of the fight. As long as you just power through... you do not know the blessings that are in store for you. ... The best days of your life are still in store for you, man." (85:06)

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Memorable Quotes

• "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
  — Taylor Kavanaugh (07:23)

• "It's not about perfection. It's about consistent correction."
  — Taylor (12:01)

• "I'm a huge proponent, especially on a professional level... You're going to perform better, you're going to feel better."
  — Taylor, on testosterone therapy (22:23)

• "Purpose-driven business... you need a purpose in your life."
  — Brent Tucker (09:12)

• "It's not that drugs are bad. It's—they're too good; they work too well."
  — Taylor (29:14)

• "You're never out of the fight. As long as you just power through..."
  — Taylor (85:06)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [05:26] – On the challenge of finding a new path post-service
• [14:35] – Taylor’s discharge and consequence
• [24:18] – Dealing with post-SEAL life and descent into addiction
• [35:41] – Living in the car and contemplating suicide
• [41:27] – Entering the French Foreign Legion—knock at the door
• [42:27] – Legion experience: languages, countries, cultural mix
• [53:11] – Liberty, hazing, and weekend life in the Legion
• [58:32] – Financial planning and discipline
• [66:11] – Sharing his story online and helping others
• [71:09] – Sober living, self-awareness, and returning to the US
• [74:08] – Drinking does not solve life’s problems
• [85:06] – Redemption and hope for the future

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Closing Notes & Where to Find Taylor

• Taylor is now focused on mentorship, speaking, coaching, and finishing his book on his journey.
• Connect at taylorkavanaugh.com, Instagram @tcav_official, and YouTube.

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Tone and Language:
The conversation is raw, relatable, and frank; there’s a unique blend of dark humor, humility, and brotherly candor typical of special operations veterans but always returns to practical advice and hope.

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Transcript

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Brent Tucker]

welcome back to the Tier One podcast. I am your host, Brent Tucker, owner of FRCC. To FRCC shop and use promo code tier one to get 15% off the world's best coffee, cigars and bourbon. And I'm Drew Tucker with First Responder Coffee, Cigar Cast Company. I invite you to join our Patreon.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

It is brought to you by Cobalt Kinetics.

[Brent Tucker]

There you will get behind the scenes exclusive content.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

You'll get a fitness forum, a weapons forum, and in that weapons forum, a Cobalt Kinetics gun expert is ready to

[Brent Tucker]

answer all of your questions.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

So join the Patreon

[Brent Tucker]

and as always, this episode is brought to you by Human Performance TRT. Go to hp-trt.com use promo code tier1 to get 20% off all of your testosterone and peptide needs. Don't wait any longer to get in the best shape of your life. Let's do it, Drew.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Welcome to the Tier one podcast.

[Brent Tucker]

This is amazing.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Dude, check this out.

[Brent Tucker]

With us today we have the one and only Taylor Kavanaugh.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

What's up?

[Brent Tucker]

What's up, man?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Glad to be here, brother. If you don't.

[Brent Tucker]

If you don't know who he is. Navy seal, Foreign Legion, French Foreign Legion. As if. As if there's another foreign legion.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Well, I guess technically Ukraine. I guess if you'd call something a foreign legion.

[Brent Tucker]

That's true.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

You know what I mean?

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, that's absolutely true.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

There is that dynamic going on right now, which we can talk about some homies there.

[Brent Tucker]

You've been making the rounds. Yeah. On the podcast you were. You were on My last show. Yeah. And it was. Which is why I had to have you back. It's, it's just, you know, it, it's, it's an interesting story.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. And we get the chance to talk and I get the chance to ask you questions, you know, just, you know, if you don't, you can't get everything in, in a conversation. It just doesn't work.

[Brent Tucker]

This is, it's for some people. Some people, you know, don't like it because you. Maybe they. And I get it, like they only came here to, to hear you talk. Yeah. And don't get me wrong, my, my mentality is usually as it kind of should be. You should talk 80, 90% of the time.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

But there's other formats because that, but my format's a little more conversational. Other ones will just ask you a 712 word question, let you run, and they don't say, you know, a single thing for another, you know, 30 minutes. And if they do, it's just.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

No. Yeah. Wow. Crazy, man.

[Brent Tucker]

So I don't know, maybe they don't have the background to, you know, to be more conversational. And that's not a, that's not a hit on anyone.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Well, that's the difference.

[Brent Tucker]

It's just not their, their format.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

That's the difference is you have a completely different angle on things and questions that are just. And input that a lot of people aren't going to have.

[Brent Tucker]

So let's start it out with your story. Another reason to come back on. Like everyone else, I watch podcasts. I have other guests like you might think. Well, like you personally.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

I hope you don't like. Well, I've already been on this podcast. They've already heard my story.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Why don't I come back? I assure you, if they watched you on our last show between now and then, they know the intro I just said. Yeah, but they forgot your story.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, that's not, that's not a hit on anyone.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

That's.

[Brent Tucker]

That's a.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Life's going on, man. We all got responsibilities.

[Brent Tucker]

And I wish I had a brain that could retain the details. Yeah, I don't have to watch that again. I remember every bit of it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

So. So I'm really happy that you decided to come back on. And, and besides, not all of my followers are from the, the old podcast. There'll be a whole group of people who haven't heard your story. So let's get into your story first and maybe have some time for. I know we'll have some Time for conversation and stories.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah, brother. Afterwards. Dude, it's cool being here, man. I got your, Your, Your, you know, your mastiff right here, dude. Laying on the ground, bro. No, it's cool, man. Dude, it's. Dude, in your set looks legit. For real.

[Brent Tucker]

Thank you.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. It's cool being here, dude. It's. Honestly, and I mean this in a humble way, it's an honor sitting here with you, man, because, you know, I got a lot of respect for you and your path, dude. And I understand just, you know, the complexities of. Of what you've done. And so it's being. Coming out here on the other side and, you know, being successful and living life on this side and a lot of guys who are watching, who've been in the military and know is hard. It's hard, man. This side's probably harder because there's no roadmap. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, yeah. There's.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

There's no.

[Brent Tucker]

There's no road map. Unlike our last careers, there's no real resources.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, for you, that being said, I mean, some. There are some veteran, like, resources. I. I didn't use them. I didn't need them. I didn't use them. I don't want the strings attached to them.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, I'm just.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Nothing's for free, right?

[Brent Tucker]

I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna do it my own way.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And it's just. Way I've always been, so. But you're right. The. You really take for granted how easy team life was. I mean, it was clear. Clear. Yeah. Don't say easy clear. Because, man, I've had some really bad days.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Not just. Not just war and training.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. And. And the. And the secondary effects of life.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. But, yeah, it was. It was simple.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

It was a simple life. I knew what I had to prepare for every day.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

The people were around me to help me prepared for that. And it was a much simpler life. I do long for that.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. What's the. Bro. Anybody that says that there's not a piece of you that goes, man, there's like those moments or nostalgic thoughts is crazy. You gotta at least acknowledging that is so important because. But I heard a great quote that said, man, don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

[Brent Tucker]

I like that.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I love that, man. Because that I. I think of that every time I have nostalgic thought and I'm like, damn, that was cool. And I go, man, I'm glad I have that memory, dude.

[Brent Tucker]

Here's this it's just human nature. The ride will be over. Nobody wants the ride to be over. I don't care who it is. The ride isn't over the way they, they want it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Nobody. Nobody.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, there's, there's guys that, you know, go to the Delta Force, get kicked out after three or four years, you know, and they're depressed the rest of your life. Of course, other people are looking at them like, you spent three years the Delta Force. That's amazing. Yeah. And they'll, and, and they'll be upset about it, you know, the rest of their life. But I'm, I get it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, there's guys that go to be team leaders, but then they're not troop sergeant majors and they're, and they're, you know, they, they're upset about that the rest of their lives. Like you were a team leader. What are you upset about? Yeah, but. Yeah, but it's just, it's just the type of people. We are a type personalities, just, they're, they're never happy unless they're complaining to some degree.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. And it's not complaining about how heavy the gold bars are in the rucksack.

[Brent Tucker]

This mattress full of cash. I wanted to be.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Got to carry this to the helicopter.

[Brent Tucker]

But in a weird way, that's. That type of nothing is good enough for me is what took him to that place. Yeah. I mean, that's. So you can't separate the two.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And that's the answer. And so how do you translate that now? And that without the clear mission. And so I'm like, well, the clear mission is now, bro. Being successful and having freedom. That's like the way I look at it now. It's like being successful and having freedom and feeling good about my day.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

That's like as clear as I can make it.

[Brent Tucker]

Here's. Here's what I don't think guys are, are willing to do. I'd be interested in your input of this. You know, once I left that place and I left it at, at a high level, like you, you were the rock star. Yep. You're. You're a made man. Yep. And I left. I had to figure out my way. And then I was like, you know what I really want? I didn't know it at the time, but something I preach now. But I wanted a purpose driven business. Yeah. I wanted to be a business owner and wanted to be purpose driven because you need a purpose in your life. And I started First Responder Coffee company that fell on its face the first year and I go from in the Delta Force commanding other soldiers underneath me to going to farmers markets and asking strangers, hey, do you want to buy a bag of my coffee for 15 bucks?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

It's humbling.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

I mean, like, it's, it's humbling.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

But we've, we've come so much further from that. But if I wasn't willing to, to go bend the knee and do that and do the hard work with my brother. Yeah. Then we wouldn't be in a position we are today. And I think, yeah, there's no. If you're going to own your own business, you have to take a step down and, and eat some humble pie for a little bit.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Damn, dude, that's. And that was a piece of my life. That, that's. It's seemingly like a setback, but it's really a setup and it's really just a maneuvering to a better position. You know, it's not a retreat, it's a maneuver.

