Tier1 Live | Brent Tucker & Daniel Gade

Summary

---

Tier1 Podcast Live with Brent Tucker & Daniel Gade

Date: February 20, 2026
Podcast: Tier1 Podcast
Host: Brent Tucker
Main Guest: Daniel Gade (author, Army veteran, public policy PhD)
Special Appearances: Craig (Rundown Podcast), Magnet (Lion Arms), Drew Tucker (Producer), community members

---

Overview:

This episode of the Tier1 Podcast Live is a wide-ranging, no-holds-barred discussion centering on Daniel Gade’s controversial book, Wounding Warriors: How Bad Policy Is Making Veterans Sicker and Poorer. Host Brent Tucker and guests focus on the consequences of a broken veterans’ disability system, the cultural and societal impacts of “victimhood” narratives both within and outside the military, generational shifts in hardship, and the vital importance of honest conversations about masculinity, gender, and personal responsibility.

The tone throughout is frank, irreverent, and deeply personal—at times humorous, always grounded in the firsthand experiences of special operations veterans and public policy experts.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Updates and Icebreakers

• Grandmama Nancy Story:

  • [03:00] Brent updates the ongoing case of a high-profile elderly kidnapping, questioning the public response and the actions (or lack thereof) by the family, especially given their resources.
  • Humorous yet pointed around how much you'd pay as a ransom for a family member, revealing attitudes toward responsibility and action in crisis.

• Memorable Quote:

  • “If it upset you, then maybe you’re part of the problem.” – Brent [01:17]

---

2. The Reality of the Veterans’ Disability & Benefits System

• Wounding Warriors Book Discussion:

  • Daniel Gade debunks myths about widespread veteran grifting, but holds the system responsible for fostering dependency and rewarding remaining "broken":
    • “Too often those people believe the lie that because the sword is a little dented, it can never be reformed back into a productive plow.” – Daniel [10:48]
    • “The system traps people in this negative identity…looking over their shoulder at their worst day instead of forward.” – Daniel [10:49]
  • Examples of fraud: exaggerated PTSD claims, people co-opting others’ trauma; the cost is paid by taxpayers and those truly in need who get left behind or delayed ([19:04], [19:23]).

• The Expanding Definition of Disability:

  • By liberalizing standards, far more claims are being accepted for conditions only tangentially related to service (PTSD via secondary trauma, partner’s assault, lifestyle diseases) ([16:23], [19:04]).
  • “Virtually anything can get you a PTSD diagnosis and, therefore from the VA, at least a PTSD payment.” – Daniel [16:23]
  • Example of ratings absurdity: 50% disability for sleep apnea (more than a below-knee amputation), scars rated at 30%, etc. ([44:07], [44:33])
  • “Chicks dig scars. Stop it.” – Daniel [44:27]

• Numbers Game:

  • Only 50,000 were awarded Purple Hearts (actual combat wounds) during GWOT, but ~200,000 new VA disability recipients added every year ([23:41]).

• Why Speak Up?

  • Not out of hatred, but love for the truly deserving and concern for the sustainability of benefits ([24:50]).

---

3. Culture, Masculinity, and the Shift in Victimhood Narratives

• Historical Comparison & Societal Shifts:

  • Each generation’s wars becoming less deadly, yet reported veteran disabilities skyrocketing ([52:02]).
  • “We used to be proud of not needing help... now you aren’t a real man unless you have a diagnosis.” – Brent [56:56]

• Raising Men & Grit:

  • Discussion of absent fatherhood, the feminization of institutions, and its effects on boys/men ([58:08], [59:34], [62:03]).
  • “A good woman makes her man into a better man.” – Daniel [61:01]
  • “You have a system that tells boys everything masculine is bad, so boys grow up confused and lost.” – Craig [63:22]

• Memorable Quotes:

  • “Government is not your mom. Your mom is your mom. Stop acting like it is.” – Daniel [27:49]
  • “If baby can’t read, that is mama’s fault. If the lights are out, that’s daddy’s fault.” – Chris Rock, paraphrased [90:17]

---

4. Broken Incentives and Systemic Parallels

• Perverse Incentives:

  • The system pays vets (especially for PTSD) to stay sick; proper treatment and incentives for positive outcomes are rare, leading to chronic dependency ([35:33]).
  • “Rules are static, but human behavior is dynamic. Set up a rule and people will find a way around it.” – Daniel [36:33]

• Broader Policy Parallels:

  • Veterans’ issues mirror Social Security, welfare, and nearly every government handout system—overexpansion, misplaced good intentions, and program capture by special interests ([35:33], [36:55]).
  • “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” – [38:44]

---

5. Gender & Social Ideology Debates

• Exploring Transgender and Gender Issues (and Their Dangers):

  • Widespread, sharp criticism of current transgender medical practices, especially involving children. Citing European policy reversals and legal settlements ([121:20], [131:05]).
  • Discussion of high-profile violent incidents involving trans individuals and the societal risks of affirming gender disorders without addressing underlying mental health ([121:11]).

• Memorable Riffs:

  • “We get it right with animals—everyone knows which animal’s male or female. But we can’t do it with humans?” – Brent [132:29]
  • “If you give people enough handouts, they will no longer work for their own food.” – Brent [133:32]

• Viral Video Commentary:

  • AOC’s “Kamala Jr.” gaffe; protestors with “Fight Fascism” signs unable to define fascism ([105:06], [134:10]).

---

6. Community, Brotherhood, & Personal Responsibility

• Helping Each Other:

  • Inspiring moment: community mobilizes to save a missionary veteran stuck in Uganda, showing Tier1’s values in action ([92:01]).
  • “The only way to get better is to purge the things out of a system that aren’t right. Why wouldn’t we unite over this?” – Brent [68:55].

• Emphasis on Agency & Personal Growth:

  • Veterans often leave service better in many ways, even if physically diminished—grit, confidence, problem-solving ([70:19]).
  • “Mindset is a choice.” – Daniel [146:12]

---

Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “The system traps people in this negative identity… Instead of looking forward to a positive day.” – Daniel, [10:49]
• “The loser is also the veteran with real mental health struggles who has to wait months for appointments because of all these people in front.” – Daniel, [19:22]
• “You take a label for yourself which is more appropriate for people who have sacrificed more than you.” – Daniel, [22:42]
• “Good guys don’t want a handout, they want it available but don’t want to use it—grifters will take every handout you offer and ask for more.” – Brent, [26:55]
• “I still can’t give you a complete pass at the same time.” – Brent, [12:25]
• “We have shifted as a culture to men being proud of not needing any help… Now we have this culture of, 'Oh, you don’t have anything wrong with you? Then what’s wrong with you?'" – Brent, [56:38]
• “Bro, you don’t have to win every argument with your wife to lead your family.” – Daniel, [60:59]
• “Uncle Sam, not Grandpa Sam.” – Drew, [73:38]
• “You’re going to look long and hard for a food stamps recipient to stand up and say, ‘Hey, I’m getting benefits and shouldn’t be.’” – Brent, [74:26]
• “Did you leave service the same as you entered? Of course not. I left with problem-solving abilities no other job would have given me.” – Brent, [70:19]
• “Touch grass, workout, go to church, get your hormones right… And if you’re doing all that and there’s still residual disability, fine.” – Daniel, [65:52]
• “We get it right with animals… But we can’t do it for humans.” – Brent, [132:29]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:00] – Grandmama Nancy update and family responsibility discussion
• [10:25] – Introduction to Gade’s book "Wounding Warriors", fraud in veterans system
• [16:23] – Examples of expanded PTSD claims and costs to the system
• [23:41] – The numbers: Purple Hearts vs disability ratings
• [35:33] – Systems incentivizing dependency; policy parallels to welfare, Social Security
• [44:33] – Disability ratings absurdity: sleep apnea > limb amputation discussion
• [52:02] – Culture shift: casualty statistics vs disability claims
• [56:38] – The masculinity/victimhood cultural transformation
• [61:01] – Daniel’s wife and healthy gender dynamics in families
• [68:55] – On fixing systems as sources of American unity
• [70:19] – What veterans gain from service, not just what they lose
• [121:11], [131:05] – Societal dangers, policy, and litigation around transgender issues
• [132:29] – Double standard: defining sex in animals vs humans

---

Notable, Lighthearted, or Emotional Moments

• The recurring “piss bottle” jokes tied to military culture and superchats [28:31+]
• Daniel’s story about jiu jitsu, Ironman competitions as an amputee [83:13+]
• The entire room riffing irreverently on masculinity, sports, and grit [115:03+]
• A moment of genuine pride in community as listeners mobilize to save a veteran missionary in Uganda [92:01]

---

Closing

• Listeners are encouraged to check out Daniel Gade’s book Wounding Warriors for a data-driven, personal, and actionable look at reforming veterans’ benefits.
• Guests plug their own channels, store (Lion Arms), and personal philosophies.
• The Tier1 Podcast community is celebrated for being proactive, supportive, and unafraid of hard truths—with a reminder that “Mindset is a choice.”

---

For full context, source stories, and more irreverence and wisdom, listen to the full episode and check out Wounding Warriors on Amazon, Audible, or woundingwarriors.com.

---

Transcript

[A]

Few seconds to make sure that. That she's good to go. I don't know why. Because I feel like. I feel like we're right almost every time. I feel like I'm maybe second guessing. You drew by. By doing that.

[B]

You have a lot of reasons to second guess. A lot of reasons. A lot of historical evidence for that.

[A]

There's only a heart. All right, here we go. Of course. I know we should be good because immediately what should be showing us as a podcast is an ad by YouTube. Gosh, YouTube and their ads. Oh, hey, that's nice.

[B]

Maybe it's something we need.

[A]

I know. All right, welcome back to the Tier one podcast live. We have a great show this Thursday. With us we have Daniel Gade, author of Wounding Warriors. How Bad Policy is Making Veterans Sicker and Poorer. And poorer and. Absolutely. You got to. We just recorded that episode. It will. It'll get you going. I read his book. It'll get you going to. It's really. It'll. And it might upset a few people.

[C]

It's a banger. And that really upset some people.

[A]

If it upset you, then maybe you're part of the problem. Besides that, with us, we got Craig over on the couch from the Rundown podcast in two Way news. Welcome to the show in the studio.

[D]

Looking forward to hanging out with you.

[A]

Heck yeah. As always. We got Magnet from Lion Arms. We got Drew back there producing it that to the best of his abilities.

[B]

Hello to Maui Mount Maui Ma. You guys know it.

[A]

All right. That's exactly how I expected him to start it off. We have an intro for the live. Let's go it.

[B]

Let's go.

[A]

Thought I'd have a little bit of fun.

[D]

I made the.

[A]

I made the intro. You made the intro. Not just individual, but even a group picture. I love that. Yeah, I am a little upset. I was gonna. I. I didn't have time. I was upset that they made us all the same height. And you know that's a lie.

[C]

It's not.

[A]

And you know that's a lie.

[B]

Magnet. And I appreciate it.

[C]

I know I look good.

[A]

Oh, man. Let's start it out with something that is still near and dear to my heart. And that's Grandmama Nancy. True. Yeah. Nancy Gunthrey update day 19. For all of you that are tracking it as vigilantly as I am. Are you tracking this?

[C]

Yeah. If somebody kidnapped my mother in law, I think they'd give her back right away. I. I think that would not go to their benefit. But I feel really sorry for that lady.

[A]

That's I'm enthralled by this story, actually. It's only because it's the live. You know, we try to make it entertaining. I don't. Not necessarily making light of it because it's. It's crazy. What are you doing kidnapping an 84 year old? And. And we don't really. There's no. There hasn't been any real substantial updates. But let me tell you what we got this week. There. There was a man arrested and charged with allegedly sending a false random demand to the family. Derek Kaleila, 42, of Hawthorne, California, was charged with sending a demand for ransom in interstate commercial and making a phone call without disclosing his identity. He and his mom apparently got. Got arrested. He has a. He has a history of being in jail. They ended up releasing him. They found some DNA in the scene. They found a glove like a mile or two away. They looked into that, and the DNA didn't match anything in their database. So it doesn't mean that it wasn't part of the kidnapper. It just means if it was, then they don't have his DNA in the database. Here's what upset me the most about the updates this week. Get ready for this. An anonymous person donated $100,000 towards the reward. Okay. That's a good thing, right? The FBI is already putting up a hundred thousand dollars for this reward. So we have a total of $200,000 for this reward. This. And this. This question's. This question's for you, Daniel. And do you know who. Who her daughter is?

[C]

Yeah, yeah, of course.

[A]

Do you know what she makes a year?

[C]

I'm guessing 12, 15 million.

[A]

Well, that. That was way better of a guess than I had. $8 million. $8 million.

[C]

And she hasn't put any money in it herself.

[A]

$8 million. Let's just go around the room, just real quick. And of course, this is dependent on your. On your family dynamic, so it's hard to do this cold. Craig. You make $8 million a year. What? Your mom gets kidnapped. What are you putting up for a ransom? For a ransom? No,

[B]

You don't know my mom.

[D]

Let me tell you.

[A]

What are you putting up for a reward?

[D]

Well. Well, first of all, I'm just gonna go and I'm gonna hire somebody to go find her and go get her. I'm not putting up a rule.

[A]

Yeah, I'm just.

[D]

I'm just gonna pay a couple of bangers to go freaking find her and handle the folks.

[A]

You could hire a small army, some

[C]

of your old colleagues.

[A]

That's Right.

[C]

Happy to do it.

[D]

Exactly.

[A]

And that work outside the restrictions of the law. Exactly. And you know, in a good way. Like, that's magnet.

[D]

20 bucks.

[A]

I get that. I get that. Drew, Mom's kidnapped. You make $8 million a year. What are you putting up for a reward?

[B]

Eight million and one hundred dollars.

[A]

Boom. It's. It's crazy.

[B]

Brent, can I borrow 100 bucks?

[C]

What's that Mel Gibson movie where he says there's somebody's kidnapped, and he's like, this was going to be your ransom, and now it's going to be a reward, and he just pushes it forward, and it's like a couple million bucks.

[D]

It's. Well, the movie's called Ransom.

[C]

Yeah, I think. I think Savannah Guthrie should put a bunch of money into a reward for the guy or like a. Like a. Like a bounty on the guy's head. Whoever it is needs a bounty on his head and not reward for information. We need a reward for a head.

[A]

And I love, you know, Trump. Trump weighed in on it, and Trump's like, hey, this guy is getting the death penalty. No, I don't think he can force that. But it's just like, it's drawn national attention, and I hate to say it, and everyone's watched enough documentaries to know, like, would it when it's not solved in the first. 24. Not a good sign. 48, not looking any better. 72. It's bad. The chances of any sort of happy ending or even being found, I feel like at that. This point.

[D]

At this. At this point, you have to figure. I mean, she had medical needs, she had medication, she's supposed to be taken that, you know, she ran. She didn't have even have with her. She was supposedly. Was going to die two weeks ago. So, yeah, the chances of them finding her alive are nil.

[A]

Nil. Yeah. And I. And I most like most people have. I saw the video of the kidnapper and the. And the doorbell camera, and he doesn't look like someone who's got it really all put together, so I don't really think. Yeah.

[C]

How does he. How does he move to you? Does he. I didn't watch the video. I just saw the stills. But does he move like somebody who has some training or.

[A]

No, he's over there, like, grabbing random things and trying to put. He's got.

[C]

It's a backpack.

[D]

What would you say, like tier 87 operator.

[A]

But, hey, we can make fun of this guy all we want. He has evaded all levels of. For a long time of law enforcement. Is still getting away with it right now, so I guess can't make fun of him too much.

[B]

I love how TMZ is getting all

[D]

the

[A]

publicity on this too.

[C]

Like the tips.

[A]

Yeah, the tips and all that.

[D]

They're going to tmz.

[A]

Oh, gosh.

[D]

Like, yeah, maybe TMZ is the one they need to be investigating.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. TMZ needs.

[C]

They.

[A]

They need a bump. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So. Well, I, I'm. I was hoping to at some point come on here and be like, we found grandmama. But I'm telling you, as. As. As the weeks go by, I. I don't think this one has a happy ending or. Or in a weird way, no ending at all. Because if we don't, we don't know exactly what they know, but it doesn't seem like they have a whole lot to go off of right now. So there it is. I've caught you up so you don't have to watch tmz. Let's. Before we get into some videos, I want to. I want to pause that. That part. I want. I want to talk to you about the. What it is you've been talking about that we just talked about, what you wrote a whole book about. And that is about. And again, I'll tell you, this is live. It's. It's. It's a little small, a little more livelier, and we can cut right the chase. Veterans being grifted, being grifters, and maliciously being fraudulent towards the system and just getting as much as they can and lying to do it, and they're getting away with it. And it seems like nobody cares.