[Brent Tucker]

And I like that.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And that, that's. Well, it's, it's the story we tell ourselves about what's going on. Because it's like, well, now you have full autonomy. It's your business. Even in at Tier one, like you guys were, you're still, you know, operating. You're still answering to somebody. You ain't answering the nobody anymore. No, that's a totally different game. And there's a lot of power in that. You wake up and you can pretty much make your schedule.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, it's different. There is a lot of power in that. And, and what I, and transparency. I, I struggle to this day. I'm not real good at making my own schedule, bro.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

We all are.

[Brent Tucker]

I'm not good at making my own schedule. I, I work every day, but sometimes I work four hours and then I'll work 14 hours. Yeah, no, and I don't think that's, that's, that's healthy. And I always think myself, man, if I just get in early and put in a 10 hour day, yeah, I'd probably work less hours over the week and get more done. I'm. I'm working on it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Well, if you're not working on it, what are you doing? There's like, there's. You're never going to be right here. And I think that's important piece is. It's not about perfection. It's about consistent correction. Yeah, that's it.

[Brent Tucker]

Right?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Never ever going to arrive. There's the Japanese samurai. They. They'd say, you know that Kaizen, that small incremental progress, bro. It's practicing the perfect day, knowing it's never going to be achieved. And so when perfection's driving guilt and shame are in the passenger seat. That dude, the guilt and shame are not useful. That's like we've all woken up. Yeah. Hungover, done some dumb. Like I, I was a master at self sabotage. So I've woken up in those cells and all these things and which we can get into, but just. That's not the game. And so it's like, okay, I'm gonna get a little bit better than that. And now what I'm going to do and I'm going to live a much better day. And now I got to up the game and go, okay. It's just about maintaining and like being on that good line. We know where the line is. And then we just kind of sway off it.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, the we shame. And what was the other one you said?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Guilt and shame.

[Brent Tucker]

Guilt and shame. That's. Those will never be. I said those are the things that. There are things that drive people and they'll. Those cannot be drivers. No, they, they're only, they're not anchors. They're only the brakes.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

They're. They're anchors.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Anchors.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Absolutely.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Now don't get me wrong. I will, I will look back. You have to look back. You have to analyze things and say like, this is what I did wrong.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

I have to learn from it. Yeah. And at that point you have to cut it off.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. I heard. You know Dr. Hawkins, he's a, he's a doctor that had a near death experience and he wrote this book. He's the guy that kind of mapped out the map of consciousness with guilt and shame at the bottom and then kind of goes up to love and enlightenment and acceptance at the top. Anger is the first like forward pressing energy. And I like that. It's actual anger. Apathy is worse than anger. You get like, oh, well, you know, anger is like, man, this, I'm making some changes.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And then you. And then you can start pushing forward. And so it's like, man, be angry about a position if you're not where you want to be, if you're not happy where the business is, if you're not happy with where your life's at after the military, whatever, or you know, first respond, put down the tab, the uniform. And now it's like a little bit get mad about it and then change it.

[Brent Tucker]

People can watch this and I would understand it and look like, hey, we came here to, to hear a story. And you guys are, you know, just talking about these things.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

If. If you don't understand the. The nuggets that. That are in this conversation. Like, we. We both got to a place because of a certain mentality.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Absolutely.

[Brent Tucker]

That mentality may not have always been. Always been to what we know today.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

No, there was.

[Brent Tucker]

There was a. A piece of it that got us to. To where we were.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah, it was like background noise. Like, the themes were there, but it wasn't, like, prominent in at least my consciousness until I really had to, you know, grab it by the nuts. And, I mean, for someone to kind of understand where the story is, it's. You know, I was in the SEAL teams seven years, couple deployments there, and fumbled down at the backside of it. You know, bar fights, arrests. And now I'm coming up on Navy JAGS radar. And then NCIS kind of picks it up. I get a secondary thing a couple years ago, and. And then I fail a performance enhancing drug test. So I fail a steroid test. You know, that was really what got me kicked out. And so I get a general discharge.

[Brent Tucker]

Disgusting.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Which was. Well, you know, I. I look at it like, dude, I wasn't a victim. I really brought the heat on myself as far as, like, you know, just bringing it up. I. They drug tested me, and they're like, this guy got arrested. We're going to drug test him. I passed it because that wasn't my thing. So they're like, we're getting this guy on something because I was beating the charge again. And then they sent my blood up to the. The Olympic testing center. So I was one of the first guys that they sent to, like, the UCLA formal place. And I lit every test on that thing up. They're like, they, like, you failed the steroid test. I'm like, or did I pass with flying colors. So good, so good, so good.

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[Taylor Kavanaugh]

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[Taylor Kavanaugh]

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[Taylor Kavanaugh]

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[Taylor Kavanaugh]

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[Brent Tucker]

It's not that the Navy was looking to kick you out just for steroids. Like, they're not going to team guys like, you look a little bigger than normal.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

They are now.

[Brent Tucker]

But for. For your particular instance.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

No, I. I brought on some heat on myself, and so they're looking for something. I was kind of the beginning of this, and. And people saw in the news, you know, you had the captain, the guy dying buds that they tried to put on as a steroid thing. This was right after me. And so now. Now they're getting tested monthly, man. Yeah, they're getting tested monthly. And you got warrant officers who I know who are just getting out now. So I'm saying they're, like, pissing and, like, looking at the ma, like, bro, don't. You know, it's just. It's. It is what it is. And so they got to put the blame on something. But I was kind of at the first wave of this, like, hey, let's make sure that guys aren't blasting juice, which I get. You know, you're a government property technically, and there could be some dangers and. But it was what it was, man.

[Brent Tucker]

Give me the devil's advocate for it. Tell. Tell me if you can. Yeah, tell me why our special operations guys being on steroids is a bad thing.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

So I'll say guys could be a little bit more aggressive out in town, maybe up. You know, And. And also health reasons. I mean, we all know bodybuilders. Not that guys would be blasting that much, but there could. Blood pressure, getting gear, bad injections, bad gear. A lot of different things could. Could go wrong, I guess I think probably the better answer is, you and I both know, man, spikes in adrenaline, all these different things, it affects testosterone levels. Probably most guys in the special operations should have some level of testosterone replacement therapy formalized.

[Brent Tucker]

Absolutely.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And I. I even heard Australia SAS and some groups were doing this, like, actual formally, but. But I don't know, I just have heard down the grapevine probably a better answer. And I. I know if I had a better, easier, I probably wouldn't have done it. I probably wouldn't have done it from the, you know, the trunk of some guy's car. Like, I was doing it, you know.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, one of. One of the worst things that can affect your health and It's. Is stress the number one thing? It will tear your.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

This what causes cancer, man.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Go. Go watch a beginning photo of a president. It looks like he's aged 20 years. Every single one of them. Yeah. You know, it's. It's crazy.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And of course, the. One of the first things it'll do is. Is. Is drive your testosterone down.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yep.

[Brent Tucker]

And we just talked about team life and the demands of it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yep.

[Brent Tucker]

And just. And then let's stack TBIs on top of that. Let's stop. Let's. Let's put in flighter Fight or flight. Yeah. Spikes constantly. It is just a recipe to attack your testosterone. And then for someone to fix that problem that the government won't fix.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And then. Then punish him for it. It's just crazy to me, dude.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I mean, I got. I got guys reaching out to me. I got a guy in BUDS recently and he's like, dude, they're. I guess they're tested bud students now for testosterone levels. And some kid, he goes, dude, I pinged high. They kicked me out. He's like, I got no reason to lie to you, man. I wasn't even juicing, you know? And then I guess there he had something which could affect the levels. And so now there's things happening which are like secondary and tertiary effects of where they're doing all these tests. How much does it cost to test all these guys, dude? I mean, I can't even imagine how much is all this extra is. So, you know, I understand the complexity. It's probably better to formalize it and make it more simple, you know, but that was my reality at least. And so they look at it like drugs. And so Even on my DD2 or 14, it says, you know, I got a general, which was awesome, by the commanding officer of Seal Team 7. He hooked me up, but, you know, it says, you know, general discharge under honorable circumstances drug use. That's what it says on my shit. And it's like. It is what it is.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

It's the answer to. It is so, so easy. It's so easy. We got tested in. In my squadron one time, and it wasn't for anything negative. Yeah. The squads just want to know what guys levels were.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And one guy came back. No one came. No. Yeah, there was. We didn't have anyone in our squadron that was trying to be a wannabe bodybuilder.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

So no one was. Was over a thousand. Yeah. I think that's the. I think that's the math.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

That's like about More. You want to. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

You go to 1200. Yeah. What are we doing? Like, yeah, it's. You're going to have an enlarged heart. You're going to. To have blood pressure issues. Yeah. That's like. Like anything else. Too much of a good thing is. Is too much.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. By definition.

[Brent Tucker]

So just put an arbitrary number on it and be like, Hey, 800. We had a guy naturally, at 38 years old, maybe 35. 38 somewhere that had 800. Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

On.

[Brent Tucker]

On his test levels. And so tell me how it isn't fair. Hate to use the word fair. Life isn't fair. But if I'm coming in at 300 and he has 800, and if I induce something into my body just to get me to an even level of his. What. What's wrong with that?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I'm here for it.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I'm. I'm a huge proponent, especially on a professional level. It's. You're going to perform better, you're going to feel better, you're. And then they're always worried about life. I mean, talk about libido issues and sleep issues. They talk a lot about. About being gone and all the issues with marriage. What do they say in. In special operations, the divorce rate's 135 plus second marriages. You know, it's. It's. But some of that, man, can be libido and sex drive and all these different things. You come back from a deployment and now you're like, not really feeling it. I mean, we've all been in these situations that people don't really want to talk about. It's like, why don't I feel like I do this or that? Dude, it's not all here. Like, you think you can Jedi mind trick the system. Dude, your body knows what's going on. Your cortisol levels have been fried for. For months on end and this and that. It's like, dude, you got to be realistic about the situation.