[C]

That is a high speed pass that I think is slightly off the objective. I mean, my, My main mission here in this. In this book, Wounding war is available on Amazon, available on Audible. I don't make any money off it. Don't worry. That's part of it. Jeff Bezos keeps all the money part of it. That's. It is part of it. So there are some people in the veterans community who are exaggerating their disabilities for the purpose of getting extra money.

[A]

How dare you.

[C]

But there are also people who are trapped in the system, believing the lie that because they got hurt in service, because they got, you know, scuffed up in some way or even maimed. Like. Like so many guys have that. That that moment has to define them. And so they end up going from these. You know, I always talk about it from, like when we were. When we were civilians, you know, before military service, we were productive plows Right. We were students. We were, you know, shopkeepers, whatever. And then we went in military service, and they beat us into a sword. And what happens with those swords after they leave military service is way too often those people believe the lie that because the sword is a little dented that it can never be reformed back into a productive plow. And the system traps people in this negative identity and traps them in this, like, looking over their shoulder at their past and their worst day instead of looking forward to a positive day. And so my. My hope in writing the book is to shine light on a system that's corrupting a lot of people, that's hurting a lot of people, and also give some prescriptions to make the system better.

[A]

All right. My intro was a little clickbaity, I'll give you that.

[C]

It's fine.

[D]

It's fine.

[A]

But I stand by it. But that was. But that was. That's probably a better holistic. The description as well. And I completely agree with you. Some people are maliciously doing it, and some people are. Again, I. Like I said in the recording, I kind of hate using this terminology, but this one fits. They are a product of their environment.

[C]

That's right. That's right.

[A]

But there's still guys like me and you that were in the same environment and didn't adhere to it. So I don't. I hate to sound a little harsh, but I still can't give you a complete pass at the same time.

[C]

Sure. Yeah. I mean, I see people who are grifting, and, you know, there's this guy that we talk about in the book who lied about being basically paralyzed from the navel down, named Justin Perez Gorda. And he scammed. He scammed homes for our troops out of, like, a $500,000, you know, sort of adaptive house outside of Dripping Springs, Texas, which is near Austin. And eventually he was arrested and sent to jail for something else, I think is the story. I remember. But anyway, so there are people who will literally lie for the VA money, for the free house, for the whatever. And then there are also people will. Who will lie just so. Just so they look even cooler than they already are. Including. I mean, you've done quite a lot stories about people who are. Yeah, right. So people who already have things that they can lean on that are really positive things that they can be praised for, but they want to be praised extra. They want to say, oh, I was wounded in action. Oh, I was. I'm a disabled veteran. You need to respect me because I'm a disabled veteran. It's like, no, man. Like, look for something positive. Don't just look over your shoulder at, like, negative past things.

[A]

I don't know how true that is, what you just said, because usually if someone has a cool story, like, there's no real need to. To. To lie about it. Like, I, I don't just, I don't know, make up, like, an example. I don't see, like, a former UFC fighter in Green Beret ever, like, writing a book and, and making up lies about his missions and valor medals. Like, I don't. That's. That's a hard one to. To. To swallow. I couldn't imagine a Navy SEAL being on the UBL raid and then saying that he did something that another guy did. It's just not the. I'm listening to you. I have a hard time agreeing.

[C]

I'd love to know what the motive is for some of that stuff. You know, like with the. With.

[A]

It's never enough. That's why it's never enough.

[C]

Just. Is it just narcissism?

[A]

It's narcissism. It's a little bit. Never enough. But, hey, in a, In a. In a weird way, not giving these guys a pass, but I'm saying I somewhat understand it. And let me give you an example. Anyone who makes $50,000, not a lot. They're probably scraping by. If I told them, I'll give you this job for $100,000, they will think that they're. They're like, that's. That's all I ever needed. That's all I ever needed. It will take them anywhere from months to a year, and I assure you $100,000 would no longer be enough for that person. And, and you can continue up that. And there's essentially no. No stopping point to it. That's why we have billionaires, because hundreds of millions was. Was enough. So that. That's really what it is. You know, and if you had stopped and told them, like, beforehand, hey, is being a Green Beret enough? That I said yes until they were a Green Beret and then they wanted to be, you know, a war hero and a green. And let me tell you, even when they had that, it wouldn't have been enough. It just. It never is for those types of people. I'm gonna say, like, really for everyone. But for those types of people, it's never enough.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. I think that that might be right.

[A]

Here's. Here's a story we didn't touch on that. That is a. I mean, that one story you just told is a is a little more fringe.

[C]

It's just over the top.

[A]

Yeah, it's over the top. And I don't want people to, to hear that story and be like, wow, that's, that's a one off. Here's a, here's a more common one. Not saying it's the norm, but here's a more common one and the story of the guy who was just around other wounded veterans. Okay, go ahead, go ahead and tell that story.

[C]

Yeah, so. So the, the problem is that. So Post Traumatic stress disorder became a, a disability or something that was recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for mental disorders DSM in like 1980 to 1981, in that kind of timeframe. And at the time it required a specific stressor where something specifically happened to you and you had a specific, relatively small set of symptoms. It was really designed for guys who came back from Vietnam who had, you know, really, really traumatic experiences personally. Either they witnessed something or they did something or that just really harmed them and they were totally unable to reintegrate into society. And what's happened over successive generations and under a lot of political pressure is that the definition and the symptoms of it have expanded so much that virtually anything can get you a PTSD diagnosis and therefore from the va, at least a PTSD payment. So for example, there's somebody we talk about in the book and we've got the citations for it and all of that stuff. Stuff who literally was he. He got hurt in training, which is fine, no problem. And he got put in a soldier holding unit kind of thing where he had to be seeking medical treatment on a day to day basis. I don't. Whatever physical ailment he had and he had to sit with like in the lobby of the, of the, of the place where he was, he had to sit with wounded soldiers because they were also waiting for treatment. And he heard their stories and their stories of being wounded traumatized him so much that he began to be fearful that something bad was going to happen to him someday. And then he went and got a PTSD diagnosis and now he's getting compensated for ptsd. It's a crazy. Here's another. And we've got all the evidence for it. It's a true story. Here's another one. There's another story that we have about a guy who, his romantic partner, wife or girlfriend had been raped prior to him knowing her and having nothing to do with military service. So she was a civilian who experienced a sexual assault and it was a horrible one. She told him about this story in detail while he was on active duty. And that story traumatized him so much that he got PTSD diagnosis from. For her sexual assault. That is a true story. I've got the paperwork for it. And it's like, if the definitions are that broad, here's the loser. The loser is the taxpayer.

[A]

Of course.

[C]

The loser is all those people. But the loser is also the veteran with real mental health struggles who calls the VA and says, hey, I have real mental health struggles. I need to come get an appointment. And has to wait 90 or 120 or 180 days to get an appointment because there's all these people in front of them.

[A]

That's a great point.

[C]

Who are just filing claims so that they can get paid for it.

[A]

That's a great point.

[C]

That's, that's the real loser, because.

[A]

Exactly. And we have to stop to thinking about this because the American public wants to give us the benefit of the doubt. And the only people who can call this out is, is, is fellow veterans. Right? And, and there's. The American public loves veterans so much. And I'm not looking to tear down veterans. I, I'm looking to separate the good ones and let's put them on the pedestal that they earned and let's separate the bad ones. Because if we don't do this, eventually they're going to bring the whole system down to negative, and we have to make sure that doesn't happen. But they look at it as kind of like a victimless crime. And they're like, well, I mean, it doesn't really hurt anyone. We know it's kind of happening, but it's not a big deal.

[C]

The government wastes a lot of money anyway. Who cares?

[A]

It absolutely does. Craig, what do you got?

[D]

You know, it just reminds me earlier you talked about being a product to a certain degree of their environment. And if you think about it, think about the social welfare system in general. How many people do you know who are, are, are getting, are getting these benefits? Because they're gaming the system. And for every one of them, there's five to 10 people that you hear about who, who are really in need.

[A]

Right?

[D]

And, and, and, and because they don't know how to game the system, they don't know how to work the system. They're not getting the, even the very basic things that they need. And, and that's where I think the real tragedy is. And it's, you know. You know, and I think kind of like, kind of like you said, you know, the thing is, is that no matter what segment of society is. And including veterans, you have those who are there, who are honorable, who deserve, you know, everything that we can do for them. But then you also have some people who are going to game the system. And the sad part is, is that, is that they're going to utilize. Some of those folks are going to utilize that in order to get over instead of get ahead or get what they need.

[C]

Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And it doesn't just have, like, what we were talking about, and I hope people will go back and watch our full show together. But the other problem is that it's not just the taxpayers losing in the veteran system. It's also a national security threat because if. Because the people who would otherwise encourage their children or the people they mentor or the people they coach or the students at their school or whatever to join military service and to help defend the country, those people aren't going to do it if they think that by going in the military, by definition, you're going to be raped, you're going to be poisoned, you're going to be, you know, maimed, you're going to be, you know, you're going to come out broken. And the way that the system is stacked right now, you know, you can't drive down the highway without seeing a, you know, disabled American veterans poster with a guy with no legs. And it's like, it's like, hang on a second. Yeah, yeah, that guy probably deserves a lot. But not every veteran is going to end up looking like that. There's only. In the entire war on terror, there were about 2,500 major limb amputations total or people with major limb amputations, some with multiple. Right. But every year, several hundred thousand people begin receiving disability compensation. So when you're looking at the VA disability system, you might think that a disabled veteran is, you know, a guy I know named Travis Mills, quadruple amputee. Right. Like you might think of him, but really, you're talking about a guy. You really talking about the guy with tinnitus who. You know, tinnitus and sleep apnea. And it's like, stop, dude. A, those aren't disabilities. Those are conditions.

[A]

Right.

[C]

And B, like, you are taking a label for yourself, which is probably more appropriate for. For people who have sacrificed more than you.

[A]

So do you know the numbers off the top of your head? I believe you do. How many people were injured in the g wat injuries? We.

[C]

Well, injured different than wounded.

[A]

Wounded. Well, well, explain that.

[C]

So, yeah. Okay, so if you fall off a truck, even if you say you're downrange or something and you fall off a truck or there's a, a vehicle accident or something, you might be injured, but you're not, but that's not wounded, right? Yeah, so, so, but a lot of people, I mean non battle injuries are very common. You know, training injuries. Somebody gets their hand blown off by a flashbang or, or they get, you know, more commonly orthopedic injuries, leg injuries or whatever. A parachute jump that goes.

[A]

Sure. Okay.

[C]

Okay. But what you were asking about is the number of people who are wounded. And the answer is There are about 50,000 total people who were wounded and received purple Hearts.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

In the entire war on terror.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Every year there are about 200,000 people who go on the VA disability system.

[A]

Not every 100,000, an additional 200,000 every year off of 50,000 wounded in 20

[C]

some years of war.

[A]

Right. And, and I'm not, I'm not, I'm just being, I'm just being honest. Most wounded people will deserve whatever it is they get. In fact, I'd argue whatever if you were truly wounded, I, whatever you're getting, I'd up it like that's, that's what it sounds like. We're, we're, we're, we're dogging, you know, the system and VA or veterans. Well, we kind of are dogging the system and we kind of are dogging certain veterans, some veterans, but it's not out of. I have to speak for myself, but we've already talked about this. But, but please speak up if I say something that you don't agree with and we'll debate it out, but it's not out of necessarily hatred towards them. It's really out of a love for the ones who deserve it. That's why those guys make me mad.

[C]

That's nice.

[A]

Because I love the guys who bled for this country who had the worst of worst days and I love them so much. I want them to have everything they could ever want or need. But if we have all these people on the tit, then they're not going to get what they need. I'd actually cut these people off and I'd increase whatever it is they get. So it's not just anti them as much as it is pro the other group.

[C]

Yeah, I've got a little side quest I'm working on right now and I'm going to spare some of the details, but about 10 years ago, a little over 10 years ago, there was this ridiculously courageous medic on the battlefield in, in Afghanistan and he, he got blown up a couple of times while he was treating people in an active minefield. And he. And he kept going to new people and kept treating them, even though a new litter team would come and they'd get mangled, and he'd go treat those mangled guys, and then a new litter team would come and they'd get mangled. This went on for like an hour and a half.

[A]

Half.

[C]

And they ended up getting the second highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross.

[A]

Nice.

[C]

And when I met him, I'm looking at this, and I'm like, you know what? This. This is a Medal of Honor action. This needs to be a Medal of Honor. And so I. A couple of months ago, I called him and. And I told him that I was going to try to do this. And I'm. I'm working. I'm actively working on it, so I'm sort of being deliberately vague on the details because I don't want to poison the well here, but. And I'll tell you offline, but anyway, and I called him and I said, hey, man, like, I want to do this for you. And he goes, but, sir, I was. I was just doing my job. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, man. And you read this citation and you're like, I mean, I've seen some pretty horrible combat and. And obviously bear some of the cost in my body for that. Yeah, but. But like, I'm reading this, and I get chills.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And I mean, that's the kind of story we should be celebrating, not. We should be celebrating our valorous heroes. We should be taking care of our severely wounded, and we should be creating a better environment for all veterans, not pretending like just by military service causes you to be broken forever.

[A]

And I get it. It's not that easy. Here's. Here's the dilemma that. That we have good guys don't. Don't want to. Don't want to hand out, and they don't. And they don't want your help. And then all the. All the grifters will take every handout you give and. And then want more. And it's just like, how do you. How do you make them receive something that they don't want? But guess what? That's. That's fine. If I just want it to be available to them. I want it to be available to them. But that goes back to something else we talked about is, guess what if they don't want it and. And they're making it, that's part of their identity. They're being A provider. They. They guess what? That's a good thing. To not need anything from the system and be a man that provides for himself and his family. And that's a good thing. Yeah.

[C]

For 100,000 years, we've said that the essence of a man, essentially, is leading a family unit, providing for that family unit, protecting it, and taking it into the next generation, raising sons who will then lead their own family units. And somehow we've gotten now, as veterans, into a place where so many people are. Are like, oh, government take care of me. And they want. They want government to be your mom. And government is not your mom. Your mom is your mom, but government is not your mom. Stop acting like it is.

[D]

You're talking about an era, though, when we knew what a man and a woman.

[C]

Oh, fair.

[A]

Fair.

[C]

And I think we. I think you have a video about that.

[A]

Yeah, Stay. Stay tuned. Hey, just go to some super chats real quick before we get too far behind.

[B]

All right, let's see the first super chat of the night. Iceman. Iceman says, Daniel, did you use a piss bottle or did you have a piss tumbler since you had awesome privileges? Stay fresh like cow milk, brother.

[C]

That's really fun. We got gross ice, Man. Thanks for the money for. For the podcast, but you were gross.

[A]

I didn't even think about a piss tumbler. That's. That's the mobster stuff.

[C]

I mean, like a yeti. Like a yeti that says, like piss yeti.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yuck.

[A]

Yuck. That's an accident waiting to happen. Yeah. What else, Drew?

[B]

Just another says I was going to pay a late fee for being 15 late, but we'll call it a fine for leaving my Delta Tricolor at the office.

[A]

That's. That is. That's a. That's that.

[B]

You get a double fine for only having one.

[A]

Yeah, for not. For not putting them in different locations. Man.

[B]

I got cigars in my truck. At my house, I got them.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Every once in a while, I find a surprise cigar, and I was like, oh, I didn't know I put a cigar here. This is great. Let's see. Elect Electric Carbon says, sheesh, is that a piss bottle in your pocket or you just happy to see us all? I love it. I love it.

[A]

It's. Grow leg.

[C]

Can you Skip to the 49.99, Guy growed.

[D]

Y' all need Jesus.

[A]

They need Jesus in their life.

[B]

See, I was gonna. Oh, let's see. For the ransom. Lol. Crafted for the police, North Carolina. All right.

[A]

I meant for the reward.