[Brent Tucker]

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[Taylor Kavanaugh]

had.

[Brent Tucker]

How'd you deal with it?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I thought I dealt with it great. But in retrospect, the. The proof was in the pudding. I didn't give myself time to process it because I had to go to jail for a few weeks to. And I was coming out of jail, signing my DD214 pretty much. And, you know, and it was getting off probation. It wasn't like, hey, you get sentenced. It was getting off probation, cleaning up some stuff. But I walked out and the timing was as it was, and I walked right into a residential real estate development gig, which we're doing a lot. I had leveraged contacts and stuff and, and not been stupid during this time. But, dude, I started doing Adderall and, and Xanax. And, you know, I was just like, okay, that. That's done. I'm gonna shut the chapter on that. And then just kind of keep moving. But then I had real. No, I didn't realize that when I'm not training for something or I didn't have a reason to not do these things like that. I. I just. I didn't really know how to live right. And my relationship was suffering, dude. I was being emotionally responsive, violent dude, just like a nightmare. And the Adderall was not helping. Right. I mean, I was getting a lot of done, but I was running a million miles an hour. And, you know, and then I was having to drink. I was drinking every night just to take the edge off. Now I'm sipping vodka on the bench press, like at 5. It's 5pm here. You know, whatever. I'm off work. It was. That was just the flow. And then as we do, I'll. I'm very disciplined even when it comes to. That's not good for me if it works one day I'm like, I'm gonna do this every day and Xanax and now we're smoking weed because it's legal. But I was lying to myself during the day. I was good.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And I was performing. And that was, I think, for guys like us and guys watching, it's like, dude, as long as I'm performing, no one could tell me.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And that was the issue because, yeah, you'll perform until you don't. Right. And that's what happened is my life kind of came crashing down a couple years later. I had a. Another former team guy who had been kicked out, who also another who had been contracting in Yemen with a cat that, you know, let's just. I won't say his name out here, but it was. He's like, hey, let's start a cannabis distribution company. And I'm like, let's do it. Let's rock and roll. And so now that whole flow and I'm running a million miles an hour, not sleeping, sleeping four, three hours a day, taking Adderall in the morning. And now I'm stacking on an opioid habit at night, sniffing Fentanyl, of all things. They're. I'm like, they're like, dude, careful, that shit's not laced with Fentanyl. I'm like, man, I hope it's laced with Fentanyl. She's way stronger. And so. But dude, I'm going tits up.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Multiple times. Like slicing my face open, hitting it on tables, my forehead. And I would just wake up, go to urgent care and get it stitched up and just be like, right at a meeting and like, like that's normal. And my world came crashing down, dude. Next thing I know, I'm like homeless in my car with a sawed off shotgun with no money. And I'm realizing like, oh, shit, everything's gone now. And that was about two years of

[Brent Tucker]

the day, you know, you said they can live like that, they can perform and until they can't.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yep.

[Brent Tucker]

One of the problems with that is no one's. While you're performing, no one's looking at those issues because even. Even you'll look past them. Even at my level, I have seen some high performing alcoholics.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And no one cares as long as you're performing.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yep.

[Brent Tucker]

It's not just when you don't perform, but when you have a bad day because everyone's going to have one.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Or if you have a. If you have a drought. What. Whatever it is, there could be other reasons for it. But as soon as something goes wrong and it could be outside of your control, the first thing I look at you and tell you, oh, it's these things.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And it may be. Or it may not be. Yeah. Because people are just always looking. I won't say people are always looking to bring you down. But don't ever give them. Don't ever give them any more ammunition.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Oh, they're going to lose the slack you gave them. Right.

[Brent Tucker]

Right. And so it's just. It's like anything else. When you went down this road, it wasn't. I'm going. I'm going crazy right off the bat. It's something that happens gradually and something. You work yourself up. Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

100%.

[Brent Tucker]

And it sounds like dad advice, but dads give these advice for a reason.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

It's why you really have to guard your heart and guard your mind so, so fervently and say, I'm not even going to start down this road. Yeah. Because that's the only way to stop it. You don't know that. You don't know if you can dip your toe into that pool and pull it out when you want to. You don't know that you're going to want to put a little bit more and put a little bit more. There's only one way to guarantee that doesn't happen and say no, I'm just. I'm just going to stay away from it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

It's not that drugs are bad. It's. They're too good, they work too well, and that's that. And it's. It's the. It's the gray slippery slope, and it's always grapple. It's how the devil gets his. Gets his hooks in you. The devil doesn't just ratchet in you. It's. It's a small justification here. And then for. In my case, dude, it was like a lie here. It's like cheating on my chick there. It's like, not a big deal. Nobody finds out. It's like, well, everyone does it. It's like these small, little. You don't need to negotiate a beautiful decision is something that I like, I've heard and I like. You don't need to negotiate. Walk with your dog out in the sun with his shirt off. You don't, but you negotiate. Like, oh, maybe I'll go take a left into this. Like, you know, wherever. It's like, that is always where it starts. And it's hard to say no, man. It's hard. And. But the minute you crack that seal and now you're. And this is drinking especially for guys, too, with me, too. It's. It's like it picks up momentum so fast. It was Ron White. Ron White talks about this, and he. I'm not sure if he's over now, but he's drinking beer or whatever. But he was talking about when he was really hitting the tequila hard.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And he goes. He was on Rogan, but he says it so beautifully he goes, you know, it starts in the cabinet and you're just drinking one a night. Because then it's like, okay, it's on the counter. He goes now it's on the kitchen. Now it's on the coffee table. You know, while you're.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

But it's slight. And now you're putting down a fifth a day. Yeah. And which is. Which is what I was probably about. Vodka wise. I was probably easily putting a fifth of vodka down but I was like mixing it with water and so I just wasn't really thinking about it. Man. And. And next. But now I'm driving, drinking. It just. It's. Things start to pick up that I was not doing in the teams just because I'm like I'm not going to get a DUI or get over and all these things. But I. All that went out the window and it was.

[Brent Tucker]

Right. Yeah. Here's the problem with. It's. It's so weird. It's two separate camps. Right. Some people become drunks and addicts because they're not high performers. Yeah. And they have nothing going on for them. So they're going to use this to. To self medicate. Yeah. The crazy part is. And we'd fallen on the second part. But we end up. We end up at very similar circumstances but for very different reasons.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

What I mean by that is. Is this. We just don't know when to stop. And we have addictive personalities and we have addictive personalities to. To challenges. I love a challenge. Give me a challenge. I love. I'm have addictive personality to a good time.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yep.

[Brent Tucker]

I was. I was lucky enough to. To have a good father that always gave me the device that. That I just said. And then I was fairly lucky enough to realize that I have an addictive personality. And so it's funny you say. No drugs are really good. I. Later on in life I didn't stay away from drugs because drugs are bad. That same kind of like almost childish mentality. They scared me. Yeah. Because I thought they were good.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

I thought I would like them and I'm scared to find out that I like that.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Smart.

[Brent Tucker]

And then. And then I can't stop.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, and that's the same thing with. With drinking. It's the same thing with betting. Yeah. I don't bet because I think I like it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

So I can't start. It's just easier not to start.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. Yeah. It's. It's self awareness.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And this is one thing I was lacking. Which. Which I Learned later down the legion, which I think a lot of guys we all have to. I didn't have the self aware really make that conscious decision about not cracking the seal.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Not going down that road. I was just. Because truth is too man. I was really purposeless. I thought I had purpose, but I really didn't. And. And let's talk about faith here for a minute. Right? Is I. I stopped talking to God, man. I. I always have had a real belief in feeling of protection. I mean just times in my life and Iraq and other places where I was like I really felt protected or even in car accidents. And just a lot of shit's happened where I felt like this guiding force. But I noticed that I s. That conversation stopped. And I think that true faith. And maybe you'll Guys watching this will understand is. It's like a. It's a communication. It's like a flow. It's like a flow of good comms daily all the time. And that I was so selfish in what I was seeking and seek. To seek is to suffer. And I was just like money as long as I. I mean, here's how it transpired for me. Now I'm working for a VC capital partner. Now I'm pitching decks for millions of dollars. I'm raising million. I'm meeting congressmen, I'm changing tax codes. I'm doing all this and now I'm in a high rise. And I was looking right at the SEAL teams, right at the SEAL teams. And we had a senior enlisted guys coming in who had worked for certain companies that were looking to. And they're coming in the office and they're seeing me 5,000ft office with three people in it, all glass doors. And they're like, what the this guy doing up here? And I was like, man. But I had all this going on in the background and still performing. So everyone was kind of turning the blind eye. And then when it came crashing down, he said something powerful. He's like, dude, you were my biggest asset. Now you're my biggest liability. That was. And for a guy I get the chills. I still. That still hurt. For a guy that maybe has insecurity issues for as a child from being, you know, how I grew up or needing to over perform and over compensate in whatever, you know, capacities. Is that hurt? I can. I want to be useful, man. And. And that was a crushing blow. But he was right.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Yeah. And it's. It's. It's a fine line. It's a fine line between it's.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. Real fine.

[Brent Tucker]

Be it alignability and was the other word to use and an asset. Yeah. The. How long after you left the SEAL teams did you go to the French Ford Legion?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Two years. So two years and some change. Two years, like three months.

[Brent Tucker]

So it sounds like those two years weren't great. Of. In your personal life, you're dealing with. With a lot.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

So what. What is it when you're in that stage? At. At one point before going to the Legion, were you living in your car?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. So this. This happened right at the tail end because I had sold shares in the company and I still had a little bit of money. Not a lot, but I was like going. And I'm waiting for that phone call. You know that. That call that always comes. Yeah, that's like, hey, dude, we got this next thing for you. And. And that carrot was kind of left out there for me. So it wasn't just delusional, but looking back, it was. But now I'm running out, and now I'm kind of still. I had got off the opioids, which was a massive. I knew that that was not. I was not riding off into the sunset with that. I mean, anybody watching? I got news for you. Nobody rides off into the sunset with a painkiller habit. It's not happening. And so I got off that. That was white knuckling. It just. Just very. Didn't sleep for a week. Was really powerful. But I still had some other bad habits that I was kind of doing daily. I hadn't shaken those yet. But when it all came crashing down and I looked at my bank account, I actually had just dropped Jimmy Watson off at the airport, technically. And because he was on the run from the feds, we both were technically on. On runs from three letter agencies. And I drop him off at the airport and he goes, later, man. I gotta go to Puerto Rico for some. I'm like, okay. But I looked at my bank account. I went, holy, dude. I got $6, and I probably had some credit card debt and going on, and. And I go, look. And I had no gas. I remember this so specifically. I had no gas in my Nissan. Nissan truck. And I go, let me go park for a minute. I gotta go park somewhere where I'm not gonna be with. So I went down into the jungle and I backed my truck up into this spot where I was like, no one's gonna mess with me. Just let me think. Maybe wait for that phone call. Right? That went on for three days, man. And I remember sitting there and I had a Sawed off shotgun that I had painted some weird color just in some psychosis, man. And I'm. And I'm thinking about icing myself really. I'm like, dude, I'm a loot. I'm like homeless in my car and I'm starting to smell. You know what? I'm like, what am I gonna do here? And now I'm here. And that reality was kind of coming to, to just too much to handle. And then that's when I was like, you know what? I. I truly think God spoke to me and was like dude, you're not going to leave damage for. And we, and we've talked about this a little bit. Brand is like that damage that you leave that guys leave when they, when they decide to take that permanent choice on a temporary emotion for their families. And just this wake of damage. And I realized I was like, there's no way I'm doing that. I'll fix this all weather the storm regardless. And so that's when I was like, well, the Foreign Legion. At least if I die, I'll have my boots on. That's the way I looked at it. So that's when I went that way.

[Brent Tucker]

Here's, here's the. You still have options. Yeah, there's, there's, there's contracting and yeah, Jimmy did. Did contracting. Yeah. Why the Foreign Legion?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I'll tell you on a practical sense. Yeah, I had ran so completely out of money. I. On just a real practical way, I was like dude, I mean to contract you still got to get your tickets and do your. You still got to have some move for some latitude. I had no room, dude, nothing. And so it was actually like a real practical sense. I'm like, apart from getting arrested and going to jail, I'm gonna have three cots, hots and a cot if I make it in and I can just go there. And so I took some fast cash, loans out and paid a million percent in interest. You know after I got out of the selection there's worth it though and took a. Bought a one way ticket. And so that's when I stayed in a hostel, flushed my system out, pounded a bunch of water, ran did all that stuff to kind of before I went in. It's the military. You're getting drug tested.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And so. And dude, a lot of guys failed when I was in there on the drug test coming in dudes from Africa and they're failing for coke. It was wild seeing that dude.

[Brent Tucker]

Did, did you know anyone that gone to the Foreign Legion before you?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

No.

[Brent Tucker]

Where. How do you know where to go? How do you know whose door to knock on? Is there an email, a phone number? I know nothing. Yeah, I wouldn't know where to start.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Well, it. Well, it's. I knew about the Foreign Legion just crows. You probably were similar in that, just being interested in units and stuff growing up. Like, you're just kind of like, you know, we're in the library, I'm reading stuff. And that's probably where they came across my radar. And then when I was out of college and trying to get into the military and I was having trouble from my background before the Navy actually picked me up, I'm like, the Foreign Legion's a possibility, okay? But I wanna. I wanna serve in the U.S. united States. And so I was like, let me push this. And so when this. I always knew it was kind of my look red, grab Red, you know, and then now the look red, grab red was here. And so online, to answer your question directly, you'll have, like, your Reddit threads and all this, but you never know who's sitting in their mom's basement and. Right. But you can find the Foreign Legion does have a website that gives you some basic information, like, hey, bring, you know, shower shoes and a towel. And, like, this is what you're gonna expect. And your passport, that type of thing. But that's all it says. And then you. It just tells you go knock on this door. That's all it says. That's the only way. There's no email, there's no application. You just go knock on this door. Like the wizard of Oz. I love that. Yeah, It's a great, like, concept, which is actually what drew me to it.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Just old school, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, you go there on Christmas day and knock on the door. No, open it.

[Brent Tucker]

How? How do they open it? And that's maybe a weird question.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

No, it's. It's like. Like the Game of Thrones or some. And a Mexican Foreign Legionnaire with a green beret. And he had a Famas on him. When they're using HK416s now, but he had a Famas on him. He's like, on left on Chapeau, which means take your hat off. You know, because I had a hat on. So I took my hat off and he said, you know, give me your passport. And then go sit down. And then after that it was like, pull up bar. And then. Okay, then into the evening.

[Brent Tucker]

Did you know any French before Going,

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

no, I Googled like J Suissy pour la Legion like on Google Translate just before. And I had, I'm not an idiot. I had done some duolingo to kind of like prep. I was like. But it was not moving the needle much. Right? Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

If you've ever been to any of my tactical training classes, then you know how adamant I am about the use of white light and the importance of a quality high powered tactical light. That's why I use cloud defensive tac lights. You can't hit what you can't see and neither can the bad guys. Clearly identify your target and simultaneously overwhelm his vision with hundreds of and even thousands of lumens. Get serious about defending yourself and your family. Go to clouddefensive.com and use promo code tier one to get 30% off your order. That's right, 30%. You won't find a better light than this and you won't find a better deal than this. How long did you spend in The Foreign Legion?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

4 and a half years.

[Brent Tucker]

The I'm sure they speak a bunch of different languages there, but I'm also assuming French is the primary language that they speak there or is that not all?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

All orders are in French. Has to be mandated, all books, everything's in French. And everyone just seems to have a Russian accent though. So a lot of eastern black guys. But 150 nations are represented just in my graduating class which was like took about five months from that pre selection all the way through was just to give you like a little tidbit was Mongolia, Thailand, bunch a handful of South Africans because South Africa was crumbling. And so you got all those badass dudes that are coming up from there. Mali, Chad, Cote d', Ivoire, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela. I think we had a couple of Venezuelan or two, one American me, so not a lot of Westerners. And then you know, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and that, that kind of crew.

[Brent Tucker]

Is it true that they don't care about your background?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

No, so. Well they do, but they're. It's not the boy scouts and it's. They're not. They understand you're there because probably some didn't go. Right?

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Especially Westerners. But there's a few, there's a few no go's. So serious drug trafficking or arms dealing with the Interpol, with issues with Interpol.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

So they go full on Interpol background checks, that's primary. But also sex crimes. So if you have sex crimes in your country, it's a fucking absolute no go. And I think they had two countries on the no go list. It might have been Cuba, North Korea or something. On the no go. Yes.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. The. So how long do you think it took you before you're like, you felt comfortable with French or did you never felt comfortable?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah, no, I, I, dude, that was, I was 34. I was no spring chicken walking in there. I'm going back scrubbing toilets. Going back to infantry boot camp as a 34 year old dude. You know, I've been doing halos and now I'm doing shoot, move and communicate with some guys who've never been in the military in French. So it was a talk about that. Humility, bro. I really, I had to take a massive step back to, to take my step forward. It was so necessary. And I think that was a really good point you made about, like, if you're not willing to give up some, your new life's gonna cost you your old one.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Has to.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. Was there ever a point in the training when you have a group of men from various backgrounds, none of them speak the same language? Or you're supposed to. But doesn't mean that you do.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

That you're like, how does this even work? You know, that is a. We, we know it works because we've heard of the. Because we've heard of it. But if you were to pitch me this idea. Yeah, that would be my first question. We'd be like without, without a hundred different interpreters on standby all the time. Even though they're all supposed to speak English. It just sounds like a nightmare of herding cats, dude.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

At the beginning it kind of was. But you realize, okay, so you'll have a couple. I'll tell you the actual mechanics of how this works. You'll have a, A few French speakers. Haiti, Tahiti.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Canada. Right. You have at France, you'll have a couple French guys. So you'll have those guys. And so you just watch what the, those guys do. And so at the beginning. And so. But then those guys will be put into kind of a leadership position at first, even if they're not real leaders. And so. But then you'll have guys pick up the language really fast. Guys from Spain, Mexico, they'll pick up that French really fast. Even South Africans pick it up fast. And then you have the stragglers like me, right. Who are good with a gun, but not good with the language. And so you actually have this interesting dynamic where you'll have guys who are good at tactics, but they don't get the language part. But I Can get. I understand land navigation and all that as a concept.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

But then you'll have the bolt on and then they'll take you to class. And so in between them beating the out of you, they'll pull you into classroom and you're free. Freeze, dude. We'd be in the French Pyrenees, which is where their farm is, and we dude be. Be freezing like wet. And you have some Romanian yelling at you in French. And then if you like squeak the chair, he's like, to the moon, Debo, like, and just everybody stand up, get the outside and beat the out of you. And you're coming back in the cloud. So you're learning French by like extreme immersion. And so you learn it a lot faster.