[B]

I love it. Thanks for the love, man. Thanks for the love. Fire Dog says we have three Green Beret in our family. My grandfather was in World War I. I'm so thankful for military.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

Love it. Fire Dog.

[A]

Yes, us too.

[B]

The Prussian, our man, you know, he got, he, he bought a signed humidor from us.

[C]

A lot of money, he did.

[B]

He's giving us some great love tonight. All right, man. I said, he says I have a VA disability for anxiety, failure to adapt, not because I can't handle it, but because I have to deal with it. Does that make sense? By the way, HPTRT has helped me with that as well. In fact, I have been able to lower my meds. My doc is elated. Night Stalkers by Megadeth for the outro.

[A]

One second before we move on, we're going to talk about that for just a second. And again, it's, it's, it's not that, it's not a, it's not a hit on anyone. This is the system that, that we're, that we're in and we're saying, hey, the system isn't right. But rather than, you know, we, we have to, and then we have to point out what's not right with it. Okay? And this is where people are going to get upset because they think we're coming after their money. Well, we have to, we have to do another kind of like, focus on it to say, well, let's, let's take an unemotional approach at it. It's. Give a good example. I can't think of one off, off top of my head, but I think you'll know where I'm going with this. A lot of people love rules when, like, when it applies to someone else, but then as soon as, like, it applies to them, like, oh, hold on. Well, that one now affects me. Well, that's just not how it works. It's either right and, or, or it's wrong. So what I want to talk about on this is something that you've talked about before, which is at the end of the day, if you have something that's wrong with you and it's treatable and can be, and can be treated and brought back down. So when you, so he's handling it, when he's handling it at his worst, maybe he does deserve some compensation for it. But if we can get it down to acceptable levels. We're just saying just because something was wrong once doesn't mean you get paid the rest of your life. If it's not getting better than Then what? Then let's look. Then we're doing something wrong as. As a society and as a va.

[C]

Absolutely.

[A]

You're saying it's just untreatable.

[C]

Yeah. So think about it this way. So imagine, you know, you've got a graph here, right? And. And throughout somebody's life course, you know, they're. They're achieving their potential. So it's like a line like this. Let's say they enter the military and something bad happens, and now their life course is like this. It's a little bit lower line. You know, their. Their normal life course would have been here, and now their life course is right here. Right. So we should be focusing efforts on closing the gap between where you are now and where you would have been but for military service. Okay, so hypothetically, somebody goes into military service and they get their leg blown off below the knee. Okay, well, that's a serious injury. We ought to deal with it. We ought to give you the best prosthetic care we can. We ought to give you the best treatment and the best physical therapy and everything. And the purpose of that is to close the gap right between where you are now and where you would have been but for that military service. And I think with mental health disorders, one of the things that, you know, I was telling you, I did this podcast a couple months ago with these guys who are, like, making money off of helping veterans get their disability claims approved and stuff like that. And so their personal financial incentives are very much in the direction of maximizing this disability stuff. But they kind of laughed at my concept that PTSD is a, treatable and that, B, we should expect people to have positive outcomes. But what you discover when you read the book, when you read Wounding warriors or listen to it on audible, is that for every other context, sexual assault victims, hurricane victims, you know, people who've been, you know, had loved ones murdered in front of them. For all other people, PTSD treatment rates and cure rates are very, very high. With proper treatment, with proper counseling, and sometimes with a little medication to help get over the. Over the last little hurdle, people are getting really, really positive results. But veterans almost never, ever improve. They just don't get better with treatment. And the reason they don't get better with treatment is because they're paid to stay sick. They're paid to stay sick. The system pays them to stay sick. And so I, you know, I cheer when I see a guy saying, hey, you know, with a little TRT and the counseling I've been going to, I'm getting better. The Question is, is it possible to design a system that can take that guy and now that he's better or now that he's getting better, begin to wean him off of that disability and get him into a better life condition where he has a better job and better employment and job and employment, same thing, obviously. But like, can we design systems that help people have a better life separate from waiting on a check from the government? Because that's, you know, that's a known negative.

[A]

And I'm just being honest and transparent here. The system has to get better or will collapse on itself at the rate it's growing. But. And not just this system. And so I'm not just saying, hey, it's just us and, and no one else. We can, we can chew gum and walk at the same time. This, our whole system needs to be revamped if we want any sort of financial health in this country and a future for our kids ever. Social Security has done the same thing that we're talking about. The welfare system has done the same thing that we're talking about. Every single system. Hold your surprise face for a second, guys and audience. Everything, every single system the federal government has been a part of has been bloated and screwed up by our politicians promising more and promising more and our selfish citizens saying, yes, give me, give me, give me, I'll vote for you. That's an oversimplification, but I'm not completely wrong either.

[C]

No, I think you're totally right and just really super quick. So like, what we always say is, I have a PhD in Public Policy and what we always say in public policy is that rules are static, but human behavior is dynamic. So they set up a rule and people will find a way to work around the rule to their own advantage.

[A]

Human nature.

[C]

It's human nature and it's in every system.

[D]

A great book to read is called the High Cost of Good Intentions. And it actually starts off from the very beginning of the, of the welfare system. Like originally the idea was, I mean the, the, the first social welfare system was set up to help widows of veterans of soldiers who died in war, right? And in this book goes through and it talks about the expansion of those benefits, the expansion of the program, who was eligible. And then eventually it got to where it wasn't just that it wasn't just the widows of and children of veterans. It got to the point where it wasn't just widows and children. It got to the point and every sing time you saw it, once again, it was good intentions. Expanding the Quote, unquote, social safety net away from, you know, more like the. The community based. Providing these resources in this help and aid the people who know them. The people who recognize is this someone who needs a hand up or is looking for a handout.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

And to be able to provide those resources and then watch it. And the sad part is it's not just the Democrats, it's not just the Republicans. And they built this system that not only is now costing trillions of dollars, but it's not really meeting the needs of the people who are really in need within the system.

[A]

Right. And it goes back to something we did talk about on the. Live. On the recording. But I'm glad you brought that. That point up. Good intentions. And there's almost everything at the beginning was good intentions. And there's still good intentions for some programs, you know, to. To this day, but not all. And there's. And not all people feeding from the system have, you know, are grifters and taking advantage of it. But so again, like, this isn't just like one blanket statement that everything's bad. But. But not everything's good either.

[D]

There is.

[C]

There is this.

[D]

There is the old saying, the road to hell is paved with good.

[A]

With good intentions. Yeah, absolutely. You got anything else to add on that?

[C]

No, but I'm loving. Some of these are great.

[B]

Dude, it's gonna get good. We got Frank Tibbett. He says, do Delta support guys go through the same training as operators?

[A]

Absolutely not. Or else we wouldn't have any support people. And that's not a hit on support people.

[C]

That's.

[A]

I mean, that. That's just the. The truth. They. They go through some sort of a selection process much lower because we. They don't. We don't need them to meet the same rigors. And they do go through a. Some sort of a training, but. But not the same because they don't. They're not required to. To do the same rigorous tactical things. But I'll tell you this. Whatever job they're doing, if they're the unit, they're the best our country has to offer at that job. And they're amazing people.

[B]

James Driscoll says what's up from Philly. You guys gonna do a live around here? Would love it. TK drinks team. You Ronald McDonald's piss bottles. Love you guys.

[A]

Allegedly. Allegedly.

[B]

Allegedly. That's what we've been told. James Driscoll back in again. Says also outro three shades of black. Hank. Three.

[A]

That's such a good one for 22 bucks.

[B]

Just another 11. Bravo. Thank you for the love, man. Really appreciate it. He says, I've so needed to hear other veterans talk this way. I try to, I try to talk to other veterans like this and I'm the a hole. Yeah, I dis. I'm disability retired, went to college, worked BS jobs and forged my own path, yet watched others flourish off the va.

[A]

Man, that's got to be the most frustrating part when you, when you know you're, you're doing the right things and hey, it's, it's the cost of, of being a moral man. And you know, you know you could have done that and you see them doing better than you, it's got to hurt. But, but I got, I believe this. The shortcut always, always benefits the other people quicker. And I assure you, because of the way they are, they're shown who they are because of, of what they're doing, they aren't going to go very far. The long road, the hard path that you chose, I guarantee you in the end you will be better off because of the type of person you are. Guarantee it.

[B]

We've got Elected Carbon back in again. He said. Had my hip rebuilt when I was 24 on a bad jump. 10% for the hip, 30% for saying I was bummed that my career ended. Total bs. Ratings are silly.

[A]

Ratings are silly. Let's get, it's a perfect time. Let's go into, let's go to the ratings Talk.

[C]

Oh my gosh.

[A]

Just, just, I know every one of these topics. Guys like us can talk an hour about each particular one.

[C]

Yeah, so, so the, the, the, the problem is there's no such thing as a veterans disability system. There's a, and there was an initial attempt right after World War I to create a system and it was based on an industrial economy where if you, you know, lose a leg or something, then you were really disadvantaged being a farmer or a, you know, a coal miner or something. That's going to be a real problem for a coal miner. But over the years, a whole lot of political pressure has caused a whole lot of things to get added to the schedule, to the, it's called the rating schedule, the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities. Amasser D. The rating schedule. So anyway, a lot of things have been added to the rating schedule that are either lifestyle conditions. So for example, I have a friend who's, whose father is like 5 6, 330 pounds, who used to be a fighter pilot in Vietnam, and he swears that his type 2, that his adult onset diabetes is not due to his weight or his habit of eating a big bowl of ice cream every night. But really, it's the fault of the fact that he flew over areas that had Agent Orange. Just like, come on, man. Like, that is a lifestyle condition, and it's a lifestyle problem. You can fix it. So lifestyle conditions. Conditions of aging. Like, we're all. None of our. You know, none of us in here are young men, and all of our knees are going to be sore, all of our shoulders are going to be sore, and it's like, is our conditions of aging something that we ought to be taking money from our. From our fellow citizens for? Probably not. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Genetic conditions are in there. So I told you. I told you earlier about vitiligo, which is like, when. When your skin can lose pigmentation. The VA calls that a disability. It's like, a, it's not a disability because it's just. It's just people all look different, and that's cool, and I'm glad people look different from each other. And B, what connection does that have to military service? How is that the fault of the military? Like, what did the military do to cause vitiligo? And then you get some stuff in the system itself that are truly injuries that don't make any sense at all. So, for example, I have a. I have a small scar on my lip right here from when I. When I got blown up. They had my. My. The breathing apparatus was. Was wrapped really tight around my lips, and as my head swelled up, they forgot to loosen it, and so I ended up with a crush injury to my lip. My whole lip got crushed. Kind of crazy.

[A]

Yeah, it's kind of crazy.

[C]

I had to have a couple of surgeries to fix it, and it still looks like I had a cleft lip when I was a kid or something. But anyway, this is a combat injury. And that little thing right there. The VA would call that a 30% disability because it's on my face and because it's a scar and it's like, you know what? It's not a disability, dude. It's just. It's character, right? Like, chicks take scars.

[A]

Stop it. Stop. Stop it.

[C]

So below knee amputation is a 40% disability.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Having to use a CPAP to sleep is a 50% disability. Like, come on. It's ridiculous.

[A]

50%. Which. Talk about that

[C]

more than a baloney amputation.

[A]

I had my arm shot in half, and a grenade blew up my face. And I got 30% for what happened to me that night, and sleep apnea gave me 50. And again, I don't make the rules, but I'm sitting here to tell you now that you learn a little bit more, and you're like, this isn't right. I went through the sleep study. They said, you have sleep apnea. I'm like, awesome. And when I say awesome, this is what I mean by this. I have, like most men that went through what I went through have problems sleeping. It has to do with TBIs. And a lot of things I said, good, because I didn't care about the rating. What I really wanted was the treatment. Was the treatment. I was like, hey, I can now sleep like a normal man and wake up recovered. Here's. Here's a. Here's a cpap. And I was like, great, here's. And I know this maybe isn't the norm, but, you know, I'm just being transparent. I wore that CPAP for months. I was so excited about that CPAP because I thought I was going to live a normal life. And for whatever reason, that cpap, it didn't help. You never helped me. I've gone through CPAPs. I've gone through those mouth guards that adjust your. Your lower lip. I've gone through nasal things. Doesn't matter what I do. And I'm going to rant on this. But it's not that I don't sleep. I have a very different problem. Yeah, I'll sleep for nine or 10 hours and I wake up. I will wake up like, like in a patrol base in ranger school. Foggy mind. Like. Like I could stay in bed for another 12 hours. I just get no rim for whatever reason. That's what. That's what the. That's what the blood. The sleep study shows. Like, you get no REM and you have very, very low oxygen.

[C]

Yeah. Another problem with the. With the. The way the VA is structured is that in order to get medical help for something, to get treatment for a condition, you have to either be 100% disabled for a bunch of other things, and then you can get treatment for everything, or you have to have a disability rating for that condition. So what happens is a lot of guys go to get a disability rating for something that they know isn't a real disability, but it is something they want to get taken care of. It's a medical condition that needs treatment and that will be amenable to treatment, but they have to go through the disability door to get to the treatment. And so they get trapped in a. In this welfare system when all they really wanted was the health care to make them Better.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So, Daniel, correct me if I'm wrong. The way I understand the rating system is to be. It has everything to do with getting back into the workforce, being able. Well, not everything, but a lot to do with getting back into the workforce. So if a person loses, let's say like the hip replacement thing, so if he's able to get a hip replacement now, he's able to function, or according to them, he's able to work and function without any problem. Same thing with maybe a lost appendage or something like that. You get a prosthetic and so now you're able to function. But a person with a mental situation or even sleep apnea, which really can't be always fixed, that's going to hinder their ability to go to work every day. I don't know. Something. That's what I've been told.

[C]

Yeah, it's sort of.

[A]

Right.

[C]

So the VA rating system under Title 38 US code is designed to pay for the average loss of earnings that a veteran would expect to have based on a condition which either began in service or was worsened by military service. But it's average loss of earnings, not particular to you. Loss of earnings. So an example I use in that regard is I'm a hip level amputee from an IED strike outside of Ramadi in 2005. And just the hip level amputation is a 90% disability all by itself. But for me, after I got blown up, I went to grad school and I became a college professor and now I own a government contracting company. And so my income hasn't actually been affected by my, by my amputation at all.

[A]

Right.

[C]

You know, it's, it's from an income perspective only, it's fine. But the way the VA rates it is based on the average loss of earnings that a hip level amputee anywhere in society, society would have based on, on that condition.

[B]

Right.

[C]

So it's not a particularized to the individual. There's no taking into account, you know, education level, other condi. Like it's all, it's all sort of this mushy average thing rather than being particular to the person.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. All right, what else we got?

[B]

Just, just another 11. Bravo. He's back in. He's, he's, he's the one that left the, left the cigars back at the office. For the record, I've got 95 FRC CC cigars at my shop.

[C]

That's a lot.

[A]

Which makes it even worse.

[C]

I hope they're not spread that love, brother.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Get yourself a caddy ball. Zach, I see what you did there. Love the show. I'm active duty Navy, and my formal LPO E6 had a beauty page. What is that? I'm sorry, guys. List of instructions.

[C]

A multiple multi page list of instructions on how to get 100% disability.

[B]

100% disability. I knew then as an E4 that I was wrong, but that it was wrong. It's institutionalized now.

[C]

That's 100% right. It's totally institutionalized. And we were talking and I hope that you guys can come back and watch the full show that he and I did when it comes out. Probably a couple days, whatever. But we talked about how there's some kind of societal shift that's happened in the last probably 30 years, basically, where Vietnam veterans were very reluctant to go to the va. Korean War veterans almost never did. You know, the only ones who. The only World War II guys who came to the VA were like, you know, guys who were, you know, really shot up. But now, like the average GWAT veteran claims it fluctuates a little bit, but like eight different conditions that are quote, unquote disabling. And it's like what happened where people stopped thinking of the government as a place of last resort or as a safety net, and now they think about it like it's their. Their rich uncle.

[A]

Here's, here's. Here's a problem that we just. It can't be ignored. Like I said, we're just. We're just having an honest conversation about this. What happened? And I have an answer, but I'll ask you first, and we'll go around the room. What happened? We'll take from. From World War II to current. Essentially every major combat conflict we've had. Major. That we've had since then has been lesser than the one before it. So Vietnam wasn't as bad a World War II. It just wasn't. I'm not saying it was good, but it was not World War II. And then the GWAT was not Vietnam. It just wasn't the number. It just wasn't.