[Brent Tucker]

Right? You're definitely motivated to. To, to learn it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And it's. And it's basic though, right? They call it in France, they call it Legion French, which is interesting because you got the German, you got a lot of. It's. It's an interesting piece because it's like a petri dish of the. The geopolitical atmosphere of what's happened through. It's 200 years old people that aren't aware of what the Foreign Legion is. It's like a 200 year old institution that was started by an old king to funnel foreigners back onto the battlefield with the carrot of French citizenship.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And it was modeled after the Roman legions. Like, hey, we'll bring all these guys that are causing some issues in the bars, get them in back without the political pressure of fren coming back in body bags. So they fought from Algeria in the 1800s all the way to Afghanistan. You know, they've done a lot and they've had a lot of deaths. And so they've had this interesting just geopolitical climate. And it. They make it work, man. Just off of. Of I think volume of practice. They've done it for so many years that they've got it down to a system of like, okay, you got to learn them this. And then that's. You have a lot of Polish mixed in and German mixed in like actual words. And so they call it. And Russian as well. So you have this like weird Legion French. So we all just kind of speak to each other in dog French to kind of. That's what we do.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, yeah, that's. That's how new languages.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah, it's like basic, raw.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

French.

[Brent Tucker]

So I love that you gave the history of the French Horde Legion, because that was gonna be one of my. My questions, knowing that's what the history of the Legion was. It seems like it just, just never disbanded. And, and they just kept it the whole time. What is, what is its current mission? Why do they. They keep it for a reason. Yeah. And it has a mission set, it has a charter. What. What is it now?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

That's a really good question. So total personnel, it's about 7,500 guys worldwide. And they're really a presence patrol. They're plug and play for the French government. They're a formal branch of the French military. So it's like. And it's very similar to the Marine Corps, if I could call it anything. High and tight haircuts, saluting officers, very strict on you know, entering door, entering thresholds of doors and, and, and it's French officers. So it's coming from their like West Point and it's like a feather in the cap for them. You know, I'm a French Foreign Legion officer. They go there and then they kind of. It's like the. Some of the better performing French officers from Saint Cyr I think so he's pronounced go to the French Foreign Legion is like a request. So it's security and some direct action but it's mostly security and so. And then they'll deal with skirmishes. So it's like take Molly for instance. Which Molly, they kind of just closed Molly down. You know, they're doing presence patrols and doing shit and building bases. And if some little terrorist groups are kind of like gangs, they'll deal with them in the jungle in Gan Franc, French Gan, where I was did a deployment. They're doing. Blowing up illegal gold mines, wrapping up some people, doing some for. But it's really presence and also interior, anti anti terrorism domestic missions, patrolling. We patrolled the Riviera as like a. For two months daily full kits man. And just with HK416s and man, you know, seven mags, you know, walking the beach. It was very, very interesting.

[Brent Tucker]

Were, were you well outfitted? They give you good equipment or just, or just enough to do the job.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Just enough to do the job. And it's, it's infantry. Right. And so people. This is actually a really good question because people ask me about gear and then like oh is it. It's not special operations. The French, the French Foreign Legion is not a special operations group. They're not going in and like doing that type of assault. They're like a highly trained shock troop is what I would call it. They're going hitting something. Coming back. They're more high level units are their two commando units which are very small. And it's Group Commando Parachutist and Group Commando Montan, Mountain Commando Group and Parachute Commando Group. And those guys go through another level of selection and they're like. But they're still going and assaulting and coming back. It's more like a ranger than I would call it anything is what I would would call what I would say. And so the gear is minimal, all formalized. Like everyone's looking the same. You all kind of got the same type of the weaponry. The. I mean HK416s were brand new. The weapons were nice, very good. And they clean the out of them, dude. Like we clean them so much it's probably bad for the gun. You know, it's one of those True. And. But let me tell you, they're mountaineering because I was on a mountain infantry regiment is very good. Their. Their alpine was nice. Like our cold weather gear, our boots, our skis all like up in the Alps because it kind of has to

[Brent Tucker]

be was legit because of the mountain side of it. I think maybe not. What was 7, 500 people and you could go anywhere. Was there any mechanized portions of the French Foreign Legion?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yes. So it's called two. It's called the premier wreck, which is a cavalry regiment. So their regiments are Parachute regiment, Infantry Regiment is 1st Engineering Regiment, 2nd Engineering Regiment, which is technically where I was. And I went there because that's where actually the mountain commando group is. And so I was kind of directed up to that. Or even though I didn't make it there, I failed the runs and fast, man, those dudes aren't joking around. But. And then parachute, which they actually were like, dude, you're a little too big going into parachute at 34. Because I told them I wanted to end up at gcp, but dude, I just. They're like, bro, you're gonna. It's. It's static line, man.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

You know, and they're like, you know, they have a lot of knee injuries and they're like, bro, you're 200. It's. You're a little too big and a little too old to be going to that. And so their, their cavalry is actually pretty legit, man. Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Did you get a lot of. It doesn't have to be a lot. Did you get a fair amount of downtime? Do you get to go into town or does it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

It.

[Brent Tucker]

Does it lock down, dude?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

No, it. Well, I love when people ask me lifestyle questions because it's actually a lot of people don't. That's the one piece People don't really know about is the beginning is tough. It's like a new guy. You're a new guy on. On in the barracks. And so you're kind of getting hazed and all that. But, dude, they want you to go get the. Out of there on the weekends. They don't want to deal with guys on the. On the regiment. First of all, they don't really feed you on the weekends that you're kind of on your own, and it's. There's no galley and stuff like that. And so they want you to go. And so, dude, I would go out in town. I had a Bulgarian girlfriend that I, you know, who did tattoos. So it worked out great, you know, who lived down by the beach. And so you can make your life as. As you make it. Some guys obviously will burn it in and. And, you know, come back, you know, crawling back to the regiment. And some guys will, you know, it's everyone's fans out and you find your city that you liked. I liked Marseille. Dangerous city. It was one of the most dangerous cities in. In Europe.

[Brent Tucker]

Really.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

The last. Dude, the assimilation's bad down there, bro. Oh, man. Because you remember, France has had their imperial piggies out in Algeria. And so they have this huge social network as far as, you know, you got Muslim communities that the cops don't even go. And they're blowing up cars, dude, they were lighting cars on fire, dude. People getting shot with AKs. I was going to. What the hell? So you have rough areas of Marseille, but I liked because it was near the. Near the beach, near the Mediterranean.

[Brent Tucker]

What. What is the locals perception of foreigners in the French Ford Legion, when they come out, when they find out who you are? Indifferent. They like you because you are part of the French military. Technically.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

They not respect you because, dude, I

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

go is really well accepted by the French in, like, the small villages, because we'd patrol, man, and when we got what's called the kepi blanc, that white hat, and the history of that hat is the. The dudes in Algeria. And so they actually had a tan hat, but they'd be out there for so long in the desert, it would bleach white.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And it was marcho crev, which means march or die. And so that they would have these long patrols, and if you're in the back, you'd get picked off by bandits and all this. And so the. And then Also World War II, so you have these old. This older demographic in France, they experience World War II bombs, they get actual war. We. We're separated from that in the United States, and. And a lot of people haven't seen that side of it, so they have a huge respect. And, dude, they were always giving us coffees in the small villages as we'd be patrolling through or doing whatever or training. It was always really nice. Even on the Riviera, man, they'd be like, hey, bonjour, you know, come over here, take a coffee, kid. And, you know, whatever. They were always super, super cool, man. And the chicks. The chicks loved it. They're like, hey, you know, they got all these foreigners all tatted up and, you know, and. And it's one of the only units, dude, that allows guys with beards, so. So it's. They're called the pioneers. I don't know if you've seen, like, that kind of weird march that the French Foreign Legion does, but they carry axes. And it's like the guys, the pioneers that would walk in the front of the patrols and, like, chop down the trees and do all this. And they have beards. And so you'll have this whole unit in the Foreign Legion that has beards at each regiment. It's kind of ceremonial now, but it's cool, man. So you have this really kind of cool balance between heritage and, like, new and then people know. It's like, oh, Foreign Legionnaires, they see the Green Berets, they see who you are as a unit. And even the young. Even young kids were stoked on it.

[Brent Tucker]

The. I just have so many questions about it. Do you think because of the way it was formed with essentially the. The Ground Pounders being all foreigners?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

Did you ever get the feeling that either from stories of the past, things they asked you to do, or the culture, that you guys were also kind of disposable?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Oh, to them, 100. I mean, they don't even want you to ask questions. I mean, they. I'd be doing, like, ops and in Estonia. Not crazy, not super, not kinetic, you know, but we'd be kind of going out, doing movements and stuff. I didn't even know where I was going, dude. No brief, no nothing, you know, and maybe, you know, they didn't really want you to know. They. You're there to pick up a gun and go forward. It is very much top down. It's about one of the. And so it was weird coming from the SEAL teams, which is very much bottom up. You know, you got enlisted, you're a new guy building PowerPoints on, actions on. And it's very different than Shut the up, don't Ask any questions, get in the back of the, you know, the. The up armored vehicle and just bog down, and then we'll get out. So you'll get a real baseline. Even in the jungle, we'd have some baseline direction. And they're like, hey, tomorrow we're gonna come up on this gold mine. Here's what's going on, you know? And that's when you'd get a quick, brief, but very different mindset and. And. But not too worried about our. Our safety, though, for sure, you know? And they. They say, too, in the Foreign Legion, they're allocated a little less money than normal French military food. Like, five euros for a normal French guy and then three for a French Foreign Legion. And so our galleys were a little bit different and like, that.

[Brent Tucker]

Were you able to save up some money while you were there, or you just spend it on the weekends?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Dude, I.