[C]

There was some very sharp fighting in very small pockets. The Korengal Valley or some valley. Syria, Ramadi or Ramadi, or else. Those are big. Those are big things.

[A]

Those. But I'm. But, but what we're talking about is, is. Is as a whole, As a whole, a quarter million people died, and then 60,000 people died. And then we're down to like 7,000, you know, people died. But yet every. Every incursion, if you will, is getting Less. Less violent and deadly as. As a whole. Yet what's happening to our. Our brave men coming back from that is coming back exponentially larger as having problems.

[C]

Well, yeah, if we flip. That's why I say the system. That's why the subtitle of the book is how the System is How Bad Policy is making Veterans Sicker and poorer. It's making people see themselves as their sickest selves rather than striving for improvement. And that's a lifelong journey, dude. Like. Like, I just. I do jiu jitsu, and the reason I do it is because I. I want to be strong for my sons. I want to be strong for my wife, and it's a lifelong thing. I'm probably. I'm going to be a permanent blue belt, sadly, but because I'm never going to be a purple. But anyway, like, you just have to keep grinding. And the system is trapping people in this and it's freezing them like bugs in amber. They're just stuck there and they're thinking of themselves. Oh, I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran. Okay, well, what else. What have you done for me lately? What have you done for your country or your community or family lately? Okay, cool. You were in Ramadi 21 years ago. What are you doing right now to make the world a better place?

[A]

You made a. A good analogy of that. Is, what are you doing now, essentially, is. Is the equivalent of, did you. I'm stealing this from you. Did you have a high school letter jacket?

[C]

I did. Yeah, exactly. You stole that from the Andy Stone.

[A]

Yeah. Were you proud of that thing?

[C]

It was your identity at the time.

[A]

Yeah, it was your identity.

[C]

Of course. Of course.

[A]

You still wear that thing.

[C]

No.

[A]

And. And not. And I'm not downplaying service because, hey, service is way more important than what high school you went to. It's just a fun analogy, but you're in your service, in your 20s and 30s, and, and your whole life. It's a little bit of a snippet, you know, I mean, like, there's plenty of. There's plenty of Runway left in your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, to be something else than that. Than that. Be proud of that. Don't ever forget it. But it can't be you your. Your whole time. Craig, what do you think about. What do you think about that. That line of the. Of violent, if you will, violent interaction with the enemy getting smaller as a whole, less deaths, less casualties, yet the, the reporting of people needing help being on the exact opposite End of that spectrum.

[D]

I think a lot of it has to do with just kind of the, the change in how wars are fought now. And what really has happened is wars are now, battles right now are more and more being fought in the media. Right. If you look at the Vietnam was war was the first war that was literally fought with the media literally right there and where they were shown. I mean, we, technically we won the Vietnam War, but we lost it in the media. Right. And you look at what's going on, I mean, if we were to, if we were to take a look at every single engagement that we've had since, no matter how successful our soldiers are on the battlefield, the media has found a way to undermine it. And not just undermine it, but, but undermine the importance of it. Undermine the importance of the sacrifice that people were. Are making when they're going. And they're fighting in those. And they're fighting in those battles. And then you add that together with the fact that we have a society now that is promoting a victimhood mentality like you were talking about, how they're, they're, they're making people be their weakest selves. And the reality is, and I think, you know, this, you know, courage is not the absence of fear, but it's doing the right thing even when you have fear. Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

It's not that bad things are not going to happen to us, but it's, it's not that we're not going to get knocked down, but it's. How are we going to get back up? Who's teaching that these days? Where are people learning that, that very basic concept. Our parents generation, that's what their parents taught them. That's how they, that's how they raised them. That was something that was vitally important. The importance of being a man, of being honorable, of, of honoring your country and honoring your family and honoring your God. All of that was important. Now it's, it's more just kind of. Well, how do you feel? Do you, do you feel a certain way?

[B]

Psychology.

[A]

That's, that's a, that's a great, that's, that's a great point. We have shifted as a culture to men being proud of not needing any help and not having any ailments, because

[C]

that's what it's from back in the day or now people are proud of that and.

[A]

No, in general, back in the day, we'll just, Back in the day, just take that as general as you want to and then. And you'll know exactly what I'm talking About when I, When I lay it out, men didn't. Didn't talk about their ailments because that. If you talk about what's wrong, then you're. And you can't handle it. You're perceived as a weak man. If you're saying like, oh, this hurts, then most people like, yeah, things on my body hurt too. Shut up. Like no one. They just. And guess what? People weren't out there just offing themselves because people were mean to them. It was a culture of suck it up, everyone has problems. Be a strong man and move on. Now we have this culture of, oh, you don't have anything. You don't have anything wrong with you. Then what's, what's. Then what's wrong with you? Like, people want to have adhd, people want to have autism. People want to have something, and now they wear that as a badge of honor rather than being the strongest provider is a man that can deal with anything. Used to be their identity.

[B]

Brent, I'd like to dovetail on that and like to say something very offensive, if you don't mind.

[C]

I don't think anybody here.

[B]

So what. What type of person in the world and yalls men's experience like to complain about things they don't like in life and they're always unhappy? What type of, what kind of person usually in our, in our world?

[A]

Well, the people who seem to be the most unhappiest. I hate to get political about it. Just being honest.

[B]

Get sexist real quick.

[A]

Oh, get sexist. Yeah, sure.

[B]

Women, women, women always complaining about what they don't like. Okay, that's, that's typically in general. I'm not saying that about everyone because they're emotional creatures.

[A]

And that's not.

[B]

That's emotional creatures. They're nurturers. They're. They're geared to what's wrong, wrong.

[D]

How can I, you know, to focus on feelings.

[B]

That's it. All right. I think we have a generation and we've had. Probably had two generations by now raised by less fathers. We've got less men raising men than we've ever had in our generations previous, especially the World War II area in the Vietnam era. And it's. But it goes further than just having a dad, even in our later generations, even the fathers that are present. Doesn't mean that they are investing. Doesn't mean that they're teaching. Doesn't mean that they're passing the baton to, To. To the next generation. So I, that's what I chalk it up to. That's my personal Opinion. I think we have less men raising men to be men in the modern day.

[A]

I don't think you're wrong.

[C]

I. I want to say something about that. So, you know, I. I don't want people to think that you're running down women because, you know, with your pastoral training and all that, we know that God designed men and women differently. They're equal in God's eyes, but they're for different purposes. Men and women are different things, and they're designed for different tools. What my wife and I, we. We joke around. Same team, different positions.

[A]

Could be the corner.

[C]

I don't have a clue how she does the groceries, and she doesn't have a clue how much we pay in the mortgage. Because we're on this. We're on the same team, but we're on different positions. But in a. In a good marriage, in a solid marriage, and we've been married almost 27 years. It's awesome. It's been so great. The wife can and does step up when the husband is weak and broken. So when I was hurt, one of the very early conversations that my wife. And this was so important to my ability to be who I am today. It was a critical moment. What she did. She came to me and she said, hey, Daniel, you know, you're very sick. You're obviously very wounded. You're mangled. I'm gonna take care of everything. I've got it. I'm gonna take care of our taxes. I'm gonna take care of our kid. I'm gonna take care of everything. I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna take care of everything. But she said, the moment you are healthy enough to do it, you're in charge because you're the boss of our family.

[A]

I love that.

[C]

And I expect you to lead our family.

[A]

Right. Right.

[C]

I'll do it for now, but as soon as you're good enough to do it, you're in charge. And that was so that just fed my. That fed who I am as a man, and it made me into a better man. And that's what a good woman does, is makes her man into a better man. And a good man optimizes his woman by protecting and. And helping her to.

[B]

So true.

[A]

I'll. I'll add to that. And it sounds like we're. Yeah, we're overly just. And people almost assume because you're pro one thing that, that that means you're. You're anti something else. So I'm very pro. Manly man. And so that doesn't Mean, oh, he. You're pro that. You must be anti woman. And that's just. And just to dovetail on that a little bit. That's absolutely not true. You know, Drew's talking about the balance and things got out of balance. And to think that feminism has skewed this to where. To what makes a great woman is a manly woman. And that's. And that's not.

[C]

Yeah, the girl boss thing. You got to be the CEO of a company, whatever, and it's right.

[A]

Yeah, that's absolutely not true.

[C]

Are women happier now than they've ever been before or less happy?

[A]

No, less. Clearly.

[C]

And are men happier? No, they're not.

[A]

I don't think there's anything more to be. If I want to use the word maybe glorified than what. What females do is they can make

[C]

a human 3D print.

[A]

They can 3D print a person in their body and give birth. That's the most amazing thing in the world. And what they do for. For raising the kids is something. It's one of those things like. But. But it's the same thing. We shouldn't have only dads raising kids, because it will. Then. Then the balance isn't there. They'll. They'll come out too far. One way. We can't have women raising kids either. It's the same thing can happen, but you have to have them both.

[D]

You have a system right now, though, that, that. That has things completely out of whack. I've been on a school board for. For 21 years, and I've watched as the educational system has become more and more feminized. And that's not a bad thing in that we. We. We'd like to see. You know, it's good to have women in education, but the problem is, is that in education, for example, in society, everything that is inherently masculine, aggression, competitiveness, physical activity is considered bad.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And they work to try and decrease.

[B]

Yeah, that's true.

[D]

Everything that is feminine is made better. Be more empathetic. Focus more on your feelings, on the feelings of others. And. And the problem is, is that it. It's hurt our young boys. It's. It's made it so that young men today are growing up, they're being told mixed messages. They're.

[A]

They don't know.

[D]

What is it to be a man. Right. Yeah, they don't know. And the hard part is, is that if you raise a young man, a boy, to be a good, strong man, you've got little girls that are being raised to be the head of the house you got little girls, little boys that are being raised to be the head of the house. And so you've got two really strong people. And now they're trying to both be the head. You know, they're both trying to be the head.

[A]

Two all Stars don't make a team. Exactly. I say it all the time. You can. The all star team of the NFL will not beat the super bowl champs. The Seattle Seahawks will beat. Beat an all star team because they're not a team. No, I. I'd put money on that. All right. What else we got, Drew? Yeah.

[B]

Let's see the press in. Back in again. $50 says the VA approves medical health claims because it can't be quantified.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

How many vets have to keep going to the VA to prove they still lost leg? Stupid. The disability has helped. Would give it back when I find employment living on inheritance right now.

[A]

There you go. And that's right. And I don't. This is why I don't want. It just naturally happens. And I'm not picking on you nor. Nor whatever. You've been a part of this community. The, the whole time is when you start having these conversations. It sounds like because you. You don't have employment and you're living off of that. That's what disability is for. You haven't found work. You're. You're good like this. This. Like this. This isn't.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. This. This isn't about everybody on the system. But that's like almost the. The. The natural.

[B]

That's the exception to the rule.

[A]

That's the. That's the natural kickback to be like, oh, you. But. But I'm not this way. Okay, good. Then we weren't talking about you. Like, Like I'm talking to him that way. And. And, And I'm not just kind of making a point.

[D]

There's a difference between utilizing the system and abusing the system. And I think what you're talking about is, you know, dealing with people. We need to deal with people who are abusing the system.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And for. And for this gentleman Prussian, whatever is handle was. I think it's awesome what he said there. As long as he's doing the work to get better on the mental health side. What does that mean? That means touch grass. That means get off the Internet. It means work out. It means go to church. It means spend some time on your knees praying to. Praying to God to. To give you peace. Like there are things. You know, it means getting your hormones right. You know, using your Sponsor.

[A]

It's true. But it's true.

[C]

It's absolutely true. And if you're doing all that work and there's residual disability left, okay, fine. No problem.

[A]

And I get, not to, but, but just to prove your point, like when, when I was double digits in testosterone. I mean, I'm telling you, there's just it. I, I, I always say it because I lived it. I was not going to be a functional, a functional male adult with, with double digit testosterone. You just won't be. You won't have the energy. You won't have the focus. You have a hormonal imbalance. You feel like you can't do anything because that's, because that's not how God intended your body to be. But once I finally figure that out, got that fixed now what's your excuse? Well, I, now I don't have one. And it's time. And it's time to, it's time to get to work. Yeah. You know, got to do the work. Yeah.

[B]

We're an hour in. You want to go to a break? You want to keep going?

[A]

Let's get, let's get through a couple more.

[C]

Let's do it.

[B]

Easy Money says. Watching from Australia. Apologies if this has already been brought up. United States Navy Chief Petty Officer Michael Thomas Ernst lost his life in a training accident on this day three years ago. Let their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored. Rock on.

[A]

Can we say something just real quick?

[C]

Rock on.

[A]

Where is he from?

[B]

Australia.

[A]

Who. Whose country do you just make sure we remember? We remembered.

[B]

United States Navy Chief Petty Officer Michael

[A]

Thomas Ernst in Australia did that for us. How cool is that?

[B]

Yeah, this is cool.

[C]

Well, I mean, the Aussies fought alongside us in Afghanistan and everywhere we've ever been. They're the best man I know dig is I love my diggers.

[A]

How cool is that? And at the end of the day, it, it goes back to people. People want to divide us. And then people can even say this if they want to. They'd be wrong. And they're like, well, you're kind of dividing us right now with, with what you're saying. With, with, with veterans. That's absolutely not true. I don't believe that this, that this country is divided as they want us to believe. And I will never believe that there's not a path forward to reunite us. And the only way to get better is to purge the things out of a system that aren't right. That's how you get better. Why wouldn't we re. You know, why wouldn't we unite over this. We're all Americans. We should. Anything that's wrong with America, we should unite.

[C]

Non super chat. But one of. One of your smart ass buddies here says, ever considered a peg leg like a pirate? Yes, I have, actually. And I know that some people have a real problem with him. I don't have a problem with.

[A]

But.

[C]

But Dan Crenshaw is a friend of mine. Sort of. I mean, we're friends. No, I mean, we're friendly.

[A]

We're friendly. Whatever.

[C]

Whatever. But anyway, I've joked with him about, like, maybe we need to like, go to Halloween together, you know, like, we need, we need to share it. And I need a peg leg. I need somebody with an eye patch to be my Halloween is my point. He's the only one I know.

[B]

That's cool.

[D]

So you need a third. You need someone with a hook.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

I know some guys with the hooks.

[B]

Yeah, that's a veteran team. I get behind for sure. All right, we got Jared Rosen says, did you leave service the same as you entered? Question mark. Va.

[A]

No. And. And I'll. I'll tell you the answer a little bit different. I know, I think maybe I know the answer you want, but I just want to put it through a different lens for a second. Of course not. Because I entered the service at 20 years old and I left the service at 40 years old. So even there's. There's nothing you can do in life that you enter at 20 years old, you leave at 40 years old, and, and you're. And you're in the same shape and mindset.

[B]

You'd be broken somewhere.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

But you're better in some ways, too. I left the service better in some ways than I came in. Because when I came in, I was, you know, I was a. I was a baby. I was immature, I was foolish. I made poor decisions. Like, for sure, I was a kid, right?

[A]

Yes.

[C]

And then I left after great training and great experiences and with a band of brothers around me and people that I could count on, and I left with a tribe. And that's really positive. So. So don't just say, oh, yeah, the military broke me. No, the military might have broken that part, but this other part, you're better

[A]

off than you were.

[C]

And it's okay to embrace both.

[A]

Yeah. I left with life experiences that no other job would have given me. I left with problem solving abilities that no other job I believe would have given me. I left with a work ethic that I did not have coming. Coming into the service. And I Left with a sense of pride that when I look back and I'm 80 years old and I'm truly decrepit, I will still hold my head up high. Knowing what I did in that service doesn't mean that's who I am. But. But like I said, you never have to completely detach from that. I'll always be proud of that service and walk around the rest of my life with a sense of confidence that no one can take from me.

[C]

That dude says, get a boat. That would be epic. So I'm friends.

[A]

Your eyesight's amazing.

[C]

My only. My distance eyesight, my reading glasses are down here. I'm friends with Gary Sinise, who of course was Lieutenant Dan. And that scene when he's on the mast of the ship in the storm, you know, his leg amputations, he's like, oh, God, I hate you. Yeah, that's a hilarious scene. So anyway, whoever that dude is, I should.

[D]

If I could get his email addressing.

[C]

It's so good.

[D]

You'd like to recreate it?

[C]

No, we can recreate that. No, I don't.

[D]

All we need is a green screen.

[A]

We'll have AI do it. You don't have to do anything.

[C]

You probably could take my face and, like, for sure sell AI to do it.

[B]

Crafted Tea says, While I agree 100 with you guys, we paid over $200,000 in taxes last year. I'd rather my money go to vets regardless than the BS it does. We need to overhaul everything.

[A]

Exactly. And that's. And I. I appreciate you saying that's kind of why. Why I address that because some people say, like, well, there's other. There's. I agree there's other. There's other things. But we're also a great nation with a lot of horsepower behind this. Why do we have to pick one thing to fix? Everything that's wrong should be looked at and fixed. But if we're going to do something

[B]

last, let it be this point, though.

[A]

I mean, federal government, our federal government

[D]

is into a bunch of stuff that they have absolutely no business.

[A]

No business. And. And if.

[D]

I mean, if there's one area where

[C]

we do need to be in, it's

[D]

taking care of our veterans.

[A]

Yeah, but.

[C]

But here's taking care of them in the right way that results in them having a better life. Not in a. In a way that cripples them, but

[B]

that's the other issue.

[C]

Cripples them with candy.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Here, a good parent, when the child says, hey, can I have a candy bar for dinner? The good parent Says, no, you may not have a candy bar for dinner. Maybe you can have half a candy bar for dessert, but you don't get a candy bar for dinner.

[D]

Now, if you're a grandparent, you say yes.

[C]

If a grandparents say yes, you know what?

[B]

We're Uncle Sam, not Grandpa Sam.

[A]

You know what? That, that reminds me of a point that, that actually sometimes tough love is important that I really want to make. And I'm like, well, on the surface, kind of what we're talking about is this is fraudulent, should be looked at. You know, food stamps is fraudulent, should be looked at. Pretty much anything going on in Minnesota is fraudulent, should be looked at. But you, you want to know the difference between, between us and them? You are part of the system. I'm part of the system. We're standing up to say, hey, this isn't right. Let's do something about it. You'll be looking far, far and for a long time to find a food stand recipient that's standing up, going, hey, we got to overhaul this food stamp system problem. I'm getting food stamps and shouldn't be getting it.

[C]

So that interesting.

[A]

Just that. Just that alone, that there are veterans willing to stand up and say, hey, I'm in the system. It's wrong. And I'm, I'm. I'm willing to. To. I am, I'm willing to give up some of my niceties for the good of the country.

[C]

There are people, though, and my parents were. Some of them. We grew up very poor. Like, I think together. My parents were schoolteachers at, like, a private Christian school. And I think they made like, the year I graduated from college, I think they made together maybe 45,000, $50,000 with five kids.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Sounds right.

[C]

Yeah, it's pretty poor. So they could have qualified for food stamps my whole time growing up, and my parents just refused to go. They would not do food stamps. They just weren't going to do it. So I think that, I think the version of that for the food stamp question is people who are just saying, you know what? I will eat rice and beans because that's all I can afford, but I'm not going to make other people pay my grocery bills.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

You guys ever see Cinderella Man?

[B]

Yes.

[D]

You remember Cinderella Man. It's Russell Crowe where he plays the boxer, right?

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

Here's a guy who, basically, he had lost everything in the stock market crash anyway, but he was at a point where he refused to go on public assistance until he was going to lose his. Till he lost his kids. He Went, he got on public assistance, all of a sudden he got a shot. He to, he got a shot to fight. And all of a sudden he was making money again. And he goes back to the welfare office and pays back the money.

[B]

Yeah, remember that?

[D]

And I'm like, I'm like, where are those values today?

[A]

Where those men. Yeah, yeah. What else we got, Drew?

[B]

See, we can get just another 11B back in about the cigars. He says, you're right. Caddy ordered and another box of Deltas. So now he's got 105.

[A]

Del.

[B]

Well played.

[A]

He's a problem solver. He's a problem solver, all right.

[B]

Holy fukin. He says. In January 20, 2026, President Trump claimed that coalition soldiers in Afghanistan stayed a little back, a little off the front lines. We've never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them. This quote got a lot of backlash.

[C]

I think he was talking about other nations troops and this was around the time we were talking about invading Greenland. And the, and the Danes are like, hey man, we've been there for you the whole time. And the Danes were there fighting, like hooking and jabbing in Afghanistan especially. I, I don't know exactly what the President was talking about there, but I think it was related to, he was talking about other nations. And I mean, the Brits, the Brits did good work in Iraq. I know a bunch of guys, I was never to Afghanistan, but I know a lot of countries work, fight in Afghanistan and actually fighting, not just, you know, pulling security on fobs.

[A]

This is one of those things where people don't like what Trump says and there'll be some disagreement on this. And I, I already know how this is going to sound, but I don't care.

[B]

I lived it Thursday night.

[A]

I don't like what he said and how he said it, but let me tell you, I, I did a bunch of combat rotations to both countries and I saw a lot of coalition countries out there doing nothing. And they were out there and you find out what do you support? And you find, oh, they support that. What supports that? And you keep asking that question and it ends up being one of those, like, circles that comes around and then we support those guys. Well, what are you doing here? What are you doing here? So many of those European countries and everyone's going to come back to be like, oh, I know this one team that did this. That's a drop in the bucket to the war. You're not going to want to hear, this is. What was it better with them. I'd like to think so. Would. Would Afghanistan be any different if American alone took on Afghanistan or Iraq? Probably not. That's going to sound like a dig on other countries, but guess what you did. You didn't do what America did. Nor can you. And you can, you can dislike me saying that, but that's, that's true. Did I appreciate him being there? Sure. We. I can get on some real stories real quick of some of, of our. And it doesn't mean they're all bad and they're, they were. That they didn't do anything. But, but let me tell you, let's not pretend like, like they did what America did. Just, just saying.

[D]

Can't disagree with that one.

[A]

We lose it, Drew.

[B]

I think I'm getting it back. I don't know what's going on here. I think I lost it. Might be, might be a good time to go to a breakdown.

[A]

But that being said, just for a second to now walk it back to some degree. Do, do I want my president saying that? I don't.

[C]

He's not always careful with his language.

[D]

He is, he is prone to hyperbole. I think sometimes he doesn't appreciate the fact that he's not just John Q. Citizen. And I think the average person loves that he says what's on his mind because that's the way they feel. The problem is, is that, I mean, as President of the United States, your words are almost like magic spells. They have an impact. They affect people. Things happen based on what you say. So it might be wise to be a little judicious about how you say things.

[A]

He's not capable. He's not, he's not capable of it. He's that guy. That's a. You get the good with the bad, and that's what you get.

[D]

I'll tell you. And I, I, I, I've recognized this. So I've noticed at a certain age, in particular, in particular men. But, but all of us at a certain age, it's usually right around 70, that switch that says, I thought, I thought this, but maybe I shouldn't. I should rethink it before it comes out of my mouth or not say it. That switch. It stops working.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

And for Donald Trump, it, it does. It doesn't work.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

And he just says what is on his mind and he says when he says it. And yeah, it is what it is. But what I like is, is he's got some people around him in particular Marco Rubio and J.D. vance, who do a very good job of explaining Trumpism in a way that's a little easier for, for, for folks to take.

[A]

Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

[B]

All right. And we're back.

[A]

How many more? How many more? Can you tell how many more? We almost, we're almost there. Okay.

[B]

Okay. Joe Saunders says, honest question, no jokes. Doesn't it. No promises. Doesn't it depend on the generation you were born to and what you consider a hardship? Some generations would shrug off what others would consider tragic. Just saying.

[A]

Daniel, what do you think?

[C]

Yeah, I've tried. I've twin sons who are 17, almost 18. They're lovely human beings. One of the things that's hard to do in a modern society like this is raise children where they have real grit. You know, like I, when I was a kid, I had to take the trash out to the trash barrel and light it on fire and burn it. Right. I had to take care of the animals that we had on our farm. I had to help my dad with, with like, barbed wire, stringing barbed wire fence and hauling wood to put in the fireplace because that's how we kept our house warm. So, like, and it's really hard and, you know, sort of upper middle class kind of Northern Virginia area to, to raise kids with grit. And so what do I do? Like, we go to jiu jitsu, we work out. We, you know, like, I do require them to do hard things because I see that problem and I love it. I don't, I don't know how to, I don't know really how to do it.

[D]

I think that's one of the advantages of in particular getting your kids involved in sports or athletics is, is once again, there's a constant grit.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

But like, I, I like, I love all those, like, the reels that compare, like Gen X to, to Millennials, like, you know, talking about how, you know, we, you know, you know, our parent, we were so kind of left alone that they had to put a commercial on TV at 10 o' clock saying, do you know where your kids are? I mean, we drank out of the water hose. We'd be gone from dawn till dusk. Yeah, there was just, it was, it was a different time. There has to be a greater intentionality to raise your children with grit. That's why, like you said, getting them involved in martial arts, I always said, say you got to get your kids involved in at least two sports, one individual sport and one team sport, because they need to learn to work together, but they also need to learn individual achievement and learn how to work to improve and make themselves better. And because in this society, because we're becoming so much more intellectualized, because we're becoming so much more sensitive and we're trying to get our kids to be sensitive. I'm like, I, I don't, I don't, not that I don't want my, I didn't want my kids to be sensitive, but I want them to be tough. I don't, I want them to be in touch with their feelings. I don't want them to be controlled by their feelings.

[A]

Right, there you go. Right? Yeah, there you, there's a, there's a great point. I like what you said about you have to, it's, it was easier to do back then because it was, there was no other option. You had to be raised with grit and, and I think you're doing a good job of, by things you said. Now you just have to be intentional with it. And I like how you said that. Can I ask you a personal question?

[C]

Of course.

[A]

Can you do a one legged squat?

[C]

I can do, I can do one legged squats for days. Yeah, I used to do, I used to do CrossFit and I think, I think my one legged, my one legged squat record was like, I think I could do like at one point I could do like 210 with, with one leg.

[A]

That's one leg. It's, of course it's out of necessity.

[C]

Oh dude, I've got a great story for you. So I did.

[A]

There's a point in my life I could do, you know, 500 pound squats and I still couldn't do a one legged squat. Like it's.

[C]

So I, I did, I used to do triathlons and so I did ironman Arizona in 2010. And of course I pedal with one leg because I only have one leg, right? And it's 100. The bike is 112 miles. So the swim is normal for me. No problem. You know, I don't swim in circles. That guy is probably gonna crack that joke. J Dog is gonna crack that joke. I do not, I did not swim in circles anyway. But, anyway, so the swim is normal. But so I get on the bike and it's a, it's a, you know, 112 mile bike. And I pass this guy, I'm like mile 50 of the bike and he's like down in the, down in the speed bar things and the arrow bars and he's pulling, pedaling, whatever, and I just pass him and I pull in front of him because we're on the. And I hear him, he sees Me pass him and he goes, oh, my God. And then he get. And then under his breath, but loud enough where I could hear, he goes, I suck. So that, that, that powered me for. That powered me for the rest of the race. Dude, it was the best. It was the best. But the other thing I love is now that I. I quit. I quit doing CrossFit. I don't know do triathlons anymore. But I do because I still do jiu jitsu. I really love when. When I am. When I'm smashing somebody who has two legs. It just makes me so happy.

[A]

Oh, I bet it does.

[C]

That's really fun.

[B]

Two leggers.

[A]

Two leggers.

[C]

That's a spare leg. You don't need two legs to do one is fine.

[A]

Referring to us.

[B]

Look at you with your training wheels.

[A]

Yeah, look at you bipeds.

[B]

Soft men. All right. Buff like Jesus. That's funny. Big problem is law firms will get Joe Snuffy with a stubbed toe to 100 by coaching and claiming 97 different things.

[C]

Preach the A comp.

[B]

Law is becoming a huge for for profit business. If you're faking for a handout, you might be Blue Falcon pos.

[C]

Yeah, and we talk about that a lot in this whole society. That's a huge problem.

[A]

Problem.

[C]

Yeah, it's an enormous problem.

[D]

Well, and it's true just in general in society. Another great book, Tragedy of American Compassion, where we've developed systems that are about being good at filling out forms as opposed to really just once again developing a system that connects people to be able to analyze, to be able to have relationships with and help identify and actually solve problems and meet needs.

[C]

Yeah, we should, we should like link these books. These books.

[A]

You've should link these books.

[C]

Find the Amazon link for the books

[A]

you described because those are in the. I'll put it in the. In the description.

[B]

Six's mom says people now take in the old days you would never take because it showed weakness.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

My dad is a Vietnam vet and he didn't get checked out until 60. Asbestos in his lungs. His response. Oh, well, that's the men of the past.

[A]

Oh, man.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Holy fook. He says, brent, why can't tier one guys who need surgery be able to go to the world's best surgeons instead of the regular military docs? With the money invested in tier one guys, you should get the best medical care.

[A]

We can, we can. And. And we do. Unfortunately, kind of a side story. It was just good intention, bad execution when it came to my injury. The what Based off of my, my own squadron. Pa's recommendation was to actually go to Fort Bragg and have a Fort Bragg surgeon do it because it's a lot like a, a compound fracture. What I had. And guess, guess who has more surgeries than anybody else on compound.

[C]

Fort Bragg Orthopedics.

[A]

Fort Bragg because of the 82nd Airborne and them and, and all their jumps and, and everything they do. They have a. And so numerically he was far greater than anyone else. Unfortunately, I ended up having some, some issues and again, good intentions. But sometimes quantity and quality aren't, aren't the same. But that being said, we, we were looking at, at other doctors and that's why we went with that one.

[B]

Let's see. Let's verify. We're. We're connected. Everybody okay? It says we're good. Some are saying, I guess it's just one guy. All right. Jared Son says no one rides for free. Not everyone deploys to dangerous places. And our country owes you. Side note, why does no one say why Rob is pnged from the seals?

[A]

Not only is he pnged, he's on the, on the rock of shame there. And it has to do with his book and his story. There you go. I'll tell you why.

[B]

Six's mom back in. This is a good one. She says, okay, as a woman, we are miserable. For 50 years we have been called pathetic for wanting to stay home. And you can do everything. Baloney. Mom becomes the part time job.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Until we wake up and live the truth, it won't be fixed.

[C]

That's a good word, right?

[B]

That's right.

[A]

What's, what is more important than staying? It's not just. And this is how they'll view it. Oh, it's meaningless work. You're staying home, you're cleaning the house, you're doing the dishes. That's. Those are all, those are all side tasks. The job is raising the kids. Yeah. And what's more important than raising your kids? Because if you're both at work, who's raising your kid?

[C]

Some stranger who doesn't.

[A]

Stranger who does not share your morals and, and is dealing with 50 other kids is not going to give them the attention that you will give your own kid.

[D]

My wife and I made it. We married 33 years and we made a decision early on that, that, you know, someone needed to be focused and have their primary focus was the family. Like the house, the home. Right. And what was great about it was my job was to go out and conquer the world and do whatever. And her job was to manage the house. And she was the boss at home. And she was like, okay, I need you to do this. I need you to help him with his homework. I need you to take her to the Dan. Whatever. Whatever needed to be done. You know, she made sure that I was a good father and a good, you know, that I was good at doing what I needed to do right. In order to make our home work. Because that was her primary focus. My job was to conquer the world. Her job was to make sure that. That our home. Home was. Was taken care of.

[C]

The well known social psychologist and leading intellectual, Chris Rock says he. It's a hilarious bit. He goes, if. If baby can't read, that is mama's effing fault. That is mama's fault. If baby can't read because there ain't no lights in the house, that's daddy's fault.

[D]

There you go. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I so funny. I get that. That. Hey, the. I was. I was told I really should. We try to do things. We try to. I just think it's the right thing to try to keep the good things that we do personal. But it's just. It's not. Some. Some sometimes they. They should be talked about. People just don't always assume that you're doing good things. So Drew sends me a text message from quay.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[A]

Pro or Pru Jr. One one of our listeners. He follows them. Just assuming your Facebook friends as well. Drew.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Sends me a message that someone reached out need help looking for us Connection in Uganda needing help with a situation with a missionary veteran with health issues there. He has experienced cardiac issues and we're trying to get him cleared health wise to get back to the United States to see his heart doctor at the va. Please help me. Please share. Drew gets a hold of this, says, hey, do you. Is there anything. Is there anything, you know, anything we can do?