[Brent Tucker]

This.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I sat down because my life had been destroyed. So I was still dealing in this barracks room going, dude, I have a fake name, mind you. They. They gave me a fake name. I don't have my passport. I have a different flag on my shoulder. I have. Still. I have debts I need to pay back in the United States. Right? I was like, look, I gotta get my life set. So I sat down and I penciled out on a piece of paper, and I think this is important that anybody do. And I wrote out, like, a financial plan, like, how do I get back in the green here? And I just wrote out, like, hey, if I'm making this much money here and I save a little money. And, dude, I did that, man. I invested in crypto, and I did some. And I just really just mind my P's and Q's. I wasn't going out partying, doing that I was doing before, making a lot less money. And surprisingly, when I was making 6 digits M. Saving more money in some strange capacity when I had five shirts and a pair of shoes, you know. Well, you know, you have no girlfriend. No, no. No real responsibilities. Got no car, no insurance. So there's a. There's a beauty in that. And I actually found it to be massively helpful because I needed that time to, like, relearn my discipline. Financial discipline. Yeah. And I did. I saved money because I knew I didn't want. I saw guys in the Foreign Legion who are just living paycheck to paycheck and spending their money out in town. And, dude. And they re up because they don't have anywhere else to go. You know, they're like. They're getting re enlistment. They're taking re enlistment contracts because they don't have any money to even have a gap. And I'm like, dude, I am not doing this. Yeah. So that's when, and dudes still in the United States military do that. They're spending money and then they're like, man, I'm getting out, man, this place. And then I'm like, hey, dude, didn't you just reenlist? Like yeah, you know, I did another 305 years. Well, a lot of it comes down to financial. You want to have some breathing room. And I knew so I, I, I prepped that four years in, five years in advance.

[Brent Tucker]

Right. And what's crazy is when some people do that, they re enlist because they're broke. And if you, and they get like a thirty thousand dollar bonus and if you spread that bonus out over the five or four, four years.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

It's like, it's not, it's not even 10 grand a year tax.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. You're like five grand.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. You could have went and made more.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. In the public you will, you will make more.

[Brent Tucker]

But you needed that lump so bad that you have to stay in the system. And it's, it's, it's a shame because a financial plan is basic math and I hate it when people try to pretend that things more complicated than they are. Finances is the most simple math in the world. It's literally addition and subtraction.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. Money in, money out.

[Brent Tucker]

There's no high level math to be done here. No. And if the money in is greater than the money out, we're good.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

You know, and be like, I can't, I can't figure out my finances. I can't, you know, I can't, I can't get out of this. It's just, it's, it's an excuse. You don't want to.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. And you don't want to be in a situation that you really don't want to be in. And if you're re up and make it because you like the, the lifestyle and you want the job and you want to keep doing it and you have the option to keep doing it, don't make it because you have to, man. Anything you have to do. So that was something because I fumbled the first out. So I, I had the unique experience of getting two transitions right. I fumble the first one and I was spending more than I was making, even though I was making a lot. And, and then I was like, I'm never. And then I end up homeless in my car. I, I still to this day have that fear of being that broke. Yeah, that's terrifying to me. And now I got kids and, you know, and a chick and it's like a house and all this, and all these responsibilities which come. Dude, I'm like, never again. And so I have this fear, which is helpful. I use fear as a catalyst. I think some people use it as an anchor. I really use it as a catalyst. Like, let me be smarter about this, you know, not operating in scarcity or fear based mindset, but just being conscious that, that this stuff doesn't happen by accident. To go off what you're saying. This doesn't sneak up on you, man. Like, you know, apart from some crazy tragedy, it's usually a sequence of a million terrible bad choices. Choices.

[Brent Tucker]

How long were you in the Foreign Legion? And then what was, what was your catalyst to be like, I'm, I'm done. I checked that box. Yeah, I've learned my lesson, whatever it was.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. So I was, I was on a team lead course and we were doing a winter team lead course. And mind you, I'm completely off the grid for years since the teams I've had no social media, nothing. Because, you know, in our, in our line of work, that's just not the, the jam, especially at that time, you know. And so I just. And then going to the Foreign Legion, I just was still embarrassed, I guess, about like losing my life and kind of. And I wanted to build myself back up and so I was just focused and I just wasn't really on that program. And I was on a winter team lead course and I had torn my medial calf muscle and so it's still all deformed. And my left calf, people looking at my calves, dude, see one's all up. As long as I got small calves, dude, check out that one, bro. See this one's all up. Will, call me out there. Hey, got small caps. Like, I got 18 inch calves, bro. Sorry for ripping my calf in the Foreign Legion. Have a small kid. Yeah, yeah. And so I, I had torn it three years before, but I just kept running on it. And I'm like, dude, I'm not getting like rolled back or dropped in this. So I just kept running. It was terribly painful, but then it just kind of healed as it does. But now I'm on this winter team lead course and it was hard. I mean, we're only working with. I had got promoted by this point. I have a couple deployments under my belt. You know, I'M not getting on anymore. And now I'm kind of at this, this question mark of they're, they're offering me a non commissioned officer position and you know, a different trajectory. And I'm going, well, let me. And dude, I was just, dude, I didn't have the juice on this leg like this, the pace was faster and I just felt this like, dude, I'm like slowing this group down, down a little bit. And that was a weird feeling because I'd never felt that before.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And I assume it's like a football player on a football field and you're a boxer. And he just, you're like, damn, I'm 38 at this point too. I'm not some spring chicken. I'm like, damn, dude, I'm slowing this pace down.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

So I said, dude, I gotta get this leg checked out. You know, even though it's kind of an older injury. But so I went down and I remember having that moment of like skiing down and I'm going, I feel like something, this, something's turning here, right? Not. But I had no idea what yet. And then they put me in the hospital and the doctors, the French doctors are like, what the going on with your leg? Like, how are you walking? It's all like mangled. And they're like, so they had, they kept me there for six weeks and I was actually kind of fine. But this like time, which I hadn't had because like what you mentioned, it's very, it's high paced. Right. You're doing gate guard duty. Yeah. You might have a weekend off here or there, but you're pretty busy now. I'm sitting there going, man, dude, maybe I'll share my story a little bit or something, you know, and that. So that's when I, we just shared my story. I made a post online, like, hey man, I mean I'm in, you know, I'm a Navy Seal and I've been. Because it was really like I was having good days now for a couple, for years and I really felt good about my life and, and it was all just from daily habits and stuff of just tightening up what I was doing. And I was suicidal in my car a handful of years before and that post and I posted it and it kind of took off. And that's when I started having some issues with the Foreign Legion because they're like, hey dude, Foreign Legionnaire can have a Instagram, you know, can have social media. They don't. There's a bunch of guys with social media, but they don't like when it's getting millions of views.

[Brent Tucker]

That's okay.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

That's like. Then they're like, take it all down. And I was like. But I was already starting to get hundreds of emails from foreign. From veterans going, hey, dude, I was sitting with my gun in a car and I was gonna kill myself. But I just like, your honesty was. I was like, man, and this people call it what he wanted, but I truly felt like I was getting called to a. A different path to just share my story if it was helping people. And dude, I'm getting out. I already had made the decision that I'm not re upping. I'm not staying in France. I. I want to come back to the United States. And I have six months left. And they're like, we're putting you in jail if you don't take all your down is what they said.

[Brent Tucker]

And from back to.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Back to back jail sentences.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And the Foreign Legion, they'll put you in the. In jail if you walk across the grass. Wrong. Right. They don't give a. And jail and the Foreign Legion. So people know it's. There's a jail on every base. And then what you do is you pick a big rock up and you run 10km and you stack the rock down in a pyramid. And there's like, it looks like the Egyptian pyramids in front of every Foreign Legion regiment from people breaking big rocks into small rocks. And. And then you're just doing yard work all day and, and. And on food. Discipline, discipline. So they're put me on bread and water for months and still kick me out. But I'm like, I'm not taking this down, man. And that's how it is. So I actually had a lawyer like, com combating this with them administratively. And he's like, dude, you're not a citizen here. You're nothing. You got no residence. You're not a citizen. You don't have any curl. Contractual obligation. And I'm in comms with them and I'm like, look, this, I'm not taking it down. So what are the options? They're like, well, you can kick rocks out of frame. France pretty much.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

So I got 86 from France pretty much.

[Brent Tucker]

What's the initial contract that you sign in for?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Five years.

[Brent Tucker]

Five years? Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

So I'm moving. I'm moving trucks around the base. You know, I'm on my Twilight tour. They know I'm getting out and I'm in a kind of a. And so it was just. It. I wasn't changing what I was doing, and there was no way that they were gonna let me slide on it. And so it was kind of a reconcilable differences.

[Brent Tucker]

What's. What's your. What's your plan? What's your plan when you go home?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

So I started doing this mentorship and coaching, and it was mostly sharing guys, my macronutrients, training protocols. Just kind of some mindset that I found help reading and just holding guys accountable. I'm like, hey, let me show you what worked for me. Going from suicidal to, like, much more in shape and in a better vibrational space. And. And I start there, but then it goes into a spiritual connection. It always at all. I see so. So often it goes from, like, getting guys some momentum and feeling good, and then it, like, it taps into the spiritual side. And so. And I really got a lot out of it. And I was working with guys from a. From the barracks room, so I started doing that, and then I came home and I just kept doing it, and I just never broke pace. And I kept the daily disciplines that I was doing push ups in my Foreign Legion barracks room. I still do them in my master bathroom in my Coeur d' Alene farmhouse. Still do it today, man. I. I haven't. Not perfect. Not a robot, dude. I'm not, like, waking up at, you know, and, you know, fired up every day. It's just not possible. But I definitely. I'm intentional about my morning, and that's really helped.

[Brent Tucker]

What's your push up? Do you have a particular routine you like?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Dude, I do. I do one max set of Mike Tyson push ups.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Mike Tyson put. If it's good enough for Mike, it's good enough for me, man. It's. I just like them because they're good for my shoulders. They're a little bit more fun than regular push ups up. So. And I just do one max set. Dude, it's four or whatever in the morning when I get up. I'm not trying to do burpees, and it's doing too much.