[C]

Samaritan's purse. Reach out to Samaritan's purse.

[A]

Daniel. Don't you worry.

[B]

It's already done.

[A]

Don't you worry. We got. We got connections.

[C]

Cool.

[A]

And the Sentinel foundation, whose primary job is. Is counter sex trafficking for. For kids, has people all over the world doing great things. Just happened. I reached out to him immediately. Happened to have someone in Uganda. Cool. You know what's even cooler than this? He goes, hey, where is he located at? I get the city. He goes, you're not going to believe this. I'm going there tomorrow.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[B]

I said odd or is it God?

[A]

Is it odd or is it God?

[C]

Yeah, that's a good Question.

[A]

So he goes and sees him and he goes, Brent, it's a good thing you didn't tell us a day later about this. This guy's in a bad way. He ends up having malaria and those other issues, and he is not doing well. So we were able to transport him to a hospital, get the. Get. Get the medical care that he needs. We'll keep you updated. I believe he's on the up and up and I believe he. He soon. They have to get him taken care. He's. He was so. He can't even get on a bird and fly boy. They have to. They have to.

[C]

Sick fella.

[A]

He's very sick. So hopefully we will get that missionary back on a plane as. As soon as we can get him back to the va. Allow the VA to do all the. All the bashing. We do again. It's not. It's not the whole system. He's going to go back to va. The system we're complaining about a part of the system and the people are complaining about and they're going to do a great job if he can get there. We'll keep you updated. But what a.

[B]

What a. Yeah, it was awesome.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

And I mean, that's our community. Yeah, that. That's you guys out there. I mean, that. That's this community acting like a family, taking care of each other. I love it.

[A]

Yeah. How. How cool is that? The Tier one. At the end of the day, the Tier one podcast through listeners can get a missionary to. In Uganda to help. That was basically on his deathbed in

[B]

less than a day.

[A]

In less. In less than 24 hours. You guys are the best.

[B]

All right, let's see. Right wing nut. Thank you very much, man. He says, we had it so bad when I was a kid that my dad hung a piece of meat from a string and had to stand on a chair and swallow it. Then he would kick the chair out from under us. Us and holler.

[A]

I assume that's a true story. I have to assume that's a true story.

[B]

Why would it not be? I mean, I read it in a super chat. Super chat.

[A]

Come on. It must be true history. It's written bad. I'll tell you what. I know it's. I know it's 10. Is it. You gotta use the restroom or anything? You good?

[C]

No, I'm good.

[A]

Okay. If. If you do, let me know.

[C]

All right, Perfect.

[A]

I mean, it's not.

[C]

As a tier one podcast. I can use your special bottle.

[B]

He gets the tumbleweed.

[C]

Oh, yeah. I need a tumblr. Because I have my officer privilege.

[A]

Here you go.

[B]

This is what he needs.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Needs one of these.

[A]

I appreciate it. He's not making us do it on air, but off air, he makes me call him sir.

[C]

I'm a civilian, dude. I'm a civilian. I get real uncomfortable and, like, drive, like on a military installation, and they salute the gate. I just. I don't like it, dude. I'm out of that world.

[A]

It's not.

[C]

It's not me, man. I'm just.

[A]

Yeah, I love that about your personality. Which one do I want to go to first? Yeah, let's go to the first one we said we were going to go to. Drew,

[C]

while you're pulling that up, somebody says in the comments, this guy isn't Tier one. I sniffed you out. He's definitely talking about me, and it's totally true. I'm on the Tier One podcast, but I'm completely posing. I was only ever conventional.

[A]

Real Steve Bandit.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And you're not the real Steve Bannon, by the way.

[B]

Nobody believes it.

[C]

Somebody snapped me out. Somebody Googled me. Yes. I was not Tier One.

[A]

No. But you know what you are. You're a Tier one man. And we.

[C]

We say that.

[A]

We say that a lot. That's. We. We're building a Tier one culture. I want. Tier one guests are. And you're a Tier one. You're a Tier one man.

[C]

Thanks, man.

[A]

I appreciate you. Absolutely.

[B]

All right, here we go.

[A]

All right, let's. Let's see what this lady has to say.

[C]

I like her.

[B]

Please.

[C]

I like him, too. One thing I like about him, he

[A]

keeps it real, just like Grandma.

[C]

I appreciate that.

[A]

Because I can trust him, because he

[B]

tells exactly how he feel and what he thinks.

[A]

Thank God for this president. I am. Filled my cup runneth over because he allowed his. His constituents, his people to come to

[B]

my house to interview me to talk

[A]

about the murder of my grandson. It seemed like nobody cared. I'm an advocate for murder. I marched, I rallied.

[B]

I pulled out other families in the

[A]

District of Columbia that had murders and did not have answers.

[B]

We marched and we rallied and nobody heard me.

[A]

Democrats get mad at me until this

[B]

Republican send his constituents, his people out there to interview me in my home.

[A]

Have you ever heard of a thing. Then they invited me twice before Congress to testify for the beautiful bill.

[B]

That's going to change crime in the district.

[A]

If you kill somebody, okay, you take a life. You do life just as simple. If you do a harsh crime, you do hush time. Just that simple. And then we Need National Guard and

[B]

which we did years ago.

[A]

He brought it on. I love him. I don't want to hear nothing you got to say about that racist stuff. And don't be looking at me on

[B]

the news hating on me because I'm

[A]

standing up for some, somebody that deserves to be stand up for.

[C]

Get off the man's back. Let him do his job.

[A]

He doing the right thing. Back up off of it. Nice.

[C]

And grandma said it. Dude, don't mess with grandma, man. I didn't see that before. That's great. I heard about it. I didn't see it.

[A]

I hate this so much. I wanted this to be a feel good story. And, and I said, and there's a part of me at the beginning said, ah, that's not what I want. It's not the outcome I wanted, so I'm not going to cover it. And I said, no, that's, that's not how it works. Because if this same thing was, was a Democrat, I'd do the story. So I just, so I had a transparency when I looked into it. I was so proud of that clip for a second. It's what I wanted. Let me, let me tell you what I'm talking about. So it sounded horrible. Her, her grandson was murdered and I got, I got his name and I wanted to know a little bit more of the story. And his, his killer only got 16 years and that's what she's mad about. And she's like, you take a life, you get life. And so at that, on, on the, on, on the surface, I'm like, yeah, okay, I agree with this. And I love that, you know, we have a black woman like standing up for Trump and sitting what we all know he's not racist. He does these things. Here's the unfortunate part of that story.

[D]

I already know what you're gonna say.

[A]

Go ahead. Here's the unfortunate part of that story. Her grandson was sleeping with his significant other in his bed when he came home and out of a fit of rage shot him seven times and killed him. And he eventually gets arrested and, and, and gets 16 years for it.

[C]

Well, so the, like the husband comes home, husband comes home and that dude,

[A]

the kid is in here and the kid is having sex with, with his significant other. I've read a couple articles once, it had just gotten done and one said caught. But the end result is, is the same. He's laying in bed with his significant other and either was, was or recently did and out of a fit of rage he shot him seven times. I, I'M not saying that that is okay to kill a man, but. But what I'm also saying is maybe this, Maybe this isn't your spoke person, you know, for, for this event. Like, we can, we can find this.

[C]

I'm not saying murder somebody, but I understand.

[A]

So just, just.

[C]

Yeah, not okay, but I do understand.

[D]

It's not an excuse, but it explains a lot.

[C]

Not an excuse, it's an explanation.

[A]

Yep. So again, I. I ran the story as much, as much as I hate to, because I'm telling you and I'm So. You're trolling.

[C]

You're trolling me by running that show because you thought I'd get all excited and then.

[A]

No, Well, I told him. I told myself by doing it. Yeah, as. As well, because I loved it. I was all. I was all excited about kind of, you know, doing this piece and I was gonna. I had a whole different narrative going on in my mind. And then I, Then I did that and I was like, but you know what? I've done it before. I've done it when I believe Democrats put. Put someone up there, that the story sounds good, you find out more about the story. And so, you know, you pull the curtain back like, aha, you were wrong. That's not what. You know, that you should have looked into that story. And I do that to that side. They. And they unfortunately give me ammo all the time for doing that. And so I would be two faced to find that out and then not. And then not tell more that story that I found out.

[B]

I don't know. At this point, he may not. I mean, the trick. May not even told him that she was married. So I'm gonna go with that till I know better.

[A]

The trick, Drew, you're so. You're so street savvy.

[B]

Hey, man.

[A]

So street savvy, we called them tricks

[B]

back in the 90s.

[C]

Somebody says. T Bone here says guns don't kill people, but husbands who come early do come home early. Dude, you are so right.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You are not wrong at all.

[A]

I'm not gonna show it because we get. We got other things to do. Run a little bit late. I was gonna talk about the. But I'll talk about it for a second. I was gonna bring up the MJ thing. Have you guys. You guys seen. So Michael Jordan is, you know, part owner of the NASCAR team that wins Daytona 500. If you're Michael Jordan, you've won six national titles. He's probably a billionaire by now. He can buy anything he wants. That, that if you, if you Think about two of sorts. That guy's life, like, post NBA, has to be pretty dull because if you think about it, what makes him happy?

[B]

Basketball.

[A]

Winning. Winning. Yeah. And he's not. And he's not competing anymore.

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, and he plays golf. Is it buying a boat? He can buy whatever boat he wants. He can buy whatever car he wants. Buy whatever house he wants. He can do whatever he wants. That. But winning. That guy couldn't have been any happier winning the Daytona 500. And that guy was elated. I don't know why he decides to pat that little 60 year old on the butt a couple times. It didn't look good.

[C]

So I heard that the kid had had, like, that somebody had dumped a thing, right. And there was a bunch of ice trapped in the kid's shirt and he was trying to get the ice out. Yeah, that's what I heard. But I only saw the clip, and

[A]

people are running with that story. And I'm not saying I know the guy personally, but come on, that's not.

[D]

People just enjoy tearing down.

[B]

Right?

[D]

They enjoy building people up short and tear them down.

[A]

Yeah. And it sucks when every part of your life gets. Gets. Is on camera. Everything is on. Is on camera and scrutinized. And he's also seen, like, holding the kid on his shoulder. He's good friends with the. With the NASCAR driver and his whole family. And it's just unfortunate, but it's one of these, like, how dare. I don't know. I'm a little bit mad about it, you know, And I'm not, like, holding Michael Jordan up on a pedestal and be like, hey, well, you can't, you know, because he's. He's a star. That's not why. We know enough about that man to be like, come on, that's. That's not mj. Yeah. Out of context. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's out of context. So we'll just. But here's. So I don't want to tear down mj, but I do. I. I love it when this girl is in the news. Oh, that's that one, Drew.

[B]

Oh, what girl?

[A]

The next one down.

[B]

Oh, you said that was next after that one.

[A]

Yep. I said we're gonna skip MJ and just talk about it.

[B]

Oh, my bad.

[A]

Be a part of the podcast. Sanrio Castle.

[B]

I don't have your videos memorized. Here we go. Tez carpet bombed herself just by speaking.

[C]

Would and should the US Actually commit

[A]

US Troops to defend Taiwan? You know, I think that this is such a. You know, I think that, that this is a.

[B]

Come on, Kamala Jr. You can do it.

[C]

This is of course, a very long

[A]

standing policy of the United States. And I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point and we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic research and our global position

[C]

to avoid any such confrontation.

[A]

But it took this. All right, let's, let's pause it there. We're not going to go away from it, though. I love that. I do believe they are kind of testing the waters to see if they can, you know, how she's going to be as a, as the next presidential candidate. And we got Kamala junior Over here. This isn't, and almost want to say this, this, this isn't the horse you want to ride. But you know what? I hope it is. I hope it is.

[D]

You have been tested, you have been weighed, and you have found one thing.

[C]

It's a good, difficult.

[A]

But you know, I'd say they're not dumb enough to do this, I think. But, but it's the same people that were, that were dumb enough to, to put Kamala up, up there. So.

[D]

Knight's tale.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. All right, let's, let's hold on. It's not like they just threw her into this. You knew what you were doing, you knew what you were getting into, yet you refused or either refused or incapable of doing the hard work, understanding it, and at least doing an average job to get through it.

[D]

The problem is, is that, is that most folks on the left, most politicians on the left, they never get asked the hard questions. They go on cnn, they go on msnbc, they go on ABC and whatnot. And they get asked these softball questions. Like, you know, they get, there's completely utterly softball questions. And then they're allowed to just speak and not really have to really answer tough questions. They definitely don't get any follow ups.

[A]

And it doesn't matter how bad they do because the media is going to cover for them.

[D]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

You know, so let's, let's see, let's see what else.

[D]

By the way, did you hear what J.D. did you hear what J.D.

[A]

vance did?

[D]

No, J.D. vance. And he was, he was giving a speech. He said, you know, I almost decided I was just going to pause here for 20 seconds and not say anything kind of like AOC just to see if the media will speak as kindly about me as they have about her.

[A]

Right. Let's, that's just one part of it. Let's, let's see. Maybe. Maybe she pulled it through and got better after that. Let's see. Most of America to realize that AOC didn't do the reading. Now why?

[B]

Because she's never been challenged.

[A]

She catapulted her way to political stardom

[C]

by acing Instagram and TikTok.

[A]

But then by cocooning her, the media

[B]

didn't really do her any favors because

[A]

now everyone knows she's failing not only geopolitics, but economics too.

[C]

So when you run for president,

[A]

are you going to impose a wealth tax or a billionaires tax? I don't think that I, I don't think that anyone. And that we don't have to wait for any one president to impose a wealth tax. I think that it needs to be done expeditiously. Couldn't master basic 6th grade geography when talking about Maduro being arrested by the US And Venezuela. He canceled elections. He was an anti democratic leader. That doesn't mean that we can kidnap a head of state and engage in acts of war just because the nation

[B]

is below the equator.

[A]

What? Below the equator? Alexandria.

[C]

That's a brilliant raid though, by the way, is a. Your, Your boys, your. Your pipin buddies are.

[A]

Couldn't have been any more proud to be a part of that organization. Couldn't have been any more proud. Here's.

[C]

And the Night Stalkers did not quit.

[B]

No.

[C]

They never do.

[A]

They're. I think a guy's about to get a medal of honor.

[C]

That's what Trump said. I.

[A]

And, and, and he, and he deserves it. That's.

[C]

I do know the backstory.

[A]

Yeah. He was, he was. He was shot while. While inserting. Essentially bleeding out with a gunshot wound in, in his leg and kept on flying and made mission and made mission the whole time. What's cooler than that? What. What. What's more putting it all on the line than like does it doesn't matter what's wrong with me. It's not time to stop. Timeout. Let's. Let's put myself first and let's, let's see what's going on with me. I'll. I'll fly it to the wheels fall off because. Because it's my job. And guess what? I, I'm just going on a limb here. Something tells me he's not going to be looking for any extra compensation for, for, for, for what he did. Guess what? And he should. And he should. The. Oh gosh, you asked me that question. I lost my. I got so proud of the, of the Delta Force guys. I lost my, my train of Thought about. About aoc. Dang it. Trust me, it was just have to.

[D]

Otherwise known as Alex the bartender.

[A]

Okay. Right. Oh, all right. Let's go back to some because. Because she just makes me mad. Let's go back to a little bit. It's funny enough, I didn't know we were going to go on the subject, but what we were talking about. I can't. The best video I can show you of a difference of. Of mom and dads and. And how they. How they treat their kids may be summed up in this next video.

[B]

I'm like, I hopped out so quick then I raised my blick and I don't miss.

[D]

I let off two shots. I hit him in this.

[A]

Now bounty quick what you finna do?

[D]

Cause this gonna make the news Gotta

[A]

make your move talk that get in cause she looking confused I broke the rule. Cause this.

[C]

Form tackle.

[A]

My God, there's. I don't. I don't know. I. I don't know if. Oh gosh, this is just going to sound bad, but again, I'm. It's. I'm not going to shy away from the truth. In fact, not. It'll be easier if I put you on the spot.

[C]

You're welcome. Oh no. What are we doing?

[A]

Is, are. Are. Are the women doing that because they're too nice to their kids or because they. They're not as letic as their dads and they couldn't do that to their kids if they wanted to just based off. Not. Not based off the clip that we just saw.

[C]

I think those moms never were in a position to learn to use their body as a weapon.