[Brent Tucker]

What's. What's the Mike Tyson push up?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

It's like you put your heels on the wall and you do a push up, and then you kind of do like a pipe push up, so you bend yourself back towards so you kind of get like an extended in the shoulders.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay. It.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Dude, I love them.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah, I love them. I just see one max set. Do a little prayer with some gratitude. Puts me in a better space because I wake up negative, man. And maybe guys watching this know I Don't know what it is, but I wake up a little intense. I'm always got some fear in my heart about something, you know, or like, oh, always. And so I find that if I just put myself and I drink my coffee first thing and no phone, no email, no news. That's like the one thing I've done. If anybody listens to anything that I've said. If you don't look at your phone in the morning, you're gonna be so much better off. That changed my life by just not doing that.

[Brent Tucker]

When is it. Is it a after lunch thing? Phone? Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

No, I'll look at it in the morning. But not right away, right?

[Brent Tucker]

Not the first thing you're doing.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And I, and I think I used to, you know, you look at your Instagram or you're just, dude, you're getting your chi sucked away. And there's so much divisiveness. Especially now, dude, I try to keep my chi centered as much. Dude, I'm like a constant work in progress to keep my cheese centered, bro.

[Brent Tucker]

When, when you come back, did you feel like you had kind of beaten back those, those demons of, of drugs and alcohol or when you get reintroduced back in the States, was, was there, was there any pool that they had on you? Still no.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

You know, it's. I'm not, I'm not a 100 sober guy. I'll drink a beer and so. But I'm not partying like I was. And I def. And I don't do drugs. So that, that like, part of me. And it was really like. And that's what anybody working, dude, do what works for you. And I always say, here's how, you know, is your life falling apart or is it getting better? It's a, There's a real easy, like barometer here. Is your life. Is it enhancer or is it a detractor? And also for me, you said something interesting about like the two types of people. I wasn't like a depressive drinker and stuff. I actually would. Would drink too much when I was like in a good mood and that's when I would actually crash and burn. And I'm like, let's get one once

[Brent Tucker]

the train leaves the station.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

And I will actually, when I, when I'm like trying to get my life together at. That's actually not where I go towards. And so be cognizant if especially momentum. Momentum is, is you got to be very careful about momentum. And that is that I would say if one thing that I really pay attention to when I Got back is momentum. Like the money starts to come. Like the. And then relationship's good just to stay. Okay. I get it all good. I'm gonna take it with a grain of salt. Not gonna get too far ahead or get too happy about or too sad about and just kind of keep the rhythm.

[Brent Tucker]

It's funny to say that I don't think I ever really thought about it in this aspect until you just said

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

that

[Brent Tucker]

every man has their vice. Yes. If. If it's not alcohol, it's something.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yes.

[Brent Tucker]

Every man deals with something. We just don't all deal with the same thing.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yes.

[Brent Tucker]

And unfortunately, a few men deal with several vices.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And that becomes a problem. Alcohol has never been my vice. And when things go bad, I've never really turned to drinking. But I'm a good time drinker.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And that is that. That's. And that. That's where I drink. And you'd be hard pressed that in one year's time to follow me. You'd probably be hard pressed to find me drunk even once a year. Yeah, I just. I just don't get to that level. I can't defend myself. I can't. I can't defend my friends.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

I can't make responsible decisions. I just. It's something I've always been really good about. So I can't. So I didn't come up with this saying because it wasn't something that I dealt with, but someone else did. And it just resonated with me. And he said, I don't understand why people drink when they're going through bad times. For this reason, he goes. And it's just logical. He goes, I've never met anyone in my life and I would challenge anyone in this room to tell me a story that. That differs. Have you ever met anyone that was going through bad times and like, hey, guys, check this out. I was going through some dark times. I started drinking heavily and things got better. I mean, we laugh about that because it is funny.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. Not once. Yeah. Not once.

[Brent Tucker]

I don't know the history of the world as anyone turned to the bottle and be like, life got better. Life got better for that day. But you know, drinking in that fashion is. Is. Is your borrowing joy from tomorrow or.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Or ever. I've never heard. And I work with a lot, hundreds of guys over these last couple years who have been like, dude, I started drinking heavily and shit's awesome. It's always the relationship suffers, lost the job. It's always your life starts to crumble and there's A lot of reason. Yeah, there's a lot of reasons to it. Abe Lincoln said something interesting about the vice piece. He goes, a man with no vices often has very few virtues. I go, man, I must be a virtuous. So for me, dude, it's not the gambling stuff. It's just I always got to be care. Careful, just keep my wits about me. Right. What's that saying, Keep your wits about you when everybody's losing theirs.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I need. I need to be mindful. And so it's intentionality. Mindfulness.

[Brent Tucker]

Right.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

That's. That's been my. My key.

[Brent Tucker]

And it, you know, just, you know, telling that story that. Yeah. No one. No one ever got better drinking. Even though it's funny, I think stories like that and breaking it down, it's just. It's such a logical statement that's been in front of our faces the whole time. Yep. And anyway. And you probably might be the first time you heard it. It's probably the first time someone else has heard it, but it's so logical. It's one of those things when I do go through a hard time and I. And I think. I mean, I always think about drinking. Yeah, it's a possibility. Yeah. I might have a few beers. I'm not saying I go cold sober when I have that time. I just don't get drunk. That always resonates in my mind, and I smile almost. Almost every time, and it really keeps me from doing it. So I really hope someone hears that saying and, and when they heard that, it makes them smile. And next time they have a bad day, they remember that and go, all right, what, what's. What's my other options?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Escapism's dangerous. Anything that you're. You're trying to use to escape from reality, be very cautious unless it's positive. And I mean it. Like, hey, dude, if you're using the gym, in a sauna as an escape for a minute, I promise you you're probably going to be all right. So. But it's. If you're using a substance, a pill or anything to. To escape from the reality of the moment and, and people ask me about painkillers a lot. Right.

[Brent Tucker]

Okay.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

But just because that's. That's was a piece of like a real bad moment in my life, think, oh, did you get hurt or. No, I wanted to get high. That was the truth. I didn't get hurt. I didn't get stuck on painkillers because the doctor gave. That was not my story. I remember the moment I had gone Through a really bad breakup. Like, you know, everything's taken out of the house and like that, that type of moment which a lot of men get. And I, I called the drug dealer I knew just from growing up in San Diego. And I said, hey, dude, I need some Percocets just because I know I would feel a little bit better. And I made. And I. That one decision caused me a daily habit for about a year of, of, oh, this, this makes me feel just a little bit better about the pressure and like the, the pain I'm feeling. It was a painkiller. It was an emotional painkiller for me and, and I had to learn the hard way.

[Brent Tucker]

I don't know. I'm sure there is. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about this question, but what's really unique about cigars? Cigars might be the one escape from reality or something like that. That is. That I can do. I can do two things. Sometimes when life just gets just overwhelming. Yeah. Or the day has gotten too hectic. There are times I just step away, go to the garage and smoke a cigar. Yeah. And I'm, I'm escaping reality of sorts. I smoke the cigar. I think about nothing else. I can't. I'm like most men. I can work for 14, 16, 18 hours straight. But in that sometimes if I just walk off, smoke a cigar, come back, and then I can, I can finish out that 18 hour, you know, session. So not only can I do I smoke it sometimes to think of nothing. It's the same vice, if you will, that if I also have to only think about something and problem solve. I also go to cigars.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And I just go, all right, I'm gonna clear everything out. I'm just going to worry and figure this one problem out. And it's something that's really unique. I don't drink. You really can't do that with drinking.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

I don't think you should do that drinking. You need a clear mind to do that. So it's just something really unique in my life that allows me to think of nothing and only think of something at, at the same time. They're really unique in that aspect.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

It's not a, it's not a, it's not changing your psychological space. It's not a, a, it's not a drug. And anybody say nicotine's drink? No, it's not. Like you obviously don't know what a drug is. Let me tell you. Like, we were, we were in, when we were in Yemen, I was chewing Cot with like the, the little Yemeni counterterrorism in it. Yeah. And because I was. I spoke a little Arabic and the Navy was actually paying me, I kept that. That qual up for a while. So I would just go. But also they gave me free lunch. I was eating boiled goat and stuff sitting on the ground. And. And I would say, eat chew cot with these guys. And these guys are like, man, dude, I'm getting up. You know this. And I'm like, this sucks. I was like, this shit's not strong enough. Because I'm like, you guys don't know what a drug is, man.

[Brent Tucker]

Well, you. You also probably weigh twice as much

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

of them, you know, and I was probably doing a lot less. But. But it was. But the drug piece, man, it's not. You need. You need micro breaks and you need things that actually relieve a little of the pressure. That is nothing. It's like, dude, I actually see something like that as a positive. It puts you in a good frame. When you talk about stress, I heard somebody say recently, they're like anything that can kind of in. In moderation, right? Something like a cigar that relieves the stress. I promise you, the stress relief from that is gonna do you a lot better than you, just not. The stress gonna kill you faster than the cigar is ever going to. And so let's be reasonable about here. If people take me about the sun too, they're like, you out of the sun. You're in the sun too much. You're red. And I'm like, hey. I'm like, the sun makes me feel better. They're like, you're going to get skin cancer. I'm like, well, if I die, skincare. So I lived a great life. I'll be all right. Yeah, I'll be all right, dude.

[Brent Tucker]

The person tell you that probably if you look at his diet like you're telling me about the sun.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. I'm like, bro, I'm tracking macronutrients I'll give myself just so I just. So I can negate the sun. All right.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah, it's. Here's a crazy thing about, you know what, what, what, what? We think we know what's changed over. Fats used to be bad for you. Now fats are good for you. We used to think the food pyramid was. Was right. Now the. Basically the food pyramid is essentially upside down for it to be right. Yeah, cigars, they just put out a. A study of trying to think which health organization put it out, but it wasn't. Wasn't put out by The Cigar association. It was put out by a federal health administration and said when they've, when they did a long term study of people smoking four up to four premium cigars a day. Yeah. The increased risk of cancer was negligible.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Dude.

[Brent Tucker]

What.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Even there, it's breathing the air and that's probably worse.

[Brent Tucker]

Four cigars a day.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And. But what, but what they've told you is because they've really attached the war on nicotine to cigar to anything.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

With, with the war on tobacco to anything. And they connected cigarettes and cigars and they're, they're wildly different.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Well, it's also probably the pharmaceutical companies that are pushing forward because they don't own the, the, the cigars. I'll tell you, I look where the, look where this fun this, this studies are coming from. It's almost always from pharmaceutical companies. Like, you know, cigars are bad for you. Hey, take this Tyra Dolan off, you know, or whatever the. Dude, you see these commercials now? It's insanity.

[Brent Tucker]

I'm so sick of the pharmaceutical companies.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

So I watch shows now. Every single commercial is some wazoo. Terrafen off, pterodactyl off. Dude, what the.

[Brent Tucker]

And half the time the side effects are worse than, than the actual problem.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

They're like you might out your guts and die, but at least you won't have skin patches, you know, or dry skin.

[Brent Tucker]

Oh, it's, it's so crazy. What, what are you up to these days, Father?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

That's your first title and mentorship, man. That's what I've been doing, dude. I have my, I got my fiance and my baby in Fort Lauderdale right now. You made the trip over here. We're doing some beach and just. I like traveling with them, you know. It was her first big. She's 14 months is her first big like, like, you know, cross country. We flew to Hawaii too before, but this was our first big country, so that's been really interesting. And then just slamming on the mentorship speaking, you know, finishing up a book, you know, talking about, you know, the path from, you know, getting kicked out of the teams to the Foreign Legion and really on the Foreign Legion, I like to focus on the, the characters in it. Like who the, are those. Who are the people that join.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Which is kind of a different angle of, of, of all the different. And the case studies. Like a Kenyan I knew became a marathon runner just to get a visa. And then when he got a race in France, just never went to the race and joined the French Florida Legion because trying to get A visa from Kenya is really just those types of stories. A guy who walked from Romania with no passport, hitchhiked, and then got in with no passport. And they're like, dude, you don't have a passport. They're like, made it here with no passport. We'll take him. So they kept him.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

The small stories like that are, are what I'm going to focus on.

[Brent Tucker]

I love it. Yeah, I, I, I fully endorse that idea. Yeah. That is a great idea. Yeah. And you should. And I, again, I, I love it. We say it all the time. It's not that bad things happen in your life. Ev. Every person in this world has bad things happen to them. Yeah, people have. More bad things happen to them.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Brent Tucker]

But it's the way you handle the bad things. And what I love about your story is some people will say, well, he didn't really handle his bad things all, all that well. And that's and, and fair. And if your story ended there, yeah, that'd be true. But you can, you can have bad things happen to you. You can make bad decisions, but every day is a new day to make a different decision every day. The problem is, the longer you go down that bad road, the harder that decision becomes. Yep. But it's always there. Yep. It's there.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And it's so random. I still don't know why you chose the Foreign Legion. Yeah. But I'm glad you did. Because of, of the story. Yeah. That it is you. You do. You have one of the most unique stories of all the people I've come across. And, and you, you ended up the other side of that tunnel, a better person for it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah. And, dude, it's, it's a trip. It's surreal being here sitting with you because, like I said, dude, I got a ton of respect for you guys. Like, just guys have operated that level, man. And, and sitting here and being able to talk to you kind of like, at a peer level is surreal, man. You know, it really is. And it's an honor for me, you know, not to, like, you know, blow smoke up your ass, but I really, it's, it's cool being here and just being able to share a story and, and you're never out of the fight. It's such an old cliche, but it's so true, man. As long as you just power through. And dude, from suicidal, sitting in my car to sitting with my daughter on the beach, I never, if you, I never would have seen that in that moment. Right. That's why, if you keep powering through. You do not know the blessings that are in store for you. And. And that's why you got to keep walking it. It's. I could. You could have never convinced me from that moment of pain that I'd be there in like a beautiful beach with my f. Beautiful fiance and a successful business and stuff going on and that that would have existed. And so I say just keep powering through and just. Who knows if you plan your life right. You haven't even lift your best day yet, right? You might. You. The best days of your life are still in store for you. Man.

[Brent Tucker]

That's. That. That is so true. What. Where could they find you now?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Taylorkavanaugh.com My website. Okay. That contact form goes right to me. So I don't AI anything or outsource anything that goes right to my personal email tcav official on my Instagram. I answer all my own DMS and then my YouTube.

[Brent Tucker]

Taylor Cavanaugh Kavanaugh with a C. You guys see it in the. And. And the title. What's next for you, dude?

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I'm gonna keep this mentorship thing going. I really love it. It's. I get a lot of purpose out of it. I do everything one on one. So I, I like to, you know, I have ex corporate performance executive guys, guys who were just getting out of the military, guys who were just coming from living in their car. Like everybody can kind of get some reframing and, and it's just some outside perspective and just some honest I fighters go into fights with cornermen. It's. Why. Because you can't read the label when you're in the jar. You. You can't see really what's going on. And, and when I've gotten good advice and mentorship from people I did. You don't know what you don't know. You're blind. You're blind. It's like doing close quarters combat or something. Try to, try to teach CQC to yourself. You'll be good to a point. But you need somebody like you go, dude, what. What the you doing? That looked terrible. You know, and so you need somebody with a, with a outside perspective who maybe you respect or was living a life that maybe you might. You. You like and obviously know some. And then we all need to learn from somebody. And so that's kind of what I do is just reframing, scheduling, tightening some up.

[Brent Tucker]

I love what you just said about, you know. Yeah, you can only teach yourself so much. There's. There's a few fallacies and just, and some people's outlooks. And so we'll take, we'll take CQC and maintain that. And some people will say well I don't know anything about cqc. And so they don't try to learn anything. They don't try to teach them themselves that, that and then they just, you know, come to someone like me and you and you're like tell me everything.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

And I'm like well what do you know so far? Nothing. And right off the bat I'm like well then nothing. Like you didn't do any of, of your own research. Yeah, you know, try to further yourself. And then there's the other extreme of it and this, this happens in the law enforcement training world where they essentially will self teach themselves and then crown their new tactic. Something good.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Not bounced off cross reference it not

[Brent Tucker]

cross reference, it not bounce off the, the you know, the experience or other people like this works. And when then when someone with experience comes in and goes well let me. You don't know what you don't know. Let me tell you the 10 reasons why, why this won't work. You know when you come to a SWAT team like who, who told you to do this? Yeah, that's that, that guy. And so as always with a lot of thing, it's usually right, right there somewhere in the middle is a sweet spot.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

A lot. Yeah. You know, I learned it on the fitness side of, of I was like, I'm a Navy SEAL legionnaire, no one can tell me how to eat and train. But the truth was my energy was in this. I was still kind of holding on to some fat. And I was like dude. And I reached out to a big fitness guy, go just tell me what the up. Because I had done all carnival, I had tried a lot of stuff. So this is that like I had walked the road enough and now I'm in my 40s and so it wasn't working the same. And some guy's like oh you gotta, this is what you should do here. And just taught me macronutrients said nothing about. But my, it was like my results went like that just overnight on just changing a couple things. I just didn't know. I totally did not know. So it was helpful. And then I took that and kind of ran with that piece and but that one simple, well one simple addition, like all you need to hear is maybe one small thing that's holding you back. Like, like, like you, you coaching guys who are doing cqc like just to unlock a little bit of understanding. Right. Of like, hey, man, you need to be aware of this. And you go, oh. And then that opens up a whole new window.

[Brent Tucker]

Yeah. It's so funny you say that. I. I never come in and teach them and reinvent the wheel.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Yeah.

[Brent Tucker]

It's usually some. It's usually a few really small things that. That you're kind of polishing that has. That has large effects. So we're gonna go to the garage, smoke some gars and talk about macro macronutrients. Because I want to know more about it.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I had one. One, one thing to kind of cap it off. I had one older guy when I was doing cqc, and he goes, he. This was the thing that unlocked something for me. And it was night time. We were doing. And I was. Had been doing something awkward. He goes, hey, cap. Let me touch you something, dude. He goes, don't do weird.

[Brent Tucker]

Don't be weird.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Don't. And I went. And that. But he was right. He was. Be deliberate. Be. Be, you know, clear about your movements. And that one thing, though, changed the way understanding.

[Brent Tucker]

Right? Last question for you as everyone gets. Tell me a funny story.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Funny story, dude, bro. When I was in jail, a guy was poo painting and he's. And he was. He was locked in one of those padded rooms. And I'm 23 years old, press out of. Press out of college, trying to go in the military. Had to clear up some probation. So I'm cleaning up this cell and where I have to go in there, and he's. And he gets put into this like. Like, he's like in a gown and covered in. And the nurse is like, oh, no, he's got poop on him. And he's going, I'm a gangster. I crashed his car. He'd been arrested that night. He's on one. And this. This big black dude I was. I was working with, he like looks over and he goes. He's getting pissed and he's looking at his ghost. He goes, hey, pooh, Peyton ain't gangster

[Brent Tucker]

somehow. That's a T shirt. It's. It's a T shirt. I never thought needed to be made, but apparently does.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

Never heard a true statement in my life.

[Brent Tucker]

And why do half the stories always have to do with poop? They're just funny, man.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

It's just funny.

[Brent Tucker]

Taylor, I can't thank you enough. You're literally on vacation. You hopped on a train and come down here. You're getting right back on the train, same day to go back to your family. So for you, for you to do that for. For me. I'm. I am grateful, dude.

[Taylor Kavanaugh]

I appreciate it. And everybody tuning in, man. It's been a. Been an honor.

[Brent Tucker]

Absolutely, really enjoyed it. See you next time, guys.

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