[A]

Yeah, right.

[C]

They don't know how to move in that. In that way. There are women who are like. There's some women who could definitely make those form tackles, but not many.

[D]

I've seen some of those reels with the moms who. Who like smash their kids.

[A]

Right. Okay. There's some degree of. Of cherry picking going on there, but

[C]

it's a funny but. Yeah, it's hilarious.

[A]

But it's not completely wrong either. And having actually done that with my son, I almost feel a little bad because let me tell you, I'm not that guy that lets my kids win just to boost their confidence. Nah, that's. That's gonna win every time. But man, I'm also not gonna pile drive you in front of you in front of your friends.

[B]

Get up and flex.

[D]

I still play basketball with my son twice a week. And you know, athletically, he is just so much.

[A]

I mean. Yeah.

[D]

So far ahead of me. But the one thing I have is, I had. I have size and head strength.

[A]

That's right. You body them up.

[D]

And it's one of those things where it's like, physically, I'm like. Like, look, I've got to win this one.

[A]

Right, right.

[D]

You. I'm like, you may score more points, but you're gonna pay for every point you score. That's just. That's a dad thing.

[A]

It's like, you're gonna remember we played. You're gonna know you played your dad.

[D]

Exactly.

[C]

Yeah. When an adult man grabs a hold of you, if you're an adolescent or a young man, when an adult man grabs you, you're in deep, deep trouble.

[D]

Well, and, you know, we play. We. I grew up in a time when basketball was considered a contact sport. Nowadays, if you look at them, they go fall and they. They've taken the whole soccer thing and they flop.

[A]

Flop for a second, but flop. Oh, man, he's really ruined it for that. And the whole rules of the NBA has really castrated that organization that I grew up playing basketball on. On the pickup courts. And just. And it was.

[B]

It was, you can't foul out on the street.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I grew up playing tackle football. I grew up playing baseball. I grew up playing basketball organized and pickup. And let me tell you. Let me tell you what made me a very rough man. Pick up basketball on the streets with. And just again, being on concrete with predominantly black men that were much older and more. I was more athletic, but they were. They were older men and they knew. They knew how to make. Make sure that I didn't score it at will, and they imposed that will on me. And if you didn't, and if you acted weak, if you didn't get right back up and not call foul, there's another kind of, like, important thing. Like, just generalizing. This generation would call foul. Like, you know, it's a foul. Like the older generation, it's a sign of weakness to call foul. Like, it has to. It has to be flagrant for you to call a foul. And that was. That was part of being a man. Like, you know what? You can. You can do that to me, and I. And. And I can take it. And that's my. That's my sense of pride.

[D]

All right? So I'm going to take this kind of a little bit of a different direction. And that's one of the reasons why, you know, we learned men in particular when we were growing up, you know, you learned about physical confrontation. People don't realize how violence averse. Naturally we are. But as kids, when you're playing contact sports, you're doing stuff, you're, you're getting that level of aggression. You learn to recognize, okay, all right, I could probably handle that dude. That dude, I'm gonna be a little bit more. Because, you know, I've see what he.

[A]

Look, I.

[D]

Look, he's boxed me out. He's knocked me down. But we learn about, we learn about that, that, that taking on and the, the, the challenge that you take in, in challenging someone physically.

[A]

Right.

[D]

One of the reasons that it's really odd you see now in a lot of these videos now you see these liberal, liberal women. I'm liberal white women out there.

[A]

They're the problem.

[D]

They're getting in the face of armed, fat, liberal white women.

[C]

Oh, getting in the face of like armed men.

[D]

Of armed men. And they're like, I'm like, what are you doing? I'm like. And then, and then completely and utterly surprised when dude just straight arms them and they go flying.

[A]

Right? Yeah.

[D]

It's like, I mean, as men, we kind of learn.

[A]

Okay.

[D]

Age, we learn an early age. F, F O.

[A]

Right. Yeah. And guess what? You know, it seems like we had, we had similar. And you know exactly what I'm talking about. So you had an option as a young man and pick up basketball. If you didn't like the violence down there, stay behind the three point line. That's, that's for you. But you know, if you, if you're going to drive to the hole, that's. That's where the violent men were. If you make that decision. Yeah. You've accepted the consequences.

[D]

I can't shoot three pointers. There's not much difference between my football game and my basketball game.

[C]

Just saying.

[A]

All right, I'm glad we, we, we broach that subject as well because it really ties into the next set of videos. Drew. And we'll start. Yes, we'll start with this one. He had gender reassignment surgery, according to court documents. Goes in, gets that all done. His wife says, I can't take this anymore. I'm filing for divorce. And in the paperwork, she said it was because of his transitioning and also his personality for problems. So now Roberta's social media posts are under investigation, and I'll show you why. So just hours before the shooting, Roberta is online posting all these things on

[C]

X, sticking up for Trans Congress member

[A]

Sarah McBride, telling people to back off in one post, writing this in part. Don't be so hurt over somebody different than Wonder why trans people go effing berserk. So more information will come out out as they continue to dig in here out in Rhode Island. But one thing the police do know for sure is that this was a targeted shooting. Are you guys. Are you guys familiar with. With that shooting and what happened?

[C]

Yeah, it's terrible.

[A]

Shoots. Shoots his wife, shoots his kid. Believe he shoots two or three other people as well before he turns the gun on himself and kills himself. The. For his wife to not want to be divorced, to not want to be married to you anymore. I hate that has to be understandable. Like she. She married a man. And. And you've decided that you don't want to be a man anymore. I like you. You. You changed the contract and now you're

[B]

upset that that ain't all he changed.

[A]

Right. It's just. It's just crazy like it is. And. And here's the other kind of point that. That I want to make and again, which is we have to be able to have honest conversations. You can look at that person. I don't. And I've said it before, don't ever tell me. Don't judge a book by its cover. Of course you judge a book by its cover. So you can look at the pictures of that person. And I'm telling you that is not a mentally healthy person. Any man that wants. And. And he did get gender reassignment surgery. That's not a mentally healthy choice. And when. And you referred to it, they've. They've been changing. What's. What's the. The DSM one.

[C]

Dsm. Yeah. Diagnostic and Stuff. Statistical Manual is what it's called.

[A]

It used to be that.

[C]

That was a mental illness. One or two right iterations.

[A]

And two, I believe, two revisions ago. Now it's. Now we've completely changed it as a point of pride that you're brave for doing this. You're encouraged for doing this, which is kind of revolves around our whole talk. And we've done. This person. Whole society has a massive disservice by encouraging this rather than telling him what he really needs to hear. And that's the end result.

[D]

But, you know, I'll tell you. And I think it goes. It can go potentially even even further than that because we have this society right now that is just so pushing the. The honoring of. And the celebration of transgenderism that you have a lot of people. It's amazing because he already had. I mean, clearly he had other mental disorders. They already talked about it. When you talk about some of these shooters and the ID Mental disorders or the psychological disorders that they had. And someone then convinces them, well, you know what your real problem is? You're in the wrong body. And so then they convince them that they're, well, if I go through all these processes and I do all things.

[A]

These.

[D]

These things, then I'll feel better. And then guess what? They don't.

[C]

They don't.

[D]

They don't feel better. I mean, there is absolutely no evidence. There's a reason why the American. Was it the plastic surgery. The organizations over plastic surgeons. There's a reason why seven different countries have said they're no longer doing this for children because they're recognizing it's not. It's not reducing suicidal ideation, it's not reducing the number of suicides, and it is, in fact, causing physical harm. But. But the problem is, I think is. And not that I'm saying that. That. That gender dysphoria is not a mental disorder. It is. But just because someone has a mental disorder does not mean that they're prone to violence. But when someone has a mental disorder and then you try to solve it with transgenderism, with gender, changing their gender, and then it doesn't work, that then can be that catalyst that gets them to violence.

[C]

You take a man and you suppress his testosterone, and you give him a bunch of estrogen, and then you add on a bunch of SSRIs, and then you. And then you say, and, oh, by the way, society hates you and wants you to die right now. You've put somebody who's mentally ill on a bunch of very powerful drugs and told them that they're at risk from everybody else around them. It shouldn't be surprising that we're seeing a lot of these kind of shootings.

[A]

Yeah. Just talking about this last night. You know, we can't hear you.

[D]

We were just talking about this last night too.

[A]

Yeah, Drew, let's. I'm gonna. I'm gonna build on this a little bit, but keep. Keep going. Drew, to. Was it next? Yep. This person. You guys hear about this one? Oh, this. Good morning. It's your favorite hobo. You love to hate. I just wanted to do a check in, let people know that I am being safe and being secure. I have taken care of my needs, and I am

[D]

just

[C]

chilling until I actually go for my sentencing.

[A]

And, yeah, I did kind of realize that we do have a highly unique opportunity here. Whereas I'm someone who did something heinous, and I'm on social media, whereas a lot. Pretty much all the other people who do something heinous, get locked in a box and blocked out from society and they don't get to talk to them. So, like,

[D]

does it put me at risk?

[A]

I'm already at risk. His. His vehicle in the middle there has every child counts painted on it. He stabbed his kids. He even slit the esophagus of his. Of his daughter.

[B]

Eight year old daughter.

[D]

What's he doing? I mean, what's he doing out?

[B]

I know.

[A]

What's he doing out?

[B]

He's on bail.

[A]

How.

[C]

How do you get bail for that?

[B]

You live in California.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Craig lives in California. And what's the law?

[C]

Oh, no, no, it's Alberta. It's from Canada. This person's Canadian.

[A]

I don't, I don't.

[B]

North California.

[A]

This is North California. North, North, North California. What's the law that Gavin Newsom's passed?

[B]

What can hear you?

[A]

You have to speak in the microphone if you're going to be a part of this podcast. There's a law that Gavin Newsom just signed off on.

[D]

What was the law about the kids with the transgender thing that we were talking about last night where they can. Oh, God, I don't know how much. I don't know how much we had to drink last time.

[A]

Okay.

[D]

Remember the conversation that one point? I don't remember.

[A]

And I get it. Some people say, oh, you're cherry picking of. Of sorts. But here's the problem. There. There is no shortage of these stories. So it's not some. It's not necessarily fringe. I can, I can go. I can show you video after video after video after. We could have done the whole podcast and these types of videos. Drew, go.

[B]

Yeah. When you're that small of the population

[A]

that you know that's right. When you're this small, the population, you have no business having this many. Having this many videos was this super chat dude. What's it say?

[C]

Had one in our infer battalion during a squad leader course. They made him the NCYC of the transition range. Rifle to pistol. Poetic. That's really funny. The army is hilarious. Sometimes lives.

[A]

I don't know. Maybe I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna save that one. The one that says that one. Go. Go down. No, that's up. Go down. No, no, no, no. You're right, Josh. Gosh, you're right. Let's go. Let's go to this one real quick. Yep. Go out. Buy a gun.

[B]

It's okay to be angry. Get in my face now.

[A]

If you try to stop me from going into a woman's bathroom, Excuse me. It's ma' am Be the last mistake you ever make.

[D]

It is ma'.

[C]

Am find that anger just because harness it to do good in the world. This anger done man.

[D]

We can just make a b.

[A]

Will.

[C]

Anger is. Is probably my primary source of motivation.

[B]

You want to call me sir again?

[C]

The thing is, you don't have to

[A]

leave for everything that I do. Cut that out now or you'll go home in an ambulance. I'll you up. It was a call to action or call to arms.

[B]

Don't be afraid to show your anger,

[C]

boy.

[B]

Oh, gives me e jeebies.

[A]

It's just.

[C]

And this is why we can't ignore this.

[A]

We. We can't. We have we as a society at some point, when are we going to say stop and say. And here's. Of course I'll say something a little bit that. That I don't mean because I. I was right the whole time. I think most sensible people were right, but some. Some sensible people may at some point go, okay, we gave them the benefit of the doubt. We trusted the science that said, hold on. This is. This isn't a mental disorder. You know, they're. They're actually. They will be their happiest if we let them be their true self and we let this experiment play out. But the experiment playing out is over, and it has not done what you said it was going to do. So when do we as a society say, okay, we were wrong, we have to address this now. We had it right the first time. Are we not capable of doing that as a society?

[C]

I think this transgender movement is receding rapidly. I do. I mean, you saw. I mean, you saw Matt Walsh. His. What is a woman? Is a spectacular, spectacular sort of comedic takedown of this. Of this nonsense. We're seeing states banning transition surgeries. We're seeing other countries are saying we're not doing any transition surgeries at all. I think that this. I think that this movement. I think the movement has peaked and is well into its recession now. And this is. This is like the tail end. This is like the insurgency after.

[A]

I mean, yeah, I think.

[C]

I think.

[A]

I think we're done. I think we're done pretending that. That men can play in women's sports. That. That is. That is going away.

[D]

Someone who isn't ground zero in. In.

[A]

Yeah, you are California.

[D]

I'll just say this. Number one, we never trusted the science because there was nothing scientific. We trusted the experts, the scientists, the people who were supposed to be. Be providing the science, and they never actually provided Any science. In fact, what's happening now, and that's, I talked about a little bit earlier, the, the studies that they've been doing, the seven European countries are now no longer doing this for children. And you've got the psychiatric, American Psychiatric Associate Physical Plastic surgery, the American Society of Plastic Surgery is no longer doing it for minor children because they're now recognizing the data is coming in and it's doing more harm than it is good. So there, so we're starting to see that. But there are folks like, and I hate to say this, policymakers in California are doubling down. They're, they're, they're, I think that this is an issue that is an 80, 20 issue where most of the world, or at least most of most of the United States is on the 80 side. We're like, look, once again, if you're a grown adult and you've gotten all of the information and you don't have other psychological mental issues, you do what you want to do and live your way you want to, the way you want to live. Don't make me celebrate it. But mostly where the line is being drawn is with children because children, I mean you got in California, a child under the age of 18 can't go to a tanning salon with their parents permission. But they can go and they can get, they can get, right, they can, they can get this medication that's going to cause osteoporosis that can sterilize them, that will permanently alter their bodies as well as getting surgeries without, without their parents knowledge or consent.

[A]

Here's, here's my argument about that and it's going to go into something that, that we didn't get to talk about during the recorded. So I'm glad we're going to get to talk about it now and I'm going to get there in two steps. What you said about the data, I don't, I wish that were true because if we were data driven, then global warming would have gone away years ago. If data was true, then the VA would have seen the piece that was written about in your book talking about PTSD treatment and how it magically, the symptoms magically come up right when it comes about time to really get your evaluation. And then when that scientist or doctor at the VA notice wrote, did a whole hundred person evaluation of it, had data, sends it up and the VA is like, nah, don't like your data. That's gonna caught, that's gonna cost us money. We actually need more funding. I don't, I don't like your research.

[D]

You're 100, right? Except I'll say one, there's one middle piece that gets in there.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

And that is litigation. Because, see, the data is used in the litigation in the courts cases. And that's what you just saw. Two million dollar settlement.

[C]

I thought it was five. Wasn't it five? It was a lot. That that girl who got transitioned, a

[D]

girl who got transit, who got transitioned. She sued her. She sued her.

[C]

The psychiatrist and the surgeon both.

[D]

And the surgeon. And that's one of jury trial of lawsuits. That's, by the way, the reason, the reason why the Plastic Surgery association had said we're no longer doing it for minors, largely in order to, to protect against lawsuits. So that's where litigation is starting to make a difference. And, and so the data is now being applied to the lawsuit. So you're right. Society and the media is not listening to the data, but the entities who are afraid of getting sued because once again, it comes back to the money

[A]

and a rare win for the lawyers.

[D]

Yes,

[B]

Brent, funny story on this subject. I was at Busch Gardens with my family, and we're on the back of this truck with like 10 other people, strangers, okay? And the tour guide is saying, this is how you tell the difference between a male and female gazelle, or whatever it is he was pointing out. And I, as the wise arse that I am, raised my hand and I said, so how do you tell the difference of the other genders? And there was silence, odd pause by the tour guide, and the whole truck erupted in laughter. My teenage daughter leans over and goes, that was a risky joke, Dad. I said, I don't care.

[D]

Hey, the best jokes are risky.

[C]

It's the only kind of joke dads make.

[A]

I, I don't know why we get it so right in animals. And a lot of these scientists that believe in evolution and just, and believe where animals get it wrong with humans, which is ironic because you get it right with animals. Scientists have no problem defining two genders and what a female animal is. And they'll give you an answer and it's and, and backed by science. But we can't do it for humans. And they won't even do it when it comes to humans. Here's another point of that. Scientists, including our government, ironically enough, when it comes to animals, knows, in fact, they'll put up signs they want you to do not feed the wildlife, because if you do, they will become dependent on that and no longer hunt for their own food. Right. Don't you think that's Ironic. That's exactly what we're doing with welfare and. And that's exactly what we're doing with. With the VA in our handouts. If you give people enough handouts, they will no longer work for their own food.

[C]

Of course.

[A]

Make it make sense.

[C]

Yeah, of course. That's exactly right.

[A]

I can't.

[C]

I've made that argument. I've. I've said that publicly, too.

[A]

You. Yeah, I. I have to. I saw you make it that one. I didn't steal from you, but I'm glad you came to the same conclusion I did. Drew, let's. Let's do one more video with the. I think it's the last one that we talked about. We'll go down.

[C]

That woman there. That woman who started off that other video actually does look like.

[A]

Right there in the middle.

[C]

That does look like a woman. And then you're like, that's in you.

[B]

Here, talk.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, oh, gosh, this.

[A]

This one's just for your. Just for your viewing pleasure. Can't make it up.

[C]

Can you not hear it in my voice?

[A]

Are you gonna cry because I asked you to define a term on your sign? It's actually not even spelled right. It actually says fascism. Your sign says fight fascism. What is fascism? Fascism is the breakdown of a society.

[C]

There's no society when fascism is present.

[A]

Can you give me a definition?

[C]

I don't. I don't really know if I have to give you a definition, because I

[B]

know I feel violated against my government.

[A]

Fight fas. Okay, but what is fascism? When we want to fight something, it's easy. It's good to define them. Right? We could phone a friend. What is fascism? You could help her. I don't want to speak to you.

[D]

I don't want to speak to you.

[A]

I'm fighting for how I feel.

[B]

Right?

[C]

For others, how I feel.

[A]

What specifically do you feel?

[C]

Can you not hear it in my voice?

[B]

What the media.

[A]

Are you gonna cry?

[B]

Feel.

[A]

Because I asked you to define a term on your sign, and I'm not trying to make you cry, and I don't think you. You should. I don't think you should cry. I'm just asking you to define what fascism is, because I see a lot of people getting labeled this, and whole administration is being labeled that. ICE agents are labeled as fascist, and it's getting them hurt. And so I think if we're going to talk about fighting fascism, which people do, by assaulting ICE agents, by going after Trump, trying to shoot him dead on stage, he's labeled a fascist, and then Someone tries to take his life on stage. Charlie Kirk was labeled a fascist, and he got murdered in front of everyone. So I think it's important when we are holding. Holding signs in public that say to fight fascism, it's important to define it. Wow. Can you not hear it? You know, it's. You. You know, it's. That I really wanted to point out about this because it's. It's not. Oh, it's. He's fine. He's fine. It's not impossible because a part of someone may look at that and based off of what we just said and be like, aha. Look, let's talk about how emotional women are and how illogical they can be. Well, they. They can be. But. But so can men. Guess who was also not emotional and laying out a very logical argument. The woman. The. The woman talking to her.

[C]

Oh, yeah, totally.

[A]

Yeah, it's. They're more than. They're more than capable of.

[B]

She's probably got a good relationship with her dad.

[A]

That's. That's. There's a. There's a. There's a truth joke there, actually. But yeah, it's. It's crazy one. You misspelled it. You. You put. You put faces. You can't make this up. And I don't. That's not a gotcha question. Like, I think if you're there fighting it, I think you should be able to define it. I don't think in anything wrong with that, Daniel. No. Yeah, I know you're all up in this chat. Let's go to the super chats. I know we got a couple super chats.

[B]

Faceism is just ugly.

[D]

That's funny.

[A]

Yeah. Max has a. He's. He's got a tinge of fasism. A face only a dad can love.

[B]

All right, at some point we gotta do a word from our sponsors. Yes or no?

[A]

It's.

[B]

It's.

[A]

It's a. It's a. It's an extra live.

[B]

Okay. Oh, it's an extra live.

[A]

We already knocked out our. Our mandatory.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

So bad.

[B]

She went to the Lynx, the Lyng

[C]

center, to learn how to spell.

[A]

She went to the Lynx Center. Look at Magnet. Look at Magnet. Coming through.

[B]

He said that one in the mic.

[A]

All right.

[B]

He collected carbon. Says had one in our infantry. Oh, see, Daniel said that one. Valkyrie. Zeb28, as they say in Canada, Adam and Eve made in the image of God.

[C]

Correct.

[B]

That's truth, man. That's truth. Six's mom back in again. She says this generation's anorexia, remember that no matter what, a man is a man and a woman is a woman, very few have a genetic mix up. What is the percent to transition completely? What is the percent to transition completely?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Aloha from kawi or kawaii, depending on who's texting me.

[C]

I saw something that, that just the other day about this, that only a very tiny percentage of men who are transitioning to be right female, quote, unquote, are having the quote unquote bottom surgery because they're just not willing to commit to the bid.

[A]

Well.

[C]

Right.

[A]

I'd respect you more if you did.

[D]

There's repeated surgeries and physical issues and of that that are. That are just so related.

[C]

Just make a functional. You can't keep the wound from. From closing exact problem. Exactly. I'm not trying to be graphic.

[A]

Right. But if you're really a woman inside, wouldn't the body know to close that up? We'll keep going. Craig, can you send me the cad caddy? The CAG caddy over, please.

[D]

Yes, Max.

[B]

Max, you're gonna have to move.

[A]

No, Max is not gonna like this.

[C]

Max, you better watch out.

[B]

Oh, oh, he's gonna run into the cameras.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, you will.

[A]

All right, what do you got, Drew?

[B]

I got nothing.

[A]

That was the end of it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, we've. We've done it and we even. Thank you. Thank you one last time. I'm telling you, if, If. If you guys are in. Intrigued by what we're talking about, if you're upset by what we're talking about, and maybe you're upset because you don't know the extent of. Of what we're. Of what we're talking about. There's no way in a live to. We can bring up points and we can, we can bring up data, logic, reason, but if you want the full story, go to the book you and at least get educated on something that if. If you're upset about this, if you agree with us and you want to know more about this, you should still read the book and really learn what's going on so you can better. So your argument or your belief system can be better grounded in the truth. Tell them where they can get the book.

[C]

Yeah, so books on Amazon. It's called Wounding How Bad Policies Making Veterans Sicker and Poorer. And you can go to woundingwarriors.com and read an excerpt of the book there. General Mattis loved it. A couple of former sectors of the VA loved it. It all kinds of good cover blurbs, and I think you'll love it too. You might hate the argument, but at least it's well laid out and well sourced. And that's right. Then you're more educated and you can decide whether you go with it or not.

[A]

I. I completely agree with that. Craig, tell them where they can find you.

[D]

You can find me on Twitter at Craig Deluze or you can find me at the Rundown US or two A News US Magnet.

[A]

What do you do?

[B]

Nothing.

[A]

No.

[B]

Lives off the va. Definitely didn't serve.

[C]

I saw him standing in my garden, actually.

[A]

Yeah, just gn it up. Yeah, you do that. Now you can find me on the

[D]

websites www.lionarmsusa.com or under Lion Arms, lion underscore Arms, and Instagram.

[A]

All right. Don't we have a fight?

[D]

We're having a fire sale right now.

[A]

Since the shop burned down on Monday. I should have talked about that earlier. Yeah, the store next door to him caught fire. And of course his building took the. His is a part of it. Took. Took the. Some of the brunt of it as. As well. Drew, what do you do?

[B]

Everything. Hey, guys, I. I've started up doing some content some more at Truth in the Dark, podcast at YouTube. Truth in the Dark. Right now we're doing proof the Bible is true. Proof the Bible is true using prophecy. So check that out if you'd like. And also, life's too short not to take some time. Get with some boys, smoke a cigar, go to FRCC shop and get your sticks.

[A]

We got some songs to play. We got some regular chats to read on the way out. Please, if you want to continue to support the show you like we do, please join our Patreon. We are giving away something that I cannot talk about. But all you got to do is join the Patreon. Not do anything extra. Just join the Patreon. Gets you a chance to win what's right behind me. And we're going to give it away first Thursday of next month on the Live. Doesn't matter if you sign up same day or if you signed up a few weeks ago. You have an equal chance to win that thing just as it sits everything on it for free. Which one? The. The. The top one. Right. Right there. We can't talk about it because they will. They will kick us right off.

[C]

They will kick us.

[A]

They get big mad, big mad. All right. Night Stalkers for Megadeth wins it. I didn't know it was featuring iced tea. Did you know that? Let's see. Let's see what iced tea and Megadeth cooked. Cooked up. And this Is this is the time you can go, you can go right through it. Any, any chat you want, Daniel. Any chat you want.

[C]

No, I'm good.

[A]

All right, you gotta pick one. Drink a little drink. Smoke a little smoke. Oh, man, I do. I, I love that Eric Church song. Any. Here we go. Took me a second, as it always does. Apparently I have the same technology prowess as my brother and this is the only thing, this is the only thing I got to do, and it still takes me too long to, to get it going. All right, the sign. YouTube, he's giving away the sign. We want the sign. No, we're not. Oh, we're not giving away. No, no, we are not giving away the sign. But I see what you did there. I appreciate that. But if YouTube's wondering, I, I, it was possibly the sign.

[B]

Probably got to turn the music up

[C]

a little bit more.

[A]

Yeah, Gotcha. Macho. Such a pretty sign. Thank you. When is Cat Granddaddy episode coming? You know, that is on our Patreon as well. I did a, I did a episode with my dad as, like, my very first, like, trial episode to get everything running. And I didn't post it on YouTube, but I posted it on, on Patreon. It was really cool getting to interview my, my dad.

[C]

Why are people mad in your comments about Nate at vft? Oh, what are they, what are they upset about?

[A]

Selling out? Question. I, I don't, we're, we're reading the regular comments, so if you guys, they're

[B]

asking, has Nate sold out?

[A]

I know, but you got sold out about what? Yeah, sold out about what? You got to give me a little bit more about that. Brandon Bailey. Shout out to my boy Luke. Double amputee in 2013. Afghanistan, Logar Province, FOB Shane, you want to talk about it could always be worse of sorts. Like, that's a random question, but do you ever look at, like, double amputees and be like, well, it could have been worse?

[C]

Like, yeah, no, no, that's a great question, actually, because I think that's true of life generally, right? You can look at people who have it worse off than you, right, and say, and, well, you can look at people who have it less bad off than you and be jealous.

[A]

Right.

[C]

Or you can put. Look at people who have it worse off than you and be grateful for what you have. And it's a very serious orientation question about, like, do I choose to be grateful for what I have?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Or do I choose to be jealous about what, you know, other people have?

[A]

No. I love that it's all. It's all about mindset. And mindset's a choice.

[C]

Absolutely.

[A]

When the little boy Rowe retires, will you have them on? We won all three Tuckers. I can't wait to do a live episode with my. So my little brother's a command sergeant major and. And the arm we joined together. He's still in.

[C]

Is he in the unit?

[A]

No, he stayed in air defense and. And went. And went really far.

[C]

That's cool.

[A]

Yeah. And he's getting ready to retire.

[C]

I thought he was a breacher. I thought you had a brother that was a breacher. Who am I thinking of know.

[B]

No, that's a preacher.

[A]

Preacher? Yeah.

[C]

Oh, no, no, not that I know that. He's a preacher for Jesus, AKA a preacher.

[B]

Preaching those hard hearts.

[C]

Preaching those hard hearts breaching the gates of heaven. Oh.

[B]

Oh, no.

[C]

I'm thinking of Tom. Tom Spooner's brother.

[A]

Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, I believe so, actually. I believe. Believe so. Brent, would you still go skydiving? Yes, I. I would. I would still go skydiving. In fact, I can't remember what. If I remember right, I believe Devin said she's never been skydiving, and so. No, she never has. And I asked. So I don't think skydiving is very dangerous, but still, like, I still trust anyone with. With someone very significant in my life. So I reached out to Andy Stump. I said, andy.

[C]

Did he say taker?

[A]

Yes, he did. He's awesome.

[C]

I got to go with the golden knights twice.

[A]

Did you?

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I trust those guys totally.

[A]

I mean, were you strapped in? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[C]

Strap some staff sergeant to my back and jump out.

[A]

It's cool.

[C]

It was really cool. It was really, really fun.

[A]

The old Daniel Rucksack.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

How. How nervous were you the first time when you, like, we're 15,000ft, I mean, zero.

[C]

Almost zero. Yeah, I was just excited. It was just cool.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I had total trust in their professionalism.

[A]

Right. That.

[C]

No concern at all if I've been strapped some pot smoker at the local.

[A]

Right.

[C]

At the local skydive center, no thanks to that mess. But you put. You put Andy Stone for one of those guys on your back, and you're fine.

[A]

They have thousands and thousands of. Of jumps. I do not have thousands. No, I. I do not have that. I got. I got a few under my belt, but those. Those guys are. Are at a different. They really are at a different level.

[B]

You can't tandem jump.

[A]

No, I did not get my. Because. Because they. They they bundle. Ironically enough, the tandem course is the tandem bundle course. And I didn't mind like the tandem part of the course, but I really didn't want to ride out a 500 pound barrel tethered to me. I just, it just wasn't something I was, was excited about doing. If they'd have told me like, hey, we, we need you to do that, I mean, I'd have done it. But luckily we had enough qualified guys that we didn't need.

[B]

Are you gonna jump when she jumps?

[A]

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna jump out. I'm gonna jump when she, when she jumps. Heck yeah. The only way I would dive the skydive is with special ops and that's the only way so far. I have skydove. You gonna give that to me Skydived? Skydived?

[C]

Yeah. I think you gotta. If you're gonna say skydive, you gotta say done skydove. That's the only way I would done skydive.

[A]

I think I saw Brennan Camp Spiker in the motor pool in 2004. You might have. I remember Camp Spiker. I got a funny story about that story for another day. Get you some Delta. Dad says good stuff. Love it. Yeah, his, his dad was in the unit. He's always in the comments like, yeah, my dad's proud of you. There's nothing better than, than having a former unit member.

[C]

Generational.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, you definitely want to make those guys proud. Still work 12 hours today, then just got called back in for a call. An hour away. Thanks for keeping me entertained during the drive. Zulu fox, golf man, electric carbons. Back in, people perceive Valhalla to be anti Trump, MAGA, Republican, etc. Not my cup. Well, not my cup, but that's what people are saying.

[C]

All right.

[A]

You know, it's really funny. In fact, I just called Nate yesterday. I'm. I'm in the space. You would think you maybe you would think that, that. I watch a lot of podcasts, but not much. I, I don't. Most podcasts I watch usually have to do with another guest coming on, so I watched Andy's because of you. It's. It's a good job and he does a great job. Of all the podcasts I, I watch, I by far don't catch every episode. I probably watch any stuff the most. Just have a lot of respect for that guy. A bag of 25 million grenades.

[C]

It's a big bag.

[A]

There's a big bag.

[C]

50 I thought was a lot.

[A]

That's a weird number. Where'd you get that number from? 50 is a lot of man.

[C]

It is.

[A]

All right, guys, thank you so much. We went a little bit over, but it was. It was just too fun to. To call it quits. I can't thank you enough for tuning in, guys. Daniel, I can't thank you enough for. Yeah, for hopping on a flight down here.

[C]

No problem.

[A]

Pun intended.

[C]

We'll do it again.

[A]

You gonna give me that one? Hopping on a flight.

[C]

I see what you did. I see.

[A]

I. Hopefully. Was it a. Hopefully it was a direct flight. One leg, if you will.

[B]

It is limit.

[A]

All right.

[C]

Yeah. Hopped on a one leg flight.

[A]

What are we.

[B]

What are we doing after this, Brent?

[A]

What are we doing after this? Yeah. Depending on everyone's schedule, we're gonna smoke cigars and tell stories that were even too much for this episode. Guys, thank you so much. We'll see you next Thursday. Next Thursday, I believe, is Xavier Lindoff, a former teammate of mine in the unit that's doing a lot of great things all over the world when it comes to long distance shooting. So tune in next week. Again, thank you, guys.

[B]

Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe.